Chapter 54-When Pretending Isn't Enough
After the first task of the Triwizard Tournament had been completed, the champions had been told that the second task would not be until February the twenty-fourth. With that in mind, Harry decided that he deserved a much needed break before he attempted to figure out what the screeching that emitted from his golden egg every time it was opened meant. However, with December came a new challenge.
The Yule Ball.
While many girls had asked Harry to the Ball, not one of them was one he would consider taking, two of them being second years, another being a third year, and another was older and at least a foot taller than him. As it turned out, neither Anexandra nor Ron was having much more luck. Plenty of brave souls asked Anexandra, but she didn't even know half of them. Nobody was really sure if Hermione was going with anyone, she tended to avoid the subject. Callisto was excited to report that she was going with Viktor Krum, who had asked her in the library one day, and while Anexandra had proclaimed how lucky Callisto was, and Andromeda had insisted that Cedric was better, Ron had been very sullen and quiet. Fred was going with Angelina Johnson, George – after having gotten over the shock of Andromeda suddenly being obsessed with Cedric Diggory – was going with Katie Bell, and even Io had been asked by someone from Durmstrang, which, naturally, annoyed Perseus, who was not allowed to go unless someone older asked him. A few days before the Ball though, the Patil twins thought it'd be a nice idea if the Dumbledore twins escorted them to the Ball. Pleisthenes and Perseus agreed, and soon Ron, Harry, and Anexandra were the only three left without someone to go with.
"This is getting stupid," said Ron one evening after having asked Fleur to the Ball on an impulse and running away soon after, and then discovering that Hermione also had a date that only Ginny knew who it was, and she wasn't telling. "Ginny, you can go with Harry, and I'll go with Anexandra," he suggested.
"I can't," said Ginny, and her face turned bright red. "I'm going with – with Neville. He asked me when Hermione said no, and I thought…well…I'm not going to be able to go otherwise, I'm not in fourth year. And Io wants someone other than Pleis and Perseus to be there with her incase the whole Durmstrang thing goes sour. I mean, he is four years older than her, it's strange enough already."
"You know," said Aurora, who was seated next to Harry and looking thoughtful. "It is pretty strange that he'd ask her. I mean, I know Io's pretty and all and acts like she's at least five years older than she is, but does he not know that she's a third year?"
"I don't think he does," said Ginny with a shrug. "But even if he does, I don't think he would mind. As long as she doesn't act like a third year there's no problem is there?"
"I suppose," said Aurora, but she seemed to find the whole thing rather odd.
"Well, Mum and Dad are eight years apart," Anexandra pointed out without looking up from the paper airplane she was currently folding together.
"True," said Aurora, "but they weren't together when Gran was a third year."
"Right, right, but we're getting off topic here," said Ron impatiently.
"All right, how about this," Anexandra suggested, looking up from the folded parchment that hardly resembled an airplane, "Ron, you go with Aurora, and I'll go with Harry."
Harry would never admit to anyone how elated he felt in that moment. Instead he kept a straight face as his stomach did flips. Ron looked to Aurora, who looked at Ron, and they both shrugged and said, "Okay."
Anexandra looked to Harry then and asked, "Is that okay with you, Harry?"
Again Harry kept a grin from his face as he replied, "Yeah, sure, sounds great."
"Then that's settled," said Anexandra. "The four of us will go together, as friends, no strings attached, no weirdness."
Ron and Aurora nodded, as did Harry after a slight pause. Suddenly he wasn't quite as excited. Anexandra had said, "As friends." Then again, he should just be happy he was going with her. And after all, she could have said that he should go with Aurora and she with Ron, but she had chosen Harry instead, and she had turned down everyone else that had asked her.
"Good," said Anexandra. "We've all got dates to this damn Yule Ball." And with that, she tore her failed attempt at a paper airplane in half and chucked it into the fireplace.
