I am evidently on a roll. Do enjoy!


Minerva McGonagall did not enjoy fighting with her partner, but she was still a bit upset about the fact that Hermione had neglected to mention the threat to Malcolm and Jackie. Perhaps she'd been asleep when Hermione got home, but Hermione could have woken her. Alternately, when they'd had breakfast together the next morning, she might have brought it up then. All day long Hermione had ample opportunity to give Minerva a heads up, but no. She waited till the middle of dinner with a group of other people around to urge Minerva to keep her cool. She'd wanted to just lose it on Hermione, but with Severus, Rupert, Leland, and Remus all present it seemed an inappropriate time and place to do so. Of course, Minerva thought with a scoff, it had been an inappropriate time for Hermione to so casually mention that Minerva's family was in danger.

She refused to apologize. There were days that Minerva felt like the power that Hermione had as Head of the Order had gone to her head, and today was one of those days. Actually, it had been nearly a week, and Minerva had been hiding out on a cot in her office every night in an effort to avoid Hermione. That said, if nothing else, being in her office all the time had given her the opportunity to not only catch up with paperwork she was behind on, but also to get a head start on next term's budget proposal. Mind, depending on the progression of the war, there might very well not be an Educational Board to get funding from by this summer. If that was the case, then Minerva would be facing wasted time, but she wasn't going to think about that right now. She just needed to keep busy, and she wasn't even inclined to spend time with the children as a means to do so. It was moments like this that Minerva felt every part the step-parent, in that she was uncomfortable spending time with the children when she and Hermione were on the outs.

"Hey, Minerva!"

With a sigh, the Headmistress turned to face her Transfiguration Professor, who was striding briskly in her direction. "Yes, Remus?" she asked curtly.

"Have you seen Hermione today?" he asked. "I meant to catch her after her classes let out for the day and missed her. She wasn't at dinner either. I was wondering if she'd made any headway on that lead Umbridge handed her - I was in the Library and…"

"Excuse me," Minerva said, eyes wide and voice shaking. "But did you just say Umbridge? As in Dolores Umbridge? As in Hermione has been in communication with the woman who murdered Albus?!"

Remus paled. "Er… it's been days, I figured she'd talked to you…"

Minerva just glared, fury rising in her chest and feeling a sense of betrayal that she'd not felt in a long time.

"I'm gunna take a guess and say she didn't…" Remus said softly. "Minerva, calm down. I can understand why you're upset, but I'm sure there's a perfectly good explanation…"

"If you'd call a frequent and highly upsetting habit of leaving me out of the loop on subjects that highly impact me a good explanation," Minerva growled.

"Minerva, please, you need to…" the werewolf tried, seeming to be highly aware of just how close to totally losing control his employer and friend was.

He was right, she knew, but at the same time Minerva hoped that the animal that was a part of him could understand her fury right now. Enough was enough. Minerva was absolutely sick and tired of Hermione doing this to her. Time after time, Hermione had simply forgotten to mention things that were important for Minerva to know. Hermione accused her of being poor at communicating, but in the same stroke the other witch hardly had room to talk. Hermione claimed to love her, claimed to trust her, and yet Minerva always seemed to be low on the list of people to inform of big developments. Helena's connection to Hermione, the fact that Harry was a horcrux, the threat to Malcolm and Jackie, and this newly discovered communication with Umbridge were just a few of the things Hermione had forgotten to mention. Merlin knew how many things other things Hermione was forgetting to tell her about still!

"If you'd excuse me, Remus," she said lowly. "I believe Hermione and I are decidedly overdue for a lengthy discussion. You'll need to seek her out at another time."

"Minerva, please try to cool down a bit before you go speak to her," the wizard pleaded, reaching out to touch her arm.

Wrong move.

It had been many years since Minerva's anger had gotten the better of her to the point of completely losing her sense of decorum, but as her fist connected with Remus Lupin's nose, she found that she really didn't care who saw her or how broken said man's nose might now be. Poppy could fix it. Logically, Minerva knew she was more than out of line and that Remus had only been trying to get her to see sense, but she was beyond good sense at the moment. She'd send the werewolf a nice box of chocolate later by way of apology, but for the moment her focus was on nothing but her anger towards Hermione.

