Can't publish tomorrow so here's an early post! I hope you enjoy the chapter! (Reviews would be very much appreciated if you can spare the time) :)
20 July 1992
Minerva stormed up the spiral staircase and into the Headmaster's Office without even bothering to knock. The door banged against the wall and Albus looked up in surprise from his book.
"Minerva—"
"No, Albus, you are the limit!" she said, marching up to his desk and slamming a copy of the Daily Prophet onto the table. "I go to visit my family for one week, I repeat one week, and I come back to see you have appointed a new teacher without telling me! Again!"
She pushed the paper angrily towards Albus so that the image of Gilderoy Lockhart emblazoned across the parchment was sitting directly beneath his nose.
"Ah," said Albus, comprehension dawning as he realised why Minerva was so cross. "My dear, there was no other option. A Defence Against the Dark Arts professor was required and now we have one."
"You mean we have someone," Minerva corrected him. "What possessed you to ask him, of all people, to teach here?"
"It is just possible that he may surprise us," Albus said calmly. "As I recall Gilderoy Lockhart was a perfectly able student—"
"Oh yes," she interrupted sarcastically. "Perfectly able to draw attention to himself, you mean. As I recall, Albus, Mr Lockhart carved his name into the Quidditch Pitch and copied the Dark Mark by projecting his face into the sky by the end of his third year, no less! Not to mention that in his fifth year he sent himself enough Valentine's Day cards that the Ravenclaw table collapsed under their weight."
"That was several years ago," Albus remarked lightly. "I think you and I can both agree that people change a great deal following their fifteenth year."
Minerva folded her arms crossly. "Perhaps some do," she said stubbornly. "But not all."
Albus sighed and decided to change tack.
"I accept I should have conferred with you prior to making this decision, Minerva," he conceded, "and I apologise that I did not do this. However, we were in dire need of a new professor."
"We are always in need of a new professor, Albus," Minerva said exasperatedly, the hard note in her voice slowly disappearing. "I know neither of us finds pleasure in drafting advertisements for a teacher's position every year; not to mention arranging and holding a series of interviews after that. But why on earth did you hire him of all people? He can't have been the only applicant-"
"Actually, he was..."
Minerva scoffed incredulously.
"I am not lying to you," Albus continued, raising his eyebrows. "The rumours that the post is cursed has not made anyone eager to apply for the role of Defence Against the Dark Arts professor. We should be grateful Gilderoy did apply."
"One of us could have taken over the class," Minerva said resolutely.
Albus arched an eyebrow and looked at her carefully over his spectacles.
"All right, maybe that would not have been entirely practical," she conceded huffily. "But next time you decide to hire a new professor I would rather you told me, as the Deputy Headmistress, before you appoint them instead of after. And preferably while I'm at the school," she added, looking at him pointedly and with her hands on her hips.
Albus bowed his head. "I promise that, in future, I will consult you, my dear," he promised.
Minerva narrowed her eyes and watched him for a few moments before picking up and rolling the newspaper.
"I'll be sure to remember that, Albus," she told him seriously, pointing the paper in his direction. "And I will tell you now, that I will not be lenient if I find Gilderoy isn't teaching to the proper standard," she said, "Or behave too kindly if he finds himself commenting on my teaching methods, again."
"Noted," Albus said with a nod.
"I hope so, for both of your sakes," she warned him. Then, giving him one last pointed look, she made her way briskly out of his office.
