Post by ginger newts on Jan 24, 2006 13:19:42 GMT -5
Challenge 53: Difficult Resolutions
Summary: Minerva resolves to take the time to cool off before handing out punishments to her misbehaving Gryffindors, but it turns out to be more stressful than she thought.
Rating: All
Two days into the spring term Minerva McGonagall was not fairing very well with the resolution she had made on New Year’s Eve. When she was made Head of Gryffindor House in the fall, Minerva quickly remembered how precious house points can be and soon after discovered how stressful it was to be in charge of the majority of punishments for so many students. She found that, as much as she wanted to preserve Gryffindor’s points, she was losing her patience more and more quickly with the students who were brought to her office for some bit of mischief or other. Especially with those students who were brought frequently. This lead to Minerva often making a snap judgement to hand out a harsher punishment than was perhaps necessary.
After having some time over the holidays to sit back and think about this trend, Minerva decided that something must be done. She resolved to not hand out detentions or deduct points right away, but rather to take the time to calm down and really think about the situation first. Unfortunately, the week the students returned from the Christmas holiday was always marked by more unruly behaviour than most of the rest of the school year. No one was ready to settle down and start attending classes and doing homework again. In the last two days, Minerva had already seen five students to discuss different incidents in class and dueling in the corridors. By the time she met with the fifth student after dinner on the second day, Minerva had quite the struggle not to just snap out “twenty points from Gryffindor and a week’s detention.”
She managed, through clenched teeth, to send the student on her way. No sooner had the door to her office closed than her head hit the desk and a groan escaped Minerva’s lips. This was turning out to be much more difficult than she’d ever imagined. When the door opened again a few minutes later, Minerva looked up apprehensively. She just couldn’t deal with more problems tonight. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw who her visitor was and tried to give him a smile, but it came across as more of a grimace.
Albus shook his head and made tutting noises as he crossed to the desk. “Has it really been that bad, my dear?” he asked, leaning against the desk.
Minerva’s head dropped back onto her arms, which were folded on top of the desk. “Oh, it’s awful,” she said. “Five students in two days, all of whom are going to need a detention at some point. I’m supposed to be getting back to them, but now I’m so annoyed that I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to think about them calmly.”
“Just put it all out of your mind for tonight.” Albus ran his hand over Minerva’s hair and then gently squeezed her shoulder. “Why don’t you call it a night?”
“I can’t,” Minerva sighed. “With all these students coming to see me constantly, I haven’t got any work done since term started.”
“It’s only been two days. How much work can there be?”
“I have to go over my lesson plans for the rest of the week and make sure my classroom is prepared for tomorrow’s first lesson.”
“Minerva,” Albus said sternly, “I know for a fact that you have your lesson plans memorised back to front. You can set up the classroom in the morning, right now you need a break.” He reached down and pulled her onto her feet. “Why don’t you go have a bath or something? By the time you’re ready for bed I’ll probably be back to the rooms.”
Minerva opened her mouth to argue, but was cut off by Albus’ kiss.
“No arguments,” he said. “I can’t have you exhausted and under strain only two days into the term.”
“I suppose you’re going to send me off for a bath like a naughty child while you go back to your office and work?”
“Well, I do have several owls to answer from the Ministry. It shouldn’t take very long, maybe another hour.”
Minerva shook her head. “If I’m taking the evening off, then so are you.”
“Is that so?” Albus asked. “I thought I was the headmaster around here.”
“Oh?” Minerva raised her eyebrows and drew out the question. “I didn’t realise you were giving an official order. That changes everything.”
She stepped back and then walked around him and Albus suddenly had a flash of himself sleeping on the couch, quite possibly for the rest of the week.
Turning around and grabbing her quickly by the waist, he asked, “What would you like me to do for my evening off, then?”
Minerva gave him a cat that ate the canary smile and said, “I do believe there was mention of a bath?”
“So there was,” Albus agreed with a wide smile. With his arm still around Minerva’s waist, he guided her out of the classroom and up to their rooms in Gryffindor Tower. Point deductions and detentions could wait until the next day.
