Okay okay, I confess, the twenty questions is starting to get to my head! Can't help it, hopeless romantic writing here. :) Here is your chapter all reviewers.
Yet again, no one below is mine, and if they were, I would be on a very long vacation in Hawaii.
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Chapter eight: Spontaneity
The next morning wasn't the least bit awkward, as Albus had imagined it to be. He and Minerva seemed to be on perfectly good terms, and laughing at one another's jokes. He felt rather tempted almost to attempt to kiss her again, but that needed to wait for the right moment. She had consented to being in a relationship with Albus, but only on the condition that it didn't move too fast…however too fast was a rather broad term. He watched patiently as she ran around her room with a satin blue robe covering her skin, and a stack of clothes to wear for the day.
She looked beautiful this morning, absolutely gorgeous. She hadn't had a chance to put her hair up quite yet, he rather enjoyed seeing it fly everywhere, and to be wild rather than contained as he would normally have seen it. Even early in the morning her beauty stole his breath away. It was almost hard to believe he'd been so infatuated with her even before he had a chance to get to know her. Though what he had found out had seemed to put a slight stop on his attraction.
'That picture,' he thought slowly, 'why does she even keep that picture up in her room if her mother hurt her so much?' What had her mother done? How could someone hurt this brilliant beauty? Of course the fact that it was her mother would have promoted no sympathy had she taken notice to literally hurt Minerva. He sighed, he'd seen her skin exposed ever so slightly a few times, he hadn't seen any scars; but abuse wasn't beyond the normal protocol for a mother to take charge of. After all, what he did know about the McGonagall family was limited, and what he did know was that Minerva had always favored her father; however the reason for that remained to be said.
He became lost in his thoughts, he didn't even see Minerva open the door, and walk into him. He reacted quickly, and brought his hands around he waist, and surprisingly enough, it didn't feel awkward to the least, almost as if he'd done it a million times. But who was he kidding? He had done it a million times…in his dreams. Realizing what he was doing, he let go of her quickly and apologized.
"Don't be sorry," she smiled shyly, "I should've been looking where I was going."
She proceeded to the bathroom, where she was obviously going to do her hair and get ready for the day. He sighed, and closed his eyes, trying to remember this last magical moment.
The morning was like any of the other mornings, the two of them still were constantly arguing over what to do, and yet they weren't arguing. He still was hinting constantly for her to tell him more about herself, yet she constantly changed the subject. Once he had even tried to turn to their memory of the previous evening, but all she could forage out was a blush and a smile. She seemed rather self-conscious most of the time. Hardly ever did she look up into his eyes, which was a shame considering all he could think about that previous evening was the way her eyes danced when she laughed.
The two of them came from breakfast, and walked up the stairs arm in arm. He hadn't quite been brave enough yet to grasp her hand, though he doubted there would be any problems. She had after all allowed him to kiss her only the night before.
She looked radiant in those slimming dresses she was wearing. He could only imagine what lay beneath the outfits she wore. Quite ironically, he did imagine, and all too often at that. Dreams had become a nightly thing for him at least a year ago, but now, the dreams were becoming more vivid, and real. With him only a door away from her it was hard to have normal dreams. Yet normal certainly seemed in the past.
Both Albus and Minerva went back towards their halves of the room when they came back. Not more than a word was spoken between them. Again, she took refuge on her bed, and it didn't surprise him to the least. However, his intentions of keeping her secluded were far from happening. He waited a few minutes before knocking on the door, in which she answered quickly considering she would not have had time to start anything productive.
"Something you wanted Albus?" she raised an eyebrow.
"What I want if rather irrelevant right now," he smiled, "I would like to talk to you. How does another game of twenty questions sound?"
"That depends, what sort of tricks do you have up your sleeves?"
"No tricks, I just want to find out about my favorite transfiguration teacher."
"You may enter," she came daringly close to smiling this time, he could see her lips tighten ever so slightly, and were her eyes always that sparkly?
He went, and sat on her neatly made bed. The room was it should be, perfectly clean, as if nothing, or no one had ever inhabited it. It showed no sign of Minerva being there, no clothes were on the floor, none even seemed to be in suitcases. He knew the suitcase was beneath the bed, and the clothes in the closet, but it was almost depressing to see how in order the room was, unlike the one he even owned at home. More than anything, it reminded him of her home in London, no personal knickknacks anywhere. He looked up at Minerva who joined him on the bed. "Do I start, or you?"
