Seasonal Snogging: Chapter Seven: Head-butting

Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far. And now! "On with the motley…whatever that means."

Minerva had expected to see Albus already at the breakfast table by the time she got there. She expected him to greet her with a scowl and had already prepared her returning glare. She expected this Christmas to be no fun at all. She expected to not be on speaking terms with the Headmaster until he apologised for his behaviour. She expected not to speak to him for the foreseeable future.

But Albus was not at breakfast when she arrived. The staff table had been set up as usual, even though the students who remained at Hogwarts usually breakfasted in their common rooms on Christmas morning. Traditionally, the staff who had not gone home for Christmas breakfasted together. But there was no Headmaster, and that was odd.

Minerva sat herself down and surveyed the other staff members. Everyone seemed very sprightly, except for Snape, of course, which was only to be expected. Professor Sprout was chatting merrily with Professor Flitwick, and Hagrid was tucking into a huge plate of bacon and eggs. Madame Pomfrey, on the other hand, seemed very out of sorts. She was continually yawning and looked as if she was about to pass out in her scrambled egg.

"Are you alright, Poppy?" Minerva stretched across Albus's empty chair to ask the school nurse.

"I'm absolutely knackered, Minerva." Madam Pomfrey replied. "That Headmaster of ours dragged me out of bed at four in the morning!"

Minerva paled a little, and tried to swallow the mouthful of toast she was just munching. For some reason, her mouth had gone very dry. Had Albus released himself from her curse and then taken her up on the suggestion that he wake the other female staff members for a snog instead?!

"Whatever for?" Minerva asked quietly.

"To fix his nose. He said he tripped on his way up to his office and banged his nose on the door knocker, but you know as well as I do that the door opens automatically for him. Personally, I think he was pissed and had challenged Aberforth to a game of head-butting."

Minerva nearly choked on her tea.

"A game of what?"

"Head-butting. It's a goat game that they play, although Aberforth's re-named it "Headmaster-butting". I've caught them at it before, both sloshed out of their brains, and of course it's muggins here who has to clean them up afterwards. It involves them ramming each other with a fake pair of horns in the manner of male goats. Something Aberforth invented when they were children, apparently, to distract Albus from practicing hexes on him. I made them promise not to do it anymore, but they've clearly been at it again." She tutted. "Ridiculous. At their age. Albus should know better, that's the third time he's broken his nose!"

Minerva dropped her toast.

"He broke his nose?" She asked anxiously.

"Yes! It was a terrible state, and the silly bugger didn't come straight to me, oh no! He left it for a while until Aberforth decided he should get it seen to."

"Aberforth? Did he go with Albus?"

"Yes. I had to sort him out too, he had this huge pair of donkey ears and they were a nightmare to remove. Honestly, those two are like a pair of five year olds sometimes…"

Minerva was thoroughly confused.

"Did you manage to fix Albus's nose?" she asked.

"Almost. I mean, there was never much hope for that great conk of his, but he left it too long to save much of what shape he had. There'll be another big bump on it by the time it's finished healing. And he's got two magnificent black eyes!"

"Can't you do something about them? Surely you could fix them in a moment?"

"Well, yeeeesss…but I felt like getting my own back for being disobeyed so I gave him a slow recovery potion. Might teach him not to play silly-buggers."

Minerva looked aghast.

"But Poppy, it's Christmas!"

"He should have thought of that before having a skin-full and playing childish games. Don't worry, his eyes will be back to normal by the afternoon."

Minerva wrung her napkin in her hands. "Poor Albus!" She thought. "I wonder if he broke his nose when he fell?"

"Where is he now, Poppy." She asked.

"Gawd knows. Probably sulking in front of a mirror in his office."

Minerva bit her lip and carried on eating. She had been angry with him, yes, but she had not meant to hurt him. She decided that she would go and look for him after breakfast and see if he was okay. Maybe she would give him her Christmas present to cheer him up.

She spent the rest of the morning searching the castle for him. He was not in his office, nor was he in his living quarters. She could find him neither in the Astronomy tower, where he was known to go for peace and quiet, nor was he in the room of requirement, where he had been known to go to practice his bowling technique in times of great stress. At last, at a quarter to twelve, she gave up the search and headed towards the staff room for the exchanging of presents.

As she passed a window that looked out onto the gates of Hogwarts, she spotted a solitary figure making its way up the path. It was Albus, walking very slowly and looking very forlorn. Behind him, he dragged his jar, still half full with rubies, but seemingly no longer important to him, for it scraped along the ground, attached to what appeared to be a goat lead.

Minerva went down to the doorway to meet him. He was a pitiful sight, dragging his feet and his jar along the pathway. He looked like a lost little boy, and her heart melted further when she saw that his eyes were swollen and purple from the broken nose. As he slowly and painfully climbed the steps to the great doors of Hogwarts, she stepped outside to meet him. He stopped where he was when he recognised the hem of her robes and slowly raised his eyes to her. Was he angry? Would he allow her to apologise? Would he ever speak to her again?

He took a deep breath and she prepared herself for the onslaught. He said nothing, however, but breathed deeply again. His hand reached for his pocket and began to rummage quickly.

"He's going for his wand!" she thought, panicked. "He's going to hex me!"

She discreetly moved her hand to her own pocket and clasped her wand.

Albus's hand had found what it was looking for, and he drew it out. Minerva breathed a sigh of relief. It was a white handkerchief. He waved it at her and she smiled. He was about to replace it in his pocket, when his body was wracked by a huge sneeze. He clamped the handkerchief to his face and doubled over in pain.

"OUCH!!!!" he cried.