Disclaimer: Once again these characters aren't mine, they belong to J.K Rowling. Well Amelia Grey belongs to me and I'm using her as an OC to help with this story.
Author's Note: Inspired by reading the works of tigertales, I thank you for allowing me to find my muse once again and inspired by 'This Is War' by 30 seconds to Mars. So I'm hoping to make this a multi-chapter fan fiction, not sure how well that will go but I'm willing to give it a go. This will be a Hermione/Minerva fan fiction. As I've said before, comments, reviews etc are welcome. Flames not so much but I don't mind constructive criticism as long as its to the point. This isn't beta'd so all mistakes are my own and that includes spelling mistakes, although I've tried to make sure there are none.
Well I hope you enjoy this first chapter.
It had been years since I last stepped foot on this most hallowed ground and yet I still wasn't welcomed here, the wards of the great school of Witchcraft and Wizardry barred my entry and yet I wasn't disappointed. I waited as the rain began to fall, the Scottish Highlands providing their typical welcome I knew that she would come sooner or later. The disturbance in the wards might go unnoticed by the Death Eaters that now resided in these halls but not by the great Professor McGonagall for she had always sensed my presence and tonight it would be no different.
As the minutes tick by I start to pace nervously she is taking far longer than I thought she would and as these precious minutes tick by I know that soon I'll be hunted again, just like I have been all across Europe since he rose to power once more. I can hold my own against them but its all been leading me back here; to the place of my childhood, the one place in all the world that I've ever felt safe and yet pacing here I've never felt so sacred in my entire life. I'm being hunted by the Dark Lord for reasons unknown to me and yet I've decided to throw myself into the line of fire by coming here; by offering my assistance to the one woman who I once loved all those years ago, the woman who I failed to meet upon her graduating year because of circumstances beyond my control.
Finally I hear the old wooden doors creak open and the familiar steps of someone I once knew so well, sure they've aged but that doesn't matter to me as I feel my heart skip a beat at least it would if it was still beating but it hasn't pumped blood into my veins for quite sometime but that's a tale for another day and isn't the reason I am here.
"Who goes there?" I smile as that familiar Scottish accent works its way to my ears and I can't help but chuckle, "Professor McGonagall, I'm glad you came. I was beginning to think that Snape might find me on school grounds without permission. I can't stop my dear Minerva just know that when the time comes I'll fight beside you and I'm sorry for not making your graduation." with a slight turn I disapparated away from the grounds and to my families estate in southern England, only to find the wards unwilling to grant me entry. This curse of mine was beginning to grate as I turned and walked away into the darkness of the night, quite ironic considering what I am.
Professor Minerva McGonagall stood staring at the gates of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry uncertain as to what had just occurred. She had felt the wards shift from her private quarters and immediately came to investigate, but there had been no one within the grounds itself; but just outside the wrought iron gates. Thinking back over her words it seemed silly now to have uttered them but the response it earned her, sent her mind spinning. That voice, she hadn't heard that voice in over fifty years not since a year before her graduation from Hogwarts. It brought familiar feelings but also sadness, if something had drawn her back here then the wizarding world was in greater peril than even Minerva thought and why on earth would she come back to Hogwarts of all places; she didn't still hold feelings for me did she?
As the wind whipped around the grounds Professor McGonagall pulled her cloak closer around her and headed back into the castle, she would process tonight in the morning; between teaching and dodging the Carrows and keeping her students safe until such a time as the final battle drew near.
The weather in southern England was at least more favourable than the Scottish Highlands, and despite not being able to enter my family estate I could atleast enjoy the walk to the nearest hotel. Unlike most Witches and Wizards the 'muggle' world doesn't scare me in the slightest as I've had to adapt to living like a muggle since a most fateful day some fifty years prior blending in with them was easy; protecting them harder than it should have been but then again what the muggles didn't know wouldn't hurt them or so many Witches and Wizards believed but when the Dark Mark appeared above London all caution flew out the window and protecting muggles as well as the Wizarding community became a priority as I didn't belong to either world but could make a difference in both. My offer to Professor McGonagall had been sincere, I would return to protect Hogwarts when the time was right but until then I had to keep others safe from the Dark Lord and his Death Eaters; they had followed me across Europe now it was my turn to start hunting them.
The Golden Trio of Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger had been hiding out at Shell Cottage since Dobby had rescued them from Malfoy Manor at the cost of his own life deciding on their next course of action in defeating Voldermort and destroying the remaining Horcruxes, Bellatrix Lestrange was furious to learn that the sword of Gryffindor had been taken from her vault at Gringotts despite Griphook telling her the sword was a fake and demanding to know what else the trio had stolen. Hemione shuddered as she remembered the torture Bellatrix had undertaken to get answers from her, answers that she didn't have. The Cruciatus Curse had left its mark on the young Gryffindor as well as the word 'Mudblood' that Bellatrix had carved into her skin; a reminder that despite her brilliance some in the wizarding world would always see her as nothing more than a Mudblood. Sighing she looked out over the sandy beach toward the horizon, her thoughts drifting back to happier times at Hogwarts before all this madness began and to the mentor that she had grown fond of during the years, Professor Minerva McGonagall. She smiled slightly despite everything, knowing that she had a place to return to; a home for that was what Hogwarts had become over the years and although she loved her parents dearly sending them away with no memory of her had been the hardest decision she'd ever made and yet she had told no one, not even Ron or Harry that she was truly now alone in the world. One day, she thought as the waves lapped upon the shore; I'll tell her how I feel and I can be truly happy and not looked upon with disdain. Hermione turned as she heard Ron and Harry walking up behind her, today was the day they'd break into Gringotts with Griphook disguised as Bellatrix Lestrange; today everything would start falling into place for the end.
Daybreak at Hogwarts had been met with a collected groan from many of the students, another day of duelling other students or being punished by Death Eaters for failing to do so. As Professor McGonagall greeted the day she remembered back to her encounter at the school gates the night before, as she rose from her bed her eyes scanned the bookshelf and fell upon an old photograph album; wordlessly summoning the album to she leafed through the worn pages until she paused on a familiar image smiling back at her. The soft smile that crept upon her lips couldn't be stopped as she stared at the image of Amelia Grey, covered in mud and holding her broomstick proudly having just come off the Quidditch pitch with the winning Ravenclaw team; Minerva had captured the candid image as a reminder of how good the young woman was a Quidditch and how she had managed to capture her heart since her first year. Despite being in different houses they had become fast friends, their love for Quidditch and studying had helped immensely and soon that friendship had turned into something more. Without realising it soft tears began to fall as Minerva remembered their last night at Hogwarts, right before Amelia graduated. It was everything one could have hoped for and more and Amelia left Minerva with a promise, that she would be back in exactly one year for her own graduation and would whisk Minerva off her feet; but the year passed and despite the frequent Owls and the devoted words Amelia never arrived at Hogwarts for Minerva's graduation nor did she send an Owl to explain her absence, as the years moved on so did Minerva becoming an Animagus and a Master in Transfiguration before she returned to Hogwarts to teach; in all that time she had never met Amelia nor heard from her until now. Fifty years later and the young woman she had once been madly in love with had returned to Hogwarts with a promise, to help against the Dark Lord when it was needed and with an apology that had been a long time in coming; still Minerva McGonagall couldn't understand it and her appearance raised more questions than it did answers. Perhaps when this war was over she get the truth but until then lessons needed teaching and students needed protecting, tearing herself away from the album and heading into her en-suite to prepare for the day; Minerva McGonagall was heading into her own battle for the day and what an exhausting day it was going to be.