Jestana- ahhh, yes, dancing, that is what they are doing. More and more dancing is to follow...
PrincessWitch- Truth be told, that whole drunk/sober thing, I got from a movie. Um...have you ever seen "the first wives club'? Well yeah, you'll get it if you have. Thanks for reviewing!
evilwoman- Only because you demanded this chapter am I posting it. I was going to wait until tomorrow, but I shall no longer be cruel. Yes! She said NO! tehe, but we both know how hush hush she likes to be.
Liz O'Brien- Minerva secretive? yeah, you're right. :-) Me thinks she'll be that way for a while, but...there's always hope!
Mini Minerva- oh my! Thank you for that outrageously wonderful compliment. :-) You've made me smile already.
Palanfanaiel- two weeks isn't bad for an update now is it? Hope u like the chappie.
Lyndy Marnie- thanks 4 the review
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Chapter 6: Nautical Metaphors
Albus woke up in an ostentatiously bright room. He sat up, and looked at the clock, 8:03. He grinned slightly; he hadn't slept in that long since he was a child. This was obviously a hint that the day would be good; outrageously good. He sat up from his bed, and knocked on the door that connected with Minerva's room. There wasn't an answer.
'I guess she's still sleeping,' he shook his head, and walked towards the bathroom. He opened the semi closed door, and his eyes widened slightly at the figure that was currently brushing her hair. She turned towards him, and smiled slightly. "Good morning sleepyhead."
"Good morning to you too. I was under the impression that you were the one sleeping," he grinned, and walked into the room, getting closer to Minerva, who was in a new cream colored dress.
"No, I've been up since six. I wasn't about to let you wake up before me, after yesterday."
"Ah, I see, it's a revenge kind of thing."
"Sort of," she grinned impishly, "Also, I hadn't wanted you to see me with my hair and everything as horrid as it was yesterday. Instead," she walked closer to him, and touched the top of his head, "I get to see your early morning hair."
"Alright Miss McGonagall, say whatever snide comments you have stored up, then I would like to get ready. Are we doing breakfast together, or are we on an independent kick?"
"No, we can have breakfast together. Besides, you're the one with all the money." She walked past him, and stood in the threshold. "In any case…all I would suggest is that you comb your hair. It looks fine, could be better, after all, it only looks like you were attacked by a flock of hippogriffs," she giggled, and walked out of the room.
He half smiled to himself; she was obviously in a good mood this morning. 'Today is going to be a beautiful day.'
************
They walked arm in arm towards the breakfast café to pick up some pastries, and check on tours for the day. Minerva had wanted to go on a boat ride, while Albus was very insistent on looking at the pyramids. He was particularly interested in some of the curses that surrounded the more popular shrines…
"Albus, I have no desire to sit in a cold room and look at a dead man wrapped in cloth. It's completely vile!"
"Oh come on. You don't come to Egypt and not see the pyramids Min."
They stopped walked, just a few meters away from the door to the café. Minerva looked up at him with her big blue eyes, "Do I have to?"
He bowed his head, and closed his eyes. She'd given him that very same look many times prior to this moment, and every single one of those times, he'd listened to her. He was weak, beyond weak, he was pathetic. He breathed in deeply, and rolled his eyes, "We don't have to go today I guess, but we WILL go at least once this trip, got that little miss?"
She smiled wickedly, and headed towards the café. She turned once she reached the door to not see Albus following her, "Is there something wrong?"
"I'm choosing what we're doing tonight, no exceptions."
She walked back towards him quickly, and took his hand in hers. "Fine, you win. Now come on, I want to get an early tour, that way we have plenty of time to do something this evening." She pulled him towards the small pastry shop, and he clung to her hand all the way to the room.
"Albus?" she looked up at him with an odd expression.
"Hmmm?"
"Do you plan on letting go of my hand anytime soon, or am I supposed to wait until you break it?
"Oh, sorry," he began to blush, "What do you want to eat?"
"Just some toast and orange juice. You?"
"I'll just have a pastry. Do you want to take it up to the room?"
"It makes no difference to me."
"Alright," he walked towards the basket and picked up their items. "Let's go and see what the tour schedules are, and then we'll decide."
"I always knew you were brilliant," he grinned, and headed towards the back of the room where the schedules were posted. She reached up and traced her hand along the times along with the days. "Today is Wednesday, right Albus?"
"Yes."
"How does nine thirty sound?"
"That's perfect; upstairs then?"
"That's fine. Come on, we'd better hurry. The boat leaves in an hour."
"We have plenty of time!"
"Not if we're going to travel that far to get to the boats."
