I quite enjoyed writing the first part of this chapter, I hope you enjoy
reading it! Yes, an update...ahhh...how lovely. Enjoy!
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Chapter Eleven: I Before Me
The day came and went, the night however, went by so slow it seemed as if the Earth were on a stand still. Minerva did not say a word to Albus after Tipsy left, and she was not really planning to.
Albus slept on the couch that lay in the front room of their quarters, and he slept, unnoticed by anything except perhaps by a few pictures that hung in the room.
Neither one of them truly knew what was wrong with the other, nor how to act when they came upon eye contact. It seemed as if their very relationship had suddenly crumbled down, and shattered into a million pieces.
Albus sat upright on the couch, and looked out the window, at the moonless sky. The stars seemed to show brighter when the moon was not around, and he couldn't help but think of something Minerva had once said to him. She had said that when she looks at the stars, it shows different images, and different things. That one night, it could be just simply stars, and another night, it could be all the people that she had seen, coming and going throughout her life. That is what his Minni was like...a dreamer, a wisher.
"I wish she would let me be there for her." he said quietly, as he spotted the north star, also the brightest. "I wish she would talk with me. I wish...I wish this had never happened."
He lingered there a second or two, before he put on his school robes. He couldn't help but fight the urge to see his beloved, whether or not she would know of his presence. The door opened with a simple push, and he stared at her ever so closely. She was sleeping...sleeping soundly, if that's even possible. "I love you." he said softly, and shut the door yet again behind him.
He walked quickly down the corridors to his office. He didn't come upon anyone, and it wasn't yet expected at the wee hours of the morning. The sun was not yet up, it was not yet even rising. He came upon the stone gargoyle, and said "Butterscotch Kisses", it immediately sprung to life, and let him pass up onto the room.
The office was surrounded by many portraits, most of which were sleeping, although a few of them seemed to awake with his entrance. He walked quickly over to his desk and sat in the chair.
"Here so early?" Albus looked up to see one of the pictures of a rather old looking witch speaking to him.
"Morning Rhienna. Sleep well?"
"Oh just lovely. Although it doesn't look like you did. Look at those bags around your eyes. For heaven's sake, it looks like you haven't shut your eyelids in about a week."
"Oh no. I'm fine...I've just been up thinking about something."
"Well why don't you tell me dear? I may be able to help."
"I'm afraid I've already received all the help I can take for a few years. I wouldn't want my mind to be any more of a whirlpool than it already is."
Albus looked down at his desk, as a moment of silence spread throughout the room. He pulled out one of his quills and several different envelopes. He then searched his desk for an ink bottle, although he had seemed as though her were about to flip the desk over, he was moving so violently.
"Is this about that wife of yours?" Rhienna said awkwardly.
Albus looked up at her, although the shock that she had guessed it really wasn't that much of a surprise. It wasn't very often that he showed up at his office early anymore, and those few times that he did, he usually had something on his mind.
"Uh...well, sort of. Yes." he confessed, with an expression as though he had just stollen the whole lot of cookies in the cookie jar. He looked rather helplessly up at the picture, as though she could read his very mind.
"So...what did you do this time???" she asked impatiently
"I didn't do anything. Why must everyone in this castle think everything is MY fault?"
"Pardon me for saying it Albus but you do have a tendency to mess things up with that woman. Not that any of us could have guessed it a few years back."
"What, might I ask, is that supposed to mean?"
"Which part?" the old woman looked down on him with a supreme look of superiority, as if to dare him to ask.
"The last part Rhienna."
"Oh, that?! I was only meaning that with the way that you and her used to get it on in that observatory room of yours, I would never have guessed that you would have as many problems as you do. I mean, I was rather surprised that the whole castle didn't wake up, she screamed so loud. I still don't understand how you could find that cold floor at all comfortable."
"Well forgive me for saying it, but intercourse isn't the only part in a marriage, let alone a relationship. We do have our moments, as I'm sure you know."
"Oh yes, I know. So why don't you tell me what happened so we can all make this better? We paintings aren't up here just to look pretty."
"You want to know what's wrong?"
Rhienna shook her head with a smile. Albus looked around the room, it seemed as if all but a few lonesome paintings were watching him, awaiting his new story.
"She lost the baby" Albus said slowly.
He stared at the Rhienna's eyes. She may be a painting now, but once upon a time, a long time ago, she too was a human being. And her very soul perhaps lived within the picture...if he had known more about that sort of magic, he would have believed he had seen a spark of sadness within her eyes.
