Vanity
When Minerva arrived to her office, she already had dry eyes. She was a practical, rational person. Surely not the one to cry for hours, even if sometimes she would have like to let go.
When she entered the Headmistress office, she sat down in behind her desk and started to work, as if nothing had happened. She definitely preferred work to that confusion.
"Why, you have come back early, Minerva" said Dumbledore's portrait, teasingly.
"You know I don't like parties, Albus", she answered, apparently calm, staying turned. Who knows if Dumbledore had continued to be able to read her mind even know he was a portrait...
"Yes, I know... I would hope you weren't in the Great Hall reading a book, were you?" he added with a wink she couldn't see and sounding amused.
"Of course not, Albus", she smiled.
"Do you still remember that party, Minerva?" he inquired.
"You mean the one where you danced with about all the girls in Gryffindor, Albus?" she asked happily. It was strange, but talking to him always made her feel better. It was amazing how he still managed to comfort her, even now he was a portrait.
"Why, are you jealous, Minerva?" laughed Albus, his blue eyes twinkling.
Minerva turned, with her wand in the hand.
"Don't think that only because you're a portrait you can say such things to me, Albus..." she threatened him, her voice low but vaguely amused "You know it's no problem at all for me to transfigure you in a lovely piece of furniture..." she smiled again.
"Well, I think the office would be by far more peaceful..." Albus answered, not worried at all.
"I wholly agree with you, Albus" she answered "Should I then suppose you would like to be turned in a piece of furniture?" she asked, raising her eyebrows.
"Not at all, Minerva. I know you wouldn't have fun anymore without me" he answered again, still with an amused voice.
The Transfiguration teacher snorted.
"I would have twice as much fun, Albus..." she laughed, knowing of course she wasn't being honest.
"Back to another topic, I've been downstairs in the Great Hall just to stretch my legs... Well, what a handsome knight you've chose, Minerva" he teased her, referring to Slughorn.
"It would have been better to dance with a broomstick!" she answered, still a bit resented against him.
There was a knock at the door, and at her "come in!" two people came in.
"Augusta! Shouldn't you be at the party? Horace..." she acknowledged his presence.
"And you ask? Why have you run away like that?" asked Horace, somewhere in between worried and annoyed.
"Uhm.. you see... I had some paperwork I had to do, you know how it is, I wanted to finish it by the end of today, but I had forgotten..." was the lame explanation Minerva gave.
"Of course you had" Horace interrupted, a bit angry. "I was just suggesting her to put on a necklace, and suddenly she ran away!" he explained to Augusta.
"Ah, Horace... Never give beauty advice to a woman!" sighed Augusta, helping Professor McGonagall. "Especially not to Minerva, you wouldn't ever guess but she's a very vain woman, you know?" she added with a smile.
Minerva glared at her with one of her teacher-looks.
"Oh, I understand... I begin to understand much more about you, Minerva... you should relax a bit, my dear... " smiled Horace, being again in a good mood.
"Not as long as I breathe" she replied, with her usual strict tone.
"Well, we're going back to the party, aren't we, Horace?" asked Augusta, obtaining immediately his approval, for he preferred by far having fun to staying there talking. "If you'll want to join us later, we'll be there, all right, Min..." she added.
"No, thank you, I think I'll finish my work here.." the other woman replied.
"Ah, by the way, I've won the bet" she heard Augusta's voice shout before hurrying back to the party.
"I danced!" protested Minerva.
"You did, but I didn't turn down my partner". Saying this, she went back to the Great Hall, cheerfully. Actually, it would have been very difficult to see her in a bad mood...
The teacher smiled, silently thanking her friend.
A chuckle behind her distracted her.
"Ah, Minerva, Minerva... how vain a woman you are..."
A pillow appeared in Dumbledore's portrait and hit him straight in the face.
"I'd warned you, Albus..." Minerva smiled. After all, the day hadn't been that bad...
Sorry, I know this chapter is quite short and not one of my best but... well here it is, finally! Thank you very much to my very kind reviewers, namely JUJUChick16 and SylvaDragon. Thank you also to who has read this story. Please review!