A Touch of Magic

The summer air was warm on their faces as Dumbledore and Minerva stepped hurriedly out of the castle and made their way down the stone front steps. The grass was spongy beneath their feet from recent rain that had soaked the lawns and softened them.

Neither said a word as they hastened towards the huge gates that sat between the two pillars topped with winged boars at the boundary of the castle grounds. As they moved closer, Minerva saw Horendus's black hair and beard blowing slightly in the warm summer breeze. Next to him was the woman Minerva thought she would never see again, but either from force or some ulterior motive, Kalypto stood by Horendus' side, her shrouded figure unmistakable behind the iron bars.

Dumbledore spoke first with enough vehemence to surprise even Minerva, who had to make a conscious effort to prevent her eyes shooting an astonished glance at him.

"You are not welcome here, Lee."

He spoke through the railings that were padlocked together; the chains of the lock hung heavily over the bars between the four figures, a clear sign of the divide between them.

"I know, Dumbledore, and I understand," Lee said, holding up his hands.

Minerva saw that he held his wand tightly beneath the coiled fingers of his right hand. She smirked unkindly at the idea that Horendus thought he could protect himself against Dumbledore if it was ever to come to that.

"Just hear what we have to say and then you can decide whether or not you want to be rid of us."

Dumbledore was silent. Minerva knew that if he had not intended to let Horendus into Hogwarts he would never have made the effort to greet him at the gates, so deep was his fury with him.

However, as Horendus was the only person who had any control over the project – though not very much judging by past events – Dumbledore had little choice but to invite him to divulge his mysterious news. Minerva suspected, however, that Dumbledore, like her, had enough curiosity in him to want to know what Horendus had to say without the need for Horendus's persuasion. She also knew that Dumbledore had questions for Horendus, as she herself did, such as why had he been so interested in Poppy and the aftermath of productum intumesco? After all, worse had happened since then.

Dumbledore took his wand from the pockets of his robes and for the briefest moment Minerva thought she saw a flash of fear in Horendus' eyes. Judging by his next words, Dumbledore had witnessed it as well.

"Come now, Lee. You aren't afraid of me, are you?" he said gently.

Dumbledore moved his wand and tapped the padlock on the gates. The chains twisted backwards leaving Horendus and Kalypto with uninhibited entry into the Hogwarts grounds.

Minerva turned away from the couple as they were about to enter and began making her way back up to the castle. She would have waited for them, but the sight of Horendus disgusted her and Kalypto still had the ability to make Minerva feel disconcerted. And, to add further discomfort, Kalypto, like Minerva, had yet to speak a single word.

Minerva heard the gates behind her scream in protest and then clatter loudly as they closed, locking the four of them in the grounds with tension mounting so high that Minerva would not have been surprised if the air shook with it.

"My students are soon to be having their dinner," Minerva heard Dumbledore say from somewhere behind her. "Whatever your business is here it must be dealt with quickly and with subtlety, am I clear?"

"I will do my best," Horendus said. Minerva did not like this answer; it did not give any confirmation that he would comply with Dumbledore's request and it unnerved her.

As they neared the entrance doors of Hogwarts, Minerva's chest gave a lurch much the same as it had earlier in the staffroom. A quiet noise of surprise and discomfort escaped her lips but no one seemed to hear. The fleeting glance between Horendus and Kalypto and a brief nod of the head of the former past by undetected.

Minerva reached the entrance hall before the others. The feeling in her chest was not reducing as it had earlier and she began to feel sick with it. There was strange pressure pushing its way up her chest to the back of her throat, growing higher and higher by the second. She turned to face the doors she had just come through and, just as she did, her nausea increased.

In an attempt to conceal her sudden sickness she straightened her back more than usual and clenched her jaws, fighting down the queasiness.

Dumbledore came through the doors first, closely followed by Horendus who had acquired an expression of tension since Minerva last looked at him through the bars of the gate. It was only after Kalypto walked through the doors that Minerva heard it – an unbearable, shrill whispering was filling the hall.

