Well, obviously :-\ this is a week overdue, and I apologize. There were just so many problems last week w/ fanfiction.net and everything! I simply could not post it. :'( Also, I was fiercely debating over whether or not to add this last patch of information in the story. I apologize once again, and hope you enjoy your new chapter.
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chapter nine: True Confessions
Albus sat on the couch with the woman of his dreams in his arms, breathing slowly. He touched her hands softly, taking in the smooth texture of her voluptuous skin. There hadn't been any need for words after they'd gotten out of the summer haven known as a swimming pool, all that was needed was a smile and gently touches every now and then. When they'd gotten back, she'd gone in to change into a yet again conservative nightgown, and he also changed.
The two of them sat before the fire, and Albus foresaw a not so abnormal future between them, but he bypassed the thought for once, and stared at the real thing. Her skin was even creamier than he had thought, her hair even darker than he'd imagined, and her lips…they'd done something awful to his mind lately. He dragged a hand up her arm, and along her cheek.
"Min?"
"Yes," she whispered.
"What happened to 'take it slow'? Don't think I'm complaining, because I'm not, but I hadn't quite expected that to have led to that scene earlier."
"Scene?" She turned her body slowly to face his, and raised an eyebrow.
"Okay, so maybe scene wasn't the best word for it. More like spontaneous combustion," he grinned.
She smiled, and kissed his nose gently, "So what was the question again?"
"Why did you allow me to kiss you…like that, in public?"
"I don't know," she blinked, "sometimes you just blank out, and do stupid things. Besides," she ran a seductive finger around his face, "was it not you who asked me if I ever feel the need to be touched?"
"I did say that, didn't I?" he beamed.
"Yes."
"And so I see that is your form of answering."
"You are the smart one, are you not?"
"I suppose," He kissed her softly on the lips, "but there are other questions that I asked you that you have not yet answered."
"What did you have in mind," she smiled wickedly.
"The photographs?"
Minerva drew back, and removed her hands away from his body. She sat up straight upon the couch, while Albus lay and watched her move quickly. "I-I'm going to go to bed."
"You can't keep avoiding it Minerva."
"I can if I want to." She walked calmly towards her bedroom door, not bothering to leave it unlocked after she'd shut it loudly. He wasn't sure if it was deliberate, or inadvertently that she had slammed it, but it made no difference. Apparently they hadn't gotten any closer by means of the mind in any way. She hadn't even given him time to breathe it seemed before she was behind the door again. The princess locks herself up in the tower yet again, only to refuse the truth. He sighed, and turned his gaze towards the clock. It was not near dinner time, it was only four, hardly a time to go to bed. Oh, he knew she wasn't planning on sleeping anytime soon, but the means of her intentions were perfectly clear at this point.
She wanted him, he wanted her, and it was as plain as that. But she didn't seem to want the truth as it were. She wasn't willing to let go of whatever had happened, she was not willing to give up her position for a few petty words, she was not willing to give anything up.
He stared blankly at the door, letting this rotting information spread through his brain. Then, he walked downstairs to get some food for him and Minerva. The plans at this point was merely to knock on the door, tell her there was food, and pray that she would come out. That was hoping for too much perhaps, but it was better than waiting until morning where she would definitely come out.
He went down towards the counter, and ordered the food. On his way back up, he was met with a rather curious couple laughing. Severus and Poppy? That's the new girl he's got? Cheese and crackers, not now. The two passed Albus, and he stood frozen like a statue. They hadn't seemed to notice him, not to a bit. He swallowed, and continued walking up the staircase, and back into their room.
"Minerva," he knocked on the door, "I brought you some food if you would like it."
No answer.
"Oh come on, you can't sit in there and hide forever. I asked you a question, is it so difficult?"
No answer.
"Okay, you knock once, and I know you're there, if you don't, then I'll magic myself into that room. One, two—"
"I'm right here Albus." He turned around and Minerva was there with a suggestively morose look upon her face, "you don't need to barrel down a door when I am not in the room."
"I brought you something to eat."
