Author's Note: Well seems this won't be a one-shot. Thanks for the review Imagen99!
Appearances can be deceiving at the best of times, the presentation of a united front when really the one person who you love with all your heart is actually stone-walling you for being absent for fifty years; well if she was honest did she really expect anything less from Minerva McGonagall? No, in truth she didn't but it still hurt none the less and the despite the smiles she gave Hermione Granger, Amelia Grey still had a lot of making up to do before Minerva would even consider entering a relationship with her again and not even the upcoming battle against He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named would sway the proud Minerva McGonagall into action any quicker.
Walking briskly down the corridors of Hogwarts and away from the Great Hall in which she had been entertaining students with wondrous tales from her time at the Ministry, Amelia made it out of the oppressing castle and into the school grounds wishing she had a broomstick with her so she could feel the wind in her hair for a couple of hours but that luxury was elsewhere and would involve her leaving Hogwarts to retrieve it and leaving Hogwarts was out of the question at this moment in time for she had to prove to Minerva that she was hear to stay despite the demanding letter she'd received that morning from the Ministry which had subsequently ended up in the fire.
Her walk took her back to the edge of the lake where she had apparated to the night before in her attempt to escape the Death Eaters that were chasing her, Hogwarts had been the only place she could recall being a safe haven away from He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and for some reason her mind had taken her there as she apparated away from the Death Eaters, when the house-elf had appeared she directed him to the only person who would want to see her; the mention of being covered in mud a reference to a photograph Minerva had taken after a particularly muddy Quidditch match and to her surprise Minerva had actually come and although things seemed to be going well but dawn's breaking light everything was back to square one with Minerva kicking Amelia out of her quarters causing her to walk the corridors of Hogwarts until breakfast was served in the Great Hall.
Amelia had sat at the Ravenclaw table engaging in a light hearted debate with the 7th year students on the finer points of Transfiguration, before the Owl from the Ministry had appeared dampening her mood considerably before she set the parchment on fire. She finished off her conversation and headed over to the Gryffindor table to thank Miss Granger for the night before only to sense Minerva glaring at her from the head table which unsettled her even more than the Ministry letter causing her to leave the Great Hall in a hurry.
And now by the lake, Amelia finally let go and sank to the ground. Exhaustion and a mild depression settling over her as she looked out toward the horizon, life hadn't been easy up to this point and it certainly wasn't going to get any easier over the coming year but she had a reason for living; the same reason that had been keeping her alive for the last fifty years and if it took another fifty to fully reconcile with Minerva then she'd let it but by Merlin she hoped it wouldn't take that long.
She closed her eyes and let the warming rays of the sun wash over her as it began to rise higher in the sky, it was always joy to be by the lake in the early hours of the morning and this morning was no exception but it was tinged with regret and sadness at the same time, Amelia hadn't noticed that someone had followed her from the Great Hall, until she felt a warm presence beside her; opening one eye she smiled softly,
"What brings you to the lake so early this morning Miss Granger, I seriously doubt that I am the reason unless that blasted Owl from the Ministry has enlisted your help in getting a letter to me." her tone whilst still soft held anger too and Hermione felt a little sorry for her,
"I don't have any letters with me, I came to see if you were all right? You might think your act fooled me but it didn't and I know that Professor McGonagall is still mad at you. I'm not the smartest witch for nothing you know." her eyes sparkled as she spoke which caused Amelia to grin involuntarily,
"I had a feeling you would figure it out sooner or later, I had hoped later but you are correct in surmising that all is not well between myself and Professor McGonagall but if I am honest with you Hermione, I didn't expect things to return to normal straight away but now she's stone-walling me and it hurts more than I thought it would." Amelia sighed opening her eyes and staring directly across the lake, "But enough about my troubles for it is far too early for you to be worrying about them, actually its not for you to worry about at all. What brings you down to the lake so early?" she asked the question again refusing to let Hermione off the hook to which the young witch just smiled at her,
"Its a pleasant morning, I thought I'd enjoy the rising sun at the lake before classes started." she frowned a little not wanting to lie to the older witch but unable to divulge what was troubling her, the school year would soon be at an end and depending on what happened throughout the remainder of the year she highly doubted that Amelia would be able to help. She wasn't part of the Order of Phoenix, despite her connections to Kingsley and Professor McGonagall so wasn't privy to the inner circle regarding He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and far be it for Hermione to tell a stranger what troubled her,
"Fair enough Miss Granger, I won't press the matter. I understand why you don't trust me; after all I'm pretty much a stranger and my only connection to you is Professor McGonagall but I will tell you one thing.." her voice trailed off for a moment as she lifted the sleeve of her robe to reveal the words, 'Pureblood Traitor',
"No matter what happens, words do not define who you are. There are some very unkind Death Eaters out there Miss Granger who believe that muggle-borns don't deserve to have wands, they can be even harsher to Purebloods who defend such witches and wizards; but I urge you to remember these words if you are ever in a grave situation no matter what happens. You are the brightest witch of the age without a doubt, they can call you a mud-blood all they like but it will never define who you are. Words are meaningless for the most part which is why I'm not ashamed to carry these words, I would defend muggles, muggle-borns, witches and wizards until my dying breath against the Dark Lords followers for I will never believe that torturing or killing them is right." she smiled softly as she pulled her sleeve back down,
"If anyone asks Miss Granger, we never had this conversation and merely came down here to enjoy the scenery." and with those words Amelia rose to her feet and headed back towards the castle leaving Hermione both relieved and confused at the same time, just what had Amelia endured over the last fifty years and why had she felt the need to tell Hermione a small portion of it. The image of the words carved into Amelia's arm sent a shiver down her back, how could humans be so cruel to other human beings she wondered and what fate would befall her should she ever be captured by Death Eaters and that's when it hit her; the reason why Amelia had shared with her the words carved into her arm to make Hermione realise that no matter what happened from the moment those words were carved into Amelia they would never define who she was and should the same fate befall Hermione then Amelia wanted her to know that the term mud-blood would never define who she was in the wizarding world. With a smile, Hermione rose to her feet and headed back to the castle and her first lesson.