Minerva could remember the morning after quite clearly. The first thing she felt when she woke was the soft sheets, already her mind began working out where she was. Realizing she was in bed her mind moved on to the next uncomfortable thought, which was how warm she was. She began to stretch and move a little but something held her in place. At this point she slowly opened her eyes. The blood in her face drained and her stomach knotted. Fear flooded through her.
As her body began to wake up she then felt exactly what held her in place. A man, specifically Albus, was holding her close to him, one arm around her torso and another over her shoulder. She could feel his soft beard and warm breath on her neck. Through all the panic and noise in her head, he was still asleep.
The events from the past night came back to her as she calmed herself down. And now different worries began to play through her. She wondered how he would react when he woke. Would he remember what happened? Would he be angry? Sad? Happy? But she knew him well enough to almost predict his reaction.
His feelings, beyond friendship, have always been unknown and yet known all at the same time. He'll take her hand or stare at her for long minutes, but be completely unresponsive or down right oblivious to her own attempts. Whether or not he remembers what happened he will be able to quickly figure it out. And of course before he says anything his mind will be working out all possibilities and outcomes of that night. She could see his face already going from confused to puzzled to thinking to anger and then to guilt. He will blame himself for this because he will know he 'forced' it to happen.
Minerva sighed knowing he will not want to see her again and force himself to believe that's what she wants too. Minerva sighed again, slowly and gently she turned around so she could see his face. His face was content almost happy. She watched him sleep there peacefully wondering if she should just disturb his graceful slumber now and get all the horror she had predicted out of the way.
No, she wouldn't do it, but she wouldn't stay either. She didn't want to think about this, she just had to leave. She leaned in and kissed him softly and then gently slipped out of his arms. She quietly put her clothes back on. Looking back at Albus one more time she left.
Minerva did not speak with him or even send an owl to him for the first few days. She felt as though he should be the one to talk to her if he wanted. So Minerva returned to her life of work.
Every few days Fawkes used to come with a letter from Albus. The phoenix would burst through the wall brightly and land of Minerva's desk. The first few times this happened it would scare her coworkers. One had even gone into a nervous break down. Soon they got used to it and it became part of their normal everyday lives. However as the week progressed there was no Fawkes.
Her coworkers started joking around and teasing Minerva, asking her if she had had a fight with Albus or if he finally got himself a girlfriend that wasn't her. Minerva would smile and laugh weakly to ward off any real question. And it worked, for the most part. Jim was not so easily fooled and he was the first to stop teasing Minerva. It had been two weeks since he had seen Fawkes and he decided to talk to Minerva.
A part of their job was that every two weeks they had to have a medical exam. This was mostly so that if something like a major organ was accidentally transfigured or something it would be found and fixed before anything major happened. Jim took this opportunity to hold back Minerva and have a quick chat.
As always Minerva was one of the last to stop working making Jim's job easy. He quickly and smoothly walked over to her work station. "Hey."
Minerva raised an eyebrow, "Hi?"
"How are you doing?" He asked trying to stay casual while working a way to get to her feelings.
"I'm fine, Jim, how are you?"
"Good, great."
"Good." She responded and began to leave.
"Minerva, wait!"
She stopped and turned to face him. "What is it, Jim?"
"H-has something happened between you and Albus?" He noticed she stiffened at his name.
Quickly recovering Minerva smiled, "Nope, he's probably just busy."
"Okay, I just want to check because you seemed a bit down."
Minerva gave him a small, but true smile, "Thanks, but things are fine."
Jim nodded, feeling somewhat satisfied. "Well let's go." Minerva nodded and walked with Jim to the medical office.
Minerva shook her head later when she was alone in one of the medical rooms. Jim was so odd, she thought to herself. And yet nothing got by him and she knew that. It was only a matter of time before he would ask again and hopefully by then Minerva and Albus were on speaking terms.
The doctor entered the room staring at his note pad. He looked up briefly and smiled at Minerva before he went back to his notes. The old man sat down in a chair across from Minerva and placed his papers on the desk beside him. "Mind if I ask you some personal questions?"
Sighing, Minerva obliged, "Sure." Doctors always need to ask odd questions, part of their thorough examination or something.
"Are you married?"
Minerva's stomach dropped, "No."
"Fiancé, boyfriend?"
"No."
"Unofficial lover then?"
Minerva hesitated wondering if what happened two weeks prior counted, she quickly decided it didn't. "No." She replied.
"Ms McGonagall, I'm your doctor not your priest. Anything you tell only goes into my medical report to my self."
