6 - Planting The Seed
"But how did it happen?" Albus Dumbledore asked quietly. "How did everything go so wrong?"
Minerva looked at him, chest tight. "Well, it was all wonderful for over a year, we were very happy. But all that changed a few months ago." Her throat went dry, she couldn't speak.
"I. I'll tell you another time." She picked up the locket, heaved herself from her chair and fled. Albus heard the back door swing open and closed. Minerva had decided to lose herself in the garden.
Minerva opened the back door into a wilderness of flowers, trees, lawns and shrubs. She looked around in amazement at the yard's beauty and vastness, made all the more mind blowing by the fact that, from the outside, the muggle point of few, it appeared no larger than ten square feet.
A sprinkling fountain pattered just a few feet in front of her, a little bird that was a vibrant shade of blue washing itself in the warm waters. A sultry, summer sun bathed everything in its bright glow.
Minerva padded across the soft grass and settled herself at the foot of a large jacaranda tree, the grass around her carpeted in a velvety layer of mauve flowers. She pulled her legs underneath each other and lay her hands in her lap, clutching the locket inside them. She turned it over in her hands; it looked so simple, so beautiful, so innocent. But then even the most beautiful looking things could be deceptive. She laced the chain through her fingers. and the memory was upon her, unbidden.
She sat on the bed in the dimly lit room above the London bar, running her fingers over the casing of the key and wondering how it was that that man had been able to see it. It had been over a year since, but she had seen him again that night, and he had fixed her with a piercing, knowing stare. She was afraid of him.
It had been an interesting night. Things had been slightly dull for the last few weeks. Truth be known, Minerva was missing the magic world ever so much, and was sick of having to use muggle methods of doing things all the time. She was even thinking about asking the weird guy for directions to Diagon alley (because he was quite obviously some kind of wizard) just so she could spend a day among her people.
But that night had been different. She had thought that she'd met all of Sebastian's friends over the months they had been together, but that night she had been proven wrong.
"Minny!" Seb had exclaimed with a wave of a half empty mug of beer, beckoning her over to where he sat by the bar. "This is Jeromie; he's a really good friend of mine." Minerva approached and Jeromie stood up to meet her. She looked up at him with wide eyes - he was the tallest man she had ever met. He had short, very dark brown hair and vibrant blue eyes, and bold features permanently set in a boyish expression of amusement. He smiled down at her and held out his hand to shake hers.
"You're very tall." Was all she seemed to be able to think to say. She smiled sheepishly.
"Yeah, I'd noticed." There was a glint of amusement in his eyes, and his smile only widened. Minerva laughed, and Jeromie took his seat back at the bar again, bringing himself down to her height. She slid onto the stool beside him.
Jeromie was the most engaging person that Minerva had ever met - he was funny, charming, childlike in his humour but mature in his thinking. He was easy to talk to, and Minerva found that talking to a man when there was no expectation upon her that she would be anything but friendly was so releasing that she could let her guard down. Twice she almost told him she was a witch, but kept herself in check by reminding herself that she had only just met this man, and while he made her think she could trust him, there might be others overhearing in the bar that she could not. Sebastian found their continual banter amusing, and he left them at it, preferring to go and find people to talk to who actually noticed he was there.
Minerva sat on the bed, turning the key's casing over in her hands. Yes, it had been a rather interesting evening.
As she looped the chain back around her neck, she hear the door to the room open, and looked up into Sebastian's beautiful, dark, smiling eyes.
"I'm glad to see you liked Jeromie." He smiled as he looked at her.
She smiled back. "Yes, he's fantastic."
Sebastian came to sit on the bed beside her and she slithered comfortably into his arms. "Not as fantastic as me, I hope?" he asked with a grin, completely confident in his own sense of self-worth.
"Of course not, Seb." She replied with a smile, leaning up to plant a soft kiss tenderly on his lips.
"That's good." He replied as their faces parted, "Because I wouldn't want to have to kill him." That cheeky grin again. "Anyway." he disengaged himself from her and began to unbutton his shirt, "It's very late."
Although they slept in the same bed, it had been over a year and Sebastian and Minerva had never become a real couple, so to speak, she had never felt ready, but that night she was scorched with a wild, animal impulse more powerful than anything she had ever felt before.
"Sebastian?"
