Albus saw red – and not just the blaring red of the announcement:

FIRST PICTURES OF THE HALF-KNEAZLE BEAST INSIDE

Tomorrow's edition

Reserve your copy today!

Ordinarily, Albus wasn't one for censorship, but … gasps of surprise filled the Great Hall as every copy of The Daily Prophet turned to ash.

And not a moment too soon.

Entering from a side door, Minerva beckoned him to leave the table. "Headmaster, I wondered if I could have a word with you –"

He cut her off. There was no time. "Not now!"

"Albus –"

Rising, Albus gathered everyone's attention. "On this day in history – like many other days – Wendelin the Weird was burnt at the stake. In honor of this, I am declaring a holiday. Students, you may return to your dormitories or take to the grounds. As for my Staff … I'll see all of you in my office now … to discuss what else we might do to celebrate Wendelin."

As Minerva again tried to flag him down, Albus attempted to divert her. "Professor McGonagall, you need not attend. I should like you to speak to the elves about putting together a feast befitting Wendelin's accomplishments."

"What accomplishments?" Minerva asked.

Ignoring the question, Albus started towards the door.

"Burnt steak?" Minerva offered dryly to his receding form.

Albus waited until all were assembled before storming into his office. "Which one of you did it?"

No one said a word – including asking him what he was talking about. They had all seen the morning's paper.

"Unconscionable. That is the only word for it. Simply unconscionable. How could you have done something so despicable, so vile to an innocent child? Hogwarts is Minerva's home. It was supposed to be a haven for her and the baby. How could one of you have done this to her?" Albus looked about the room eyeing each in turn, trying to find some sign of guilt.

Not getting any reaction from his appeal to the perpetrator's better side, he moved on to threats. "Did the money really mean that much to you? You had better make it last because you are through teaching here!"

People were stealing glances around the room at the others. Still, no one would admit to the act.

"Confess now because if I have to find out on my own – and I will – being fired will be the least of your concerns!"

Filius spoke up tentatively. "How do you know it was one of us? Have you considered the possibility that it was a student?'

All around him, heads bobbed eagerly.

That thought hadn't occurred to him. It took a bit of the wind out of his sails. It seemed he would have to go directly to the paper to find out the identity of the traitor.

With one last glare, he warned them. "Not a word of this to Minerva."

' '''''

The Daily Prophet's editor glanced up. Seeing that it was Albus, he looked back down with a sigh. Much like everyone else that Albus had seen that day, he knew exactly what Albus was on about. "Good morning, Professor. Won't you have a seat?"

Albus remained standing. "You cannot run those photographs in tomorrow's edition. I demand you pull them!"

"You know I can't do that. It's a public interest story. The people have a right to know."

Albus realized that getting the photographs pulled was something of a lost cause. At the very least though, he had to find out who had betrayed them. Perhaps that person might have some standing to have the photographs pulled. "I want to know who took those photographs."

"Professor –"

Albus cut the other man off before he could even start to answer. "I demand to see the photographs now!" Perhaps something contained in the photos would reveal to him the identity of the person taking them.

To Albus's surprise, the other man readily agreed. He quickly produced from his desk a folder containing an assortment of photographs.

Albus examined them looking for clues as to where they were taken – hoping that would lead him to who had taken them. The background of the photographs - they had been taken in Minerva's bedroom. Albus was horrified to realize the photographs that the paper was planning to run were the photographs he had taken only days before.

How could this have happened? How could he have been so careless? Minerva would never forgive him!

Seeing Albus's expression, he was sympathetic. "Maybe this will help. The party selling the photographs requested I keep her information confidential, but I think in your case I can make an exception." From the bottom of the file that had contained the photographs, he pulled out a parchment.

It was, Albus realized after staring at the parchment for a moment, the standard form the Prophet used when purchasing the rights to a photograph. Suddenly, Albus felt the need for the seat earlier offered.

"She drove a very hard bargain. As I'm sure you know, the reward was at 10,000 galleons. She refused to sell for a knut less than 12,000."

Albus recognized the signature on the form. The person who had sold photographs of their child for monetary gain, the one who had betrayed them – it was Minerva!

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

Returning to Hogwarts, Albus went looking for Minerva to confront her.

She found him first. "Albus, you do realize that you've managed to pick the one day of the year that Wendelin wasn't actually burnt at the stake."

Ignoring her comment, he asked. "Why? Why would you do this?"

Minerva shoulders sagged as she informed him with an almost irritated expression. "Maybe you heard, my house and everything in it burnt to the ground. Those things cost money to replace. And in case you have forgotten, homeowners insurance doesn't cover acts of God or Death Eaters."

"Money?! You did it for the money?" Albus was astounded. "If you needed money, I would have given you all that you desired! You could have had the key to my vault at Gringotts for all I cared!"

"Yes, and that wouldn't have looked the least bit suspicious. You know those goblins are worse gossips than Poppy."

Albus was left without words.

"We both knew it was only a matter of time!" The tartness of her tone lessened considerably as she went on speaking. It took on a vulnerability not many ever had the opportunity to hear. "Given the way they kept raising the reward amount, it wasn't as if no one was ever going to try to collect it. It just seemed better this way. I … I didn't want it to have to be one of our friends … or even one of our lesser enemies."

Now that he knew them, Minerva's reasons made sense; still Albus felt the need to get in one last jab. "I warned you that investing all of your money in Hummel's wasn't a sound financial plan."

Minerva gave him a withering glare.

Of course her response the next day seeing the photographs in print wasn't nearly so reserved. Albus took no small amount of satisfaction seeing her seethe at the photographs that were cropped to only show the baby's toy kneazle.

