Summary: There are many different prisons; often those inside the mind have more devastating consequences than any other. The basis of this fic is the end of the fifth book – it's a kind of what if everything that happened after MM was stunned was delayed about forty-eight hours.
Disclaimer: To my great shock I woke up several years ago and found that a Miss JK Rowling had crept into my mind one night and stolen the most amazing world I had created there. Or not. Either way I really don't own the characters or their surroundings any more. No infringement or offence meant.
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"What! You mean she actually managed to half kill her own deputy?" Fred asked his mothers head, which sat in the fireplace of their new flat.
"Pretty much." Molly Weasley responded with a frown.
"We should write to Ron. I want to know what actually happened. I imagine that that livened up the exam somewhat. Hell hath no fury like McGonagall scorned." George quoted the Gryffindor in-joke at his brother. Fred nodded in agreement with a smile but before he could say anything else was interrupted by his mother.
"Will you two listen to me? This is serious – she was hit by four stunning spells at once." Both their faces fell. They had assumed that what they had heard of the story had been somewhat exaggerated, but it seemed in fact that the exact opposite was true. That was more than enough to 'half-kill' their head of house. "And then that, that…woman, she left her there on the grass! In the middle of the night! If it hadn't been for the fact that there were so many people awake to witness it I don't want to think…" She trailed off obviously trying to hold back her tears.
"Don't worry Mum. The professor's tougher than she looks. I'm sure she'll be back on her feet before you can say 'Extra Transfigurations homework'." George said in a much softer voice than previously.
"I spoke to Poppy and Rose Sprout earlier this afternoon." She continued obviously not taking much comfort from what he had to say. "Apparently they were all called to the staff room and told quite explicitly by the Headmistress that they weren't aloud to visit her at St Mungo's and that she was ashamed that one of her staff felt the need to behave so immaturely. I mean there are many words that I would chose to describe Minerva, but I'm quite certain that nobody could justly call her that! And we can't get a hold of Dumbledore, and he'd want to know and there's no one there for her and your father and the rest of the Order can't go because Fudge" she almost spat the name " is watching them like a hawk and Poppy said that it probably wouldn't be a good idea if Alistor or I went 'cause we've both just gotten over really bad colds and…" She was sniffing and wiping at her eyes now.
"Mum! Will you calm down?" Fred interrupted his mother's flow of worlds. "Getting worked up isn't going to help anyone. I'm assuming that Hagrid's going to join Professor Dumbledore in hiding so he'll hear what happened last night soon enough."
"Not all of it. Anyway, she just shouldn't have to be alone at a time like this…She must be so scared…It's just wrong!" Fred had never really associated their Transfigurations professor with the normal gamut of emotions that regular people experienced. He wasn't entirely sure why, as he had seen plenty of flashes of what went on under that steely mask over the last few years, such as when she had come to find them after Ginny's dissapearance, or on the many occasions when one or other of her students had been victimised or found themselves in danger. But in any case the image that his mother had conjured left him somewhat shaken.
"How about if we go and pay her a visit?" Asked George seemingly waking both his mother and brother from their thoughts. "Well it makes sense doesn't it? Our jobs aren't at risk and in any case what could they do about us going to visit a former teacher?"
"Would you really?" She asked earnestly.
"Of course we would." Fred reassured her.
"I don't know… I can't tell you what kind of state she'll be in." She needn't have said this – it was almost unheard of that Madame Pomfrey would relinquish her charges to the care of the hospital and if she had done so, it didn't bode well for the individual.
"I really appreciate you boys doing this but you have to realise that this is not just another opportunity for practical jokes."
"Mum!" George responded shortly. "You did bring us up reasonably well. We do have some manners and a fairly well developed sense of what's right and wrong and most of the time, what's appropriate." It seemed that the news that Professor McGonagall was going to be receiving at least one visit in the near future had put their mother in a better mood as she smiled at this.
"That's good to know. Just, just make sure she knows that we're all thinking of her."
It was almost nine o'clock when their mother left them be a few minutes later and it was an easy decision to postpone their visit until the morning. Neither of them were sure what kind of state they would find their former head of house in, but they doubted that she would be awake and were fairly certain that they wouldn't be allowed in to see her this late anyway. The decisions the following morning seemed a little more complex.
"There is nothing wrong with chocolate frogs!" Protested Fred vehemently.
"I'm not saying there is," countered George. "I'm just saying she's not a teenager and I think she would be more likely to appreciate flowers."
"I can't believe we're having this argument! It's like we're about to go on a date or something." Fred pointed out and they both shook their heads and smiled at this thought.
"I'll tell you what – how about you take the frogs and I'll go find a nice bunch of fresh flowers?" He was well aware of the fact that he could have conjured a bunch in the blink of an eye but he could hear his mother's voice complaining that they just didn't smell like the real thing.
