Thank you for all the lovely reviews, I really appreciate your comments.
DarthVandola – I am planning to dip back into some of her schooldays, but most of it isn't relevant to the MMADness! I'd rather write about them than dwell on too much of the other bits. I have grand plans for them! :D x
I plan to get a couple more updates in before Christmas, but I'll have to see how it goes. There is a nice festive chapter I want to put up if I can get to it!
Enjoy!
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In her short twenty-one years, Minerva had only ever believed she had been in love once before, but this relationship, had never been destined to succeed. He was a muggle boy, he lived in the same village she did near Caithness in Scotland. His name was Dougal McGregor. She had met him in the first summer after she left Hogwarts when she had returned home between her auror training. By the end of the summer, Dougal had proposed. She accepted, but when faced with the prospect of telling her parents she realised the match was a mistake. Since her marriage, her mother had kept her wand locked in a box under her bed, not using magic. Dougal didn't know what Minerva was and the prospect of following in her mother's footsteps had scared her. She couldn't keep her wand locked away like that. She had no choice but to turn down his offer. She also was harbouring a crush for a certain transfiguration professor that she had yet to reconcile. So she had left, returned to London to continue her auror training and not looked back.
It was late one sunny evening in May and Minerva was sitting on the balcony of her small flat in London, looking out over the roof tops admiring the changing colours of the sky. Her thoughts, as they so often were, were of Albus. She thought back to her summer with Dougal, she had loved him, she knew that, but the way she felt for Albus was much more than just loving him. She couldn't imagine her life without him in it. She had never loved anyone as much as she loved him.
'Mad-eye would have a fit if he saw you sitting their unarmed and unprotected.' A warm voice startled her from her thoughts. She turned, smiling lovingly at him, but her face fell when she met his gaze. His eyes were dull and dark shadows were visible under his them and his face looked grey and sad. He nodded sadly before she could ask the question. 'Armando Dippet died in his sleep last night.' Minerva stood, walked towards him and pulled him into a hug. His arms slid around her waist and she pulled him into a tighter hug.
'I'm so sorry.' She whispered, caressing his back with her soft hands. He rested his head on her shoulder, nestling his face into her neck. She kissed the side of his head. They stood in each other's arms, unaware of how much time had passed. 'Do you want to stay here tonight?' She asked, finally breaking the comfortable silence. They had spent nights together in the past few months, but they had yet to consummate their relationship, both enjoying the luxury of time together over their passion.
'I'd better not.' Minerva's heart fell. 'I want to.' He continued as he felt her disappointment. 'I have meetings with the governors first thing.' She was about to respond when an idea seemed to occur to him. 'I wouldn't say no to a guest in my dormitory though.' He said lifting his head to smile at her. She grinned.
'I thought we were supposed to be keeping us on the quiet.' She asked, very aware of the agreement they had come to about keeping their relationship out of the public eye, both for their freedom and safety.
'Being headmaster has to have some advantages.' He stated. 'You can stay in my rooms; no one needs to know you're there if you would be happier with that.' Minerva nodded.
'Thank you. I'd like to attend the funeral though.'
'Of course, would Miss Pomfrey wish to join you?' Minerva nodded again.
'I should think so; I'll send her an owl in the morning.' She rested her hand on his upper arm. 'It's going to be alright, Albus.' He leant in and kissed her cheek.
'Thank you.'
Minerva spent her first night back in the castle since her school days. She loved the feel of the old stone building, its roaring fires, ancient tapestries and fine paintings. Hogwarts was the only place she ever felt truly home and being beside Albus made the experience all the more wonderful. She stayed hidden in Albus' rooms for the next week before the funeral, only the house elves knew she was there.
The evening after the funeral she sat at the dressing table, carefully unpinning her long dark hair. Looking up she caught sight of Albus in the mirror; he was staring out of the window over the dark grounds.
'It was a lovely service, you gave a wonderful speech.' He turned towards her and gave a small smile.
