Minerva walked into the headmaster’s office to find Albus Severus sitting in the Headmaster’s chair sobbing.
“How did you get in here?” she asked.
“Oh- I just said a bunch of candy names. One of them got me in,” he sniffled.
Minerva sighed. Of course Harry would have taught his children that hack.
“Why are you crying?” she asked, walking over to the chair. She placed a hand on his shoulder.
“Because I was talking to Professor Dumbledore,” he said, gesturing to the picture behind him. Minerva looked questioningly at her former colleague’s somber face.
“Why is that sad?” she inquired.
“Because I was talking to him about the next password.”
“And he told you?!” Minerva asked, shocked that a former faculty member would trust a student with such information.
“Of course, my dad defeated Voldemort.”
Minerva rolled her eyes.
“Why are you crying, Albus?” she asked, more forcefully this time.
“Because the next password will be the new candy from Weasley’a Wizarding Wheezes.”
Minerva smiled, remembering Ron and George Weasley, the two brothers who currently ran the joke shop, and their time at school.
“What’s so sad about this candy?” she asked him, soothingly rubbing his shoulders like a mother would for her child.
“The new candy is called Fred’s Chocolate Bludgers.”
Minerva gasped, remembering the lost twin. She dropped her hand from Albus’s shoulder and put the other one on her heart.
“There’s never been a candy named after him, Minerva,” Dumbledore said from his portrait.
“And they’re making it now?” she said, a tear escaping from her eye.
“They’ve been developing it since his death,” Dumbledore said.
“After all that time.” Minerva shooed Albus from the chair so that she could sit down herself.
“Always.”
Minerva and Albus turned. A man sidled into a portrait. He had greasy hair and was wearing Slytherin robes.
Dumbledore offered a faint smile from his portrait.
“Welcome back to the office,” he said to the man.
“Well, I’ve finished making sure Draco was alright. Terrible, what happened to Astoria.” The man sat down in a black leather chair that’s as painted into his portrait.
“You really do care for him.” Minerva smiled at the man in the portrait.
“I cared for all of my students,” the man said in a nasal voice.
“Even my dad?” Albus piped up.
The man looked at him, a sneer forming on his face. Albus shrank back into a corner. Then the man’s sneer formed into a smile.
“Yes Albus. Even your father.”
“Albus, go back to class.” Minerva escorted the child out of the office.
Dumbledore turned to the man in the portrait.
“You were never one to share your feelings out loud, Severus.”
Severus laughed.
“No, never. But when it comes to those who died in the battle with me, I will never miss an opportunity to make sure that no one ends up like me, after the Dark Lord killed Lily.”
Minerva re-entered the room. “Shush, both of you. I have work to do.” She waved a hand at the former headmasters and sat down in her chair, the back facing the mens’ portraits.
When she was sure they couldn’t see, she grabbed a tissue and dabbed her eye.
We miss you, Fred, she thought.
And she went back to her paperwork.