A/N: I'm back with another chapter. Oh, and as I've been gone for so long maybe I should just repeat it: : Harry Potter and his world do not belong to me but the wonderful J.K. Rowling!


Secrets Unveiled

"I think you're turning into Hermione, mate" the very unwilling redhead proclaimed as he followed his friend into the library. "And besides it's Halloween and the weather is very good." he whined quite loudly earning him a rather reproachful glance from Madame Pince, the librarian.

"I told you, Ron, I have to look something up for Tonks' next class."

That was a far stretch. In fact they'd been researching "ugly black stones" ever since he'd overheard Minerva and Albus talking at the beginning of the school year – although Ron obviously didn't know about that. Harry hated keeping thing from his best friend, but he and Hermione had decided that it would be too hard to explain everything to Ron.

Involuntarily Harry had to smile. The whole situation kind of reminded him of their quest for the Philosopher's stone in their first, though they'd at least had a clue back then. It was literally like searching the needle in a haystack.

"Stones again" he muttered silently more to himself than to anybody else. Fortunately Ron was currently rummaging through his bag looking for his Potions essay ad thus didn't hear his strange remark. But the mass of brown curls that had been bent over a big book, looked up and gave him a curious galnce as she put away the Handbook of Magical Greek Geology that she'd been reading.

"Nothing!" she mouthed as a reply to Harry's unspoken question before turning to next volume of the pile next to her. Without too much enthusiasm Harry picked up another of the old worn books and plopped down between Ron and Hermione. He looked out of the window where he could see several small black figures walking around the lake heavily cloaked to ward off the cold Scottish wind that indicated that this was probably the last sunny day before winter would arrive. This day 15 years his mother had died trying to protect him. This day 15 years ago Voldemort had decided to come to Godrics Hollow and murder him and had thus marked him his equal. Unconsciously Harry lifted his finger and traced the lightening bold scar on his forehead. So much misery, so many lives lost … and nevertheless he couldn't shake the feeling that somehow all this was connected: Voldemort, the rng with the ugly black stone, his scar.

Hermione, sensing his strange mood (or maybe just, herself, being yet again disappointed by not finding anything) suddenly closed her book with such vigour that Ron blotched ink all over the paragraph of his essay he'd been rewriting.

"Why don't we go down and visit Hagrid?" she proposed.

So they quickly got up and went to the dormitories to get their warm winter coats. When shrugged out of his school robes out of the corner of his eyes, Harry saw a small note fall out of his pocket. He knelled down and immediately recognized the elegant green handwriting.

Dear Harry,

Why don't you come down to my quarters today before the feast?

Love,

Tabby

There was a purple doodle of a cat wearing glasses at the bottom of the note. Harry had to smile at that. In this castle there was only one person who was eccentric enough to use purple ink and besides Minerva hated it when Albus kept doodling on her parchment.

"Oi, mate, you coming or what?" Ron was already halfway down to the common room.

Harry met the other two at the bottom of the stairs both wearing scarves and hats.

"Where's your coat, Harry? It's rather cold outside!"

"You know, I think I might stay here. I still need to finish that thing for Defense. You two go on and have a nice afternoon: I'll meet you in the entrance hall in time for the feast."

Hermione threw him another curious glance, but then left without further comment. As soon as Hermione and Ron were out of sight, he left the Common Room.

He greeted Godric, who by now was quite used to the lad's regular visits, and gave the password. When he entered her quarters, he was surprised to not only find Minerva, but also Albus lounging on one of the comfortable sofas as he hadn't seen Albus ever since the incident with the ring a few weeks back. Curiously he noticed that Albus was now wearing said ring on his left hand right next to where Harry knew his concealed wedding band to be. However he barely had time to register that the black stone seemed to be broken in the middle and the ring no longer emitted that strange uncomfortable feeling when he felt himself being engulfed in a big bone-crushing hug by a – to his surprise – teary-eyed Minerva.

