Declaimer: I do not own them

Author's Notes:keep reviewing, it makes my day

Minerva had found herself with an armful of Sally when she had first arrived at kings cross station on the first of September. Shaking her head in resignation she had patted the girl on her head gently before detangling herself and leading them both into an empty compartment. They had soon been joined by Ro and Poppy who had both grinned at them and taken the remaining seats. The journey had been uneventful except when the food trolley had come. Never having a great liking for sweets Minerva had bought no candy at all. Ro on the other hand had got herself a whole treasure trove. When they had finished with the food, she had told Minerva to take a chocolate frog. Never having had them, she stared at them not knowing what to do. "They're not really frogs, are they?" she asked not knowing what to think if they were."No," said Ro. "But see what the card is. I'm missing Agrippa." "What?" "Oh, of course, you wouldn't know — Chocolate Frogs have cards, inside them, you know, to collect — famous witches and wizards. I've got about five hundred, but I haven't got Agrippa or Ptolemy."

Minerva unwrapped her Chocolate Frog and picked up the card. At once her jaw fell open in astonishment when she looked at the picture on the card. Underneath the picture was the name Albus Dumbledore. "Dumbledore!" exclaimed Minerva. "Don't tell me you did not know he was on the cards. Bet you would have bought them if you knew." said Ro cheekily grinning at her friend. Minerva turned over her card and read:

ALBUS DUMBLEDORE

CURRENTLY DEPUTY HEADMASTER OF HOGWARTS

Considered by many the greatest wizard of modern times, Dumbledore is particularly famous, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood, and his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel. Professor Dumbledore enjoys chamber music and tenpin bowling.

Smiling at the card Minerva put it inside her little box that kept her private things. No one other than the owner could open that box. So, she felt secure putting the card in there all the while failing to notice Ro staring at her. When she looked up, Ro offered her another frog, Minerva shook her head silently going over her past moments with her favorite professor in her head while staring at the ceiling. She understood one thing; she had a not so small crush on her transfiguration Professor. She smiled at her realization thinking she should have thought of it earlier; now she thought of it, the feelings had been there for years, from the first time she had seen him.

Minerva had been uncharacteristically silent throughout the rest of the journey even though all her friends had tried their level best to retrieve her from her lapse into dream world. On reaching the great hall, Minerva beamed at the familiar sight of Dumbledore standing beside the stool with the sorting hat to get the new students sorted. Ro shook her head and prodded her with her elbow, "hey dreamy, get back from your world, you have the whole year to dream, at least cheer the youngsters." Minerva looked up startled at last out of her revere "Oh well I was just thinking about the extra lessons I plan on taking this year." "What extra lessons Min?" Ro asked suddenly interested. "Oh well," Minerva could not help herself blushing, "I wanted to train in becoming an animagus. I thought I would ask Professor Dumbledore if he would train me." Ro smiled at her friend and replied "Don't worry, he will."

So, after their first transfiguration class of the year, Minerva waited for the rest of the class to leave so that she could talk to Dumbledore. "Professor Dumbledore, I would like to ask you something" she began not knowing what to say and how to. "Yes, my dear, you do not have to ask my permission to question me. I thought we were above such formalities, aren't we?" professor Dumbledore surveyed her from over his half moon glasses smiling reassuringly. "Well, you see professor I have been reading all this summer about animagus' and well I was so intrigued, I thought it would be lovely to well be able to turn into one and well, I was just wondering if you would teach me." She finished in one breath and peeked at Dumbledore not daring to look him in the eye. He seemed to be in deep thought. Suddenly she felt that may be it would be asking too much, she at once tried to put right what she had already done, "Professor, I am really sorry if I have, I mean I can understand, you are such a busy man with so many calls already on your time, I should not have asked at all. I am so sorry professor please" she started blabbering. "Minerva my dear," Professor Dumbledore interrupted her rant, looking up meekly she noticed he still had the thoughtful look though he did not look angry, "I am not angry on you Minerva nor do I think you made any unwelcome demand, it's just that, well animagus training is very risky."