When at last Christmas break arrived, Albus was relieved. With Christmas came the end of his dull, never-ending meetings – he had made it very clear to everyone that he was not to be bothered over the next two days. Of course, with Christmas break came quite the hectic schedule, what with Isadora and Sirius's wedding, an early Dumbledore Christmas, and then the Yule Ball on Christmas night. But Albus preferred all of this to meetings with the Ministry and the Board of Governors. He was rather excited about this Christmas too. Not only was there going to be a wedding, but an early Christmas as well. While Minerva was rather agitated about having to put together an entire wedding with little help (of course, she said nothing of it so as not to make it seem she was not happy for Isadora and Sirius and glad for the opportunity to help out, because she was, but Albus could tell she was becoming stressed) Albus was sure it would be great fun, and the grandchildren weren't the only ones who were excited to be receiving over half of their Christmas presents a day early. So in the weeks before Christmas break Albus had been seriously impatient and he was ecstatic that it had come at last.
Now, with two days before Christmas day – when Albus and Minerva and their youngest children would have to return to Hogwarts – Albus was packing the rest of he and Minerva and Minaveara's things while Minerva readied herself to leave. The three quadruplets, the twin boys, Aurora, and Harry would be arriving in the next ten minutes or so to go to the Dumbledore home. Since Harry was the best man in Sirius and Isadora's wedding, he was going to be helping with the decorations and such. At least until Isadora arrived, at which time he would be going to Isadora's house where he would stay with Sirius until the wedding the next day. Isadora had found the whole 'staying away from one another the day before the wedding' ridiculous, but Sirius had insisted, saying that it would be "great fun", and so she had agreed and she and Aurora would stay at the Dumbledore home and get ready for the wedding there.
Albus hummed to himself as he floated around the room, checking and double checking to make sure that he and Minerva and Minaveara had everything they would need for the next two days. They had a lot of things at home of course, but since they stayed at the castle the longest, many of their necessities were there, and the supplies at home were merely backup. In order to keep Minerva as unstressed as possible, Albus was doing his best to take care of everything. And of course, Minerva had only reminded him a million times of what they needed to take home with them, so he was quite sure he'd get it all.
After checking the luggage once more, Albus tip-toed into Minaveara's room to check that the toddler was still napping. When he was sure that she was fine, he went back to he and Minerva's bedroom, where he found Minerva checking to make sure that Albus had packed everything.
Chuckling, he walked up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and kissing her on the cheek before saying, "I think you'll find that everything is in order."
"Are you quite sure?" said Minerva, leaning back in his embrace and placing her hands atop his.
Albus didn't miss the smirk on her face, and he smiled, leaning down to trail his lips along the side of her neck. Minerva sighed and let her head fall to the side, intertwining her fingers with Albus's. "Yes, m'dear, I am quite sure," he murmured against her skin and she inhaled sharply. "So, does the ever-beautiful Professor McGonagall have a partner to the Yule Ball?"
Minerva trailed her fingers along the back of Albus's hands as she replied, "Oh yes, and a handsome man he is too. And how about you, Headmaster? Have any leggy bimbos caught your attention?"
Albus snorted quietly, his lips now just behind her ear. "Such language, Professor, I'd have never expected…but to answer your question, she does have a rather nice set of legs actually –" Minerva choked slightly at this – "but I wouldn't consider her a bimbo, far from it actually, some say she's the most intelligent woman in the world."
Albus noticed that Minerva was quietly laughing, apparently his leg comment had amused her, and then she turned in his embrace, slipping her arms around his neck and leaning forward to press her lips against his. His hands took hold of her hips, and she entangled her fingers in his hair to pull him even closer. Just as their lips parted and the kiss deepened, a voice called out, "Mum! Dad! We're here!"
Minerva and Albus pulled apart, her hands falling to his chest as she smiled slightly and stepped out of his embrace.
"Perhaps we shall continue this later," said Albus, grinning at Minerva suggestively.
But she merely let out a disbelieving laugh and said, "With everything I have to do today? I doubt it."
While Albus knew perfectly well the amount of work they had ahead of them, he still let his bottom lip jut out in his best pout. Minerva raised a brow, but said nothing, instead placing a quick kiss to his lips before exiting the room to go meet the children.
Albus followed, finding Anexandra, Callisto, Pleis, Perseus, Harry, and Aurora in the sitting room. Aurora was talking to Harry, who looked as if he felt slightly awkward – Albus did not blame him, it was probably rather odd to be in one's teachers' rooms. Anexandra was seated on the couch, her legs up on the coffee table in front of her as she twisted around something Albus recalled was a Muggle object called a Rubik's cube. Callisto was quietly arguing with Pleis and Perseus about something.
