by Aurinko
Disclaimer: Don't even own my own computer to type these up on yet. Just having some fun playing around with J.K. Rowling's characters.
Summary: The morning after Minerva McGonagall's Graduation Ball, her friends—and the rest of Hogwarts—are demanding answers. Sequel to By the Way They Dance. Hopefully this will answer any questions about my particular (and admittedly fluffy) vision of AD/MM for this fic, and provide some amusement at the same time! Now complete!
A/N: For Clayre, Lily, and Cassandra, because you asked for it. Hope you like it! Many thanks ginger newts, stoneygem, TabbyMin, ProfessorMelissaMcGonagall, Tess, Intelligent Witch, and nyan Lenanawai for reviewing! And thanks to my not-beta best friend, who read the first chapter of this and ordered me to finish it (and has finally read the rest!). Love you!
Category: Romance, with a dash of Humor (I hope!)
Rating: PG-13 for some innuendo
"Where is she? We've been waiting for an hour already!" Poppy watched wearily as Rolanda paced back and forth across the carpet furiously. "It's eleven o'clock! That bloody Scottish portrait of hers said that she locked herself in at midnight last night. She can't have slept that long!"
"How do you know she was sleeping?" Serena drawled, a wicked gleam in her dark eyes.
"Well, what else would she be—" Rolanda saw the expression on Serena's face and choked. "Minerva?" she said incredulously, her voice no more than a whisper.
"After last night?" Serena shrugged. "I'm not underestimating Minerva again. She's a legal adult, and she hasn't been his student for a full twenty-four hours."
Poppy rolled her eyes. The sight of Rolanda Hooch gaping like a fish out of water was an all-too-familiar unpleasantness. "She's just teasing you, Ro," Poppy informed her friend. "And you," Poppy said sharply, turning to Serena, "Leave her alone. She's jumpy enough as it is."
Serena smirked. "But it's so much fun."
Rolanda glared at the Slytherin, yellow eyes fierce.
Shaking her head at their familiar antics, Poppy leaned back into her chair with a sigh, brushing her fingertips over the large blue stone embedded in the table before her. Already glowing with a soft light, the stone flared brightly for a moment. The red stone to her left glowed briefly in response and then went out. "You'd better hurry up and get here before they both drive me crazy, Minerva," Poppy whispered.
"I'm afraid that Miss McGonagall won't be able to join you three for some time," a familiar voice interrupted.
"Professor Dumbledore!" Poppy exclaimed, smacking her knee against the table painfully as she leapt up in surprise.
Serena's laughter cut off abruptly. "How did you find us?" she demanded in a low voice.
"I caught Minerva coming here a few months ago. Your summons were beginning to give her a headache," the professor said, looking meaningfully at Rolanda, who flushed, "so I told her that I would come down here and inform you all that she will be joining us as soon as she can."
"Where is she?" Rolanda asked.
"The Headmaster wished to discuss some things with her. I believe she is still in his office," he replied.
Poppy and Serena exchanged a quick glance. "What does Professor Dippet want with Minerva?" Serena asked suspiciously.
Professor Dumbledore smiled at her. "I believe that he is looking for grounds for my dismissal, Miss Rowe," he said evenly. Serena nodded curtly.
Poppy gaped at them. "What?" Rolanda burst out. "Why?"
That familiar, infernal twinkle was back in his blue eyes as he raised an eyebrow at Rolanda. "As Professor Dippet quoted to me this morning, 'Hogwarts faculty members are expected to maintain professional relationships with their students at all times.' I was given the impression that he felt I had somehow breached that section of my contract."
"Oh."
There was silence for a moment.
"Well, did you?" Serena asked abruptly. Poppy's head jerked up at the question, and her eyes flew involuntarily to the professor's face.
"No," he said simply.
Poppy stared dumbly at him for a moment, and then began to laugh weakly. Professor Dumbledore joined her merrily, as did Rolanda, and even Serena smiled.
"I wonder what they're talking about then," Rolanda said aloud. Poppy just caught the little smile Professor Dumbledore was trying to hide, and then she, too, began to wonder exactly what was going on in Headmaster Dippet's office.
Minerva McGonagall sat in the most comfortable chair in Headmaster Dippet's office; the emerald green chintz armchair that Albus had conjured for her looked decidedly out of place in this austere environment. She crossed her legs neatly at her ankles, folded her hands in her lap, and looked up at Professor Dippet with an expression of polite disinterest.
She was, after all, a lady.
"Miss McGonagall," the Headmaster began. "I must impress upon you the grave nature of this matter, and I insist that you tell me the truth."
