Upon hearing Hermione's high pitched scream, Quinn bolted through the half open door, "Hermione! What happened?" Quinn asked slightly panicked, trying to fully take in the scene in front of him. He saw Hermione sitting on the tile floor, surrounded by blood and broken glass. holding a woman in her lap, "Holy crap Hermione, what happened!" Quinn shouted, crossing the room in two long strides his doctor instincts at last, coming to play.

"I have no idea, Quinn, you were there. I knocked on the door, Minerva told me to 'get out', I came in anyway and I found her like this! Quinn, she's bleeding, her wrist is bleeding!" Hermione replied, her voice urgent, and panicked despite the watery undertone, Quinn now noticed that Hermione was holding a blood tinged towel to the other woman's arm.

"Listen to me Hermione, I need you to go out to my truck and get the black bag from under the drivers seat, and Hurry." Quinn instructed calmly, kneeling down next to Hermione so he could continue with the task of applying pressure to the wound.

"Please Quinn, just tell me you can help her." Hermione choked, getting to her feet and heading toward the door.

"I won't be able to do anything else without the bag, I have to stop the bleeding and I don't want to risk shoving anymore glass into the wound"

Quinn replied, seriously. Looking up at his wife from his place on the floor, while pulling his belt off and tying it around Minerva's arm, forming a tourniquet.

An Hour and a half previously

Minerva awoke in a cold sweat, images of Albus swimming unceremoniously in her head. His smile, the way his sapphire eyes bore into hers during their many nights alone, when the conversation had run to deep and the silence would be welcome, she remembered everything about him. The way his melodious laughter seemed to fill the room, and how he made her whole world spin a little slower and her sun shine brighter when he looked at her in that special way, the look that made her want to laugh and cry at the same time, as if it had been reserved just for her.

Of course Minerva knew now that she would never see him again, she would never see his smile never hear his laugh, she would never again be able to scold him for his otherworldly sugar intake. The thought of this caused an unearthly rage to well up in Minerva's chest. causing her to bolt upright out of the bed, without the aide of the walking stick. She began ripping open the drawer of the dresser, pulling out the now practically empty liquor bottles only the dregs from the whiskey and smoking scotch remained.

"Why!" she screamed, hurling a heavy bottle at the wall, effectively shattering it.

"I loved you!" She shouted, throwing another bottle. Busted glass now covered every inch of the room, the table, the dresser, everywhere. There was nothing more for Minerva to do in this room and her rage still roared, before she knew it the bathroom door was open and she was standing in front of the mirror, her pitiful reflection shone in the splintered glass. Minerva's chest rose and fell as her anger began to subside, her dark dirty hair hung in limp knots, strands of it clung to her sweating forehead. Minerva lowered herself to sit in the corner of the room, she lowered her head in her hands, ignoring the warm wet feeling that ran down her arm, the knock on the door did nothing to move Minerva from her seat on the bathroom floor, "Go away, anyone who can call me 'Professor' Isn't someone I want to talk to." She said, just loud enough for the person on the other side of the door could hear.

" But please don't leave me." She whispered to an empty room.

Present time

!

"Go. Now." Quinn said, forcefully, trying to snap his wife out of the apparent shock.

He saw her blink five or six times, then she tore out the door and into the parking lot.

Hermione ran headlong into the parking lot her mind spinning, her hands shook as her fingers groped for the keys. Her hand closed over the key ring after moments of frantic searching, and she ripped open the driver's door. Promptly hitting the back of her head on the steering wheel as she dove under the seat and retrieved the bag. Then she spirited back toward the motel room, her footsteps died when she reached the open door. Quinn was sitting on the bed, next to an unconscious Professor McGonagall, the lampshade had been taken off the lamp that sat on the nightstand, it cast a yellow glow over the room.

"Quinn, I can't go in there." Hermione said, looking from Quinn to Professor McGonagall and the bloody towel on the floor, her voice quivering.

"Hermione, Love, I know this is hard for you but I still need the bag she's still bleeding pretty bad." Quinn said gently.

"I'll just slide it towards you then."

"Hermione, there's broken glass everywhere, you can't slide it across the floor."

"Alright, when you're right you're right." Hermione said, taking a few deep breaths then carefully walking toward him and handing him the beaten leather satchel her heart pounding in her chest.

