Something and nothing chapter again, sorry! I'm still pre-emptively mourning the loss of Dumbledore :(
I might post again this week just because I've finally finished my degree and I got all of my grades back yesterday. So, overall I'm feeling quite positive :) At the same time, I don't want to rush Minerva and Albus' goodbyes (there may or may not be only two chapters left to enjoy Dumbledore-McGonagall interactions)... I'm in a bit of a quandary, to say the least.
2 May 1997
Minerva hummed lightly to the tunes of Tchaikovsky's Swan's Lake. Her father had given her his record player so that she could listen to music when at Hogwarts. It beat the small technological equipment some students attempted to bring to school which usually led to disappointment when they failed to work.
Swan Lake ended with a grand finish, and the Nutcracker then took its place. Minerva removed the paperclip from between her lips and arranged it on her newly marked essays.
"The blue or the green one, my dear?"
Minerva sighed and put the files away in her drawer and then stood up to enter her office. Albus was looking around her desk, quite lost it seemed despite how well Minerva kept her files organised.
"You are useless, Albus," she said, leaning past him to pick up a beige file sitting beside the blue and green ones. "Are you that keen to wriggle out of getting these finances done?"
Albus mimed shock and Minerva struggled to keep a straight face. She gave him the file. "I will not be guilt-tripped into doing them again."
"I resent that statement," Albus said.
Minerva smiled and kissed him on the cheek. "Come. You have a lot to do today."
She straightened and walked back into her small living room - Albus right behind her. They had been working together since early this morning after breakfast. If they had had it their way, they most likely would have eaten together privately in Minerva's quarters and got on with their work in comfortable silence. Seeing as it was term time, however, it was important that she and Albus showed their faces in the morning - even on a Sunday.
Minerva sat back down in her armchair and Albus seated himself opposite her. He frowned slightly at the open folder on his lap, then leaned forwards to reach out for his quill and some parchment.
"I reached page 23," Minerva informed as she leafed through her own papers. She then looked over her own file, containing the names of current staff, and sighed. "Firenze has expressed a desire to return to the Forbidden Forest."
Albus looked up and raised his eyebrows.
"I know," Minerva agreed. "It is a shame, but it is also quite frustrating seeing as now we will need to draft some adverts."
"Minerva," Albus began. He sat up and folded his hands on his lap, "I know that you are not keen about Sybill but really it is a little uncalled for to replace her entirely."
Minerva could not help but laugh. "Goodness, Albus, is that what you think of me?" she said. "I do not wish to replace Sybill, only to find someone who can share her duties. Though not initially pleased to have Firenze teach with her, I do believe Sybill appreciated the help. Besides, with a subject like Divination," she added, catching his eye, "confirmation bias is important."
Albus smiled. "Aha!" he said, raising his finger and pointing at her. "Your dislike for Divination, Minerva—"
"Is not unlike yours, Albus," Minerva spoke over him. "Or was it not you who hinted at the unscientific nature of 'fortune-telling' when I was in my second year?"
"Did I call it that?"
Minerva nodded. "Indeed, you did. I remember it well," she said, before sighing and looking back at her file. "So, drafting adverts? Yours or mine?"
"I will leave that task in your most capable hands, my dear."
Minerva nodded and began to make some notes on a piece of parchment. They worked for a few more hours, Vivaldi, followed by Bach and then Mozart accompanying the sound of their quills scribbling on parchments.
Finally, at one o'clock, Minerva put her quill down. The adverts had been drafted, and she had also written a few letters to worried parents asking for news about their children - it was always the second years who 'forgot' or neglected to return their parents' correspondences. She popped the letters inside the envelopes and sealed them with a casual wave of her hand.
"Albus?"
Albus looked up from his own work. "You are finished?"
Minerva nodded and got up from her chair. Her knees felt a little stiff, another reminder that she had now passed the 60-year marker. Though aware that witches and wizards had a longer lifespan than muggles, the fact that she was now the same age as her father was when he first fell ill, had been something that had remained on Minerva's mind ever since October had come and passed.
"Are you?" she asked.
Albus shook his head. "I believe this will take me a little while longer," he admitted. "Would you like to get some lunch?"
"I would, Albus," Minerva replied, "but I am afraid I promised Pomona that I would visit this afternoon. Another time perhaps?"
