Author's Note: I started writing this story when I was 13. I'm 21 now. And I still haven't finished it. It's almost adorable to think about, really. All these years, and Minerva/Rolanda is still pretty much my One True Ship.
I might as well give trying to finish this story another try. After all it's only been, what, nearly a decade now since I started? Pfft...
However. The years have meant that my ability to write has, hopefully, gotten better. As I looked over the story as it was, and as has been sitting here on the interwebs for years, I... found myself wincing more often than not. I was addicted to writing in the passive voice for a while there, apparently. So many characters running around "was"-ing all the time...
Anyway. I took down the story as it was and I'm editing, revamping, and generally just trying to make the thing a bit shinier. I'll repost chapters as I finish them and eventually, I hope to finish the thing with all new material.
Or, y'know. Maybe in another decade I'll come back for another try...
Chapter 1: To the Death
"STUPEFY!"
From darkness, a jet of red light blasted into the back of a Death Eater. The person who had cast the spell hadn't even stopped running. Her robes billowed about her feet as she sped down the corridor and twisted around a corner.
The woman stalled for the smallest of moments, her yellow, hawk-like eyes flashing over the chaotic scene before her. The same eyes narrowed as she raised her wand again.
"Impedimenta!" She didn't even bother to see if she'd hit anyone; she'd already thrown herself into the heat of battle.
Dodge a curse. Throw a curse. Dodge a curse. Throw a curse.
This was just like Quidditch, she thought. Dodging, weaving, moving, hitting. Bodies fell in crumpled heaps on the stone floor, the battlefield too dark to decipher whose deaths to mourn or whose to celebrate.
"ROLANDA!" someone called out above the noise of fighting.
The woman didn't hear it. Not at first. She was focused, shouting spells, jumping out of the way of curses thrown her way.
The voice yelled again, louder, closer. "ROLANDA XIOMARA HOOCH!"
This time the woman looked towards the voice. The sound of her full name seemed to jolt her mind from the heat of combat. She scanned the room, searching for the source of the familiar voice.
Minerva McGonagall had been backed into a corner of a crumbling wall, deep in combat with two hulking Death Eaters, her eyes boring desperately into the other woman's.
The yellow eyed woman, who answered to the name of Roland Xiomara Hooch, practically flew towards them.
"Petrificus Totalus" she yelled. Instantly, one of the Death Eaters fell to the floor, stiff as a wooden board.
The other Death Eater turned toward her quickly, his fist curled around his stubby wand so tightly it looked like he might snap it in half. He cast a curse, which Rolanda barely dodged. It grazed her shoulder, but she couldn't even spare the time it would take to wince.
Working together, she and Minerva finally managed to knock the Death Eater out. As he hit the floor hard, kicking up yet more dust into the already murky air, Rolanda made the last few steps to get within speaking distance of Minerva.
"What the hell is going on?" she demanded.
"I don't know!" cried Minerva, "I don't even know where Albus is!"
"Well," Rolanda cast a jinx in the direction of a running foe, "then I think we 'ought to go alert the old man to the castle's current state of affairs, shouldn't we?"
Minerva merely nodded. The two retreated from the destroyed room in step with each other.
Suddenly, they spotted a few fighters who stood shorter then the rest.
"My god!" yelled Minerva, moving faster, "There are students out here in this!"
Rolanda sped up to keep pace with the taller woman. "You stay with the students, I'll find Albus." She turned to bound off in the other direction when Minerva caught her by the sleeve.
"No! You know that You-Know-Who ordered this! He's probably sent the bulk of his forces after Albus, you can't fend them all off by yourself!"
Rolanda jerked her sleeve free from the animagus' grasp. "We can't just leave them here. They're only kids!"
Minerva winced at the thought. On any normal day, she would have agreed with the flying instructor, but this was no normal day and Albus was their best bet at getting through this.
"They aren't first years. They'll be able to hold their own for a time. Besides, the fight is winding down here." said Minerva quickly, already speeding away from the scene.
Rolanda glanced back at the students, hesitating for a long moment before following suit.
Taking off down a corridor, the pair made for Dumbledore's office as quickly as they could. In the full karma of things, they were almost completely across the castle from it. They made use of every shortcut they could think of.
As they cut across a courtyard, Rolanda suddenly became aware of voices drifting down from a tower overlooking the area. She slowed her run and finally stopped, head tilted upwards toward the tower.
"What're you do-" Minerva began before Rolanda's hand shot over her mouth.
"Shut up!" whispered the shorter witch before pointing towards the tower with her wand. "Listen!"
Minerva removed Rolanda's hand from over her mouth before complying, following Rolanda's gaze to the high tower.
