Blessings and Heartache.

[JKMcGonagall]

I see Hooch is up to her usual standards of leap before you look. I also see heartache for Minerva ahead, but hopefully the heartache will end in blessings and matrimony with Albus at the end.

Kay

[QuillofMinerva]

Blessings and Heartache

A/n: Hello everyone, thank you to those who took the time to review the last chapter. I am glad you liked and Xiomara’s over eagerness made you chuckle, I am with Severus on the matter though. This chapter hasn’t been beta read because I am simply too impatient. I hope Miss Ang is feeling better today, she had a migraine yesterday! On with the next chapter then.

Chapter Three: A lot of explaining to do.

Minerva let herself be swept along the corridor by Albus; she kept in step with him until they reached the stone gargoyle that guided the stairway that led to his office. They had slipped into a comfortable silence as soon as they had stepped out of the staff room; years of friendship had blessed them by not giving them uncomfortable silences to contend with. As she walked with him, her mind was on overload. She kept thinking about the article and what her friends and colleagues had said, it was becoming overwhelming.

Albus rarely gave interviews and to give one about his love life was practically unheard of, the paper had to be messing with words again so they could sell more papers. If Albus had met someone, Minerva would have known because there wasn’t much he kept from her. She smiled to herself, her friends had vivid imaginations and she couldn’t quite believe that part of her had believed them when they had jumped to conclusions.

Albus speaking the password to the gargoyle broke into her thoughts and she watched as the statue jumped aside and bowed slightly as Minerva walked by. She fought the urge to shiver has she felt Albus place one of his hands on the small of her back as she made her way up the stairs, he always did this when they made their way up to his office together. It always had the same effect on her though and that was why she wished the prophet had been correct in it’s reporting.

Albus stepped in front of her as they reached the small landing before his office door; he opened the door and indicated for her to enter before him. She smiled and thanked him for his gentlemanly behaviour; she stepped in and was taken back by what she saw. Almost every available surface was covered with large red letters that were threatening to explode any minute. Minerva turned and looked at Albus with surprised, he was stood there with his shoulders slumped.

“Albus,” she said softly “look at all these howlers!”

“They have been arriving since half five this morning,” he told her “I barely have chance to open one before ten go off at once.”

As soon as he stopped speaking, two howlers went off in unison.

“HOW COULD YOU”

“WHO IS SHE?”

The howlers burst into flames and the ashes floated to the floor; Minerva simply watched them and then looked around for anymore that were about to scream. She presumed that the howlers were sent in reply to the prophet article. Albus had been thee wizarding communities bachelor of the year for years now and he had picked up quite a following of lady admirers because of it. He received letters daily from witches of all ages declaring their love for him and even offering marriage proposals, Albus would always politely reply that he was unable to accept such offers but that didn’t stop them from writing back. Minerva had even sat up with him in the small wee hours of the morning, helping him with his letters so he could get to bed and catch a few hours of sleep.

“SHE ISNT WORTHY, MARRY ME!” went off another howler, making Minerva jump slightly.

“Oh Albus, how are you supposed to open all of these?” she asked with a shake of her head.

“I don’t think Merlin himself, could answer that!” Albus replied as he sunk down into a nearby chair and sighed.

A dozen so or more howlers screamed open and Minerva had to cover her ears as screeches filled the room. She had only been in his office for a few moments and already she was getting a headache, she couldn’t imagine how Albus had coped for so long stuck in this room with the howlers.

“Am I right when say,” she began “that these have been sent to you because of the article in the paper?”

“You are right,” he told her “as you always are!”

Minerva fought the urge to pull out her wand and floo straight to the papers headquarters and tell them exactly what she thought of them and how their stupid article had caused the headmaster even more stress. She could never understand why the paper never got into trouble for printing stories that had never happened, the paper has printed lies on more than one occasion and yet they were still running.

“That woman,” started Minerva as she spoke out Rita Skeeta “has a lot to answer for, she can’t go around printing interviews that never took place! You must report her to the ministry, look at the problems her lies have caused you!”

“YOU CAN’T MARRY SOMEONE LIKE HER, WE ARE MEANT TO BE ALBUS!” screamed another howler.

