Post by Orion's Guard on Sept 8, 2007 1:05:53 GMT -5
This was for a challenge tag from I don’t even know how long ago that I found half written on my former hard drive (which I’ve been meaning to clean out since I got my new one at Christmas). I polished off another couple of paragraphs at the end, and figured I’d post it. I couldn’t find the actual challenge number…
I was unsure of a starting publishing date for this magazine, but I took as a long while ago and assumed that the wizarding world was more “advanced” than the muggle world.
Minerva McGonagall walked from the Great Hall to the Transfiguration classroom. Her connecting office was messy by her standards; there were books littering the desk, sofa, and end table. There were, of course, no ungraded papers anywhere to be seen, she took care of that after her last class. Tonight she actually wished she had let some accumulate over the last week, it would have distracted her from her thoughts.
Though, they probably wouldn’t have helped anyway. Not even the most in depth and complicated Transfiguration theory was working, so the adolescent drabble of her students would be of no good.
She and Albus had only recently started their more intimate relationship, and she couldn’t stop thinking about him. One would think that she would be daydreaming about his face, or his hands, or the way he made her tremble with a single look. No, those thoughts had stopped almost two weeks ago. She had spent the five weeks before that thinking about how he made her feel; now all she could ponder was how she made him feel.
If she made him feel anything at all.
It was he who initiated the movement of their friendship. He had asked her to a private dinner in his office, which turned out to be a shamble of mistakes in and of itself. Dinner was burned, conversation was awkward, but the night ended in a spectacular goodnight kiss the likes of which she had never experienced.
Their second night went more smoothly, and ended similarly. Then the third. By the time their fourth date had occurred, it seemed as though someone were hitting a rewind button and playing the same scene over and over again. It was nice, but not as special as Minerva had hoped. She talked herself into thinking it was all okay by saying that things rarely turned out as expected.
It was so confusing, there were so many mixed signals. He would send her notes and presents during the day, a flower by her quill or a wrapped piece of chocolate next to her pillow. This behavior made butterflies in Minerva’s stomach. This is what gave her hope.
However, when they were together in a room, Albus seemed more reserved. He would not touch her or get too close. At first, Minerva thought it was out of respect to her. Or maybe he was self conscious about himself. In response to this, she took the initiative and showed her interest. She would go to him, sit near him, and go out of her way to touch him when he talked. But there was still nothing in return.
After a few more weeks of this, she confronted him. It wasn’t like her to hold it in for as long as she did, but this was new territory for her. She had gone to him. She had asked him to…
Knock, knock.
Shit, there went another hour of her time wasted with foolish thoughts. She walked toward the door both hoping and not hoping that the being on the other side was the object of her thoughts. She was more disappointed than she would admit to anyone.
“Minerva. What a surprise to see you here alone on a Friday night.” Xiomara Hooch peered around Minerva in search for something, or someone.
“Good evening. You might as well come in, there’s nothing to interrupt.” Mara was the only person who knew about her “relationship” with Albus. She had caught them in the middle of one of their dates, and to any other teacher it would have looked like an innocent dinner between old friends. Mara knew better. She pestered Minerva until all of the truth came out. Well, almost all of it. “There’s really no need to look, I’m the only one here.”
“Someone is disappointed. What leaves you alone this night? I know Albus is in the castle.”
“Is he? He told me he would tell me when he returned.” Something heavy fell into the pit of her stomach.
“I don’t know if he’s left yet. He was talking to Filius in the hall not too long ago. I think he was stalling, I’m not sure if he actually needs to go to the Ministry tonight. It’s probably just an advice call that someone didn’t feel like putting down on parchment.”
“Oh?”
“I know what that sounds like. Have a pair of slippers you can return to his bedchambers without his noticing?”
“Very funny.”
“Well, whether or not you venture to unknown territory, I’m off. I told Rosmerta I’d meet her at the Three Broomsticks and talk with her so she’s not surrounded only by the Friday night riffraff that wanders into her pub. I’ll see you tomorrow, let me know how tonight goes.” Xiomara walked briskly out the door without giving Minerva the chance to reply.
