AN: Gift for Sophy, enjoy!

Normalcy of Freedom

Minerva slowly tilted her glass of firewhisky, trying to drown her hurt, anger, grief and most of all, guilt; by drinking the night away. Unfortunately, she had quite a resistance for firewhisky, and it would be hard to get herself drunk enough to forget.

Minerva chuckled to herself bitterly. The rest of the country was drinking for an entirely different reason. They were rejoicing for the defeat of Voldemort, and the end of the Wizarding War. Shortly, the grief would sink in along with the relief of freedom.

Their freedom had come with a cost. A heavy, immeasurable cost. The lives of innocent men and women; magical and muggle both. The liberation from the reign of teerror had still left them all broken, including herself.

She had likely left young Harry to a life with little freedom, with Muggles who seemed to despise anything out of the ordinary, while catering to their spoiled son's every wish and demand. It broke her heart to condemn him to such a life, but it had been the only way to keep him alive and safe from the remaining Death Eaters. Lily and James would never forgive her. Minerva's eyes began to sting at the thought of her favourite students, the ones to whom she had been closest to. Lily had been like a niece to care for, yet even she had been snatched away by death's cruel hands.

And Sirius...the professor was in shock that he had betrayed his best friends. The prankster from the House of Black had appeared to be the only decent decendent of the family earlier. Now all the evidence pointed to the contrary, and Minerva's highly logical mind was forced to accept it. Peter, the quietest of them all, had turned out to be the most loyal of the Marauders, eventually.

As she poured herself a third glass of the intoxicating drink, tears falling down her cheeks, she heard the portrait door to her rooms open. Minerva was immediately on alert, it was either Albus or Pomona, and they usually had been the bearer of bad news during the war. She deperately hoped nothing had happened.

There was a light knock on the door, "Minerva, are you there?" Pomona's gentle yet loud voice asked.

"Yes, come in, Pomona." The transfiguration expert sagged in relief at the relaxed tone of her friend and quickly wiped away her tears.

The stout professor entered with a small smile on her face, which instantly turned to a concerned and reproachful expression upon spotting the bottle and glass of firewhisky.

"Minerva, you know it's no good to drink your sorrows away. It doesn't help at all and is exactly the kind of thing you disapprove of, yourself! I told you I was here to talk to." Her friend sat down beside her on the sofa.

Minerva sighed. She knew she was being a hypocrite, but leaving Harry at the doorstep of those...relatives of his had been her breaking point. As soon as she reached Hogwarts, the witch had grabbed her substantial stock of firewhisky to get rid of the guilt. She hadn't even thought about her best friend's advice. And her own.

"I'm sorry, I know I should've taken you up on your offer to talk. It's just so overwhelming..." The vexing part was that her eyes had become moist again, despite her attempts to control herself.

Pomona rested her hand on Minerva's shoulder, "It's alright, Minnie, it's okay to experience grief and guilt," she pulled the animagus into a comforting hug, "let it all out. "

It was the use of her childhood nickname that made her break down. She poured her heart out to her companion. Talking about her guilt for leaving Harry behind, her hurt as she discovered Sirius' betrayal, anger at Voldemort and his followers for destroying the lives of her loved ones; everything.

The usually stern woman also shared concerns which she hadn't even dared to admit to herself: Albus might be wrong in placing trust in Severus, Harry's condition in the care of the Dursleys, Remus being forced to flee the country eventually due to anti-werewolf opinions rising, and many other fears and troubles of hers.

Pomona heard her out, offered words of comfort and advice in some places, even though she was suffering from the same war Minerva was. The younger woman could see the subdued hurt and pain in the older's eyes as she listened to her. The older teacher was being strong for her, and Minerva vowed to be strong for Pomona in turn when the witch needed to take the lid off her experiences and grief from the war. Whenever Pomona was ready, she would be there for her.

"It feels better now, doesn't it?" Pomona squeezed her colleague's hand.

"Yes." She truly felt lighter after disclosing her thoughts, but their effect was not to be vanished in a single night of heart to hearts. It would take time to heal all her wounds, but this was the medicine to speed up her recovery.

"I'm glad it's at least a pinch better." Pomona said with a knowing smile.

"Only a pinch better? Like salt? Are my feelings as important as salt? You wound me!" She quipped, trying to return back to normal and enjoy her freedom as soon as she could.

The herbologist gently smiled, seeming to appreciate the normalcy, "Oh, you know what I mean, don't be like that."

Word count: 910.

Challenges:

Balloon wall 2 : Genre: Hurt/comfort.

Bumper cars 6 : Dialogue : "You know what I mean."

Count your buttons : Words : Freedom

Insane House Challenge : 517.