A/N: Here we go with book 2. Fair warning: This is my least favourite Potter book. In my opinion there are a couple of plot holes with regard to the Chamber of Secrets – and when trying to view everything from Albus' perspective, it gets even worse. I'll do my very best to work with it, but I may choose not to comment on certain aspects of the story that I could never explain to myself.

Are you with me on this? What's your favourite or least favourite Potter book?

53. Fame and Fortune

It had been rather audacious of him, but Albus had hoped to get in and out of the Ministry more or less unnoticed. In particular he had wanted to avoid…

"Albus!" The familiar voice of the Minister for Magic stopped him in his tracks.

He heaved a sigh as Cornelius Fudge strode quickly towards him. "Hello, Cornelius."

"Albus, did I know you were coming in today?"

"I don't think so. I'm here on Hogwarts business."

To his surprise Cornelius nodded as though he knew exactly what Albus was talking about. "Of course, I heard about that unfortunate incident. But there was no need for you to come. We let him off with a warning – no real harm done. We have to play by the rules, though, even if it's the Boy Who Lived."

Every now and then Albus liked surprises. Usually, he was the first to know things, which could become tiresome. In this case, however, he did not appreciate being told after the fact. Not when it was about Harry. "I'm afraid I don't know which incident you're referring to, Cornelius."

Fudge blinked, noticing the change in Albus' tone. "You don't? Oh, well, like I said, it's not a big deal. We had to send Potter a warning for performing a Hover Charm at his place of residence, which, as you know, is a Muggle residence. An accident, I'm sure. And nothing to worry about. Unless he does it again. Then he would have to be expelled. But let's not meet trouble halfway, right?" He laughed uneasily.

Albus didn't feel like laughing in the slightest. "You didn't think to inform me about this? Since it's my school he would have to be expelled from?"

Cornelius looked torn between admitting guilt and standing up for himself. "The thought might have occurred to me. But the thing is, Albus, the last time we spoke you strongly suggested that I should stop sending you so many owls."

Albus sighed. He supposed he had done that. "Thank you for taking that into consideration, Cornelius, but I didn't mean anything that relates to a Hogwarts student."

Although this didn't sound like anything Harry would do at all. Yes, he had shown a certain disregard for the rules in his first year at school, but only for good reason – or at least something that he had deemed important. Performing a Hover Charm in his aunt and uncle's house during the summer holidays didn't seem to fit that bill. Albus would have to look into that later; ask Arabella if she had noticed anything out of the ordinary.

"Duly noted, Dumbledore," Fudge assured him, though that didn't necessarily mean much. "But if it's not about Potter, why are you here then?"

"I'm here for the reading," Albus told him.

"Really? Didn't think you'd go for that sort of thing. I'm not judging, of course. I'm a bit of a fan myself. As you can probably tell since I organised this private reading for Ministry staff. Perks of the job, mind you." Fudge winked at Albus. "But you're terribly late! He's already done reading. He's just handing out a couple of autographs now. You've missed the whole thing."

"Actually, that sounds as though I'm right on time. If you'll excuse me, Cornelius." Albus swiftly walked past the Minister for Magic and made his way into a room that had been decorated with life-size pictures of the same wizard who was currently signing books with an abnormally large peacock feather quill and an even bigger smile plastered on his face. Albus waited until almost all of the Ministry employees (mostly witches), who had attended the reading, had left. Then he approached the table in the front of the room.

When Gilderoy Lockhart saw him, his smile widened even further. "Well, well, if it isn't Albus Dumbledore! I thought that was you hiding in the back. There is no reason to be shy. I know it can be a little intimidating to meet me again in person after everything I have accomplished. But it would be my pleasure, of course, to sign one of my books for you." He reached for one of his so-called autobiographies, scribbled something on the first page and handed it over.

"Hello, Gilderoy," Albus said and accepted the book with what he hoped passed for a smile that was a little less fake than Lockhart's. "And thank you for the book. But I was actually hoping to talk to you about Hogwarts."

