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Chapter Nine: A False Prediction?
"It's lunch time. Why don't we head to the hall?" suggested Albus.
"All right."
Minerva sat next to her husband and Slughorn's replacement. Albus had no trouble filling the position with a former student of his. The young man, now Professor Penbrook, introduced himself. She had yet to meet him, as she had been so busy working on her own responsibilities. He seemed perfectly charming, not at all like his predecessor.
Minerva was aware all through the meal that Albus was watching her closely. She ate as much as she could, which was not that much.
The afternoon was spent in the same manner as much of the last few weeks had been spent. Minerva never realized all her husband had been responsible for until she had it all to do.
That night the couple went to bed exhausted. It was the first night in a almost two weeks that Minerva had a nightmare. She had been peacefully dreaming of chasing mice in her animagus form one minute, and the next minute she was with Grindelwald again.
She awoke, sweating and crying. At some point she must have screamed because her husband was awake and watching her carefully.
"I-I need to go take a shower."
"No, Minerva." Albus said gently.
"But-"
"But nothing, my dear. It was only a nightmare. A nightmare based on true events, yes, but only a nightmare."
Minerva wanted to argue, but another part of her understood what Albus meant. If this continued to affect her totally, if her life changed completely because of what happened, she would never recover. She wanted a normal life with her husband more than anything, so she laid back down and tried to put the dream out of her mind. She eventually fell back to sleep and was nightmare-free for the rest of the night.
The next morning, Minerva was quite proud of herself. She had made another small step toward her ultimate goal of normalcy.
That same morning, she was also able to eat a full breakfast. It was the first actual meal she had eaten in weeks.
As the couple were getting into bed that night, Minerva asked the question she had been dreading the answer to.
"Albus, How many people know what happened?"
"I believe most, if not all, of the order."
"How many people were with you when you found me?"
"Just three."
Minerva nodded lighly, but said nothing. Albus could see that she was upset, but did not know how to comfort her.
"Why does that bother you, my dear?" he asked.
"It's embarrassing."
"You have nothing to be ashamed of. No one thinks any less of you because of this."
"Would you want to be found in the position I was?"
"Minerva, it was not your fault."
"That isn't what I asked." she snapped.
Albus sighed. He didn't want to fight with his wife; they never had before she was raped. She was so combative though. Poppy had told him to expect this, so he was somewhat prepared for it. Minerva had been improving so well over the last week or so that he thought they were finished with this.
"Minerva-"
"Why don't you care?"
"Pardon?"
"Why don't you care?" she repeated.
"I do care, my dear. I care very much. Why are you under the impression that I don't."
"Because, you haven't said so."
"I believe I have, Minerva."
"No, you said you care about me and that you wish to help me. You have not, however, seemed to care in the slightest what actually happened."
Albus was confused to say the least. He didn't know what Minerva was talking about. He did know that it was upsetting her greatly, but he was hesitant to say anything. However, she appeared to be getting angry over his lack of a response as well.
"Minerva, I honestly am not sure what you are talking about. I do care very much for you. I love you and-"
"That's not what I mean."
"Can you try to explain what you mean?"
"I know that you have the reputation for being calm, no matter what you are facing. It is normally an excellent ability to possess, but-" Minerva trailed off. "I just don't understand how you can be calm about this. Aren't you angry at all? I'm your wife. How can you not be angry? Don't you care what he stole from you?"
"I don't expect you to remember, but I was very angry when I found you. I have never killed anyone, unless it was absolutely necessary."
"It was necessary for you to kill Grindelwald." Minerva interrupted.
Albus held up his hand to stall anything else she might say. "It was not necessary to do it the way I did. The others I killed were all during battle and I always regretted having to do it. I did not this time. I never wanted to feel better after someone was dead. I never wanted to need revenge as badly as I did that night."
"Oh, Albus. Why haven't you said anything before now?"
"I didn't see how that would have helped you, my dear."
Minerva began crying again. "I-I'm sorry I yelled at you again."
Albus smiled sadly and pulled her against him. They laid there, simply holding each other, well into the night.
Two days later, during lunch, Cassandra Trelawny appeared from the Divination tower. The other professors rarely saw Cassandra, as she believed spending too much time around "mere mortals" would adversely affect her inner eye. She was a famed seer and had been pretty accurate in her prime. Sadly, as age had taken it's toll, her inner eye had lost it's sight.
"Why did you keep her on staff, Albus?" whispered Minerva.
Albus chuckled. It was no secret that his wife loathed the subject of Divination.
"I couldn't sack her, my dear. I didn't want to push my luck with the governors. Besides, she's old and has no place else to go."
The meal was quite enjoyable until dessert, when Cassandra shrieked.
"Someone here is carrying a secret." she proclaimed
The other professors stared at each other. That particular proclamation could have applied to all of them. They were all friends, but they were all probably keeping some things about their personal lives to themselves.
"This is a life-changing secret." Cassandra continued.
Albus and Minerva were both thinking along the same lines. Cassandra had found out they were married and was about to inform the entire staff.
"Something bad has taken place."
Minerva paled. Surely Cassandra couldn't have found out about the rape. She couldn't be about to disclose this information to everyone. Cassandra looked directly at Minerva, who further paled.
"You will need the wisdom gained from this experience."
Then, Cassandra stood and left the hall. Poppy was staring at Minerva, wondering how on earth Cassandra had known. She certainly didn't tell her. Most of the other professors, along with Albus, were staring at her as well.
"What was that about, Minerva?" Filius asked.
"I have no idea." she said simply, before forcing down the rest of her lunch.
"Sack her, Albus."
Minerva was standing in her husband's office that same afternoon.
"I have no grounds to get rid of her.
"Can't you do anything?"
"Why are you so concerned about what she said when you don't even believe in true seers?"
"To be perfectly honest, I don't know."
"Do not think on it. Cassandra has grown eccentric in her waning years. It was probably nothing."
"Of course, you're right. Now, I certainly have much better things to spend my time on then this. I'll see you later, Albus."
"Good-bye, my dear."
The next week and a half disappeared rather quickly. All the professors were totally occupied with preparing for the beginning of the year. It was that way every year, and no one understood why. They would spend their summers planning lessons and homework, along with preparing the castle. With the ability to do magic and all the house elves at their disposal, they shouldn't be rushed to complete tasks before September first. Yet, every year there was a mad rush to finish things during the last two weeks of summer holidays.
"I can't believe the students are returning tomorrow." Minerva remarked, as she was preparing for bed. "Are you nervous about being headmaster, dear?"
"I am sure this is just another thing that comes with experience." her husband said.
"It's me you're talking to, remember?"
"Yes, I am a little nervous."
"You'll be a great headmaster. I know it." she crossed the room to her husband, and gently kissed his cheek.
Minerva laid down next to Albus and leaned over him, giving him a brief kiss on his lips.
"Albus?" she asked, before kissing him again.
"Yes, my dear?"
She kissed him more passionately this time.
"I think I'm ready."
A/N: Thank you all so much for the great reviews. I really appreciate you being patient. I know it has taken me a while between updates, but this is really difficult to write at times. Thanks again and please review:)