I got lots of reviews! I got more reviews for this story than for any story
I've ever posted on here! Oh yay I'm so happy! To my reviewers:
Isabelle3: LOL you don't like fish either! Hahahaha. Sorry, that's funny. Well when Lent comes just eat broccoli. LOL. Yeah I know the chapters were mixed up and I fixed that. I also fixed Filius' name. I didn't know that was really his name. You'll see exactly what Minerva thinks in this chapter, this is the last chapter of the story. I'm glad you like my story and thanks for reviewing!
darlingdearheart: Yes please scold me if I take too long in posting, I wouldn't want to keep everyone waiting! This chapter took a little longer to post than the others because after I wrote it I didn't beta it right away; and it felt like it was missing something. It still kinda feels like it's missing something. What do you think? I'm so happy you like my story so much!
WitchWhoopie: Here is your update!
Jestana: Beg pardon for the cliffie; at least it wasn't that bad, right?
mascaret: Yes Albus is very bad, he should know better!
PrincessWitch: Hehe, I liked the part where Fawkes snorted too! I like to know that my stories are enjoyed by people, whether they laugh or go aww, or they just like it because it touches them in some way. That's what's so great about writing. Maybe you could call the kid a chuckbutt. That sounds kind of weird though...lol. I wouldn't know what colorguard could do to you...~Loud whisper: What's colorguard?~ What did you post? I'll read it for you if you'd like. Yeah Albus was kinda moody. I'm glad it dodn't look overly dramatic or something. Yes, Albus hissed at Snape. Now THAT was funny. You know what? I think you had a little TOO much coffee.
Griselda La Fey: Well Minerva almost....:O There I am almost giving everything away again! Ahh! Yay another person who likes Fawkes lol.
Minni: Just read. LOL.
SpiderSquirrel: You mean Albus is a perv? Lol. You said prev. Haha. Sorry. I'm glad you love it, but please don't flame all of my stories and hit me! Nooooooo!
Mini Minerva: You added me to your favorite authors list! Yay! I am so flustered! Oh wait that's not the word I was looking for...oh yeah! Flattered! Wow!
Window Girl: Hehe, no she's not...Stop making me give it all away!
punurple: Nooooo!!!!!!!! Not Dick and Jane! Please No! Get it away! ~Breathes heavily.~ Ahem. Better now. LOL. Well remember this is the last chapter so there will not be several chapters where Minerva is mad at him, but yeah you'll find out in this chapter because this is the end of the story!
Thanks everybody, I really appreciate the reviews, and please keep reviewing! Oh and just to let you know the paragraph that has the @ symbol before and after it is the pragraph that was written based on a dream I had about me and my boyfriend. It's almost exactly the same. Except of course, I'm not Minerva and Albus is not my boyfriend....pity. Anyways, as the ending chapter of my story I feel like something special should happen. As I told darlingdearheart, this chapter felt like something was missing. I'm not sure what.....so yeah review and tell me what you think! Ooh I know! Let's have a poll! review me and tell me which of my stories you like the best! Yay! Poll!
Chapter Five (Last chapter!)
You Didn't Know (Last chapter!)
@#@#@#@#@#@#@#@ (Last chapter!)
(Last chapter! Ok, I'm shutting up now, just read.) When he got to her bedroom doors, he knocked, shuffling from foot to foot anxiously, like a little boy. When she opened her door and saw him she smiled. "Why Albus! Hello! What are you doing here? Come in."
Albus came into the room and looked at Minerva. She was in a white nightgown that reached the floor, and her black hair was in a long braid down her back. "Minerva," he started, "I need to tell you-"
"You found my journal!" She interrupted, spotting the book in his hands.
Albus swallowed. "Ah yes, that's partly what I came to talk to you about." He handed her her journal.
She took it with a smile on her face. "Wonderful, I've been looking all over for this."
Albus smiled weakly. How on earth was he going to tell her?
She looked at him. "Where did you find it?"
Albus blinked. "I didn't, uh, find it."
"Oh really? Who did?"
"Minerva-" He sighed. "No one found it. It was..." He inhaled. "Uh, taken."