"Of course you did! Great minds think alike. Isn't that what they say? I would love to come to Hogwarts for a reading, though I'm terribly busy at the moment. I can't make any promises."

Albus nodded pleasantly. "I would like for you to return to the school, yes, but not for a reading."

"No? What then?" asked Lockhart, though he already sounded less enthusiastic.

"A teaching position. As I'm sure you've heard, we are in dire need of a new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor," Albus told him.

At this, Lockhart's smile wavered. Just a little. "Come back to teach? Goodness gracious, I wish I could, Dumbledore! I can see why I would be your first choice, but like I said, my schedule simply won't permit me to make such a commitment. Even a bestseller doesn't promote itself, you know?"

"Certainly," Albus agreed, as though that made any sense. "But perhaps you would be gracious enough to help your old school save face regardless? Because of the unfortunate circumstances involved, not many witches or wizards would be brave enough to accept this particular post. So naturally, I thought of you, Gilderoy."

Rather than bathe in the glory of that, admittedly, backhanded compliment, Lockhart avoided looking at Albus and began to pack up his things. "You were absolutely right to do so. I'd love to help you out and show everyone that there's nothing to fear, but it's completely out of the question. Not a minute of free time for the rest of the year, if you can believe it! As a matter of fact, I must be off now," he said, wanting to get rid of Albus, his eyes cagey and his smile frozen on his lips.

It wasn't all that surprising. To get to where he was now, Lockhart would have needed a certain shrewdness and a strong sense of self-preservation. Both were warning him right now that Albus' offer was a threat to him. And he was right. But Albus wasn't about to give up that easily. He just needed to find the right angle to convince Lockhart to go against his better judgment.

"Don't let me keep you," he said lightly. "It's a shame, though, that the students will be deprived of the privilege to learn from someone like you. They need excellent teachers to accompany them on their way to greatness. Something that is especially true for our young Mr Harry Potter."

"Oh, he's at school now, is he?" Lockhart asked, trying to sound nonchalant.

"Oh yes, and of course he has everybody's eyes on him all the time." Albus shrugged. "But there are more important things than fame and so I will stop bothering you with this. I understand that you have to stick to your... book signings."

Albus turned around and took one slow, very deliberate step.

"Now hold on there, Dumbledore!" Lockhart called after him.

With a seemingly curious look on his face, Albus stopped.

"I can't possibly leave you in the lurch like this! I'll just have to explain to my readers that the next generation of witches and wizards needs me even more than they do. It's in everybody's best interest, really. Since I can't be everywhere at once, it's practically my duty to teach others what to do should they ever come across a werewolf or a banshee themselves," Lockhart explained, his supercilious smile restored. "Especially a boy like Potter. The poor chap wouldn't stand a chance without me, now would he?"

He couldn't bring himself to take that question seriously. Instead Albus asked, "Then you'll accept my offer?"

"Consider it done! You've got yourself a new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Dumbledore, and, if I do say so myself, one unlike any other!"

Albus smiled archly. "Wonderful."

The somewhat troubling news about Harry was still on his mind, but other than that Albus was in a fairly good mood when he left the Ministry and Apparated back to Scotland or, more precisely, to the county of Caithness. Hidden in a forest at the outskirts of Minerva's quaint little hometown, Albus put on a Muggle coat that would conceal his robes until he could change out of them. Then he made his way through the village, heading towards the manse that had been Minerva's childhood home.

After her father's death Minerva's mother Isobel had stayed in the manse on her own – until now. The village had finally found a new minister, who wanted to move in with his wife, and so the time had come for the McGonagall family to say goodbye to the place. Naturally, they had all offered to help Isobel with the move. In honour of the late reverend this would not be done with magic but a lot of elbow grease. Which Albus thought was charming in a way. He just hoped that nobody would end up throwing their back out. Least of all him. As it turned out, being the master of the Elder Wand had the unfortunate side effect of rendering physical exercise rather unnecessary.

Albus was almost at the front door when – perhaps also in true McGonagall fashion – he heard a lot of yelling coming from inside the house. He paused on the threshold, wondering if he should get involved. That's when he noticed that the one voice he was most intimately familiar with was missing. He turned around on the spot and made a beeline for the church or, more specifically, the graveyard.