"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

Despite the hour, Albus was still quite awake when Minerva returned to bed from the two o'clock feeding. Since his recent discovery that Voldemort had once been a student of his, Albus had been able to think of little else. As she slipped into bed beside him, he shared with her the thoughts that had been troubling him.

"It's been clear for some time now that Voldemort despises me in particular, but I still don't understand why he should feel so strongly about me. Granted, I am fond of muggleborns, muggles, and muggle things, but that doesn't seem to be cause enough for his behavior.

"I remember Tom Riddle from his school days. There was that whole affair with the chamber of secrets. Tom put the blame on Hagrid, but I didn't believe him. Though I tried to find some evidence to dispute his claims, I couldn't. On just Hagrid's word and my suspicions there was little I could do beyond trying to keep a closer eye on him in the future. Surely a few mistrustful looks on my part weren't enough to inspire all this animosity? I've been racking my brain, trying to remember if there might have been something more, but if there was, I have no idea what it might have been."

Stifling a yawn, in an even tone Minerva gave him the answer he least expected. "He was in love with you."

"What?!"

"He was in love with you. It was as clear as day to anyone who ever saw the two of you in a room together. The way his eyes lit up and his heart skipped a beat. How he kept moistening his lips again and again. Oh, and his palms would get all sweaty and –"

Realization dawned at last. "You're mocking me, aren't you?!"

"My, you are quick! When I graduated, Riddle was still a first year. What possible use could I have had for a first year? My interests have always gone in the direction of older boys."

"Boys? I wonder if I should take that as a compliment or an insult."

"Take it as it was intended."

Albus laughed. "And still I wonder if I should take it as a compliment or an insult?"

Not getting a response he returned to the more serious concern. "It's just that if I could understand that, maybe we could get some insight into why he does the things he does. And maybe from there figure out what his next move will be before he…"

Minerva seemed to be losing focus. He gave her a gentle nudge to regain her attention.

"He probably hates you because he had you for Transfiguration. You always gave too much homework. Everybody hated you for that."

"My students didn't hate me! When I taught, I was well loved by all my students!"

"Then why is it that one of them is dead set on killing you?"

"And I never gave more homework than was necessary! Transfiguration is a very difficult and dangerous subject. A thorough understanding of the theories, as well as the mechanics is essential for safety, and a heavy homework load is necessary to accomplish that. You know that perfectly well!"

Minerva shrugged. "Amelia Bones suggested it was because you weren't getting any. She said you just needed a good shag. It took some convincing, but eventually I volunteered."

"You're making that up!"

"Am I?" she replied dryly. "I seem to recall more than one returning student remarking about a drastic reduction in the number of feet of parchment required for Transfiguration lessons at the beginning of my sixth year. Do you deny that that was in any way related to the start of our relationship at the end of my fifth year? As I seem to recall, neither of us were too happy with you utilizing your every waking hour grading school parchments."

"I should like to point out that while I did ask you out at the end of your fifth year, it was at the end of your fifth year of teaching. And I still maintain that an additional foot of parchment -" Albus corrected himself as Minerva held up two fingers. "-an additional two feet of parchment was and is insufficient cause for all this."

"Well, what else could it be? I know - did you ever keep You-Know-Who up all night asking him pointless questions?"

"No, never -" catching on, Albus trailed off. "I take it you would like me to let you get some rest?"

"It is after two in the morning and I will need to be up again in four hours for another feeding. And by the time slow poke finishes, there won't be a point in even trying to get back to sleep. So yes, that would be lovely."

Turning off the light, Albus apologized. "You know I would do it if I could."

"I know." She gave him a light kiss before snuggling into his embrace.

He really would be quite happy to. He envied her the added bond it allowed her with their son. "If you wanted to try formula…"

"No."

"You know, it isn't as if the elves haven't offered. Perhaps you should reconsider allowing one of them to help out a bit more with some of the little-"

She didn't even let him finish before dismissing the idea. "I didn't go through all this drama and subterfuge to have a baby, only to let him be raised by an elf, thank you very much. Now what happened to the idea of stopping the questions and letting me get some sleep?"

He couldn't help himself. "Technically, my dear, the last two were merely suggestions. They were not actually phrased in question form."

He gave a little yelp as she pinched him.

"Sleep in tomorrow. I can cover your first few classes."

"Do you think that wise? You might incite another dark lord. Besides, if you are teaching my classes, who will keep all of the world from collapsing in on itself?"

"I think the world can manage to get by until ten o'clock." Seeing how absolutely exhausted she looked, he amended that. "Perhaps even eleven." He wasn't sure what magic hat he was going to pull the time out of, but…"And I'll try to do more. Perhaps I can take over baths or some such thing."

"Mmm. That would be nice. Poppy said that the baby can start on cereal soon. According to her, the cereal will take longer to digest so he should stay full longer, and therefore sleep for longer stretches. You – " She poked him for emphasis, "-can be in charge of the cereal."

"Indeed." Albus smiled. "I wonder if he will prefer Count Chocula or Boo Berry?"

"Albus!" Minerva intoned perhaps a bit too loudly as the little person in the next room began to stir.

"Now you've done it!" mocked Albus. "Which of us exactly was it that thought a baby was a good idea?"

The sounds from the next room were growing louder and more pitiful.

Minerva turned to him. "If we ignore it, do you think it will go away?"

Albus chuckled. "One can only hope."

Given the way that Minerva was covering her face with a pillow, Albus rather got the idea he had better be the one to go. "Allow me."

Walking into the nursery, Albus began to mock scold the baby. "Do you have any idea what time it is? You, young man, are supposed to be asl-" Standing over the crib, looking in, Albus stopped abruptly. Hand trembling, he cast aside the blanket that usually covered the baby, but now lay flat on the crib bottom.

The baby wasn't there. With the blanket that Hagrid had knit gone, the crib was empty but for the baby's two toy kneazles.