Several emotions passed over Minerva's face; horror, fear, and anger. "Who?" She asked, hardly daring to breath.
Albus breathed deeply, and laughed weakly. "Ah, well..."
"Who Albus?"
"It was..." He sighed. "Uh, Minerva, I-I..." He sighed again.
"Spit it out Albus, I want to know."
He looked at her, sorrow and regret on his face. He opened his mouth to tell her, than closed it again. He opened it again for a moment, then ended up breathing out. "Minerva, I-I'm so sorry."
Minerva looked at him. "Sorry? Will you just tell me?!"
Albus swallowed again and looked at his feet. "It was me, Minerva." He said quietly. "I took your journal, and read it."
(A/N: I could leave it here, but I'm not THAT mean.)
Minerva's face became tight with anger. "You what?" She whispered in a dangerously low voice.
He looked at her sorrowfully. "I took it and read it. I'm sorry Minerva."
Minerva's jaw set. "How DARE you!???! I TRUSTED you Albus! Well now I know I was wrong to do so. Of all the people I thought would read it, YOU were not one of them! I didn't think your curiosity would be so strong that it overpowered your respect for me and my privacy!!!"
"Minerva, I'm sorry. It was wrong, I know." He looked at his feet.
"That's just IT Albus! You KNEW it was wrong! You knew it was wrong, but you did it anyways! You took my private journal, opened it, and read it, knowing the whole time that what you were doing was wrong! You read it without giving one thought as to how I would feel when I found out. Or did you not plan on telling me? Did you plan on keeping it forever? Or did you plan on pretending to find it? I'm surprised you even came to me at all!" She was shouting at him, trying hard not to turn purple with rage. She took a deep breath to calm herself, and threw the journal onto her bed. "How could you do such a thing to me, Albus!? How could you?" She was on the verge of tears. "How much did you read?"
Albus touched her arm. "Minerva, please calm down, before you hurt yourself." He wasn't about to admit how much the things she'd said had hurt him.
She flung off his arm. "How much did you read, Albus?" She asked stonily, gritting her teeth. She was angry, yes, but also afraid. Afraid of what he could have read. "And I will not calm down, thank you very much! I'll do just as I please! Now tell me!"
He looked at her sadly. "Quite a lot, I'm afraid."
Minerva swallowed back a sob. "I want you to leave. Now." She pointed to the door.
Albus looked at her, alarmed. "But Minerva-"
"Leave now, please. I don't want to talk to you right now. Besides, I'm not sure anything I say in your presence will stay between us anymore. How can I ever trust you again?" She asked him, tears welling up in her eyes. "Please, just leave."
Albus, opened his mouth as if to say something; but thought better of it when he saw her pick up an empty candlestick. "Leave Albus, or I WILL throw this at you!" She said angrily, her arm shaking.
Albus hurriedly left the room, closing the door behind him.
Minerva dropped the candlestick on the floor with a dull thunk; and threw herself onto her bed; sobbing. "How could he?" She whispered to herself over and over again. "How could he do that to me?" She sat up and wiped her eyes. "Oh, what did he read, what did he read?" She picked up the candlestick and threw it across the room. "Oh confound that Albus!" She fumed, before bursting into tears again.
Albus leaned against Minerva's closed door and sighed heavily. 'Albus old boy,' he thought tiredly, 'you really messed up this time.' He sighed again. 'What am I going to do?' He thought. 'The worst part of all of that was knowing that she was right. And I deserved every word.' He passed his hand over his jaw. 'I should've given it back sooner. Actually, I shouldn't have taken it at all.' He stepped back from the door and looked at it. "I should leave her alone." He mused aloud. He looked at the door again, and shaking his head, left. As he walked along the hallways, he thought. 'She hates me now. She must. And frankly, I don't blame her. She'll never trust me again; with good reason. Unless...Unless I can prove to her how sorry I am!' He snapped his fingers. 'But how am I going to do that? Knowing Minerva, she won't speak to me again for days. I have no idea what I could do...I suppose I could have a nice decent talk with her, without either of us shouting, but I doubt she'd agree to that. Oh well it's worth a try. After dinner tomorrow night, I will try to have a talk with her. I'll tell her that I feel horrible for what I did, and I'll tell her...what will I tell her? I do feel horrible for what I did, but that doesn't exactly make up for it. I'll just have to tell her I'm sorry and hope she'll forgive me.'