"Good. Now I need you to do something for me." Quinn said, as if he were speaking to a small child " There isn't enough light in here , even with the lamp on. So I need you to come over here to the other side of the bed, and hold the flashlight so I can see to pull the glass out of her arm."

"Why can't you use the smaller one, the one that folds over your ear?" Hermione asked.

"Oh that doesn't work, and I didn't pack batteries that size." Quinn said, thinking fast.

"Okay." Hermione said, coming over to sit on the other side of her teacher and switching on the flashlight, holding it over Professor McGonagall's arm. Her stomach was still in knots as Quinn bent over the wound, small shards of glass were sticking out of the gash.

"Okay, now I need you to hand me a pair of gloves, the tweezers and some disinfectant , on a cotton ball.

"Okay." Hermione said, using her glove clad hands to rub an alcohol pad over the tweezers and soaking a cotton ball in it, before handing everything over to Quinn.

Quinn worked quickly, careful not to cause anymore glass to fall into the wound as he rubbed the cotton ball around the wound, before he began pulling out the small glass pieces with robotic precision, dropping them into a nearby trashcan. Soon Quinn had stitched the wound closed, it wasn't all that deep, and he turned to Hermione, "Looks like we got here just in time. Are you okay, I know this wasn't exactly what you expected when you thought of coming here."

"You're right, it wasn't but I'm okay, it's just…hard to see her like this." She whispered, her voice shaking.

"I know, what do you want to do now?" He asked, standing.

Hermione remained seated next to her teacher's head, untangling the black knots with gentle tugs of her fingers.

"I want you to go home, our children need at least one parent home with them." Hermione said, rising and wrapping her arms around her husband's neck.

"What? Are you planning on staying here?" Quinn asked, shock clear in his tone.

"Yes I am, after all we did to get here, not to mention what we found when we did, she needs me, Quinn." Hermione said, gazing toward the woman sleeping on the bed.

"Are you sure you want to stay here alone?"

"Go. Home. Quinn." Hermione said, emphasizing each word.

"Alright. Now I see why you wanted to drive separate cars!" Quinn said in that 'I think you're insane' tone. "I'll leave the bag here, just in case you need gloves or any of that stuff you made."

"Alright, and for the record, that stuff is called a potion, more specifically for the use of alleviating pain and easing hangovers." Hermione said, her tone matter of fact.

"Whatever." Quinn said, staring into her eyes.

"Oh and can you do something for me tonight?" She asked, sweetly. "Would you mind installing rails in the bathroom, the one that runs into the guestroom?" She asked, batting her eyelashes.

"Um…sure, wait a second…oh hell no!" Quinn said, dragging Hermione out the door.

"What the hell are you playing at!" Quinn asked.

"Look Quinn, what else am I supposed to do? I can't just leave her here!"

"I'll tell you what you can do, right here right now, nothing. Maybe pay for a couple of months here, it can't be that expensive right, but then after that you do nothing! You move on with your life!" Quinn said forcibly, willing his wife to see sense.

"I can't do that! Listen, please you said you trusted me, with you going back to work, we need someone to look after the boys and-"

"No Hermione, don't even say it the answer is 'No'"

"Why? Quinn, why!"

"I don't even know this woman! Frankly neither do you! It's obvious she has issues, issues that you cannot fix. I mean for all we know, she was trying to kill herself! So excuse me if I don't want someone with that kind of problem around our children! Or have you just stopped thinking about them!" Quinn said,outraged.

"What do you mean I've stopped thinking about them?"

"For the past week all you've thought about is her!" Quinn said jerking his head in the direction of the motel room.

"You know that's wrong! Now do me a favor, go home to our children! And install some bloody rails in the bathroom!"

Hermione turned back to the motel room and surveyed the room around her, apart from the glass that blanketed the room, clothes lay in piles throughout the room, Hermione couldn't tell the difference between the clean and the dirty. She

stood there in front of the door staring at the woman on the bed, making sure she was breathing more than anything, Hermione noticed how her clothes seemed to fall off her frail figure. Hermione allowed her gaze to travel to the overflowing trashcan taking note of the half eaten bits of food that were starting to grow fur.

Hermione figured she should clean this place up before she left at the very least, she didn't want to sleep in a mess like this. It made her wonder why her former Professor would choose to live that way, but then again, maybe she just couldn't handle it, it seemed like she couldn't handle a lot of things lately.