While Minerva had none of Albus’ slippers, she was sure she could find a book to take to his office.
After she riffled through the books on her sofa, she made her way to his office. She tried to work out in her head exactly what she wanted to say to him, but they hadn’t been alone in a room together in five days, and she didn’t know what message she wanted to get across first.
When she reached the stone gargoyle, she muttered the password and stepped up the stairs. The door to his office was closed, and she knocked politely. When no answer came, she opened the door.
His office, in comparison to hers, was is total disarray. Papers littered the desk in no appropriate piles, balled up pieces of parchment were lying on every flat surface, and twice as many books as she owned were all over the shelves and floors in messy heaps.
She walked over to one shelf and started lining the books trying to make them neater. She wouldn’t pretend to organize them, she would need days for that. As she placed the Advanced Charms book that she brought from her office and started turning a few others upright, she noticed that one of the other books was considerably lighter than it should have been. The cover said Ancient Roots and Their Uses in Modern Potion Making, but it seemed as though there was no text, more of a box.
She did debate for a second or two whether or not to snoop, but her curiosity got the best of her. What would Albus hide amongst textbooks that he knew no one would ever touch?
When she lifted the cover, she actually let out a harsh laugh. She was expecting to find a private token of his, or maybe a trinket he did not feel comfortable putting out on the tables in his room. She thought she probably wouldn’t even be able to recognize what it really was. The last thing she thought she would find was a pile of old dirty magazines.
She flipped through each noticing that they were all quite old, at least fifty years. She looked at the front cover on one in the middle, and it took exactly three tenths of a second for a hundred thoughts to cross her mind. The ones on top were humor, confusion, and then dawning realization. The picture on the front was wide eyed staring up at the woman who was looking down. Similar thoughts seemed to cross the face of the man on the cover.
The face of Albus Dumbledore stared up at her. She thought again that the magazine had to be quite old because he was completely clothed. This was a very young Albus, he was thinner and he had only a no wrinkles on his face. He was wearing thin robes of a very light color, she could not tell which because the picture was in black and white. As her eyes scanned the rest of the cover, she caught the headline below the picture: “Special Centerfold Featuring the Cover Model.”
His eyes looked down and a scared look came to his face. He disappeared from the cover the second she opened the magazine. The centerfold fell down just as the person in the picture concealed his naked body. Obviously, although the covers of the older issues were less showy, the insides were not. The sheet was ripped off the bed and the second, much less clothed, Albus vanished from the poster.
Now Minerva was angry. She threw the magazine back onto the shelf and stormed out of the empty office. She brushed passed Albus on the way down the stairs.
“He…” he tried to say before she was out of sight. When he walked back up to his office to see it looking as it usually did. He walked behind his desk, but the bookshelf to his left caught his eye.
***
Another week had gone by, but this time Minerva had barely said two words to Albus. Not for his lack of trying, though. He continued to send her notes and gifts, but there was no response from any of them. He started waiting outside of her door after her classes ended every day, and she ignored him four days in a row.
On the fifth day, she was so sick of him she couldn’t take it any more.
“Minerva,” he started just the same as he had every day. “Could we please have a private word? I’d really like to talk with you.”
“You know what Albus, I really don’t get why you won’t leave me alone.”
“If you give me a chance I promise I will do whatever you decide. I just ask for a chance to be heard.”
“Fine,” she said as she turned back into her classroom. She went to her desk and sat behind it, staring at him as if he were a misbehaving student.
“I know what you found in my office, and I’m sorry you found it like that.”
“I shouldn’t have been snooping, it’s my own fault.”
“And do I appear upset with you? You were just trying to straighten things up, as you have done in the past. Can I explain?” Minerva gave no indication that he had asked a question, so he continued. “I was young and foolish. I wasn’t even a teacher yet, it was when I was working with the international ministry. Government was so uptight, I couldn’t take it.”
“So you just had to rebel?”
