I Own Nothing!
"I." Crash.
"Will." Crash.
"Destroy." Crash.
"You!" BOOM.
The beldam snarled as she viciously attacked the deputy headmistress of her parallel school. "I will scoop out your eyes and feast upon your magic!" The real headmistress deftly ducked under her blows. "You will never again interfere!"
Moving quicker than she ever had before, the elder witch conjured up a wall of flames in her defence, and hurried into the next room, looking for something that would hold the Beldam off long enough for her to escape.
The deafening boom as the doors were hurled off of their hinges stopped her once again, and she automatically ducked to avoid the hinges whirling in her direction.
"Do not think you can hide from me! THIS IS MY HAVEN!"
"Who knew that a monster would act so significantly to a mere loss?" Minerva murmured as she lunged to the side yet again, and cast a quick stinging hex at the monster's eyes in retaliation.
"You will not escape!" The Beldam was beyond incensed by now as she mindlessly destroyed her surroundings. "No one defeats me and lives!"
Her situation now desperate as the Beldam grew angrier; Minerva frantically tried to think of a way to get far enough away from her whilst simultaneously avoiding her blows.
Finally a stray swing from the Beldam's claw scraped her shoulder and sent her flying into the book case. The shock from the impact sent waves of pain through her system, and as she breathlessly tried to regain her composure the Beldam sidled up to her, and satisfied smirk now on her face.
"I will make you suffer…" she drawled as she raised a metallic claw to the Professor's chest.
~~~/~~~
A long drawn out scream greeted Hermione, Harry and Ron as they turned their latest corner. Hermione whimpered. "That sound like Professor McGonagall!"
Harry frowned. "We have to go help her!" But a hand from Ron stopped him.
"Wait, we've got to be tactical about this, I mean we can't just barge in there! We need a plan!" Ron frowned. "And I've got one, at least I think I do…"
~~~/~~~
Pain. A deep, throbbing pain in her chest was all that told her she was alive right now. Her vision came and went, but she kept her eyes closed. Something told her she didn't want to open them.
Her thoughts drifted to the reason she was here.
Did she regret it?
No.
She would never regret saving her children or friends, she was a Gryffindor after all. However she did wish the pain would stop.
"Minerva…."
"Open your eyes." A silky voice whispered.
"I've decided to keep you alive, as my servant." Her lids felt heavy, but they opened anyway to see the pristine face of the Beldam staring back at her. "You see, my dear husband was destroyed by those fools you call friends, and now I have no one to help me, since you took my children away. But I can use you, and then you can go get my children for me."
Metal scraped the skin of her cheek, leaving a long line of blood. "You see? It all works out in the end."
Minerva scowled, the Beldam was quite mad. How did she not realise that Minerva would never betray any of her children? But she was distracted again as she was thrown harshly to the floor.
Involuntarily Minerva's eyes rolled, and she caught sight of a red mop of hair disappearing behind a bookcase. She frowned, and her mind took some time to put the pieces together, but as soon as it did she was fully alert. 'Ronald! He's here!'
Panic flared. 'I must…'
"Hey Mother!" The Beldam froze, a smile lighting up her features.
"Ronald!" She trilled, elated at his appearance. "I knew you wouldn't leave me!" She stepped forward, her now human arms open, but Ron's face remained stony.
"I'm not here for you." The words were enough to stop her, and make her dumbly repeat the phrase. "I would never come back for you."
The heartbreak clearly displayed on the monsters face almost made Minerva feel sorry for her. Almost. She looked at the red-haired Weasley and tried to tell him to run, but all he did was wink cheekily back.
Because unknown to her, he was ready. When the Beldam charged at him, he started sprinting, an almost Slytherin smirk on his face, completely confident for the first time in his life.
A soft touch made her glance to her left, to find one of his best friends sitting next to her. "Hurry Professor, we have to hurry." The little girl whispered, and started to help her up. All McGonagall could do was splutter as she was blindly led to the exit of her hell.
"But, Rona-"
"Trust us. Harry's with him, but we need to get out soon!" The head lioness was ushered into a doorway, but came to her senses at the last moment.
"You go first." She was met with an almost identical fierce glare from the little girl that surprised her. But the elder woman held her ground, and the smaller girl sighed as she climbed quickly into the hole and beckoned her to follow.
They climbed out through the entrance, and were instantaneously enveloped in a wave of worried staff members. "We need to get ready for when they come through professor!" Hermione cried.
~~~/~~~
Meanwhile Ronald Weasley was silently praying that his plan would work, but it all seemed to be going well for now. He just hoped that Hermione and their Professor had gotten out in time.
Skidding to a stop in the other staff room, Ron slowly started to back away as the Beldam appeared, a furious expression on her face. "You will love me!" She hissed. "I will make you!"
Ron tried not to look terrified as she came closer and closer. 'Any time now Harry…' he thought as she took yet another step. And then-
CRASH
The huge chandelier fell 40ft from the ceiling and landed on her, forming a ring around her arms. The scene looked almost comical, and Ron couldn't wait to tell Fred and George how his plan had succeeded, but he didn't stop to think too long. Instead, he began sprinting to the opposite side of the castle, one destination in mind.