As Minerva strode through the sitting room she said, "Anexandra, feet off the table."
Anexandra didn't look up as she said, "Yeah, sure, Mum," and removed her feet from the table, only to put them right back when Minerva passed by her and into Minaveara's room.
Before Albus could tell Anexandra to remove her feet from the table, Minerva's voice called out, "I mean it, Anexandra!"
Anexandra sighed and placed her feet on the floor, still not looking up from her Rubik's cube. And then Minerva entered the room once more, this time with Minaveara on her hip. As Minaveara rubbed at her eyes sleepily, Minerva's eyes searched the room and she furrowed her brow.
"Where's Andromeda?"
Albus frowned and cast his eyes about as well. Indeed, Andromeda was missing.
The children stopped talking and groaned loudly.
And then, in a mocking tone, Anexandra said, "Saying goodbye to Cedric."
In an instant, Albus was halfway across the room and nearly to his office when suddenly Minerva's hand wrapped around his arm and she pulled him back into the room saying, "Now, Albus –"
"Minerva," he said in an impatient sort of tone, "you know what they're doing down there."
"And going down there to drag Andromeda up here will do nothing to make these next two days pleasant. Trust me, dear, you don't want Andromeda to be angry at you on Christmas."
Albus was not giving up so easily, and he flung his arms around dramatically as he sputtered, "But, Minerva –"
"Stop it, Albus," she admonished, still not letting go of his arm. "Honestly you've had ten daughters, four of which are married, you should be used to this by now."
"He's three years older, Minerva!" he pointed out once again, and Minerva sighed.
"And you're eight years older than me, Albus," she said, as if that made everything else okay.
"At least I waited until you were of age!" Albus persisted.
Minerva raised a brow. "Hardly."
"You were eighteen," said Albus with an air of finality, folding his arms across his chest. "You were a year and seven months past being of age."
"Obviously, but there were other factors at stake, dear," Minerva pointed out, repositioning Minaveara onto her other hip. "Now hush, Andromeda's on her way up."
In that moment Albus looked very much like a child that hadn't gotten his way, and just when Minerva began to envision him stomping his foot and slamming his bedroom door like so many of the Dumbledore children had done when they were young, Andromeda slipped into the room.
She instantly took notice of everyone in the room staring at her, as well as the looks on her parents' faces, and she whirled on Callisto. "You were supposed to cover for me!" she shrieked.
Callisto raised a brow, eyeing Andromeda as if she were lacking a few brain cells before replying, "You really expected me to lie to them?" Her gaze flickered to Albus and Minerva, who smirked proudly at Callisto's words. "Besides, it was Anexandra who told them."
"Was not!" Anexandra shouted, rising to her feet and dropping the Rubik's cube to the floor.
Before the argument could continue, Albus said, very seriously, "Andromeda, you shouldn't need your sister to 'cover for you' you're far too young to be dating Cedric Diggory –"
Minerva sighed, placed one hand over one of Minaveara's ears and pressed the other against her chest before bracing herself for what was to come.
"Ugh! Dad! You're so old!"
Surprised, Minerva opened her eyes and loosened her grip on Minaveara's head. That, by far, had been the quietest outburst from Andromeda that Minerva had ever witnessed.
"Why yes, I am old," said Albus simply.
Before he could continue, Minerva cut in, "All right, no arguments, we've got a monumental amount of work. So everybody get your things and let's go." When nobody moved, she swept a 'teacher look' around the room and said, "Now!"
And at last everyone jumped and hurried about the room to pick up their bags and stand by the fireplace.
By the end of the day, everyone that had helped set up the wedding was exhausted. Minaveara had wrapped herself in streamers and then fallen asleep curled up in a large basket center piece that had yet to be put together, which startled Harry when he had been about to place the flowers in said basket. Callisto fell asleep sitting in a chair and putting together a smaller center piece herself, Anexandra sprawled atop a table, and Andromeda lying on the floor wrapped in a table cloth and clutching a letter from Cedric. Pleis and Perseus had been smart enough to simply go up to their own beds. Harry left to go to Sirius's right before he too fell asleep; but Aurora stayed awake with her mother, Albus, and Minerva to finish the preparation.
