Disclaimer: I do not own anything that deals with Harry Potter and the rest of this stuff. Okay, maybe I DO own the plot! Okay?
AN: I just wanted to say thank you to all my reviewers. I have left a few notes for you. This is my first time in doing so, so please forgive me if I forget to leave a note for you.
ADandMM4eva: I'm glad you like it and I am happy to find out that I am not the only one with Minerva as my muse. I know, I can hardly believe it myself.
Intelligent Witch: Yeah, it does suck!
Lady Urguentha: Yeah, well, everyone knows how stubborn out Minerva can be!
Bigkihap: Yeah, it is really really sad. I am thinking of making it a rare type of cancer. One that is close to impossible to cure.
Quill of Minerva: I don't know if I am going to have Albus save her or not. I was planning on having her die, but that is a rather interesting idea. But I don't know, cuz that's been done before, where one uses magic to help the other. Oh well, I'll keep you posted.
Girl from Iceland: I'm glad you loved it.
TartanLioness: Yeah, she is my muse too, and I think I am going to sob uncontrollably in the last few chapters.
Silver Sorceress: I am going to have Minerva tell him privately. But I am thinking of toying around with him a while and making him think that she is hiding something else.
Chapter Three: How To Tell Albus?
Minerva stared outside her window, her hardly touched tray of food set aside and forgotten. Although her stomach let out a cry of protest, her mind was much too distracted to think about what her stomach, or anyone else, for that matter, was trying to tell her.
She just could not figure out how to tell Albus? No matter how many times she rehearsed it in her head, it just seemed awkward. The words seemed to sound so harsh, no matter how she said it. It was like a bad candy; you never quite got the aftertaste out of your mouth.
As she sat there, pondering her little predicament, she heard a knock on her door. She stood and quickly went to the door. She opened it and was slightly shocked when she saw Albus standing there, a saddened look on his face.
"Oh, hello, Albus," she said, trying to smile. Her breath caught in her throat and she felt she would go pale any second. But she held herself up better than she would have expected.
"Minerva, may I come in for a moment?" he asked, the look of concern clear in his eyes.
"Of course," she said, stepping aside to allow him in. He entered her bedroom, smiling slightly at the sight of her room. He had only been inside her private rooms a few times before, and it hadn't changed a bit. It was a great reflection of her personality. It was simple, yet elegant, small, yet warm and inviting. Then, he turned to his friend of so many years and sighed heavily.
"Minerva, I can tell there is something heavy weighing upon your mind that you are not revealing to me. I do hope that you will feel comfortable with telling me happened at the infirmary." Minerva shifted her weight from one side to the other. She hoped that she wouldn't have had to tell him so soon. She still wasn't sure that she wanted to tell him at all. After all, Poppy told her that she still had about eighteen months left. She could easily carry on with the next school year, resign, and spend the remainder of her short time on this earth in peace and quiet in a family home she had up in the highlands of Scotland.
Then again, she felt that she somehow owed it to him to let him know why she was resigning. After all, he was her boss, mentor, and best friend of all times. But, she still decided that it might be good to wait a while longer. She offered a small smile and a shrug.
"Oh, nothing much," she said. "Poppy just gets overly worried about me, that's all. I'll admit, I haven't gotten as much sleep as I should have been within the past few weeks, but we all know how hectic these past months have been. After all, the war with Voldemort has taken its toll on all of us." Albus nodded. It made sense to him that she would be losing sleep because of the horrible events of not only recent times, but for the past seventeen years. He, himself, has lost countless nights because of the worry he felt for the wizarding world.
"Okay," he said meekly. He then walked up to her and placed both hands on his shoulders and stared into her eyes. "But I'll have you know that should anything ever happen to you, I would feel utterly depressed. You are very important to me, you know?" With that, he kissed her on her cheek, hugged her, and walked out, telling her he would meet her at lunch. He had some letters from the ministry he had to attend to.
"Well, I suppose I'll have to tell him sometime," sighed Minerva. And with a heavy heart, she began planning for the new school year as she had every year. But this time, it would be different because it would be the very last time she would ever do so.
Albus sighed as he finished answering the last letter to the ministry. That fool of a minister, Cornelius Fudge, was as incompetent as ever and it was getting rather irritating. But that wasn't the only thing that was on his mind. He felt that there was something Minerva was not telling him and he didn't like it. He hated to be left in the dark, especially when it came to the matter of Minerva. He had loved her for so long, and the idea that she was hiding something from him really hurt. But he knew that he had to respect her wishes and not ask anything else until she felt that she was ready to tell him. And he would never invade her thoughts, for he knew that doing so would just make her mad and refuse to speak with him, and no secret was worth giving up talking to her.
He stood and stretched, wondering when the owls from the ministry would ever end. He didn't think that would be any time soon, but he knew he could hope. After looking around his office a few times, he decided to talk to Minerva. Perhaps she would take a long enough break to have some tea or something. Surely she could take a break in her usually heavy planning to have tea with her friend.
So, he exited his office and made his way down the hall to her office. But when he reached there, he noticed it was slightly open. He didn't mean to spy, but he was rather curious as to why he heard a male's voice in the office.
"Minerva, please let us tell Albus about it," Severus begged. "He really ought to know! And I don't know about you, but I simply can't keep a secret of this proportion to myself." Albus knit his brows. What was Severus talking about? He pressed his ear closer so he would not miss anything.
"Severus, you know why I don't want to tell him just yet," whispered Minerva. She stared at him from across her desk. "If he knew about it, he would just blow the whole thing out of proportions. Does he really have to know?" Severus gave her a look that said she had just asked a stupid question.
"Minerva, he's going to find out sooner or later. You'll have to tell him. If he finds out about it on his own, he'll be very angry that you haven't told him. And I just don't think that I can keep it to myself. I've already decided to tell Crystal. She's not going to be thrilled with this; especially now that she is pregnant and almost to term. And she's already so emotional. News as big as this is going to kill her." Minerva smiled, got up, and walked around the desk.
"Okay, Severus, I'll tell him." She bent down and hugged. Albus' mouth dropped open. She had never seen Minerva hug him ever before. And what shocked him even more was when he saw Severus stand up and hug her back. Tears filled his eyes and he turned and ran back to his office. He just could not stand to watch any more.
In the office, Severus finally pulled back.
"Thank you, Severus," smiled Minerva. "I didn't realize how much I needed to talk to someone about this."
"Not problem, Minerva," Severus smiled. It was rare that he ever smiled. It was the first true smile that Minerva had seen since he discovered that Crystal was pregnant. "Just don't tell anyone. They'll all think I've gone soft." He sighed. "Well, I really should send an owl to Crystal. She'll want to know about this. No doubt she'll tell T'ari, and we both know how she'll react. She'll be more heartbroken about it than Crystal. You were they're favorite teacher when they came here to Hogwarts. Before the Golden Trio, T'ari was your best student and Crystal was the biggest class clown. They'll be absolutely devastated about this." Minerva smiled fondly at the memory about her two previous students.
"Yes, they were quite the students of their class," she replied. Then, she came back to the present. "Well, you go and send that owl. I'll think of a way to tell Albus." Severus bowed and made his exit. Minerva had some more thinking to do…
To Be Continued…
A/N2: Well, here is the next chapter and I hope you all like it. Please keep reading. Always Hopeful