"I would like to start this time, if that isn't too much of a problem for you."
He nodded, and saw a genuinely teasing smile on her face. "It's perfectly alright. Ask me anything you want."
"What possessed you to come here to Egypt?"
That wasn't quite the question he had expected, not to the least. But Minerva wasn't the least bit predictable when it came to some things. He blinked. "Since I expect you to tell me the whole truth, I will tell you the whole truth. I came here so that I could get closer to you Minerva, I've thought of nothing, nothing but you for the longest time," he smiled as he saw her somewhat flattered reaction. Her face turned a bright pink, "I had to get close to you. I have to let you know that I've been inlove with you since the first time you started teaching, since the first time you smiled."
"You know every woman waits for that very same set of words their whole life."
"Well I'm telling you now," he leaned in, and she didn't pull back even to the slightest, "if anything will have amounted by the end of this trip, you will have no doubts as to how I feel about you."
"I daresay," she breathed, "you gave me an oddly superior idea last night as to what your feelings are."
He raised an eyebrow. "Oddly superior?"
"What do you want me to say?" she grinned, "That it was the best kiss of my life?"
He chuckled every so slightly, "My dear, I think that would have been the precise thing for you to have said."
"Well let me try again." She moved slightly closer towards him with only a few centimeters between them. She reached up, and wrapped her arms around his neck. Her eyes had an oddly bright air to them this morning. "Last night was the best kiss of my life," she said soothingly.
'Don't do it, whatever you do, do not do it,' his breathing became quicker. Her arms were wrapped around his neck, her body was touching him, and her lips looked totally and completely kissable right now. He swallowed hard, fighting the urge to just press her against the bed. "You weren't at all bad my dear. My number one at this point."
A few moments of silence passed, Albus was desperately fighting the urge to kiss her right then. "Is there something wrong?" She removed her hands and looked at his trembling figure with large eyes. What he was wearing today wasn't the least bit thick; he would not have been surprised for her to have seen his sudden changes in his body. She'd barely done anything, and he'd already started to shake with anticipation.
Having his composure come again, he spoke slowly, "Nothing is wrong, only the fact that what should have been a kiss just now turned into a rather awkward moment."
She smiled. "I suppose it did. So whose turn is it to ask?"
"Er," he rolled his eyes, "you can go. I don't quite remember. I was just a little bit sidetracked for a few minutes."
"Sidetracked?"
"Don't play dumb with me Miss Minerva, you're smarter than that."
She bowed her head, and he couldn't help but pay attention to the smooth way she brushed the loose hair away from her face. He saw a faint smile on her genuinely rosy cheeks. "You flatter me too much Albus."
"On the contrary, it is you who flatter me."
"You've no need to lie," she grinned, "I'm sure you've had plenty of women kiss you in your day. Women I'm sure much more deserving than I."
"As far as I'm concerned, I am the one who is undeserving of you."
"Liar."
Merely on impulse, he reached what little distance he had, and kissed her gently. She pulled back after a few seconds, and looked at him with glossy eyes. "I suppose you had that planned?" she smirked.
"What would you do if I said yes?"
"Kiss you again."
"What if I said no?"
"Kiss you again."
"Then I guess either way you figure it I'm done for," he grinned, and leaned across the bed to claim her lips with his own. The kiss seemed to last an eternity, and yet it seemed to become over far too soon. They peered at eachother with childish grins on their faces. "You want to go swimming?" she blinked.
"Swimming sounds wonderful."
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The two of them strolled slowly down towards the cool deck. The woman was naturally dressed in a very conservative swim suit and the man in swimming trunks. To anyone else watching over them, it would have given the impression of lovers going for a morning swim, however to the man who watched in the shadows, it meant there was progress. Very significant progress obviously, but there was still kinks to be worked out, he could see it with the man in the pools eyes.
Severus Snape watched solely as the two of them splashed about the water and dunked eachother beneath as if they were mere children. He'd taken part to not spy on them for a few days, he hadn't wanted to see what idiotic things Albus was doing to get Minerva's attention, but was glad he saw them now. Obviously he hadn't planned on coming across them just yet, but time had an odd way of presenting itself when it came to his luck.
He smirked at the way the two were getting on. He hadn't quite anticipated the smile Minerva had acquired only recently. Nor the ways the two of them seemed to be so oddly comfortable with the other so soon. They certainly did make a couple, which was for sure. He wryly turned around, "Me thinks the lovebirds are hitting it off rather nicely."
