Yes, when he's not being overly cautious or uptight, he can really bring great pleasure & joy to their time together, but then when he begins to overthink either their relationship or something else serious in life, he can certainly put a damper on things!Still, a nice evening, if I remember correctly!

Yeppers, that would be a hot story -- and AU RaM! hee! (I do love that picture, though . . . "Oh, Albus! Come hand me a towel . . . and some soap . . . and perhaps some shampoo . . . wash my hair, won't you, dear?" "With pleasure, as soon as I've taken care of this . . ." )

See, it practically writes itself!!! So, what are you waiting for??? You should have it half done by now!!!

Hee!

They almost did go mad by the end! But no more of that here! (Spoilers for others who may read the reviews & review responses.) It is kind of a miracle they managed to get together at all! :-)

Yeah, she thinks she's being very clear, but Minerva just doesn't get it -- partly because she's so darned sure herself that things are a particular way and that a romantic relationship between her & Albus isn't possible, that she just can't see the direction that Gertrude is trying to steer her in! Yes, now, Minerva should have been just a little bit bolder, and we may very well have been able to get them together that much sooner! They'd have had three weeks more of the summer to spend together! Oh, well . . . ;-)

Yes, poor Minerva! It all ended well, though, thankfully, and her bad day ended up having some rather bright consequences! Poor Gertie, too, suffering that day with all her painful memories, and trying not to let it show too much, then she has to be patient with Minerva, as well. Fortunately, it actually ended up bringing the two closer together, as well, which was a huge benefit to Minerva.Haven't we all had those really rotten days where everything seems to go wrong and where we only see events through our own depressed or moody lenses, and that just makes things worse. I hate those kinds of days!

Yes, he is trying to put off acknowledging that there is something connecting them even on a deep level, and that their mated wands are one sign of that -- glad you enjoyed that bit! Minerva certainly felt as though there was more to it, even if she didn't want to articulate precisely what it was she felt! :-)Thanks very much!

Aberforth is just a barman at the Hog's Head. And I'm not certain that Aberforth ever is said to own the Hog's Head in canon, although I do have him owning it by the time that AAoL/DD/LVS roll around. (It comes in handy during DD!) I think that in HwtH, Albus says something about Aberforth "working at" the Hog's Head, though I'm not sure. I'd have to go back and look. But no, it was the current owners of the Hog's Head who borrowed the money for the new roof.

Yes, their timing doesn't seem to be ideal, does it?

Now I'm feeling all warm and fuzzy! Thanks very much for the lovely review!I'm glad you like Merwyn and hs fatherly reaction to Minerva's odd behavior & to her Animagus project. Yes, that little bit of gentle teasing probably did push Minerva's feelings along in that direction a bit.Thanks very much for the review!

My pleasure. Really! 

Hi! I'm glad you enjoyed all those little dressing details! Automagical self-supporting charms sound much more comfy than underwire bras! At least in theory!Yes, after all these years, Minerva's finally reached the point where she can't ignore "It" any longer and has to give "It" a proper name and actually deal with it. Good first step!!!Thanks for the review! I'm very glad you're still enjoying the read & finding it smooth and engrossing!

i've banned the wires long ago, replaced it with tight and sturdy, but automagically sounds far more attractive!  Oh forgot about Albus' nom de plume...if I get it right he chose for a pretty "self-destructive" name. These Apiaruses are not exactly the sweetest of beetles, it seems 

Thanks! Minerva may be sensible, but she is still a teenager! And like so many teenagers, too, she can go from being quite grown-up in one minute to being very young in the next. Yes, Minerva knew she couldn't act on it, and that if she were to, the results wouldn't be good. Of course, Albus doesn't have a clue here that she's fallen in love with him, or even that she might have a crush on him, even though he does care for her deeply & feel drawn to her as another human being.I'm really glad that you enjoyed the chapter! Thanks very much!

The somehow confusing person is Albus for me. Not that you are writing him as confusing, but his position is confusing. Yes, he absolutely manages a professor-pupil relation with Minerva. But at the same time she is already so much more to him, in her full personality, which he easily recognizes.The love for her is dormant because he knows she is his pupil and he is absolutely a gentleaman and because she is simply too young for him as a woman and yet he must be aware, somewhere, that this is the woman of his dreams, of his destiny, albeit latently.I can't put a finger on it, what I'm feeling exactly, because it would simply be awful, were he to admit, in this time as her Professor, that he loves her as a woman (and physically she would also not have reached that stage in his eyes).But yet, it is so eternally inescapable that it makes me tingle with that love that is palpable and yet non-existent. Sigh.

