The door had barely snapped shut behind them before the awkward silence began. Minerva shuddered as her breath danced before her eyes; the room was absolutely frigid. "I'm not in here often," he said in way of an explanation. With a wave of his hand, the fire sprang to life, roaring and filling the room with much needed warmth.
Minerva looked around the circular room, and for the first time since her fall, she felt at ease in her surroundings. While his office had been tidy, even spartan, in its decor, this room was all Albus. Burgundy wallpaper carpeted the walls, and the familiar spinning objects that usually adorned his office, now sat, waiting, in what she could only assume was his private chambers.
There was one difference; there were no photographs on his walls. There were no reminders of friends, family, not even his favorite landscape of the Dover cliffs. For some reason, this fact alone brought about a great and unending wave of pity for the shell of a man that sat beside her, staring intently.
He led to her the small love seat beside the fire before leaving her alone and walking through another door. When he returned, her breath hitched in her throat. He wrapped a tartan throw around her shoulders, one that looked remarkably like the one currently hanging over the back of her favorite chair.
Watching her face, Albus sat down beside her and wrapped her hands between his larger ones. His hands atop of hers were warm, gentle, just as she remembered them, even if the silver ring with the Ministry's symbol at its center practically railed against the familiarity. She watched, fascinated, as his thumb automatically began to rub small, light circles on the back of her hand just as he had always done.
Even with all she had seen, and all he had said, Minerva couldn't contain the thrill that shot down her spine at his touch"I had to have something," he said, answering her unasked question, carefully avoiding her gaze by staring into the fire. "When you..she died, I had to have something, anything that would keep her with me. Without it, all of those years were nothing but a dream."
His hand ran through his short hair, making it stick up at an odd angle. "It just doesn't make sense, I don't understand how this," he emphasized with a waving hand, "can be possible. How Minerva?"
'How like him,' she thought wryly. 'A simple question for the most complex of questions.' She had spent years watching him, and had perfected the technique as well. "I don't have the foggiest."
There was no reaction; no twinkle, no hint of amusement anywhere to be seen. Instead, there was only ill concealed impatience. She dropped her gaze, and a light flush covered her cheeks. "I was walking from my office to the Charms classroom with a time turner in my hand. I had to stop and have a small chat with Peeves about the appropriate uses for facial hair. It was my fault really; I forgot the stairs were behind me, and when Peeves floated away, I took a step backward before turning. I fell, and when I landed the turner broke. When I woke up, I was here, wherever here is. All I know is I've moved four years into the future, and.." she paused, reaching forward, making him look at her. "I'm not impressed with what I see. Guards, body armor Albus, and what on earth was that monstrosity on the lawns? It looked like a firing range."
"It was," he said unapologetically. "How else would the students practice, and as for the guards and armor, things have changed." That hint of steel was back in his voice as he got to his feet and began pacing.
"Practicing," Minerva repeated, aghast, "What have you become?"
"Be careful Minerva; even with you, my patience has its limits. You would do well not to forget yourself."
"Oh I haven't, but it seems you have." Before she knew what was happening, Minerva found herself pressed firmly against the back wall, Albus utterly surrounding her.
"Do not dare lecture me on things you could never understand!" The cold fury from the other room was back in full force, and Albus was literally glowing with rage. He was shaking, his breath labored, while hers had stopped altogether, unable to leave her chest. Again silence reigned, Albus trying to reel himself in, and Minerva for the first time, truly afraid of him.
"Then make me understand," she finally managed to choke out. The steel faded away as pain took its place. He leaned closer, their noses almost touching, but not quite.
"Alright." He pushed away, but never took his eyes off of her. "She died. The final battle came and went, and..so did she. She was caught by Lucius Malfoy in the back. She was left, completely bloody, and face down in the mud for me to find. I did find her Minerva, and she died in my arms. I lost the only woman I've ever loved, and in that instant, I vowed to never let it happen again. Lucius had gone into hiding shortly after Voldemort fell, and it took weeks for me to locate him. Oh, but I did find him."
Albus eyes took on a far away glint, and a sadistic smile flitted across his lips. "You know, he screamed like a woman long before I finished with him. People were always skeptical when I said there were things worse than death, but Lucius knows from personal experience. He's spending the rest of his life at home, in all his comforts, relieving every one of his worst memories. The scourge of the dementors without the promised release of insanity. I could think of nothing more fitting. It didn't take long after that to round up the remaining Death Eaters. Rufus resigned shortly later in disgrace, and again, I was offered the Minister's position. There was no longer a reason for me to remain at Hogwarts, so I entered the election. The vote was unanimous Minerva. The people craved my leadership, and I gave it to them. I've spent the last four years rooting out corruption, eliminating poverty. I've bettered our world, even if there are those who do not approve of my methods. The people are happy Minerva, and the world is safe. No one ever has to lose a loved one as I lost you again. I will not apologize for doing what was necessary Minerva. I had thought she would approve; you always said that our world should be safer."
Minerva was numb. She had expended anything, everything but the words that slipped like honey from his lips. "Safer yes," she croaked, the rising bile burning the back of her throat. "But, not this, never this."
Her death had caused it all, her loss drove him to create the madness around them, and Minerva wanted nothing more than to leave it again. He had become exactly what he had feared, what he spent a better part of his life warring against, and it made her want to wretch.
She looked down at her hands, her thumb running along the non existent wound. 'Wait,' she thought, her mind beginning to work itself out of its shock induced stupor. The catalyst was impossible. There was no way for this to be real. She had survived the war, so this future couldn't be possible. But, then how did she end up here?
