Author's Note: First time writing Harry Potter and actually sharing it with other people. I normally write for myself and absolutely no one else gets to read it (because it's mostly junk). However, this story was different when I started it and here I am.
A special thanks to my beta, EatSleepReadWriteRepeat for making sure I didn't write too crazy or anything.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor am I the wonderful J.K. Rowling. I am making absolutely no money from this work of writing.
CHAPTER ONE
ALIVE
The sun was setting as Headmistress Minerva McGonagall finished writing the final draft of the letter she was intent on sending before the day was done. She had spent most of the afternoon rewording the letter, trying to sound urgent but not making it seem like she was putting a lot of pressure on the recipient. The recipient after all had vanished from the wizarding world completely since the final battle against Voldemort; now was a time to coax the woman out of hiding instead of getting the only connection to her cut off.
Minerva sighed as she finally penned her name at the bottom of the parchment. She flicked her wand and watched as it folded itself up and gently found homage in an envelope. "I sure hope this works." Was her only response as she tied the envelope to her trusted owl. "Go on. You know the way." She urged bitterly.
Sitting back at her large desk Minerva began to think about the events that had played out leading to the final time she had seen the woman she desperately wanted to come back to Hogwarts.
Minerva was standing near Molly Weasley when her eyes caught sight of a former student. She watched as the young woman who even from a distance looked like she had aged more years than she should have darted up and down the rows of bodies as if she was looking for someone in particular. Before she was about to excuse herself to go talk to her former student, Minerva was pulled into a tearful hug by Molly. The movement in itself had caused Minvera to lose sight of the woman she was wishing to speak with and had no choice but to continue to console Molly and the others around them.
It was a time of mourning. There had been an uncountable amount of deaths in the last several months leading up to the final battle; it was simply impossible to not have been affected. Whether it was old professors, not-so-great-of-friend classmates, friends, neighbors, or family, every person was affected.
The woman Minerva had seen wasn't excluded from the mourning. Though she was void of emotion on her face, the woman was filled with regret, anger, and fury; it was her own way of mourning. When the search for the one she needed to see failed in the Great Hall she left, intent on finding his body if it was the last thing she did. She had stayed alive long enough to help fight, and now that she was alive after the fact she wanted to make sure there was still a reason to live. It wasn't a want anymore, it was a need. If he was dead, and she knew very well that he was most probably dead, then she wouldn't fight against the universe anymore, she'd find someone to kill her if she couldn't do it herself.
He was her last chance at survival. She needed to know, one way or another, with her own eyes if he was still alive.
A small group of men were heading up a few floors to bring down some injured folks and she tagged along behind them, unable to keep up with their pace she allowed herself to lag behind farther and farther. Every corner they turned there was something within that reminded them of the events that had just taken place. Blood was found here and there; missing spots in the wall where curses had hit when their target was missed; in some places whole parts of the corridor had been taken out like an explosion had occurred and they had to levitate pieces of debris away to get through to the other side.
They eventually had swept the remainder of the castle for any other living souls when she descended the stairs. She quickened her pace as much as she could with her injured foot when she saw familiar black robes at the foot of the stairs. Her logical mind was telling her not to get her hopes up but something in her gut knew it was the man she was looking for. A few stairs away she slowed before she joined him at the bottom though she knew that she had been heard already.
It was strangely quiet at the foot of the stairs, almost as if neither of them were breathing. "You're alive." He spoke just as loud as he knew she could hear him.
She didn't reply at first as she eyed the people come in and out of the poor school building, none of them paying any attention to their near silent encounter. "So are you." She murmured, still neither of them were facing each other.
His hair was disheveled, ratted in the back with a bit of blood beginning to dry on his scalp and his black cloak was stained with blood and torn. He was missing a shoe. None of it bothered him though, he was in a state of shock wondering how he was still alive. How the woman beside him was still alive and walking when all odds pointed her in the direction of death the last time he had seen her.
"I tried to come back for you." His voice was still quiet but was now softer than she had ever heard it before.
She was quick to reply. "I know you did." She paused. "We're alive." She reminded.
He let out a slow deep sigh in return. There weren't words to explain the thoughts in his head.
"You should probably find your shoe, sir." She said with a smirk after a couple of minutes of silence. She had no intention of letting him respond and she left, leaving him standing there unsure of what to do or say at that moment.
He had no idea that those few moments at the foot of the stairs were going to be the last that he saw of her for years.