Minerva felt her skin grow hot and break out into a sweat, the beads running down her temples and down her back. She looked at Dumbledore to see if he had noticed anything, but he was looking away from her and she could not see his face.

The pressure at her throat grew higher, pushing up further into her head causing her vision to blur with the force.

"NO!"

The single word was cast over the hall from the deep tones of a desperate voice; Dumbledore's voice.

"You gave me your word," he cried.

His voice echoed in Minerva's ears, but she couldn't concentrate on his meaning for long – the pressure inside her was growing as if air was being pumped into her faster and faster and with no means of escape. Her voice would not work because of the force around her throat, and the fast increasing feeling of nausea prevented her from attempting any speech.

Her vision was rapidly growing dim from the pressure behind her eyes; shadows of the people before her were looming darkly out of a grey light that was surrounding them all. She saw Dumbledore turn to her but could not make out the features in his face. Then he stumbled. The horrible whispering grew louder in Minerva's ears so that it was almost the only thing she could concentrate on. Then a distant voice punctured the sound.

"Right, help me get them in here."

Minerva felt someone grip her arm tightly. She lifted her free arm weakly in an attempt to brush the hand away, but achieved nothing. She was becoming disoriented, as though she was intoxicated; and with every second that her vision failed her she could feel her body become weaker. The whispering was flooding her mind.

Whoever had hold of her pulled her across the room. She went up no steps as far as she knew, and her journey was short.

"Lay them down here," came the distant voice again through the terrible whispers. "We have to hurry. The students will be coming to dinner soon."

Minerva was manoeuvred roughly onto a hard surface of what she assumed was one of the tables in the Great Hall. Her vision was still blurred and she couldn't make out where Dumbledore was.

She tried to lift her head to see what she could of what was happening, but it had become heavy. She felt drugged, desperate to move, but too dizzy and weighed down to be capable of barely any movement.

The nausea was still very present at the back of her throat but the feeling had moved forwards and was now making her lips tingle unpleasantly. Minerva had no idea what was happening, and the fear that gripped her was the only thing that forced her to keep her eyes open, attempt to lift her head, and try to concentrate.

The dizzying images before her were distorted shadows in a dull background. The evening light from the Great Hall's high windows was only grey to Minerva's eyes and it cast fuzzy black shadows from every object in the room.

Her head grew heavier and she had no choice but to rest it back on the table top. Her breathing was fast with the effort it had taken to lift her head, and she could hear the rushing of air loudly in her ears. Then a sudden jolt went through her – that was all she could hear. The whispers had stopped. Everything around her was silent.

An involuntary moan broke away from her and she silenced it immediately as a fresh wave of sickness washed over her. Then Kalypto's harsh voice stabbed through the room.

"It is not working," she said, almost indifferently. "You were confident it would work. Why is it not? Look at them."

"I know, I know," Horendus replied hurriedly. "There must be something we have missed. I was positive this would work."

Minerva could hear the anxiety building in Horendus' voice. He had no idea what he had done – what he was doing. But Minerva knew. Or at least she knew how to overcome it. She didn't know how, but somehow she knew. It was simple. Why didn't they see it?

"We cannot keep them like this," Kalypto said deeply and harshly. "Reverse it."

"I can't," Horendus replied desperately. "It might… it might –"

"It will kill them if we leave them like this." The scratch to Kalypto's voice grew harder but she sounded calm. "Reverse it!"

"I can't," Horendus replied.

"You must!"

"No, you don't understand. I really can't!"

Silence.

Panic rose in Minerva at Horendus's words, and as it rose the pressure inside her increased. It throbbed behind her eyes making them feel as though they would be forced out of their sockets at any moment. She wished she could speak, wished she could tell them how to make the pressure stop. All she needed was Dumbledore.

But then words from Kalypto, which Minerva most certainly did not want to hear, carried across the room:

"You cannot leave."

Horendus was fleeing. Kalypto's voice did not quite conceal the shock she felt.