When she said his name, this time it was in a totally different tone to that which she had ever used before, and when he turned to look at her, he saw her skin glowing, her chest heaving, her curls seeming to radiate out from her head. Her eyes were passionately intense, and she reached out to him and drew him to her, around her, into her.
.Minerva fell back onto the pillows, chest heaving, beads of sweat glistening on her warm skin. Sebastian collapsed beside her, breathing heavily. She turned her head to look into his eyes, smiling, fulfilled, glowing. He smiled back, and his fingers reached up to trace the line made by the bone at her throat.
"Minny," he whispered, for he could feel nothing there, where only minutes before there had been a very real adornment, "What is that gold chain that you wear?"
Minerva started. "What?" her eyes widened in shock and she sat up. "What do you mean?"
Sebastian sat up to look at her, to weigh her gaze in his own. "The gold chain with the locket at the end that I could feel a few minutes ago, but is invisible now."
"You.you could see it?" Minerva's voice wavered with her uncertainty.
"Yes, just a minute ago. it was getting in the way." He smiled. "What is it?"
"I. I don't understand how that is possible," she whispered, reaching up to touch it at her throat. He saw her reach up to her throat and twist the air between her fingers. The gold chain and locket fell into her lap, materialising into gold.
"That, that's it." He looked at her. "Is it magical?" He felt stupid saying it, for the idea of magic went against everything he had ever been taught about the world. He knew, though, that Minerva's world was very different to his, and he wanted to learn.
"Yes." She replied. Taking one deep breath and seeming to come to a decision, she picked up the locket and opened it to show what was inside.
"My God," he whispered, looking at the gold, sapphire encrusted key with a mixture of emotions - awe, greed, amazement. "It's so beautiful." He reached out toward her, making to touch it, but where his fingers would have made contact with the tiny item they instead passed straight through and out the other side.
"The Keeper of the Key is the only one who may touch it or hold it," she said quietly, "While I've got it you won't be able to touch it at all. Nobody can take it unless I give it to them."
"Then why. why could I feel it before?"
"I. I suppose when we became one, in essence you became a part of me, and you could see and feel it as I do." She smiled, looking up at him, the memories of his touch still fresh on her tingling skin.
"But here." she continued, handing the locket into his fingers and pulling her hands away. "That is how much I trust you, Sebastian."
He looked at her and felt a tight swelling of his chest, as if those words had just made his heart that little bit bigger. He was a better person for having gained her trust and her love. "What does it do?" he asked, tracing the intricate design of the sapphires on the handle.
"It allows the bearer to see into the heart of anyone she choses, their true feelings, emotions and intentions. I don't know how, or what they see, because I have never used it."
"But why?" he asked, imagining that if such a precious gift were his he would use it every time he was playing poker, or anytime he thought somebody might be lying to him.
"Nothing happens without consequences, Sebastian, and the seer who gave it to me told me to only use it when I really desperately needed to, because there would be repercussions."
"What kind?" he asked.
"I don't know." She shook her head. Sebastian took one last look at the key with a gaze that Minerva could not decipher, and then reached back up around her neck and fastened it there.
He kissed her cheek, her nose, eyelids, her lips, and ran his fingers over her face. "I think we need to sleep, now, my love, or we will never get up in the morning."
But the morning, it transpired, held changes for Minerva. She woke in the empty bed feeling as though she were about to be sick, a wave of nausea running from head to toe. She tumbled from the bed and immediately into the bathroom, where it took her minutes to heave up the nothing she had in her gut anyway. She felt better, afterwards, slightly, but still light headed, and as she pulled a thick dressing gown round her and wandered downstairs into the closed bar, Cynthia greeted her cheerfully by telling her that she looked terrible.
"I don't know what it is," she confided, "I just woke up feeling like a dead dog."
Cynthia smiled that hawklike smile. "I think the key of it might be in your own activities," she speculated, "Perhaps you have been making more than love with Sebastian."
Minerva snapped the case of the key shut. Treacherous thing, she thought. Pushing herself to her feet, she looped the chain back around her neck and fastened it, letting it fall to hang between her breasts as it always did. How she would love to be rid of it. Pulling together the courage and the words she needed, she walked back into the house and silently resumed her seat by the fire. Albus Dumbledore had not moved, and as she sat down he merely raised his eyebrows.
"Did you like the garden?" he asked with a benign smile.
Minerva didn't answer him. She reached up to her throat and fingered the chain. Despite the length of it, she felt that it was choking her. She took a deep breath and told Albus everything.