Everyone had heard stories of witches and wizards who tried to turn themselves into animagus and found themselves in St. Mugos and usually for a long stay. "Minerva, I am hardly a professional for this kind of highly qualified training. There are more professionally qualified wizards at the ministry who could train you much better and more perfectly. If you want, I could easily have you to train from one of them", he offered. Minerva's heart dropped as she understood that he meant he could not train her. "Professor, from what little I have read about animagus training I gathered this much that it had life risks and needs a very high level of understanding and cooperation between the mentor and the student?" she asked not trusting her voice to continue. "Yes my dear, that is true. Why do you ask?" he looked at her apprehensively. "Thank you Professor for your kind offer but I do not think I am compatible enough to go through the required training. I only thought about taking it up because I thought you would be able to teach me. But, well, I understand professor and you need to understand me as well. I could not trust anyone so completely and absolutely with myself, hence the training would not be as fruitful as expected, thank you professor." she addressed her speech at Dumbledore's boots then without even looking up said, "I have potion classes professor, I had better go." Turning she made her way towards the door.

Dumbledore had been so kind, he always was kind. He could easily have pointed out the little amount of time he had to himself, instead he had even offered to get her another teacher. Even though Minerva had thought it sweet, she had been very honest when she had said she could not trust anyone else as much as she trusted Dumbledore. The idea of an animagus had intrigued her more for the fact that she had felt she knew the perfect person who could teach her. Learning it from anyone else seemed scary. Minerva had been so immersed in her thoughts; she had not even heard Dumbledore calling out to her or heard him move. It was when he tugged at her elbow that she looked up with a jerk. "Minerva, you amaze me every time with the amount of trust you place in me. It is not that I did not want to teach you. Please understand that it would have been much easier to teach anyone else but, well, you happen to be my favorite student, something I am not used to have and I have grown pretty fond of you. Making you go through several exercises that I know are risky, would be really tough for me. It is only for this reason I hesitated my dear. But, of course you are right as always. You are more secure in my presence than any other instructors. I will teach you. Though rest assured it is a lot of hard work." He added now smiling down at the beaming girl.

"I certainly believe that it is worth working on. You have an innate sense for Transfiguration, Minerva; you also have an excellent grasp of theory, as well as the practical skills and diligence required. Few possess all of these qualities in sufficient measure to actually achieve an Animagus form. They may grasp the theory, but have no intuition, no feeling, for Transfiguration. Or they may possess the innate sense and theoretical basis, but lack the skills necessary. But even all of that is insufficient without diligence, care, motivation, and hard work. I believe you possess all the requisites to become an Animagus." Dumbledore smiled at the now beaming young girl. "It is a great deal of work and will require time and energy from you that you could spend on other pursuits." "Yes, Professor Dumbledore!" During his speech, Minerva's resolve had grown double, increasing her excitement even more, and pride that Professor Dumbledore believed in her. "Now, I believe you said something about potion classes my dear?" he said his eyes twinkling. With a promise to visit him that night in his office, Minerva smiled up at him before rushing off to her classes for the rest of the day.

Minerva could hardly keep still that day. Ro had given her a knowing smile while Poppy had been amazed. Sally it seemed was scared for her safety. She tried to reassure the girl though she did not succeed too well being too excited herself. Not only had Dumbledore told her he would train her, he had also said she was his favorite student. Minerva had never been happier in her life. It seemed as though she could hardly keep her foot firmly on the ground. Her friends were amazed by her behavior. The usually prim and proper girl was going as harebrained as Sally it seemed. Ro shook her head in resignation before catching her friends arm as she was about to pour a vial of liquid into her cauldron on potion "Minerva! Get your head dreamy or do I have to go to Dumbledore's rooms to search for it? You are pouring pumpkin juice into your healing solution, it says salamander blood." She sounded very exasperated. Minerva gasped having being pulled out of her train of thoughts, then blushing a deep scarlet, quickly finished the rest of the potion.