When at last all was ready for the wedding and the Dumbledore Christmas dinner the next day, the four of them collapsed onto their beds and fell asleep instantly, only to rise early the next morning to finish everything. By the time Dumbledores began to arrive, Christmas dinner was nearly finished and the wedding was all set and ready to go. Eliana and Helena did not make an appearance. After a quick, yet wonderful wedding, Isadora and Sirius were at last married, and then there was the Christmas dinner, and by the end of that night everyone was yet again exhausted. The next morning was Christmas day, and everyone received the rest of their gifts. Then, that afternoon, after a small Christmas lunch with Albus, Minerva, the youngest Dumbledore children, and Harry and Aurora – they had stayed at the Dumbledore home to allow Sirius and Isadora their wedding night to themselves – they returned to Hogwarts, where Albus and Minerva buried themselves in work once more. They had stacks of letters to respond to and the Yule Ball to prepare.
And then at last the – in some cases – dreaded Yule Ball had begun. However, there were also many students who were rather excited. Almost everyone old enough to attend the Yule Ball had stayed at Hogwarts for Christmas, and, to Harry, it was strange to see the mass of students in bright colored robes and dresses instead of the usual black. There was a feast at the beginning of the Ball, where the Champions and their partners sat at a large table with the Triwizard judges and Minerva and Minaveara. Mr. Crouch, however, was missing, and instead Percy was taking his place. After the feast the champions started the dancing, followed soon after by many other students and teachers alike, including Albus and Minerva – who danced with Minaveara in their arms between them. While Harry danced with Anexandra, he looked around and noticed Ginny dancing with Neville – Ginny wincing frequently as Neville trod on her feet. Aurora seemed to have managed to force Ron onto the dance floor and Pleis and Perseus were dancing with the Patil twins, though it was obvious neither one of them were paying much attention to the girls they were dancing with. And then Harry noticed Hermione, surprised, at first, to see how unlike Hermione she looked, her hair now sleek and shiny instead of bushy.
But then Harry noticed who Hermione had come to the Ball with, and he glanced quickly at Anexandra to see if she too had noticed. She had. And she did not look at all happy. Of course, she was hiding it well, but four years of friendship had accustomed Harry to her unreadable facial expressions, and the imperceptible narrowing of her eyes was one of her more frequented expressions. Harry's stomach plummeted as all hopes of enjoying the Ball with Anexandra vanished. Of course she was going to be annoyed, she had only technically stopped speaking to Daniel Star a few weeks ago and now one of her closest friends was dancing with him. And not only was Anexandra now in a foul mood, but it looked as if Ron was now as well – Ron was not quite as discrete as he glared at Callisto and Viktor Krum.
The rest of the Yule Ball was rather dull and yet extremely eventful. Anexandra and Hermione got into an argument, in which Hermione insisted she had thought Anexandra wouldn't mind and she was terribly sorry while Anexandra ignored her. And then, after a discussion with Hermione, Daniel approached the table Anexandra and Harry and Ron were sat at, ignored the glares Harry sent him, and asked Anexandra for a dance. Anexandra refused at least three times before she finally conceded. Hermione took Anexandra's seat and struck up a conversation with Harry, who kept an eye on Anexandra and Daniel as he spoke to Hermione. While Anexandra was away, Callisto approached Harry's table and started talking with Harry and Hermione, only to end up in an argument with Ron about her choice in escort to the Ball, ending with Callisto storming off and Ron becoming even sulkier. Aurora tried to cheer him up, but failed miserably, and instead went to find Pleis, Perseus, Ginny, and Io. Harry spoke to Hermione until sometime later when Anexandra returned to apologize to Hermione. Once Hermione had returned to Daniel at Anexandra's insistence, she informed Harry that she and Daniel were no longer angry at one another as they had been for almost a month, but they were only friends, which made Harry at least somewhat happier. After all this, Ron and Harry and Anexandra went outside, both to get some air and to get away from Percy. Once there they heard Karkaroff arguing with Severus about something becoming "clearer," and overheard Hagrid and Madame Maxime talking rather intimately which ended as soon as Hagrid called Madame Maxime a half-giant. Madame Maxime stormed off as many people seemed to be doing that night, Professor McGonagall being one of them. After a brief dance with Professor Moody, Harry had seen her striding from the Great Hall with pursed lips and clenched fists. She did not return until the Ball was nearly over and Minaveara had fallen asleep in Albus's arms in such an odd way that it rendered him incapable of searching for his wife without jostling the toddler awake.
