Mugglemin- I try very hard to get myself in my characters minds. I'm glad that you found my tactics relevant and done well. :)
Sevyhero- Yes, I am glad that you finally took the initiative to review…of course I could be a real stick in the mud and throw a fit that you didn't review for chapter two…anyhow, I'll be getting one for chapter three because dun dun dun I won't give it to you via email. So :-P I'm not your mother
Silver Sorceress- Yup yup, I'm sorry, two weeks it will be for the remainder of this story. Softball season is about to start, and I imagine that I'll have even less time than I already do! sighs thank you for your review, and concern. And yes, Maddy is Albus's child.
Hogwarts Duo- Well, someone will be to blame for the lack of communication. dun dun dun! and I'm sorry, but no, I simply don't have the time to update any sooner than 2 weeks…my weekends are packed, and sports just make it hard to write. Believe me though, if ever I have the chance to update sooner than that, I will most certainly do it!
Intelligent Witch- Hm…actually, I think you were quite right to see the relevance between Albus and Madelyn. I hadn't really considered it, but they probably do act quite a bit similar, don't they? We'll be seeing a lot more qualities that are the same between father/daughter as the story goes on. Whenever I scribble little chapters on my notebook, I try to think of ways to make it more and more obvious…:) thanks for the review!
TabbyMinerva- Oh wow! You made me smile when I read the obstacles you had to go against before you had a chance to read my update. Hopefully this one is easier for you? And yes, this story will DEFINITELY get happier. I'm not a big fan of angsty stuff, therefore, I prefer to write happy things! You'll see my slight attempt in this chapter to make Albus happier…and Minerva gets better to a point. Hope you enjoy the update!
Thoroughly Modern Philly- Favorites? Me? I am very very very very flattered at my addition to your list, and really hope I don't disappoint you at any time in this story. As is my custom, those who I am on their list for anything, I read their profiles. You seem like a very interesting person! I liked the Princess Diaries movies too…I asked for the first one for my birthday. :-) Truly, I hope this update is to your liking and that you continue to enjoy my writing!
Lee- Hopefully you haven't died waiting for this update. :) it's a good one! I'm glad you really did like the other chapters, and am still hoping that you like the next one. hint, hint
ADandMM4eva- Yes, I'm afraid it has been too weeks…but I guess that's a good thing, isn't it? It's not really that long, life just kinda steps up, you know? Haha, it will be many many weeks before the half blood prince comes out, but I'm with you. I know waiting so long to post may seem like an eternity, but it'll be less and less annoying as time goes by. I'm like, totally contradicting myself, aren't I? AAAAnyways, I hope you find the update satisfactory!
Lou. McGonagall- Heylo! Ah yes, emotion is fun to write. This chapter isn't nearly as involved as the other one was though…yet it still was like 8 pages…yeah…don't ask…if I told you what happened to the letters, then that would so totally spoil the story! You know how in school you learn about rising actions and climaxes and stuff? The letters ultimately lead to our climax, so therefore, it is information that I simply cannot release…though I would if I could. Happy days!
Kassy- Of course Madelyn is Albus's child. One doesn't get red hair by accident! :-D But yes, that fact will play a very big part into this story, and I'm hoping that you'll stick around for it.
Kathy- Thank you for the wonderful review! I always love compliments, they make me all warm inside! I hope you enjoy the update!
Quill of Minerva- I know, I know…two weeks feels like a long time, but just look, here the update is, all ready for you to read! ) Love lots, thank you for the wonderful review.
Lillian Dumbledore- The last chapter almost made you cry? I was actually hoping it would reach someone to that extent. I strive to make emotions quite visible, and in the end, readers get attached to characters. For you to be feeling that strongly already makes me feel sorta fuzzy inside…cuz that means that my writing is reaching someone. :-) Okay, sorry…I'm glad that you liked the chapter though, and are anticipating this update. I put a lot of thought into it, and hope you find it satisfactory!
Chapter Three: Yours Truly
It was evening. He could tell by the moon, though there were no stars anywhere to be seen. It was full. There was light everywhere; over the lake, on the trees, in her hair. Albus stared longingly across the lake.
Then that girl walked up to him and took his hand. He couldn't remember her name; it started with M though, like her mother. She didn't say anything to him, just started walking towards the water. He stared at her for a moment or two, and watched her walk across the Hogwarts Lake; her delicate feet only touched the very top of the calm water.