“In some way. I know you’re angry, but it’s really not that big of a deal. It was so long ago, no one knows it exists. It was before Grindlewald, before Hogwarts, even before you were born.”
“Were you ever going to tell me?”
“I may have. I forgot about it, it’s not something I think about or look at often.”
“But you keep a copy stashed away just in case,” she mumbled. It was not a question.
“Look, I know you’re mad, but…”
“Please stop saying that you know I’m angry, you’d be pretty thick not to realize that much by now and I don’t need to be reminded of the fact. It’s also obvious that you have no problem showing yourself to the whole world, so it’s just me.”
“It’s not you, it’s me.”
“Famous last words.”
“I mean it though. I don’t look anything like that anymore. I hadn’t seen it in years, and when I looked at it earlier, I barely recognized myself. The reason I've been holding back with you is because I was scared.” His eyes moved to the floor. “I was not even thirty when this picture was taken, and now look at me.”
“Have I given any indication in the last two months that I care how old you are?” Her scathing tone had not left, but she did find his eyes at last.
“I didn’t think you’d thought about our coming together like that. Some say that age is but a number, however age has left its marks on my body.”
“Are we going to play that game? ‘Let’s list all our faulty body parts’ isn’t the biggest turn on in the world, Albus. How would you feel I started going on about my increasing hip size and the stretch marks on my legs.”
“I’m sure any flaws you think you have are…”
“Do not finish that sentence.” Minerva’s voice was still short, but not as sharp as before. “The whole point is that you don’t want to hear me list what I think is wrong with me, just like I don’t want hear you do the same.”
Albus’ head was down in shame again, but this time Minerva’s fingers on his forehead made him look her in the eye rather than her harsh words.
“I’m sorry I went looking through your books.”
“I’m not.” He leaned down and kissed her. He was warm, and his hands ran from her cheeks, down her shoulders and back to rest on her hips. “How good of a look at that picture did you get?”
“Not much. Your photo seemed to sense my mood and ran to cover itself before I had a chance to study it. Not that I kept it open to examine it more closely.”
“Would you like to now?”
She leaned on her toes and whispered in his ear, “I’d rather see the live version.”
I was unsure of a starting publishing date for this magazine, but I took as a long while ago and assumed that the wizarding world was more “advanced” than the muggle world.
Minerva McGonagall walked from the Great Hall to the Transfiguration classroom. Her connecting office was messy by her standards; there were books littering the desk, sofa, and end table. There were, of course, no ungraded papers anywhere to be seen, she took care of that after her last class. Tonight she actually wished she had let some accumulate over the last week, it would have distracted her from her thoughts.
Though, they probably wouldn’t have helped anyway. Not even the most in depth and complicated Transfiguration theory was working, so the adolescent drabble of her students would be of no good.
She and Albus had only recently started their more intimate relationship, and she couldn’t stop thinking about him. One would think that she would be daydreaming about his face, or his hands, or the way he made her tremble with a single look. No, those thoughts had stopped almost two weeks ago. She had spent the five weeks before that thinking about how he made her feel; now all she could ponder was how she made him feel.
If she made him feel anything at all.
It was he who initiated the movement of their friendship. He had asked her to a private dinner in his office, which turned out to be a shamble of mistakes in and of itself. Dinner was burned, conversation was awkward, but the night ended in a spectacular goodnight kiss the likes of which she had never experienced.
Their second night went more smoothly, and ended similarly. Then the third. By the time their fourth date had occurred, it seemed as though someone were hitting a rewind button and playing the same scene over and over again. It was nice, but not as special as Minerva had hoped. She talked herself into thinking it was all okay by saying that things rarely turned out as expected.
It was so confusing, there were so many mixed signals. He would send her notes and presents during the day, a flower by her quill or a wrapped piece of chocolate next to her pillow. This behavior made butterflies in Minerva’s stomach. This is what gave her hope.
