Out of her Hands

A/n: A huge thank you to Ang, who is my beta reader and god friend. Thank you to all the readers who took the time to review, you wonderful, wonderful people :)

Chapter Five: As the shock sinks in

Minerva walked deeper into the kitchen and stood beside Poppy, her emerald green eyes wide with shock just as if she had just seen a ghost. Poppy placed a comforting hand on Minerva's arm and squeezed it tight. Minerva's spare hand came to rest upon her friends' as she looked into the fireplace.

"I'll leave you two alone," announced Poppy. "Just call if you want me!"

"Thank you Poppy!" replied Albus softly, his eyes never leaving Minerva.

Poppy smiled before quietly exiting the kitchen. She had no idea how Minerva was going to take this and she didn't want to be in the room if Minerva exploded. Poppy hoped that Albus was prepared to do a lot of grovelling because she knew that Minerva wouldn't let him off easily. Her mind wandered to where he had been for the last eight months. Why hadn't he made contact before tonight? She felt angry with him but also she felt relief that he wasn't dead. She continued to think as she made her way to find Alastor.

Back in the kitchen, Minerva still hadn't spoken since she had first said his name. She had retreated backwards and had bumped into a chair. She had sat down on the chair and stared into the flames. Staring back at her was the man who she had finally accepted was dead. He looked exactly the same as when he had left her all those months ago. She felt numb apart from the confusion that was going on in her mind. She could see him but for some reason her eyes weren't taking him in. They had glazed over and all she could really see was a faint outline of a human head dancing around in the green flames.

"Minerva!" came his voice.

She shook her head and tried to drown out the sound of his voice. This had happened so many times before that she wasn't sure if her mind was deceiving her again. She remembered the times when she had thought she had seen him walking down the busy streets of Hogsmeade. She had chased after him and embraced him only to find it was someone else and another time she had been sure she had heard his voice calling to her.

"I know this is a shock," he continued. He was aware of how pale she had turned and he wanted to floo straight to her but he knew that it wasn't wise just yet. "Minerva, it's me!"

"How do I know this is really you and not a cruel mind joke?" she questioned softly, her voice so low that Albus had to strain to hear her.

"I swear Tabkins," he said using his own private nickname for her. "It's me, Albus!"

Minerva's head jolted upwards and her eyes pieced into his blue ones when she heard him use her pet name. Only Albus was aware of such a name so it had be to him. Before, when she had seen him, she had been too shocked to really to comprehend his existence but as he spoke to her the shock turned into something else. That something else was anger mixed with a drop of confusion and hurt.

"Where in the name of Merlin have YOU been?" she demanded, finally letting all her emotion flow out through her words

Albus had expected this. How could he have not? Any woman would react this way after her partner had disappeared for months. Minerva had Scottish blood running through her veins and that made her more passionate and angrier than anyone he had ever met. Even when she was angry with him, she took his breath away and the sight of her now, as angry as she was, was like heaven to him. He was taken back by her appearance. She did seem the shadow of her former self but she was still beautiful.

It was seeing her like this that brought home the awful truth of what his selfish decision had done to the one person he loved more than anything in the world. He was going to make it up to her some how. He had too. He had hurt her in such way that he may not be able to win her back. Seeing her standing in the kitchen was wonderful to him because he had convinced himself, like he did with many things, that he would not see her again.

"I know you are angry," he said softly "but…"

"You have no idea how I am feeling right now!" she snapped as she glared at him.

Minerva was feeling a rush of emotions all at one time. She was happy and relieved to see that he was alive and well but she was angry, hurt and confused. Her unhappy emotions exploded and took control of what she was saying and thinking. Questions thumped in her head, demanding answers but at the moment she wasn't in the mood to ask them because she was angry. She looked at him closely. Though the green floo flames distorted him slightly, she wasn't aware of any damage to him. He looked healthy, perhaps a little tired, but that was nothing to how she was feeling inside. She had just accepted that he was dead and then he decided to finally show himself and act like nothing has happened.

"You just turn up and expect me to run into your arms?" she continued. "Well that is not going to happen Albus 'almighty' Dumbledore. You can't just appear, disappear and then appear like this."

"Minerva, will you let me explain?" he asked.

"I don't want to hear your excuses Albus," she replied as she shook her head. "I thought you were dead. You led me to believe you were dead. I hope you enjoyed your eight months of freedom because you are going to have a lot more freedom from now on since I want nothing to do with you!"

She turned on her heel and swept out of the kitchen, letting the tears fall from her eyes as the kitchen door banged shut behind her. She ran to the guest room that Poppy and Alastor had set up for her. She flung herself on to the bed and sobbed loudly.

to be continued