Albus waited until she was at the other end, only to make sure that the path was safe. There were always creatures in the water, some of them were nice, and some were not. If something had happened to the little girl, he knew he would have raised his wand and stopped it from hurting her.
He began to follow the little girl's trail, walking a little quicker than he would have normally. The man was racing towards what was rightfully his. But as he ran, the path to the water became longer and longer until it stretched for miles and miles. He stopped for a second to catch his breath again, and began running once again.
As he slowly came upon the wet rocks, he sped up. Before he knew it, his legs were thrown up, and he was on the flat of his back with his hindquarters to the ground.
Albus Dumbledore's eyes opened with a jerk. He had felt it, actually felt his body slip from the wet ground. He had seen his legs rise up in an attempt to keep his balance, and then slam on the floor, hard.
He shifted up from where he was, which was quite barely on his bed what with his legs hanging over the edge, and a good bit of his torso had been on the other end. Indeed, he had fallen asleep the wrong way in comparison to the bed. That would explain the odd dream; he'd never dreamt before that he had slipped. Perhaps it was some chemical reaction in the brain when blood was not pumped to the correct bit of the body. It would only be natural that he would need a sudden movement in order to get the blood flowing again.
His world began to spin ever so slightly, and he brought his hands up to his head, rubbing very, very gently. This didn't seem to help very much; everything just seemed to spin quicker. All around him, there was a dull world of color blending and mixing until it was one ultimate purplish, blackish tint.
Albus shut his eyes tightly, unwilling to look at the horrid place that surrounded him. It was excruciating, looking at such a beautiful thing and seeing nothing but sadness. How he hated sadness! That was his reason for making his world so bright in the first place; dark colors lead to a dark life; happy ones create a happy life.
Normally, his bedroom would be a chant of reds, oranges, yellows, purples, and the occasional blue. To anyone who came in, it would speak friendliness. But not today, not even for him. His dream had ruined his room. Now he was in a sad, sad place.
Very slowly, he opened his eyes, and everything was back to normal. The right wall was still orange, and the left, yellow. His dresser still held thousands of trinkets of different descent with the strangest of color collaborations. The actual comforter in which he slept was still blue and red.
He rolled his head slowly along his neck while shutting his eyes again. He was becoming neurotic. What he planned to do was laugh off the dream and what he had seen after it. What difference did it make that he couldn't walk across water? Who cared about the little girl anyhow? He should have just followed her, and then he could have gotten to Minerva. He shook his head a little bit more violently than he would have on any other morning. Who cared about that woman? There were thousands of other women out there, why did it just so happen that he dreamed about her.
There was a penetrating thump, thump, thump that erupted through his ears. Albus looked around quickly; looking for whatever it was that was making his head throb. Like he had noticed earlier, everything was where it should have been, and was very much untouched. Then he heard a voice, a male one. "Are you in there, Albus?"
"No," he whispered softly to himself, still looking around the room. As his eyes set on the door, it hit him. Someone was at the door! Some lucky soul had come for a visit, of course! That made perfect sense, he wasn't hearing things, there were actually people talking to him. Oh how wonderful to know that he was still sane.
"Just a second," he hollered in the direction of the door. He raced across his room, and pulled some robes over his night clothes. Albus glanced around the room. His bed was unmade, but that didn't matter. He had a tendency to be known as being quite untidy anyhow.
Gaining what self confidence he had, he walked over towards the door and turned the knob. He was slightly surprised to see the previous headmaster standing in the threshold of his summer home. "What do I owe this surprise?"
Armando was getting rather frail looking. He wasn't as old as some had been, but there were lines on his face that were most definitely not there when he had started teaching. He also, Albus deduced, was getting shorter. He once had been at a height comparable to his own, now he seemed to be rather far from it. "I would imagine you have a very good reason for missing the meeting with the school board?" He raised a thick eyebrow.
Albus rubbed his eyes, and ran his hand through his hair. He didn't remember anything about a meeting. "I wasn't aware that there was one."
"Of course there was, you dunderhead! We were going to go over the applicants. Interviews are in three weeks! We've got to start looking at résumés and contacts. You do want to be in charge of who takes your position, do you not?"