That evening Minerva quickly ate whatever she could find closest on the long table in the great hall before hurrying towards Dumbledore's office. She knocked and was surprised to hear "Come in Minerva." She entered to find him standing a little away from his desk. "Would my sitting room be comfortable Minerva?" Minerva smiled and nodded following Dumbledore into his sitting room. She took in the appearance of the room. It looked very snug with a long red couch and a few comfortable chairs. The walls were lined with shelves full of books. "Now, are we ready to begin?" Dumbledore asked smiling already knowing the answer. Minerva grinned at him and nodded. Albus beamed at her. "Wonderful! I have some books for you to read over the year, and a few exercises for you to do – they do not require a wand, so they are perfectly acceptable to practice. I do want you to promise only to do the exercises that I prescribe, and none others of which you may read. If you truly wish to try a different technique, please Owl me, and do not attempt anything before you hear back from me. I may be gone for a good bit of the summer, but I promise that if you have a question, I will respond as soon as I am practically able. I do not want to find it necessary to visit you in St. Mungo's!"

"Of course, sir! And I will try not to bother you too much– I know you do not usually have much time to yourself." "You would not be a bother, Minerva, and it would be nice to have a friendly letter waiting for me on return from my trips. Besides, I will actually be at Hogwarts always you know, so I will be working just the usual I guess, and although I will be occupied with school business during that time, I would welcome correspondence from you." "All right, sir! Do you have any recommendations for what I should read first?" "Fundamentals of Animal Transfiguration would be the one to begin with, although I know you've read it already, probably more than once. But now you will read it with an eye toward becoming an Animagus. You may also read Taming the Mind, Finding the Beast, but bear in mind that it is non-standard and Virgil Vortmun was rather an eccentric. I do not suggest that you try his methods! This book, however," Albus said, pulling one from the pile that he had taken from the shelf behind him, "this book you will likely wish to read and re-read throughout your project."

Dumbledore handed her The Emergent Creature: Focussing the Human Mind to Evoke the Latent Animal Within. Minerva glanced at the cover, and then flipped to the front of the book. She giggled, and then put her hand over her mouth. "Something amusing, Miss McGonagall?" asked Professor Dumbledore, quirking an eyebrow. "Um, sir, would you happen to be acquainted with the author?" Minerva asked, trying to keep a straight face. "Well, as a matter of fact, yes, we are acquaintances of a sort although, that is not why I believe you will find the book valuable." Albus grinned. "Why do you ask?" "Hmm, the name is just a bit familiar, that's all, sir. 'Apiarus B. White,' sir?" "Yes, well, I suppose it is a bit transparent, but at the time I thought it clever. I was young." Albus said with a shrug and a smile. Minerva smiled having known earlier that it was a name Dumbledore used if he did not want to be traced back to himself and replaced it on the stack. There were about a half dozen books there, and Minerva was itching to read them.

"And the exercises you want me to practice? Are they in these books?""There are variations on them in Emergent Creature and Occlumency: From Clearing to Clouding, but I want you to do the specific exercises that I have written out for you." As Dumbledore reached into a desk drawer and pulled out a sheaf of parchments, Minerva was struck by something he'd said. "Occlumency, sir? I thought I was learning to be an Animagus." "The preparatory work to becoming an Animagus share similarities with some of that required to become a true Occlumens, which goes beyond merely closing one's mind," Albus replied. "I think you will understand better how they are related after you have studied the other books.""I can hardly wait to begin, Professor!"

"I hope that the little I have said does not torment your curiosity too badly, Minerva. I only raise this issue now in order to emphasize the potential importance of the studying you will do this year. One cannot force the Animagus process – not without ending up in St. Mungo's – however, one can speed it up. By diligently reading and practicing the exercises, you can create the proper conditions for achieving your Animagus transformation in as short a time as possible. Please be assured, my dear, that I will not ask you to do anything that will bring you into danger. I do not want you to try to transform too soon and cause yourself any injury. Do you understand?" "I think so Professor" replied Minerva grinning at her favorite teacher.