Minerva looked up, her eyes traveling from his boot clad feet, past the ridiculous chest plate he wore, and up into his eyes, and had to hold back a laugh despite herself. He looked exactly like a child playing dejected war hero. He was pouting, and his shoulders were slumped. Apparently, her answer wasn't what he wanted to hear.
Minerva couldn't bear to sit any longer and shot to her feet. She found herself behind the love seat, unconsciously putting distance between them. "Albus, I didn't die in the battle."
Albus recoiled as if slapped again, before viciously shaking his head. "No, you did! I was there; I held you." He began pacing before the fire, muttering to himself.
"Albus, I survived. It was the first of November, today, that I broke the time turner. I've been alive for the last week. Look at me," she demanded. Waiting for him stop, Minerva continued. "The question now, is how did I get here, and where exactly is here."
"Two excellent questions," he said, his voice slightly huskier than ususal. His pacing had stopped next to a straight backed arm chair, and he had its back clenched tightly beneath his hand. It seemed to come as no shock to him, but Minerva almost fell backward as the chair burst into flames underneath his touch.
"I've never heard of anything like this, have you?" she asked, never taking her eyes away from the smoldering chair.
Albus just shook his head while he extinguished the fire, before sending it away with a wave of his hand. He rubbed the side of his face before letting it drop, his chin resting on his chest as it tended to do when he was thinking. "No, but given that the grains were exposed to air, there's nothing we can be certain of at the moment."
He was going to continue, but Minerva interrupted him. "Why would air affect the device?" Albus was genuinely surprised by the question. He was sure that Minerva would have understood the delicate process that went into the devices construction, especially if she were allowing the students access.
"There's a reason that they've always been so heavily regulated Minerva. It takes an extraordinary amount of energy to create one, or I should say, the environment for one." Her brows knitted together in confusion. " It's not a simple matter of taking an hourglass, saying a few spells, and you can travel through time. The enchantments are placed on the grains themselves. For it to be effective, they have to be isolated from everything else. It's a vacuum Minerva. There is no air in the hourglass. When the vacuum is broken, all of that energy is released into the surrounding area. When you add the fact that blood also entered the mixture, I'm surprised you didn't blow up the school. The last time that the grains came into contact with air, we managed to lose half of muggle London to a massive fire. This would appear to be another side effect; one I much prefer."
Instead of blushing as he had hoped and expected, Minerva's skin paled slightly, and her eyes took on a sad, far off, look
"Alright," she said slowly, "it moved me forward, but how does that explain this?" she asked gesturing at him accusingly.
"You have managed to do what thousands before only dreamed of. You've moved sideways." There was a gleam in his eyes that she had never seen, and the intensity of it made her toes curl.
"For every choice we make, there is one that goes unexplored," he said quietly, slowly making his way toward her. He looked almost predatory, but Minerva couldn't back away. "You have found yourself in the land of your unexplored choices, another universe if that makes it clearer. In your reality, you survived, so my Minerva died. But," he whispered, trapping her against the back of his love seat between his arms, "for once, luck is with me, and I get a second chance. And, I don't intend to waste it."
She shuddered against him as he gently kissed the shell of her ear, and she felt him smile. Confusion and rage flowed freely through her, and refused to sit idly by. With a strength neither knew she possessed, Minerva pushed him away. "Don't," she hissed.
Shock quickly faded and hurt replaced it. "Don't you love me Minerva? She told me she did, and that couldn't have changed as well. I loved you for so long, and now you're back. Please," he was almost begging, his eyes pleading to hear those three simple words flow from her.
"I do love him, with all my heart." She put a hand up to stop his joyful advance. "I love my Albus. The kind hearted, loving man I know. And, I'm sorry, but you stopped being him long ago. I'm sorry."
He stared at her, his breath coming in short gasps and his eyes swirling with something Minerva couldn't identify. She watched as the swirling slowly faded back into the nothingness he was so good at projecting. "Well, that is bound to change, because there is nothing known that will take you back to him. You are here now Minerva, and this is where you will stay. Furthermore," he started, but was interrupted when an authoritative knock came from the other room.
"Enter," he growled, and one of the praetorian guards waked though. If he found anything odd in the situation, Albus standing over the frame of a trembling woman, he made no indications of it. With what Minerva was beginning to believe was a requisite bow, he spoke.
"I'm sorry to disturb you Minister, but there is trouble down in the green sector. Do wish for us to handle it, or would you prefer to see to it yourself. I know you are very busy."
Albus waved off the supposed concern. "No, we'll make an appearance." His eyes turned back to Minerva. "Would you like to take a tour Minerva? This will be your home; I wouldn't want you to get lost."
Straightening up, he held out his hand, but she just clenched her hands in front of her and walked toward the door. The praetorian made a move to stop her, but Albus stopped him. "No! This woman is to be shown the same respect and courtesy you show to me. Am I understood?"
"Yes sir!" Came the quick reply, before the guard stepped aside, coming to attention once again as Minerva passed by.
"I do so love a challenge," Albus grinned as he passed through the door.
A great fluttering could be heard, and a row of disjointed former headmasters made its way across Albus' wall before Armando was almost knocked from his chair by the intruder. "What in the.." he began.
"Headmaster," the panting figure of Elfric the Uncanny panted. "Sir, something's happened. It's Professor McGonagall."
Albus dropped the quill in his hand, splattering ink, as he stared up into the portrait. All sounds of chatter from the other occupants had ceased, and they all waited for his reaction. Time seemed to stop as images of her face that morning passed before him, and he almost couldn't bring himself to ask.
"What happened to Minerva? Is she alright?" His voice was hoarse, and his throat constricted as Elfric shook his head.
"I don't know sir. She fell down a flight of stairs, and she simply disappeared with a blinding flash."