He spotted Minerva right away since she was the only one there. When he came to stand by her side, Albus greeted her with a mute kiss to her temple.

She didn't turn to look at him, but a quick smile flickered across her face. "Thank you for coming."

"I promised you I would if I managed to escape the Ministry on time," Albus replied. "Though I'm not sure if it's my place to be here. There seems to be a bit of a row going on back at the house."

"Yes, well… Catriona told us that she got married last week." Minerva slowly shook her head. "That surprised look on your face is the reason for all the yelling," she went on. "Nobody knew about any of it. Deborah is terribly upset that Catriona didn't tell her. My mother tried to defend her, arguing that Junior wouldn't have minded as long as he knew that his daughter picked a good man for herself. But Malcolm shut her down, accusing her of having set the precedent for head-over-heels love affairs in our family in the first place. And since then it's been going in circles."

"Ah," said Albus with a soft frown. "And whose side are we on?"

Minerva didn't respond right away. "I just wish he were still here," she said eventually. "Both of them," she amended, gazing at the two gravestones in front of them, where Robert McGonagall Sr. and Robert McGonagall Jr. lay next to each other.

Albus slid an arm around her shoulder, pulling her against him, but Minerva pushed back almost immediately. "What is that?" she asked, pointing at the Lockhart book Albus had stuffed into the pocket of his coat and then quickly forgotten. Minerva must have felt it sticking out when he had tried to embrace her.

"It was a gift," Albus said dismissively. "There was a reading at the Ministry and he's signing these things faster than one can even say hello…"

Before he could get rid of it, Minerva snatched the book out of his pocket and opened it to the page Lockhart had signed. "To Albus. From one pillar of the community to another," she read out loud, her eyes flashing. "Oh, that's rich! I see he hasn't changed at all."

"Why, thank you!" said the Lockhart on the glossy book cover.

"It wasn't a compliment!" Minerva snapped, then she huffed. "Why am I talking to this silly book?"

"I'm sorry," Albus said. He took the book and since there was nobody around, he gave it a little tap with his wand and sent it back to Hogwarts. That it happened to land right in the middle of the fireplace rather than on his desk was an unfortunate mishap.

Minerva's eyes narrowed. "So when you said that you had something important to do at the Ministry and you didn't know if you could come and help with the move, what you meant was that you wanted to go to a Gilderoy Lockhart book signing?"

"Let's not talk about this here," Albus said, gently taking her arm. This was not the place and he was annoyed with himself for bringing the book with him at all. He hadn't meant to distract her from paying her respects to her father and brother.

Unfortunately, there was no stopping Minerva once she had zeroed in on something. She took his proffered arm, but she was the one pulling him along. "We can't go back into the village. You're wearing a coat in August. That's more than enough to get people talking," she remarked as they left the graveyard.

Minerva was wearing a more appropriate Muggle dress and she had braided parts of her hair while allowing the rest to fall to her shoulders. A rare and beautiful sight that could have easily distracted Albus from what they had just been talking about. But Minerva wouldn't let that happen.

"What did you want with Lockhart?" she demanded as they walked further out into the open fields.

It was probably best not to beat around the bush, Albus thought. "I hired him to be our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher."

Minerva snorted. "Very funny, Albus."

"I'm glad to hear you say so. I assumed you'd think of it as a tragedy."

She stopped abruptly and studied the look on his face more closely. Then she gasped, "No!"

"I'm afraid so," he confirmed.

"No!" she repeated.

Albus sighed. "I figured you wouldn't approve…"

"No!"

"… but you'll have to use another word eventually if you want us to have a proper conversation about this."

"I don't have any other word!" she hissed. "I can't even… no… just not him!"

"Who else then, Minerva?"

"Anyone, literally anyone else, but not Gilderoy Lockhart!" She spoke his name as though it tasted like spoiled milk on her tongue. "He was the most obnoxious, attention-seeking sycophant I ever had the misfortune of teaching!"