" I'm going fix this." Hermione muttered, before setting off to the front desk in search of cleaning supplies.

When Hermione entered the front office, she wasn't at all surprised to see Lacy behind the desk.

"So did things go okay between you and your friend?" She asked.

"I'm not so sure yet, you wouldn't happen to have any cleaning supplies would you, more specifically bleach?" Hermione asked.

"Let me check in the back." Lacy answered as she left the room.

Lacy came back a few minutes later, carrying a bucket and several bottles and rags.

"May I ask why you need bleach all of a sudden? Did something happen?" Lacy asked.

"Um...I'm handling it." Hermione answered.

"Alright, let me know if you need anything else."

I will. Oh what about some bath towels?" Hermione asked.

Lacy handed her a stack of freshly laundered towels and Hermione was out the door and back inside room thirteen, setting to work immediately on the floor in the bathroom.

Filling the bucket with hot soapy bleach water. She dipped her gloved hand inside the bucket, scrubbing away all traces of blood tinging the water a rosy pink. After a few minutes of meticulous cleansing Hermione could hear a soft moan coming from the outer room.

Hermione instinctively stood up and wiped her hands on a nearby towel, as she rushed into the room and knelt at the side of the bed.

"What happened to you my friend? What would ever make you want to end your life?" Hermione whispered, running her fingers through the graying ebony tangles.

Her reply came in a slur of words Hermione didn't understand, except one , "Albus"

Understanding dawned on Hermione immediately, "Dumbledore, of course, why didn't I see it before."

Suddenly Hermione was pulled from her thoughts by an ear piercing, heart stopping scream. She watched helplessly as Minerva flailed around on the bed, still asleep.

"Professor" Hermione said, attempting to show her friend respect by calling her by the formal title, even though technically, Minerva was now, no more a teacher than Hermione was.

"Professor!" Hermione said again, urgently, trying to awaken the distressed woman from her nightmare.

"Oh I can't bear this, Minerva!" Hermione said, her voice slightly raised as her friend continued to thrash.

Apparently being addressed by her first name had some effect because the instant the word had fallen of off Hermione's lips, Minerva's eyes had fluttered open. She didn't seem at all surprised to see Hermione sitting at her bedside.

"Hermione." Minerva whispered, as she enveloped the young woman in a tight hug.

A shocked Hermione felt her self being physically pulled up from her place on the floor, " Oh Professor, I can't breath!" Hermione gasped, as she struggled to her feet so she was now level with Minerva.

"Professor, you don't seem all that surprised to see me." Hermione said, after Minerva finally released her.

"I'm not, I heard you talking but I wasn't sure if I was just hallucinating." Minerva explained, sitting up, with more than a little difficulty and reaching toward the bedside table and switching on the lamp.

"I can promise you that you are not hallucinating." Hermione replied, speaking towards Minerva's back, since Minerva was still attempting to turn the knob on the lamp, Hermione, took notice of her friends struggle she stood up and came around the side of the bed, and switching on the lamp, illuminating the room in a ripple of yellow light.

"Thank you." Minerva said, as her eyes fell on Hermione's bloodstained clothes. "Hermione, you're covered in blood!" Minerva gasped, covering her mouth with her hands.

"Oh right." Hermione said, offhandedly, Hermione wasn't surprised to see the scarlet stains on her jeans, considering that she had been scrubbing them off the floor not hours before

" And that doesn't strike you as odd in any way whatsoever?" Minerva asked, mystified.

"Not really...considering what I was doing before I came in here." Hermione replied simply.

"What exactly were you doing before?"

"Professor, I mean no disrespect but just look around you." Hermione instructed.

Minerva's eyes darted throughout the room, taking in the scene, she remained silent for a moment, trying to remember the last three hours.

"Hermione, do you know what happened in here?", Minerva asked, just above a whisper.

"Things were exactly like this when I got here, I don't know how or when the room was destroyed." Hermione answered, glumly.

The pair stayed silent, both trying to sift through their thoughts, Hermione knew that something was amiss with her friend, Hermione had spent enough time with Minerva to know that it wasn't like her to be so docile, so gloomy, Hermione knew that she missed Albus terribly but that was no reason for Minerva to attempt suicide.

