Author's Notes: This is the fourth one-shot in the 30 series based on songs from Adele's cd of the same name. I recommend reading them first, but they do stand alone. I also recommend listening to the music while reading the story – actually, just put the whole thing on repeat. The song titles are also the story titles. I have no beta, and all mistakes are my own. I am also not gaining anything in any way; this is for my enjoyment and hopefully for those who read it. This is set Post-Hogwarts, and everything through book seven is canon. I gain nothing but a sense of satisfaction from the story.
Cry Your Eyes Out
Cry your heart out, it'll clean your face
When you're in doubt, go at your own pace
Cry your heart out, it'll clean your face
When you're in doubt, go at your own pace
I was sitting around a table on "girl's night" with Luna Lovegood, Ginny Weasley-Potter, Angelina Weasley née Johnson, Fleur Weasley née Delacour, and oddly enough, Andromeda Tonks, Molly Weasley, and Minerva McGonagall. I hadn't been to one of these little outings in quite some time and had not expected such a diverse group of ladies. Apparently, we all could use a break and have left our significant others to hold it together for a night out.
Molly greeted me with a familiar hug and a "How're you doing, love?" while she looked me over. "When was the last time you ate something?" she asked, making me grin.
"I had a rather large lunch and a light supper, mum," I replied cheekily, appreciating the care.
Molly swatted at me playfully and pushed me into a chair between her and Minerva.
"Well, hello, stranger," Minerva greeted me with a warm smile.
"Do I know you?" I asked teasingly. This new playfulness had entered into our interactions a few months after the incident at The Potter home. Neither of us had said anything, but we noticed the change in our interplay. Both of us enjoyed the difference without worrying over labeling our friendship and letting it naturally evolve into whatever it was going to be.
When I walk in a room, I'm invisible, I feel like a ghost
All my friends keep on tellin' me that this feeling won't last, mmm
I can't get no relief, I'm so tired of myself, I swear I'm dead in the eyes
I have nothin' to feel no more, I can't even cry
A few hours later, with the spirits flowing and good company, I felt lighter than I had in ages. I also felt supported by every woman at the table. I felt a sisterhood I had never anticipated from this diverse group of women. There hadn't been any personal questions or gossip-mongering. Instead, the laughter was far more prevalent than the rounds of noxious-looking green shots Ginny and Angelina kept ordering. At one point, Minerva's words from our fourth year were parroted back to her by Angelina as we were having "a night of well-mannered frivolity" and indeed not behaving like "a babbling, bumbling band of baboons." This statement, of course, set half of the table into fits of laughter, leaving Ginny to explain it to her mother.
When will I begin to feel like me again?
I'm hanging by a thread
My skin's paper-thin, I can't stop wavering
I've never been more scared
A week later, I was sitting at my desk staring off into space. I had a recent personnel review in my hand for an Auror that a wayward spell had permanently disabled during a routine mission. The mission should have been nothing more than surveillance. The young woman would never be able to work again as an Auror, but at least she had survived. I knew it would be an uphill battle for her. I got lost in my thoughts of how best to serve her in this trying time.
There was a light cough from my doorway, and there stood the Headmistress of Hogwarts leaning casually again the doorframe. I set the sheet down and smiled at Minerva, waving her over to a chair in front of my desk.
"To what do I owe the pleasure of your company this evening?" I asked.
Minerva smiled back and replied tiredly, "If another member of the board of governors tries to coerce everyone into approving a smaller budget, I honestly think I might hex the lot of them."
"Ahh," I said sympathetically and waited for her to continue.
"Am I asking too much to want to properly educate their children or, in some cases, grandchildren? One would think they had never had to care for a child, and all of them have children either currently at or have been at Hogwarts!" Minerva said, shaking her head. "I just don't understand…."
"You, my friend, look like you could use some food and a strong drink," I said as I stood up from my desk. "I just happen to know the right place, too. Quiet, clean, good food, even better whiskey." I smiled as she stood as well.