Albus nodded. "I remember it vividly."

"And you never disagreed with me!" Minerva reminded him sharply.

"Nor will I disagree with you now."

Minerva threw her hands up in frustration. "Then why hire him, knowing he will be a terrible, terrible teacher?" She paused. "He's not possessed by You-Know-Who, is he?"

"Oh, Gilderoy is possessed all right, but only by his own vanity. Nevertheless, there is plenty to be learned even from a bad teacher: what not do to, how not to be," he told her.

"That sounds like a stretch, Albus," she argued. "Even if the students understand that, why make it so difficult for them? Why not hire a good teacher for once who actually knows what he's talking about?"

"I'd love to, Minerva. If you would just point me in the direction of a qualified witch or wizard who is willing to risk falling victim to the curse," Albus said point-blank.

She rolled her eyes. "That is nothing but a ridiculous rumour."

"Perhaps. But you have to admit the fact that the predecessor died while in our employ doesn't exactly help our case."

"Are you saying you really do believe that the Defence Against the Dark Arts post is jinxed?" Minerva asked, arching a brow.

"Well," Albus said, pondering her question, "I wouldn't give you the job even if you begged me to."

That answer caught her enough by surprise that she gave a sudden bellow of laughter. "Then it's a good thing that I didn't ask for it. But I know someone who has. Repeatedly, I might add," she said as offhandedly as she could manage.

Albus smirked. "Nice try, Minerva. But I'm delighted to hear that you've come around on the issue of Severus being a good teacher."

"If it's between him and Gilderoy Lockhart…" she muttered darkly.

"Oh, do brighten up. What's another year?"

"You're the one who keeps saying that we can't possibly know how many years we have left at this point in our lives."

"How many years I have left," he corrected her. "You, my love, look radiant today," he said, reaching for a strand of her hair and caressing it back behind her ear.

Before Minerva could respond, her niece Catriona came running towards them. "There you are!" she called a little out of breath. "You have to come back inside the house and talk to them for me. They'll listen to you!"

"Even if that were true," Minerva replied, turning to face the young woman, "I don't know if I can defend what you did."

Catriona looked crestfallen. "Don't say that! I need you to be on my side. You've always understood me better than anyone."

Minerva didn't say anything, but Albus knew that she felt quite the same way about her eldest niece. The two even looked somewhat alike with their tall statures and stormy green eyes.

"I didn't do it to hurt any of you," Catriona went on. "It wasn't about you at all. It was only about me and the man I love. It was…"

"… just us," Minerva said quietly, glancing at Albus.

"See, you do understand! We didn't want to wait for something bad to happen again. Grandpapa wouldn't have been there to marry us, Daddy couldn't have walked me down the aisle… Perhaps it was a wee bit silly, but we decided not to waste another minute we could be together. And I ken what you think. You always wanted me to be smart and to use my head…" Her voice faltered.

"It seems to me that in this particular case it was very smart of you to use your heart instead," Albus offered.

Her eyes hopeful, Catriona looked from him to Minerva. "Aye?"

Minerva finally took a step towards her niece and gently held her by the shoulders. "Aye, you should never have to apologise for going after what you want, especially if it's your own happiness."

"But perhaps I shouldn't have said anything today. Because it feels like we're saying goodbye to Grandpapa all over again."

"No, it's all right. It's good to remind us how very fortunate we are that you are this family's future," Minerva said, lifting one of her hands to Catriona's cheek.

She beamed. "Will you come and tell them that?"

"I'll be there in a minute."

"Thanks, auntie!" Catriona gave her a quick kiss and hurried off.

Albus smiled. "Ah, to be young and in love."

Minerva's brow furrowed. "You say that as though you're neither of those things."

"Judging from the way my knees are shaking at the prospect of carrying those boxes, I'm definitely not young anymore. And as for being in love, that always seems to imply that there's at least the possibility of falling out of love again. And that is even less true."

A gust of wind swirled around them, almost as though it wanted to give them a little shove, and Minerva wordlessly stepped into Albus' arms.