Minerva was vaguely aware of multiple people, students and other staff alike, calling out to her as she stalked toward the Head Tower where she knew Hermione was holed up in Harry's room. For some reason, that always seemed to be where Hermione went when she was upset, especially if her upset meant she did not feel able to go to Minerva for comfort. It was likely because of the once friendship Hermione had shared with the Boy-Who-Was-Now-Her-Godson, and for all the things Hermione did to drive her mad, Minerva had never gotten upset at her partner for taking comfort in being surrounded by Harry's belongings.

Sure enough, Minerva had been right and Hermione was sitting crouched over a book with a stack of parchment beside her at Harry's desk. The Head of the Order turned at the sound of her lover storming in, eyebrow raising at the look of fury on Minerva's face. "Just when the bloody fuck were you going to tell me that you've been in contact with Umbridge?" she asked. Her voice was low, her wand drawn, and when red sparks spit out the tip Hermione stood quickly and drew her own wand defensively.

"Minerva, calm down…" Hermione tried.

What was with people telling her to calm down today, Minerva absently wondered. Again, it was the worst possible thing to say and a strong stinging hex was hurling toward Hermione a fraction of a second later.

Hermione blocked the spell, jerking out of her chair to assume a defensive dueling posture. "God damnit, Minerva!" the Head of the Order shouted. "How was I supposed to tell you when you've been avoiding me all week?!"

"I wouldn't have been avoiding you if I wasn't already angry at you for, oh, guess what? MORE FUCKING SECRETS!" Minerva shouted, throwing another volley of less than friendly spells.

At that point Hermione's jaw set and she too started shooting spells, both women seemingly intent on nothing more than beating each other to a bloody pulp. So intense was their duel - abrasions already covering both of their skins as a result - that neither noticed when an utterly dumbfounded Harry stepped into the room, staring in shock at the mess that had become his bedroom and the fact that his adoptive parents were aggressively dueling, using spells that Harry himself had been expressly forbidden to use save for life and death situations.

"EXPELLIARMUS!" Harry shouted.

Minerva's wand flew out of her hand, much to her surprise, though Hermione maintained a strong grip on her own, and seemed blind to anything but the attack she was making on Minerva. Startled at the fact that a fifteen year old had just disarmed her, Minerva's temper began to dissipate in the wake of overwhelming guilt. Hermione, however, seemed to be still seeing red and Minerva was starting to debate the wisdom of diving for cover.

"MUM, STOP!" Harry screamed, tears flowing freely down his face as he jumped in front of Minerva protectively.

Hermione stopped at once, shock written all over her face, and Minerva honestly wasn't sure if it was the shock of what Harry had just called her, or the shock of that she'd nearly attacked her unarmed lover with a spell which Minerva was certain would have been decidedly damaging of her person. Hermione's wand clattered to the ground a few seconds later as Hermione tossed it away as if the feel of the wooden handle was burning her. "Oh… Min… Harry," she croaked, tears covering her own face now. "I am so sorry. I have no idea what came over me…"

"A response to my own temper," Minerva admitted in a whisper, bowing her head in shame. "I attacked first."

"I'm sorry, Minerva," Hermione said, "but you wouldn't have had cause to lose your temper if I'd been more honest with you…"

"Hermione, darling," Minerva interjected, raising her hand to silence her partner. "We obviously need to talk, but I do believe at this point it would be wise for me to take a walk and finish getting control of myself before we do. Meanwhile, I believe that Harry…"

She glanced at the boy, who was blushing like mad, knowing damn well what she was about to suggest. "... could use some comfort from his mum. Harry, for my part I do apologize for putting you in a position to witness that. I also thank you for your quick thinking on how to stop us from doing something we'd regret. Twenty points to Gryffindor, dear boy."

Harry couldn't have gotten more red if he'd been a Weasley. "Thanks," he muttered. "Just… uh… don't let it happen again? Please?"

"I shall give it my best effort," she promised sincerely. It was in this moment that Minerva realized that step-parent or Headmistress, Harry looked up to her as an example on how to behave, and she had failed him entirely today. It was sobering to Minerva to realize that for the first time in her life, being professional when professionally called for wasn't going to cut it anymore. She couldn't continue to allow her temper to rule over her personal life, as it would impact three children who had already seen enough violence in their short lives. Perhaps she should consider looking into mood-stabilizing potions. Janet might have some suggestions.