The End
Summary: Minerva resolves to take the time to cool off before handing out punishments to her misbehaving Gryffindors, but it turns out to be more stressful than she thought.
Rating: All
Two days into the spring term Minerva McGonagall was not fairing very well with the resolution she had made on New Year’s Eve. When she was made Head of Gryffindor House in the fall, Minerva quickly remembered how precious house points can be and soon after discovered how stressful it was to be in charge of the majority of punishments for so many students. She found that, as much as she wanted to preserve Gryffindor’s points, she was losing her patience more and more quickly with the students who were brought to her office for some bit of mischief or other. Especially with those students who were brought frequently. This lead to Minerva often making a snap judgement to hand out a harsher punishment than was perhaps necessary.
After having some time over the holidays to sit back and think about this trend, Minerva decided that something must be done. She resolved to not hand out detentions or deduct points right away, but rather to take the time to calm down and really think about the situation first. Unfortunately, the week the students returned from the Christmas holiday was always marked by more unruly behaviour than most of the rest of the school year. No one was ready to settle down and start attending classes and doing homework again. In the last two days, Minerva had already seen five students to discuss different incidents in class and dueling in the corridors. By the time she met with the fifth student after dinner on the second day, Minerva had quite the struggle not to just snap out “twenty points from Gryffindor and a week’s detention.”
She managed, through clenched teeth, to send the student on her way. No sooner had the door to her office closed than her head hit the desk and a groan escaped Minerva’s lips. This was turning out to be much more difficult than she’d ever imagined. When the door opened again a few minutes later, Minerva looked up apprehensively. She just couldn’t deal with more problems tonight. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw who her visitor was and tried to give him a smile, but it came across as more of a grimace.
Albus shook his head and made tutting noises as he crossed to the desk. “Has it really been that bad, my dear?” he asked, leaning against the desk.
Minerva’s head dropped back onto her arms, which were folded on top of the desk. “Oh, it’s awful,” she said. “Five students in two days, all of whom are going to need a detention at some point. I’m supposed to be getting back to them, but now I’m so annoyed that I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to think about them calmly.”
“Just put it all out of your mind for tonight.” Albus ran his hand over Minerva’s hair and then gently squeezed her shoulder. “Why don’t you call it a night?”
“I can’t,” Minerva sighed. “With all these students coming to see me constantly, I haven’t got any work done since term started.”
“It’s only been two days. How much work can there be?”
“I have to go over my lesson plans for the rest of the week and make sure my classroom is prepared for tomorrow’s first lesson.”
“Minerva,” Albus said sternly, “I know for a fact that you have your lesson plans memorised back to front. You can set up the classroom in the morning, right now you need a break.” He reached down and pulled her onto her feet. “Why don’t you go have a bath or something? By the time you’re ready for bed I’ll probably be back to the rooms.”
Minerva opened her mouth to argue, but was cut off by Albus’ kiss.
“No arguments,” he said. “I can’t have you exhausted and under strain only two days into the term.”
“I suppose you’re going to send me off for a bath like a naughty child while you go back to your office and work?”
“Well, I do have several owls to answer from the Ministry. It shouldn’t take very long, maybe another hour.”
Minerva shook her head. “If I’m taking the evening off, then so are you.”
“Is that so?” Albus asked. “I thought I was the headmaster around here.”
“Oh?” Minerva raised her eyebrows and drew out the question. “I didn’t realise you were giving an official order. That changes everything.”
She stepped back and then walked around him and Albus suddenly had a flash of himself sleeping on the couch, quite possibly for the rest of the week.
Turning around and grabbing her quickly by the waist, he asked, “What would you like me to do for my evening off, then?”
Minerva gave him a cat that ate the canary smile and said, “I do believe there was mention of a bath?”
“So there was,” Albus agreed with a wide smile. With his arm still around Minerva’s waist, he guided her out of the classroom and up to their rooms in Gryffindor Tower. Point deductions and detentions could wait until the next day.
The End