Catriona was waiting for them inside the manse. But she had been wise beyond her years when she had pointed out that it was important to treasure every moment, even the smallest ones.

„Welcome back to Hogwarts," Minerva said, trying her hardest to sound as though she actually meant it.

Gilderoy Lockhart seemed unable to tell the difference. He flashed her a smile so wide that Minerva could have counted every single one of his absurdly white teeth. "Thank you, thank you! But there's no need for a special welcoming. I'm only here to teach like all the rest of you. I just also happen to be a bestselling author and an expert at fighting the Dark Arts. No reason to make a fuss."

Minerva stared at him stony-faced. That felt like the safest option. Otherwise she might have told him that this was no special welcoming of any kind. She was the only one here and only because, sadly, it was required of her as deputy headmistress.

"Anyway," Lockhart said brightly, "this is most of my luggage. I'll need to send for the rest. The house-elves can take care of that, right?"

"Actually, teachers are expected to…"

Lockhart wasn't listening and had already walked past her.

Minerva gritted her teeth. Pick your battles, she thought and pointed her wand at the mountain of luggage, making it rise off the ground and follow them.

Lockhart had stopped in the Entrance Hall. "How very curious. It's so much smaller than I remembered. But that's probably to be expected when one returns after having built such a stellar career."

"But not the one you wanted, is it?" Minerva couldn't help to remind him. "Didn't you always say that you'd leave Hogwarts to become Britain's youngest Minister for Magic?"

There was the tiniest of cracks in Lockhart's smile. "I did say that, yes, but at the time I hadn't yet realised that my true calling was to rid this world of the foulest and most dangerous creatures in existence. When one is called upon to protect less able witches and wizards, one must put one's own ambitions on hold."

Minerva had tried to prepare herself for his illusions of grandeur, but she quickly realised that she had failed spectacularly.

"Now, would you be a dear and show me to my rooms? I really need to freshen up. It seems I completely forgot how awful the Scottish weather is," Lockhart complained, even though there was only a pleasant breeze outside and his golden hair looked exactly like it did on all of his book covers. Not that Minerva would have cared one way or another.

She turned around without a word and started walking at a brisk pace. Lockhart's luggage followed so fast that it hit him in the hollows of his knees, almost knocking him over. Minerva stifled a grin and walked faster. By the time they reached what would now be Lockhart's study, he was panting slightly.

"There you go, Gilderoy." She opened the door for him, but stayed outside while he entered.

"Goodness, it looks as if it was a good thing that I didn't bring all of my wardrobe with me," he said, taking in the room.

"I'm sure you'll manage." Minerva sent his luggage in after him and let it drop to the floor with a loud crash.

"Nothing a powerful Extension Charm won't fix," Lockhart proclaimed.

Minerva would have been worried about that if she had actually thought him capable of any kind of powerful charm. "I'll leave you to it then."

Before she could turn to leave, he held her back, nearly falling over one of his own suitcases. "Hold on a minute! I have that list for you. I hear you're still in charge of the tedious paperwork and all that."

Her nostrils flared. "If by 'tedious paperwork' you mean the booklists for the students, then yes, I am."

"No need to feel ashamed. We can't all be brave adventurers like me. Some of us need to do the menial work."

Minerva ripped the scroll of parchment out of his hand so she could focus on something other than how much she wanted to wipe that infuriating smile off Lockhart's face. Unfortunately, the piece of parchment in her hand did not make matters a whole lot better. "What is this?" she demanded.

Lockhart looked at her as though she was slow on the uptake and he pitied her for it. "It's a list with most of my published works."

"I can see that. But we usually choose books of a more scientific nature as set books for the students."

"My dear Minerva, you're not as well versed in the Dark Arts as I am and therefore you cannot know this. Learning from a school book might be sufficient in a class as lifeless as Transfiguration, but to prevail against the Dark Arts one has to learn from real experiences."

The only real thing in this room was her barely contained fury. "Fine. Which one do you want the students to get?" she asked icily.

"All of them, of course!"

