Minerva woke the next morning remembering that she had classes to teach. But she had a child to look after! She groaned, and buried her head under the pillows.
"Ma? Mama!"
She was out of bed in an instant. The fifteen-month-old was standing up in her cot, holding onto the safety rail and looking up at her with wide green eyes.
"Yes, Evie?"
"Hungry."
"Of course, little one."
She called the same house elf, and as they were finishing, Professor Dumbledore entered Minerva's quarters.
"Well, I must say that looks like fun," he announced with a chuckle, taking in the state of the walls. Minerva sighed, and with a wave of her wand, the mess was gone.
"Why are you here, Albus?"
"I was wondering what you had in mind for her care, considering you have classes today."
"Oh. Well, I- um, I just thought that I'd..."
"I would be delighted to look after her, Minerva."
Her face brightened. "Really?"
"Of course! After all, I did spend a little time with her before James and Lily went into hiding."
"Albus, is it normal for her to not worry about her parents? She hasn't cried once. I'm starting to worry."
"She's only a child, Minerva. She probably believes that her parents are away on holidays."
There was still a worried look on her face as she nodded.
"Now. Is she coming down to breakfast with us, or staying here?"
The Deputy Headmistress lifted the now clean child out of the high chair she'd transfigured the day before. "I believe Miss Potter will come down and join us."
She left to dress the baby girl and when they joined Professor Dumbledore outside, Evvin was very much awake, with a glamour on her forehead, and dark brown hair.
"Hush, Evvin. We're nearly there!"
"Walk?" asked Evvin. McGonagall glanced at Dumbledore.
"Well, put her down," he said enthusiastically. She frowned, and placed Evvin on the ground. She travelled a very wobbly four steps, and sat down. Albus swooped down on her, and she giggled.
"I don't think it's going to work, Albus."
"Right. On we go, then."
The students in the Great Hall were all talking about Voldemort's downfall. They knew not that the girl they were about to meet was, in fact, the girl they were talking about. They were simply overjoyed that Voldemort was gone. As the Headmaster and his Deputy walked into the hall, heads turned, and students nudged their friends. Professor Dumbledore remained standing while Minerva sat and placed Evvin in the small seat beside hers.
"I see that many of you have noticed our new arrival. Professor McGonagall's niece, Ava, has taken up residence in the castle. Now, I believe that breakfast is getting cold."
With that, the students returned to their food, still whispering amongst themselves.
"McGonagall has a niece?" was the general sentence heard throughout the hall. Many of them just shrugged, and the talk turned to classes. Little 'Ava' watched everyone in amazement with bright eyes. She had never seen so many people in one place before. At the same time, a majestic barn owl came fluttering down in front of Professor Dumbledore, dropping the letter on his half empty plate, directly between his scrambled eggs and mint humbugs. The crest on the letter represented the Ministry of Magic, and he opened it immediately.
Dear Professor Dumbledore,
I am sure that you have heard of the occurrence at the Potter residence three days ago. I write due to the fact that we have been unable to locate Miss Lijevvin Potter. Her presence has been undetectable to the Department of Wizarding Whereabouts since Halloween. I ask that you write back immediately concerning her location and to organise a time to plan the search for the Girl-Who-Lived.
Yours sincerely,
Cornelius Fudge
Minister for Magic
Order of Merlin 3rd Class
That was when Albus Dumbledore realised he'd forgotten one important detail - to inform the Minister that Lijevvin was alive. He passed the letter down to Minerva and she quickly had to hide a grin as she read it.
"Trust Albus," she thought.
All too soon, breakfast was over, and the students slowly disappeared to their various classes. Minerva left her little girl with Albus, and went to prepare for her first class.
Time passed quickly at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and 'Ava McGonagall' soon settled in. Her adoptive mother and grandfather developed a routine. Evvin would get her breakfast, and then Albus would escort Minerva and the glamoured 'Ava' to the Great Hall. After her own breakfast, Minerva would leave to teach her students, and Evvin would be left with Albus. They would have lunch together, and split up again. Minerva would collect her adopted daughter at the end of the day, and have dinner in her quarters, occasionally with Albus.
Christmas was at Hogwarts before they knew it. One day, when Minerva entered the Great Hall for lunch, she was hit by a snowball from the Gryffindor table. She saw a flash of red hair duck under the table and hid a smile. She marched over to her lions and stood behind the now empty seat.
"Mr Weasley. Please explain."
The red hair slowly rose from under the table, and Bill Weasley's face was nearly identical in colour.
"I wasn't aiming for you, Professor, I swear! I was aiming for Mrs Norris and you walked in at the exact wrong time," he stammered out.
"I'm sure you were. Which is why I am asking you to get out from under the table and eat your breakfast."
His eyes widened as their normally stern Head of House walked away to the staff table. His housemates gathered around him to discuss the changes in their Head of House.
Albus chuckled when Minerva sat down and reached for her daughter. She glanced at him.
"What?"
"I saw that, Minerva."
Her nostrils flared.
"You are going soft."
"I am not!"
He just looked at her, eyes twinkling.
