So sorry it's taken me this long to update, but in light of the holiday mirth, I have decided to see what I can whip up.

The song doesn't belong to me. All rights where needed to Billy Boyd for "The Last Goodbye".

Even though the lyrics can be viewed in a sad way, I've used them to being a sense of hope back to our pair once and for all.

Remember, it's a stairway to heaven and a highway to hell.

Enjoy!

She had witnessed death before. Well, in some wild sense. Her mother had been dead long before she was born. A witch isn't a witch with her wand tucked under a bed— and locked.

She had witnessed identity theft as her mother transformed into something she really wasn't.

Don't get her wrong, Minerva loved her mother. Minerva had seen her own loving mother go through so much pain, disappointment, and resentment just to raise three magical children.

Minerva hadn't talked to her mother much after she had babbled that Dougal McGregor had married the daughter of another farmer.

She let out a breathy sigh from the floor as she remembered how Albus had comforted her as she cried late that evening. She was reluctant at first to tell him the story about herself and Dougal, but at the time she really just needed a friend, and willingly he had been there the to lend an ear. She told him of how she had been engaged to Dougal not long after her graduation from Hogwarts and how she had, at the time, readily agreed. She ran home to tell her parents, and the light bicker her parents always had going had kept her quite. She sat through dinner then went to bed. She woke early the next morning to tell Dougal she really couldn't marry him. She didn't tell Albus that the reason she truly couldn't marry him was because her heart was with someone else. And that someone else was currently listening to her ramble about her loss. That someone was the only one who had lent her a shoulder in a time of need.

She loved him, but knew they never could be. He was always in her thoughts, but Dougal was there at just the moment she had been thinking about letting him go. She needed to open her heart. She did. He did. She broke it off, but still kept on loving him.

Loving the life she could've led had she gone another way at an earlier time.

Minerva felt tears form in the back of her eyes and her throat tighten. She thought of her life now. She was married to the man she truly loved, but he had issues with…. with…. with what was it?

She could hear Harry start to wake up from the other room. She might never marry Dougal and life the life like her mother, or have children that are biologically hers, but she will have Harry. She will have the students every year.

With bruises and aches, Minerva stood and made her way to her son's room to tend to him.

Quietly, she slipped into his room.

"Mama," Harry mumbled as he raised his arms up to her. She slowly picked him up from the cot.

"Let me take him," Albus whispered gently from the door way. Minerva, startled by the voice, spun quickly on her heels as she shifted Harry behind her. She balanced his lightweight with one hand behind her and used her other to menacingly point her wand at hime. Albus held up his hands in a surrender. No one moved.

Harry whispered slightly at the sudden shift, but snuggled up agains't Minerva's protesting back. She winced at her own movements but tried not to show her pain. Albus saw the fierce protectiveness that shown in her emerald eyes he knew better than to try and push her, but he also knew that she was hurting, and even though the toddler didn't weigh much, it was costing her much of the strength to hold him in one hand.

"Minerva, let me take him," Albus tried. Minerva stuck out her wand firmly, although kept an airy hold on it in order to quickly move in means to defend herself. That hand holding the wand shook ever so slightly. Every little movement was costing her so much energy. "Minerva, please. Before you hurt yourself."

"Albus, I don't think it'll be me hurting myself."

He cringed slightly.

"I meant you no harm, truly. Minerva," Albus whispered. He slowly advanced towards her. Her lips were set in a grim line. Her wand shifted and jutted out at the farthest point. "Minerva, I can never make up for my doing, and I won't ask for you're forgiveness because what I did was unforgivable. But please let me care for you."

He took a step forward. He placed his fingertip on the edge of her wand. With a tenderness in his eyes she had never before witnessed, Albus lowered her wand to her side. His blue eyes never left hers.

"Let me care for you," he repeated, reaching behind her. He took the toddler from her aching arm. MInerva's arm fell quickly to her side as if she had been burned by his was an ache that passed through his eyes that showed he was hurting as much as she was. For a moment, Minerva showed him pity. For a moment, she felt safe enclosed in his protective arms with their son pressed against her back. For a moment, she showed her weak side and buried her face into his shoulder.