Overall, Harry was somewhat relieved when the Yule Ball ended at midnight. Especially when, after receiving some advice from Cedric in reference to his golden egg, Harry returned to the Gryffindor common room with Anexandra, who kissed him on the cheek before saying goodnight, patting him on the shoulder with one hand as she stifled a yawn with her other hand. Harry fell asleep feeling rather content that night.
However, on the other side of the castle, the Headmaster and his Deputy were only just returning to their rooms with their sleeping toddler. While Albus took Minaveara to her bedroom, Minerva flopped onto the edge of their bed rather ungracefully, a sigh escaping her lips as she lifted one leg up to pull her boot off. After wrestling both boots off of her feet, she chucked them to the other side of the room, too exhausted to do anything else with them, and too confused to think about how lazy and uncouth it was to throw ones shoes across the room instead of getting up and walking them to the proper place. She waved her wand once, banishing her heavy robe, a nightgown taking its place, and then leaned back to place her wand on her bedside table. Once she had straightened up once more, she propped her left ankle up on her right knee and massaged her foot, grimacing at her sore muscles. She had been on her feet far too much in the past three days. When her fingers did nothing to ease the throbbing, she simply let her feet dangle off the edge of the bed, closing her eyes as she attempted to rub her neck instead.
A few moments later, she heard Albus entering the room, felt his magical signature growing nearer, smelled the scent of lemon drops that seemed to follow him, and then felt the bed sink under his weight as he sat down beside her. She felt him leaning toward her, his breath on her neck, and then his lips brushed her cheek and his hands took hold of hers, placing them on the bed. After shifting on the bed once more, she felt his legs on either side of her as his own hands took up the work and he began massaging her shoulders. She sighed contentedly, letting her head fall forward and her hands fall to his thighs, massaging them gently as if in a sort of thanks.
After a few moments of silence, his hands trailed down her back before coming to rest on her hips, and then he placed a kiss on her neck before resting his chin on her shoulder and saying, "So where did you disappear to halfway through the Yule Ball?"
Minerva's eyes opened, but she did not answer right away. Instead she leaned back against Albus, laying her head on his shoulder and looking up at him with tired eyes before replying, "I don't want to talk about it right now, Albus."
He didn't seem about to let up that easily, though, so Minerva leaned forward and pressed her lips firmly against his. When he didn't pull away, she turned around to place herself on his lap, ignoring the voice in the back of her head telling her that seducing her husband so she wouldn't have to answer a question was utterly ridiculous and probably morally wrong. Instead she pushed him onto his back, still not detaching her lips from his.
But Albus wasn't just considered the most intelligent wizard in the world for no reason. He knew exactly what Minerva was up to, and as difficult as it was for him to refuse her attention, he knew he must. So, by gripping Minerva's elbows and pressing the back of his head into the mattress, he managed to free his lips to say, "Minerva, as much as I enjoy what you're doing here I'm sure that you're just as tired as I am and our remaining strength should be used to discuss the reason you left the Yule Ball without even informing me so." He frowned. "I was rather worried you know."
Minerva frowned then too and moved to sit on the bed once more. Albus pushed himself up into a sitting position beside her and gave her a questioning look. Minerva took a deep breath, wondering how she was to explain herself this time. She hadn't planned to leave the Ball without so much as a glance in her husband's direction, but she had been so damn angry. She could not figure out why Alastor Moody seemed so much different. And when he had asked her to dance, she hadn't thought it would end with her stomping away to a secluded corridor to sit on the edge of a statue and stare into space for an hour. After all, back when Albus and Minerva had gone to Ministry Ball's at the insistence of the Minister or one of their friends, Minerva had always had at least one dance with Alastor. She had known him since she was eighteen, and he was like a sort of older brother to her. So dancing with him didn't seem like an issue. Yes, she had seen something strange in his eyes at least three times since the beginning of term, but she had convinced herself she was seeing things. And in the past few weeks when Albus was away and Alastor had spoken to her in the corridors about absolutely nothing important and seemed to show up everywhere she went, she had also decided to ignore that. But being so close to him while they danced, with nothing else really on her mind, she had been forced to see what she had been ignoring, and it seemed Alastor knew what she was seeing.
