Disclaimer: JK said I could use them. Honest. And she said I could pocket the profits too. *rolls eyes* If you believe that then you're an idiot.
Background: This is an AU set circa 1947 onwards. Tom Riddle has not yet become Lord Voldemort. Rather, after he graduated from Hogwarts he used his Slytherin cunning and entered Wizarding politics first as a junior official in the Ministry of Magic, then as a rising and popular candidate for the next Minister of Magic. His plan is to influence the Wizarding community towards prejudice against Muggleborns and Muggles, particularly striving for restricting legislations and regulations against Muggleborn wizards and witches. Basically just paving the way and making things easier for him when he does turn into Lord Voldemort.
Certain extremists of Riddle's anti-Muggle movement (precursors to Death Eaters) have been causing havoc among the Wizarding community by targeting certain families with vicious threats and aggression while hiding behind masks and hoods. On a night when Tom Riddle is to give a speech on his most recent proposal (Muggleborn Screening: A Reasonable Approach to Controlling the Purity of Wizarding Folk), which the archetype Death Eaters will be in attendance, a protest group formed by the friends and families of Riddle's victims and his supporters of the current Minister of Magic have organised a rally outside where the speech will be taking place. Of course things could only get ugly from here on…
Meanwhile our favourite couple have been married for two years; they wedded shortly before Albus' defeat of Grindlewald. This scene takes place in their home after a desperate plea from the Minister of Magic for Albus' help. Now he is leaving to head off a potential diaster, much to Minerva's fury and dismay.
'Untitled'
"Albus this is not your fight!"
The auburn haired man sighed. He had just finished buckling his shoes (shoelaces, in his humble opinion, were such a bother) and upon straightening up on the edge of their bed from where he was bent over his shoes, he was just about to reach for his rune-lined travelling cloak when her voice stopped him. There was silence for a time; his back was to her but he could envision her heated expression, standing stiff backed in the doorway of their master bedroom, grey eyes sparking with fury and her lips thinned. He waited for her to say anything further while she waited to see if he would answer her. When he lifted the heavy cloak of the hook she began again.
"This is not a righteous fight between good and evil Albus. This is but a childish squabble between two underhanded cowards, one of which has compelled you to fight his battles for him."
He stood and turned to face his wife, travelling cloak swishing as he pulled it on. She was in robes of blue today; her long hair, Albus noted happily, was unbound. Though it was a small gesture, it spoke volumes of her affections for him. Minerva usually tied it up in a severe bun so that the dark strands would not sweep about her face and irritate her, but when Albus implored her to leave her hair loose so that he may run his fingers through them at any time, she relented. Of course, as typical of Minerva, she wanted to keep a professional façade to the outside world so only in the privacy of their home would she ever release her hair. Silly woman; but it only made Albus love her all the more her.
"Minerva, Thorius has asked for my support."
"Thorius Tewimmble is as spineless as a Flobberworm!"
"That maybe so," Albus answered amused, "but he is still the Minister of Magic."
"Then let the Minister see to his own affairs! I do not see how this can concern us. He has no right to order you to act in his name."
"Thorius 'requested' that I be there," he corrected her patiently, adjusting his cloak over hastily thrown on robes and checking his wand was in his pocket, "he did not 'order' me as you have said, my dear, because we both know there is only one person in the entire world brazen or foolish enough to do so. May I add that said person is also frequently successful in getting me to do their bidding?"
When his attempt at light hearted teasing went ignored, Albus sighed wearily and said softly, "You are being selfish Minerva--"
"So what if I am?!" Minerva's barely restrained temper finally exploded. "Two summers ago the Wizarding World was saved when the Great War ended with the defeat of Grindlewald, all by your hand alone Albus. While thousands of wizards and witches rejoiced that a saviour had come to deliver them from darkness, I almost lost my husband!!"
His wife's normally cool and reserved demeanour was replaced by one of distress and anger. She paused enough to regain her composure and breath, smoothing back her hair and robes.
"No my Albus, as much as I love you and your noble sense of protecting the innocent, I will not let it take you along an unnecessary and hazardous path. After very nearly losing you to the devastation and terror caused by Grindlewald, you can understand my disinclination to see my husband charge headlong into mortal peril--"
"Enough!" The usual cheerful twinkle in his blue eyes disappeared; instead they flared briefly with anger. Albus held up a warning hand. "You are being unreasonable Minerva. A support rally can hardly be compared to the reign of Grindlewald!"