“I gave the interview my dear!” he said quietly with a shake of his head.

Minerva felt her mouth drop open as she heard the words fall from his mouth, she couldn’t believe it. Had he just said that he had freely given an interview to Rita Skeeta? Minerva cocked her head to the side and wondered if the screaming howlers had effected her hearing slightly.

“Pardon?” she asked again, she needed to make sure that she had heard correctly.

“I agreed to the interview,” he told her “there was no trickery involved on Miss Skeeta’s part. I sat with her and posed for the picture, all above board my dear.”

Minerva looked at him over the top of her glasses, taking him in and realising that he was in fact telling her the truth. She couldn’t understand why Albus would grant such an interview and with that woman no less, he couldn’t stand her and the way she reported. Then it hit her like a ton of bricks, she felt the wind being knocked out of her as she realised that if Albus had given the interview then what was printed must have some truth to it.

“So it’s true!” she asked, she hoped her voice didn’t sound as wobbly as it did in her head.

“Partly!” he answered as he pressed his fingers together and rested his lips against them.

“SO MARRYING MCGONAGALL ARE WE, SHE CANT MAKE YOU HAPPY!” screeched another howler.

Hearing her name startled Minerva even more and she didn’t know where to look. She was aware that he was watching her and for the first in many years, she suddenly felt rather uncomfortable.

“Seems they guessed of whom I was speaking about!” he said softly.

Minerva’s head shot up and she looked at him, her heart beating in her throat. He had been talking about her to Rita Skeeta, her friends had been right all along. He did feel more for her then friendship! He wanted to marry her! Minerva wanted to sing with joy and dance around the room.

“Oh Albus,” she started but stopped when Albus raised his hand.

“I know my dear,” he began “it was wrong of me to say such a thing to her. I can understand why you are angry with me and I hold my hands up entirely, I am in fault here and I deserve these howlers.”

Minerva stepped forward and took his hands in her own and looked down at him, he looked so handsome. His bright blue eyes twinkled slightly, not as bright as they usually did but there was a glint of something there. How could he think she would be angry with him? She couldn’t be happier! She would have preferred to have heard it from him rather than a trashy paper but at least it was out in the open now and they could move forward.

“I was speaking of you my dear,” he continued, as he looked up at her “I thought it perfect thing to get them to leave me alone and who better to say I am getting married too than you?

Minerva looked at him, pulling her hands slowly away from him and crossing them across her front. She didn’t know what to say to him now, she simply shared at him and willing him to take back such words.

“It is amazing how gossip travels!” he continued, “I didn’t even name names and they chose you. Isn’t that funny my dear, we shall laugh about this over chess! I made a throw away comment and look how it has evolved.”

Minerva felt her heart shatter into hundreds of pieces, she felt herself breakout into a cold sweat and she fought in vain to fight back the hot tears that were stinging her eyes. She had never known Albus to be a hurtful type of man but he had certainly hurt her now. Was the thought of marrying her that funny! Did he see her as a joke? Minerva leant against the wall for support, she was thankful that he wasn’t looking at her because he was bound to notice the unshed tears.

“Jokes are funny things my dear, aren’t they?” he asked with a small chuckle!

TO BE CONTINUED!

[tayryn]

oh... poor Minerva.

well, the title is 'Blessings and Heartache'... i guess we had to have the heartache at some point... but... *sniffle*

very nice chapter.

looking forward to the next one!

[Sensiblyquirky]

I have to admit I'm glad there doesn't seem to be another woman, but how awful! I feel for Minerva, and it will be interesting to see where you take it from here.

Christy

[ginger newts]

Oh dear, that wasn't what I'd expected at all. How sad for Minerva. I felt every bit of her hope that he really intended to marry her and then to have it dashed like that. How could he?

Knowing you, though, I'm sure there's a happy ending somewhere. Just don't take too long to find it, please.

[tanja]

damn old fool !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
poor Min, she deserves a making-up ;-)

[Miss Q]

Oh, dear.... What a chapter! A great one.... but to throw us between happiness and hope and then in to dispair.... Poor Minerva!!! Someone ought to hit Albus over the head. HARD!

Thanks for a great chapter!!!! And please write more SOOON!

M

[hasimausi]

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore!