"What?!" It seemed as if the entire room screamed it out, nearly 20 different people's voices were heard.
"Dumbledore, what have you gone and done this time!" screamed one of the paintings "Oh that poor woman." came another's. "What are you going to do?!" "How's she acting?" "When did it happen?" The room erupted with different voices, none of which came from the original person he had been talking to. He stared at Rhienna before he even looked at any of the other pictures. As for the actual picture of her, she seemed to stand, frozen on the spot.
"Dumbledore! You give me an answer right now!" he spun around to find a rather irritated wizard inside one of the large frames. "Yes Quin?"
"What in God's name happened?!"
"She lost the child. Is there any other way to say it. Oh wait, I'll say it nice and slow for you. She...had...a...miscarriage."
"Well why aren't you in that room with her?" The painting called 'Quin' answered irritably
"Because she won't LET me be near her. She will not allow me to be in the same room with her. Now, if you all could please shut up, I have some letters to write to the staff. I do not want another word spoken amongst you about this, not while I'm here anyhow. As for you Rhienna, I would suggest that next time, you hold your tongue. No thanks to you, now the whole world is going to know."
He turned back to his desk, and wrote a simple letter.
*****
Staff meeting after breakfast. It wont last long, meet in the common room. I have some important news.
*****
He wrote the same thing on nearly 10 other papers. He sealed each and every one of them, addressed to different Hogwarts teachers.
He could have magically copied them yes, but it took so much more time to spell it out. All he was doing at this point was killing time.
After he had copied all the letters, he sat up from his chair, and stared at all the pictures. They all seemed to either be lip reading eachother, or making odd hand movements to one another. "You can talk now. I'm leaving." he said irritably, and left, with the letters in his hand. Once he shut the door, he immediately heard an eruption of sound coming from his office.
He walked quickly, and silently to the owlery. He passed a number of students, who were heading towards the great hall. He bade them all good morning, and left without another word spoken.
The owlery came upon him quickly, and he searched the premises for a good number of owls to deliver the messages. He came upon a small flock of them in the back that looked reasonable. There were only five of them, but it was just as well. He gave two different messages to each of them, and alerted them as to where they were to deliver them.
He left the owlery as quickly as he came, and ran into another number of students on the way back. They didn't say anything to him however, so he saw no reason to speak to them, even if it may be against his typical nature.
As he headed back upstairs, he stopped abruptly, wondering whether or not he ought to go back up towards Minerva. He was only a few feet from his rooms, when he started hearing voices.
"My fabulous wife. Why don't we celebrate again tonight?"
Albus immediately recognized the voice. It was Severus's, and the immediate giggle that followed that no doubt belonged to his wife, Kate. He listened intently.
"No Severus, once is quite enough. Besides, if you keep up like that, someone will end up knowing before we want them to."
"I don't care whether or not they know. All I want, is to have a family, and live in peace. And thankfully, I have you, my pregnant wife."
All that followed after that, was a curious amount of giggling, and he could hear the bed springs through the crack in the door. "no." Albus said in a low voice. "NO."
He walked what little distance he had, before he came upon his and Minerva's bed chambers. He stepped foot in, and searched for his wife before he walked over towards the window, and stared at the frozen grounds. Snow had covered the grounds only a few days ago, it was but ice now.
"This can't be happening." He said quietly to himself. "KATE? Kate and Severus are able to have a child, why not Me and Minerva?"
"I believe the correct term is Minerva and I."
Albus turned around quickly, to see Minerva with a vague expression on her face. Her eyes were bloodshot, it was obvious that she had been crying quite a bit within the past day.
"Minerva? What are you doing out here?"
"I need to talk to you." she said quietly "I've been thinking all night."
Albus shook his head, only glad that she had said something to him at long last. Although he couldn't be sure that she hadn't heard what he had just said, he sat down, and beckoned her to do the same.
She came over quietly, not saying a word, and sitting innocently next to him. She stared at him, obviously hinting that she would like him to start talking.
"What is it that you've been thinking about? Well, wrong question. What exactly about it?"
"I need to know something. I absolutely need you to tell me the truth."
"What?"
"How do you feel about this?"
"I feel sadened by it. I- I wasn't able to sleep last night. If I did fall asleep, all I dreamt about was you, and the baby. I'm angry. I'm desperate. Whatever it is, I'm feeling it."
"Why did you come in this morning?"
"You were awake?"
"I don't think I actually received more than an hour of sleep. It didn't feel right. I didn't have anything to dream about."