Harry appeared at his side, a victorious grin on his face as they raced each other to the finish line. In the distance they could hear the Beldam's roar, but didn't stop to gloat. Ron wasn't sure how long their trap would hold after all.
They were halfway through the tunnel when the thorns appeared again. Hisses of pain and agony accompanied them as the climbed bit by bit back to their freedom, and Ron was the first through. However, the other's didn't stop to let Harry climb through on his own, and merely dragged him out of there.
"Children!" A voice called from the other end of the tunnel, wailing in despair. Yet the metallic hand that reached through the tunnel was a complete surprise, even as it wrapped its claws around Hermione's neck, and started to drag her back in to the abyss.
"Professor!" Hermione yowled. The nearby members of staff grabbed the poor girl's limbs, and the elder professor leaned forwards into the tunnel.
"No! Not my children!" She roared as she blasting curse was sent at the Beldam's buttons eyes, sending her reeling backwards into her world, her shattered magical eyes exploding into fragments. "Close it! Close it quickly!" Minerva cried to her associates as she grabbed four suddenly crying children around her and held them close.
"It's alright, you're all safe now. You are all safe, and I will never let anything harm you again." All of the stress of the past days had seemed to finally rear its ugly head in her presence, and at a loos for what to do, Minerva tried to give the sobbing children what they needed. In a rare display of affection, she kissed the four children's heads and accompanied them to the hospital wing.
She spent the rest of her sleepless night watching over them.
~~~/~~~
Harry potter scooted over on the small sofa of his headmaster's office to make room for his newest friends, Hermione, Ron and Neville. The three looked around themselves uncertainly, and after each of the shrugged their shoulders, Harry concluded that they didn't know why they were there either, and so he took the initiative.
"We're sor-" Harry began, but was interrupted.
"Harry my boy, I didn't call you four here in order to punish you." The benign face of their headmaster said.
Neville looked uncertain. "Then why are we here?" He unconsciously rubbed his still bruised arms worriedly.
"Think of this, as a clean-up." The elder man replied mysteriously.
Hermione frowned, but it was Harry that asked the question. "What does that mean?"
"It means, my dear boy, that throughout this short period of time you have been through quite the ordeal, yes?" All of them nodded. "And as Headmaster of Hogwarts it is my responsibility to make sure that no other child experiences the same, and so I called you here in order to perform a very complicated and old version of the fidelius charm."
"What's-" But Hermione interrupted Ron with her text book answer, making the headmaster chuckle.
"Your little friend is correct Harry, but you see this charm is infinitely more powerful. In short, it shall make all but the secret keeper forget the events that transpired here. Until they share their secret, you will not remember a thing of what has happened."
The children sat in silence. "But you will tell us everything?" Harry asked uncertainly.
"Of course Harry!" The headmaster replied. "I could never keep such a secret from you, but this spell requires a lot of concentration and I will have to ask you to take part in it's ritual. I will be secret keeper in this instance, as headmaster to the school, and the secret will pass to the next headmaster until a method is found to completely destroy the doorway and monster within." He looked over the four children. "Now, will you consent?" All four children nodded, a unquestioning look in their eyes.
"Then we shall begin."
~~~/~~~
"Well?"
Albus Dumbledore looked up from his favourite moon-rimmed glasses to see his deputy perching in his old wooden chair, and put down his quill fluidly.
"Yes my dear?" He asked politely, aware that Minerva would bristle.
"Don't start with that Albus, I want to know how it whether or not the children agreed to having their memories restored." Her eyes clouded over briefly. "It will affect much if they did."
Albus sighed and turned to stroke Fawkes briefly. He thought for a few moments about how to break the news to her.
"No. no they did not Minerva."
Silence.
"Oh." Albus heard the small disappointed note in her voice, and turned to comfort his deputy.
"They simply were not ready for the shock Minerva, all of the children went through a terrible ordeal, and this affected them in a profound way." 'A way that I had not prepared for.' He added silently. "They simply did not wish to remember." He patted her hand comfortingly. "I am sure that should you wish it, you can rebuild the relationship with all of your students piece by piece."
Minerva took out and handkerchief and discretely blew her nose. "But there was so much I hadn't asked them! How am I to find out what made them upset? Or caused them to seek that monster out? I need to know now… And I do not think that I will be able to… 'rebuild' our relationship. It was built purely in the circumstances Albus, they will not wish to know now."
Albus grew grave. "Perhaps they were not meant to know. In any case, you have time." He turned to speak to Fawkes, the previous conversation now over in his mind. "Now Minerva, I have a favour to ask of you regarding the entrance into the third floor corridor…"
Minerva sighed, fully acknowledging that perhaps pretending the whole thing had never happened was for the best, and hoping with all her heart that the incident regarding the Beldam was the worst that her cubs would have to face in this school.
~~~/~~~
I LOVED THEM. I loved them, and they left.
Was what I asked too much?
I growl, low and predatory, I can still see that satisfied crone's smirk, mocking me as she held mine.