However, when they were together in a room, Albus seemed more reserved. He would not touch her or get too close. At first, Minerva thought it was out of respect to her. Or maybe he was self conscious about himself. In response to this, she took the initiative and showed her interest. She would go to him, sit near him, and go out of her way to touch him when he talked. But there was still nothing in return.
After a few more weeks of this, she confronted him. It wasn’t like her to hold it in for as long as she did, but this was new territory for her. She had gone to him. She had asked him to…
Knock, knock.
Shit, there went another hour of her time wasted with foolish thoughts. She walked toward the door both hoping and not hoping that the being on the other side was the object of her thoughts. She was more disappointed than she would admit to anyone.
“Minerva. What a surprise to see you here alone on a Friday night.” Xiomara Hooch peered around Minerva in search for something, or someone.
“Good evening. You might as well come in, there’s nothing to interrupt.” Mara was the only person who knew about her “relationship” with Albus. She had caught them in the middle of one of their dates, and to any other teacher it would have looked like an innocent dinner between old friends. Mara knew better. She pestered Minerva until all of the truth came out. Well, almost all of it. “There’s really no need to look, I’m the only one here.”
“Someone is disappointed. What leaves you alone this night? I know Albus is in the castle.”
“Is he? He told me he would tell me when he returned.” Something heavy fell into the pit of her stomach.
“I don’t know if he’s left yet. He was talking to Filius in the hall not too long ago. I think he was stalling, I’m not sure if he actually needs to go to the Ministry tonight. It’s probably just an advice call that someone didn’t feel like putting down on parchment.”
“Oh?”
“I know what that sounds like. Have a pair of slippers you can return to his bedchambers without his noticing?”
“Very funny.”
“Well, whether or not you venture to unknown territory, I’m off. I told Rosmerta I’d meet her at the Three Broomsticks and talk with her so she’s not surrounded only by the Friday night riffraff that wanders into her pub. I’ll see you tomorrow, let me know how tonight goes.” Xiomara walked briskly out the door without giving Minerva the chance to reply.
While Minerva had none of Albus’ slippers, she was sure she could find a book to take to his office.
After she riffled through the books on her sofa, she made her way to his office. She tried to work out in her head exactly what she wanted to say to him, but they hadn’t been alone in a room together in five days, and she didn’t know what message she wanted to get across first.
When she reached the stone gargoyle, she muttered the password and stepped up the stairs. The door to his office was closed, and she knocked politely. When no answer came, she opened the door.
His office, in comparison to hers, was is total disarray. Papers littered the desk in no appropriate piles, balled up pieces of parchment were lying on every flat surface, and twice as many books as she owned were all over the shelves and floors in messy heaps.
She walked over to one shelf and started lining the books trying to make them neater. She wouldn’t pretend to organize them, she would need days for that. As she placed the Advanced Charms book that she brought from her office and started turning a few others upright, she noticed that one of the other books was considerably lighter than it should have been. The cover said Ancient Roots and Their Uses in Modern Potion Making, but it seemed as though there was no text, more of a box.
She did debate for a second or two whether or not to snoop, but her curiosity got the best of her. What would Albus hide amongst textbooks that he knew no one would ever touch?
When she lifted the cover, she actually let out a harsh laugh. She was expecting to find a private token of his, or maybe a trinket he did not feel comfortable putting out on the tables in his room. She thought she probably wouldn’t even be able to recognize what it really was. The last thing she thought she would find was a pile of old dirty magazines.
She flipped through each noticing that they were all quite old, at least fifty years. She looked at the front cover on one in the middle, and it took exactly three tenths of a second for a hundred thoughts to cross her mind. The ones on top were humor, confusion, and then dawning realization. The picture on the front was wide eyed staring up at the woman who was looking down. Similar thoughts seemed to cross the face of the man on the cover.
The face of Albus Dumbledore stared up at her. She thought again that the magazine had to be quite old because he was completely clothed. This was a very young Albus, he was thinner and he had only a no wrinkles on his face. He was wearing thin robes of a very light color, she could not tell which because the picture was in black and white. As her eyes scanned the rest of the cover, she caught the headline below the picture: “Special Centerfold Featuring the Cover Model.”