'I wanted to ask you something.' He said, walking across the room and resting on the edge of a wooden chest at the end of the bed. 'I had a meeting with the governors yesterday, there have been no applications regarding a vacant teaching post and I am struggling to appoint a Head of Gryffindor house. The problem being, none of my staff are Gryffindors.' Minerva smiled.
'So, what are you intending to do about it?' she enquired, reaching for her hairbrush and running it through her hair.
'I was hoping a lovely previous student, with a talent for transfiguration, whom happens to have been a Gryffindor, would take the post.' She raised an eyebrow at him.
'Oh, and do I know her.' She asked coyly.
'Minerva, you know what I'm asking you.'
'I do, but what would people think, Albus. If they knew that we… if they…' She couldn't finish.
'But they don't know.'
'Yes, but…' Albus held up his hand.
'It was the governors that suggested you Minerva, several of them have been on the receiving end of your questions at the Institute lectures.' Minerva smiled and nodded. 'Be my transfiguration teacher. I don't want to ask anyone else.'
'I'd do anything for you, Albus.' She answered honestly.
'I know, but I want you to do this for you.' She grinned.
'You know I always wanted to come back' she gazed around the room. 'There's nowhere else I'd rather be.'
'Hogwarts will always be here to welcome you home.' He stated.
'You could write greetings cards!' she exclaimed, tears filling her eyes. 'You really want me to come back?'
'Yes!'
'All right then, headmaster. I shall be your new transfiguration professor.'
'And Head of Gryffindor?'
'Go on then.' She stood and allowed herself to be pulled into his arms for a hug.
'Thank you.' He said, kissing her cheeks, her forehead, and then her lips. Minerva giggled. 'Would you like me to show you around your new rooms?' he asked.
'I'd rather stay here with you.' Albus placed his hands firmly on her shoulders and turned her to face the fireplace.
'Who is that?' he asked indicating the portrait above the fireplace.
'Godric Gryffindor.' She stated in a 'surely that was obvious' type voice.
'When I formally accept the Headmaster's job I'll have to move into Armando's office and rooms, that means,' He continued, slipping his arms around her waist and hugging her to him. 'These are now your rooms.' He began kissing her neck and caressing her stomach with his thumbs. His kisses became more intense as he nibbled her collar bone, eliciting a moan from Minerva's lips. 'Can I offer you a tour, Professor McGonagall?' With Minerva still wrapped in his arms in front of him, he walked across the sitting room to the bathroom. 'Here is your bath ma'am' he stated. Minerva laughed.
'Please may I have a demonstration, Headmaster?' she asked.
'Certainly.' He replied, both exchanging broad grins. Albus let go of Minerva to reach across to the taps, turning them to fill the tub with water and waving his arm to magically secure the plug, all the time his fingers remained laced with hers. He seated himself on the edge of the tub and pulled her across to him. He reached up to the buttons on the front of her long black dress. He paused, looking up to her face for approval, she smiled and nodded. He began carefully undoing the buttons, down to her waist. He reached up to her shoulders and pushed the dress from them, allowing it to fall to the floor. She blushed slightly as she heard him gasp. She stood in a black silk bra and matching knickers and nothing more. 'You're beautiful' he whispered, leaning forward to kiss her stomach. His thumbs caressed her hip bones as he continued to kiss her stomach. She allowed a small moan to escape her lips. Carefully taking hold of his hands, Minerva pulled Albus to stand. She placed a gentle kiss on his lips before silently making his robes disappear. Albus raised an eyebrow 'You'd make an excellent charms teacher I see as well, Miss McGonagall!' he chuckled 'Ten points to Gryffindor for an excellent vanishing charm.'
'Banishing actually Professor; you'll find that your robes have been banished to the sitting room. They are neatly folded on the chair.'
'Indeed.'