"Oh, well, maybe I am. Is it really a problem?"
"No. I just thought I'd bring it up."
Minerva frowned, and poured herself some pumpkin juice.
"Albus, it's Christmas soon."
"Really? I didn't notice."
"Albus," Minerva groaned. He looked at her innocently.
"Yes?"
"Never mind. I just don't know what to get Evie."
"Get her something she can treasure. Do you have a good photo of Evvin and her parents?"
"Yes, I do... Where is this going?"
"Buy her a locket, either a necklace or a bracelet. Bring the photo to me and I'll charm it into one half of the locket."
"And the other half?"
"When she is older, we'll take a 'family photo', of sorts, of the staff."
Minerva felt like kissing him, she was so relieved.
"Thank you, Albus."
"Well, Charms always was one of your weaker subjects."
"Hey!" She slapped his arm. "What did I say about you?"
The child in her arms looked up at her sternly. "Not sposed to hit."
She looked down at the child equally as stern. "I think that he deserved it, don't you?"
After a moment's thought, Evvin nodded seriously.
Albus sighed dramatically. "Woe is me. Picked on and beaten up by the women in my life."
Minerva raised her eyebrows. "Well, you asked for it!"
"I don't recall asking for you to h- ouch! Stop it!"
"Stop talking, then." Minerva lifted the jug of pumpkin juice to fill her goblet and Evvin's cup.
"Fine. I will," he said indignantly.
The next weekend Minerva took Evvin in to Muggle London, to find a locket. She had decided on a necklace, thinking that it would be easier to hide if she didn't want anyone to see the photos - especially when they added the staff 'family' photo.
She found an oval shaped gold locket on a fine but sturdy chain. The engraving was simply but elegant, and she purchased the locket immediately. She gave it to Albus when they arrived back at Hogwarts and got it back the next night. Minerva opened it and smiled when the moving photo of Lily, James and baby Evvin was projected in the air above the locket.
"It's perfect, Albus. Thankyou."
"Not a problem Minerva."
The locket was soon wrapped and hidden in Minerva's closet, waiting for Christmas.
Meanwhile, the little girl could sense the excitement in the air as it drew nearer and nearer to Christmas. She didn't understand why, because she had only been five months old at her first Christmas. This year, however, she knew that something was going to happen.
One morning they went down to breakfast and the hall was almost completely empty. Evvin was a bit confused at this, and was less chirpy than normal. She turned to her Ma.
"Mama, where ev'wyone gone?"
"They've gone home, little one. To be with their families."
"Oh," she replied solemnly. "Why?"
"It's Christmas soon, Evie."
"Oh. When? What Cwismas?"
"Next week. It's a time when everybody celebrates, and everyone gives each other presents."
"Pwesents?"
"Yes, Evie, presents," she said with a laugh. The little girl laughed and clapped her hands.
"Uncle Pafud gave me bwoom for birfday."
"A broom? Really? Well, we'll just have to get you another for your birthday, won't we?"
Evvin's face fell. "Only for birfday?"
"Well, I already have something for you for Christmas, sweetheart."
"Oh." She smiled again. "That ok then."
Minerva shook her head, with a wry smile on her lips. "Just like your father."
On Christmas Morning Minerva was woken by an extremely awake 17-month-old.
"Ma wake up! Cwismas! We go see Gwampa now!"
"Evvin, go back to bed. Wait." Minerva sat up. "How did you get out of bed?"
"Bars went. Get up!"
"Evvin."
"Pwease?" The little girl looked at her with round, pleading eyes.
"Oh, fine. But before we see Grandpa we have breakfast."
Lijevvin frowned. "Ok."
The pair walked down to the Great Hall, where the remaining students and staff were seated. Evvin refused to eat until 'Gwampa' arrived, and then was too excited to eat as much as she normally did. When she had eaten what she thought was enough, Evvin turned to Albus.
"We go now, Gwampa?"
He looked down at her, eyes twinkling. "Allow your Ma to finish her eggs, child, and then we can go."
The girl giggled and turned to her Ma. "Mama, eat fast."
Minerva turned to look at her, eyebrows raised.
"Pwease?"
That caused Rolanda to snort into her pumpkin juice, and Pomona hid a grin beneath one hand.
"Evie, I'll be finished soon. Be patient."
Evvin frowned and crossed her arms. With a smile, Minerva returned to her eggs. Ten minutes later, a quiet voice asked, "Go now?"
Minerva placed her fork beside her now empty plate. "I suppose. As long as Grandpa doesn't object."
"Well..."
"Gwampa, pwease?"
"Oh, alright then." He stood and lifted her from the high chair. "Off we go."
A few minutes after they left the Hall, "Albus, be careful!" echoed in from the corridors. Several of the teachers giggled. Severus Snape snorted and decided to return to his quarters. The students just hid grins, hoping that the Headmaster would be in one piece the next day.
There you go. Chapter 2. Sorry about the wait, my internet was slightly haywire so it took a while to actually upload the chapter. :( anyway. I will respond to reviews when it isn't almost midnight here XD so yeah. Enjoy!