"That will cost the students a fortune!" Minerva protested.

Lockhart had the audacity to shrug his shoulders. "It'll be good for them to learn that nothing in life is for free. And at least they know that my books are worth every single Knut. I don't mean to brag, but these books have saved many lives."

Ruined them, more likely, but Minerva didn't trust herself to say anything right now.

"Is there a rule that prohibits teachers from choosing more than one book for their classes? Because if there is, I must object on the grounds that it's quite impossible to pick only one of my books, though Gadding with Ghouls is certainly..."

"All right!" Minerva said loudly to make him stop talking. "I'll add all of them to the list. Now, if there's nothing else...?" That should have been a question, but it came out more as a warning.

It didn't matter either way because Lockhart wasn't really listening. He was too busy scanning the room, wondering where best to put up pictures of himself.

Minerva got out of there as fast as she could.

Back in her office she stewed in her anger for a while. Until Albus walked in, took one look at her and paused. "Oh dear, shall I come back later?"

"Unless you'll have changed your mind about hiring Lockhart by then, 'later' won't change anything," she replied.

Albus closed her office door and approached her desk. "Gilderoy has arrived, I take it."

"He has arrived, belittled Hogwarts castle, everyone who works here and every subject other than his own, and insulted me personally several times in the span of one conversation," Minerva recapped her thoroughly unpleasant morning.

"Is that all?" Albus asked.

She couldn't say if he was mocking her or Lockhart. "It's only been an hour. I'm sure there's more to look forward to."

Albus gave her a sympathetic smile. "I'm sorry your relationship to Gilderoy hasn't improved since the last time he was in Hogwarts."

"Rather the opposite. Now I can't even take points from Ravenclaw anymore."

"Filius might be glad to hear that."

Minerva couldn't laugh about that at the moment. "Anyway, what did you want?" she asked, her voice harsher than intended. But since all of this was Albus' fault, he would have to live with the consequences just like the rest of them.

"I wanted to inform you for when you'll be sending out this year's Hogwarts letters that Harry is now at the Burrow."

"What's he doing there?" Minerva asked, glad for the distraction.

"That's a bit of a long story, apparently, but he will remain at the Burrow until school starts," Albus told her.

Minerva frowned. "I thought it was important to you that he should stay with his Muggle relatives."

"It is of particular importance that he has a home with his aunt and uncle, yes. But under the circumstances it won't hurt if he stays with the Weasleys, who are happy to have him."

"They definitely won't be happy about the booklists this year." Minerva glared at the scroll of parchment on her desk. "Lockhart wants me to add almost his entire collection of rubbish to the list. And I can't stop him. We have always allowed the teachers at this school to conduct their lessons as they see fit."

Thoughtful, Albus rested his hands on the back of the chair in front of him. "Mm, I'm sure we could persuade Flourish and Blotts to give Hogwarts students a discount when buying Lockhart's books. Since we'll be boosting their sales significantly."

"That... is an excellent idea," Minerva said after a short pause.

"I have been known to have those every now and then, even though your tone of surprise would suggest otherwise," Albus complained mildly.

Minerva shot him a pointed look. "Your last idea was to hire this imbecile to disgrace the teaching profession to which I have dedicated my entire life, so you'll have to excuse my scepticism."

"Fair enough," he acquiesced. "But please refrain from calling him such names. In his own way Gilderoy is actually very smart. And you, being immeasurably smarter than him, shouldn't feel the need to speak ill of a colleague, even if you can't find it in your heart to appreciate him."

"Sometimes you sure ask a lot of me," Minerva muttered.

"Only because I know that you'll rise to the challenge," Albus assured her.

"When it comes to finding room in my heart for Gilderoy Lockhart you might be disappointed."

Albus leaned across her desk, his eyes gleaming intently. "In all these years your heart has never disappointed me once and I think I've come to know it pretty well."

Minerva rose from her chair to meet him with a quick kiss. Then she said, "You're trying to distract me from my work and my anger, and I would like to return to both. So get out of my office, Albus."

He chuckled and, being a wise man, he did as he was told.