"Oh Minerva. I'm so sorry this had to happen."
"Albus, do me a favor and stop being sorry. I love you more than anything else in the world, I don't need sympathy from the only person who's ever shown me real compassion. Please, just don't."
"Okay, I won't."
Albus and Minerva stared at eachother intently, not rightly knowing what to say. Minerva eventually got up from the couch, and fell back onto her bed. Albus didn't follow, he already knew what she was going to do, after all there were signs everywhere saying that she had been doing it all morning.
He waited a moment or two before he sat back up again, and started walking back downstairs. The staff meeting was so close, and then it seemed like the whole world were to come to an end.
He didn't eat a single bite as the students started piling in, along with the usual chatter. Owls flew into the great hall rather quickly, and each member of the staff received their mail, they all seemed to take a quick glance at Albus.
************************* The staff room
"What's it about this time?" came Fidelius Flitwick's squeak of a voice. Knowing that they only received mail like that in urgent occasions.
The whole room seemed to stare at Albus as he began to wonder what he should say exactly. "Well...it's about Minerva."
"Wha' abou' profes'r McGonagall?" Hagrid asked
"As you all know, we had a doctor's appointment yesterday. It didn't go too well. She uh...miscarried it apparently." He took a moment before he continued, just to let it sink in. "I just wanted all of you to know it, and that it probably isn't good to bring it up with her for quite some time. I told a few of you yesterday about it, and I had said that you shouldn't speak with her. I believe she's at least capable of doing it now, so feel free to stop by. Infact, I would greatly appreciate it...she needs someone to talk to."
He stared at the room. "She won't be teaching classes for a while. Kate is going to take them over until she is ready to teach again." the room seemed to take a quick glance at Kate before their gazes came back to Albus
He stared about the room one more time. "That's all." The room seemed to stare at him, as he made his exit. He walked straight back up to his room, but noticed he was being followed he turned around to find Kate Snape.
"Albus?"
"Yes Kate?"
"I'm sorry again. Please, if you need anything, I'll be glad to help."
"I think you have plenty to take care of. Be careful about that child, you never know how much it means to you, until it isn't there anymore."
Albus turned around, and walked yet again towards his and Minerva's quarters.
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yes, yes, in my mind, snape is a bit uh...well, you know. He definately loves his wife...(:-)
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Chapter Eleven: I Before Me
The day came and went, the night however, went by so slow it seemed as if the Earth were on a stand still. Minerva did not say a word to Albus after Tipsy left, and she was not really planning to.
Albus slept on the couch that lay in the front room of their quarters, and he slept, unnoticed by anything except perhaps by a few pictures that hung in the room.
Neither one of them truly knew what was wrong with the other, nor how to act when they came upon eye contact. It seemed as if their very relationship had suddenly crumbled down, and shattered into a million pieces.
Albus sat upright on the couch, and looked out the window, at the moonless sky. The stars seemed to show brighter when the moon was not around, and he couldn't help but think of something Minerva had once said to him. She had said that when she looks at the stars, it shows different images, and different things. That one night, it could be just simply stars, and another night, it could be all the people that she had seen, coming and going throughout her life. That is what his Minni was like...a dreamer, a wisher.
"I wish she would let me be there for her." he said quietly, as he spotted the north star, also the brightest. "I wish she would talk with me. I wish...I wish this had never happened."
He lingered there a second or two, before he put on his school robes. He couldn't help but fight the urge to see his beloved, whether or not she would know of his presence. The door opened with a simple push, and he stared at her ever so closely. She was sleeping...sleeping soundly, if that's even possible. "I love you." he said softly, and shut the door yet again behind him.
He walked quickly down the corridors to his office. He didn't come upon anyone, and it wasn't yet expected at the wee hours of the morning. The sun was not yet up, it was not yet even rising. He came upon the stone gargoyle, and said "Butterscotch Kisses", it immediately sprung to life, and let him pass up onto the room.
The office was surrounded by many portraits, most of which were sleeping, although a few of them seemed to awake with his entrance. He walked quickly over to his desk and sat in the chair.
"Here so early?" Albus looked up to see one of the pictures of a rather old looking witch speaking to him.
"Morning Rhienna. Sleep well?"
"Oh just lovely. Although it doesn't look like you did. Look at those bags around your eyes. For heaven's sake, it looks like you haven't shut your eyelids in about a week."
"Oh no. I'm fine...I've just been up thinking about something."
"Well why don't you tell me dear? I may be able to help."