"I'm aware of that." She paused, her mind ticking away the possible outcomes of this conversation.
"How have you been feeling lately, any nausea?"
"A little," She paused, "Actually it's quite bad in the morning, but it doesn't last long."
He nodded picking up his note pad and then scribbled something down, "Are you sexually active?"
Minerva was completely thrown back at the reversal of conversation, "Doctor, where are you going with this?"
This time he sighed, "Well, as you know we have some of the most sensitive medical instruments in the country. We need them because-"
Minerva interrupted, "Because sometimes wizards and witches transfigure their organs into pocket watches. I know that, Doctor, but where is this going?"
"During your examination I picked something up, at first I thought nothing of it, but then something struck me. So I dug a bit deeper." Minerva stared at him and he had hoped she would have guessed. "Well…" He continued, "You're pregnant."
Minerva stopped breathing for a moment, "What?" She finally asked.
"Yes, it's true. I was pretty sure you weren't involved with anyone so I check several times. The embryo is about two weeks old."
"Are you sure, could this be a mistake?"
"Perhaps, but not likely, I will check again at you next examination, but I'm more then sure the results will be the same."
Minerva sat there for a moment stunned, neither her nor the doctor knew what to say. Then she smiled, "They weren't kidding when they said those instruments were powerful."
He chuckled, "So it is safe to say this was natural and not the result of some experiment gone wrong?"
"No, this is all natural." She said still smiling.
"I will have to tell your boss, you won't be allowed to do certain experiments."
Minerva looked at the old wizard, "Don't tell him yet, if you have to make something up, but this will be quite the shock for everyone."
The nodded and then said she could go. He said he would send pamphlets and letters for her new lifestyle by private owl to her home. She thanked him and went back to her desk. By the time she had got there a million thoughts had gone through her mind. The most prominent all concerned Albus. Suddenly overwhelmed she went to her boss' office to ask for the afternoon off.
She knocked and he called through for her to entered and asked, "Sir, could I have the afternoon off?"
He looked up at her from his desk and stared at her thoughtfully, "On one condition," he finally said.
"What's that?"
"Could you take this box to the Auror's department in the Ministry? They had contracted us and a charms company down the street to create it. I think this'll be more then what they need."
Minerva picked up the black box of his desk, "What is it?"
He shook his head, "Not really that important, supposedly top secret, just take it over there for me will you?"
"Sure." She replied.
Minerva returned one more time to her desk to find Jim sitting there waiting for her. She ignored him and picked up her cloak and bag. "Where are you going? He asked.
"Home," He raised an eyebrow, "I'm not feeling well." She lied, throwing her bag over her shoulder.
"Uh-huh," he replied.
She ignored him again and went straight to the fireplace. Using the office floo powder she spun straight to the Ministry. And to her great displeasure the first person she saw was Albus. She quickly ducked into the crowd hoping her didn't spot her coming out of the fireplace.
She watched him for a moment as she pressed up against the wall to avoid being maneuvered somewhere else. He was standing by the fountain staring eccentrically at the statues. He was soon greeted by the Minister of Magic, an elderly man with a passion for heroes like Albus. Albus had turned slightly in Minerva's direction and she quickly ducked again into the crowd.
Not sure where the stream of magic users were going Minerva tried to steer herself towards the elevators. She had just broken free of a particular stubborn group of witches when she bumped into someone and dropped her box. Quickly apologizing and bending down to grab the box, she saw a very familiar pair of hands pick it up first. She looked up and as she straightened her self held eye contact with Albus.
"Minerva…" He breathed quietly; clearly he had not seen her face before he had picked up her box. He quickly recovered with a very believable smile, "Your box, Ms McGonagall." He said holding the box out for her.
She blushed slightly and took hit from his hands, "Thank you, Al-Professor."
The Minister stood by watching the interactions, something both Minerva and Albus caught sight of, Albus as the quickest to make their relationship something that was professional, "How are you?"
"Fine, thank you, and you?"
He smiled a little, "Very well."
Minerva nodded feeling as though the tension would never end, "Well, if you will excuse me," She held up her box a little, "I have a delivery."
"Of course," Albus replied quickly, then gesturing ahead of himself, "Minister." The Minister smiled and nodded to Minerva before both men headed towards his office. Minerva quickly walked in the opposite direction towards the elevators. She took a moment to look back, which she soon regretted because Albus was watching her. She then quickly got into the elevators and watched Albus disappear behind the closing doors.