"I will follow your lead," Minerva replied, smiling too.
As we walked through it, I closed my office door. I gently took Minerva's arm to pull her close to me. "Take a deep breath and close your eyes," I said, knowing how she disliked side-along apparition. "Marble Cottage," I said, "If you wanted to know where you are going."
Her eyebrows rose as her eyes snapped open, and she carefully tried to read my expression. I smirked; I couldn't help myself; I lifted my hand to her face and gently closed her eyes. She was the first guest to the house I bought after leaving Ron that wasn't family. I took that opportunity to apparate us to my new home.
Cry your heart out, it'll clean your face
When you're in doubt, go at your own pace
Cry your heart out, it'll clean your face
When you're in doubt, go at your own pace
When I wake up, I'm afraid of the idea of facin' the day
I would rather stay home on my own, drink it all away
Please stop callin' me, it's exhausting, there's really nothin' left to say
I created this storm, it's only fair I have to sit in its rain
One night, two weeks before the end of the school year, Minerva invited me to Hogwarts. We had a wonderful meal provided expertly by Hogwart's ever-busy house elves. We had been half-heartedly discussing the future of a law that would create a Muggle Education Department. Design specifically to educate, well, everyone. One section would focus on the early education and integration of Muggle-Born Witches and Wizards into the Wizard Community closest to their current locations. Magical families in the area would agree to meet Muggle-Born families and act as a mentor to the family to help further destroy regressive notions about blood purity.
Another section would focus on training the Magical families to help Muggle families.
Every member of the Wizengamot voted in favor of the law due to a study of the British Wizarding community that began a decade after the end of the war. It was a cooperative venture between St. Mungo's, Hogwarts, and the under-utilized Genealogy and Family History department of The Ministry. The report included blood tests and genome matching similar to those used by Muggle genealogy sites, allowing a user to look for relatives based on DNA. It categorically proved that not a single "Pure-Blood" family was, in fact, pure of blood. This had reunited branches of families that had been fractured for generations. Paving the way for the passage of the integration law.
In fact, a codicil had been added to the law that required Pure-Blood families to mentor at least two families a year as a sort of community service. It also helped that if the family refused, there would be sanctions against their house and any businesses associated with that family. If they wouldn't work together to get rid of the Pure-Blood superiority fallacy willingly, the prospect of bankruptcy and ruin was an excellent motivator.
Over the months we had spent together, our conversations had gotten more and more personal. Finally, finally, we were genuinely getting to know one another. I learned more about Minerva than I ever thought I would be allowed to know. I understood how deeply betrayed she felt by Albus. How she still couldn't justify Snape's behavior even if he was on the side of the light. In her opinion, he had multiple issues and always had. The most significant being that Severus Snape was still a traumatized bully that should never have been allowed to teach children regardless of how talented a potion master he was. Talent does not always equal aptitude.
That was the first night we slept together. We fell asleep on the sofa in front of a dying fire. Minerva must have woken up at some point because when I woke in the early gray light of morning, we were on a very comfortable bed under a lovely thick blanket curled around one another. The best night's sleep I had had in years.
When will I begin to feel like me again?
I'm hanging by a thread
My skin's paper-thin, I can't stop wavering
I've never been more scared
Cry your heart out, it'll clean your face
When you're in doubt, go at your own pace
Cry your heart out, it'll clean your face
When you're in doubt, go at your own pace
Minerva appeared on my doorstep two hours early for dinner, grinning madly two weeks later. She was planning to retire at the end of the next school year and had just come from the last meeting with the Board of Governors for that school year, where she dropped that little gem. She didn't leave until the start of the new school year.
(Ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh)
(Ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh)
All love is devout, no feeling is a waste
But give it to yourself now before it's too late
In the end, it's just you, stop drowning in wait
Your love is useless without it
Cry your heart out (Cry, yeah), it'll clean your face
When you're in doubt, go at your own pace
