Save me from the dark | Alecto and Minerva
It’s impossible to stop the sigh of frustration from passing her lips but it can’t be heard over Alecto’s tirade. Accusing her of being a martyr and refusing to see plainly that Minerva only means to help her. Not for personal gain or to prove some proverbial point, but because despite the evidence that says Alecto is not worth caring for, Minerva will not give up on any one person no matter what they do.
The professor’s jaw clenches as her wrist flicks outward, sending up a wordless protego to easily deflect Alecto’s attack. “If I was pretending, Miss Carrow, would I remain standing here when it would be far easier to be far away from you and your machinations?”
With carefully footsteps, Minerva moves forward as she continues to speak, making certain she’s heard across the distance between them. “I have no interest in seeing students come to harm. I do not wish to see anyone in pain, you or any other person. Perhaps it will be my undoing one day, caring as I do when others would tell me to be more cautious, but I refuse to believe nothing good can come from caring for another person.
“I do not want to duel with you. I do not want harm to come to you. Yet I also will not stand to see anyone else hurt because of you. Lower your wand, Alecto. Do not dismiss my concern and deflect away from whatever it is that torments you.” Arms spreading out wide, the woman takes a dangerous risk and issues a bold challenge. “If you truly believe I am pretending to care, that I feel nothing toward you but malice, do your worst. Inflict what pain you wish if that helps you, if it distracts you from the true demons you face. I will not stop you. All I ask is that you first consider for a moment that my interest in your well-being comes from a selfless place and what it might do if you were to relent and allow me to help you.”
Nothing Minerva can or will say is going to change Alecto’s mindset at this point; the young girl is simply in far too deep to back down. All the redhead can feel is her anger, and whilst the voices might have subsided and the shake in her fingers might have gone, the small mixture of fear and worry that Alecto adores to ignore is ever present, pulsating in her gut like a never-ending curse.
“How do I know you aren’t just stalling me? Waiting for the officials to arrive?” Despite her anger, Alecto sounds like no more than a cowardly child when she speaks, still fearful of getting into trouble. It was almost as though she was still at school, pleading with a teacher not tot urn her in for cutting a poor soul’s ear off, or for leaving someone hanging in the great hall.
Hissing through gritted teeth, Alecto throws another two severing charms her old teacher’s way, not wanting Minerva to get too close to the girl in case her words began to work their magic. Because Alecto knew they would. She knew that if Minerva kept pushing, and pushing, and remained adamant that she cared, Alecto would fall for it. And then who knows what would happen.
“Why do you care?”
Despite her best attempts to act emotionless, Alecto cannot help but begin to question both herself and Minerva, the doubt beginning to creep in as the redhead takes too small steps away from the elder witch, wand still raised in front of her should Minerva try to do something stupid. “Why does it matter what happens to me? Why aren’t you running?”