She gripped his dressing gown tightly and made herself as small and close to him as she possibly could have. Albus, quickly looked over her shoulder to see that Harry had fallen back to sleep. With a little landless magic, Albus levitated the child and placed him quietly in his cot.

His arms immediately wrap tightly around Minerva's petite frame. He soothes her back, murmuring words of comfort into her loose black hair.

Her sobs rack her body.

xXx

Somehow, Albus had coaxed Minerva into her bed and let her rest. He brought her lunch on a tray.

Albus hesitated in the doorway, Harry was taking a nap and Minerva was weakly lying in bed regaining her strength.

He rested a hand on the wooden door, and watched Minerva's sleeping form. He didn't have the heart to wake her. Maybe he didn't have a heart at all after his harm to her.

"I mean you no harm," Albus whispered sadly into the room. He trailed his hand over the door as he slowly pulled it closed. "I love you, Minerva," he muttered, resting his forehead on the cool wood. "I love you with all my heart." Albus let out a small sigh of lost hope and straightened up.

"I know I don't deserve your forgiveness, but the least I can do is care for you and the boy."

xXx

Minerva woke slowly. A fresh warm bowl of breakfast porridge was sitting on a tray. A glass of water sat on a coaster next to it. Achingly, Minerva reached for the glass to soothe her throat. She downed the water in the glass and used a bit of landless magic to refill the glass. As she panted from the effort it took to fill the glass, she scolded herself. Why are you being so weak when your attacker is still in the house? She spooned, with a shaky hand, porridge into her mouth. You love him. You forgive him.

Minerva gripped the bowl and tossed it against the wall. She listened to the smashing of the glass and watched as the thick hot cereal dripped messily down the wall.

She tossed the covers to the side and swung her legs over the edge. She pressed her knuckles into the mattress and rolled her ankles. Slowly, Minerva scooted over the edge, placing her barefoot on the cool hardwood floor.

Albus must've transfigured her a nightgown. She didn't recognize the pattern.

Then again, she didn't recognize her own reflection nowadays. She was living a lie.

With what little strength she could muster, Minerva made her to the sturdy oak door. She ran her fingertips over the wall as if all her strength was coming from out of the room. She made her way down the hallway to Harry's room where she could hear his playful morning babble. She smiled to herself.

"Good morning Harry," Minerva said. Harry giggled in response. Minerva picked up the child and slowly started to pace around the room. She hummed softly against his cheek as she swayed.

"I saw the light fade from the sky, on the wind I heard a sigh. As the snowflakes cover, my fallen brothers, I will say this last goodbye," Minerva sang smoothly. "Over hill and under tree, through lands where never light has shone, by silver streams, that rub down to the sea, under cloud, beneath the stars, over snow and winter's morn, I turn at last to paths that lead home." Minerva smiled gallantly at the child as she put him down on his feet but kept hold of his hands and danced with him. "And though where the road then takes me, I cannot tell, we came all this way, but now comes the day to bid you farewell. Many places I have been," Minerva sings merrily, the lyrics having no affect on her fun as she waltzes with Harry around his Nursery. His toddler feet standing on top of her old boney ones as she keeps a tight grip on his hands. "Many places I have been, many sorrows I have seen, but I don't regret, nor will I forget all who took that road with me."

Albus heard the commotion and made his way to Harry's room. When he saw Minerva happily dancing with their child on her feet, he immediately smiled. He stepped into the room. Minerva's back was to him, but Harry saw him.

"Daddy!" Harry squealed, and in her mirth, Minerva spun themselves around. Albus joined in. A swift movement to collect Harry in an arm and his wife in the other brought him into their happy moment.

"To these memories I will hold, with you blessing I will go, to turn at last to paths that lead home. And though where the road then takes me, I cannot tell, we came all this way but now comes the day to bid you farewell," Minerva finished as she and Albus finished the dance with Harry held tightly between them. Her emerald eyes sparkled in the light and her bed tossed hair shone brighter than ever. She could see the twinkle in his blue eyes again. The twinkle that hadn't been there since the beginning of their last chess game.

She doubted things could be righted so quickly.

He knew he would have to be patient.

But she knew, they were finally taking a step in the right direction. As small of a step as it may be, just the spark back in their eyes, it was at least not a step backwards.

Please review! I promise there will be more and soon :)