"I also think that it is wise since, although I have every faith that you are capable of becoming an Animagus, in the event that it takes a longer time than we hope, I do not wish you to feel burdened by the prospect. If you are diligent, we should have a better indication of your Animagus ability by the end of the year." "How long do you think it will take, Professor?" Minerva asked, already feeling pressure, despite not knowing what the process would include. "I do not know. Most who are successful take two or three years to accomplish the complete Animagus transformation, if they have a competent teacher. Without one, it is unlikely to be achieved in under three or four years, if at all." "Three years!" exclaimed Minerva. She was sure that she had read something of the sort before, but hearing it now, in this context, seemed daunting.

"Hmm, do you not believe me to be a competent teacher, Minerva?" Dumbledore asked with an impish grin. "Oh, no, sir, not at all! You are better than competent!" It may have sounded like weak praise, but Minerva blushed internally at the thought of telling him that he was the best teacher anyone could ever have. She would sound like a three-year old, she thought. Dumbledore laughed loudly at Minerva's declaration, and she smiled. "Well, my dear, since I am a better-than-competent teacher, and you are a better-than-competent student, we just may accomplish it in a better-than-competent time. Let's see if we can – no rushing! Just diligence!" with that he walked her back to her dormitory as had become his custom whenever he met her after dinner and bade her goodnight with one last smile his eyes twinkling.

Minerva was beyond herself in glee that night. She found her friends waiting up for her when she entered the common room with her stack of books. She quickly updated them on her meeting with Dumbledore. All of them seemed very appreciative. Minerva though wanted to be alone at the moment and relieve the last two hours. Although she had already told herself that however long she might have had her infatuation, it was neither logical nor was it right, but she still seemed unable to control herself from reliving their short encounters. Knowing that she had already brooded a lot recently and it seemed Ro already suspected something, so she gave up in resignation. As the year progressed Minerva dutifully studied her Animagus-project texts, and practiced her exercises every morning and evening, and a few in-between times, as well. She remained ensconced in her room except when she would go outdoors and sit with her back to an old oak tree by the lake, eyes closed.

Minerva had taken to getting up even earlier than she usually did. Every morning now she dressed in a set of tight deep blue slacks and a t-shirt, dawn her cloak over her and go down to the grounds for a walk. Walking round the lake a few times, she would abandon her cloak and take to running and practicing various muggle gymnastics. Her friends had been very interested at first sometimes even becoming a little irritating questioning her every living moment when she was trying her best to concentrate and keep her cool but slowly it had died out. Her animagus training quickly became a part of her like her extraordinary reading habits or visits to the library. Minerva hardly ever even visited hogsmeade, a wizardry town outside Hogwarts. Whenever her friends went she just asked them to bring her a bundle of chocolate frogs most of whose cards she allowed them to keep taking only a few for her.

Minerva it seemed to her had found a new hobby. She had unknowingly stored all her transfiguration assignments from her first year in the little box that was one of her most protected possessions. Now, the chocolate frog cards made their way into it as well though she did not collect any except the ones with Dumbledore. This she found usually kept her calm and even helped her concentrate. Her other classes of the term were progressing even better thanks to her newfound calm. She found she could multitask much easily than earlier and even found time to practice and play Quidditch. Soon it was time for their first Quidditch match of the season. The Gryffindor team played brilliantly beating the Hufflepuff team by 250 points. The whole team was exhilarated but Minerva, to her own annoyance found she was quirked at the fact that Dumbledore was missing from the stadium. He usually came to all the matches and never missed the Gryffindor team matches whatever came. "Stop it Min, he will be somewhere about." Ro said glaring in exasperation at her friend. Minerva nodded before turning away from the stands and joining her friends.

As the team made its way into the castle, Minerva felt a tingling sensation on her neck. Turning just in time she saw professor Dumbledore returning to the castle. So, he had not been in the castle. That explained his absence from the match. Putting his absence to the cause that he had to attend many social and ministry occasions Minerva put the thought out of her head. Two days after the match Minerva made her way to his office. This was the first time they were meeting after he had given her the books to read and the exercises to do. She knocked and was asked to enter at once. Once again she found him standing a little way from the table. Understanding that they would be talking in his sitting room, she made to follow him after greeting him with a smile. When she entered his sitting room though, her breath was taken away. She gaped in awe at the sight before her. The couch and chairs had been removed to be replaced by a small long table in the centre. The room looked huge and intimidating without the usual coy surroundings.