He stared, coming in and out of focus. He was exhausted, absolutely exhausted, he didn't need to talk about the Transfiguration position. Albus sighed. "Armando…" he shook his head. The man didn't know really what to say on two accounts. One, he was really too tired to talk about it, and two, the room had begun spinning again.
"Albus, are you tipsy?" Armando folded his arms, and looked him over.
He shook his head slowly. "I don't think so. I don't remember having anything to drink. Why, are you?" The last bit just sort of slipped from his mouth; only after he said it did it click in his mind what he was suggesting.
"You need to sit down. You're wobbling on your own feet!" The previous headmaster led the new headmaster to a chair, and pushed him to it.
Albus smiled. That was better, the world was back to being normal. Nothing was moving anymore, everything was as it should be. But when he looked straight, he saw an unmistakably angry Armando who had his hands on his hips and something of a grimace on his face. "You picked a very bad night to get drunk, Albus." He hissed angrily.
He shook his head. "I didn't drink anything alcoholic last night. I'm just…sleepy." He smiled at the thought.
"What did you have to drink?"
"Water," Albus shrugged.
"I'll ask you again, what did you have to drink?"
"Water, Armando. I just didn't get the sleep I needed last night. Just give me a minute or two to separate the images."
Armando sighed. "Alright, I'll accept your water statement. What did you put in the water?"
Albus shrugged.
The previous headmaster frowned. "Probably best; you get the images straight, and I'll go and look for any sign of bottles, so I know what kind of potion I can give you."
"I didn't drink anything alcoholic. I already told you."
Armando didn't listen. He just began walking around the room and checked every single trash can that was in the room. As Albus knew, he didn't find any bottles of any sort anywhere. When he had checked the last of them, he walked back to the new headmaster.
"You didn't drink last night?"
"Only water."
The man folded his arms. "What did you put in the water?"
He did his best to roll his eyes, but the world around him seemed to go in a circle too. "I didn't put anything in it. It was just plain water with ice cubes…or some kind of cubes anyhow. It may have been sugar."
Armando frowned. "You're the only man I know who prefers sugar to alcohol. So you haven't been drinking any sort of drug?"
"No!" he shook his head. "I'm fine now!" Albus yelled and lied all in the same few seconds. Everything was still a little bit fuzzy, but he could function. He could hold a conversation now; at least he hoped he could.
The man opposite him sighed. "So you've been sleeping. It's nine o'clock in the morning."
"Really?" he said rather shocked. It had been ages since he had slept in past seven. But then again, this was a rather different situation than he'd been in for a very long time.
"Yes. What were you doing last night that has left you so utterly exhausted that I need to make an excuse for you to the board because you didn't show up?"
Albus blinked. What a mouthful that sentence was. "I was thinking about applicants," he lied, "and what sort of person I want to fill my shoes. You know, there are only so many people out there who can do a decent job teaching."
"You know Albus, the benefit of being a headmaster for so long, is that I am able to tell when someone is lying; you see, they often all have the same nonverbal cues, or some in common anyhow. I would say twiddling your thumbs is a rather obvious cue. Now what were up for?"
He slouched in his chair, and frowned. If there were anyone that he could tell, it was Armando. "There is this…woman. I couldn't stop thinking about her."
His gaze softened a little. "Are you in love?"
Albus nodded. "For ten years."
"Who is she?"
"A previous student…she's a writer now."
"Is this that McGonagall girl?" he folded his arms.
Albus stared at him for a few seconds. "How do you know about her? I don't remember telling you anything."
"No, but I've seen you read her little articles. You can't focus on anything until you've read the entire thing once, and then twice over. Besides, you and her were rather close when she was a student, I remember."
Silence set in. Albus stared, unwilling to let go of what little information he still held, but he knew he was unfocused enough that he would tell eventually anyway. "I saw her yesterday in the toy shop; she has a daughter now."
"Oh," he sighed, and put a hand on Albus's shoulder awkwardly. "I'm sure there's someone else out there. Sometimes people beat you to the good ones."
"But that's not it," he whispered, "she's not married. She was just…cold."
Armando's face seemed to scrunch together like a sponge, which was his usual sign of confusion. "I don't think I understand."
He shrugged. "She didn't want to talk to me."
"Well then you talk to her. You've never had a problem with women."