"I'm afraid I've already received all the help I can take for a few years. I wouldn't want my mind to be any more of a whirlpool than it already is."
Albus looked down at his desk, as a moment of silence spread throughout the room. He pulled out one of his quills and several different envelopes. He then searched his desk for an ink bottle, although he had seemed as though her were about to flip the desk over, he was moving so violently.
"Is this about that wife of yours?" Rhienna said awkwardly.
Albus looked up at her, although the shock that she had guessed it really wasn't that much of a surprise. It wasn't very often that he showed up at his office early anymore, and those few times that he did, he usually had something on his mind.
"Uh...well, sort of. Yes." he confessed, with an expression as though he had just stollen the whole lot of cookies in the cookie jar. He looked rather helplessly up at the picture, as though she could read his very mind.
"So...what did you do this time???" she asked impatiently
"I didn't do anything. Why must everyone in this castle think everything is MY fault?"
"Pardon me for saying it Albus but you do have a tendency to mess things up with that woman. Not that any of us could have guessed it a few years back."
"What, might I ask, is that supposed to mean?"
"Which part?" the old woman looked down on him with a supreme look of superiority, as if to dare him to ask.
"The last part Rhienna."
"Oh, that?! I was only meaning that with the way that you and her used to get it on in that observatory room of yours, I would never have guessed that you would have as many problems as you do. I mean, I was rather surprised that the whole castle didn't wake up, she screamed so loud. I still don't understand how you could find that cold floor at all comfortable."
"Well forgive me for saying it, but intercourse isn't the only part in a marriage, let alone a relationship. We do have our moments, as I'm sure you know."
"Oh yes, I know. So why don't you tell me what happened so we can all make this better? We paintings aren't up here just to look pretty."
"You want to know what's wrong?"
Rhienna shook her head with a smile. Albus looked around the room, it seemed as if all but a few lonesome paintings were watching him, awaiting his new story.
"She lost the baby" Albus said slowly.
He stared at the Rhienna's eyes. She may be a painting now, but once upon a time, a long time ago, she too was a human being. And her very soul perhaps lived within the picture...if he had known more about that sort of magic, he would have believed he had seen a spark of sadness within her eyes.
"What?!" It seemed as if the entire room screamed it out, nearly 20 different people's voices were heard.
"Dumbledore, what have you gone and done this time!" screamed one of the paintings "Oh that poor woman." came another's. "What are you going to do?!" "How's she acting?" "When did it happen?" The room erupted with different voices, none of which came from the original person he had been talking to. He stared at Rhienna before he even looked at any of the other pictures. As for the actual picture of her, she seemed to stand, frozen on the spot.
"Dumbledore! You give me an answer right now!" he spun around to find a rather irritated wizard inside one of the large frames. "Yes Quin?"
"What in God's name happened?!"
"She lost the child. Is there any other way to say it. Oh wait, I'll say it nice and slow for you. She...had...a...miscarriage."
"Well why aren't you in that room with her?" The painting called 'Quin' answered irritably
"Because she won't LET me be near her. She will not allow me to be in the same room with her. Now, if you all could please shut up, I have some letters to write to the staff. I do not want another word spoken amongst you about this, not while I'm here anyhow. As for you Rhienna, I would suggest that next time, you hold your tongue. No thanks to you, now the whole world is going to know."
He turned back to his desk, and wrote a simple letter.
*****
Staff meeting after breakfast. It wont last long, meet in the common room. I have some important news.
*****
He wrote the same thing on nearly 10 other papers. He sealed each and every one of them, addressed to different Hogwarts teachers.
He could have magically copied them yes, but it took so much more time to spell it out. All he was doing at this point was killing time.
After he had copied all the letters, he sat up from his chair, and stared at all the pictures. They all seemed to either be lip reading eachother, or making odd hand movements to one another. "You can talk now. I'm leaving." he said irritably, and left, with the letters in his hand. Once he shut the door, he immediately heard an eruption of sound coming from his office.
He walked quickly, and silently to the owlery. He passed a number of students, who were heading towards the great hall. He bade them all good morning, and left without another word spoken.
The owlery came upon him quickly, and he searched the premises for a good number of owls to deliver the messages. He came upon a small flock of them in the back that looked reasonable. There were only five of them, but it was just as well. He gave two different messages to each of them, and alerted them as to where they were to deliver them.
He left the owlery as quickly as he came, and ran into another number of students on the way back. They didn't say anything to him however, so he saw no reason to speak to them, even if it may be against his typical nature.