"I'm not hungry, thank you for the thought though." The two stood there, face to face for several uncomfortable minutes. It wasn't supposed to be like this, you weren't supposed to spend the best day of your life with someone, come back home and have the day totally incinerated. He took Minerva's hand gently, she didn't pull back, merely stared at him with ghostly eyes.
"Alright Min, here is what it comes to. I won't ask you again about that picture, but I would like to have some honestly between us. You don't go off telling someone that you trust them completely, then keep secrets from them and snog them in the pool."
"Albus," she whispered softly, "I don't want to hide things from you."
"Then why do you? Today has been the most amazing day of my life, if I had any secrets to tell you, I'd be saying them right now and confess it all."
"There is nothing to confess, only things to be forgotten."
"Quoting won't get you anywhere."
Silence passed.
"If I told you that I loved you with everything I possessed, would you give me time to tell you? Would you wait for me? I love you Albus. I've never felt the need to be near someone, or touched, or kissed, but damn it, you make me need it. I will tell you, I'll swear it if you want me to, but please, not now. I don't know if it's the hormones or the sun or you, but I can't keep my head straight, I can't keep my emotions straight, I can't even walk straight!" She shook, she shivered, and she quaked. Albus watched her usually proper posture slink down towards the floor.
He'd pushed her too hard. She didn't want to keep things from him; she was as lost as he was. He could see the want in her eyes that they said how she had wanted to tell him. Only time will tell he breathed.
"I can wait as long as you need me to. I won't ask you again."
"Thank you," she nodded, and hugged him tightly. "I love you." He wrapped his arms around her, and kissed the top of her head. "I love you too."
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When Albus awoke Minerva was in his arms sleeping gently. He breathed in her sweet scent of maple and honey. Last night couldn't have gone better. He blinked. Mental note to self, never ask Minerva who was in that picture ever again. He traced a hand up and down her soft cheeks. He watched and listened as her breathing switched from sleep to awake. "Morning," he whispered softly.
"Tell me why I'm in your arms and not in my bed," she spoke slowly, quietly, sleepily.
"You were reading on the bed last night. You fell asleep."
"Oh," she pulled his hand off of his side, and brought it up and over her waist. "Just give me another hour hon. I'll be a good girl."
He chuckled ever so slightly, and stared as she drifted back to sleep. She certainly wasn't afraid of whatever she had been anymore. It felt good to have her at his finger tips. Of course the minute she woke up she'd be back to her normal self. But for the time being, this was nothing short of heaven. He inhaled her scent slowly, it was nearly as intoxicating as a bottle of wine, or sherry for that matter. Gently he closed his eyes, and kissed her neck softly. He could not stand it anymore. Too long had he been staring at this beauty which now that he had it, he could hardly keep his mind straight with her right infront of him.
He heard a weak gasp from her, disconnected his lips, and waited patiently for a reply.
"Mmm, not now Aron, work doesn't start for another hour. Go back downstairs," she whispered sleepily, and pulled Albus's hand closer.
Aron? Who in the bloody hell is Aron? He removed his hand from her skin, and slid out from under the covers. Aron? He drew a bath for himself, soaked for half an hour, and put on his day clothes. Aron? An hour after he'd gotten out of bed, he sat and stared at the sleeping Minerva. Surely this Aron was just a—a friend? Why would she think that I was someone else? Stop it man! She was dreaming, that's it, yes. Dreaming.
"Albus, where'd you go?"
He breathed slowly, and watched as Minerva became fully alert. "I was getting ready for the day."
"Mmm, alright," she turned around on the bed, and stared at him angel faced. "You look odd, did you do something different this morning?"
"No, nothing new," he cringed at his thought. Aron.
"Well I suppose that I should get ready too. We've got pyramids to see." She slid out of his bed slowly, almost even seductively, and walked gracefully towards her bedroom. She came out in a matter of minutes with a dark blue dress with flowers along the hem. Not surprisingly, the dress was reasonably low cut and gave him a bird's eye view. The two stood before eachother and stared; Albus for lack of words and Minerva for want of words.
"What's wrong?" she spoke.
"Nothing."
She elegantly walked towards him, and draped her arms around his neck with a grin on her face. "Albus, what's wrong? You were the one who gave me the talk last night about keeping secrets."