"Sounds like a plan brother dear, and a not half bad one at that." George shook his head again at this; sometimes he found it hard to believe that he shared a genetic code with this guy. Five minutes later they were walking down Diagon Alley, gifts in hand, toward the apparent location of the wizarding hospital. Neither of them had ever had cause to visit the institution before the previous Christmas when their father had been admitted, and then they had entered by the muggle entrance. So although they knew the area reasonably well as it was close to the Ministry, which they had visited many times, they had to check the signpost for directions before they arrived at their destination. (This was after a slight detour, as it seemed the lamp-post was in a mind to play tricks and send everybody in a circle before telling them what they really wanted to know). The streets were fairly quiet, as they had missed the early morning office traffic but had gotten out before the shops were really busy, and the reception of St Mungo's reflected this as the walked through the large oak doors. The sight they were faced with was, slightly surprisingly, very similar to the one they had found on their first visit, despite taking what looked like an entirely different way in. George was about to comment on this when a horrific sound somewhat resembling that of a large quantity of Filibusters best fireworks being set off right next to your ears rang through the reception area. It didn't take long to identify where the sound had come from though, as everyone in the room was staring at the petite woman sitting in the waiting room who quite obviously had just sneezed into her lacy handkerchief.
"Thorry." The woman said thickly looking distinctly embarrassed.
"Forth floor." Said a mediwitch in lime green, as she passed, never taking her eyes off of the pile of charts that she was carrying.
"Hmmm." Fred said aloud. "I wonder how she managed that?" George more than recognised the look on his brother's face. That indeed would be an interesting symptom to try and integrate into their growing stockpile of ideas. But the present task returned to the forefront of his mind as quickly as it did to Fred's as he quickly changed tact.
"Where do you recon they'll have her, with the others who have been attacked by animals or in spell damage?"
"I suspect we're headed to the forth floor too." He replied pointing out a set stairs that had a big sign hanging above them pointing the direction to As they climbed up, George couldn't help but let his worry escalate a little in accordance. "Do you, do you think she really will be ok?" He asked as they took a turn off the stairwell.
"I don't know." Came the reply as Fred slowed a little toying with the box in his hands. "But I expect so. You were right. She's tougher than she looks and these people are good. No doubt she'll be back at Hogwarts making them all catch up on all the homework they'll have missed out on before the end of term." He had to smile at this and if he was honest he would have to agree that that sounded probable, but he couldn't shake the unpleasant feeling that there was more to this than they knew. "George?" Fred continued. "Do you have a funny feeling about this?" He didn't even need to nod in the affirmative when he looked at his brother's face.
"Well..." was all he said as he gestured that they should continue in the direction of the mediwitch's station at the near end of the ward. Before they got there though, a somewhat familiar voice called to them from behind.
"George? Fred?" They both turned to see a young witch hurrying down the corridor towards them.
"Samantha?" Fred asked as she drew near and slowed down.
"The one and only." She replied with a smile. If he remembered correctly she had been a Hufflepuff a couple of years above them. "I heard about your rather dramatic departure. Well everyone did – that was the stuff of legend."
"Thanks. You working here now?" George asked, regarding the somewhat garish colour of her robes.
"Uh huh, as a trainee at the moment. I still have another year to go. I'm just on placement at the moment but it's great. I'm really enjoying it."
"Hey, maybe you could help us. Do you know where we could find Professor McGonagall?" Fred asked. Her smile faded at this though and she began to fiddle with her cuff.
"I'm sorry, I can't …I can't tell you." She said quietly her eyes averted.
"Why not? Are we not allowed to see her or…?"
"No it's not like that. I didn't mean for it to come out like that." She seemed to be getting progressively more worked up about this. Fred risked a glance at his brother and saw only the same growing concern mirrored in his face. "I…. I don't know where they took her."
"Who took her?" He asked.
"I don't know! They were officials though. They showed Mary some papers or something and she tried to tell them that…that …that…"
"Tell them what?" George urged gently placing a hand on her arm.
"That she wasn't well enough! I mean she was doing much better than we could have expected." A small smile slid across her face at this, even though she seemed on the brink of tears otherwise. "She was even putting up protests about being kept in bed. But they were, they were token! She could barely stand when they swept in here and bundled her off!" The knot in George's stomach dropped with the weight of lead.
"When? When did this happen?" He asked.
"Beginning of my shift." Samantha replied, surreptitiously wiping her eyes on her sleeve. "Must have been about seven o'clock. Look, I know that she was head of Gryffindor, but you should know that she had all of our respect and our loyalty." Fred thanked her, though George couldn't help feel affronted by this reference to the professor as if she were already dead.
"Here, I'm sure you ought to be able to find a good home for these." George said, handing her the flowers before Fred did the same with the chocolate, and they both turned and left. They walked quickly and in silence until they reached the ground floor once more.
"This way?" Fred asked indicating the corridor with the sign reading 'Apparition point'. George nodded and they took the turn. A few moments later they both appeared in the middle of the kitchen in The Burrow and simultaneously called, "Mum!"
A/N As always feedback is warmly received and all due credit goes to Maria my beta (even if she is biased toward cheeses of Greek origin lol)