Post by Karlynne on Feb 26, 2005 18:52:14 GMT -5
For Kacie
A Friend Indeed
Minerva McGonagall is a beautiful woman. We had just finished the school year and the staff was packing up at the end of term. Another year finished, another trainload of children unleashed on society along with a smattering of newly graduated adults ready to change the world.
I had planned to ask Minerva to accompany me to the seashore for a couple of weeks. I had done a favor for her several months back and while she more than repaid me for my time and good luck she was beginning to spend most of her free evenings in my chambers. I had fallen in love with her immediately and I must admit that I was not dismayed at the progression of our relationship. I had not admitted those words to her, however.
But Minerva stood in front of my desk with a nervous smile on her face and a wistful look in her eyes. Whatever she wanted I would not be able to deny her but the fact that she was so hopeful sent blood racing to my nether regions. I was already thinking of the gratitude she would show me when she gave a polite cough.
My eyes lifted from her hand that held a sheet of parchment and drifted higher, past her full breasts clinging to her lightweight summer robes and upwards to her eyes.
“Albus, I know you’ve made holiday plans but I wondered if you could help me?” Her voice was still as stimulating as ever and I remained quiet so she would continue.
“Bridget MacDonald was my best friend in school. We were inseparable although she wasn’t a very bright student. She struggled through every class. After we left Hogwarts we corresponded weekly.” She looked pleadingly with her eyes. “She has no one to call family, Albus. We are very close, even now we owl every month.”
I motioned for Minerva to take a seat so I could settle back in my chair and relax. Minerva was telling the story on the scenic route instead of on the highway.
“I should have heard from her last Friday. She always writes on the first of the month and I usually return a letter a week later. I think something has happened to her.”
The problem with occasionally lending a hand to help a person out is that person begins to see corpses under every lump in the rug. Minerva was not like the rest of the women I have known. Not only was she calm under pressure, she was also extremely bright and can match me wand to wand in transfiguring objects.
“It’s only been five days, Minerva. Perhaps she took an early vacation.” I tried to sound soothing but truth be told I wanted to discuss my holiday plans.
She could read my mind. “I don’t think I would be able to enjoy myself on a holiday while Bridget is missing or hurt or worse.”
I released a sigh. “What did her last letter say?” Yes, you heard me. Once again, Albus Dumbledore could not stand firm and say no to the woman that held his heart.
Minerva handed the letter in her hand to me and I quickly read it. There was quite a bit of gossip. She discussed a dress she saw at Gladrags and an acquaintance that just delivered her eighth child. She mentioned a new man that she had met and the date they had gone on the night before which had ended quite well. Bridget had obviously been in a cheery mood when she wrote the letter last month. I remembered the first week of May had been extraordinarily beautiful. The best spring had to offer.
“So what do you think?”
“I don’t know, Albus. I just know that we try to look out for each other and she hasn’t sent my normal letter this month.”
I rose and shrugged into my outer robe. I was wearing a snazzy pair of golf pants that I had purchased in Ireland last summer but it wouldn’t be appropriate attire if I was going to check in at the ministry and that would be the best place to go first.
I called back a goodbye but Minerva, bless her soul, was not one for letting me leave without a proper send off. I was in the phone booth headed down to the lower ministry floors before my blood had cooled.
The first department to check was the Department of Missing Persons. Naturally she wasn’t on the list, as that would have made my life simple. In the wizarding world you must be missing a full week before you can be declared missing. In the modern world of apparations and portkeys it was too easy to think a person is missing when they are simply using a more expedient mode of travel. Life was easier when we had to floo everywhere.
I left and headed down a floor to the Department of Fraud. A wonderful friend of mine is head of the department and always good for an idea. Roger Holmes had graduated the year before me but managed to look ten years younger. I suspected a potion or two since he was too smart to settle for glamour charms.
Roger listened to my tale and wrinkled his nose. “Not much there, Albus. Seems like a nice girl.” I wanted to tell him the nice girl was forty and wouldn’t appreciated being called one but alas I still think of women in their seventies as girls.
“Do you think I could get a waiver to enter her place before she’s declared missing?” I didn’t believe it possible but Roger usually has a few people owing him favors. Not having to wait two days until she was officially declared missing so I could get a waiver would speed things along.
“I hate to call in my chits on something so simple as a waiver. Why don’t you check out the new boyfriend? He may have seen her as late as last night if their first date was as wonderful as she claimed.” Roger smiled in reminiscence I’m sure and I wanted to smack my hand on my forehead. I am known for my dramatic gestures.
How silly of me not to have thought of it. Bridget’s new boyfriend, Gerald Nolan, lived in London but worked in Diagon Alley and I was just a hop, skip, and an apparation away. I bade my friend goodbye and hurried out of the ministry building. A moment later I was in the Leaky Cauldron.
Minerva didn’t say which shop Gerald worked in so I had to wander in and out of several establishments until I found his name on a sign hung on his storefront. Nolan’s Notions was catchy and peaked my interests so I had no problem wanting to take a peak inside.