She has a point there. "I uh—nothing is wrong Minerva."
"You know, there are certain tricks to finding out if you are lying to me. Would you want to know them?" She ran a hand along his unshaven chin.
He swallowed, and shook his head.
"I think, I will tell you anyway then. Rule number one, if you're lying, you never repeat the question…like you just did. You might as well tell me."
"And if I don't?"
She paused and stared. "Then I might just be willing to give up my virginity to you right here, right now."
"Virginity?" He, with wide eyes, stepped back slowly. "You—you haven't…" he trailed off and looked at her.
"No, I'm still a virgin," she nodded, "Afraid I never found quite the right person."
"Uh…that's…" he scratched his neck, "a…surprise."
Tick, tock; tick, tock. The minutes of uncomfortable silence passed, it was Minerva who spoke. "I suppose it was rather out of place for me to have said that. If you don't mind I'll be going downstairs by myself this morning." Before Albus even had a chance to refute, she had left the room, and was well on her way towards breakfast. He stood dumbstruck before the door.
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Severus and Poppy sat quietly beside eachother at the café on the north side of the hotel. It was a relief for them to be alone so often. Too long throughout the school year had they been made to keep their relationship a secret. They hadn't needed words to speak how they felt about each other; just looking into the others' eyes was enough to know.
Poppy glanced around the small room and was somewhat startled to see Minerva walk in…alone. She tugged on Severus's sleeve, and pointed towards Minerva, whose face was unreasonably pink. His grin slouched down to a frown. He pointed at Minerva, then at Poppy. "You think they had a fight?"
"Don't be an idiot Severus. Why would she look like that if they hadn't?"
"Talk to her. Don't tell her I'm here with you."
She rolled her eyes, and slowly approached Minerva who was sitting across the room staring at a seemingly nothing. She sat across from her, "Something wrong?"
"What are you doing here?" She buried her face in her hands. Poppy had long since told Minerva that she was to be in Egypt during the summer. She couldn't quite recall whether or not she had given her a specific date; obviously not.
"Don't you remember me telling you that I was coming here?"
"Go away; I don't really want to talk about it."
"What did Albus do?" She reached out a hand innocently, and clasped Minerva's in her own.
Tears began to fall down her face, Poppy squeezed her hand harder. "You should've seen the look on his face," Minerva whispered, "like he'd just been shot."
"What happened?"
"I told him th-th-that I was a…virgin."
"What did he say to you Min?"
"Nothing," she lifted her hands from her face to reveal red all around, "the bloody idiot just stood there like a statue staring at me like I'm air! The only thing he could manage to say was 'That's a surprise.' Then I just left him."
"Well, Min, what did you expect him to say? I mean…okay maybe you're not completely innocent right now, but you shouldn't be making a big deal out of it. He was just in shock, that's all. I wouldn't worry."
"He's probably still in that room just staring at the door," she cried.
"Calm down Min. Breathe. Inhale, exhale, inhale, spit." A weak smile crossed her friend's face, and she let go of Minerva's quivering hand. "Are you okay to talk?"
"Ah'm," Minerva nodded.
"Just breathe, try to keep your mind off it," she smiled, "Now, besides what just happened, how has your trip been?"
"Good," she bowed her head; "Albus and I have been getting along well for the most part."
"You two looked cute together yesterday."
"Yesterday?"
"In the pool," Minerva's eyes went wide, "Oh please, you're snogging him in a public place in broad daylight. People are bound to see you!" She and Minerva laughed lightly.
"I was telling Se—"she stopped herself, "someone that the minute I see you snogging someone in the pool, that means one of two things. One, you've lost your mind, or two, you are head over heals in-love. I'm hoping it was the latter one."
"Oh Poppy, has it always been like this for you?"
"Worse, I had worse things to worry about besides whether or not I'll lose my virginity. More like how long I can keep him away before he attempts. You at least know you love the guy, at least you're crying over that rather than whether you're doing it for the fun."
"What about your new boyfriend? What are you doing it for?"
Poppy stopped to think, and then smiled. "I think I may actually be falling in love with him. Maybe you'll get to meet this one sometime."