How DARE you???

You go and propose to her THIS INSTANT! Or else!

[Chiara]

Albus thinks Minerva doesn't love him, so that's why he chickened out at the last moment. He does really want to marry her, but is afraid of being rejected.
My advice to Albus for the next chapter: go and grab your Griffindor courage and finally propose to Minerva: she does love you more than life itself!

[Alesia]

Albus ~ you are such a fool!!!! You have hurt her because you are a COWARD!

I think maybe Minerva should bring Severus to her engagement party. Yes, I think she should be evil. She is incredibly hurt now but I am sure her anger its far behind.

[snowcat]

Does a thing she never expected to do: *slaps Albus*
HOW DARE YOU! YOU HURTED HER!

[Herzele]

I just noticed that I never reviewed this chapter ... Poor Min !! I certainly hope the heartache will soon be over and we will get to see a happy ending some time !

[QuillofMinerva]

Blessings and Heartache.

A/n: I will say that I am glad that most of you did not see that coming, I had three ideas for his explanation and that one was the one I chose. A couple of you have already guessed Albus’ motives for saying what he did but that doesn’t stop him for being a first class igit. I now present, the latest chapter and things don’t get much better for Minerva (I hate hurting her like I am).

Oh in answer to a couple of questions, I am not aware of Hooch’s official house so I used my artistic license to put her in Slytherin and also used when I made up the local Hogsmeade paper. Hope that clears it up for you! Thank you for your questions.

Once again, this chapter hasn’t been beta read but if there are any major problems let me know and I will edit them.

Chapter Four: Crumbling Around Her.

Jokes were only funny when both parties found it amusing, jokes were not funny when they picked up on someone’s insecurities and publicly humiliate them. Minerva was speechless as she stood leaning against the wall, his words playing over and over in her mind. She was trying to make sense of them, she thought she had known Albus but never in all her years as his friend, had she heard him be so cruel. She felt as though the man in front of her was a stranger, someone she did not know and certainly did not want to get to know.

She had to control her feelings, her tears; she refused to let him see her cry because of him. She was strong; she knew she could control herself for a few moments before her heartache overwhelmed her. She knew she needed to break the silence that had descended on the room; she needed to do it now before he picked up on something.

“A good joke Albus” she made herself say, the words didn’t feel right coming from her mouth but they had to be said “a good experiment to see how gossip spreads, I am sure the corridors of the ministry of magic will be very much alive this morning with such juicy gossip.”

“I am glad we share the same sense of humour!” he told with a chuckle.

“No we don’t Albus,” she replied as she made her way to the door, she hadn’t meant to let him know about the hurt she was feeling “we differ quite considerably! Now I have to be getting on with some paperwork.”

She walked from the office with her head held up high; she wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of him seeing her crumble. She wasn’t the type of woman who would crumble in public, there had been a few times when she had nearly lost control but she had managed to rein in her emotions before she lost control of them. She had always felt that as a teacher, it was wrong to let the pupils in her care, see her as her most weak because they would bound to play on it and then she wouldn’t gain their respect and they wouldn’t learn anything from her. She had fought hard to remain detached but the children she taught especially her lions, crept into her heart and overwhelmed but that was nothing to how Albus Dumbledore overwhelmed her.

She had known for years and had loved him nearly as long; he had been her teacher and then her mentor. They had stayed in contact while she worked as an auror at the ministry and then he had offered her a job at Hogwarts, she had grabbed the chance to work along side him with both hands and they had settled into a wonderful friendship. She wasn’t quite sure when she had fallen in love him but she certainly remembered when it suddenly became clear to her. He had brought a woman to the school and was giving her a tour of the grounds when she had bumped into them. She had felt the green eyed monster take her over as she watched the woman touch Albus, lay her hand on his arm and flirt openly with him. Albus for his part had seemed to be enjoying the woman’s attention and almost encouraged it. Her feelings had hit her like a ton of bricks and she had made her excuses, she had swept back to the school and had locked herself in her rooms for the rest of the day. Since she had discovered her feelings for him, they had only grown in strength but she had decided that she couldn’t reveal such feelings for him because it could ruin everything.