I think that he certainly does love her, but that it hasn't grown into a romantic love yet, and it doesn't occur to him at this point that it could do that.It actually does occur to a few other people quite early on that there is a potential there for the two of them, but they also recognize a) that it would be inappropriate at this point (and likely unsuccessful, since Minerva is still too young to be a partner to him -- a succinct and not wholly satisfactory way of putting it, but it'll do), and b) neither Albus nor Minerva are aware of it yet (although Minerva does become aware of it in this chapter, or at least, of her own deep feelings).I (like Quin of future chapters!) dislike the term "soul mate," since it's usually used in contexts too sweet and over-the-top for me, but despite that, I'll say that I think that Albus does have some deep sense that Minerva is a soul mate, though he would never articulate it in that way, and certainly not as a soul mate in the romantic sense. He does recognize that she has become important in his life, and that she's not just another of his students -- though he is careful not to treat her differently in class and so forth, and he does care for all of his students -- but he would be startled and likely also somewhat amused if someone suggested that he might be the love of her life, and she of his.I'm glad you're enjoying all this potential building up here in these chapters where we see the two of them together when she was so young! They were enjoyable ones to write! Even the melodramatic teenage certainty that she would die of "It"! And yet at the heart of that melodramatic teenage storm of feeling was the true, deep, and abiding love, and the sensation of despair at believing that it could never blossom in the open air.

This line holds the answer that ought to satisfy me, i think: "...but he would be startled and likely also somewhat amused if someone suggested that he might be the love of her life, and she of his." But people sometimes have a notion of "fate" or "destiny" very deep in them and yet it is impossible to recognize, let alone name it...i think that is what i'm hinting at. Forgive me! (andnowI'llstopdiggingsenselessly)

"But people sometimes have a notion of "fate" or "destiny" very deep in them and yet it is impossible to recognize, let alone name it"I agree!

He certainly has a deep romantic streak, doesn't he? And he can't help but romance Minerva even when he doesn't intend to! :-)Thanks for the review! Glad you're enjoying the reread!

We do learn more of it from Albus's perspective much later, you're right! :-)Yes, there is a closeness, trust, and deep affection between them even here, but not yet metamorphosed into the more mature love it became later. Still, they have a strong, almost innate, affection for each other, and "recognise" and are drawn to each other even then.Thanks for the review!

Thanks very much! (And I'm glad you're not cheating yourself of the pleasure of sinking yourself into your reading here! )Of course, many wizards would think that a mere Muggle would have to have some wizarding blood in them in order to achieve the kind of moving oratory that Churchill was capable of, but whether he did or not -- a mystery! (He does seem to glom on to magical concepst quite well though -- to be seen in a future chapter which you may remember!)I'm glad you enjoyed seeing Albus & Minerva's early relationship in this chapter!

and I didn't even mention Blampa, the bath, Minerva in the bath, reflecting on her relationship with Albus. i just got totally carried away when reading that last part. Not bad, actually 

Hypothetical, not hyothetical (i don't want to look that much stupid, haha)

Well, there are the Muggle protection laws in HP, and the international codes of secrecy, but there's also an underlying implication in the books that it wouldn't be only that the Muggles who would be endangered by the magical world if it became common knowledge, but vice versa, as well. There are also several mentions of couples in which the Muggle partner didn't know the other person was a witch or a wizard until after the marriage (sometimes disastrously so, sometimes only surprisingly so).I'd imagine that one danger to witches & wizards would be that Muggles (since there are so very, very many more of them) might want to exploit them into performing magic for them rather than relying on mundane technology. And, of course, there are always people who want to destroy things and people who are "different" or who are scary. So I think that the separation (which began to protect witches & wizards more than Muggles) has evolved to protect Muggles, as well, but still serves to protect the magical world from Muggles.Anyway, those are my thoughts on the separation of the magic/Muggle worlds in HP! Some of them, anyway!

Yes, it was one of those silly lies that just popped out of Melina, and now she has to deal with it! Yes, that does make her Minerva, dealing with the situation at hand and putting her own difficult feelings aside.Glad you enjoyed the chapter! (And yes, very "girls' outing-ish"!)

Yes, you know, I think you've hit on an apt description for Murdoch! I'm glad you like him!I'm glad you "heard" a difference in the characters' voices, and that they seemed distinctly different people. RaM was my first fic, but that is something that I've always worked on -- trying to get "into the skins" -- and hearts and minds -- of each character and give each one a distinctive presence & voice. I'm glad it seemed evident here!Thanks for reviewing!

Hi! I'm very glad that you enjoyed the chapter, and that you liked hearing how and why he came to Hogwarts. I happen to like lists, myself, though mine aren't nearly as eccentric as Albus's! haha! ;-)As to the ward theory, I imagine that it was subconsciously influenced by other things that I've read or seen, but what I did was take the little bit that we learn about magic and wards in the first five or six books and extrapolated from that. I have a very visual sense of how the wards work, and how complex wards are layered and woven together, different sorts of effects and magical strands woven in different ways, and in a three-dimensional fashion, rather like a complex wall of magic, layers of a basket woven together, or something of the sort. I don't imagine that my ward theory is entirely original, but I didn't borrow it from any specific source.I'm glad you liked the chapter and Albus's introspections! Thanks for the thoughtful review!