"Find anything new my dear?" Dumbledore asked her smiling with mirth. "This Minerva is a dueling platform. You have as I had earlier instructed gone through the books on animagus training. As it happens I thought you would also be interested to learn some practical dueling. Would you be interested?" he looked at her waiting for her answer. As she let his words sink in, Minerva could not believe her ears. Not only was Dumbledore going to train her for animagus, he was also going to teach her dueling. "I would love to Professor" she replied after first testing her voice which seemed to have deserted her after his question "though why you suddenly thought of this really makes me curious." "Ah, my dear that I can not reveal to you at present; I will have to ask you to trust my judgment which I presume you do?" not waiting for her reply he climbed nimbly onto the platform. Minerva quickly mirrored his actions and found herself standing face to face with her favorite Professor.

The rest of the evening Dumbledore first went about explaining to her the art of dueling and its origin. Then he went on to tell her about the process of dueling before asking her to take out her wand and duel him. Minerva had been aghast and had protested vehemently. "Professor what do you think you are doing? I am not going to duel you. Not under any circumstances. It is impossible for me to knowingly aim any hexes at you although I know you can deflect them all." Dumbledore had turned a deaf ear to all her protests and a duel had issued. He had given up within minutes. "Minerva," he bellowed seeming very agitated, "you profess knowing your hexes won't harm me and yet you won't even put an ounce of power into them? Do you think I could not protect myself? Do you think I do not even have the power to stop the hexes thrown at me by a third year?" "No…profess…or…I…" Minerva was at the verge of tears. She had not intended at insulting her Professor but her deep rooted love and respect for the man did not allow her to think of him as a target calculatingly. "So…rr….rr….ry..yy" Minerva had shuttered, her teeth clattering together despite her attempts at framing a proper apology.

Realizing at once the immense impact of his words, Dumbledore was beside her in half a breath. "Minerva," he began reaching out to her while she cowered away. Minerva tried her level best to calm herself down, but it was all she could do to keep from bursting into tears composing herself seemed totally beyond her at the moment. Forcing herself to speak, she whispered barely audibly, "I….feel….un…able…ton….night…pl..sees…see….exec…se …mme" shuttering as she spoke never looking up once. "It is all right my dear" he escorted her back to her dormitory, neither of them speaking another word while they walked. When they reached the portrait hole, Dumbledore gave the password sparing Minerva from speaking again. Then turning to her he said softly, "Minerva, I-" "Good…good night Professor" and with that Minerva jumped into the portrait hole, closing it behind her.

Minerva was never more thankful to find an empty common room. Her friends had gone up to bed knowing she would be late. Curling herself up into an armchair by the fire, she tried her best to calm herself, a very tough fleet as the events of the evening played out in front of her eyes. She tried to tear her mind away from the thoughts and direct them at anything else, even the exams that were almost there but failed miserably. She tried her occlumency lessons next; it failed her the first time ever. Unable to do anything about her jumbled up feelings and the tight knot in her chest, she closed her eyes in resignation. She tried to ease out her breathing which had become labored thanks to the fact that her chest seemed to have constricted even to accommodate her heart and lungs. After a while her body gave in to the exhaustion of the day as she drifted off into a disturbed sleep, a single silent tear escaping her eyes.

Dumbledore paced his study in agitation. What had come over him? Why did he have to shout at the poor girl so harshly? For the first time he had met Minerva McGonagall he had found her on the verge of tears. Never being an ordinary girl, he had found Minerva McGonagall one of the strongest young women he had met. She had remained stout and strong even in dire situations. And yet he had been so harsh tonight that he had seen the girl struggle for her breath and struggle to hold back her tears with all her might. Albus had decided to train her in dueling for her own defense knowing her magical prowess. It was only natural that she was unable to point her wand calculatingly at her mentor whom she respected so immensely. He could easily have explained everything soothingly to her. Instead he had shouted at her and even claimed of her doubting him. In years, Albus Dumbledore felt like hexing himself. He had expected a lot from her and not receiving his expected output had frustrated him, but nothing justified his rash behavior. Sighing at his own folly, he at last flopped down into his couch where he fell asleep within moments, his body succumbing to the exhaustion of a really long day.