Albus shook his head, and suddenly remembered something. He walked quickly over towards one of his little boxes that stood on a dresser and opened it. The man pulled out an old piece of parchment, which had been hidden under a wooden slab as well as a photograph, and handed it to Armando.
"A letter?" he asked with a frown.
"I wrote that to her after she graduated. She sent it back to me without so much as a no or a yes."
Armando took the parchment in his hands, and read it slowly. When he came to the end, he looked up at Albus with awe written all over his face. "She returned it? You're confessing your love to this woman, and she returns the letter? It doesn't sound very feminine to me."
Albus shrugged. "It didn't sound like Minerva to me, either."
Everything was moving. Spells were being cast, people were walking by, owls were flying overhead; but the world wasn't at all the same as it usually was. Things were spinning, like a giant carousel all around her. She wasn't dizzy, not really. The term was light headed; it came from a lack of sleep.
Minerva had woken up rather close the time that she would normally have left for work with a throbbing head and a face full of soot. The woman had indeed fallen asleep by the firelight the previous evening. After so many tears had been shed, she simply hadn't had the will to make herself get up. So it was that she awoke after five hours of sleep on the floor to her petite living room.
There were three main effects of her choice to stay on the floor. One was the simple fact that she wasn't ready to take part in her job. She had no time to prepare the previous evening, which included the proper amount of sleep. Lack of rest was the second effect, and she knew it would affect her entire day because she simply couldn't focus unless she had at the very least six hours of sleep. The final result was a twinge in her neck. The woman had spent five hours in the very same position without a pillow on the floor. Needless to say, turning her head at that point seemed very improbable.
She walked quickly toward the board room office and was immediately met by twenty pairs of male eyes. Minerva felt her cheeks grow warm, but kept on her way towards the designated seat. During her walk, Franklin Pierce made a point to note her appearance to the entire board. "I see Ms. McGonagall has decided to grace us with her presence at long last."
Minerva glanced over at him. He was a thin man of about one hundred-forty years, and could have been related to a bird what with his pointed nose and puffy skin. His eyes and mouth certainly showed his delight in pointing her to the board. The thin lips that were in the middle of his egg shaped head were lifted ever so slightly that only she would notice the smile.
The woman sat in her seat and looked around the room. Everyone had apparently stopped looking at her by the time she lifted her head to alert herself of the meeting because all eyes were on their supervisor who had been giving a presentation before her entrance. His somewhat angry voice drifted through the room as it did in all meetings.
She stared at the short, balding man who kept hitting the latest edition of "The Magical Post" with quite some force. Obviously, he was trying to get across his point in one way or another; there had been something very wrong with the last posting of the Post. However, the words that fled out of his mouth blended into the air, seemingly missing her ears.
Her eyes were still quite heavy from the evening before. She found it rather hard to keep her gaze on the one man. Instead, Minerva glanced from one member to another along the table.
They were all men. There were traits that were popular among most and others that were slightly more recessive within the board members. Some of them were on the verge of becoming hairless, some had full heads of hair, and others were bald. Only a few of them were young, at least young enough to catch her attention in any remote way. A small number of them were easy on the eye; she couldn't deny that fact. However, the majority of the men made her wish she were blind. A select few of them had hair strands sticking out of their noses. Her eye twitched; it was horrible.
She had never been told it, but she knew that there were two very real reasons why she was the only female on the board. The first was because she no doubt was dedicated and had a very structured mind. The second, and she wished it weren't so, was because she did not lack physical beauty.
Many times, she'd been doing her work and find some eyes looking at her. She had never considered herself one to be ogled, but apparently there was a very large popularity to her. It seemed that quite often, Minerva was given the opportunity to 'dine' with one of her colleagues. Every single offer she had turned down, only for the reason that she had learned the first time.
She blinked. Work and men simply did not go well together. In the event that they mix she had decided bad things happened to the rest of her life. When she had made the horrid decision to be with Albus, she was much less focused on her school work; as a result, she did not score nearly as high on the end of the year test preceding graduation. Then there was always the mention of Maddy. She loved her daughter dearly, but in those nine months that Minerva spent carrying her, life was dramatically changed.
