It's All There In Black and White - A Harry Potter Fanfic

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Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters, it all belongs to JK Rowling (:

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It all started off like any other morning besides the fact that it was a surprisingly warm spring day. The halls were cluttered with their usual hustle and bustle of students as they all made their way down to the Great Hall for breakfast. Many of them walking in small groups, talking animatedly amongst themselves and, every so often, Minerva would pass the occasional couple who were to busy snogging in the middle of the hall to pay attention to anything else. When this happened, she would break them up, sending them on their way with a stern warning. It was just like any typical morning.

She entered the Great Hall through the door closest to the staff table, and instantly took her seat to the right of the Headmaster. One thing that troubled her, though, was she couldn't help but notice how the excited morning chatter had turned into silence when she entered the hall. Minerva glanced around at the rest of the teachers, who were equally as silent. There was a hint of awkwardness hanging in the air, and she couldn't quiet figure out what would have caused everyone to start behaving so oddly. Even Dumbledore, who was usually the liveliest of them, was barely speaking at all.

In the end, Minerva decided it was nothing and that the strange behavior the students and staff were exhibiting would wear off as the day went on and things would return to normal.

-

Things didn't improve.

When she entered the Transfiguration classroom she became aware of how painfully quiet it had become. A few students started whispering to each other something she couldn't hear. She pretended not to notice. She passed by a giggling Fred and George Weasley and gave them a stern glare. As soon as she got to the front of the classroom, though, she heard the twins begin to laugh again, causing the entire room to burst into infectious giggles, including the portraits.

"Mr's Weasley!" she exclaimed. The class went silent once more. "is there something you would like to share with the class? Or, rather, me since, for some reason unknown, everyone else seems to know about it but me?"

Fred and George exchanged amused looks. "you're in the daily prophet, Professor," they said in unison with matching smirks on their faces.

Minerva was stunned; she hadn't expected that. "I—I am?" she stuttered, unsure.

"Rita Skeeter wrote about you—"

"And old Dumbles too," George finished for Fred.

Minerva blanched and the class burst into another fit of giggles as Fred slipped Minerva a copy of the Daily Prophet. The headline was the first thing she noticed;

'Scandal at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry - What really goes on behind the scenes?'

Minerva felt her cheeks go red. She looked up from her paper and started at her students, who were still stifling giggles.

"Turn to page 127 in your Transfiguration books and read chapter 17." She said , taking a seat at her desk. "And don't even think about just pretending to read it, because we'll be going over all of it tomorrow."

She heard Fred and George let out disappointed sighs.

As she began to read through the article, she came across numerous sentences that made her blood boil, such as the claim that she was hired only because of her 'sexual relations' with the Headmaster, as well as many other vicious lies of their supposed 'secret relationship', all of which were untrue. How dare this woman be allowed to print these horrible stories and ruin peoples reputations!

When she finished the article, she crumpled it into a ball, no longer being able to stand Rita's smirking picture at the top of the page, and threw it into the trash. It seemed as though the reporter's only purpose was to destroy other peoples lives. She and Albus had only ever been friends. Sure, it was true that deep down she had feelings for him and wanted to be more than friends, but she knew that that would never happen and he would never feel the same way towards her. She decided losing their friendship wasn't worth the risk and kept everything bottled up. Losing their friendship wasn't worth the risk.

Suddenly, the bell rang, pulling Minerva out of her thoughts and back into reality. As the students got up and began to file out of the room, she couldn't help but feel relieved to be rid of the Weasley twins, who had been making kissy-faces at her throughout the entire class time.

She sat back down at her desk and began grading some 6th year essays when she was interrupted by a knocking coming from the window. She turned around to find an owl perched on the windowsill, a letter clamped in its beak. She went over and retrieved the letter from the owl, which then flew off without even waiting for a treat.

Minerva recognized the seal on the envelope immediately - it was from the Ministry of Magic.

She tore open the letter and began to read it;

Dear Minerva;

In case you are not already aware, an article about you and Albus has been posted in the Daily Prophet. Now, as you should already know, romantic relationships between employees and their employers are severely frowned upon. As a professor, your job is to set a good example for your students, so if this inappropriate behavior continues, we will be forced to take immediate action. Thank you and have a nice day.

Sincerly,

Dolores Jane Umbridge

Minerva had half a mind to tear the letter up. That wretched woman could find a way to irritate her with the smallest of things. As if she didn't already have enough to deal with, she didn't need threats from the Ministry of Magic piled on top. She sat back down and began to massage her temples, trying to fight off the pounding feeling in the back of her head when she was once again interrupted by another knock at the window.

She silently prayed it wasn't another letter from the Ministry, one a day was quiet enough, and took the letter from the tawny brown owl. She looked over the letter, relieved it wasn't from the Ministry, but from Dumbledore himself. She recognized the handwriting almost immediantly.

Minerva,

If your not busy this evening, would you mind accompanying me to a game of chess? I think there are a few things we need to discuss.

Yours sincerly,

Albus

Minerva smiled down at the letter, feeling relieved that things between her and Albus were still somewhat the same.