Minerva nodded, and sent her a weak smile. "I feel so pathetic."
"You shouldn't be."
"I can't seem to find the words, when I want to bring up the subject. I suppose it will just happen if it were supposed to?"
"Well, now that he knows you're um…you haven't been contaminated yet, I think you giving him a few hints might be helpful."
"What sort of hints?"
"I don't know. Sweet talk him into something, bat your eyes, wear something appealing; men find that pretty attractive."
A genuine smile crossed Minerva's lips. Poppy's confusion was obvious she knew, but this was rather intriguing. "What are you smiling about?"
Minerva bit her lip, no doubt trying to hide her smile. "How would a see through nightgown be?"
"You have one?"
"I brought one."
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Nerweniel- Awwww, thanks! Really, I'm doing a good job? I know this story isn't a whole lot to look at, with the plot and everything, but I am REALLY concentrating on doing characterizations right now. Your review did wonders for my brain! ^_^
more from LLes- I always find it interesting to read what the unanimous reviewers left as their pen names. ;-) Very creative I must say. Haha, yes I suppose I could have saved that pool incident for a few more chapters, but I am getting WAY too bored with just typing dinky little happenings. Steamy is the way to go. :-) We'll be seeing lots more of poppy and severus I can assure you. I'm not planning for the two couples to meet anytime soon, so don't worry. Naturally they all know the others are there…with the exception of minerva not knowing severus is there, but what difference does it make? Lol.
Potts- ^_^ good? Really? I waited an extra week as is obvious if you've been reading this from week to week. Hope you liked the chapter. Wicked cool name too!
Hermione Gardiner- Yay! I have updated! ^_^ sorry it took an extra week, really I am. Made your day? Really? Yeah, I know this chapter may have been slightly angsty, but hopefully the ending made up for that, yes? Many more hot and steamy nights arising…hopefully.
Liz O'Brien- Ahh yes, take it slow. Sometimes, that phrase is a hard thing to work around, is it not? Since you are my most informed reviewer, I'll explain…hopefully you understand it a bit more now with that chapter, but my mind thinks things that I do not always make clear, you know? Yes, she wants to take it slow, only for the reason that she knows what sort of things will come when she finally does get "together" with him. Obviously she has a secret she does not want to tell, yet I think she's making it clear that the relationship should go up a notch. And that whole "virgin" thing makes a difference. Guys get weird when you tell 'em stuff like that.
Palanfanaiel- Snape and Poppy! Ha! Hope you caught the line about her "falling inlove" with dear old snapey. I wrote it for you, and yet another one of my closer friends to whom does not review like any decent friend should. Lol. Yepsies, I like twenty questions, it leads to fun subjects. They're good for conversations that you don't know how to handle. Lol. Hope the update was worth the wait.
LinZE- Many a hot and steamy nights. :-) My phrase of the day, quite fitting after that last line, don't you think? And of COURSE we know that Albus has been dreaming a similar dream with the nightgown for years now…so what might he do since he knows she's not "contaminated"? Hehe, lend some ideas; I'd be more than willing to fit them in.
Evilwoman- Ahh, slightly angst in a few places, one of your favorite genres, yes? No? Maybe so? Ach! Oh well, closeness it is…well, sorta. Nice sweet fluff, followed by odd morning, followed by tears, followed by laughter, it's so funny how our interests change throughout the hours. Update good, yes?
Jestana- Snogging in the pool…hmmmmmmm…Okay so I am a hopeless romantic constantly caught in the world of movies. But they make for great fics most of the time! You have anything you want me to put in the story? Peoples inputs are always fun to use!
Tristen-Potter- Well here is your "more" to read! Love love love love love love love. I love that word, LOVE. It's flying everywhere!
Emutet- :'( two weeks turned into three I'm afraid. :'( I'm a bad girl. Hopefully this chapter fulfilled whatever cravings you had for just about any genre. I had fun writing it. Ahh! The gown! The gown! What is to become of the gown?! What is to become of Albus?! Oh! We all know what's gonna happen, so why question it? Sorry for the lateness of this chapter. TRUE CONFESSIONS