The next morning, Albus woke up and the first thing that popped into his head was: 'oh no'. He made his way down to the Great Hall and sat down in his seat tiredly. He could hear the teachers look at him and start whispering. But he didn't care. He'd been up all night beating himself up over his mistake, and now he was dead tired. He hadn't fallen asleep until 7:00; only an hour ago. He leaned his head on his hand and rested his elbow on the table. He closed his eyes and tried to drown out the noise of the Great Hall. Suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Albus, are you all right?" It was Poppy Pomfrey.
Albus looked up into her face, blinking slowly to bring her back into focus. "Yes, just fine Poppy."
"Albus don't give me that! No offense; but you look terrible!"
"Thank you, Poppy." He said rather dryly.
"And it's not just that you look exhausted; you don't seem to have that spark in you," she continued.
"Poppy!" He exclaimed. "I'm fine! I'm tired, I had a restless night! It happens to the best of us, ok? Now would you please stop hampering me needlessly?" He put his head back down on his hand.
He hadn't realized that he'd raised his voice and that everyone in the Great Hall was staring at him in shock. No one had ever, ever heard their Headmaster shout in anger; only to get their attention. But here he was, yelling at a teacher. Minerva had just walked in the Great Hall to hear him shout, and her mouth fairly dropped open in amazement. Poor Poppy stared at him, her eyes wide. Then she turned and sat back down in her place; not saying a word.
Minerva walked silently up to her seat and sat down. Albus felt her sit down beside him, and he tensed. After a few seconds he remembered that he needed to start the meal. He stood up. "Enjoy your breakfast," he muttered.
He sat back down and leaned towards Minerva. "Minerva," he started. But she stopped him.
"Not now, Albus, I'll talk to you later." She turned away from him and he sighed quietly to himself, picking at his food.
Later that evening, after a long restless nap, Albus headed towards Minerva's rooms again. He walked slowly, trying to plan out what he was going to say to her. Unfortunately, the only thing that he could think of was how he deserved to be slapped. Before he knew it he was at Minerva's rooms again. Dinner had been over long ago and he hoped that she was still awake. Just in case she wasn't, he knocked gently on her door.
She opened it right away, and looked him over closely. "Come in." She said shortly, obviously still irritated with him.
He stepped into her room and she closed the door behind him. There was a short silence, then: "Well?" She asked him.
He sighed. "Minerva, I'm sorry. I know it was wrong and I feel bad about it, and I don't want to do it again, and...what else can I say?"
"What did you read?" She asked.
He looked at his feet. "I read about me teasing you about your hair, I read about me not paying more attention to you, I read about you and Severus." He couldn't tell her about the last part. Especially since he wasn't sure if she still felt the same way.
"And?" Minerva asked suspiciously.
Albus didn't say anything.
"Albus, how could you do that? I trusted you!"
Albus didn't say anything.
"I knew that you wouldn't read it; or at least that's what I thought."
Albus didn't say anything.
"You have no idea how many thoughts and real, true, feelings I put in that journal!"
Oh yes, he had an idea.
"Albus will you say something!?"
He looked her in the face. "Will you forgive me Minerva?"
She sighed. "Yes."
"Will you trust me?"
She closed her eyes then opened them again. "I don't know Albus."
Albus picked up Minerva's journal, from where it had been laying on her nighttable. He sat down on her bed and opened the journal.
"Albus!" Minerva shrieked. She grabbed for it but he held it out of her reach. "Albus Dumbledore, give that to me right now." She said in the sternest voice she could muster.
He just turned away from her and pretended to read. Only Minerva didn't know he was just pretending. She reached for it again, but he jumped up and went over to the window, still pretending to read. She ran after him, and while trying to grab the journal, shoved him back towards the bed, away from the window. He kept holding it out of her reach, leaning away from her. What he really wanted to do was lean towards her. He wanted to grab her and kiss her and be as close to her as he could get. But he had to play his cards just right to win the game.