But she would not back down. Minerva's firm resolve was one of the qualities that drew him to her in the first place and that he admired greatly; though at the same time it was also a quality that often vexed him in the past. She folded her arms defiantly and repositioned herself right in the middle of the room's entrance. The impression Albus drew from his sweet wife was that she was deliberately blocking the doorway.
"But you cannot deny that recently there has been an escalation of violence by Tom Riddle's supporters. Bulbinus Beckridge is still in St. Mungo's and all he did was check his mail as well as be a Muggleborn!"
"I am well aware of the dangers and that they are targeting innocent people my dear," Albus said coolly, "but that is all the more reason for me to go there tonight, to protect them. If I do not, then who will?"
"And who said that it had to be you?"
Albus had no reply to that and it was Silence's turn to speak again as husband and wife regarded the other. She broke the tension between them.
"Please, Albus," leaving the door way she was guarding, Minerva stepped towards him and placed a hand on his cheek. "Please stay here with me. Leave this to the Hit Wizards, the Aurors even. Who knows, perhaps our pusillanimous Minister might have even solicited the Dementors of Azkaban to be there tonight. We both know Thorius has dispatched all of his Heads of Department to be at the rally. Let the proper people manage this. Stay here with me."
Albus Dumbledore realized that his wife was pleading with him. Minerva McGonagall never pleaded. Not to any one; she was unyielding to all once her mind was made up, even to him, which often led to amusing and weird compromises. And if there was a task she wished for him to see to, all Minerva had to do, as Albus earlier stated, was to command him should her powers of persuasion fail.
But never had she pleaded.
Gently placing a hand over the one on his cheek, Albus planted a kiss on her palm before releasing it. Moving forwards so that their foreheads touched briefly and after a lingering caress on her cheek, he then strode away from her and out the now unblocked door. She followed silently.
Just as he placed a foot on the descending steps, from behind him Minerva's voice sounded uncharacteristically weak; it was barely over a whisper. "Oh Albus, what would we do without you?"
Turning, Albus frowned at her choice of words and was about to correct her, when he caught sight of her expression. It was one of infinite sadness; such a look was unbefitting of such happy tidings that her words meant.
It took quite a few moments before her words sank in. When they did, it took several more moments for Albus to find his voice and reply. At any other time he would have ecstatically swept his wife off her feet all the while whooping with exhilaration, sharing with her the delight at the knowledge of being parents. The fact that this was to be their firstborn child added to the significance of the announcement.
But he didn't. Right now time was of the essence. Every minute he was delayed lives were being placed at risk.
"You needn't even think like that, or of any drastic course of action for that matter Minerva because nothing ill will happen tonight. Everything will be fine. I will return to you," he said quietly in what he hoped was a reassuring tone. He stepped back to her and enfolded her into a tight, tender hold. Albus' features softened and despite the gravity of the current situation a small but elated smile twitched his moustache as he added, "To both of you."
She didn't return the gesture. Instead she looked away from him, eyes tightly shut as if in pain. When those grey eyes focused upon him again, they regarded him coldly. Minerva's face had a determined expression, lips pursed as she took in a deep breath.
"Return home to your family? I think not," she said in a low, dark tone. Minerva twisted away from him sharply and took a step back. "The moment you made that decision to place your family as a second priority was the same moment you forfeited everything we have had together and all that could have been."
His blue eyes were no longer twinkling and his smile vanished. Lowering his hands and clenching them at his sides he realized what she was saying. It was now his turn to plead.
"Minerva beloved, please, you must understand that I must go--"
"Good bye Albus Dumbledore. Regardless of the outcome, I will always mourn for the good man that was my husband." His wife presented her back to him and swiftly retreated towards their master bedroom, and while Albus desired nothing more than to step forward and embrace her and never let her go, again he didn't. The sound of a door slamming shut seemed final and absolute.
A grim Albus Dumbledore headed out into the misty November night, knowing full well that upon returning to his home his family would not be there.
AN: A little away from the genres they are usually portrayed in, I know. Any errors, typos or spelling mistakes, well, I plead leniency on the grounds that this is not beta-ed. ;)
Happy Reader!