Albus quietly stood up and reassuringly patted his wife's hand before giving Harry's shoulder a squeeze.

"I'll leave you two alone now. Minerva, Harry, I'll see you at the Halloween feast tonight." And with a flurry of green flames he left through the floo.

Finally Minerva let go of him. Harry thought that he had never seen her look so fragile, so defeated – not even when Umbridge had hit her right in the chest with four stunners.

With unsteady feet she led him over to the sofa where she sat down opposite of him.

"Harry, my dear, there's something I need to tell, no show you." She said already getting up again and then she added in a whisper so soft that Harry wasn't sure he'd heard her correctly "and I really hope you won't hate me for it." But Minerva had already left the room through the door to her adjourning bedroom.

She returned a few seconds later with what Harry immediately recognized as Albus' Pensieve. With shaking hands she placed the small stone basin on the table between them. Without words she gestured for Harry to go first and then followed him.

When the "thoughts" around him stalled again, he found himself in a nice-looking suburb somewhere in England. It kind of looked a bit like Privet Drive. There were neat well-groomed houses on either side of the street. Suddenly a person appeared on the corner of the street. Harry immediately recognized her as Minerva – even though this Minerva seemed to be a bit younger than the one currently standing next to him. The Minerva who had just appeared at the corner was wearing casual muggle clothes and was now walking down the street. She stopped in front of a nice-looking two-storey house and rang the bell. After a few moments of waiting a tall good-looking woman with auburn brown hair opened the door and let the professor in. The woman looked kind of familiar to him, but he didn't make the connection until the memory blurred and seemed to skip forward a few minutes. The woman was now sitting on a couch in nice sun-lit living room with a handsome middle-aged man, obviously her husband, next to her. Opposite of them sat two young girls. One of them was, to be honest, very plain with mouse-brown hair and a rather pointy face. Her sister next to her, on the other hand, was already at this young age a real beauty her fiery red hair shining in the sun and her emerald green eyes that looked exactly like his very own shining with excitement. "Mom?!" Harry silently whispered nearly missing Lilly excitedly asking "So I'm really a witch?" In the next few minutes Harry witnessed Minerva introducing the young Lilly to the wizarding world. Unlike her parents Lilly didn't seem to be overwhelmed at all – she in fact just seemed excited and curiously asked Minerva questions and more questionsabout the wizarding world. Finally young Minerva rose and bit her farewell from the Evans. At the door she stopped again and turned to Lilly: "Ms Evans, I'll be fetching you to go buy your school things in Diagon Alley next Tuesday." In return she received a stunning smile from the small red-haired girl. While Harry was still focused on his mother's beautiful smile the memory began to change.

When the memory stopped again, Harry found himself back at Hogwarts again, standing in the candle-lit Entrance Hall. He could hear the buzzing of sound of hundreds of students wavering over from the Great Hall. Suddenly there was a loud knock on the front door and again the younger version of Minerva (this time in her usual teaching robes), strode around the corner to open the door. "The first years, Professor McGonagall!" Hagrid roared.

The scene changed again and Harry now saw the same group of first years come in through the door to the Great Hall in neat pairs. Younger Minerva was now standing next to a stool with the old sorting hat. Quickly he scanned the crowd of timid-looking first-years for familiar faces. There right at the back of the queue stood a boy with untidy black hair that stood up from his head and next to him … "Sirius!" The taller boy next to his dad had, already at this young age, mischief written all over his face. Standing right behind them were a rather shabby and haggard-looking boy that Harry immediately recognized as Remus Lupin and next to him Wormtail – thus completing the infamous Marauders. Suddenly it occurred to him that if the Marauders were all here, that meant that also his mom had to be among the group of first-years … quickly he scanned the room again. There she was right at the front of the line. A flurry of red hair whispering to a boy with a rather crooked nose next to her. The scene changed again and Harry now saw Minerva's younger self calling out the names from a long list of parchment: "Evans, Lilly!" His mother strode forward confidently throwing a bright smile at Professor McGonagall and Harry was surprised to see her smile back at the girl. To his surprise his mother's sorting took quite a bit of time. Not unlike he himself, she seemed to be debating with the hat while her lips moved without making a sound. But then finally a rip appeared on the hat and proclaimed "Gryffindor!" When Harry turned to Professor McGonagall he saw a brief content smile appear on her face (not unlike the cat who got the cream).

