Labour of Love

Albus face was set in concentration, as he worked on his gift for Minerva, surely this time he would suceed in creating something worthy of her. Unlike his previous twenty attempts, each of which had been deemed not perfect enough for one, who in his eyes was the very definition of perfection.

At first the failures had been fun, but it seemed that even Albus could have too many cupcakes. And though he had devoured them happily enough at first, after the tenth he began to feel slightly sick, and after the fourteenth he had started to feel as though he never wanted to see another cupcake again ever.

Bravely he had persevered, even though the thought of summoning a house elf was a temptation. Asking the ever willing Dobby to help, would have been so easy - too easy, for the truest declaration of love unspoken was in the effort itself, and he was determined to produce a gift worthy of Minerva, no matter how long it took.

And so, he had struggled for hours now, through cupcakes that were burnt to a cinder, and cakes that sank helplessly as soon as he touched them, and at last he had, by some miracle, managed to produce a beautifully golden cupcake that only needed icing to be ready.

His wand twitched in his pocket, oh so tempting, surely he could use it to ice the cake and decorate it. Alas his Gryffindor sense of honour would not let him take the easy route. Albus gulped nervously, as he gazed at the surface of the cupcake, it already had a covering of silken white icing, now came the hard part. His hand trembled as he picked up the icing bag filled with red icing and traced a red heart on the cake. Beads of sweat adorned his brow as he peered anxiously at it. At last with a deep breath he proceeded to the final step, praying that he would not fail at this late stage.

The fire in Minerva's chambers blazed brightly against the chill winter night, as she settled into her favourite arm chair, and picked up her book. Then to her irritation, there was a soft knock at the door. Sighing she opened the door to see Albus standing there. His beard and hair were speckled with red and white icing, a large smudge of flour adorned the tip of his nose, and more flour covered his robes. But, his eyes shone with pride and love, as he proffered his gift.

Minerva's lips curved into a rare smile as she gazed down at a single cupcake covered in with snow white icing, with a red heart, and the words 'I a-dumbledore you,' etched on it.

Emerald green eyes shone, as she looked up at him, "Oh Albus," was all she said, but Albus thought he would treasure that look and those words forever.

Author's Notes

I couldn't come up with a Christmas idea, so this will have to do. Merry Christmas everyone! And please leave a review, thanks. This is my attempt to get back in practise at writing, I feel incredibly rusty.