He rolled his eyes. She was going to drive him crazy by the end of the trip. One way or another, he'd be bonkers.
*~*~*~*~*~
They both walked quickly towards the dock. As Albus had stated earlier, they were going to have plenty of time, and that they did. Minerva looked at Albus and couldn't quite help but smiling. He had tried, and it was obvious, time and time again to flirt with her. She'd gone right along with him, and found herself laughing at the stupidity of his jokes…though amusing they may be.
"Albus?"
He turned towards her a weak smile on his face, "Yes?"
"So what exactly is it that you want to do this evening? You seemed rather um…insistent on your way earlier."
"I'm no more stubborn than you are Min. What I have planned for this evening? I think that should stay a surprise."
"Come now Albus. You can't keep EVERYTHING from me. Surprises are so incredibly over rated."
"I find them rather amusing."
"You find everything amusing."
"Yes," he reached out, and touched her cheek. She tried not to melt into the touch; it was such an incredibly hard thing to do. "I find the way that you attempt to stay distant rather amusing. But I will have you figured out by the end of this trip Minerva McGonagall."
"Albus Dumbledore stop it," she smiled slightly; "you're embarrassing me."
"Did it ever occur to you that I mean to? What better way to make you come out of your shell than to subject you to public humiliation."
"I can hardly say I enjoy being humiliated infront of complete strangers Albus."
"Everyone likes to be humiliated infront of complete strangers, I do. Watch." Minerva stared at Albus to which was currently strutting towards the edge of the dock. He faced the small crowd, including Minerva, and threw his hands up in the air. What happened next, left Minerva totally, and completely speechless.
"Hold me a little closer lovely mine," he sung in a rich tenor voice.
Minerva stared, afraid to blink, was he really singing infront of complete strangers at nine o'clock in the morning? Was he really? She felt her heart beat quicker, it was stupid, he was acting like a child; She melted at the sound of his voice, it made her want to close her eyes and dream…hell, she wanted to dream about him.
"Cuddle up and be my little clinging vine," he sung, and walked closer to Minerva, leaving her to blush in a mass or humiliation, "Like to feel your cheek so rosy, Like to make you feel comfy cozy. Cause I love from head to toesy, lovely mine."
Minerva covered her eyes with her hands and stared at the ground. 'Yes, he is officially the craziest man I have ever met.' She knew her face was bright pink, she didn't need a mirror for that, and damn him, when she did look up, his eyes were twinkling merrily.
"What do you think Min? Humiliated enough?"
"I am going to say this very slowly," she nodded her head, "you are a lunatic who is barking up the wrong tree Albus Dumbledore. And may I ask, what is with that song anyhow?"
"Muggle song, it belongs to a musical I believe."
She rolled her eyes; he was out to get her that much was obvious. She took in a deep breath, and looked him in the face; she may as well try to turn the conversation to good if she was stuck with this lunatic as her date. "I didn't know that you could sing."
"There are a lot of things that you don't know about me."
"Try me."
"My parents made me sing in a boys' choir when I was younger. I had a total of twelve visits to St. Mungo's during the ages of nine and ten. I've been having dreams about the same person for over three years. I am now currently thirty-six, five months, and two days."
"Well," she sat back, "quite an interesting list. Twelve visits to St. Mungo's? What sort of things could you have been doing Albus?"
He sat next to Minerva on the bench, leaving her slightly panicked, "Let's just say I had some trouble controlling some of my magical reactions, particularly when my brother chose to steal my lemon drops."
"Why were you the one to go to St. Mungo's then?"
"He had it just a little bit worse than I did. One time, he turned my head into a lemon. It wasn't pretty to say the least. I had a rather sour disposition after that." He chuckled at his own joke, and Minerva felt slightly compelled to do the same; he simply had that effect on her.
"Hmmm, what else? You know exactly how old you are?"
"I could put the hours to minutes in there too if you want me to," he grinned, "Yes, I know exactly how old I am, I'm just strange like that. What about you?"
"What about me?"
"Tell me some things about you that I don't know."
"I think you know fairly well just about anything there is to know," she looked away from him; 'not this subject again.'
"Oh come on Min. Tell me something about your childhood. Siblings? Boyfriends? Friend friends?"
"I'm afraid the subject of boyfriends is going to be on a continuous confinement from your ears," she didn't turn to face him, "and as far as friends there is nothing about my friendships that you do not know already, or that I would want you to know."
"Why be so secretive?" He moved his head and looked into her eyes. She felt her chin being lifted up, and felt too breathless to fight it, she found herself staring at his features with a concerned look upon his face.
"I am closed off because I want to be. What has happened to me in the past shall stay in the past, case closed."