"But how did it happen?" Albus Dumbledore asked quietly. "How did everything go so wrong?"
Minerva looked at him, chest tight. "Well, it was all wonderful for over a year, we were very happy. But all that changed a few months ago." Her throat went dry, she couldn't speak.
"I. I'll tell you another time." She picked up the locket, heaved herself from her chair and fled. Albus heard the back door swing open and closed. Minerva had decided to lose herself in the garden.
Minerva opened the back door into a wilderness of flowers, trees, lawns and shrubs. She looked around in amazement at the yard's beauty and vastness, made all the more mind blowing by the fact that, from the outside, the muggle point of few, it appeared no larger than ten square feet.
A sprinkling fountain pattered just a few feet in front of her, a little bird that was a vibrant shade of blue washing itself in the warm waters. A sultry, summer sun bathed everything in its bright glow.
Minerva padded across the soft grass and settled herself at the foot of a large jacaranda tree, the grass around her carpeted in a velvety layer of mauve flowers. She pulled her legs underneath each other and lay her hands in her lap, clutching the locket inside them. She turned it over in her hands; it looked so simple, so beautiful, so innocent. But then even the most beautiful looking things could be deceptive. She laced the chain through her fingers. and the memory was upon her, unbidden.
She sat on the bed in the dimly lit room above the London bar, running her fingers over the casing of the key and wondering how it was that that man had been able to see it. It had been over a year since, but she had seen him again that night, and he had fixed her with a piercing, knowing stare. She was afraid of him.
It had been an interesting night. Things had been slightly dull for the last few weeks. Truth be known, Minerva was missing the magic world ever so much, and was sick of having to use muggle methods of doing things all the time. She was even thinking about asking the weird guy for directions to Diagon alley (because he was quite obviously some kind of wizard) just so she could spend a day among her people.
But that night had been different. She had thought that she'd met all of Sebastian's friends over the months they had been together, but that night she had been proven wrong.
"Minny!" Seb had exclaimed with a wave of a half empty mug of beer, beckoning her over to where he sat by the bar. "This is Jeromie; he's a really good friend of mine." Minerva approached and Jeromie stood up to meet her. She looked up at him with wide eyes - he was the tallest man she had ever met. He had short, very dark brown hair and vibrant blue eyes, and bold features permanently set in a boyish expression of amusement. He smiled down at her and held out his hand to shake hers.
"You're very tall." Was all she seemed to be able to think to say. She smiled sheepishly.
"Yeah, I'd noticed." There was a glint of amusement in his eyes, and his smile only widened. Minerva laughed, and Jeromie took his seat back at the bar again, bringing himself down to her height. She slid onto the stool beside him.
Jeromie was the most engaging person that Minerva had ever met - he was funny, charming, childlike in his humour but mature in his thinking. He was easy to talk to, and Minerva found that talking to a man when there was no expectation upon her that she would be anything but friendly was so releasing that she could let her guard down. Twice she almost told him she was a witch, but kept herself in check by reminding herself that she had only just met this man, and while he made her think she could trust him, there might be others overhearing in the bar that she could not. Sebastian found their continual banter amusing, and he left them at it, preferring to go and find people to talk to who actually noticed he was there.
Minerva sat on the bed, turning the key's casing over in her hands. Yes, it had been a rather interesting evening.
As she looped the chain back around her neck, she hear the door to the room open, and looked up into Sebastian's beautiful, dark, smiling eyes.
"I'm glad to see you liked Jeromie." He smiled as he looked at her.
She smiled back. "Yes, he's fantastic."
Sebastian came to sit on the bed beside her and she slithered comfortably into his arms. "Not as fantastic as me, I hope?" he asked with a grin, completely confident in his own sense of self-worth.
"Of course not, Seb." She replied with a smile, leaning up to plant a soft kiss tenderly on his lips.
"That's good." He replied as their faces parted, "Because I wouldn't want to have to kill him." That cheeky grin again. "Anyway." he disengaged himself from her and began to unbutton his shirt, "It's very late."
Although they slept in the same bed, it had been over a year and Sebastian and Minerva had never become a real couple, so to speak, she had never felt ready, but that night she was scorched with a wild, animal impulse more powerful than anything she had ever felt before.
"Sebastian?"
