His Daughter

Author: Leta McGotor

Disclaimer: I own nothing but some characters like Nostradamus Crehl and the McDrake family including Richard McGonagall. The other belongs to JKR.

I'm really sorry for the long gap between this and my last update, but I have good reasons: This is the first chapter I have ever let beta read ( a big thank-you goes to Artemis Sprape) and secondly school started nearly three weeks ago and my homework eats me up. I don't know whether the teachers want to kill us or not, but it is awful. Therfore I believe the title of the chapter matches perfectly with the whole situation (Learning Unwanted Things).

Bookfreak64 and starlover88 thank you for reviewing. I know I repeat myself but I really love reading them.

Sakura-jr17: You have read something wrong. Both the McDrake family and the McGonagall family are purebloods, so it is not that easy. So you like pancakes? I thought that would be typical of Albus to offer her something like that for breakfast. Thank you for your review.

SherbetKitty: Yes, Albus loves his daughter and in the coming chapters he really needs encouragement. Thank you for your review and I hope you keep on reading and reviewing.

EM: Sorry, I meant decades. I haven't seen my mistake. I have rewritten that sentence I think five times or so and I'm sure that there was one time when I had it right. Anyway thank you for telling me and reading and reviewing this story.

DamesFan: Ich bin mir nicht sicher, ob ich überhaupt schon einmal eine Story gelesen habe, wo die beiden Vater und Tochter sind. Es tut mir Leid wegen der langen Pause, aber bevor meine Lehrer nicht einsehen, dass mein Tag nur 24 und nicht 56 Stunden hat, wird sich das nicht ändern. Aber ich versuch's. Danke vielmals für dein Review.

Chapter 7 Learning Unwanted Things

It was evening again and Albus was waiting impatiently for his daughter. Surely she never came too late but he had to see her. He didn't know why he wanted this but it seemed that his soul longed for her, she remembered him so much on her mother. For nearly two hours Albus was sitting in one of his favourite armchairs and looked every two minutes at the clock. He knew she wouldn't arrive until 7 o'clock, in half an hour, but maybe… maybe she would come a few minutes earlier.

Then shortly before 7 o'clock there was a knock at the door and Minerva entered the room. She wore a dark green dress and had many pearls in her hair. She smiled at him. Minerva hoped that he would be pleased with the pearls in her hair.

"Merry Christmas, Dad", she said while closing the door and presenting him with a small in red and golden paper wrapped package. How he had longed to hear those words.

"Merry Christmas, Minerva." He hugged her and Minerva sighed comfortably.

"I have a present for you", she said after they had parted. She gave him the present and sat down in the other armchair, curiously waiting for his reaction for she was all but sure with choosing this one and she didn't know if he would like it.

Albus looked at the package in his hands and back at Minerva. He smiled at her, no matter what this was, he would love it, because it was from her, his very own daughter. Slowly he unwrapped it and found himself confronted with nothing other than a chess set. The pieces were out of dark green and white marble as well as the chessboard. You could fold it and inside of it was green velvet for the figures. He looked back at Minerva.

"Minerva, this… this is… overwhelming, really. I have never seen a chess set like this one before."

"Mum told me you liked to play it and I must admit that it was not truly without purpose for me. You must know I have been playing chess since I was able to think and I beliefe I'm a worthy oponent for you." She said, glad that he liked her gift. Albus grinned mischievously at her.

"We will see, we will see if you can beat me. Nobody has beated me for years. Of course you can try." Minerva nodded knowingly. "I have something for you as well, of course. Wait a minute." Albus vanished for a short time in his bedroom before returning with a small package in his hands. "Open it." He demanded softly and stood behind her armchair.

Minerva took the package from him and started opening it slowly. Short afterwards she hold a small silver jewellery box in her hands. Little roses were to be seen all around it and it looked very old. Carefully she opened the box to find a silver medaillon in it with a small emerald in its middle. She looked at Albus but he encouraged her to open this one as well. Inside she found two little pictures. One of them showed her while she was sitting on the ground under a tree on a warm summer day. The other one…

"These two are you and Mum." Minerva exclaimed. She stared at the little pictures of her parents. They looked so happy together as if nothing could disturb their peace. To her dismay Minerva knew it better and one single tear ran down her cheek.

"Minerva?"

"It's allright, Dad." She answered and let herself embrace by him.

The rest of the evening they sat at the fire and played chess. Albus had to learn that there was someone, who was really better than himself and he tried again and again to win the game. But always Minerva had the last words in the games: "Check Mate"

"Oh, my back", Minerva exclaimed while she was standing several hours later. They had sat at the small table for more than four hours and her back was aching. Albus took her hands in his and led her to the armchairs. Minerva sat down, not knowing what he was going to do now, but she waited patiently. Slowly he began to massage her back and Minerva began to sigh, it felt so good and she knew that there were a lot of knots.

"Minerva?"

"Hmm?"

"I can't reach the last part of your back." Minerva opened slowly her eyes and looked at him.

"I have a few buttons there.", she yawned while Albus carefully opened them. The next she heard was a sharp gasp from him.

"Minerva, what is with your back?" She went pale and jumped to her feet.

"N-nothing, really."

"There are scars, many of them. What happened?" He said standing as well.

"Nothing, nothing. I… I fell from a tree. They are old, they mean nothing"

"I don't think so, Minerva. You know, you can trust me, no matter what happens or has happened. You know that." Minerva hesitated. She had forgotten about the scars all over her back. How could she have been that careless.

"They are nothing. I think it is best, when I return to my dormitory now. Good night, sir." With these words she left him. Her last words had deeply cut into his heart. She had called him 'sir' and that was something he didn't want to be called, not by students, colleages and especially not by her.

He walked back and forth in his rooms and tried to think about what he had seen. Scars, many of them, and he knew that those were not scars from an accident Minerva had described. He cursed Richard McGonagall and Duncan McDrake for that. How dared they…Hours later Albus went to bed, he would speak with her the next day. Hopefully she had calmed down then and he got a few good ideas.

The next morning Albus was woken by an owl tapping impatiently against the glas of his window. Sleepily Albus stood up and crossed the room allowing the owl to deliver her letter. When the bird had vanished again Albus looked at it. It was an official letter, which told him that it was sent by the Ministry for Magic.

He made himself a cup of hot chocolate while yawning and sat down at his desk before opening it. While he read his face went from pale to snowy white and when he finished the writing this cup had slipped from his fingers and had fallen to the ground. Richard McGonagll wanted his daughter. He would sent her to another school for, in his opinion, Hogwarts was not appropriate for his daughter.

Angrily Albus jumped to his feet and without looking at the house elf, that he had starteld by this, he stormed out of his office. How dared they…