"Albus, I'm warning you, if you don't give that back to me right now, I'll- "
"You'll what?" He asked her.
"Give it to me!"
He sat back down on the bed and she jumped at him. All of a sudden before she knew what had happened, he had grabbed her and flipped her around and was leaning over her on the bed, the journal lying forgotten on a pillow. She stared at him, panting, and he looked back into her eyes, a faint smile on his face. Suddenly he leaned down and gave her a soft, wet, sensual, and loving kiss on the lips. He pulled back and looked into her shocked eyes.
'Oh no.'
He leapt off of her and fled out her door. What had he done? Oh, for the sake of wands, what had he done?
Minerva sat up and stared after him. Her heart was beating fast and her stomach was flipping over. She touched her lips; hardly daring to believe what had just happened. She slowly stood up and and slipped on her robe. She made her way to Albus' office, hoping that that was where he'd gone to when he left her room. She gave the stone gargoyle the password and then stepped onto the revolving staircase, twisting her hair nervously as she went up. When she reached his door; she took a deep breath and knocked.
Albus had run as fast as he could back to his office wondering what he should do with himself. He had tryed to decide between diving in to the lake with the giant squid or letting Peeves beat him up. He had kissed her because...well frankly, he couldn't resist. There she was just looking at him, eyes wide, and her lips parted slightly...He was leaning over her, barely 5 inches from her lips, and then he just couldn't stop himself. He had kissed her, and now she might slap him the next time she saw him. This was what he was thinking when he heard the knocking on his door. He groaned and buried his face in his hands. "Come in." He said reluctantly. 'May as well get this over with,' he thought.
Minerva stepped into his office and closed the door behind her. She turned and looked at Albus. The most powerful wizard on earth was embarressed to look at her. She walked over to him, and watched him silently as he picked at a thread on his afghan. He turned and faced the fire. "Minerva," he started, "I just want you to know that I'm sorry for...kissing you, and..." Minerva just looked at him as he droned on. She wasn't really listening to him anymore.
@Then gathering up a bundle of courage; she turned his head to face her, and kissed him, cutting off his words. For a moment he sat there in shock. Then he gently kissed her back, before pulling away and continuing to talk, as if nothing had happened. Minerva stood, looking at the side of his head, upset, until she looked at his eyes. They were wide open in shock and wonder. She smiled slightly.@
Then she noticed that Albus was stuttering.
"I-I-I feel like I-I-I should be p-p-punished in s-s-some way f-f-for what I-I-I did."
Then suddenly he rose to his feet. He had stopped talking and looked her straight in the eye. "You wrote in your journal that you loved me," he said quietly.
Minerva sighed and nodded. She had expected that.
"Do you love Severus?"
Minerva was confused. "You read what I wrote about you, why are you asking about Severus?" She asked.
"Are you sure you don't love him?" Albus asked, to reassure himself.
Minerva smiled. "I've never loved Severus, Albus, not in that way."
"I wanted to strangle Severus when I read that," Albus said looking at the ground.
'Oh; so that's what Albus was so angry at Severus about!' Minerva thought.
Albus looked up at the ceiling. "Do you hate me now, Minerva?"
"Albus Dumbledore!" Minerva exclaimed, shocked. "Don't you ever say that to me again! I love you so much-and no matter what you do, that will never change." She turned away in a huff.
Albus looked at her back and smiled. He walked up behind her, then suddenly, he twirled her around and kissed her long and hard. When they broke apart he looked at her. "I've always wanted to do that," he said.
Minerva laughed and kissed his cheek. Then her eyes widened and running to his desk; she pulled out a piece of parchment and grabbed his quill. She started to write on the parchment.
"Minerva?" Albus inquired curiously.
She looked up. "Hmm? Oh, I'm writing a letter."
"A letter?"
"Yes, a letter to my cousin thanking her for the journal that admitted my true feelings when I could not." She smiled at Albus, and he smiled back, his eyes twinkling merrily.
He walked up to her, and caressed her cheek. "Two words Minerva. 'I love you.'"
He leaned down and they shared a long and sweet kiss before pulling apart. Minerva smiled at him before a frown crossed her face. "Albus, 'I love you' is three words, not two."