Albus nodded and got up too. He closed his folder using his left hand, Minerva noticed. His right was covered mostly by the sleeve of his robes. Yet the blackened and wrinkled skin was still visible. Minerva knew that it was no longer only his hand that was bothering him and that the strange tone his skin had now taken had gradually moved further up his arm over the course of the year. The way he held his arm now, was different, she noticed. He did not make as many gestures as he used to when he spoke. And Albus had always been an animated speaker.
Feeling suddenly a little unsettled, Minerva stopped tidying away her work on the coffee table and straightened. "I won't be long," she said. "I could come to your office afterwards if you like?"
The record changed so that Chopin was now playing. After a momentary lapse during which time Albus' expression flickered between sad, pained and then happy again, Albus finally smiled and got up too. "Always, my dear," he said.
Minerva smiled uncertainly. "Perhaps a game of chess?" she tried. "We would not want to face another tie at the end of the year."
"You are keeping count?"
Minerva rolled her eyes. "Do not act as though you haven't either, Albus Dumbledore," she reprimanded him. "We both know that you are just as competitive as I am."
She went to her bookcase, filled to the brim with books and her record player, which was squeezed between several tomes, and removed the needle from the record. The music stopped and her quarters were filled with silence.
Albus used his wand to clear away his paperwork. It was something else that Minerva had noticed over the course of this year. Though wandless magic was difficult, especially when it came to the more complicated spell, Albus had always had an aptitude for it. Yet, the simple spells, such as the general tidying ones or the summoning charms, Minerva had noticed Albus using more of his wand than his hands.
It was age, he had told her at some point. Magic had once flown effortlessly through his fingertips, the spells coming to him instinctively like words falling from his tongue when he spoke. And, in some ways, he still felt the same. Yet, in other ways, it was different. Age changes you, he had told her as enigmatically as ever. Upon noticing her expression, he had smiled and added that one day, she would understand what he meant.
Minerva pushed these thoughts to one side. "Ready?" she prompted him.
He nodded and followed her out of her quarters and into her office where someone was already waiting for them. "Good morning, Professor Sprout," he said.
Pomona looked at Albus then at Minerva. "The door was open," she said. "I did knock first."
Mildly amused by her friend's embarrassment, Minerva nodded. "It's all right, dear," she reassured Pomona. "If you let me get my bag, we can leave in just a minute."
Before Minerva could go and search for her handbag, Albus reached out to place a hand on her elbow. "I shall leave you now, my dear, and see you later this evening. Enjoy your lunch," he added, leaning in to kiss her cheek and then turning to nod in Pomona's direction before leaving the office.
"Is this where you have both been hiding today?" Pomona said when the door clicked shut behind Albus.
Minerva frowned. "What do you mean?"
Pomona folded her arms across her chest and leaned against the wall. "You and the Headmaster. I thought I would see you in the staffroom this morning, but you vanished after breakfast. Severus was looking for Dumbledore, too."
"Oh?" Minerva said, having located her handbag and was now reaching for her cloak and shoes. "What did he want?"
"Something that was 'none of my business," Pomona quoted. "Severus, sharing his usual pleasant ways, as always."
Minerva raised her eyebrows and sighed. "There is a definite bee in his bonnet at the moment," she said. "I had a first-year come to me in tears last Wednesday because they had been told off in Potions. Sometimes I think Severus gets more enjoyment berating students than actually teaching them."
"Well, something must have drawn him to a career in education," Pomona said. She straightened and smoothed down her robes. "Now, Albert is away on a school trip to France, so we can go back to the cottage and have some lunch there, or we could go out?"
"Treating ourselves when term has not yet concluded?" Minerva said, raising her eyebrows.
Pomona smiled. "We deserve good things every once in a while," she said. "Especially on a Sunday."
"Mm," Minerva said thoughtfully. She untied her hair and began to plat it.
"Your hair looks different."
"Haircut," Minerva said. She finished the plat and looped it round to make a bun at the nape of her neck. "It was getting too long."
"You should keep it down once in a while. It looks nice." Pomona smiled when Minerva rolled her eyes. "Apologies, I know how much you hate being complimented, Minerva. I promise I won't do it again," she teased. "Now, what's the verdict? Shall we go out for lunch or not?"
Minerva tutted, though a smile tugged at her lips. "Oh, very well," she eventually said, giving in to the temptation. "You have convinced me, dear."
Pomona chuckled and pushed herself from the wall to open the door. "Well, I did not have to try very hard," she teased.
