Story of Min Chapter 5
Disclaimer: I own none of these characters, places, anything whatsoever- I'm sorry I forgot the disclaimer before- please count this for all of them. Don't sue me- I'm broke.
Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.
The eagle feather quill hit the mahogany wood of the desk over and over again, keeping in time with the grandfather clock in the corner.
Minerva stopped tapping and put the quill back in its place. She was deep in thought, not unusual, and slightly confused, which doesn't happen often. After a bit she couldn't take the silence and, needing to hear a sound somewhere, began to voice what was happening in her head.
" That was odd… that man must've been kidding around… he couldn't have been… because Remus is… well… Remus… and he wouldn't… well, he'd have every reason to… argh! Now this is ridiculous, this is!"
Then she sat down in her chair again, and opened a drawer of her desk. She shuffled through the papers, books, tablets, etc. until she found what she was looking for. With a bit of tugging, she pulled out a very new, untouched-looking red photo album, which, had it not been covered in a blanket of dust, seemed as though she may have bought it that very day.
She set it on the desk, and slowly blew the dust off the cover. Then, with cautious hands, she opened the book and looked at the first page. There was only one picture. It was a picture of her in sixth year at Hogwarts. There were three boys and a girl around her. On her left was James, smiling, blushing and linking arms with lily. And on her right were Remus and Sirius, laughing at some seemingly witty joke they'd just made up.
Minerva smiled at the picture, and the photo form of herself winked at her before turning and laughing with Remus and Sirius. She sat and thought of how she wished she could laugh like that again. Then she looked at the following pages of the album. They were completely blank. With downcast eyes, she remembered the day when she bought the album, Remus by her side, and had said that it would be bulging with pictures of them and their friends.
A pang of guilt and pain struck her and a lump formed in her throat. When she snapped the book shut, a single tear hit the red cover, leaving a clear, round splat in the remaining sheet of dust.
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Minerva went through the next month barely acknowledging that and old and treasured friend of hers was in the same building, working at the same job as she. She casually talked to him every so often, just the same as the rest of the faculty. He might have been any stranger to her, the way she acted. But inside she longed to talk to him, but couldn't drop her stubborn ways and tell him why she'd stopped talking to him, or everyone for that matter, in the first place.
Dumbledore seemed to think that, given the opportunity, Minerva would explain everything to Remus. So he made sure they sat near or next to each other at the high table each day, and covered each other's lessons when one was unable to make it, and small things of the sort. But it was all for nothing, for neither seemed to notice it. Remus seemed to take interest in wanting to talk to Minerva, but just stared at her from far away, or down the hall, never actually approaching her.
~
The day of Halloween, before noon, when the teachers were preparing the Great Hall for the annual feast, Minerva was transfiguring all kinds of small figures into live bats, as Professor Flitwick charmed them so they'd fly in an orderly fashion. Just as the bat (formerly a fork) she'd just finished transfiguring flew off, and she reached for the next knick-knack, she realized she had a bat in her hand. Someone had beat her to her task.
'how odd…' she thought.
"Hello," said a voice directly behind her.
She jumped, startled, and whipped around. Remus was standing there, wand in hand, smiling.
" No need to be so jumpy, I'm just trying to help."
Minerva sighed.
"Hello," she said, giving a rare smile, " you can have that pile over there, if you want to help." She pointed to a pile of trinkets directly to the right of where she was standing.
" Thanks," said Remus, as he walked over to the pile, giving a sideways glance to Minerva, who blushed and looked back to her spoon.
About an hour later, when all the decorations were finished, Minerva sat on a bench by the door, resting for a bit and rubbing her eye, glasses in hand. To her surprise, she felt something drop into her lap, and hastily put on her glasses, and looked down. It was a clean, white envelope of thick parchment, with not a word on the front.
She looked around her. There wasn't a single person left in the hall, and she hadn't heard an owl. She took her fingernail and slit the envelope open in a clean cut. Inside was a neatly folded note on the same white parchment. She took it out and, unfolding it, looked at it very closely. It was a short note, written in neat handwriting in the middle of the paper, and signed with three small letters at the bottom.
Minerva~
Meet me in the entrance hall at 2:30 p.m tomorrow. I'd really like to talk to you.
R.J.L
Minerva stared down at the letter in her hand, deciding what to do.