A/N: This story follows after God Only Knows, but stands as an independent work. There is a bit of overlapping exposition in this first chapter, and much of the backstory is left unsaid, on a vague assumption that the audience is largely carry over. Again, much of this story is based on tropes from MMAD fanfic c. 2004.
Disclaimer: Harry Potter is the intellectual property of JK Rowling, and Warner Brothers. I do not own any of her characters, nor the settings she created. I derive no profit from this work, and in no way infringe on the earning power of Ms. Rowling.
Happiness was too tame a word to describe how Minerva McGonagall felt.
Even now, bent over the toilet, losing the contents of her stomach, Minerva revelled in the warmth of Albus Dumbledore's hands tenderly caressing her back. He held her hair out of the way with a frequently practiced spell.
Over the two years since she originally fell to Chronos' Curse, McGonagall, and eventually Dumbledore, became accustomed to the occasional bout of nausea, or the infrequent feverish day. And, every once in a great while, Minerva would wake in the middle of the night, having "travelled" yet again to an alternate timeline. But now, when she snapped back from the bodies of these other Minervas, she was surrounded by the strong, soothing arms of the man she loved. her mother and Poppy were always a floo call away for those moments when her heart ached for the lonely Dumbledore she left in an alternate timeline or the days when she was overwhelmed with thoughts of her lost child. It had not been an easy two years, but it was made bearable, even pleasant, by the support of friends and family.
Lacking the energy to stand from the bathroom floor, Minerva simply leaned back against Albus' chest. The beating of his heart echoed her own, and his magical aura soothingly mingled with hers. After a few moments of repose, Albus broke the silence.
"This is the third day this week, darling." Minerva ignored his worried tone for a moment and simply enjoyed the rumble of his voice on her back. Getting no response from her, Albus pushed the issue: "Don't you think it's time to see Poppy?"
Minerva sighed heavily. Poppy was her closest friend, but when Minerva was required to see her friend professionally, the visit felt like a step backwards in her long recovery. This latest wave of sickness was the first since just before Albus and Minerva's wedding three months ago. Minerva almost couldn't bring herself to admit that this record streak of good health had been broken. "I suppose I could go after my first class." Albus stood and pulled her up after him. Minerva turned to look up at him, hopefully, "It might just be this nasty flu that's been among the students lately?"
"In which case, Poppy will put you to rights, I'm sure." Albus smiled encouragingly. "I can go with you, if you like? I don't have any meetings until this afternoon."
"No." Minerva nearly shouted at him. His presence treated the issue as more serious than Minerva wanted to acknowledge. "Thank you, though, darling." She stretched up to kiss his smiling lips, and they set about getting ready to go to breakfast. The vestiges of nausea told Professor McGonagall she would have to forgo enjoying breakfast again today, but as Deputy Headmistress, she had to at least put in an appearance.
After a very encouraging OWL class with her fifth year Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws, Minerva strode into the Hospital Wing with bolstered optimism.
Poppy showed only a hint of surprise at Minerva's visit. While she had grown happily used to Minerva's regular social calls, she was not expecting Professor McGonagall to seek out her professional skills. But, experience taught her that Minerva McGonagall preferred to have as little fuss as possible when she was forced to call upon the Hogwarts Mediwitch. So Poppy Pomfrey bit her tongue, even though she realized that Minerva hadn't had any major recurrences of Chronos' Curse since late June. Now, at the beginning of November, this visit marked the end of the longest streak of good health Professor McGonagall had enjoyed over the past two years. Wordlessly a reassuring smile, Poppy led her friend back to one of the three private rooms at the back of the wing.
"Now, Minerva, what seems to be bothering youy listened to Minerva's symptoms a pesky suspicion swelled in the back of her mind. On any other occasion (and all ready once, in this very room, with a very distressed student) Poppy would attribute her described symptoms to pregnancy and run a simply set of test spells. For Minerva, however, a more thorough approach had to be taken. Not only was her body still recovering from a major, and not completely understood, illness, but Professor McGonagall had other physical considerations as well.
Nearly two years ago, Minerva had suffered from a physically traumatic miscarriage in conjunction with her initial diagnosis. However, because they were deeply focused on getting Minerva out of critical condition, Madam Pomfrey and Healer Quintas, an expert in time-travel health issues, had decided to perform an emergency D&C procedure, removing the remains of the pregnancy tissue from Minerva's uterus before infection or excessive bleeding could occur. Honestly, Pomfrey and Quintas were still not sure if it was this life-saving procedure or the Chronos' Curse that led to the abnormal scarring on Minerva McGonagall's uterus. Regardless of the cause, the result was that Professor McGonagall would have a difficult time getting pregnant again. They had discussed this with Minerva, and she expressed a strong wish to prevent pregnancy for quite some time. The sequelae of Minerva's miscarriage stretched far beyond the physical.
So, despite her nagging instinct, Poppy belayed her initial diagnosis, and ran through the typical battery of tests she used when tending to Professor McGonagall. The tests returned nothing, and Poppy's relief at this result must have showed.
"I knew everything was fine!" Minerva protested. She started to sit up, but Poppy stilled her.
"Hold on, Minerva!" Poppy placed a staying hand on her shoulder. "That just means we've eliminated the usual suspects. Something is not quite right, we just haven't found the cause yet." She commenced a second, more general round of spells.
Thirty minutes later, Poppy was aimlessly shuffling papers in her office. She hated nothing more than feeling helpless. She wanted to go to Minerva, to make everything better. But, as with most things in Minerva's present situation, there was no instantaneous fix. Madam Pomfrey's strongest elixir in this case would be her constant emotional support for her dear friend. She hoped to Merlin it would be enough.
/*\/*\/*\
Albus was deeply concerned about his wife. The poor woman had dealt with so many repercussions of her impetuous actions, Minerva's continued suffering was sheer cruelty. He tried to connect with her after the period when she was supposed to have visited Poppy. However, he saw her only briefly, and she made it quite clear that they would talk about her visit later. This did not bode well. Ignoring a pressing stack of paperwork, Albus went to their shared quarters as soon as he knew Minerva would have wrapped up her other duties and returned as well.
He was greeted by a vacant suite of rooms. Minerva was not back yet. She was only at her grading this long if she was weighed down by distraction. This was another bad omen. Minerva McGonagall was never distracted.
Hoping to distract himself, he picked up an alchemy article he was in the midst of reviewing, and began to listlessly page through it. When the door opened, he nearly ripped a page in half as he jumped to his feet. The Headmaster rushed to greet his wife. She have him an absent-minded kiss, drifted through her usual settling in routine, and finally froze, unnaturally in the middle of the sitting room facing Albus.
As she removed her teaching robes, Albus noticed that her hands were shaking. When she pulled the pins from her tight bun, he was shocked by how sunken her eyes had suddenly become. And as she sorted a few books and one or two pages of notes into their appropriate places, Dumbledore grew nervous at the listless nature of her movement. And now that Minerva stood facing him full on, he could wait no more. He stood from his seat, greeted her, walked toward and opened his arms to embrace her. He was shocked when, at the last minute, she stepped back.
With a terrified look in her eyes, Minerva McGonagall broke and sobbed "I'm pregnant!"
She immediately burst into tears.