"I'm not trying to pry into your perfect world Minerva, I'm not even trying to disturb the peace that you have obviously made for yourself, but you can't go through life pretending like nothing has happened," he ran his fingers through her dark hair, she breathed in deeply, "…I want to get to know you. Forgive my impudence for saying so, but I hate to see you this way. You're so much fun to be around when you want to be."
She stared at him, he didn't know anything about what had happened to her, he didn't have a clue. She couldn't very well come up with a reasonable excuse without telling him the entire story. She decided it would be best to go the other way, rather than retort. "What I want right now is for us to speak about something more cheerful; then perhaps I would have a chance to be fun with."
He nodded, and began telling her about him and his brother.
*~*~*~*
After a time of long and horrible speaking into a complete silence, the boat had come. Albus helped Minerva get into the torn tour boat. The sails were white, or at least would be had the dust of the land not eaten at them, let alone the bugs that had chewed dozen of holes. The boat was not long by any means, hardly looked like it could fit more than ten people. The planks of the boat were black, Albus hoped it was from the type of wood used, but his gut feeling was because of how old it more than likely was. The boat needed serious repairs; he didn't feel entirely comfortable with something at crude as this to be riding in for over half the day.
He and Minerva glanced at eachother once they were in. The captain of the boat was undoubtedly Arabic, and looked crabby in the mixture. They both were worried; he could see it in her face.
The captain pointed at himself once the seven passengers were on, and pointed at himself. "Tutenksh," he said, and opened his arms behind him. "Nile."
The boat began to move. Albus assumed that the 'Tutenksh' was his name, and obviously Nile was his interpretation of what was behind him. He moved his body ever so slightly towards Minerva. "It looks beautiful along the riverbed, does it not?"
She looked up and smiled at him, "It looks brilliant. I love to be near water, it reminds me of a story my mum used to tell me about a mermaid. It was a muggle story, but romantic."
"Well perhaps you wouldn't mind telling me the story?"
"Are you sure? I don't want to bore you."
"You could never bore me. Besides, you not talking to me is what will bore me on this long ride. It's going to be horrific; tell me again, why did you talk me into coming?"
"You get to decide what we do this evening, simple enough, I think."
"Right," he smirked, "tell me the story."
"Fine," she smiled, "Once upon a time there was a mermaid. She liked to go up towards the top of the water and look at the sailors that passed by her. She was never seen, but she always remembered all the faces that went past her. She loved to watch humans, and wish that she too could walk on land, but still be part of the water. One evening, she swam up, and saw a ship that was on fire. Along the floating debris, she saw a little girl clinging onto a piece of wood. The mermaid swam towards the girl, but didn't let herself be seen. She searched beneath the water for men who had sunk down, but the only thing she saw was the little girl.
The mermaid swam up towards the girl, and saw the sad expression on her face. She didn't have the heart to tell the girl that there was no one else. So, she led the girl in the direction of the shore. Once they had gotten there, the girl looked at the mermaid, and pointed at herself, "Hope," she said. The mermaid stared at her strangely, she didn't understand English. Then Hope, as was the girl's name, touched the mermaid, and she no longer had fins, nor a disfigured body compared to a human, she WAS human.
The mermaid frolicked along the coast, looking at all the people that were there. She came across a boy, a young man to be more precise. The mermaid had never seen anyone like him, he looked amazing. She walked over towards him, but soon realized she couldn't speak to the boy, she had not been given the human vocal cords, only human legs, so she left, and waded in the water. She'd only been on the land for an hour or so, and she was already missing her home. The little girl walked back up to her, and smiled. A sad expression was on the mermaids face, and she gave back her chance to have fins and swim along the waters.
Not long after that, the mermaid was back in the water, and watching ships float by again. She saw the boy many times, but never could speak to him. She was infatuated with a human, she knew it was wrong, but could not help herself. As the years passed, and she became old, so did he. Nearly fifty years after the first time she had seen him, a ship passed. She knew he was on it, she always knew his ship. But this time, the ship did not pass safely, it played like a puzzle as the ship hit the rocks, and the cabins caught on fire. She swam quickly towards the ship, looking for the man. She found him beneath the water, dead. She swam up towards the top, and saw the tiny girl again. The mermaid begged for him to be set back to life, but the girl merely smiled, and pointed down towards the bottom of the ocean.
The mermaid couldn't believe the girls insensitivity, so she swam back down to the bottom, but failed to see the man this time. She searched all along the bottom, but didn't see him. She swam back up towards the girl, and saw not just the girl, but the man as well…the mermaid man. The mermaid hugged the tiny girl, but found her nothing but a transparency. She looked at the man, and smiled, "I'm Sabrina," she smiled.