Albus burst out laughing. "Ah yes, I was wondering when you'd notice!"
The End
Isabelle3: LOL you don't like fish either! Hahahaha. Sorry, that's funny. Well when Lent comes just eat broccoli. LOL. Yeah I know the chapters were mixed up and I fixed that. I also fixed Filius' name. I didn't know that was really his name. You'll see exactly what Minerva thinks in this chapter, this is the last chapter of the story. I'm glad you like my story and thanks for reviewing!
darlingdearheart: Yes please scold me if I take too long in posting, I wouldn't want to keep everyone waiting! This chapter took a little longer to post than the others because after I wrote it I didn't beta it right away; and it felt like it was missing something. It still kinda feels like it's missing something. What do you think? I'm so happy you like my story so much!
WitchWhoopie: Here is your update!
Jestana: Beg pardon for the cliffie; at least it wasn't that bad, right?
mascaret: Yes Albus is very bad, he should know better!
PrincessWitch: Hehe, I liked the part where Fawkes snorted too! I like to know that my stories are enjoyed by people, whether they laugh or go aww, or they just like it because it touches them in some way. That's what's so great about writing. Maybe you could call the kid a chuckbutt. That sounds kind of weird though...lol. I wouldn't know what colorguard could do to you...~Loud whisper: What's colorguard?~ What did you post? I'll read it for you if you'd like. Yeah Albus was kinda moody. I'm glad it dodn't look overly dramatic or something. Yes, Albus hissed at Snape. Now THAT was funny. You know what? I think you had a little TOO much coffee.
Griselda La Fey: Well Minerva almost....:O There I am almost giving everything away again! Ahh! Yay another person who likes Fawkes lol.
Minni: Just read. LOL.
SpiderSquirrel: You mean Albus is a perv? Lol. You said prev. Haha. Sorry. I'm glad you love it, but please don't flame all of my stories and hit me! Nooooooo!
Mini Minerva: You added me to your favorite authors list! Yay! I am so flustered! Oh wait that's not the word I was looking for...oh yeah! Flattered! Wow!
Window Girl: Hehe, no she's not...Stop making me give it all away!
punurple: Nooooo!!!!!!!! Not Dick and Jane! Please No! Get it away! ~Breathes heavily.~ Ahem. Better now. LOL. Well remember this is the last chapter so there will not be several chapters where Minerva is mad at him, but yeah you'll find out in this chapter because this is the end of the story!
Thanks everybody, I really appreciate the reviews, and please keep reviewing! Oh and just to let you know the paragraph that has the @ symbol before and after it is the pragraph that was written based on a dream I had about me and my boyfriend. It's almost exactly the same. Except of course, I'm not Minerva and Albus is not my boyfriend....pity. Anyways, as the ending chapter of my story I feel like something special should happen. As I told darlingdearheart, this chapter felt like something was missing. I'm not sure what.....so yeah review and tell me what you think! Ooh I know! Let's have a poll! review me and tell me which of my stories you like the best! Yay! Poll!
Chapter Five (Last chapter!)
You Didn't Know (Last chapter!)
@#@#@#@#@#@#@#@ (Last chapter!)
(Last chapter! Ok, I'm shutting up now, just read.) When he got to her bedroom doors, he knocked, shuffling from foot to foot anxiously, like a little boy. When she opened her door and saw him she smiled. "Why Albus! Hello! What are you doing here? Come in."
Albus came into the room and looked at Minerva. She was in a white nightgown that reached the floor, and her black hair was in a long braid down her back. "Minerva," he started, "I need to tell you-"
"You found my journal!" She interrupted, spotting the book in his hands.
Albus swallowed. "Ah yes, that's partly what I came to talk to you about." He handed her her journal.
She took it with a smile on her face. "Wonderful, I've been looking all over for this."
Albus smiled weakly. How on earth was he going to tell her?
She looked at him. "Where did you find it?"
Albus blinked. "I didn't, uh, find it."
"Oh really? Who did?"
"Minerva-" He sighed. "No one found it. It was..." He inhaled. "Uh, taken."
Several emotions passed over Minerva's face; horror, fear, and anger. "Who?" She asked, hardly daring to breath.
