For Draco (on hold)

Madison

“Thank you, Minerva. I can’t tell you how much that opportunity would mean to me.” I tell her, sitting across from the headmistress while I’m enjoying a lemon drop. She smiles at me graciously and I can’t help but feel extreme gratitude for her kindness.

“I understand the need to be with your child, Madison. Just make sure that you’re back by Sunday. Spend the weekend with her; enjoy it. I’ll take care of a replacement for the weekend.”

My heart is filling with happiness with each passing moment. On November 20th, I’ll be heading home to visit my daughter and my mother. I am so happy I could cry. This woman has helped me through so much.

“Minerva, I never properly thanked you for… saving me. Who knows what kind of a profession I’d have if I hadn’t met you. I’m better off having known you.” I told her, looking at my hands clasped now in my lap, blushing.

Saying the words out loud seemed to take me back to a different time. It was like once I said them it triggered my entire friendship with her to surface. To understand my connection with Minerva though, I had to think back a little farther.

I met my best friend Taylor when I was heading off to university. I was still young, unattached, and had barreled my way through primary school and  made leaps and bounds with my magical education. Once that world had been opened for me, I knew exactly what I wanted to do.

Taylor was with me from the second we met in a coffee shop on campus until I graduated. We moved in together and I knew I had found a friend for life. She was from North Carolina as well, about and hour west from me growing up. When I finished school I moved back home.

Jack came back into the picture shortly after that. Our life together was rocky, brief, and completely amazing. Taylor was with me through it all and she's the god mother of my daughter. When Jack died, she really stepped up.

Jack and I had both been raised in North Carolina and never really had a chance to go anywhere else. I’d always wanted to travel but couldn’t manage the money. Jack didn’t make enough on a teacher’s salary and I was still in school. We made tons of plans together, Jack and I, but we didn’t know how to go about achieving them.

When Jack died…Taylor really stepped in and surprised me. I kind of fell apart, but she made sure for Faith’s sake I kept it together. I couldn’t imagine a life without Jack. I was only ever happy with my daughter.

The money Jack had made coupled with his small life insurance kept me going for a few months…but I knew it wouldn’t last more than a year. I knew I needed a job, but I had to finish my schooling first. Teachers don’t make much to begin with, and I heard from every teacher I shadowed the negative side to that.

But Taylor pulled a few strings. She contacted her favorite Transfiguration teacher from Hogwarts-- the school she had gone to as a child. Minerva saved me with a proposition. Taylor arranged first a correspondence but then a meeting for Minerva and myself. The moment we met, we clicked. She offered me a position as the Defense Against the Darks Arts professor-- something I was in no place to turn down-- especially for the amount of money she was willing to pay.

I just couldn’t take Faith. I was required to live here, in my little suite. I couldn’t raise Faith here, let her roam the halls while learning to walk, or take her to class with me. It just wouldn’t be possible. So I had to leave her with my mother.

I feel like a horrible person for that. All the time, I feel as if I am failing her. I ran out of options, though. I didn’t have enough in me to keep us together. Could I have done something differently? I don’t know. Minerva’s voice stirs me from my thoughts.