She walked down the corridor; unaware of the looks she was getting from the portraits that hung on the walls. She walked right through Nearly Headless Nick and didn’t even shudder when she did; the ghost looked after her in confusion and then floated away mumbling under his breath. She was still composed; she had to be until she reached the safety of her rooms. Only then, would she let herself crumble to the floor and pour her feelings out in the privacy of her own rooms. Her rooms seemed further away than before, she would usually be there by now and she was walking faster than usual but it was taking her longer. Had he moved them as one last joke? Was the castle playing cruel tricks on her? Wasn’t she suffering enough?

Finally her rooms were in sight, the portrait of Godric Gryffindor had never been so welcoming and she quickly gave the password and practically ran into her rooms. The doors locking automatically behind her, strong silencing charms being activated. She didn’t even reach her bedroom before she felt herself stumble and she fell to the floor. She didn’t have the energy to rise from the floor; she gave into her emotions and sobbed her heart out. Her body shaking with her heartfelt sobs, the salty tears falling from her emerald green eyes and landing on the rug beneath her.

His cruel words echoed in her head, they were driving her to the brink of madness. They were taunting her as she cried harder, her body ached for her crying but her tears showed no sign of ending anytime soon. The floodgates had been opened and years of unrequited love hit her head on, she saw how she had wasted her life on loving a man that could never love her. She had loved a man who thought of her as a joke, her friendship to him had been a joke; she amused him for all the wrong reasons. She had never felt so weak before, the rug she had been standing on for years but been pulled from under her and she felt broken.

She never thought she would think of Albus Dumbledore as a cruel man but she did now, she felt cheated and used by him. How could he of thought that something like that would be funny, did he not know how cruel the Daily Prophet and people like Rita Skeeta could be. He hadn’t given any thought to her feelings when he had decided to say such a thing to one of the malicious women, she had ever known. She was about to be made the laughing stock of the whole wizarding community just because Albus Dumbledore, one of the most respected wizards of recent age had made a passing comment. He would have to at some stage announced that he had only been joking and then she would just imagine the headlines that would dominate the paper.

Her sobs subsided and she managed to pull herself into a sitting position, she looked around her orderly room and sniffed loudly. Her life was so ordered, she was usually so in control of situations but this one, she felt powerless and that unnerved her. Her eyes fell upon a picture of Albus and her at a ministry function a few years ago, they both looked so happy and they looked like they were enjoying one another’s company. Minerva remembered clearly that she had thoroughly enjoyed that evening out because Albus had been so attentive and they had danced so many times, he had turned other prettier witches away because he had promised that he would not leave her side throughout the whole function. He had kept to his word and for a short time Minerva had felt what it would have been like to have Albus Dumbledore as a partner, she had hoped that it had meant something. Gossip had been ripe the day after with the Daily Prophet once again printing a story about them both and her friends teasing her about it.

The picture taunted her like his words had done when she had been sobbing her heard out on the floor, she managed to get to her feet though her body still felt tired from the crying she had done. She walked over to the mantle piece and picked up the gold innate frame, she looked at the picture closely and fought back a sob. His blue eyes were twinkling brightly in the picture and for a while she had hoped that she had put that twinkle in his eye but now she knew that he saw her as a joke. The twinkle in his eye hadn’t been put there by his love for her but out of amusement. Her long, slim fingers traced over his face before she threw the frame with the picture across the room. It hit the wall and smashed, the sound of the glass breaking gave her some satisfaction but it wasn’t enough to fill the pit in her heart. The worse thing about the whole situation was that he didn’t even seem to realise how his words had hurt her, he was oblivious to it and that showed that he obviously didn’t care about her as she thought he had. Her world had just crumbled around her and he didn’t even know.

TBC

[tayryn]

oh... poor Min...

i feel for her...

now... Albus needs to smarten up... and do a whole lot of begging to get back into her good graces!

looking forward to more!

[Alesia]

Okay Albus is a complete git and I am not sure he can make this up to her but for the love of all that is wizard someone PLEASE find Hooch and put a stop to her party plans. It is going to be incredibly horrible for Minerva!

Thanks for going this way with it. Albus realizing and making up to her is going to be a challenge to write.

