"Professor," Lily said, taking a deep breath, "I am here to talk about something."
"I am all ears," Minerva replied with a small smile.
She half knew what was coming, and though she had prepared herself for this, now that Lily was actually sitting in front of her, she found herself uncertain and unsure. The smile on her face was merely a facade to hide the anxiety bubbling in her heart.
Lily, meanwhile, remained silent for a few moments as if she were carefully phrasing her words. She was taking her sweet time.
"Professor," she finally said. "It is about James."
Minerva did not react and let Lily continue. Her guess was correct.
"Today, he approached me after classes wanting to talk. He said that he wanted to apologize for his unruly behavior in the past," she said. "He then proposed that we leave everything behind and begin afresh."
"A 'new start' is what he called it," she remarked.
Her face lacked any trace of a smile, and her tone was bereft of any softness. Minerva grimaced inwardly. She knew this tone and expression all too well. She herself was a master of it. Lily's current mannerisms made it very obvious that she was in no mood for nonsense.
"Professor," she continued, "since the day James was forbidden from approaching me, he has followed your directions without fail."
"No matter how undisciplined and unruly he might have been, he knew when not to cross a line," she said. "He clearly recognized the tough line you had demarcated between us. He knew that if he dared to cross the boundary that you had set, he would have to face consequences."
"But now, suddenly," she continued, "he approaches me without any fear on his face."
"Given how confident he was, it was as if he was not worried about crossing that line at all," she said. "I wondered what could have boosted his confidence this much?"
"But then I had another thought," she added. "I wondered... What if the line does not exist anymore? What if James is finding his courage because the barrier has been removed?"
"It made more sense that way," she said. "Am I wrong, Professor?"
A few moments of silence permeated the room.
"No," Minerva sighed, taking a deep breath. "Your guess is right. That line no longer exists."
"What did you say to him?" Minerva asked. "How did you respond?"
"I did not really interact with him," Lily responded. "I only said that I would think about it. I thought it would be better if I cleared this with you first."
"You did the right thing," Minerva nodded.
"Why does the boundary no longer exist, Professor?" Lily asked, bringing the real issue back to the center of the debate.
Minerva sighed, taking a deep breath as she prepared herself for the answer.
"It is the price I," she began, pausing to think, "or rather, the price you are paying."
"Price for what?" Lily asked instinctively.
For the first time since she had entered the office, Lily's expression shifted. Confusion and a barrage of questions were written all over her face.
"The price for your training with Lord Antonio Olario," Minerva answered.
She could have attempted to divert the issue or offer false reasons, but she chose to stay honest. She did not want to lie to Lily or treat her like a child to be fooled. Minerva knew that even if she tried, Lily would eventually learn the truth. There was no point in hiding it.
Lily narrowed her eyes, trying to process the implication. The price for her training with Antonio Olario. A lot of this did not make sense but a lot of made.
"And to whom are you paying this price?" she asked, her gaze sharpening.
"To the Headmaster," Minerva responded.
Lily was not surprised. Only Albus Dumbledore possessed the weight required to extract such a price from Minerva McGonagall in Hogwarts. Lily nodded slowly.
"Lily, look," Minerva said, leaning slightly across the table toward her, her expression softening.
"While I arranged for you to train with Lord Olario, I do not have the sole authority to allow a student to leave the Hogwarts premises twice a week without a reasonable justification. And this training, officially at least, does not fall within those realms," she said.
"Immediately after your first two sessions, Headmaster Dumbledore indicated to me that he would grant the necessary permissions and allow you to correct your training uninterrupted, provided I allowed James one more chance to correct his mistakes," she explained.
"I tried to delay him," she said. "I could have delayed him even longer."
"But given what has happened in the past few days, his stature has risen significantly," Minerva sighed. "You must understand... This is all politics."
"It was hard saying no to him when it was me who was rounding about one of the stringent rules of Hogwarts."
"I understand everything perfectly, Professor," Lily replied. "I understand that his influence has grown so great that you cannot oppose him. Not at this moment."
"I get all of that," she added, her voice dropping an octave. "But what I do not get is what interest Headmaster Dumbledore has in letting James approach me."
"Do not tell me that just because James went to him and cried about things being unfair with him and you being too harsh, the Headmaster became so compassionate that he used his newfound leverage to pressure you into removing the line."
"What does the Headmaster actually want?" Lily pressed.
Minerva grimaced, this time visibly. Of all the things she dreaded explaining, this was her greatest concern.
"Lily," she sighed, rubbing her temples. "How should I even say this?"
"Just say it, Professor," Lily responded, almost nonchalantly. "I do not think I would be shocked. I am expecting anything at this point."
"Headmaster Dumbledore believes that you and James are a natural match," Minerva admitted, after a couple of moments of intense silence.
The words as they left her mouth felt heavy and uncomfortable.
"He feels that I pulled the two of you apart just as you were on the verge of becoming close," Minerva sighed. "He wanted me to remove that barrier so that James could approach you again, hoping the two of you would find your way back to each other."
True to her word, Lily barely reacted. Her face remained a mask of cool detachment.
"But I still do not get it," Lily said after a long silence. "Why is he so interested in my or James's love life? Is James his son? Am I his daughter? His nephew? His niece? What does it matter to him if we get close or not?"
"Hogsmeade was attacked. Two students were killed. The headmaster has vowed revenge," she continued.
"The Wizengamot was decimated. Lord Olario is injured. Death Eaters are running wild, and their ideology has crept into the very halls of this school. Slytherin is full of children dreaming of becoming the next generation of murderers."
"And yet," she continued, her voice dripping with disbelief, "in such sensitive times, what is on our Headmaster's mind? My love life with James Potter?"
Lily scoffed, the sound echoing sharply in the small office.
"Does he play matchmaker for every student in Hogwarts?" She questioned. "Or are we two people from some kind of prophecy where our union will end this whole Death Eater fiasco? Is that why he is focusing on this instead of the war?"
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