His eyes looked down and a scared look came to his face. He disappeared from the cover the second she opened the magazine. The centerfold fell down just as the person in the picture concealed his naked body. Obviously, although the covers of the older issues were less showy, the insides were not. The sheet was ripped off the bed and the second, much less clothed, Albus vanished from the poster.
Now Minerva was angry. She threw the magazine back onto the shelf and stormed out of the empty office. She brushed passed Albus on the way down the stairs.
“He…” he tried to say before she was out of sight. When he walked back up to his office to see it looking as it usually did. He walked behind his desk, but the bookshelf to his left caught his eye.
***
Another week had gone by, but this time Minerva had barely said two words to Albus. Not for his lack of trying, though. He continued to send her notes and gifts, but there was no response from any of them. He started waiting outside of her door after her classes ended every day, and she ignored him four days in a row.
On the fifth day, she was so sick of him she couldn’t take it any more.
“Minerva,” he started just the same as he had every day. “Could we please have a private word? I’d really like to talk with you.”
“You know what Albus, I really don’t get why you won’t leave me alone.”
“If you give me a chance I promise I will do whatever you decide. I just ask for a chance to be heard.”
“Fine,” she said as she turned back into her classroom. She went to her desk and sat behind it, staring at him as if he were a misbehaving student.
“I know what you found in my office, and I’m sorry you found it like that.”
“I shouldn’t have been snooping, it’s my own fault.”
“And do I appear upset with you? You were just trying to straighten things up, as you have done in the past. Can I explain?” Minerva gave no indication that he had asked a question, so he continued. “I was young and foolish. I wasn’t even a teacher yet, it was when I was working with the international ministry. Government was so uptight, I couldn’t take it.”
“So you just had to rebel?”
“In some way. I know you’re angry, but it’s really not that big of a deal. It was so long ago, no one knows it exists. It was before Grindlewald, before Hogwarts, even before you were born.”
“Were you ever going to tell me?”
“I may have. I forgot about it, it’s not something I think about or look at often.”
“But you keep a copy stashed away just in case,” she mumbled. It was not a question.
“Look, I know you’re mad, but…”
“Please stop saying that you know I’m angry, you’d be pretty thick not to realize that much by now and I don’t need to be reminded of the fact. It’s also obvious that you have no problem showing yourself to the whole world, so it’s just me.”
“It’s not you, it’s me.”
“Famous last words.”
“I mean it though. I don’t look anything like that anymore. I hadn’t seen it in years, and when I looked at it earlier, I barely recognized myself. The reason I've been holding back with you is because I was scared.” His eyes moved to the floor. “I was not even thirty when this picture was taken, and now look at me.”
“Have I given any indication in the last two months that I care how old you are?” Her scathing tone had not left, but she did find his eyes at last.
“I didn’t think you’d thought about our coming together like that. Some say that age is but a number, however age has left its marks on my body.”
“Are we going to play that game? ‘Let’s list all our faulty body parts’ isn’t the biggest turn on in the world, Albus. How would you feel I started going on about my increasing hip size and the stretch marks on my legs.”
“I’m sure any flaws you think you have are…”
“Do not finish that sentence.” Minerva’s voice was still short, but not as sharp as before. “The whole point is that you don’t want to hear me list what I think is wrong with me, just like I don’t want hear you do the same.”
Albus’ head was down in shame again, but this time Minerva’s fingers on his forehead made him look her in the eye rather than her harsh words.
“I’m sorry I went looking through your books.”
“I’m not.” He leaned down and kissed her. He was warm, and his hands ran from her cheeks, down her shoulders and back to rest on her hips. “How good of a look at that picture did you get?”
“Not much. Your photo seemed to sense my mood and ran to cover itself before I had a chance to study it. Not that I kept it open to examine it more closely.”
“Would you like to now?”
She leaned on her toes and whispered in his ear, “I’d rather see the live version.”