It had started out innocent enough, the dancing, but halfway through the song Minerva's sense of unease had become unbearable and she could no longer avoid what she could feel so clearly. The hand on her waist was in its appropriate place, but she felt like it was burning a hole through the side of her robes. And the hand that was placed in hers felt like it was covered in thumbtacks or needles that were pricking her skin and making it itchy and uncomfortable. And the wooden leg nearly stepped on her foot twice, which had never happened before because Alastor had refused to dance with her again until he had figured out how to walk with that wooden leg and that had been ages ago. And then she had looked into his eye, his normal eye – the magical one had unnerved her since the moment he got it, but she had learned to live with it for the most part – and he didn't have that normal playful cockiness she always saw in his eye when they danced. It was just something that was always there, but wasn't now. Alastor always teased Albus about "winning" Minerva, and then proceeded to pretend to act as if he were fantastic because he was dancing with thee Minerva Dumbledore, and then Minerva would promptly have some sort of witty remark.
But none of that happened when Minerva and Alastor danced that night. Instead, Minerva spent most of the dance reaching out with her own magic in an attempt to understand the strange magic surrounding Alastor. It was almost…foggy, there were traces of Alastor, but then something else that was nearly another person and yet…wasn't, she was just so confused. And then Alastor's gruff voice had caught her attention as he said, "You don't trust me."
Startled, Minerva very nearly tripped and looked surprised, but she was very good at dancing and hiding feelings, so she covered up her misstep and kept a neutral expression as well. Then she had raised a brow and replied, "What are you talking about, Alastor?"
"You've been acting strange since the day I got here, Minerva," he had said, and that's when she snapped.
SHE had been acting strange? What about HIM? She didn't say anything else, and as soon as the dance ended she stormed off, students scrambling out of her way as she went, until she found a secluded corridor far enough from the Great Hall for her to feel comfortable. There she sat, staring off into space and thinking, hard. In fact her head was still pounding from the extreme thinking she had experienced only about an hour ago. She just could not understand what was going on. Why was Alastor suddenly so different, or rather, why was she the only one who thought so? Was she truly losing her mind? She didn't have an answer, couldn't find an answer, and it made her angry. It wasn't as if she thought she knew the answer to everything, but this was her friend. Her husband's best man at her wedding. The man who had jumped in front of a curse that had been directed at one of her children. And the man who had trained her to be an Auror and drilled "constant vigilance" into her brain. And yet now she felt uncomfortable around him.
Sighing, Minerva faced her husband as she began to explain why she had left, why she was so frustrated. He listened attentively as he always did, but she could see the battle raging in his eyes and she felt miserable for it. Here was his wife, complaining to him about his best friend who he had known before he had even met Minerva. She had vowed to herself that she would never be one of those wives, among other things, but most especially she had never wanted to basically take away all of her husband's freedom by forbidding him to be friends with who he wanted to be friends with. Of course, she wasn't exactly forbidding him from being friends with Alastor, but that was the conclusion he would jump to. He would assume she wanted Alastor gone, or he would at least think it best so as to ease his wife's discomfort. So, abruptly, she stopped talking, bit her lip, and shook her head.
"Ignore everything I've just told you," said Minerva, waving her hand in a sort of dismissive manner. "I'm just confused. There's a lot going on and we haven't seen Alastor in a while. I'm being overly paranoid and I'm sorry I've bothered you with this."
With that, she leaned forward to give Albus a quick kiss, and then sat back, stroking his cheek and forcing a smile in an effort to convince him. He eyed her warily for a few moments and said, "Minerva, you don't have to lie –"
"I'm not," she interrupted him, taking his hands in hers and squeezing them reassuringly, trying to convince herself even more than she was trying to convince him.