The memory began to fade away and only moments later Harry found himself in the Transfiguration classroom. It seemed to be the first-years very first Transfiguration lesson as they all had matches in front of them. There right at the back of the classroom was his mother again. Unlike all the others she already had a pointy silver needle in her hand. He watched as Professor McGonagall went over to her and gave his mother one of her rare smiles before the memory changed again.

He now saw the same red-haired girl crying into Minerva's shoulder "It's Tuney" she hiccupped "She doesn't want me home for Christmas!" Lilly sniffled as Minerva in turn put her arm around the girl's shoulder.

As the time went on, he saw the girl grow up into a beautiful young woman. He witnessed an endless flurry of Christmases, some spent at Hogwarts, some at what might have been McGonagall Manor. He saw Minerva and a teenage Lilly relaxing in the summer sun at McGonagall Manor. He witnessed as Minerva proudly sat at the front row of his parent's wedding, dabbing a handkerchief to her eyes when Lilly and James exchanged their vows.

Then the scene changed once more and Harry was now standing in a sun-lit, yet rather sterile room. There laying on the white hospital bed was his mother looking rather worn, but nonetheless very happy clutching a bundle of blue blankets to her chest. His father was sitting on a stool next to the bed staring adoringly and proudly at his small family. Suddenly a soft knock at the door interrupted the blissful little family-moment and Minerva entered wearing muggle clothes. Lilly's face immediately lit up: "Min, you're here!" she said "come on over and have a look at him" and with that she beckoned Minerva over to her bedside. Softly Lilly placed the sleeping baby into Minerva's arms. Minerva looked down at the bundle in her arms "He's perfect!" she stated. Now James spoke up for the first time: "Minerva, we'd be honoured if you'd consent to become little Harry's godmother." Insecurely Minerva glanced from James to the baby in her arms and then to Lilly who just nodded at her former teacher. At that moment the baby in Minerva's arms woke up and looked at the witch. Green met green as their eyes met. Minerva smiled at Lilly: "Yes! I'd be honoured to be little Harry's godmother."

Hermione's POV:

Hermione and Ron had spent a pleasant afternoon with Hagrid. They had returned from the groundkeeper's hut their noses and fingers red from the cold and wind.

Now they were standing in the Entrance Hall. Even though the feast was already about to start there was still no sign of Harry.

"You definitely have a bad influence on Harry." Ron muttered under his breath "I'm going to go fetch him." But Hermione stopped him at the elbow. Throwing a quick glance into the Great Hall she saw that Minerva's customary place at the Head Table next to Albus seemed to be empty, too. As if sensing her gaze, Albus suddenly turned to her and gave her a nearly invisible nod of his head.

"You know, Ron, Why don't you already go in while I get Harry." And with that she left a rather confused Ron standing in the Entrance Hall.

Hermione arrived at Minerva's quarters and knocked loudly. Receiving no answer she hesitated a moment and then gave the password. At first Hermione thought that the dimly-lit room was empty. She was about to turn away when she heard a small sniffling sound. Automatically drawing her wand she went further into the room. There behind the armchair on the floor sat a small grey tabby cat. "Minerva" Hermione silently called out and the cat transformed into the huddled-up form of her sobbing Transfiguration Professor. On instinct Hermione knelt down next to the crying witch and put her arm around her shoulder, but the sobbing only increased. Between the heavy sobs Hermione could make out Minerva's mumbled words: "He left, he's gone!"

