Betrayal

I walked through the adjoining door to my and Minerva's rooms for what seemed like the hundredth time in just five minutes.

"She's should to be home by now," I said to myself. "What could be keeping her?" I turned around to continue my pacing.

I walked into Minerva's room and sat on her bed.

"What have I done?" I asked myself. "She didn't want to go and yet I sent her. For my own selfish reasons!"

I picked up Minerva's cloak, which had been lying forgotten at the foot of her bed. "She was in such a hurry to leave and get it all over with…" I sighed.

"What if something happened to her?" a voice in the back of my head asked me. I found myself agreeing with it and I began to worry.

My mind raced through all the things that could have happened to her, "What if she got into a Wizard's Duel in a drunken rage? What if she had accidentally run in front of a muggle's car? What if she tripped and is bleeding out in the middle of a street somewhere?"

I stood and threw her cloak back on her bed. "No," I said aloud in an attempt to calm myself. "She is fine. She is one of the most accomplished witches of her age." I walked back to my room to get some sleep before Minerva returned, knowing that I would need it depending on how long she intended to stay awake talking.

I changed into my bedclothes before I laid down on my own bed and shut my eyes.

"What if," the devilish voice in the back of my head began, "she was captured by one of Grindelwald's men and is being tortured as you lie in your comfortable bed?"

My eyes snapped open and I quickly stood and began pulling on my cloak. I was halfway to the door before I realized that Minerva would kill me if I showed up during her long chat with Xiomara.

"She's fine." I told myself through a grimace. "She doesn't need you to show up and play the white knight. Let her be independent or she'll never return your feelings."

I turned away from the door and returned my cloak to the hook.

"I'll wait for her in her room," I decided. "She won't mind. She'll think it's a fine gesture. One that shows you really care about her feelings." I nodded to myself and walked into her room.

"This will work," I told myself. "She will think you great to wait up for her. She'll love that you want to talk and she will know that you are a knight in shining armor without being too obtrusive or pushy."

I laid down on her bed and closed my eyes.

Seconds later, they again snapped open.

"What if she's hurt, though?"

I stood and paced about her room, checking the clock periodically.

Two in the morning, three, four…