'Finite.' She said, peering behind him to check the water, which was threatening to overflow. 'Care to join me?' she asked, letting go of his hands to unhook her bra, which dropped to the floor on top of her crumpled dress. His eyes fell to her breasts as he nodded. Minerva giggled, stepping past him and removing her knickers as she stepped into the tub. Albus stepped in and sat behind her, reaching for a soft sponge, he began to wash her shoulders. He trailed kisses along behind his movements with the sponge. She sighed contentedly.
'Happy, my love?' he asked, chuckling.
'I am.'
'Do I have anything to do with it?' He asked.
'You have everything to do with it.' She answered honestly. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled him to her chest. He kissed her hair. 'When I was at school I got this lovely warm feeling whenever I saw you. Every week your lessons and our evening classes were the one thing I looked forward to the most. I never understood what the feeling was, but I wanted more of it whatever it was.' She paused. 'The summer after I left I met someone, a muggle boy in the village. We had a wonderful summer together and I really liked him and I think I did love him, but it always felt like there was something missing. He proposed, when I went to tell my parents I realised the problem. My mother fell in love with and married a muggle, she was happy to an extent, but she gave up magic because of him. I knew I couldn't do the same.'
'That was a brave choice to make, my dear.' Albus observed.
'After you defeated Grindlewald, when you were lying on that bed, when I thought I was going to lose you I realised the other problem. He wasn't you. I couldn't be with him because he wasn't you. I was in love with you and he was never going to be good enough.' Albus snuggled her tighter.
'Being with me isn't without sacrifice, Minerva.' He said his voice now heavy and sad.
'I'm happy to make a sacrifice for love; it just has to be the right sacrifice. My mother was happy to give up magic, I'm happy to keep our relationship a secret. It doesn't matter that nobody knows about us, as long as we know.'
'I wish it didn't have to be this way. I'd love to shout my feelings off the top of the astronomy tower so the whole world can hear me. But if I did I'd be putting you in danger. I have plenty of potential enemies, even without Grindlewald and I'm not willing to risk your life for them. I don't want to lose the best thing to ever happen to me.' A tear trickled down Minerva's cheek.
'That's what I am?' she asked, turning to face him, kneeling between his legs. 'I'm the best…' she trailed off, the words choking in her throat.
'Yes.' He said placing a kiss on her lips and wiping the tear away with his thumb. 'You are kind and brave, beautiful and honest, intelligent and funny and I love you. And you love me for me, the foolish old man behind the name. Not because of what you think the mighty Albus Dumbledore should be like.' She kissed him fully on the lips, grasping his hips to pull herself closer to him. He wrapped his arms around her once more and returned the kiss pulling her in deeper. Their tongues intertwined the passion between them exploded. Albus leant back, pulling her on top of him, splashing some of the water out onto the floor.
Eventually, their embrace had to break. Both breathless a flushed they grinned at each other. Minerva sat back, straddling Albus' thighs. He sat up, resting his hands on her lower back, gripping her hips.
'Well Headmaster,' she said breaking the silence, 'the bath is certainly satisfactory. The water is getting a little chilly though; may you show me the bedroom so I can warm up?' Albus laughed as Minerva stood and stepped out of the water. She cast a drying charm over herself as he followed. He reached for one of the soft, thick, cream towels on the rail and wrapped her in it. He scooped her into his arms and carried her through to the bedroom, eliciting a giggle from her lips.
Lowering her onto the sheets, Albus found himself pulled on top of her, his lips meeting hers once more. Slowly and gently he made love to her for the first time. Kissing every inch of her body, showing her how much he truly loved her.
The meeting with the governors the following day had been a great success, they were all aware of her reputation at the Transfiguration Institute's lectures and all had marvelled at her perfect 'outstanding' exam scores. They were also impressed with her reference from the auror office. Despite her insubordination regarding the attack on Grindlewald, the result had made her decisions the right one. Elphinstone Urquart had been impressed with Minerva's conviction, perseverance and determination. She would, he believed, make an excellent teacher. He was secretly disappointed that she had never shown an interest in him, but in the interest of her happiness, he wanted her to have the job she desired.