"I'm Zane."
Minerva smiled at the ending, and looked at Albus. His elbows were on his knees, and his head on his hands, but he looked oddly interested in the story. "That's it," she breathed.
"Quite the story tellers your family must be," he commented, "You call this story romantic?"
"I would hardly call it anything else."
"A mermaid gets legs, falls in-love with a sailor, she sees him a lot, but never says anything to him. Then he dies, and turns into a mermaid, that is your idea of a love fantasy?"
"More like a love fable," she scratched her ear.
"A-h-a. What about the names, do they mean anything?"
"Sabrina means goddess of water, and Zane means God's grace, or quite ironically, sea friend."
"I was wondering how long you were going to keep on saying 'the mermaid' instead of giving her a name."
"It's part of the story," she smiled.
He stared at her carefully. Quite a romantic was she not? Perhaps in a strange sort of way, but romance seemed to be her thing. Now that he thought of it, she had mentioned something about reading muggle romance novels yesterday. And those names? He rolled his eyes, where does someone come up with the name Zane? "Your family has a um…unique thing for names. Let's see, we have Zane, Sabrina, and Minerva; quite a collection."
"My mother likes strange names I guess," she grinned.
"What about you?" He leaned in slightly closer; if she would accept this conversation, this would be one to listen to. What sort of person was she?
"What about me?"
"Do you like strange names?"
"I guess it depends on the eyes of the beholder."
"Ah. What do you think the two mermaids would name their daughter, if they had one?"
"I don't know, I would need to look up something significant to the story."
"Min, what would you name her?" Minerva didn't response, he decided that pressing on with the matter couldn't hurt that terribly. "Do you want a family? Your own daughter?"
She looked down at her hands and began twiddling her thumbs. He smiled slightly at himself, again with the surprise questions. He reached out, and put his hand on hers. She looked up at him.
"I've always wanted a family. However, I'm afraid I've never gotten close enough to find the right person."
Albus stared at her. She was certainly close to him now, only centimeters from eachother. He only just realized the closeness between them, and was rather shocked at the thought. But…who was she talking about?
"Do you have a right person in mind?"
"I don't know."
He reached out and lifted her chin up gently and stared in her deep pools of eyes; she stared at him, a far off expression on her face. "Minerva?"
She blinked, "Lottie."
"What?"
"I'd name my daughter Lottie."
He smiled slowly, and kissed her hand gently. She was the French type, why did it not surprise him after that cutsie romance story? "I like that name. What does it mean?"
"Tiny," she frowned slightly, "but I don't see children anywhere in my future. I haven't for a long time."
"I could hardly think that. You're still young and desirable, quite desirable actually. I don't know a man alive who wouldn't want to make a child with you."
"You say that like there's a choice," she raised an eyebrow.
"Why wouldn't there be?" He fell backward a little. Not very much on the confident side, was she?
She waited a few seconds before answering, and spoke rather matter-of-factly back to him, "If it's any different to you, I haven't had a boyfriend in over six years."
Albus stared. This beautiful, gorgeous, desirable woman had not had a man in her life for over six years. That was hardly believable. No one as beautiful as her goes that long without someone. Any man would want her next to him in the morning; any man would want to smell her sweet scent; any man would want to kiss her. He looked out upon the river bed at some children that were playing, 'No, maybe it's just me.'
He turned back towards Minerva who had a far off expression on her face. He took her hand in his; she blinked her eyes, and looked at him with a gloomy expression. "Would it make any difference if I told you that I've been in-love with you since the first time I saw you?" He could see the look of realization creep across her face. Her blue eyes seemed to expand a full inch on her head, and her unusually pale cheeks turned a light pink.
That was either the dumbest move he could have made, or best. 'Either way,' he decided, 'there are going to be results.'
"Inlove with me?" she whispered slowly.
"That's right," he nodded slowly, "since the very first millisecond I saw you."
He stared at her slightly trembling figure. She was battling something; he could see it on her face. However, he wasn't about to turn into a nervous wreck again like he so often did. His hand reached out, and cradled her chin gently. "I'm not trying to hurt you by saying that Min. It's how I feel, how I've always felt. I just want to get to know you, maybe," he stopped and breathed, "if it isn't hoping for too much, you'd be willing to do the same?"
She stared at him for a manner of seconds, and then made a pretty smile, "I wouldn't mind getting to know Albus Dumbledore either." She turned her gaze away from him, he waited patiently, and he thought she was going to say something else. After several minutes, she did happen to speak four words, "Look at the village."
