Hi guys! Sorry for the late update but now I'm on a role, I'm hoping to add a few more chapters in quick succession! Hope you are enjoying it, I would love to finish it, if you want it finished! (I have a good idea, at least I think it's good!) Thank you for all your reviews, it's lovely getting them and seeing that you are enjoying it! BTW- Obviously I don't own anything- keep forgetting to put it on top of the rest!

Seven:

1979

"Quite absurd! Absolutely ludicrous! At my age, such things are-"

"Oh, stop!" Poppy Pomfrey exclaimed. "Minerva, it isn't absurd, you know that. Your quite capable at other things, so why shouldn't you be capable of this?" Poppy grinned.

Minerva rolled her eyes. "Don't be crude, Pomfrey, it doesn't become you," she retorted dryly. The truth was that Minerva was terrified. Faint memories, that she had tried so hard to push away came back, filling her with pain and dread. The darkness of their world suddenly become a huge threat when before it had been a worry- a worry for other people, certainly not herself, for she had Albus- and she was... old. There was no denying it. She was old. At forty- four, she was no longer as lean as she had been and her hair was not as dark and shining. She had mastered the art of hiding her greys by sweeping her hair at a different angle into her bun.

"Don't get snarky with me, just because your scared."

Minerva shot her an icy glance. "I'm not scared-"

"Well, you should be, that would be a normal reaction... after last time."

"Don't! Don't talk about it," Minerva said closing her eyes. Poppy was dear to her, after everything that had happened, but she was so open, especially when it came to feelings, and that frightened Minerva, who regarded feelings as something private... rather a taboo subject.

"I'm sorry, dear," Poppy said and she wrapped an arm around Minerva's thin, tensed shoulders. "Come now, your going to be fine. Your not old, never! I don't regard myself as old so you absolutely cannot be!"

She arched an eyebrow. "Believe what you will, my deluded friend. I see the world for what is it-"

"-Too much-"

"-That is your opinion. Thank you for your time. You should get back to your students, I want them back in my lessons as soon as possible..." she rushed from the infirmary, angry because she was about to burst into tears. She was not one to be given to weeping but she felt that she was going to succumb to it- and there was no where to hide. There were no empty classrooms in this corridor, no curtains to hide behind- she would have to rush back to her rooms and hope that Albus wasn't there. She didn't want to be questioned, she didn't want to talk, to believe-

She had no luck for as soon as she closed the door she heard him humming lightly, as he did when he was working in front of her fire. He grinned at her as she walked in, trying her hardest to conceal her feelings, but his face fell when he looked into her face properly and he was at her side within moments.

"What's wrong? Had something happened? The Weasley's... Potter's? Aberforth?"

"No, no, it's nothing like that," she said quietly. She wanted to think of a lie quickly but she could not. She sighed. "No one is hurt, they are quite safe. He has been rather quiet these few months... it's unnerving."

"Your quite safe, my dear," He replied sternly. "Always, I will not let anything happen to you."

"I know."

"Good," he paused for a moment. "Now, what is wrong with you?"

Minerva shook her head. "Why... Why can I not have my own mind? My own thoughts? Why must you know everything. You may as well use the powers you have to read my mind, it would save my breath."

"You can have your own mind! Do not make me out to be as... as bad as the Malfoy's to their wives. I simply wish to know what you are thinking for it is distressing you so and I want to help."

"Why?"

"Because, when you became my wife, you allowed me to help you in everything that should be uncomfortable for you."

"I see, though I saw no such clause on the contract-"

"Don't change the subject!" He smiled. "You forget, my dear, that I have been married to you these past twenty years, I know exactly what you are doing."

Minerva sighed. "I wish you didn't," she said. "I have some... strange news. I did not think- well, it is done now, Poppy assures me that I will be fine, she seems knowledgable enough, don't you think? Well, I suppose, but she is rather light headed, my mother would say that she had her head in the clouds, that the Sun was always shining in Poppy Pomfrey's world-"

"Your doing it again."

"Fine! Fine!" She cried irritably. "Despite my increasing age, despite the mess I made of it last time, it seems, Albus, that you have managed, well frankly, you have managed the impossible. I am going to have a baby."

Albus paled. Minerva had to admit that she expected a rather foolish school boy grin from Albus and the deathly white of his face frightened her. She hoped he weren't having a heart attack- or some sort of stroke!

"Albus, I know it's a shock, but could you speak to me-"

"Minerva. This can't happen. You don't- it isn't safe..."

"Poppy says I'll be fine. I was last time, she says it won't end like that... that I will more than likely carry it to full term... it won't be like our son, Albus, this child will be alive."

Albus shook his head. "It isn't that," he said quietly. "When it happened last time, I understood that you were too scared to try again-"

"I wasn't scared!" She protested. "It wasn't practical."

"You may carry on with your excuse but I know the real reason. I know that you were scared and I accepted that we would not have a family. You are all I need, more than I deserve... but that would have been the best time. We were safe then, the children would grow up in safety but, my dear, we are targets and our child- the blood of Dumbledore and Minerva, the greatest witch of her time, the lost love of Tom Riddle, will be- can you imagine?"

Minerva's heart was pounding. She felt faint. She had never thought of it like that- she had only been shocked, slightly irritated that she were so old to have her first child- she had never thought about the fact that it's father was Albus Dumbledore. Voldemort would have his Death Eaters come for the child before it was wrapped in a towel and Albus would defend it to the death- Albus would put himself in danger, Albus would die... her child would die.

"How has this happened?" She cried.

Albus raised his brow. "If you need me to answer that then I'm afraid that I could not have made the proper impact."

"Don't be so childish! Not in this situation- oh, God, Albus, what are we going to do?"

"I don't know, my dear."

"We can have him be a sitting duck. I won't let them- I'll lose everything, everything I've ever had, ever wanted-"

"I wish I could give you everything you wanted. I wish that I could keep you safe... the both of you when the time comes, but, I don't know how long I can fight Riddle for. He's more powerful than I ever, with the weakness of you and the child... I can't trust in my ability to keep him away." He hung his head defeatedly.

"Oh, Albus! This is entirely my fault! I thought I was too old to conceive, I still think I'm too old! If you were to fight, you know I would too, I couldn't live without you- what can we do about this? What is to be done?"

Albus shrugged. "There is only one thing, my dear, only one sane thing that I can think of. It is not completely safe, it has it's dangers but, if we were to pull it off... even if something happened to us, the child would be safe."

"What is it?"

"We give the child to a muggle family. Two people who know nothing about us, what we are, who we are. A couple who can love the child, Riddle will never think that we could do such a thing- he doesn't understand the need to protect when it comes to love. We will see it when... when it comes to school."

Minerva nodded solemnly. She knew that he was right. It had to be done. Damn Riddle, she was so angry she felt that she could kill him right now, by herself with only her thin hands. "I could kill him! Oh, Albus, why didn't you kill him when you had the chance? Damn him!"

"That will do no good, he is already damned by most of the world," Albus said quietly. "Now, my dear, do you understand that it must be done?"

"I do. Unlike you, I am ever practical. I hope that it may save me a little pain, just as your unpracticality will cause you more than it should. It will have to be... bearable."

"Yes, bearable."