Minerva allowed her eyes to travel once more throughout the room, trying desperately to remember what had happened to her room, but to no avail, her mind simply remained clouded with questions it was high time she got some answers.

"How long have you been here, Hermione?" Minerva asked, not unkindly but being direct always seemed to work for her.

"A couple of hours now, but you told me to 'get out' so I'm not sure what I was thinking by staying, but I wanted to check and make sure you were okay but...now that I know you are, I guess I'll be going." Hermione answered hurriedly, standing up she didn't want to intrude.

"Now just hold on one second, Miss Granger I'm grateful for your concern but I don't remember ever telling you to 'get out'." Minerva answered, perplexed, surely Hermione wouldn't be playing tricks on her mind.

" Professor, are you telling me that you don't remember, you seriously don't remember?" Hermione asked, deeply concerned if she was at all uncertain before, Hermione knew now that something was very wrong with Minerva, very wrong indeed.

"No I don't Hermione, would you care to fill in the blanks?"

"Well Profess-"

"Hermione, since I am no longer your professor, or anyone else's for that matter, could you drop the title and just call me Minerva, teachers, present and former, are human too you know." Minerva said, talking over Hermione.

"Sure Profess- er Minerva, well,

when I got here I nearly slapped the the teenager at the front desk, for not giving me your room number. Then Quinn bribed another woman, a manager I suspect then she told me where you were then when I knocked on the door you told me to leave, as I said before. Then I let myself in and I found you on the bathroom floor, surrounded by blood and broken glass. Apparently you had cut your wrist badly, Quinn stitched you up, oh would you look at that, you really don't care about that last bit do you?" Hermione said, sarcasm leaking through in the last sentence even though her voice broke.

"Oh my word Hermione, I know what you're thinking and I want you to know that-"

Minerva began before Hermione interrupted jumping to her feet and crossing the room she shouted,

"That what! You want me to know what, that you tried to kill yourself, well guess what it doesn't take a genius to figure that one out! What I want to know is why, what was so horrible that you even thought about ending your life, much less attempting to do so and why didn't you tell me! If you couldn't talk to me, then why couldn't you talk to somebody else, Madam Pomfrey, Snape, Mrs. Weasley, the portrait of

Dumbledore?

At the mention of Albus, Minerva had to swallow the knot that had arisen in her throat.

Did you know it was Mrs. Weasley who lost her son, not her job but nobody's found her half dead." Hermione stated coolly, her eyes glistening.

"Are you finished now?" Minerva asked, then without waiting for a reply, she continued,

"Now as I was trying to explain, before you so rudely interrupted me, might I add, that I in fact was not trying to kill myself, nor do I plan to."

Hermione sighed in relief, "Oh thank God! I'm sorry I blew up like that, it's just-" Hermione then dissolved into silent tears.

"Just what Hermione?" Minerva asked gently.

"Just that when I asked you to come for Christmas you wrote to me and said you were going to Greece, which wouldn't have bothered me so much had I not seen Rita Skeeter's article in the Prophet." Then before Hermione could stop herself she said, "Then I spoke to Snape and he brought me here. He said they found alcohol in your desk at Hogwarts and I was worried so I came back here. " Hermione said, quickly covering her mouth with her hand she blushed a deep red.

"And then when you arrived here, you found me surrounded by glass and bleeding." Minerva finished, looking slightly unsettled, tears shining in her turquoise eyes.

"I'm so sorry you had to go through all of that, all because of me." Minerva said, carefully crossing the room in her stocking feet. She made it about halfway when Hermione crossed the gap between them, Minerva wrapped her arms around her young friend, letting a few tears, that came without provocation, slip down her cheeks and land in Hermione's hair.

After a few moments of nothing but the occasional shuddering gasp for breath, or choked sob, to fill the silence, Minerva released Hermione from her grasp. She, Minerva somehow felt ten years older, almost like the sudden tidal wave of emotion had aged her very soul.

"Feel better?" Hermione asked, placing a concerned hand on Minerva's shoulder.

"Slightly but I could really use a drink, something to calm the nerves." Minerva replied, turning around on the bed, to avoid stepping on anymore broken glass and reaching towards the drawer on on the bedside table. Emerging seconds later with a nearly empty bottle of smoking scotch, and two glasses.