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this week has been horrible for me. :'( could you maybe make it a little better by reviewing?
PrincessWitch- Truth be told, that whole drunk/sober thing, I got from a movie. Um...have you ever seen "the first wives club'? Well yeah, you'll get it if you have. Thanks for reviewing!
evilwoman- Only because you demanded this chapter am I posting it. I was going to wait until tomorrow, but I shall no longer be cruel. Yes! She said NO! tehe, but we both know how hush hush she likes to be.
Liz O'Brien- Minerva secretive? yeah, you're right. :-) Me thinks she'll be that way for a while, but...there's always hope!
Mini Minerva- oh my! Thank you for that outrageously wonderful compliment. :-) You've made me smile already.
Palanfanaiel- two weeks isn't bad for an update now is it? Hope u like the chappie.
Lyndy Marnie- thanks 4 the review
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Chapter 6: Nautical Metaphors
Albus woke up in an ostentatiously bright room. He sat up, and looked at the clock, 8:03. He grinned slightly; he hadn't slept in that long since he was a child. This was obviously a hint that the day would be good; outrageously good. He sat up from his bed, and knocked on the door that connected with Minerva's room. There wasn't an answer.
'I guess she's still sleeping,' he shook his head, and walked towards the bathroom. He opened the semi closed door, and his eyes widened slightly at the figure that was currently brushing her hair. She turned towards him, and smiled slightly. "Good morning sleepyhead."
"Good morning to you too. I was under the impression that you were the one sleeping," he grinned, and walked into the room, getting closer to Minerva, who was in a new cream colored dress.
"No, I've been up since six. I wasn't about to let you wake up before me, after yesterday."
"Ah, I see, it's a revenge kind of thing."
"Sort of," she grinned impishly, "Also, I hadn't wanted you to see me with my hair and everything as horrid as it was yesterday. Instead," she walked closer to him, and touched the top of his head, "I get to see your early morning hair."
"Alright Miss McGonagall, say whatever snide comments you have stored up, then I would like to get ready. Are we doing breakfast together, or are we on an independent kick?"
"No, we can have breakfast together. Besides, you're the one with all the money." She walked past him, and stood in the threshold. "In any case…all I would suggest is that you comb your hair. It looks fine, could be better, after all, it only looks like you were attacked by a flock of hippogriffs," she giggled, and walked out of the room.
He half smiled to himself; she was obviously in a good mood this morning. 'Today is going to be a beautiful day.'
************
They walked arm in arm towards the breakfast café to pick up some pastries, and check on tours for the day. Minerva had wanted to go on a boat ride, while Albus was very insistent on looking at the pyramids. He was particularly interested in some of the curses that surrounded the more popular shrines…
"Albus, I have no desire to sit in a cold room and look at a dead man wrapped in cloth. It's completely vile!"
"Oh come on. You don't come to Egypt and not see the pyramids Min."
They stopped walked, just a few meters away from the door to the café. Minerva looked up at him with her big blue eyes, "Do I have to?"
He bowed his head, and closed his eyes. She'd given him that very same look many times prior to this moment, and every single one of those times, he'd listened to her. He was weak, beyond weak, he was pathetic. He breathed in deeply, and rolled his eyes, "We don't have to go today I guess, but we WILL go at least once this trip, got that little miss?"
She smiled wickedly, and headed towards the café. She turned once she reached the door to not see Albus following her, "Is there something wrong?"
"I'm choosing what we're doing tonight, no exceptions."
She walked back towards him quickly, and took his hand in hers. "Fine, you win. Now come on, I want to get an early tour, that way we have plenty of time to do something this evening." She pulled him towards the small pastry shop, and he clung to her hand all the way to the room.
"Albus?" she looked up at him with an odd expression.
"Hmmm?"
"Do you plan on letting go of my hand anytime soon, or am I supposed to wait until you break it?
"Oh, sorry," he began to blush, "What do you want to eat?"
"Just some toast and orange juice. You?"
"I'll just have a pastry. Do you want to take it up to the room?"
"It makes no difference to me."
"Alright," he walked towards the basket and picked up their items. "Let's go and see what the tour schedules are, and then we'll decide."
"I always knew you were brilliant," he grinned, and headed towards the back of the room where the schedules were posted. She reached up and traced her hand along the times along with the days. "Today is Wednesday, right Albus?"
"Yes."
"How does nine thirty sound?"
"That's perfect; upstairs then?"
"That's fine. Come on, we'd better hurry. The boat leaves in an hour."
"We have plenty of time!"
"Not if we're going to travel that far to get to the boats."
He rolled his eyes. She was going to drive him crazy by the end of the trip. One way or another, he'd be bonkers.