There were a variety of gadgets and objects in display cases. The shop literally sold everything. I saw stationery as well as brooms, potion ingredients and knitting yarn. A young girl of eighteen at most was behind the counter. Her eyes were red and she looked like she lost her best friend.
“Everything in the shop is half price. The owner is considering going out of business,” she mumbled.
I figured she was upset at the loss of her job but she surprised me. “The owner’s wife died in a fire a few days ago and he says he no longer desires the shop. It was his wife’s pride and joy.” She didn’t seem disinclined to speak so I began asking questions casually.
I learned that Sharon Nolan was a wonderful person who hired the young girl without any experience. Sharon told her she had an honest face and that was enough for her. I asked her if the house was damaged and she told me it was a total loss but her boss said he would build another home when the insurance money came. He didn’t want to live in the same house he had shared with his wife anyway.
She told me he was currently at the bank and wasn’t due to return that day so after I got a description, I decided to see Gerald for myself and get my take on him.
I hadn’t even reached Gringotts when a man with his description left the goblin run bank. I followed at a respectable distance and noted he seemed destined for the Leaky Cauldron. Of course, he had no home so he had to stay somewhere. I wanted to smack my forehead again.
After he retrieved his room key from Tom, the barkeep and owner, he headed in the direction of his room and I took a seat at the bar.
Tom and I go back to the days of houses of pleasure when he used to run such an establishment and I had tailed quite a few respectable and upstanding citizens of the wizarding community to Tom’s house of ill repute. The wealthiest of his clientele paid for his silence but the rest had to take their chances.
Several galleons slipped from my pockets into his until one day he said it was on the house. Apparently, the last person I had gotten arrested for murdering a friend of a friend turned out to be his wife-beating brother-in-law. He was so overjoyed his sister need no longer deal with a husband coming home drunk and hitting on her.
I never paid for information again and I tried to return the favor whenever the opportunities came my way. Tom gave me the eye and I nodded. He surreptitiously cast a silencing shield around us and I asked him about Gerald Nolan. He told me the chap was registered and told me about his wife burning in a fire. He also told me that a young woman also resided in Gerald’s room and had since the very first day.
If I were a muggle a light bulb would have been lit over my head. The grieving widower already finding comfort? I debated over keeping a tail on Gerald and going back to speak with Roger. Of course, if I were in a room with a young woman it would take me more than a few minutes in her company so I decided to visit Roger again.
A Friend Indeed
Minerva McGonagall is a beautiful woman. We had just finished the school year and the staff was packing up at the end of term. Another year finished, another trainload of children unleashed on society along with a smattering of newly graduated adults ready to change the world.
I had planned to ask Minerva to accompany me to the seashore for a couple of weeks. I had done a favor for her several months back and while she more than repaid me for my time and good luck she was beginning to spend most of her free evenings in my chambers. I had fallen in love with her immediately and I must admit that I was not dismayed at the progression of our relationship. I had not admitted those words to her, however.
But Minerva stood in front of my desk with a nervous smile on her face and a wistful look in her eyes. Whatever she wanted I would not be able to deny her but the fact that she was so hopeful sent blood racing to my nether regions. I was already thinking of the gratitude she would show me when she gave a polite cough.
My eyes lifted from her hand that held a sheet of parchment and drifted higher, past her full breasts clinging to her lightweight summer robes and upwards to her eyes.
“Albus, I know you’ve made holiday plans but I wondered if you could help me?” Her voice was still as stimulating as ever and I remained quiet so she would continue.
“Bridget MacDonald was my best friend in school. We were inseparable although she wasn’t a very bright student. She struggled through every class. After we left Hogwarts we corresponded weekly.” She looked pleadingly with her eyes. “She has no one to call family, Albus. We are very close, even now we owl every month.”
I motioned for Minerva to take a seat so I could settle back in my chair and relax. Minerva was telling the story on the scenic route instead of on the highway.
“I should have heard from her last Friday. She always writes on the first of the month and I usually return a letter a week later. I think something has happened to her.”
The problem with occasionally lending a hand to help a person out is that person begins to see corpses under every lump in the rug. Minerva was not like the rest of the women I have known. Not only was she calm under pressure, she was also extremely bright and can match me wand to wand in transfiguring objects.
“It’s only been five days, Minerva. Perhaps she took an early vacation.” I tried to sound soothing but truth be told I wanted to discuss my holiday plans.
She could read my mind. “I don’t think I would be able to enjoy myself on a holiday while Bridget is missing or hurt or worse.”
I released a sigh. “What did her last letter say?” Yes, you heard me. Once again, Albus Dumbledore could not stand firm and say no to the woman that held his heart.
Minerva handed the letter in her hand to me and I quickly read it. There was quite a bit of gossip. She discussed a dress she saw at Gladrags and an acquaintance that just delivered her eighth child. She mentioned a new man that she had met and the date they had gone on the night before which had ended quite well. Bridget had obviously been in a cheery mood when she wrote the letter last month. I remembered the first week of May had been extraordinarily beautiful. The best spring had to offer.