The next week was utter torture to both Albus and Minerva. However much he tried to get her alone to apologize, she seemed to vanish into thin air whenever he searched. Minerva on the other hand did her best to avoid her transfiguration Professor but at the end of the day was finding it very hard. He had come seeking her many times now and she had ducked either behind suits of armors or desks or her friends. Ro, Poppy and Sally were exasperated with her and were not talking to her either. They had come down in the morning after the eventful night to find Minerva curled up in the chair by the fire a single tear stain on her cheeks. They had done all they could to make her talk but failed miserably. Minerva, it seemed to them had lost her power of speech. She had hardly uttered a word from that night if any and was avoiding Dumbledore as though he were a plague.

Two weeks after the fateful evening, Minerva was walking alone on her way to the dungeon when she heard footsteps behind her. Turning hastily she found she was too late. Dumbledore was walking towards her and it was no use hiding. He had already spotted her. Minerva wished the grounds would open up and swallow her. Why on earth did she have to be walking alone? Well, there was no help; so, she tried to regain her voice which seemed to have got rusty from being out of use for so long. She had not been much of a speaker while living at her uncle's but the usual morning and night wishes kept her voice from getting lost. Two weeks of total lapse seemed to have struck her dumb in reality. Dumbledore looked down at the girl he had come to regard as a dear friend. She seemed to be fumbling for her voice and had lost quite a bit of weight in these weeks. Her eyes had deep dark circles which were almost purple. Unable to take the consequences of his unwise and rash shouting, he did the only thing that came to his mind. Stepping forward, she evolved her in an embrace. At first she stiffened, and then quivered like a willow. Dumbledore help her tighter, waiting for her nerves to get a better control over themselves and her to compose her features.

When he pulled back at last, Minerva seemed to have the ghost of a smile about her lips, while her eyes looked into his with fear as well as relief. "Shall we continue our discussion in private my dear," he whispered, his own voice hoarse with emotions. Clearing his voice he continued, "I will speak personally to Slughorn. He will not punish you for missing his classes" he stated already leading the way towards his rooms. Minerva could not have cared less about being punished. Her heart had stopped when he had embraced her. Then all the emotions bottled up within her had come flooding to the surface. It had only been due to her nature that she had not cried her heart out in his embrace. Dumbledore held open the door to his office for her to enter and led her further into his sitting room. Minerva stiffened to see he had not changed the settings of the room.

"Minerva, my dear, please do relax, I am very perturbed to see you so frightened and stiff in my presence. I am really sorry my dear, I should not have shouted on you that day. I understand my demands were a bit out of the line, but I had very high expectations from you, I still have and not receiving the expected results agitated me. I understand my folly now. It is your deep rooted respect and admiration for me that has stopped you from performing at your best. Please forgive my folly my dear, I have never felt so bad in my whole life" Dumbledore had looked steadily into her eyes throughout his speech. Minerva's expressions had gone from first astonishment to pride and then to utter glee. "Professor it is really alright. I was foolish as well, I knew you could block any hex or curse I could throw at you but still did not fire them with the power required because of being over emotional. I did not mean to show you disrespect in any way professor nor do I doubt your capabilities in any way" she responded wholeheartedly. "We both have been foolish my dear, what do you say to starting afresh now that we have understood each other even better?" Dumbledore was smiling again and Minerva looked as though she could have sung with joy. She looked at him and nodded her assent.