Voices were defiantly coming from the top. It sounded like a heated discussion.
"One of them sounds like... Albus?" whispered Minerva quietly.
They could only make out a few scattered words. Some voices seemed familiar to them, others sounded completely unfamiliar.
Suddenly they heard a loud shout, loud enough for them to immediately recognize the voice's owner, but the words they heard were ones they never thought they would ever hear from him.
"AVADA KEDAVRA!"
A green flash enveloped the entire courtyard, shading everything in sight emerald for a second in time. They watched helplessly as a body flew from the top of the tower, gravity pulling it to the ground, limbs flailing without their owner's consent.
The body hit the ground in the middle of the courtyard with a sickening thud.
Its identity was unmistakable.
The two teachers hadn't been the only witnesses to the headmaster's fall. A few other passersby had also been subjected to the scene. They, in turn, rushed off in search of others to inform of the news.
Within seconds, Minerva started running to the man's side. "ALBUS!" she cried, trying to convince herself that the entire ordeal was nothing but a dream.
Rolanda hadn't taken in a single breath since the Headmaster hit the ground. As her lungs propelled her to suck in new, life-giving air, her senses washed over her as well. She tore after Minerva, who was all but near throwing herself down over Albus' body.
"W-what do we do?" Minerva sobbed, her suddenly rampant emotions destroying her usually steely desposition. "Do we-should we get Poppy-" she began to bend down towards the body.
"There's nothing we can do..." Rolanda cut her off, grabbing Minerva's shoulders from behind to keep her upright while audibly struggling to keep her voice level, "H-He's... gone."
Minerva wavered on her feet for a few more moments. Then she turned around and looked at Rolanda, watery eyes searching the yellow ones before her for what, she couldn't be sure, before tearing away and barreling off in the opposite direction, unable to bear standing so close to Albus' body.
Rolanda didn't even try to stop her or go after her. Already, a crowd formed around Dumbledore's body, for apparently the fighting had ended and the news traveled fast.
Rolanda backed away slowly. It was all too much. Some people had fallen to their knees in grief, others yelled out at nothing in particular, no one able to conceive the fact that the greatest hope of ever defeating the Dark Lord had just fallen from a tower, dead before he hit the ground. Hagrid was even among them, visible over the heads of those in front of him, huge tears running through his beard.
The flying instructor retreated until she reached the edge of the courtyard, then she punched a nearby wall hard with her fist in frustration, ignoring her knuckles screaming their protest of the action by sending a sharp pain up her arm. She glanced around and noticed a lone figure leaning on a ruined griffin statue for the very support of standing.
"God, Min..." Rolanda whispered.
The Transfigurations professor hardly looked herself. Her shoulders slumped and shook and tears rolled down her cheeks unchecked and unmeasured.
She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see who it was.
Rolanda's spiky hair was unmistakable to her, even in the darkness that had overcome the castle.
"T-tell me that didn't just happen. Tell me that any second Albus is going to walk out of his office and inform us what nasty flavored Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Bean he got most recently." Her voice sounded unsteady and soft.
Rolanda had never seen Minerva like this, never in all the years since they attended to school together. It scared her even more then Voldemort's Dark Mark in the sky.
She swallowed hard and tried to find her voice. "I... can't..."
Minerva slumped further, barely able to keep her footing. Rolanda caught her and pulled her into a tight hug, not knowing what else to do. Minerva held onto the shorter woman like a lifeline, sobbing quietly into her shoulder. Rolanda just held her close, holding her own tears down with effort.
After a while, Rolanda pulled Minerva up and looked at her. "We can't loose ourselves now, Minerva." she said with all the strength she could muster, "They need you now more then ever." She motioned towards the crowd around Dumbledore's body. "The school needs you. The Order needs you. You have to stay strong."
Minerva shook her head and looked down. Rolanda placed a hand on her cheek and made her look back up. "Talk to Potter. I heard rumors that Albus took him off somewhere not to long before-" she faltered, "Before all this went on."
Minerva nodded and stepped away from the flying instructor, attempting to straighten her robes and hair.
Rolanda attempted a smile, "Now you're looking more like yourself."
Minerva tried to smile too. It didn't entirely work. "Thanks for... being here." She said gratefully.
"Anytime." Rolanda answered simply.
Minerva sidestepped past the grey haired woman and made towards the crowd, her footing still a bit shaky. Rolanda stayed behind, not wanting to go near anyone, not yet. She walked around to the other side of the stone statue, where no one would see her, and slumped against it, her knees finally giving beneath her. She looked up towards the star filled sky, then back down at the ground. A few tears slipped from her eyes and ran down her face.