So the wards...pretty much your own theory indeed. Now why did I already expect that?  Thanks for clarifying it!

You're welcome!

Thanks! Yes, I'm afraid that mentioning the men's vigour potion did not ease Albus's discomfort with the situation, but he was rambling a bit, wasn't he?Poppy is a pretty intuitive witch, and a sympathetic Hufflepuff, so I'm glad you enjoyed her reactions in this chapter.Thanks for the review!

My pleasure :-)

Thanks! I hope that you enjoy your reread! I bet stuff that went "under the radar" before now jumps out at you. I'm glad that you had fun rereading the first chapter. It is a rather explosive beginning, isn't it?

Yes it is!   "F*** Alb"..."Minerva!!! Go wash your mouth!!!" (OK, i shall not tell you what uncouth language sometimes happens to slip from me. So i'll not protest at Minerva's And to be called "a good girl"...that surely warrants a bit of strong language. LOL) Thanks for responding!

If you read Charming the Scottish Garden, which is set in 1959, you'll see more of Malcolm, and you'll learn more about his Animagus training. :-)I'm glad you enjoy the warm dialogue between Minerva & Albus! Glad, too, that you like seeing Malcolm & Gertrude together. They're good for each other. :-)Thanks very much for reviewing! I appreciate it!

Hi, katty-kit! Thanks so much for your review! I'm really glad that you enjoyed the story so much. It's great to hear that it absorbed you so much -- though I agree that real life does need tending to! -- and that you liked the various characters and situations.Thanks again! I hope you enjoy some of the other stories in the series -- or those not in the series!

*snip*“Of course, Professor Minerva; I, Blampa, wakes Professor Minerva for her appointment. Professor Minerva not to worry. Professor Minerva take happy nap with happy blanket and not worry!”Lolololololzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz Happy nap with happy blanket... I am loving that!

The flashback to young Minerva practicing on Albus' hand was extreamly intimate and most generous and trusting of Albus. Very, very tender.

Yes, poor Blampa! Trying so very hard to please in the only way she knows how, and Minerva in a very bitchy mood, though trying to contain it a bit. That scene with Minerva and Albus when Minerva is exploring his hand and then Transfiguring it is very intimate, and it requires a good deal of trust. Even then, he was able to relax and trust her, as many years later, he trusted her with his heart and his life, in a very literal sense. (A good DD scene to reread at this point would be the one in which she acts on the Celebrare.)Do you have a happy blanket? Maybe that's what you need,

!

I have an old Marine blanket that my best dog Lewis chewed on, its dark green and super itchy and I love it for those reasons - Lewis chewed on it - and I loved Lewis perhaps as much as I could love my children - at the time - please don't hate me, I really did - and Lewis made me feel secure - all the time during my last pregnancy and all the pain Greg caused, Lewis was always snuggled up to me and kissing me - he died when my son was about 10 months old, massively aggressive lymphoma, in my arms, we didn't even have the blood work back to find out what he had - his came to me, was sitting at my desk, and he pawed at me, so I snuggled him a bit to me (he was 80 pounds) and he lay on the ground by my feet, and 4 minutes later he was seizing up - and I had to keep Greg from grabbing him so he woudln't get bit as he died - dogs can do that - just reflex, then I held him after he stopped quaking so hard - just held him for a few hours, then I burried him under my orange tree, in the rain, at 3 am.But I can't use my happy blanket because its so bloody hot here, right now...

I think it's beautiful that you loved him so much, and I can tell from what you say that he loved you, too. Too bad you don't know any handy cooling charms . . . :-)

Lewis was the best dog that ever lived.... yup, loved us - cooling charms, well I could dump a bucket of ice in my lap and then wrap up, but then I'd just be soaking wet under the blanket and, since my dryer doesn't work, I'm trying not to dirty up all my clothes - got to go elsewhere to wash.... *le sigh*

LOL! Glad you like Minerva and Blampa together! Their relationship has certainly evolved, hasn't it? I think these may be my two favorite chapters in the story, or two of them, anyway. I'd worried about "A Spree" when I was writing it, but I liked the way it turned out. Thanks for the review! Glad you're enjoying it!

Hi! I thought it would be interesting if their experience then helped shape their decisions later.Glad you're enjoying the dialogue! I like writing it, and I tend to "hear" it as I'm writing.You'll find out what Hagrid's problem is fairly shortly!Have fun, and thanks for the review!