Disclaimer: I don't own it; lots of other people have the happy right, but not me. Thanks to JKR for writing it all so brilliantly!

A/N: This is a big MMADness fic I've had in the works for a while and I hope you like it. Another for the 'Status: In Progress' box I think. Anyhow, hope you like it and please review, you people keep me writing! Thanks to Zoë for always having faith in me, you ROCK darling!

Summary: Minerva's growing up with Albus watching over her from a distance, and she is living with a heart full of love for him that she cannot follow. She can never tell him and neither can he. MMAD.

How Can MMADness Prevail?

Albus hurried along the corridors towards the Great Hall, wishing for the millionth time he could apparate. Even with all the secret passages and short cuts he knew, it still took a good five minutes to get from his office to the Hall and Armando would have his wand if he was late again. This was the third time in this week alone! It was only the second week of term, and already he was running out of excuses. Ducking out from behind a tapestry, he barrelled straight into Minerva McGonagall's path. He looked back only to get crashed into and they both ended up in a heap on the floor.

"Professor! I'm so sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going." Minerva apologised as they untangled themselves and stood up, both glowing beetroot red. As she watched him straighten his robes, her mind recalled why she had not seen him and she tore her gaze away to look for her book. Albus noticed a small black volume on the floor by his feet which he knew was not his and picked it up. The title read "Transfiguration: Intermediate to Expert". His eyes twinkled and he asked gently, as he held it out to her,

"Is this yours my dear?" She looked up from where she had been scanning the floor and a look of relief spread across her face.

"Yes." She answered as she took it, being careful not to touch him and slipped it into a pocket inside her robes. She looked faintly embarrassed as she added in a mutter, "Teach me not to read while I'm walking won't it?" His eyes merely twinkled again. "So Professor, why aren't you down in the Great Hall?" She asked, as they began to walk down the corridor side by side, as if it was the most normal thing in the world, which perhaps for them it was.

"I would be, if it were not for a certain sixth-year who doggedly keeps stretching my patience." Albus muttered darkly and Minerva froze, bringing her feet to a stop and looking up at him with hurt in her eyes.

"Sir?" Her voice was worried and he looked down at her and paused, realising what she was thinking.

"Oh no Minerva, not you, gracious no. You're the best student I've ever had! No, I was thinking of… oh it doesn't matter." Albus shook his head wearily and began walking again, with Minerva by his side, watching him intently. He glanced down at his best student and smiled, knowing her that well by now to know when she needed to ask something but could not see how to begin.

"You have something you wish to ask me Miss McGonagall?" He inquired, turning his head slightly to her as he directed them down a set of stairs that could cut a good deal out of their journey. She looked up at him briefly with a thinly veiled look of "You know me too well" then down at the book resting her pocket. She seemed to consider inwardly for a few moments before breaching a subject that had long been preying on her mind.

"I would like to become an Animagus. Can you help me?" She hated sounding so feeble, and she didn't look up, just carried on walking beside her professor. Albus watched her for a few seconds before replying gently,

"Have you asked your parents?" She looked up and nodded, hope shining in her eyes. "Then I see no reason why I cannot." He answered pleasantly, giving her a wide, splendid smile. She looked delighted and took a shaky breath in anticipation of a fulfilment of a task she had long wished for.

"Thank you Professor! Thank you so much!" Dumbledore nodded and looked down the corridor to conceal his amusement. He knew Miss McGonagall very well by now, from all the evenings spent together playing chess and all the lessons she had worked so hard in. From all the knowledge he had gained from these evenings and lessons, he knew foremost that she hated being laughed at (as he had made that mistake one too many times) and that it was a rare thing for her to gush her words but it had just happened.

"You are very welcome Miss McGonagall." He replied pleasantly. She smiled one of her rare, brilliant smiles up at him and her heart beat nearly twice as fast as it had been doing, for reasons she did not care to think about just now. He was so unbelievably good; it made her glad just to know him. As he looked down, he realised just how beautiful she was when she smiled. He knew, and sometimes regretted, that she was known for her beauty throughout the school. It was a point that frequently tested her nerves, as he knew well. She was admired as a great beauty normally, but when she smiled, he thought, there was nothing in the world that could out-shine her.

Albus quickly realised how inappropriate those thoughts were and shook himself mentally before looking back down the corridor. He knew if he was not such a good Occlumens then he should have been worrying for his job, especially if Horace Slughorn had anything to do with it. But she didn't seem to notice the glances he sometimes let slip when they were alone, thank Merlin. He didn't know what he would've done if she suddenly realised how he felt, because he knew that Minerva would never allow it. She was a strict rule-follower, she even discouraged her friends from breaking the rules occasionally and their relationship would be breaking one of the most important rules in the book!

He began to wonder if him teaching her would be the best thing for her. All that time spent together, alone. He had never been very good at disguising his emotions (as his auburn hair made clear) and they seemed to overtake him when he was around this young woman. 'Young' being the operative word. He was far too old for her. His heart had formed a most inconvenient attachment to the woman striding alongside him, and he wondered if it was as obvious to her as it seemed to be to some others, who shall remain nameless.

But, as he glanced beside him and saw the look of complete contentment on her face and as he remembered the smile she had dazzled him with, only a few moments ago, he knew he couldn't go back on his word now. It meant the world to her to know she was good enough for this and he couldn't, wouldn't take that away from her. She couldn't help smiling to herself as she walked beside him. He had agreed. He'd said he would. She, just for that small moment, had lost control and genuinely thought about hugging him, but then instantly suppressed the idea. It was too emotional, especially for her, and he was a teacher after all. A teacher she happened to feel something as well as admiration for. Something very different to what she should feel.

Still, she was grateful he had agreed to take her on. As she looked up at him she could have sworn she saw something akin to admiration in the look he gave her before transferring his gaze back to the corridor they were strolling down. She had to stop herself from snorting at her ludicrous thought. Admiration for her? Had she completely taken leave of her common sense? It was merely wishful thinking on her part, nothing more, it had to be. She sighed silently, and carried on walking beside her professor.