"First let me put right what mess I have created of you. You my dear, have hardly eaten anything these two weeks, I was hoping you would join me for an early lunch while we continued our discussion." Not waiting for her reply, he called to a house elf and was soon ordering food for two. "I was so worried you were angry with me professor, I could not even look you in the eye and my friends, I do not know if they will ever talk to me again. I have really behaved like a kid these couple of weeks, avoiding all company and immersing myself into my books when I was really getting nothing into my head." she could not help but pour out her woes to him although it seemed very childish. Dumbledore though did not find her childish or funny. His smile dimmed as he understood the pressure she had been through all this time. "I am really sorry for putting you through this hell my dear." He looked so crestfallen that Minerva reassured him at once "Please professor it is alright now and I could easily have solved it if I had talked to you instead I made it so hard for you. I should be the one apologizing." Just then a huge lunch appeared on the table of the room. As the two of them sat eating and chatting they moved off to much more cheerful topics and were soon laughing hard.

As Minerva made her way out of his office to meet her friends, she turned round one last time "Thank you professor, you have been so helpful and so obliging. I will never let you down again. Could we start our dueling tonight?" "Will eight o' clock suffice my dear?" he replied smiling at the now eager girl. Through their lunch together, they had somehow managed to each get over their insecurities and now understood each other even better. Professing her assent Minerva went off to the rest of the day before her duel. When she had found her friends they had ignored her altogether which she understood had become the daily custom. Heaving a sigh, she made her way over to them and cleared her throat. Before she could get another word out Ro had slapped her straight across the face. "How dare you make such a mess of yourself? Do you know how worried we have been? Have you even looked at yourself Min?" she shouted at the top of her voice. The whole common room stared at the four of them, Ro seemed least bothered. "Ro, we would be better off in the dormitory." Poppy pulled gently at the sleeve of the agitated girl. Not knowing if she would shout again if she opened her mouth Ro simply nodded stiffly before storming off to the dormitory followed by Poppy. Sally shook her head and came over to Minerva "come on Min, come to the dormitory. We have been really worried." She said pulling at her sleeve. Smiling, she followed.

Minerva knew she deserved every bit of the talking too she received but she felt really cornered. Ro and Poppy had kept up a constant barrage of allegations once they had reached the dorm. Finally Minerva interrupted them, "Ro, Poppy and you too Sally, I know really that you have been worried and I am really sorry about it but I was honestly under a lot of pressure. I seemed to have lost all power of understanding and logical thinking. I know it worried you to death as I slowly starved myself and turned dumb, but it was not intentional. I just could not cope with the situation. I promise never to do it again, please forgive me guys." Ro looked as though she could do with another shouting but Poppy flung her arms around Minerva embracing her and sobbing onto her shoulders. Minerva hugged her back holding tightly onto the weeping girl, rubbing her back soothingly and murmuring apologies and promises into her ear. When Poppy finally calmed down, Ro came over and hugged her tersely. "I will keep an eye on you and forgive you if you do not repeat it again. Just because you do not have parents Min does not mean there is no one who cares for you. Do you know by the way that this harebrain," she said pointing at sally" has been crying every living minute?" Minerva was really touched by the amount of affection her friends had for her she opened her arms wide and embraced all three of them together finally feeling as though even she had a family.

Later that night when she made her way to Dumbledore's office after a huge dinner assisted severely by Poppy, Dumbledore opened his mouth in protest when he saw her. "What happened to you my dear? Your cheek-"he was pointing at the angry red streak the slap from Ro had left. "Nothing professor, "Minerva mumbled feeling embarrassed, "Just an angry family. Ro was beside herself in rage at my ignoring my health and going almost mad etcetera etc." Dumbledore chuckled as he realized that she was not really hurt, just admonished. That night their duel progressed even better than anything they had expected. Minerva who had become an expert at firing hexes at the blink of an eye, proved to be a more worthy opponent than either of them had thought. With the acute timings and quirky combinations of her spells, Dumbledore was soon doing quite a lot of hard work himself. When at last he managed to topple her over, she was up in a flash and had cast a body bind at the same instant which Dumbledore barely avoided. The dueling continued for quite some time until Dumbledore raised his hand calling it a session. Minerva slumped onto the floor, exhausted by the huge amount of work. "What would you like my dear, hot chocolate or tea?" Dumbledore asked as he made his way over to her. "Tea" she replied in a huff.