"Who's gone and what happened" Hermione wondered. As if answering her unspoken question, suddenly an echo rose from Minerva's Pensieve on the couch table. In the dim light Hermione could barely make out the misty grey form of Minerva rising from the silvery mist of thoughts: "I'll be honoured to become little Harry's godmother." The last word hang in the air of the otherwise silent room. Minerva had stopped sobbing but was by now rocking her body back and forth repeatedly.

Ron's POV:

In the Great Hall Ron was currently munching his way through his third helping of Pumpkin Pie while wondering where the hell Hermione and Harry were. Suddenly the door to the Hall opened and in came Hermione – and only Hermione.

Purposefully she strode down the aisle between the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff house tables. Quickly Ron gulped down his last bite of Pie and extended his arm to grab her elbow. "Where are you going and where is Harry?"

"I need to go talk to the headmaster." She stated – more calmly than she probably felt. Ron watched as Hermione approached the Head Table and softly whispered to Dumbledore. For the briefest of moments Dumbledore turned white as a sheet. Then he quickly turned to Flitwick and whispered a few words to the petite wizard before leaving the Great Hall Hermione in tow.

For a moment Ron hesitated, but then he stood up and quickly followed the other two out of the Hall.

Dumbledore paced along the corridor so quickly that Hermione nearly had to run to keep up with him. But Ron with his longer legs didn't have any problem following the others keeping his distance. "What the hell is going on here?" Ron wondered as he followed Hermione and the headmaster down another corridor that led towards the Transfiguration classroom. Finally they stopped in front of the portrait of good-looking young knight in a red-and-gold armour. Dumbledore hurriedly gave the password and the portrait swung open. Again Ron hesitated for a second, but then his curiosity got the better of him. He knew after all that Harry and Hermione had been keeping secrets from him ever since school had restarted. Maybe this was his chance to finally discover at least some of those secrets.

Upon entering Ron found himself in a comfortable living room – the tartan armchair clearly indicating who was living there. Hermione was standing in the middle of the room fidgeting nervously. Albus Dumbledore was kneeling on the floor behind the armchair holding a crying Minerva McGonagall in his arms. It wasn't so much the fact that the headmaster was hugging his deputy while placing soft kisses onto her hair that shocked Ron (after all Mione had always said that there was something going on between those two – and honestly when had Hermione ever been wrong about anything), but rather the fact that he had never seen their normally so strong and level-headed Head od House so broken and near hysteria.

"Minerva my dear, what happened?" But McGonagall seemed to be unable to answer, so Dumbledore turned so that he was directly looking at her now "I need you to calm down now. Can you do that for me, Tabby?" That seemed to snap her out of her hysteria. The mask of the stern Professor McGonagall persona was resolutely put back into place, although there was still a slightly crazed look in her eyes.

"Good girl!" Dumbledore said as he helped her up from the floor "So, tell me what happened?"

"Oh Albus" she replied "he just freaked and yelled at me that I had lied to him, that he would have never needed to go to the Dursleys in the first place … and then he just left." Her voice quivered slightly at the end.

Dumbledore gave his deputy's hand another reassuring squeeze "I'm sure we'll find him. He hasn't left the grounds, so he's probably still somewhere in the castle."

Then he turned to Ron and addressed him as though it was completely normal to find a student Standing in the Transfiguration teacher's private quarters. "Ah, Mr Weasley, would you care to look in the dormitory?" Both Hermione and Professor McGonagall turned around at the headmaster's words and only now seemed to register his presence in the room. Professor McGonagall seemed about ready to tell him off, but was stopped by the calming hand of the headmaster on her shoulder, while Hermione just threw him a quick look that seemed to say "I'll tell you later!"

Two hours later they were all back in Minerva's quarters. The Halloween feast had ended long ago, but there was still no sign of Harry.

