"Mr Tibbles, stop it," the woman muttered, as a scrawny ginger cat attempted to claw at her ankles. The soft tap on the door sounded once more.
"Coming!" the woman cried out, distractedly, shaking her greying hair out of her face. "Coming!" Softly nudging the ginger cat into the kitchen, she wrenched the door open, still in her dressing gown and halfway through pulling curlers out of her straggly hair.
"Minerva!" Her visitor stood in the porch, concealed under a travelling cloak and looking as if she'd been awake all night.
"Arabella," Minerva nodded, looking slightly amused at the woman's appearance. "May I come in for a moment?" Arabella opened the door wider and beckoned her visitor inside.
"Of course, of course!" she trilled. "Excuse the attire, I've been dealing with the cats all morning. I've just been desperate to talk to someone, anyone, from the Order. I haven't heard a scrap of news, not with all these rumours flying about. Shooting stars down in Kent, well that had to be Diggle, don't you think? And those owls all over the place yesterday? Muggles even started to notice…"
"Arabella, we cannot do this on the doorstep," Minerva interrupted, a slight edge to her tone. "By all means, once we're inside…" Arabella shook her head and stood aside to let her guest pass into the hallway.
"Of course, course. What must you think of me? I've been so frantic here, you know, just me and the cats and…"
"Arabella, you're babbling," Minerva reminded her kindly as they sat in opposite armchairs in the living room. Minerva glanced around and wrinkled her nose.
"Tea!" Arabella blurted out. "Tea! You'll be wanting tea, my dear. I won't be a moment." But Minerva held up a hand.
"Arabella, it's fine. I'd rather explain everything first, if that's alright." Arabella nodded and suddenly, tears filled her eyes.
"Have you heard the rumours?" she asked Minerva, who nodded. "They can't be true, can they? Dumbledore hasn't alerted the Order yet."
"He plans to do so tomorrow," Minerva answered. "He wished to...to give everyone time to...celebrate with their families first." Arabella clasped a hand over her mouth.
"Celebrate?" she squeaked. "Minerva, you can't mean…?" But her visitor nodded sadly.
"The rumours are indeed true, Arabella," she confirmed. "You-Know-Who has vanished. We believe that he may even have been killed." Arabella did not seem very cheered by the news.
"But...the other part…" she muttered. "The part about the- about Lily and James…?" Minerva bowed her head.
"Regrettably true," she whispered, tears in her eyes too. Arabella buried her face in a handkerchief and it was not until a few minutes (and much nose-blowing and sobbing) later that Minerva finally continued.
"And that's also why I need to speak to you, Arabella. Your work for Dumbledore has only just started. This will be of the utmost importance."
Arabella dried her eyes and looked up at Minerva tearfully.
"What else is to be done?" she asked, her voice shaking. "Poor Lily and James and little Harry…"
"No," Minerva interrupted. "Harry is still alive." What sorrow there was present on Arabella's face turned entirely to shock.
"Still alive? Minerva, how can that-"
"- we don't know," she replied. "Harry is alive and last night, Dumbledore and I delivered him to Lily's sister and her family, just streets away from here." Arabella looked delighted.
"Harry Potter? Living around the corner! I'll finally get to meet that little boy…"
"Arabella, you mustn't let them, the Dursleys, know that," Minerva cut in, speaking the name Dursley as if spitting out a poison of some kind.
"But he really is the Boy Who Lived! Out of everything, I thought that rumour most unbelievable! He'll be celebrated forever!" Minerva nodded, looking grave.
"Exactly Dumbledore's fear, Arabella. He cannot grow up in our world, not with the finger-pointing and the head-turning and all the attention. He must stay here and he cannot know about You-Know-Who until he is old enough." After a brief silence, Arabella nodded her agreement.
"That poor little boy," she sobbed, dissolving into fresh tears. "He won't even remember his family, will he?"
"His aunt and uncle do not approve of magic," Minerva sniffed. "I doubt that they will bring him up in the same way as his parents would have done, or give him as much care as he deserves. But Albus believes that this is the only thing that we can do."
"What about Sirius Black and Remus Lupin? What about the Potters' friends?" Arabella demanded. "Surely Lily and James would have wanted their son raised by people who loved him?" Minerva's expression hardened.
"As we all know quite well, unjustly so or otherwise, the Ministry would never allow Remus to become Harry's guardian. And Sirius Black is...unavailable." Arabella wiped her eyes with the sodden handkerchief.
"And," she took a deep breath as her tears finally ceased. "Dumbledore sent you to tell me that I'm to keep an eye on Harry, didn't he?" But Minerva shook her head.
"No, Albus plans to visit himself with all the details." Minerva inhaled slowly. "I have something else for you, Arabella."
Minerva rose to her feet and the short woman copied her, walking around the coffee table apprehensively. Minerva drew her hand into her travelling cloak and pulled out something small from within, something that seemed at first glance to resemble a ball of fluff. Arabella gasped and burst into tears again. Minerva set the little bundle down on the floor and it became apparent that it was a tabby cat.
"There there, dear," Minerva wrapped an arm around her sobbing host. "It's going to be alright."
"How… where…?" Arabella wailed. Minerva smiled.
"Lily and James must have appreciated the gift because they said that if anything happened to them, you'd be the best one to inherit it." Arabella dabbed at her eyes. "I'm afraid I don't know its name," Minerva apologised. "But I'm sure you can come up with one?"
"No need," Arabella sobbed. "They called it Minnie- James told me that it looked just like you when you transform." Minerva laughed and brought a tissue to her own eyes.
"Of course he did," she murmured. "And I suppose-" she smiled "-there is a slight resemblance."
"I gave her to them as a kitten, after their last meeting," Arabella explained. "They were about to go into hiding and I didn't know where they'd be. Lily was noticeably pregnant by that time and I just wanted to give them something to remember me by. Lily loved her. She said that she reminded her of a cat she'd had when she was a small girl. James was pleased with her too; he laughed and decided to name her Minnie on the spot." Arabella blew her nose loudly. "That turned out to be the last time I ever saw them."
Minerva nodded sadly and patted Arabella on the shoulder.
"It was the last time for me, too."
"What do we do now, Minerva?"
"We do nothing," Minerva answered. "We go to the last Order meeting and we reflect upon everything that's happened. We have one final de-briefing and then, at last, we go back to our own lives."
"Back to our lives? I've almost forgotten what that feels like." Minerva smiled.
"We won't lose contact, Arabella," she promised. "The Order will stay in touch and if need be, in the future, we will reunite. I hear that Hestia Jones has already invited you over for Christmas."
"Yes," Arabella smiled. "I went to Lily and James's that first year that they were out of Hogwarts, do you remember? Lily insisted that I couldn't possibly spend Christmas alone and so I went round for dinner. It was the best 25th of December I'd had since I was a little girl." Tears filled Arabella's eyes again. "They would have made such a wonderful family."
"I know," Minerva agreed sorrowfully. "I know."
The tabby cat at their feet let out a pitiful mew and gazed up at the two women. Arabella reached down and picked her up.
"Come here, Minnie," she crooned. "I've got you now. You're safe here."
"I quite agree with James and Lily," Minerva smiled. "She couldn't have gone to a better home."
And, despite the ordeal that Minnie had been through over the last few days, she purred contentedly in Arabella's arms.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I know that Mrs Figg giving Lily and James the cat (and it surviving) contradicts slightly with my one of my other fanfics but my sister and I were discussing what we thought might have happened to Lily and James's cat in the end. We couldn't agree on one idea, so this is one of the possibilities that we came up with. It was my favourite idea too, so I decided to base this fic on it!