She didn't even blink. "Yes, of course, Professor."
Professor Dippet opened his mouth, then closed it again and rearranged the papers on his desk. He met her guileless green eyes for a moment, and then looked away again, flushing slightly. "You see, Miss McGonagall," he began, lapsing into another short silence. "Some rather disturbing rumors have arisen about a certain member of my staff as of last night. I was hoping that you could shed some light on the subject."
"Me?" She could see how the surprise in her voice troubled him.
"Yes, you, Miss McGonagall."
She nodded. "I see." The relief on his face was almost comic. "Now, what rumors were you speaking of, Professor?"
Professor Dippet's face went red, then white, and then finally settled for an odd mixture of the two. He adjusted the papers on his desk again. "Some rather disquieting speculation has arisen as to your relationship with Professor Dumbledore, Miss McGonagall," he said tightly. "I would greatly appreciate it if you would simply tell me whether or not these are true."
"My relationship with Professor Dumbledore?" she said in confusion. "Well, Transfiguration has always been my favorite subject, and Professor Dumbledore is a wonderful teacher—"
"Not that relationship, Miss McGonagall!" Professor Dippet nearly burst out. His face was most definitely red now, Minerva noted. And the tips of his ears, she added as an afterthought.
"Well, the professor has been a good friend of my family for many years," she said thoughtfully. "My parents were most pleased to discover that he was coming to teach here. Professor Dumbledore and my Uncle Nicholas are great friends," she added helpfully. "And—" She broke off to look up at Professor Dippet in concern. "Are you all right, sir?"
The headmaster had his head in his hands and was shaking it slowly. At her query, he looked up, stared at her for a moment, and then closed his eyes as if pained. Rubbing his forehead, he sighed deeply. "Yes, Miss McGonagall. Thank you, but I am fine. Now," he said with renewed determination. "Tell me everything about your relationship with Professor Dumbledore."
"Everything?" she asked hesitantly.
"Everything," he replied emphatically.
She bit her lip and looked away briefly, but began to speak before he could prompt her again. "Professor Dumbledore came here in the spring of my fifth year to take over for Professor Wiltshire. I…I was not perhaps as welcoming towards him as I should have been," she admitted. "Transfiguration was my favorite subject, and I wasn't very happy about getting a different teacher halfway through the school year." She paused again. "I…I…I was not as cooperative in class as he would have liked, and I did not treat him…" She looked up at Professor Dippet with a spark of her usual humor and smiled wryly. "Suffice it to say that I managed to get a total of thirty detentions from one teacher that year."
Professor Dippet's dark eyes widened. "But he was only here for…" He did some quick calculations in his head. "…sixty days of school!" She nodded. "How did I not hear of this?"
The girl froze. "My friends…they were certain that having so many detentions was going to ruin my chances of making Head Girl, and so they persuaded me to go and apologize to him." She blushed, slightly. "By that time, I could admit that maybe he wasn't as bad a teacher as I'd feared, but I thought it was too late to change things. My friends…well, they forced me to apologize to him. I didn't think it would change anything, but I did."
Here she paused again. "Go on," the Headmaster prompted.
"Professor Dumbledore was very kind about it, actually," she said. "He offered…he said…"
"Yes?"
"He said that he would strike the detentions from my permanent record if I would indulge him in one thing," she said quietly.
The Headmaster stared at the Head Girl, aghast. "What?"
"He asked me to…he wanted…"
She bent her head, hiding her face behind a curtain of dark hair. "Yes, Miss McGonagall?" Professor Dippet prompted gently, the tone of his voice belying the intensity of his scrutiny.
"He asked me to…he wanted me to play him in a game of chess," she said finally. Staring at her hands, she could not see the look of utter shock on his face, and thus continued. "He said that if I won, he would strike them all from the record. If I lost, he would still strike half of them." She looked up at Professor Dippet then. "He said that his usual partner had not challenged him in some time, and he thought I could do better," she admitted, her face scarlet. Dippet flushed as well—he had been Albus's usual chess partner. He had often wondered why his friend had not asked him to play again after their first few matches; the answer was sitting before him.
"As I have no record of you getting any detentions that year, I take it you won the match."
"Yes," she admitted softly. "But he won the next three," she added quickly, as if to defend Professor Dumbledore's chess skill.
"The next three?" Professor Dippet asked quickly.
"Yes. I won the fourth."
"Exactly how many games of chess have you played with Professor Dumbledore, Miss McGonagall?" he asked curiously.
"Seventy-two. I'm up by five games." She gave him a small smile.