[griseldalafey]

Aww.. I just know Albus is being stupid and in love and thinking that she doesn't love him, but goodness, what an idiot!

I hope he'll find out soon and makes it alright again.

[Sensiblyquirky]

Ok my heart is breaking for Minerva! How awful; I can't wait to see how you solve this problem.

Christy

[tanja]

this is the first time I could kill Albus :-p

[snowcat]

poor Min.... *sniff*
Poor Albus when I get my hands on him

[nena]

Well, that's it! You've forced me to kill Albus! I'm sorry that's just the way it has to be.

What a complete twit! He better make everything right agian!

Love the story, update soon! (Please! ;D)

[ginger newts]

Oh, that's so sad. I hope Albus realizes she's so hurt. I know he really loves her and that's why he said that stuff, but what a stupid way of dealing with his own feelings. Men!

[LadyJolly]

That..oh my....That's DAMN ALbus!!!! I wish he thought more before he did that!! He just totally torn and crushed Minerva! And she's been at his side for how many years?!?! He better fix this!!

I hate it when Minerva cries. Because she's such a strong person it doesn't really seem right for her to cry but then she's human and oh really ALbus has to fix this.

Lady Jolly

[QuillofMinerva]

Blessings and Heartache.

A/n: I don’t condone violence but I certainly feel that Albus needs a good bonk on the head to make him realise what he has done. He might even get it in this chapter, you will have to read on and see.

Many thanks to those who left reviews of the last chapter, I appreciate and I am glad that you are enjoying the story. In answer to a question raised, I hadn’t really thought of an age for Minerva in this story but as you have asked, I place her at the age she is in latter books by JK. I want to keep her as she is but add things (AD/MM) which JK hasn’t. It has been said that muggle terms that witches and wizards age differently to muggles, Minerva is probably an middle-aged woman and all Maggie Smith fans will understand when I say ‘She is in her prime’. Hope that answer’s your question about my potterverse!

I am not overly very happy with how this chapter turned out so I'll say sorry in advance!

Once again, I haven’t had this chapter beta read so if there are any major problems, let me know and I’ll correct them. Many thanks in advance and I hope you enjoy the chapter! Look forward to hearing your thoughts ECT!

Chapter Five: From the beak of a phoenix

Albus Dumbledore was sat in a high-backed wing chair looking into the fire, his fingers were pressed up against his temples as he replayed the scene that had happened a few hours before. Once his deputy head had stormed out of his office, confusion had set in and Albus was at a loss of explanations to her reasoning behind it. Had given up on understanding women and their moods a long time ago because he could never seem to get it right and he knew when it was time to throw the towel in. He was sure that men were not meant to understand their female counterparts; they just needed to pretend to understand to get on in life. His father had told him when he was younger that even if men did read a woman right, the woman would deny it and say that something else was the matter.

Knowing Minerva as he did, he knew that she would not be happy when she read the article in The Daily Prophet. He had tried to get hold of her before the papers had arrived at the school but the owl he had given the letter to hadn’t delivered it to Minerva because he kept coming back to the office and expecting treats. Albus had nearly lost his temper with the school owl; he couldn’t understand why the owl was being so disobedient and not delivering the letter, as it should have. He had made a mental note to speak with Hagrid about the owl’s behaviour. He had tried to contact Minerva through floo but she hadn’t been in her rooms or in her office when had tried, after some careful thought he had decided to look for her on foot. He had stumbled across her in the staff room and couldn’t help but smile at his employees face when he asked to see her. He knew that they had been school gossip for years and he also knew that the staff were far worse at gossiping that their pupils.

He hadn’t been able to read the expression on Minerva’s face when he had asked her to accompany him back to his office, usually her eyes would give her away but not this time. He had never seen that look in her eye before so hadn’t known where she stood on that matter. He had dearly hoped she had seen the funny side to it because for years now they had laughed about the rumours and the gossip that followed them around. They had often done things on purpose when they knew they were being watched, it brought them both amusement. He had to admit that the amusement on his part had been put on to make things easier for himself; the rumours and gossip had been partly true. His feelings for his best friend were certainly more than he let on; he was in love with her. He had been for many years now and his feelings grew stronger with each passing year, he had managed to control them and settle for the friendship she gave him. It hadn’t always been easy to settle for that, there were times when he wanted to pull her to him and kiss her passionately. Her friendship at time didn’t seem enough but it was all she was offering, she might offer him more but he couldn’t risk revealing himself only to get slapped in the face.