“So what do you think?”
“I don’t know, Albus. I just know that we try to look out for each other and she hasn’t sent my normal letter this month.”
I rose and shrugged into my outer robe. I was wearing a snazzy pair of golf pants that I had purchased in Ireland last summer but it wouldn’t be appropriate attire if I was going to check in at the ministry and that would be the best place to go first.
I called back a goodbye but Minerva, bless her soul, was not one for letting me leave without a proper send off. I was in the phone booth headed down to the lower ministry floors before my blood had cooled.
The first department to check was the Department of Missing Persons. Naturally she wasn’t on the list, as that would have made my life simple. In the wizarding world you must be missing a full week before you can be declared missing. In the modern world of apparations and portkeys it was too easy to think a person is missing when they are simply using a more expedient mode of travel. Life was easier when we had to floo everywhere.
I left and headed down a floor to the Department of Fraud. A wonderful friend of mine is head of the department and always good for an idea. Roger Holmes had graduated the year before me but managed to look ten years younger. I suspected a potion or two since he was too smart to settle for glamour charms.
Roger listened to my tale and wrinkled his nose. “Not much there, Albus. Seems like a nice girl.” I wanted to tell him the nice girl was forty and wouldn’t appreciated being called one but alas I still think of women in their seventies as girls.
“Do you think I could get a waiver to enter her place before she’s declared missing?” I didn’t believe it possible but Roger usually has a few people owing him favors. Not having to wait two days until she was officially declared missing so I could get a waiver would speed things along.
“I hate to call in my chits on something so simple as a waiver. Why don’t you check out the new boyfriend? He may have seen her as late as last night if their first date was as wonderful as she claimed.” Roger smiled in reminiscence I’m sure and I wanted to smack my hand on my forehead. I am known for my dramatic gestures.
How silly of me not to have thought of it. Bridget’s new boyfriend, Gerald Nolan, lived in London but worked in Diagon Alley and I was just a hop, skip, and an apparation away. I bade my friend goodbye and hurried out of the ministry building. A moment later I was in the Leaky Cauldron.
Minerva didn’t say which shop Gerald worked in so I had to wander in and out of several establishments until I found his name on a sign hung on his storefront. Nolan’s Notions was catchy and peaked my interests so I had no problem wanting to take a peak inside.
There were a variety of gadgets and objects in display cases. The shop literally sold everything. I saw stationery as well as brooms, potion ingredients and knitting yarn. A young girl of eighteen at most was behind the counter. Her eyes were red and she looked like she lost her best friend.
“Everything in the shop is half price. The owner is considering going out of business,” she mumbled.
I figured she was upset at the loss of her job but she surprised me. “The owner’s wife died in a fire a few days ago and he says he no longer desires the shop. It was his wife’s pride and joy.” She didn’t seem disinclined to speak so I began asking questions casually.
I learned that Sharon Nolan was a wonderful person who hired the young girl without any experience. Sharon told her she had an honest face and that was enough for her. I asked her if the house was damaged and she told me it was a total loss but her boss said he would build another home when the insurance money came. He didn’t want to live in the same house he had shared with his wife anyway.
She told me he was currently at the bank and wasn’t due to return that day so after I got a description, I decided to see Gerald for myself and get my take on him.
I hadn’t even reached Gringotts when a man with his description left the goblin run bank. I followed at a respectable distance and noted he seemed destined for the Leaky Cauldron. Of course, he had no home so he had to stay somewhere. I wanted to smack my forehead again.
After he retrieved his room key from Tom, the barkeep and owner, he headed in the direction of his room and I took a seat at the bar.
Tom and I go back to the days of houses of pleasure when he used to run such an establishment and I had tailed quite a few respectable and upstanding citizens of the wizarding community to Tom’s house of ill repute. The wealthiest of his clientele paid for his silence but the rest had to take their chances.
Several galleons slipped from my pockets into his until one day he said it was on the house. Apparently, the last person I had gotten arrested for murdering a friend of a friend turned out to be his wife-beating brother-in-law. He was so overjoyed his sister need no longer deal with a husband coming home drunk and hitting on her.
I never paid for information again and I tried to return the favor whenever the opportunities came my way. Tom gave me the eye and I nodded. He surreptitiously cast a silencing shield around us and I asked him about Gerald Nolan. He told me the chap was registered and told me about his wife burning in a fire. He also told me that a young woman also resided in Gerald’s room and had since the very first day.
If I were a muggle a light bulb would have been lit over my head. The grieving widower already finding comfort? I debated over keeping a tail on Gerald and going back to speak with Roger. Of course, if I were in a room with a young woman it would take me more than a few minutes in her company so I decided to visit Roger again.
Kassie
I hate you! 
Kandie
hadn't thought of that. 