"It's hopeless" Minerva sighed as she slumped down on the couch "we won't find him if he doesn't want to be found"

"Especially if he's wearing his invisibility cloak" Hermione added as she sat down next to the former. Minerva looked up at that point and first threw a curious look at Hermione who just shrugged and then a rather furious one at Albus.

"You gave that artefact to a child! Did you even think about what he could do with that! He could be in real danger and no one would ever find him because he's wearing that bloody cloak …" Ron thought that he had never seen her look so angry. At the moment Ron definitely didn't envy the headmaster one bit – it was never nice to be on the receiving end of a witch's temper.

Minerva's tirade seemed to go on forever, but then she finally seemed to run out of steam. The silence that followed was so all-encompassing that you could have heart a needle dropping to the ground.

"The map!" Ron suddenly heart his own voice breaking through the silence. When the others just stared at him with a blank look, he continued: "He'll be shown on the map even when he's wearing his invisibility cloak."

Only moments later a very-surprised Ron found himself in a fierce embrace by Minerva "You're a Genius, Mr Weasley" she said and Ron turned even redder than he had already been. Over Minerva's shoulder the headmaster threw him a proud look "Very good, Mr Weasley, very good indeed." He said smiling at Ron over the rim of his halfmoon spectacles.

So Ron quickly went up to the dormitory once more to get the map. Fortunately all the others were already fast asleep snoring loudly. Quietly as to not wake any of his roommates Ron rummaged through Harry's trunk until he came up with the map. Back down in Minerva's quarters, he opened the map and activated it. It wasn't too hard to find Harry's dot on the map – after all at this time of the night only a selected few, like Filch and Mrs Norris, were rummaging through the corridors of the school. They found the small point labled Harry Potter sitting on Hogwart's highest tower, the Astronomy tower unmoving.

Minerva immediately wanted to jump up and go, but was held back by Albus' firm grip on her hand "Minerva, my dear, I know you want to go check on Harry. But I think he might probably not be too keen on seeing you just now. Maybe I should go" Minerva sighed, but seemed to see the reason in the headmaster's statement as she sat back down again. Hermione however interrupted once more "Albus, I really think that it should be me who goes." She didn't give any reason as to her claim, but just looked first the headmaster and then Minerva directly in the eyes. To Ron it seemed as though a silent conversation was going on between the other three occupants of the room – a conversation he didn't seem to be part of. After a few seconds Albus just nodded his head once and gave Hermione a bright smile.

Hermione's POV:

Hermione had never before registered how many steps there actually were to the Astronomy Tower. She was bone-tired and all she really wanted to do was crawl into her warm and comfortable bed. But at the moment there were more important things to do than sleeping. Her breath came heavily when she finally reached the landing of the stairs. The big oak door was closed and Hermione needed all her remaining power to get the heavy door to open.

When she went through the door she was greeted by an ice-cold bust of wind. During the last few hours it had started to snow and a thin cover of fresh powdery snow was already starting to cover the top of the tower, but over there, right at the Balustrade, was a small patch of stone without any snow.

Carefully as to not slip on the ice, Hermione went over to the point she now knew Harry to be seated at. Casting a quick de-freezing charm on the stone floor she quietly sat down next to the invisible form of her best friend groping through thin air until she finally found Harry's unmoving hand. Grasping his ice-cold hand in hers, they quietly sat there without saying anything for an uncountable amount of time in the cold winter storm.

Finally, when Hermione was already afraid that her toes would fall off from the cold, Harry pulled the invisibility cloak from himself with a sigh. Even in the dim light of only her wand Hermione could see that Harry had been crying. His fingers and lips were blue from the cold and his whole body seemed to be shivering slightly. Noticing that he wasn't even wearing his winter coat, she quickly shrugged out of hers and put it around Harry's shoulder.

Without a word, Hermione stood up and pulled Harry up with her right hand that was still entwined with his fingers. Quickly she put her free arm around Harry's shoulder to support her friend as they began the descent down the many stairs.