He sat back in his chair and looked at Fawkes once again, the phoenix was nesting on his perch and had one eye open, staring at Albus.

“What did I do wrong old friend?” asked Albus, he knew that his familiar could not answer him directly but Fawkes often let him know how he felt about certain things.

Fawkes screeched loudly and fluffed out his wings, Albus understood that Fawkes seemed to be just annoyed with him as Minerva was and that didn’t bode well. Though he had gathered that Fawkes wasn’t impressed by his behaviour, he had no idea what he had said or done to make Minerva snap at him and then sweep out of his office.

“Was it something I said?” asked Albus.

Fawkes cocked his head to the side and cooed. Albus stared at his brightly coloured creature and played with a sherbet lemon wrapper, all he had done was tell Minerva about the article in the paper. She might have been annoyed because he hadn’t found her before the article was printed, he could understand that but he had tried to get hold of her before the paper was delivered.

Albus shook his head and sighed, he didn’t even know what processed him to mention something as personal as the love of his life to reporter. They had been talking about the new changes that the Ministry of Magic were putting into action concerning muggles and then he had suddenly mentioned something about loved ones, the reporter had picked up on that instantly and the interview no longer became about the ministry. His brain hadn’t engaged with his mouth as he spoke, spilling out things that weren’t meant to be heard by anyone especially in such a manner. He had meant all the words he had said, for saying them, he actually felt better. He felt like a weight had been lifted from his weary shoulders and for a small amount of time, he felt free. He had only plummeted back down to earth when Rita had announced that this story would make front page news and would cause a scandal, he realised that Minerva would read the words and know it was about her. He couldn’t have her find out like that, it was improper and not how he wanted to confess at all. Thinking quickly on his feet, he came up with the idea that what he said was simply a joke and didn’t expect anyone to take it as seriously as they did. He would say that he was conducting a social experiment to see how rumours spread; he would say that he was trying to teach all his pupils what damage rumours could cause. It seemed like the perfect get out clause.

“I don’t understand why she would take umbridge at a joke,” he said out loud “as far as she is concerned, it’s a joke with no meaning at all. She can’t be that annoyed with me because I didn’t tell her straight away!”

Albus failed to notice Fawkes rolling his eyes before nestling his head under his wing; the phoenix quickly fell asleep and left the headmaster to his musings. Albus hadn’t expected this reaction to his news at all, he had expected her to laugh and then throw down the gauntlet of a game of chess. He had expected her to behave like this, if he had told her the truth and said that she was the woman he was talking about. He also would have expected a slap across the face, if he had told her that he loved her more than anything in the his world.

Albus Dumbledore, the esteemed Headmaster of Hogwarts was completely clueless when it came to Minerva McGonagall. He had no idea what he had done and no idea how to make it up to her. He would have to leave her alone for a bit to cool down and then perhaps then, he could find out what had upset her so.

TBC

[snowcat]

wow!

[TartanPhoenix]

How thick can you get?!! He needs to get bonked on the head just to make him see reason. Hope you update soon; I'm really enjoying this story.

[tayryn]

man... Albus better clue in awfully quick...

nice update! looking forward to more!

[Jessabelle]

What a pest. He had better fix this soon. Pleas post soon!
- Jess

[ginger newts]

It's too bad wizards don't have telephones, because Albus needs a call from the clue phone big time! He better go ask what's wrong.

[Alesia]

I am not one for violence either but I think this was the reason the clue-by-four was invented. <sigh>


Again, someone please find Rolanda and STOP HER!!

[JKMcGonagall]

You have got to know there is a real problem when the phoenix is smarter than his master. Fawkes needs to find the clue-by-four and whack Albus over the head (repeatedly) with it. Typical man, no clue to what he has done. He better find out and make it up to Minerva (big time) for making her cry.

Meanwhile, someone needs to FIND HOOCH and tie her down so she doesn't embarass and upset Minerva any further.

Love your updates. Make the next one soon, please.

Kay