Dumbledore leaned over and pulled her up. "I think you would be more comfortable in the couch." He led her to the corner of the room and helped her settle down before flopping onto a chair himself. Rummaging in his cloak, he produced a chocolate frog and pressed it to her. "Eat it you will need the energy. Your performance tonight was brilliant. I had to really work to keep from losing the duel to you." Dumbledore was beaming from ear to ear. "Thank you professor" Minerva beamed at him. "Call me Albus, after all we are friends and you can address me by my first name when we are in private." Minerva ate the frog and looked at the card. Smiling she tucked it into the box she always carried with her. "Whom did you get?" Albus asked curiously. Minerva flushed a shade of pink, "Pro-Albus, I got the wizard in front of me." It was Albus' turn to flush now. He smiled bleakly at her thankful to his long beard which covered up his own blush.

As they sat there sipping their drinks, Albus his usual hot chocolate and Minerva her tea, her eyes fell on a chess board. It was the most beautiful set she had ever laid eyes on. The board was a crystal clear one and the men looked more like the men in real life than in any set she had ever seen. Seeing her gaze Albus smiled "Do you play my dear?" "Oh, well I used to play back at home, I absolutely loved it. But here well, no one seems to like to play chess. Do you?" not replying to her question Albus got up and walked over to the chess set then turning towards her smiled, "Shall we?" Minerva jumped up at once grinning. Soon they were seated opposite each other deep into the game. Albus had started out a little unsure as to how well she could play but had soon learned that she was someone to watch out for when playing chess. Minerva had been shocked to see the reactions of the chess pieces at first as she had always played muggle chess before but had soon learned. It was almost midnight when Minerva bleakly checkmated Albus. He sat there aghast for a moment absorbing into his system that he had been defeated in a game of chess after decades. Then both of them burst out laughing. When they looked up at the clock they sobered up immediately. Albus looked quite shocked and anxious though Minerva looked quite at ease. "Relax Albus, my friends were warned to go off to bed without me if I did not return in time" she smiled as he relaxed.

The months were soon flying. Minerva found herself engaged in so many activities at the same time that it was really hard for her to see the time fly by. She trained more vigorously for the animagus, dueled Albus whenever they could set up an appointment that did not clash with both their schedules, looked up books on advanced defensive magic, studies for the exams helped her friends and played Quidditch. She loved every moment of her busy schedule while still getting exhausted and exhilarated at the same time. Albus had grown more and more proud of her and she had found this pushed her even more than any criticism or scolding from anyone had ever done. Her friends especially Ro were more than thankful that she and Dumbledore had patched up and were back to normal. Soon it was time for them to leave for the summer holidays. Minerva looked woeful that night as she sat playing chess with Albus, another custom they had quickly formed. Albus looked at her and chuckled. She had been very down throughout the whole evening.

Minerva looked up at him with the same woeful expression if not more sad. "Oh, come on Minerva, you will be back very soon it is not your last year and you are only leaving for a short span of time." He cajoled her trying to make her smile. "Really Albus, a month is hardly a short span of time, and well I am more in love with this castle than ever. I can hardly think of life without Hogwarts, so well, I do not feel particularly cheerful tonight." She sighed as she thought once again of the real reason behind her depressing mood. She had grown so accustomed to spending almost every evening with Albus, they had grown to be great friends and even though it was the only relation she could expect from him, she could not help but put her whole life into it. And spending a whole month without seeing him seemed like an unbearable thought. It had pained her greatly when he had said so casually that it was only a short span of time making it clear that he would not miss her and she had controlled her emotions very fast. But still the pain remained. She would miss him, life seemed absolutely miserable all of a sudden. "Minerva, my dear, are you all right? Please relax you will be back at Hogwarts even before you might get a chance to properly appreciate your holiday" Albus was looking at her with concern. Minerva merely nodded. The next morning as she got out of the castle to go to the station, she looked back for one last time. Seeing Albus, she offered him a small smile before turning and marching off at once, again a silent tear escaped her eyes.