Albus breathed deeply, and laughed weakly. "Ah, well..."
"Who Albus?"
"It was..." He sighed. "Uh, Minerva, I-I..." He sighed again.
"Spit it out Albus, I want to know."
He looked at her, sorrow and regret on his face. He opened his mouth to tell her, than closed it again. He opened it again for a moment, then ended up breathing out. "Minerva, I-I'm so sorry."
Minerva looked at him. "Sorry? Will you just tell me?!"
Albus swallowed again and looked at his feet. "It was me, Minerva." He said quietly. "I took your journal, and read it."
(A/N: I could leave it here, but I'm not THAT mean.)
Minerva's face became tight with anger. "You what?" She whispered in a dangerously low voice.
He looked at her sorrowfully. "I took it and read it. I'm sorry Minerva."
Minerva's jaw set. "How DARE you!???! I TRUSTED you Albus! Well now I know I was wrong to do so. Of all the people I thought would read it, YOU were not one of them! I didn't think your curiosity would be so strong that it overpowered your respect for me and my privacy!!!"
"Minerva, I'm sorry. It was wrong, I know." He looked at his feet.
"That's just IT Albus! You KNEW it was wrong! You knew it was wrong, but you did it anyways! You took my private journal, opened it, and read it, knowing the whole time that what you were doing was wrong! You read it without giving one thought as to how I would feel when I found out. Or did you not plan on telling me? Did you plan on keeping it forever? Or did you plan on pretending to find it? I'm surprised you even came to me at all!" She was shouting at him, trying hard not to turn purple with rage. She took a deep breath to calm herself, and threw the journal onto her bed. "How could you do such a thing to me, Albus!? How could you?" She was on the verge of tears. "How much did you read?"
Albus touched her arm. "Minerva, please calm down, before you hurt yourself." He wasn't about to admit how much the things she'd said had hurt him.
She flung off his arm. "How much did you read, Albus?" She asked stonily, gritting her teeth. She was angry, yes, but also afraid. Afraid of what he could have read. "And I will not calm down, thank you very much! I'll do just as I please! Now tell me!"
He looked at her sadly. "Quite a lot, I'm afraid."
Minerva swallowed back a sob. "I want you to leave. Now." She pointed to the door.
Albus looked at her, alarmed. "But Minerva-"
"Leave now, please. I don't want to talk to you right now. Besides, I'm not sure anything I say in your presence will stay between us anymore. How can I ever trust you again?" She asked him, tears welling up in her eyes. "Please, just leave."
Albus, opened his mouth as if to say something; but thought better of it when he saw her pick up an empty candlestick. "Leave Albus, or I WILL throw this at you!" She said angrily, her arm shaking.
Albus hurriedly left the room, closing the door behind him.
Minerva dropped the candlestick on the floor with a dull thunk; and threw herself onto her bed; sobbing. "How could he?" She whispered to herself over and over again. "How could he do that to me?" She sat up and wiped her eyes. "Oh, what did he read, what did he read?" She picked up the candlestick and threw it across the room. "Oh confound that Albus!" She fumed, before bursting into tears again.
Albus leaned against Minerva's closed door and sighed heavily. 'Albus old boy,' he thought tiredly, 'you really messed up this time.' He sighed again. 'What am I going to do?' He thought. 'The worst part of all of that was knowing that she was right. And I deserved every word.' He passed his hand over his jaw. 'I should've given it back sooner. Actually, I shouldn't have taken it at all.' He stepped back from the door and looked at it. "I should leave her alone." He mused aloud. He looked at the door again, and shaking his head, left. As he walked along the hallways, he thought. 'She hates me now. She must. And frankly, I don't blame her. She'll never trust me again; with good reason. Unless...Unless I can prove to her how sorry I am!' He snapped his fingers. 'But how am I going to do that? Knowing Minerva, she won't speak to me again for days. I have no idea what I could do...I suppose I could have a nice decent talk with her, without either of us shouting, but I doubt she'd agree to that. Oh well it's worth a try. After dinner tomorrow night, I will try to have a talk with her. I'll tell her that I feel horrible for what I did, and I'll tell her...what will I tell her? I do feel horrible for what I did, but that doesn't exactly make up for it. I'll just have to tell her I'm sorry and hope she'll forgive me.'