Her parents resented her, people treated her differently, and her hopeful thread of a future was cut quite short. She had spent much of her pregnancy in a home away from her parents. They simply couldn't bear the fact that she had disappointed them. Only twice a month would she receive any word from her father; her mother was more equipped to visit. Everyone around her looked at her differently as well. She had held so much promise when she was in school, and then it was all blown to bits. Most of the respect she had gained from anyone stopped; she worked twice as hard as an adult to regain it. When Maddy was finally delivered, Minerva was immediately thrown into the working world. Before the fact, she had wanted to make herself something special; after the fact, she did what she had to do. Writing was not her ideal job, it was simply what she was good at.
"Meeting adjourned!"
Minerva's head snapped up. Everyone was leaving the room. Quickly, she gathered up her quills and parchment that she had taken for notes. In the doorway, the chief editor, Franklin Pierce stood, apparently waiting for her.
She swallowed. This time, she had utterly failed at presenting herself in a confident manner to anyone. It was obvious she had not been paying attention during the presentation. The quill that had stood before her the entire lecture had not been touched once and her eyes surely had been seen wandering around the room. The woman didn't even know what the show was about.
As she began walking towards him, her world became slightly distorted. The door was suddenly taller than she had remembered and the room looked much larger than it had when she had come in. Her head started to throb in the back. She groaned to herself. Ah, the wonderful side effects of getting a lack of sleep.
Franklin didn't seem very pleased with her. His mouth twitched with anger and his thin limbs were folded into each other.
She reminded herself quickly about Franklin. The only time he did seem pleased with her was when he was attempting to get himself a date. Either that or her article caused the paper's sales to go up.
He motioned towards the hall with his hand. "Would you follow me to my office, Minerva?"
She nodded. "Of course."
Pursuing his office was little more than twenty short steps. He was the head of the press and naturally gained his own benefits. His workplace was just across the corridor from the board meeting room. Why should it not be? What with his bland taste in color and the architecture of the entire building, his office added little effect. He was merely another piece in the gray world filled with gray offices and gray streets.
Minerva sat down opposite of him after he had closed the door. He looked at her for a fair few seconds and placed his spectacles down on his desk with a sigh. "So tell me Minerva," he reached into his desk for something, "why exactly is it that you came so late today?"
She put on the saddest face she possibly could. There had been an excuse invented the second her home was left. "Madelyn had a fever this morning. I wanted to make sure she was well enough for me to leave her with the nanny."
"I see." He took a map out from his desk and placed it on the top of it as he smoothed out the wrinkles. "You are aware of the stress you put upon this paper when you choose to be tardy, are you not?"
"Yes," she nodded her head, "I am. But you can't expect me to leave my daughter when she is ill."
He sighed. "You know, my dear, if you would just take a husband, you wouldn't have these problems."
Minerva stared at him as a shadow drew slightly over her face. "I've already told you, we don't need any men in our lives. I am quite able to support my family."
"That is true," he nodded, "but things could be quite easier for you if you would choose to marry someone."
She shook her head violently as anger started to show on her usually pale face. "Did you ask me in here to marry you and criticize my tardiness? Frankly, Franklin, I don't really see the relevance of either to the work force."
A spark ignited in his eyes. A smile drew over his irregularly ugly lips. "I was planning on asking you in here anyhow this morning. I would like to give you the details on your next assignment, unless you choose to be bold enough to talk yourself out of a job…and a salary, which I would like to state, is the only thing keeping you with that sick child of yours."
She tried very hard not to glare at him. He was right, after all. Perhaps it was best that she held her tongue… "Where is it exactly that I am to study and what am I to study while we're on the subject." She folded her arms.
"Here," he pointed at a rather large land mass off the coast of Africa upon the map. "It's a rather nice island, I hear. There is an archeological find in the area that I would like you to get the uh, dirt on." He smiled a wry smile.
Minerva stared at the map and where his bony little finger was pointing. That was hundreds of miles away from Madelyn. She couldn't possibly go that far away from her daughter. It could take a week before she received an owl from the nine year old if she were to send one. She glanced up.
"How long?"
"Three weeks I'd wager. You'd need to do a great bit of sneaking around as a cat, and even then I think you'd be subject to restriction…or quarantine." His eyes danced happily. He enjoyed getting her angry; after all, he was like every other man in the world…a chauvinist.
She brought up her courage. Eight years of doing articles and he still wouldn't give her a regular assignment? Minerva shook her head. "I can't be gone that long. I'll give you your article in two weeks. Three is simply too long."