As he headed back upstairs, he stopped abruptly, wondering whether or not he ought to go back up towards Minerva. He was only a few feet from his rooms, when he started hearing voices.
"My fabulous wife. Why don't we celebrate again tonight?"
Albus immediately recognized the voice. It was Severus's, and the immediate giggle that followed that no doubt belonged to his wife, Kate. He listened intently.
"No Severus, once is quite enough. Besides, if you keep up like that, someone will end up knowing before we want them to."
"I don't care whether or not they know. All I want, is to have a family, and live in peace. And thankfully, I have you, my pregnant wife."
All that followed after that, was a curious amount of giggling, and he could hear the bed springs through the crack in the door. "no." Albus said in a low voice. "NO."
He walked what little distance he had, before he came upon his and Minerva's bed chambers. He stepped foot in, and searched for his wife before he walked over towards the window, and stared at the frozen grounds. Snow had covered the grounds only a few days ago, it was but ice now.
"This can't be happening." He said quietly to himself. "KATE? Kate and Severus are able to have a child, why not Me and Minerva?"
"I believe the correct term is Minerva and I."
Albus turned around quickly, to see Minerva with a vague expression on her face. Her eyes were bloodshot, it was obvious that she had been crying quite a bit within the past day.
"Minerva? What are you doing out here?"
"I need to talk to you." she said quietly "I've been thinking all night."
Albus shook his head, only glad that she had said something to him at long last. Although he couldn't be sure that she hadn't heard what he had just said, he sat down, and beckoned her to do the same.
She came over quietly, not saying a word, and sitting innocently next to him. She stared at him, obviously hinting that she would like him to start talking.
"What is it that you've been thinking about? Well, wrong question. What exactly about it?"
"I need to know something. I absolutely need you to tell me the truth."
"What?"
"How do you feel about this?"
"I feel sadened by it. I- I wasn't able to sleep last night. If I did fall asleep, all I dreamt about was you, and the baby. I'm angry. I'm desperate. Whatever it is, I'm feeling it."
"Why did you come in this morning?"
"You were awake?"
"I don't think I actually received more than an hour of sleep. It didn't feel right. I didn't have anything to dream about."
"Oh Minerva. I'm so sorry this had to happen."
"Albus, do me a favor and stop being sorry. I love you more than anything else in the world, I don't need sympathy from the only person who's ever shown me real compassion. Please, just don't."
"Okay, I won't."
Albus and Minerva stared at eachother intently, not rightly knowing what to say. Minerva eventually got up from the couch, and fell back onto her bed. Albus didn't follow, he already knew what she was going to do, after all there were signs everywhere saying that she had been doing it all morning.
He waited a moment or two before he sat back up again, and started walking back downstairs. The staff meeting was so close, and then it seemed like the whole world were to come to an end.
He didn't eat a single bite as the students started piling in, along with the usual chatter. Owls flew into the great hall rather quickly, and each member of the staff received their mail, they all seemed to take a quick glance at Albus.
************************* The staff room
"What's it about this time?" came Fidelius Flitwick's squeak of a voice. Knowing that they only received mail like that in urgent occasions.
The whole room seemed to stare at Albus as he began to wonder what he should say exactly. "Well...it's about Minerva."
"Wha' abou' profes'r McGonagall?" Hagrid asked
"As you all know, we had a doctor's appointment yesterday. It didn't go too well. She uh...miscarried it apparently." He took a moment before he continued, just to let it sink in. "I just wanted all of you to know it, and that it probably isn't good to bring it up with her for quite some time. I told a few of you yesterday about it, and I had said that you shouldn't speak with her. I believe she's at least capable of doing it now, so feel free to stop by. Infact, I would greatly appreciate it...she needs someone to talk to."
He stared at the room. "She won't be teaching classes for a while. Kate is going to take them over until she is ready to teach again." the room seemed to take a quick glance at Kate before their gazes came back to Albus
He stared about the room one more time. "That's all." The room seemed to stare at him, as he made his exit. He walked straight back up to his room, but noticed he was being followed he turned around to find Kate Snape.
"Albus?"
"Yes Kate?"
"I'm sorry again. Please, if you need anything, I'll be glad to help."
"I think you have plenty to take care of. Be careful about that child, you never know how much it means to you, until it isn't there anymore."
Albus turned around, and walked yet again towards his and Minerva's quarters.
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yes, yes, in my mind, snape is a bit uh...well, you know. He definately loves his wife...(:-)