The next morning, Albus woke up and the first thing that popped into his head was: 'oh no'. He made his way down to the Great Hall and sat down in his seat tiredly. He could hear the teachers look at him and start whispering. But he didn't care. He'd been up all night beating himself up over his mistake, and now he was dead tired. He hadn't fallen asleep until 7:00; only an hour ago. He leaned his head on his hand and rested his elbow on the table. He closed his eyes and tried to drown out the noise of the Great Hall. Suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Albus, are you all right?" It was Poppy Pomfrey.
Albus looked up into her face, blinking slowly to bring her back into focus. "Yes, just fine Poppy."
"Albus don't give me that! No offense; but you look terrible!"
"Thank you, Poppy." He said rather dryly.
"And it's not just that you look exhausted; you don't seem to have that spark in you," she continued.
"Poppy!" He exclaimed. "I'm fine! I'm tired, I had a restless night! It happens to the best of us, ok? Now would you please stop hampering me needlessly?" He put his head back down on his hand.
He hadn't realized that he'd raised his voice and that everyone in the Great Hall was staring at him in shock. No one had ever, ever heard their Headmaster shout in anger; only to get their attention. But here he was, yelling at a teacher. Minerva had just walked in the Great Hall to hear him shout, and her mouth fairly dropped open in amazement. Poor Poppy stared at him, her eyes wide. Then she turned and sat back down in her place; not saying a word.
Minerva walked silently up to her seat and sat down. Albus felt her sit down beside him, and he tensed. After a few seconds he remembered that he needed to start the meal. He stood up. "Enjoy your breakfast," he muttered.
He sat back down and leaned towards Minerva. "Minerva," he started. But she stopped him.
"Not now, Albus, I'll talk to you later." She turned away from him and he sighed quietly to himself, picking at his food.
Later that evening, after a long restless nap, Albus headed towards Minerva's rooms again. He walked slowly, trying to plan out what he was going to say to her. Unfortunately, the only thing that he could think of was how he deserved to be slapped. Before he knew it he was at Minerva's rooms again. Dinner had been over long ago and he hoped that she was still awake. Just in case she wasn't, he knocked gently on her door.
She opened it right away, and looked him over closely. "Come in." She said shortly, obviously still irritated with him.
He stepped into her room and she closed the door behind him. There was a short silence, then: "Well?" She asked him.
He sighed. "Minerva, I'm sorry. I know it was wrong and I feel bad about it, and I don't want to do it again, and...what else can I say?"
"What did you read?" She asked.
He looked at his feet. "I read about me teasing you about your hair, I read about me not paying more attention to you, I read about you and Severus." He couldn't tell her about the last part. Especially since he wasn't sure if she still felt the same way.
"And?" Minerva asked suspiciously.
Albus didn't say anything.
"Albus, how could you do that? I trusted you!"
Albus didn't say anything.
"I knew that you wouldn't read it; or at least that's what I thought."
Albus didn't say anything.
"You have no idea how many thoughts and real, true, feelings I put in that journal!"
Oh yes, he had an idea.
"Albus will you say something!?"
He looked her in the face. "Will you forgive me Minerva?"
She sighed. "Yes."
"Will you trust me?"
She closed her eyes then opened them again. "I don't know Albus."
Albus picked up Minerva's journal, from where it had been laying on her nighttable. He sat down on her bed and opened the journal.
"Albus!" Minerva shrieked. She grabbed for it but he held it out of her reach. "Albus Dumbledore, give that to me right now." She said in the sternest voice she could muster.
He just turned away from her and pretended to read. Only Minerva didn't know he was just pretending. She reached for it again, but he jumped up and went over to the window, still pretending to read. She ran after him, and while trying to grab the journal, shoved him back towards the bed, away from the window. He kept holding it out of her reach, leaning away from her. What he really wanted to do was lean towards her. He wanted to grab her and kiss her and be as close to her as he could get. But he had to play his cards just right to win the game.
"Albus, I'm warning you, if you don't give that back to me right now, I'll- "
"You'll what?" He asked her.