*~*~*~*~*~
They both walked quickly towards the dock. As Albus had stated earlier, they were going to have plenty of time, and that they did. Minerva looked at Albus and couldn't quite help but smiling. He had tried, and it was obvious, time and time again to flirt with her. She'd gone right along with him, and found herself laughing at the stupidity of his jokes…though amusing they may be.
"Albus?"
He turned towards her a weak smile on his face, "Yes?"
"So what exactly is it that you want to do this evening? You seemed rather um…insistent on your way earlier."
"I'm no more stubborn than you are Min. What I have planned for this evening? I think that should stay a surprise."
"Come now Albus. You can't keep EVERYTHING from me. Surprises are so incredibly over rated."
"I find them rather amusing."
"You find everything amusing."
"Yes," he reached out, and touched her cheek. She tried not to melt into the touch; it was such an incredibly hard thing to do. "I find the way that you attempt to stay distant rather amusing. But I will have you figured out by the end of this trip Minerva McGonagall."
"Albus Dumbledore stop it," she smiled slightly; "you're embarrassing me."
"Did it ever occur to you that I mean to? What better way to make you come out of your shell than to subject you to public humiliation."
"I can hardly say I enjoy being humiliated infront of complete strangers Albus."
"Everyone likes to be humiliated infront of complete strangers, I do. Watch." Minerva stared at Albus to which was currently strutting towards the edge of the dock. He faced the small crowd, including Minerva, and threw his hands up in the air. What happened next, left Minerva totally, and completely speechless.
"Hold me a little closer lovely mine," he sung in a rich tenor voice.
Minerva stared, afraid to blink, was he really singing infront of complete strangers at nine o'clock in the morning? Was he really? She felt her heart beat quicker, it was stupid, he was acting like a child; She melted at the sound of his voice, it made her want to close her eyes and dream…hell, she wanted to dream about him.
"Cuddle up and be my little clinging vine," he sung, and walked closer to Minerva, leaving her to blush in a mass or humiliation, "Like to feel your cheek so rosy, Like to make you feel comfy cozy. Cause I love from head to toesy, lovely mine."
Minerva covered her eyes with her hands and stared at the ground. 'Yes, he is officially the craziest man I have ever met.' She knew her face was bright pink, she didn't need a mirror for that, and damn him, when she did look up, his eyes were twinkling merrily.
"What do you think Min? Humiliated enough?"
"I am going to say this very slowly," she nodded her head, "you are a lunatic who is barking up the wrong tree Albus Dumbledore. And may I ask, what is with that song anyhow?"
"Muggle song, it belongs to a musical I believe."
She rolled her eyes; he was out to get her that much was obvious. She took in a deep breath, and looked him in the face; she may as well try to turn the conversation to good if she was stuck with this lunatic as her date. "I didn't know that you could sing."
"There are a lot of things that you don't know about me."
"Try me."
"My parents made me sing in a boys' choir when I was younger. I had a total of twelve visits to St. Mungo's during the ages of nine and ten. I've been having dreams about the same person for over three years. I am now currently thirty-six, five months, and two days."
"Well," she sat back, "quite an interesting list. Twelve visits to St. Mungo's? What sort of things could you have been doing Albus?"
He sat next to Minerva on the bench, leaving her slightly panicked, "Let's just say I had some trouble controlling some of my magical reactions, particularly when my brother chose to steal my lemon drops."
"Why were you the one to go to St. Mungo's then?"
"He had it just a little bit worse than I did. One time, he turned my head into a lemon. It wasn't pretty to say the least. I had a rather sour disposition after that." He chuckled at his own joke, and Minerva felt slightly compelled to do the same; he simply had that effect on her.
"Hmmm, what else? You know exactly how old you are?"
"I could put the hours to minutes in there too if you want me to," he grinned, "Yes, I know exactly how old I am, I'm just strange like that. What about you?"
"What about me?"
"Tell me some things about you that I don't know."
"I think you know fairly well just about anything there is to know," she looked away from him; 'not this subject again.'
"Oh come on Min. Tell me something about your childhood. Siblings? Boyfriends? Friend friends?"
"I'm afraid the subject of boyfriends is going to be on a continuous confinement from your ears," she didn't turn to face him, "and as far as friends there is nothing about my friendships that you do not know already, or that I would want you to know."
"Why be so secretive?" He moved his head and looked into her eyes. She felt her chin being lifted up, and felt too breathless to fight it, she found herself staring at his features with a concerned look upon his face.
"I am closed off because I want to be. What has happened to me in the past shall stay in the past, case closed."