"This cannot be fixed, Kalypto," Horendus said frantically. "We must leave now."

"They cannot be left like this," Kalypto replied calmly.

"What do you mean?" Horendus asked with obvious surprise. "You said yourself that if it did not work then death would be preferable for them. It has not worked! So death it is."

"You are a coward," she said harshly. "Look at them. Look at what you have done to them."

"I?" Horendus said. "What have I done that you cannot also be blamed for? I did not do this alone, Kalypto."

Minerva could feel her pulse beating painfully behind her eyes. Her chest was full and her throat was thick with strain. She needed her voice. She had to tell them how to stop this. There was a sudden loud bang in the distance. Horendus panicked at the noise.

"We must leave, Kalypto. Now! Come with me."

"No."

Her voice had grown louder in Minerva's ears. She had moved closer to her, away from the door. At another time Minerva may have felt a respect for Kalypto that she would have never predicted, but at that moment her vision shivered before her dreadfully, and so her efforts were concentrated on controlling her nausea.

"Then their deaths are in your hands, Kalypto. I am sure the dementors at Azkaban will not know what to make of you. I wish them luck."

And with that, he was gone. Minerva vaguely heard his footsteps echoing through the empty entrance hall beyond. She was still breathing heavily when she felt pressure on her wrist. Kalypto was gripping her tightly, feeling her pulse. Then she moved away. Was she going towards Dumbledore? Minerva had to force down the pressure that was still building up inside her and try to regain her voice. It was imperative.

With all the energy she had, she took a deep breath and released it in a quiet moan. All noise of Kalypto's movements suddenly stopped, and then Minerva heard her hurry towards her and saw the dark shadow of Kalypto's figure as she loomed over the table.

"Professor McGonagall?" she said coarsely.

Minerva slowly took another deep breath and this time tried to speak. With the breath that escaped her in a rush she managed to exhale a word.

"Hand," she said.

She felt Kalypto's cold hand on her own. Frustration suddenly erupted inside her. She lifted her head and breathed in deeply.

"No." The word came from her lips in a gush of air. Another deep breath. "His"

Her head fell back onto the table, hard. Her energy had gone. She had no more speech left in her. She felt Kalypto's hand leave hers and gave a silent hope that Kalypto had understood what she meant.

Minerva's breaths were loud in her ear again and her vision had worsened and now was almost completely black. Fear was shooting through her veins. If it does not work then death would be preferable. Minerva could not begin to imagine what uncertainty she was facing.

Suddenly a cold hand grabbed hold of her wrist and pulled. Minerva's arm was jerked forcefully away and her shoulder cracked with the movement. Her fingers were shoved forcefully against something warm. Dumbledore's hand gripped hers weakly.

She felt the effects immediately. The pressure inside her chest begin to diminish; her breathing slowed; her nausea faded. Only one thing remained, and that was the terrible force behind her eyes.

She felt her strength grow and she echoed Dumbledore's hold on her hand by clasping his tightly in return. As she stared up at the ceiling, breathing calmly but heavily, she saw the light of the enchanted ceiling begin to steadily seep through the shadows of her vision. A pink and blue sky revealed itself slowly, breaking apart the shadows as they faded away.

Minerva lay silently for several moments, watching the colours return to her senses and feeling her energy flood back into her. Something felt different. Something had changed inside her. The pressure in her chest had gone completely now, but that was not all. The feeling she had felt for so long – the feeling that something was missing, that she had left something behind somewhere – was gone too. Something had taken its place; or rather something had been returned to her.

The pressure of Dumbledore's hand was strong against hers now. She blinked and turned her head. He was lying alongside her, his mouth open slightly from his shortness of breath. His eyes were bright as he looked back at her; bright with utter amazement, but also with something Minerva had not seen in them for a long time.

A callous voice interrupted her thoughts.

"I have waited a long time. Now I have seen them. I have seen what he has not."

Minerva was startled by Kalypto's heavy breathing as she spoke. Both she and Dumbledore turned to her as she spoke again.

"The Droplets of the Soul."