When she said his name, this time it was in a totally different tone to that which she had ever used before, and when he turned to look at her, he saw her skin glowing, her chest heaving, her curls seeming to radiate out from her head. Her eyes were passionately intense, and she reached out to him and drew him to her, around her, into her.
.Minerva fell back onto the pillows, chest heaving, beads of sweat glistening on her warm skin. Sebastian collapsed beside her, breathing heavily. She turned her head to look into his eyes, smiling, fulfilled, glowing. He smiled back, and his fingers reached up to trace the line made by the bone at her throat.
"Minny," he whispered, for he could feel nothing there, where only minutes before there had been a very real adornment, "What is that gold chain that you wear?"
Minerva started. "What?" her eyes widened in shock and she sat up. "What do you mean?"
Sebastian sat up to look at her, to weigh her gaze in his own. "The gold chain with the locket at the end that I could feel a few minutes ago, but is invisible now."
"You.you could see it?" Minerva's voice wavered with her uncertainty.
"Yes, just a minute ago. it was getting in the way." He smiled. "What is it?"
"I. I don't understand how that is possible," she whispered, reaching up to touch it at her throat. He saw her reach up to her throat and twist the air between her fingers. The gold chain and locket fell into her lap, materialising into gold.
"That, that's it." He looked at her. "Is it magical?" He felt stupid saying it, for the idea of magic went against everything he had ever been taught about the world. He knew, though, that Minerva's world was very different to his, and he wanted to learn.
"Yes." She replied. Taking one deep breath and seeming to come to a decision, she picked up the locket and opened it to show what was inside.
"My God," he whispered, looking at the gold, sapphire encrusted key with a mixture of emotions - awe, greed, amazement. "It's so beautiful." He reached out toward her, making to touch it, but where his fingers would have made contact with the tiny item they instead passed straight through and out the other side.
"The Keeper of the Key is the only one who may touch it or hold it," she said quietly, "While I've got it you won't be able to touch it at all. Nobody can take it unless I give it to them."
"Then why. why could I feel it before?"
"I. I suppose when we became one, in essence you became a part of me, and you could see and feel it as I do." She smiled, looking up at him, the memories of his touch still fresh on her tingling skin.
"But here." she continued, handing the locket into his fingers and pulling her hands away. "That is how much I trust you, Sebastian."
He looked at her and felt a tight swelling of his chest, as if those words had just made his heart that little bit bigger. He was a better person for having gained her trust and her love. "What does it do?" he asked, tracing the intricate design of the sapphires on the handle.
"It allows the bearer to see into the heart of anyone she choses, their true feelings, emotions and intentions. I don't know how, or what they see, because I have never used it."
"But why?" he asked, imagining that if such a precious gift were his he would use it every time he was playing poker, or anytime he thought somebody might be lying to him.
"Nothing happens without consequences, Sebastian, and the seer who gave it to me told me to only use it when I really desperately needed to, because there would be repercussions."
"What kind?" he asked.
"I don't know." She shook her head. Sebastian took one last look at the key with a gaze that Minerva could not decipher, and then reached back up around her neck and fastened it there.
He kissed her cheek, her nose, eyelids, her lips, and ran his fingers over her face. "I think we need to sleep, now, my love, or we will never get up in the morning."
But the morning, it transpired, held changes for Minerva. She woke in the empty bed feeling as though she were about to be sick, a wave of nausea running from head to toe. She tumbled from the bed and immediately into the bathroom, where it took her minutes to heave up the nothing she had in her gut anyway. She felt better, afterwards, slightly, but still light headed, and as she pulled a thick dressing gown round her and wandered downstairs into the closed bar, Cynthia greeted her cheerfully by telling her that she looked terrible.
"I don't know what it is," she confided, "I just woke up feeling like a dead dog."
Cynthia smiled that hawklike smile. "I think the key of it might be in your own activities," she speculated, "Perhaps you have been making more than love with Sebastian."
Minerva snapped the case of the key shut. Treacherous thing, she thought. Pushing herself to her feet, she looped the chain back around her neck and fastened it, letting it fall to hang between her breasts as it always did. How she would love to be rid of it. Pulling together the courage and the words she needed, she walked back into the house and silently resumed her seat by the fire. Albus Dumbledore had not moved, and as she sat down he merely raised his eyebrows.
"Did you like the garden?" he asked with a benign smile.
Minerva didn't answer him. She reached up to her throat and fingered the chain. Despite the length of it, she felt that it was choking her. She took a deep breath and told Albus everything.