"I'm not trying to pry into your perfect world Minerva, I'm not even trying to disturb the peace that you have obviously made for yourself, but you can't go through life pretending like nothing has happened," he ran his fingers through her dark hair, she breathed in deeply, "…I want to get to know you. Forgive my impudence for saying so, but I hate to see you this way. You're so much fun to be around when you want to be."
She stared at him, he didn't know anything about what had happened to her, he didn't have a clue. She couldn't very well come up with a reasonable excuse without telling him the entire story. She decided it would be best to go the other way, rather than retort. "What I want right now is for us to speak about something more cheerful; then perhaps I would have a chance to be fun with."
He nodded, and began telling her about him and his brother.
*~*~*~*
After a time of long and horrible speaking into a complete silence, the boat had come. Albus helped Minerva get into the torn tour boat. The sails were white, or at least would be had the dust of the land not eaten at them, let alone the bugs that had chewed dozen of holes. The boat was not long by any means, hardly looked like it could fit more than ten people. The planks of the boat were black, Albus hoped it was from the type of wood used, but his gut feeling was because of how old it more than likely was. The boat needed serious repairs; he didn't feel entirely comfortable with something at crude as this to be riding in for over half the day.
He and Minerva glanced at eachother once they were in. The captain of the boat was undoubtedly Arabic, and looked crabby in the mixture. They both were worried; he could see it in her face.
The captain pointed at himself once the seven passengers were on, and pointed at himself. "Tutenksh," he said, and opened his arms behind him. "Nile."
The boat began to move. Albus assumed that the 'Tutenksh' was his name, and obviously Nile was his interpretation of what was behind him. He moved his body ever so slightly towards Minerva. "It looks beautiful along the riverbed, does it not?"
She looked up and smiled at him, "It looks brilliant. I love to be near water, it reminds me of a story my mum used to tell me about a mermaid. It was a muggle story, but romantic."
"Well perhaps you wouldn't mind telling me the story?"
"Are you sure? I don't want to bore you."
"You could never bore me. Besides, you not talking to me is what will bore me on this long ride. It's going to be horrific; tell me again, why did you talk me into coming?"
"You get to decide what we do this evening, simple enough, I think."
"Right," he smirked, "tell me the story."
"Fine," she smiled, "Once upon a time there was a mermaid. She liked to go up towards the top of the water and look at the sailors that passed by her. She was never seen, but she always remembered all the faces that went past her. She loved to watch humans, and wish that she too could walk on land, but still be part of the water. One evening, she swam up, and saw a ship that was on fire. Along the floating debris, she saw a little girl clinging onto a piece of wood. The mermaid swam towards the girl, but didn't let herself be seen. She searched beneath the water for men who had sunk down, but the only thing she saw was the little girl.
The mermaid swam up towards the girl, and saw the sad expression on her face. She didn't have the heart to tell the girl that there was no one else. So, she led the girl in the direction of the shore. Once they had gotten there, the girl looked at the mermaid, and pointed at herself, "Hope," she said. The mermaid stared at her strangely, she didn't understand English. Then Hope, as was the girl's name, touched the mermaid, and she no longer had fins, nor a disfigured body compared to a human, she WAS human.
The mermaid frolicked along the coast, looking at all the people that were there. She came across a boy, a young man to be more precise. The mermaid had never seen anyone like him, he looked amazing. She walked over towards him, but soon realized she couldn't speak to the boy, she had not been given the human vocal cords, only human legs, so she left, and waded in the water. She'd only been on the land for an hour or so, and she was already missing her home. The little girl walked back up to her, and smiled. A sad expression was on the mermaids face, and she gave back her chance to have fins and swim along the waters.
Not long after that, the mermaid was back in the water, and watching ships float by again. She saw the boy many times, but never could speak to him. She was infatuated with a human, she knew it was wrong, but could not help herself. As the years passed, and she became old, so did he. Nearly fifty years after the first time she had seen him, a ship passed. She knew he was on it, she always knew his ship. But this time, the ship did not pass safely, it played like a puzzle as the ship hit the rocks, and the cabins caught on fire. She swam quickly towards the ship, looking for the man. She found him beneath the water, dead. She swam up towards the top, and saw the tiny girl again. The mermaid begged for him to be set back to life, but the girl merely smiled, and pointed down towards the bottom of the ocean.
The mermaid couldn't believe the girls insensitivity, so she swam back down to the bottom, but failed to see the man this time. She searched all along the bottom, but didn't see him. She swam back up towards the girl, and saw not just the girl, but the man as well…the mermaid man. The mermaid hugged the tiny girl, but found her nothing but a transparency. She looked at the man, and smiled, "I'm Sabrina," she smiled.