He brought his skinny hands up to his bony chin to think, scratching carefully. "No, I think it's three. They'll be expecting you in five days time."
Minerva's jaw could have dropped down three or four stories in the building at his response. That man had no sympathy whatsoever. He was making her go only to hurt her, just like every other man enjoyed doing. Franklin knew how much she needed her daughter; he was just attempting to inflict some new kind of pain on her.
"Two weeks," she stood up from her chair angrily.
"Three," he said simply.
"Seventeen days then," she tried to plead.
"No Minerva…three weeks. Learn your numbers," he whispered with an evil smile to back up his statement.
She stared at him in some rare form of shock and then finally said the words that she'd been wanting to for years. "Then this is my last article. I can't do this anymore."
"Very well." Franklin took the map back in his hands, folded it, and put it in his desk drawer. He looked Minerva in the eye. "I'll consider this your resignation speech. I look forward to reading your last article."
Minerva stared at him for a few seconds, and then left the room, making sure to slam the door on her way out. Quickly she made her way to the office that held her name and collapsed behind the door. She fell with her head to the wood, just below the knob.
She'd done it. Her job…her…income was completely gone after she was finished with the last assignment. There was nothing to pay her bills after the last printing of her work. She would be broke as well as her daughter. What had she done?!
Mentally, she slapped herself. She was panicking for no good reason. There would be plenty of time to go searching for a new line of work. She had four weeks before she was out of a job. In that time, there would be a chance to create a list of credentials. Minerva reassured herself with a nod, there wouldn't be a problem.
There were plenty of other newspapers and all of them surely would be more than willing to have her. She had experience, intelligence, and the ability to research something without being noticed. Minerva was ahead of everyone.
The clock struck ten as Minerva entered her home. The usual toys were scattered around the floor, usual nanny reading a book, and ordinary fire burning in the background. Normally, however, she would have greeted Emily with a smile; tonight she knew she looked sad. A deep inhalation was taken before she told her the horrid news that seemingly had no solution, at least for the time.
"I put in my resignation today."
The nanny looked at her for a fair few seconds before responding. "I wasn't aware that you planned on resigning."
"I wasn't either." She stated simply. It was true, really. In the back of her mind she'd always wanted to be rid of her horrid line of work, but she hadn't ever truly considered it. Perhaps it was one of those things that involved the spur of the moment.
A rather obvious look of discomfort crossed her opposite's face. It occurred to Minerva what her decision may have done for her only employee. If the mother were out of work, then surely there would be no need for a nanny. Quickly, Minerva put in a good word for Emily. "I would like to keep you here as long as I can. I don't know how soon it will be that another job will become available."
"If you need to let me go, I would understand," she nodded her head, "but I rather do like Maddy."
"Of course," Minerva smiled with a nod, "it isn't my intention of releasing you. Fate, I suppose, just needs to have its way with me." She shrugged.
Emily nodded, and then there was silence for quite a few moments. Tick, tock, tick, tock; the clock moved slower than it usually seemed to do. Seconds seemed to turn into an eternity.
The mother of the two pondered to herself if she should say what was next. In the end, she decided it would be best, and there would be no surprises. "I'll be going away for three weeks for my last article. Madelyn will be going to live with her grandparents for that time."
Her opposite naturally nodded in response. It was not a new drill for her. She would be working straight for a month, and then be out of work anywhere from two to three weeks. However, there was a distinct difference this time as apposed to the others. Before, she was always reassured that she would gain her job back; with Minerva's newly released information, she couldn't be positive that there would be a return of any kind. The woman made sure to have that fact clear, despite her hope that it shouldn't come to it. "You're free to go and find another family to take care of, if you wish. I wouldn't want you to be jobless in the event that I have trouble finding one of my own."
She nodded quietly again. "I'll worry about it when you leave. For the time being, I'll be your nanny as I've always been. I'm assuming I'll have a job for the rest of the week, at least?"
"Yes," she whispered, "I leave on Saturday."
"Very well." Emily sat up from her usual chair, collected her things, and walked to Minerva with a smile. "Thank you for alerting me of this."
Minerva nodded. "I prefer to make friends, not enemies."
A genuine smile crossed the nanny's face. "That's the way I like to think too, Ms. McGonagall. I'll be seeing you tomorrow at the usual time?"
