13. Choices

A/N: I realized I was doing too much of the happy part of the marriage between Albus and Minerva, so I decided to show some of the uglier parts of it, both in the previous chapter and this one.

"I'm not going!" Tiberius' shout startled Anna in the middle of a summer potions assignment, causing her to blot it. Hissing something under her breath that would have earned her a sharp rebuke from her mother, she reached for the eraser that would remove the blot.

Once that was done, Anna left her room to investigate. Although her brother had inherited his father's hair, he'd inherited the McGonagall temper along with his mother's eyes. As she descended the stairs to the first floor, Anna heard her mother's voice. "Tiberius, why are you being difficult? We've never had any problems with the others--"

"I'm not the others!" Tiberius shouted back as Anna followed the voices into the living room. Her brother and mother stood facing each other across the room, a parchment letter in Tiberius' left hand. Anna's father sat on the sofa, watching the proceedings.

Minerva paled, staring at her son. "Oh, Tiberius, I'm sorry."

"What?" Tiberius stared at her, completely baffled.

His mother sighed, her defensive stance relaxing. "My parents always compared me to my brother and sisters, telling me how wonderful and intelligent they were." When she choked on the words, Albus rose and went to her. Anna and Tiberius exchanged glances before looking back at their parents. Composing herself, Minerva continued. "I promised myself I wouldn't do that when I had children of my own and I just did."

"Oh, Mum." Tiberius' anger drained out of him and he crossed the room to hug her.

Albus stepped back and stopped Anna from joining the other two. In a soft voice, Anna asked, "What's going on?"

"Tiberius received his letter today," Albus explained, looking at his daughter with eyes devoid of their usual twinkle. "He doesn't want to go."

Anna blinked, startled, and looked at her mother and brother just as Minerva asked, "Tiberius, why don't you want to go to Hogwarts?"

"Mum, you should know how hard it is to be the baby of the family," Tiberius answered, his voice quiet.

Minerva smiled faintly. "Not exactly the baby, but I did have three older siblings."

"Exactly!" Tiberius exclaimed. "Danny and Rica had to work to be recognized as separate people. I don't want to be under Anna's shadow."

Anna stepped forward. "Tiber, the professors already know you."

"It's not the professors, Anna," Tiberius replied. "The students don't know me."

Albus included himself now. "We won't push you into anything, Tiberius. I do ask that you at least sleep on it before you decide whether to attend Hogwarts or not."

"What if I decide not to?" Tiberius asked, looking up at his father curiously.

Albus smiled, the twinkle back in his eyes. "Then we will look into other wizarding schools for you."

"Mum?" Tiberius turned to Minerva, who'd been listening quietly.

Minerva nodded. "We won't pressure you, Tiberius."

"Thank you." Tiberius sparked a round of laughter when he tried to hug his mother, father, and sister all at once.