"I'm Zane."
Minerva smiled at the ending, and looked at Albus. His elbows were on his knees, and his head on his hands, but he looked oddly interested in the story. "That's it," she breathed.
"Quite the story tellers your family must be," he commented, "You call this story romantic?"
"I would hardly call it anything else."
"A mermaid gets legs, falls in-love with a sailor, she sees him a lot, but never says anything to him. Then he dies, and turns into a mermaid, that is your idea of a love fantasy?"
"More like a love fable," she scratched her ear.
"A-h-a. What about the names, do they mean anything?"
"Sabrina means goddess of water, and Zane means God's grace, or quite ironically, sea friend."
"I was wondering how long you were going to keep on saying 'the mermaid' instead of giving her a name."
"It's part of the story," she smiled.
He stared at her carefully. Quite a romantic was she not? Perhaps in a strange sort of way, but romance seemed to be her thing. Now that he thought of it, she had mentioned something about reading muggle romance novels yesterday. And those names? He rolled his eyes, where does someone come up with the name Zane? "Your family has a um…unique thing for names. Let's see, we have Zane, Sabrina, and Minerva; quite a collection."
"My mother likes strange names I guess," she grinned.
"What about you?" He leaned in slightly closer; if she would accept this conversation, this would be one to listen to. What sort of person was she?
"What about me?"
"Do you like strange names?"
"I guess it depends on the eyes of the beholder."
"Ah. What do you think the two mermaids would name their daughter, if they had one?"
"I don't know, I would need to look up something significant to the story."
"Min, what would you name her?" Minerva didn't response, he decided that pressing on with the matter couldn't hurt that terribly. "Do you want a family? Your own daughter?"
She looked down at her hands and began twiddling her thumbs. He smiled slightly at himself, again with the surprise questions. He reached out, and put his hand on hers. She looked up at him.
"I've always wanted a family. However, I'm afraid I've never gotten close enough to find the right person."
Albus stared at her. She was certainly close to him now, only centimeters from eachother. He only just realized the closeness between them, and was rather shocked at the thought. But…who was she talking about?
"Do you have a right person in mind?"
"I don't know."
He reached out and lifted her chin up gently and stared in her deep pools of eyes; she stared at him, a far off expression on her face. "Minerva?"
She blinked, "Lottie."
"What?"
"I'd name my daughter Lottie."
He smiled slowly, and kissed her hand gently. She was the French type, why did it not surprise him after that cutsie romance story? "I like that name. What does it mean?"
"Tiny," she frowned slightly, "but I don't see children anywhere in my future. I haven't for a long time."
"I could hardly think that. You're still young and desirable, quite desirable actually. I don't know a man alive who wouldn't want to make a child with you."
"You say that like there's a choice," she raised an eyebrow.
"Why wouldn't there be?" He fell backward a little. Not very much on the confident side, was she?
She waited a few seconds before answering, and spoke rather matter-of-factly back to him, "If it's any different to you, I haven't had a boyfriend in over six years."
Albus stared. This beautiful, gorgeous, desirable woman had not had a man in her life for over six years. That was hardly believable. No one as beautiful as her goes that long without someone. Any man would want her next to him in the morning; any man would want to smell her sweet scent; any man would want to kiss her. He looked out upon the river bed at some children that were playing, 'No, maybe it's just me.'
He turned back towards Minerva who had a far off expression on her face. He took her hand in his; she blinked her eyes, and looked at him with a gloomy expression. "Would it make any difference if I told you that I've been in-love with you since the first time I saw you?" He could see the look of realization creep across her face. Her blue eyes seemed to expand a full inch on her head, and her unusually pale cheeks turned a light pink.
That was either the dumbest move he could have made, or best. 'Either way,' he decided, 'there are going to be results.'
"Inlove with me?" she whispered slowly.
"That's right," he nodded slowly, "since the very first millisecond I saw you."
He stared at her slightly trembling figure. She was battling something; he could see it on her face. However, he wasn't about to turn into a nervous wreck again like he so often did. His hand reached out, and cradled her chin gently. "I'm not trying to hurt you by saying that Min. It's how I feel, how I've always felt. I just want to get to know you, maybe," he stopped and breathed, "if it isn't hoping for too much, you'd be willing to do the same?"
She stared at him for a manner of seconds, and then made a pretty smile, "I wouldn't mind getting to know Albus Dumbledore either." She turned her gaze away from him, he waited patiently, and he thought she was going to say something else. After several minutes, she did happen to speak four words, "Look at the village."
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this week has been horrible for me. :'( could you maybe make it a little better by reviewing?