Entry tags:

*fic, character: minerva mcgonagall, character: sirius black, community: rarepair_shorts, fandom: harry potter, genre: humor, gift, rating: pg, ship: sirius/mcgonagall

A Deal is a Deal
Title: A Deal is a Deal
Recipient: captainpookey
Fandom: Harry Potter
Pairing: Sirius/McGonagall
Prompt/Request: humor
Rating: PG
Word Count: 583
Summary: And yet, somehow, she still found herself preparing to go on a date with Sirius Black.
Author's Notes: for the rarepair_shorts wishlist event. Technically not beta'd, but definitely proof-read. :)

A Deal is a Deal

Minerva McGonagall was a responsible, law-abiding woman. She played fair, and disapproved of displays of blatant favoritism. It was her duty to keep things in line and to be the voice of reason when need be.

And yet, somehow, she still found herself preparing to go on a date with Sirius Black. Which had to be breaking a few laws, not to mention several school rules—on top of her own preciously-kept principles.

But Minerva, unfortunately, was also a woman of her word, and that meant that a deal was a deal.

What she had not realized, at the time that said deal was made, was how foolish, irresponsible, and utterly wrong such a deal actually was. But then again, it was not quite supposed to work out like this; she had expected, planned, even, that things would go in her favor.

To be fair, that was the way it usually worked.

She could never have predicted that one Mr. Black had the ability of refraining from playing pranks for an entire month—thirty-one days. Pranks, after all, made him who he was; they ran through his veins like blood. To stop playing tricks, she had thought, would have been to stop breathing. And, because a living, breathing Sirius Black was better than a dead, non-breathing one, Minerva had smiled to herself and shaken his hand.

She should have been more concerned by the wide, mischievous grin that had spread across his face directly afterward.

And now somehow, that dreaded, unfathomable day had come.

And Minerva had actually, seriously paused before a mirror to check her hair… until, mortified, she realized what she was doing and was forced to remind herself that she was not, in fact, a giddy, reckless, hormone-driven teenager.

That was enough to keep her shamefully avoiding mirrors for a week.

---

“So. Mr. Black,” she began, her lips set into a thin line, “have you decided where we are going?”

“Minnie, darling, I insist: call me Sirius.” Sirius batted his dark eyelashes at her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close as they walked.

As Minerva’s luck would have it, Hogsmeade was particularly crowded that weekend, and she could not take a few steps in any direction without someone pointing or laughing, or simply staring like a graceless baboon.

“Mind your hands, boy,” she whispered, somewhat self-conscious.

Sirius ignored her, apparently finding nothing disconcerting about being so very physically close to his esteemed professor.

“Where are we going, Mr. Black?” Minerva demanded, echoing her earlier question. Sirius had steered her about Hogsmeade for the past half-hour, seeming to have no particular direction in mind, and she had begun to feel quite alarmed.

“Oh, I reckon it’s more fun to be spontaneous. S’more of an adventure that way, don’t you think?”

“So you haven’t the faintest—?”

“Nope,” he replied cheerfully. “I mean, I considered Madam Puttifoot’s, but I s’pect you’d feel a bit uncomfortable…”

“As if this weren’t already uncomfortable enough,” she remarked dryly.

Sirius put on a pained face. “Is it really so terrible being with me, Minnie?”

She shot him a pointed, clearly-not-amused look.

He pressed the back of his hand to his forehead dramatically. “Oh, woe, that my love for you goes unrequited.”

“Woe, indeed,” she muttered sarcastically.

But all the same, she felt a blush rise to her cheeks and a chuckle form within her throat.

It was going to be an excruciatingly long afternoon, there was no doubt about that.


THE END