Professor Dippet was dumbfounded.
"Chess?" Rolanda repeated in astonishment. Serena echoed the sentiment; silently, of course.
"Yes," Professor Dumbledore replied definitively. "Chess." He glanced over at Serena. "Minerva is a very good player," he told her seriously.
Serena looked back at the man skeptically. Everyone knew better than to challenge Minerva McGonagall to a chess game—unless you wanted to lose. And despite the sobriety in his voice and posture, there was a certain mischief in his eyes that screamed 'Minerva' more clearly than anything else could have.
"Well, you can't get in trouble for playing chess, can you?" Rolanda said practically.
"No, I don't suppose I can," Professor Dumbledore agreed. Serena's dark eyes narrowed.
Rolanda returned the professor's cheerful smile. "Well, that's good." The Slytherin gave an inward sigh and shook her head slightly at her friend's happily oblivious and overly trusting nature. Hufflepuffs.
Serena blinked in alarm when she realized that Professor Dumbledore had caught her little motion. "If you'll excuse me for a moment, girls, I'll go see what's keeping Miss McGonagall," he said, rising from his seat and walking towards the door without another word. The little smile on his face irritated Serena to no end. She exchanged yet another glance with Poppy, who simply shrugged as their Transfiguration professor—former Transfiguration professor, Serena amended—left as suddenly as he had arrived.
Minerva had a hell of a lot of explaining to do when she arrived, Serena thought with a growl.
"Professor Dumbledore can't get in any trouble for playing chess with me, can he, Headmaster?" Miss McGonagall asked worriedly. "It was somewhat like a final exam, after all. He had me transfigure up a life-sized set from the candy he had in his desk."
Professor Dippet said nothing.
"You cannot censure a professor for playing chess," she said disbelievingly.
"No," the Headmaster confirmed. "I would not." Miss McGonagall breathed a small sigh of relief. "It is, however, an inordinate amount of time to spend with an individual student on a personal basis." He deliberately ignored her frown. "I am obliged to ask you a few questions. Did Professor Dumbledore ever behave in an inappropriate manner towards you?"
She gave him an odd look. "No," she said firmly.
"Has he ever made you feel uncomfortable in any way? Ever—"
"Exactly what are you insinuating, sir?" she asked sharply.
Professor Dippet's face was noticeably flushed, but he met her gaze squarely. "Have you ever had sexual relations with Professor Dumbledore, Miss McGonagall?" he asked her bluntly.
Miss McGonagall's eyes widened and she took in a sharp breath. When she finally spoke, her voice could have frozen fire. "I have never been so insulted in my life," she exclaimed. "While I cannot speak for Professor Dumbledore, I should think that he would be equally horrified. A student…dallyingwith a professor?"
Though his hands trembled slightly, his voice was steady. "Please answer the question, Miss McGonagall."
Her green eyes narrowed into angry slits, and he flinched a little in the face of her fury. "Professor Dumbledore and I have never broken any of the rules of conduct for students and professors here at Hogwarts. As for your question," she hissed, punctuating her words with a withering glare, "I refuse to dignify that with an answer."
Professor Dippet surreptitiously glanced at the little globe in his top desk drawer, and upon seeing it clear as glass, swallowed hard. "You have my deepest apologies, Miss McGonagall. You must understand, however, that my position as headmaster of this school requires me to make certain inquiries on behalf of my students."
"I trust that your inquiry here is concluded, then?" she asked sarcastically.
"Yes, yes, of course," the Headmaster stammered out hastily. "Again, you have my deepest apologies, Miss McGonagall. It is not in my habit to question my students' personal lives," Professor Dippet said, flushing, "but I will if I feel it necessary to ensure their welfare."
The professor took a deep breath and leaned back in his chair. After a moment, he glanced over at the young woman before him. "You have a wonderful future ahead of you, Miss McGonagall. It has been a pleasure to watch you develop over the last seven years, and I do wish you all the best." Just as she reached the door, the Headmaster added one final thought. "Oh, and should you ever consider teaching as an occupation, do contact me first."
"Thank you, Professor," she said, nodding to him once before exiting his office.
As soon as the door closed behind her, Dippet let out a large sigh and slumped over his desk. Thank Merlin the McGonagall girl had graduated. He was getting too old for this kind of thing.
A/N: Tempted as I am to just leave this here, I think I'd better start writing the Minerva-Rolanda-Poppy-Serena conversation. Hope that this satisfied your request for the reaction of Armando Dippet, Clayre, though I admit I wasn't really sure what to do with him.
Reviews are greatly appreciated!