But something has happened, and now I am unable to set foot in the magical realm.
Someone has done something.
I can't see my children, my students, and my heart aches.
My stomach rumbles too. I'm not satisfied, and I can't survive like this.
I branch out my powers, to find something, anything, to sustain me. But it's hard. The losses of my magical buttons were irreplaceable, and now I will have to make do with wretched, plain black. Useless, they limit me.
I HATE them. No, I hate HER.
Suddenly a faint tingling alerts me of the faintest magical presence. I conjure up a doorway with tremendous effort, delighted that I am able to, and send a small missionary through.
Seeing the sleeping muggle child brings the faintest smile to my face.
She isn't magical like fully-fledged wizard children, and her child-like magic was fast fading, but she would do. I would have to adjust to survive, but isn't that we all do? I search for the child's name, and a plan begins formulating.
I would find my children. Eventually, they would come back to me, or I would drag them kicking and screaming. No one escapes the other mother.
~~~/~~~
"Harry?" Hermione whispered, turning the newly rebuilt corridor with the urgency that only accompanied the survivor of a newly finished war.
"I'm here Hermione." A weary voice, which quickly turned into a yelp as a delicate hand reached around to whack him on the head.
"We thought…Oh Harry Potter! Ron he's here!" Hermione berated him, and then hugged him desperately. Harry briefly thought it was her way of making sure he was alive.
"What're you doing here mate?" Ron asked. Harry sighed, and ran his hands through his hair.
"McGonagall told me Dumbledore had more memories to show us." He didn't bother floating around the subject at all.
"What are they of?" Was the first question, but as Harry explained that even McGonagall didn't know because Dumbledore had told her to watch them, the two's curiosity piqued even more. When Neville finally stumbled around the corridor, it seemed that eyebrow could not be raised any higher.
"What has Dumbledore got to show, that's got to do with all four of us?" Ron moaned. "I have a bad feeling about this. Imaging it now 'Harry well done, but Neville, your task has only just begun, you are the new chosen one!'" He sighed, exasperated. "Is there no holiday?"
Fortunately his mood lightened the rather tense atmosphere, and managed to keep the conversation flowing all of the way back to the late headmaster's office.
Soon after stepping in, Hermione gasped. "He kept it the same…" She cried, with her eyes watering. Ron put an arm around her, and looked to Harry.
"Well, where's the memory?" He asked, and Harry strode up to a golden cabinet, and found one. Set aside from the rest. Once he'd got it, he tipped it into the pensive, and looked at his friends.
"Are we sure we want to do this?" He asked. All three nodded. So in they plunged.
When they finally settled al they found was an image of Dumbledore sitting in his office looking solemn. The first words he spoke were "I'm so sorry my children."
A long and lengthy explanation about their past later, and Dumbledore finally came to his decision. "…And so I told Minerva that you had not elected to retain your memories, knowing full well that had you retained them, my plans that already had been set in motion simply would not work. I apologise for deceiving you, but it was a necessary evil, for the greater good." Harry growled, but of course the memory did not notice. "Because of the spell you will forget this, should you leave now. I will give you time." He waited two minutes, in which the four adults looked at each other in shock. "If you are still here, I assume you wish to remember, and with the threat of Voldemort gone I shall no longer interfere. Mementopythonissam." A faint breeze encircled them, and with a start their memories returned full force.
"I…can't believe he did that." Panted Neville, clearly still taking the information in.
"One word of warning children, your head of house is too unaware of your choice, and I think it would be wise of you inform her of your newly recovered memories, perhaps one of you may help her to rid the world of this evil creature one day." He gazed through his glasses at them, and then rose to stand. "And finally, I wish you all the best with you futures, may you all prosper."
The memory ended, and once again the group found themselves in the present.
"I can't believe…" Hermione trailed off.
"I always thought she hated us…" Ron murmured.
"She always seemed…" Harry sighed. "We'd better go tell her… She deserves to know we know."
~~~/~~~
They found the elder Professor in her old office, staring out of the window in a rare moment of silence. It was so quiet, that their footsteps which were soft on the carpet were enough to bring her out of her reverie.
"Yes?" She turned, and looked at their sad and torn expressions.
"We know about the Beldam, I'm so sorry." Hermione blurted, and burst into her newest set of tears. Quite astounded at the newest piece of information, Minerva was even more pleasantly surprised when she felt Hermione make her way into her arms, and shyly brought them around her.
She looked to the boys silently, questioning her strange behaviour, and found the three of them emotional too. Ron shook his head bravely, and Minerva's heart broke. She cursed Albus's timing, and his silly good-natured actions.
Couldn't he have had better timing? A bitter thought rose in her mind, but she banished, determined to believe that what Albus did had been done with good intentions. Instead, she opened her arms to the other four teens, who would always in her eyes be her children, and desperately tried to hold them together as they cried out their horrors from a war since won, and an adventure long forgotten.
~~~/~~~
The end :'(
Ah well I enjoyed this and think it's decent, hope you do too. :)
Many, many, MANY thanks to Hermionewiz27, you've been lovely! :D