"You know Severus, it's not nice of you to spy on them." A naively beautiful woman stood beside him, dressed completely in summer clothes.
"I thought that was our mission," he grinned, scanning her over slowly, "Your dearest friend is need of a good man, and this particular one just happens to have a thing for her. I think I've done my job pretty well."
She walked over, and draped her arms around his neck casually. "You understand that the minute they see us here, they're going to know exactly what happened."
"This is why I am making a point not to let them see us." He leaned down, and sucked her lips gently. Then he looked below, and into her not so innocent eyes.
"Isn't that an awfully good reason for us to go back upstairs? I mean we've only been here a few days and we've hardly had any time to ourselves it seems. We could just sneak right back up, and pretend like we never even came down here," she traced a finger along his jaw line, smiling all the while, "Obviously we can't go out this way if they are in the pool, come, and let's go back up to the room. I want my flower to be disrupted again."
"We in a hurry Poppy?" he smirked.
"You make it sound like it's a surprise. Please," she pouted, "we've nothing better to do. All they'll do all day is just sit there and splash around."
"You don't know that."
"Oh come on, I know Minerva. The minute she lets someone kiss her is the moment the world comes to an end."
He turned around quickly to glance at the two, when he saw them, his eyes widened with surprise. "Be prepared for the Earth to collapse," he whispered, "I think they're moving a little quicker than I had planned." He cringed slightly, "Oh bloody hell, they're snogging in the pool!"
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MioneMalfoy6- Well I believe I sort of made your suggestion. You got your Sev & Poppy, and we know what they've been doing the whole trip. [wink, wink, nudge, nudge] ahem, :) I'm not anticipating them actually "running into" Albus & Minerva yet, but it shall happen! Hope you liked the chapter!
Palanfanaiel- All of a sudden I am weirdly interested in the game twenty questions, hehe :) me thinks Albus and Minerva are too. Hopefully I did my job and it doesn't look like they're moving WAY too fast…I was just getting tired of them hiding from the other, and romance is always so much more fun to write. If you loved last chapter, maybe this one topped it? Or is that hoping for too much. :\
Emutet- What do I call you now? I can't call you princess nemore, can I? :\ I like ur new pen name though, ill be creative. :) hehe, you're always so kind with your reviews, hopefully this one tickled your fancy a wee bit more than the last one? I felt humorous when I wrote it, can you tell? Hope it worked 4 u!
Evilwoman- You're right…Minerva's mommy wouldn't exactly be anyone's cup of tea now would she? But I think we will set aside the mother for a chapter or two…giving the two lovebirds time to learn other things about the other. I updated 2 weeks just like I always do :) hope you liked it.
LinZE- Last chapter was cuteness, this chapter is…I dunno, we're heading towards hotness. ;) R&R please!
hogwarts_duo- did I make you wait too long? You haven't died from waiting too long, have you? :'( Two weeks like always! Haha, last chapter they *kissed* this chapter they…snogged? :) What does the future hold, tehe, I think it's anyone's guess!
Hermione Gardiner- Where are Severus and Poppy? WHERE ARE SEVERUS AND POPPY? I say there! Watching the couples every move! Well…not really, but you get the picture. This is their first time spying out of many times, and one can only guess what sort of things they may see…okay, see now I'm giving too much away. Thanks for the review Hermione!
Liz O'Brien-You're kidding, you have NEVER heard of twenty questions? Never!? OH well…I was only introduced to it a year ago. :) Perhaps they moved a wee bit fast in this chapter, and you are probably one of the only reviewers that would have half a mind to say so, but things won't stay like this the whole time…naturally they'll get closer, but not quite like how it ended. I was just on a humor/romance kick the night I wrote this chapter, you must forgive me. Ahh, and I believe Miss Minerva McGonagall will try to keep her secret as long as possible about her mother…which means you and many others will die of the suspense. :\ Little over dramatic? Oh well.
Jestana- Albus and Minerva sitting in tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G…well, sort of. :) Ah yes, they're getting rather close already, and it's only the third day! I thought since I had such wonderful reviews on the twenty-questions I posted last chapter, I'd include it in this one…which turned out to be just a little bit more intense or mushy, or whatever you wanna call it. Hope you enjoyed the chappie!