She poured a heavy measure of the smoky colored liquid into a glass, and handed it to Hermione. Who gratefully accepted, knocking back about half the measure in one go. Then she caught on to what Minerva was trying to do which caused Hermione to drop the half empty glass.

"Oh no you don't." Hermione said shrewdly, summoning the bottle and the second glass with her wand, right out of Minerva's hand, and walking into the bathroom.

"What are you doing!" Minerva shouted, semi hysterical.

"Helping you." Hermione replied, though the open door, as she turned up the bottle.

"No you're not, what you're doing isn't helping anyone! " Minerva shouted, as Hermione stood at the sink, pouring the offending liquid down the drain, which caused an ugly black cloud of smoke to waft around Hermione's face.

"Look, you've got to kick the habit, if you want to 'relax your nerves' as you say, then take a shower, or a bubble bath like most people." Hermione replied, tersely.

Stepping away from the sink and clearing away the bloody mess on the floor with another wave of her wand.

"Now see here Miss Granger, I am perfectly capable of looking after myself, and as for my 'habit' perhaps I do not wish to 'kick it' as you say!" Minerva replied, a very slight hint of her usual brusque manner returning, Minerva knew that she wouldn't normally lose patience with Hermione but the girl was being infuriating, I can look after myself! Minerva thought bitterly, looking around at her glass covered surroundings. Wishing desperately that she could have cleared the mess away with a wave of her wand.

Hermione smiled to herself, Minerva was slowly becoming herself again, or at least the side that Hermione knew, that had to count for something. All this after just a couple of hours, imagine what a few weeks would do! This thought fueled Hermione as she stepped out of the bathroom.

"I am appalled at you, Miss Granger! I don't know who you think you are but you cannot just come in here and dispose of things you find unfitting!" Minerva stated, her voice raised.

"Just trying to help." Hermione replied, in a mock innocent tone, totally ignoring Minerva's tone.

"Well you can stop now." Minerva replied gruffly.

Hermione laughed.

"I don't think it was all that funny Miss Granger." Minerva said.

"You do realize of course, that I'm married, and I have children and yet you still call me 'Miss Granger'" Hermione replied.

"And you find that strange, less than an hour ago you were calling me 'Professor' what's the difference?" Minerva asked.

"Nothing I guess, do you think we could drop the formalities and go by our first names?" Hermione asked.

"Okay Hermione, so on to the specific's, how's the family?" Minerva asked, she hoped that this visit wouldn't be like the last time Hermione had come to visit Hogwarts. Which was after she had married Quinn, Hermione had only been able to stay a few hours, having been heavily pregnant at the time, then she left. Of course many letters had come over the four and a half year stretch, but it wasn't the same. Hermione's physical absence from her life had left Minerva cold and lonely. Now she yearned to know Hermione's family. Hoping of course that they wanted to know her as well.

"The boys are doing really well, they're all into trains now." Hermione said, "Quinn's taken them on the muggle underground a few times and they go absolutely mad!"

"Well then I'm sure they will be thrilled with the Hogwarts Express. Tell me, are your sons exhibiting signs of magic yet?" Minerva asked, eager.

"Well..about Hogwarts, Quinn and have talked about it, and we really don't want Alexander and Xavier going to Hogwarts, and at this rate I really don't think we're going to have to worry about that anyway. This glass is driving me crazy." Hermione explained. As she began clearing away the shards of glass with her wand, at least ten whiskey bottles began materializing where the fragments used to be.

"Minerva, are all these bottles yours?" Hermione asked, throwing all sensitivity out the window.

"You don't understand Hermione, it hurts to bad, the liquor , it deadens the pain, it just hurts so bad that I can't bear it." Minerva said, tears falling once again.

"What hurts?" Hermione asked, pulling Minerva to her once again. " Your chest, from the stunners?"

"Everything." Minerva whispered.

Right then, Hermione knew what she meant, Minerva was suffering from a broken heart and a beaten body.

Author's note/ so what did y'all (I'm from the south;) don't hate me) think?

Y'all know the only way to tell me is by leaving a review ; } Haha *Hint Hint*

Also if anyone has any suggestions as to where this story should go, feel free to send me a privet message. I know this sounds petty but please pretty please leave a review before favoriting / adding, I want to know why you're adding me. Thanks, love, peace and peach cobbler, oh and don't forget the crack! Aka reviews!

- Kat