"Of course."
With that, she left the apartment and went to her place of residence. Minerva watched her leave, all the way down to the view of her walking across the street.
After Emily was nothing but a dot, the woman took notice of the moonless sky. It seemed as if fireflies had gotten stuck in the web that was sky and were unable to untangle themselves from it. After so many years up there, she had decided, the insects became content with their place of anchorage, and began to twinkle merrily. Minerva had always preferred to look upon a sky with no moon. It signaled the beginning; what the beginning was for, she did not know. In her mind, it was simply the chance to start anew.
She dropped her gaze down after staring for so long, and saw a curious bird sitting on the unlit light post that stood across the street. Minerva opened her window and strained her neck to see the animal of flight. It was an owl, she realized. Confusion overtook her face when it started gliding over to her and even more so when he landed gracefully on the cold floor.
There was a letter tied to its foot. Quickly, she unlaced the parchment from the animal and went to the kitchen to give it a cracker of some sort. When she returned, however, it had already taken flight. With confusion still written all across her features, she went to the letter and looked at the address line. There was nothing odd about it in the least. When she flipped it over to read it, however, a jolt shot through her stomach. The Hogwart's crest was the seal of the envelope.
Swallowing slowly and with shaking hands, she opened the seal. Minerva knew who it was from the second she laid eyes on it. She'd gotten away most of the day without thinking about him, but then, as was his normal custom, he needed to make himself known again. Normally, she wouldn't have bothered to open the letter, but that night…things just wouldn't have gotten better with or without reading what he had to say. So, it was her choice to go against her usual code, and read whatever contents the letter may have held.
She held the parchment in her hand, and began reading as a pulsing headache began to form its way in the back of her mind.
Dear Minerva,
I wouldn't be calling on you after so many years, except for one thing that has recently come to my attention. I promised to inform you when the transfiguration position would be open; that time has come. As I told you in the toy shop, I am being made Headmaster which means that my previous career as a teacher is open to anyone. It may sound quite hopeless for me to be mentioning it to you, but it would give me pleasure for you to at least consider sending in your résumé. As I can recall, we both agreed that you were capable at the age of seventeen to teach, I don't suppose you could be any less qualified now. Please send me a reply. I'm reserving a spot for an interview to you.
Sincerely,
Albus
Minerva stared at the letter quite dumbstruck. Had she just read that correctly? While it was true that he had promised to inform her when a job was available, it had never occurred to her that he would actually do it…especially after what happened between them.
She swallowed. He couldn't have known that she would be in the predicament that she was in. He didn't know that she would be released from her position in a month's time. All he knew was the promise he made to her.
She remembered that night. The sweat, sweet words, and light which shed on the two of them would forever hang on the walls of her memory. Minerva could picture herself, asking him to hire her. Merlin, she'd wanted to be with him so much…
The woman glanced back outside at the hot July weather, the empty street, and finally, the moonless sky. Quickly, she collected a quill, ink, and parchment. Minerva wrote a very slow, but slightly meaningful reply.
Dear Albus,
I can't say no to your offer. My résumé is attached to this letter and I'm hoping it will be what you're expecting.
She stopped, and stared at what she had written. It was straightforward, though it had a little bit more emotion than she would have liked. In the end, she decided it was just fine. There was one problem still, which she really didn't know how to fix. Her closing…
Her head began to pound with a newly intensified force. She glanced at the clock. It was already a quarter until eleven. It was time she stopped thinking, said goodnight to Maddy, and went off to bed. Quickly, she grabbed the quill and scribbled whatever popped into her throbbing head.
Yours truly,
Minerva
Alright, here are my usual comments:
1) both characters are suffering from lack of sleep
2) The island is Madagascar in compliments to SevyHero
3) Hopefully I came across strong enough with Minerva putting in her notice…she's just a mom who doesn't get any breaks
4) you know how when you're tired you kinda do things without thinking? Hence our ending…
5) Here is your update ADandMM4eva. I received it about…10 minutes before I went to post!
6) Yes everybody, count on two more weeks until the next update.
You all did SOOOO wonderful in reviewing for the last chapter. I really hope this next one will be as effective. As always, criticism is welcome as long as it's constructive, and happy reviews are also quite welcome.
-minni