"Give it to me!"
He sat back down on the bed and she jumped at him. All of a sudden before she knew what had happened, he had grabbed her and flipped her around and was leaning over her on the bed, the journal lying forgotten on a pillow. She stared at him, panting, and he looked back into her eyes, a faint smile on his face. Suddenly he leaned down and gave her a soft, wet, sensual, and loving kiss on the lips. He pulled back and looked into her shocked eyes.
'Oh no.'
He leapt off of her and fled out her door. What had he done? Oh, for the sake of wands, what had he done?
Minerva sat up and stared after him. Her heart was beating fast and her stomach was flipping over. She touched her lips; hardly daring to believe what had just happened. She slowly stood up and and slipped on her robe. She made her way to Albus' office, hoping that that was where he'd gone to when he left her room. She gave the stone gargoyle the password and then stepped onto the revolving staircase, twisting her hair nervously as she went up. When she reached his door; she took a deep breath and knocked.
Albus had run as fast as he could back to his office wondering what he should do with himself. He had tryed to decide between diving in to the lake with the giant squid or letting Peeves beat him up. He had kissed her because...well frankly, he couldn't resist. There she was just looking at him, eyes wide, and her lips parted slightly...He was leaning over her, barely 5 inches from her lips, and then he just couldn't stop himself. He had kissed her, and now she might slap him the next time she saw him. This was what he was thinking when he heard the knocking on his door. He groaned and buried his face in his hands. "Come in." He said reluctantly. 'May as well get this over with,' he thought.
Minerva stepped into his office and closed the door behind her. She turned and looked at Albus. The most powerful wizard on earth was embarressed to look at her. She walked over to him, and watched him silently as he picked at a thread on his afghan. He turned and faced the fire. "Minerva," he started, "I just want you to know that I'm sorry for...kissing you, and..." Minerva just looked at him as he droned on. She wasn't really listening to him anymore.
@Then gathering up a bundle of courage; she turned his head to face her, and kissed him, cutting off his words. For a moment he sat there in shock. Then he gently kissed her back, before pulling away and continuing to talk, as if nothing had happened. Minerva stood, looking at the side of his head, upset, until she looked at his eyes. They were wide open in shock and wonder. She smiled slightly.@
Then she noticed that Albus was stuttering.
"I-I-I feel like I-I-I should be p-p-punished in s-s-some way f-f-for what I-I-I did."
Then suddenly he rose to his feet. He had stopped talking and looked her straight in the eye. "You wrote in your journal that you loved me," he said quietly.
Minerva sighed and nodded. She had expected that.
"Do you love Severus?"
Minerva was confused. "You read what I wrote about you, why are you asking about Severus?" She asked.
"Are you sure you don't love him?" Albus asked, to reassure himself.
Minerva smiled. "I've never loved Severus, Albus, not in that way."
"I wanted to strangle Severus when I read that," Albus said looking at the ground.
'Oh; so that's what Albus was so angry at Severus about!' Minerva thought.
Albus looked up at the ceiling. "Do you hate me now, Minerva?"
"Albus Dumbledore!" Minerva exclaimed, shocked. "Don't you ever say that to me again! I love you so much-and no matter what you do, that will never change." She turned away in a huff.
Albus looked at her back and smiled. He walked up behind her, then suddenly, he twirled her around and kissed her long and hard. When they broke apart he looked at her. "I've always wanted to do that," he said.
Minerva laughed and kissed his cheek. Then her eyes widened and running to his desk; she pulled out a piece of parchment and grabbed his quill. She started to write on the parchment.
"Minerva?" Albus inquired curiously.
She looked up. "Hmm? Oh, I'm writing a letter."
"A letter?"
"Yes, a letter to my cousin thanking her for the journal that admitted my true feelings when I could not." She smiled at Albus, and he smiled back, his eyes twinkling merrily.
He walked up to her, and caressed her cheek. "Two words Minerva. 'I love you.'"
He leaned down and they shared a long and sweet kiss before pulling apart. Minerva smiled at him before a frown crossed her face. "Albus, 'I love you' is three words, not two."
Albus burst out laughing. "Ah yes, I was wondering when you'd notice!"
The End