"An hour?" Hermione asked timidly, eyeing Minerva carefully. "Two?"

"An hour will be enough for me," Minerva replied in what she hoped was a reassuring tone. "But if you feel you need more time with Harry, please feel free to sent a Patronus and I'll give you the extra time. That said, we do need to talk, and we need to do so today."

"I agree," Hermione replied. "An hour should cover us, but I'll let you know if not."

Minerva nodded and after pressing a kiss to Harry's temple and offering him a whispered encouragement, she left the room, and minutes later, left the tower entirely. Her father had often "walked it off" when he'd gotten angry, and Minerva hoped the same tactic would work for her. The lake was always quite lovely in the late evening, as the sun set. She'd head over there for a bit. Just a bit of peace and quiet…

Minerva let out an exasperated groan when she saw that the lake already had a visitor, and of bloody course the visitor just had to be Leland Dourif. With a deep breath, Minerva reminded herself that Hermione wasn't the only one of them who'd failed to trust. She'd promised time and time again to speak with Dourif and hear his side of the story regarding the death of her uncle, and time and time again she'd put it off, content in her anger toward the man and uncaring of what he did to prove his loyalty on a daily basis. Minerva knew that this fight was either going to make or break her relationship with Hermione, and as it killed her to even consider the idea of losing the beautiful, brown eyed woman she loved so dearly, the Headmistress resolved to do what she could - spend her hour wisely - to offer Hermione proof that she could grow and change. Even if she didn't like what she heard, she would at least be able to tell Hermione that she'd heard Dourif out.

Minerva cleared her throat. "Dourif," she called.

He turned around and arched an eyebrow at her, a look on his face that spoke of defiance that she was well used to seeing. Before, Minerva had thought that look was one of challenge; a dare for her to risk Hermione's wrath and cause a scene. Now, she saw the sadness behind the look and realized what the expression had really meant. It was a look that said 'How dare you judge me when you have been unwilling to even hear my side of the story?', and upon realizing this, Minerva was ashamed of herself.

"Leland," she corrected herself, in a softer tone this time. "I was wondering if perhaps we could talk. If you'd rather not, I understand, but…"

"I can't even begin to guess what might have prompted you to shelf your self-righteousness," he replied. "But the door is open, Minerva. It always has been."

"Did you kill my uncle?" she asked, trying not to sound accusatory.

"I did," he replied sadly. "Even though it hurt me deeply to do so. He was my friend, you know. Just like your mum and dad."

"Why?" she asked, heart clenching at the memories of the day her world had been turned upside down.

Leland Dourif had been a hand on the farm, and had been as good as family. He was a surrogate uncle to her and her brothers, not unlike Sirius or Remus were to Harry. He had been Malcolm's godfather, for crying out loud, and Minerva's mum had taken great pleasure in introducing Leland to anyone who would listen to as her elder brother, even though they were of no real relation at all. He'd been the one she'd gone to when her magic first manifested, and he'd been the one she'd first confessed her sexuality to, when she was only seven years old. She'd trusted him above all others, and then she'd walked out to the horse barn one afternoon to find her father's brother lying dead on the ground, with Leland standing above the body with his wand gripped tightly in one hand, and wiping away a fresh flow of tears from his face with the other. It was the only time she'd ever seen the man cry.

"Because I swore to protect you kids, and I'd found your older brother crying in his room a few hours before," he said quietly. "He wouldn't tell me what had gotten him in such a state, and given that he was a grown man by then I couldn't imagine anything less than something terrible would have made him cry. You and Mal were still young, at home…"

"You used Legilimency, didn't you?" she asked.

The older man nodded. "I found memory after memory of your uncle raping Rob. I also found another few memories in which your uncle repeatedly threatened to do the same to you and Mal if Rob ever told anyone. I knew how it would impact Rob if I just told your folks or turned him over to the Ministry. His life would have been destroyed by something that wasn't his fault. You know how things were back then…"

Minerva's face was, for the second time in an hour, wet with tears as she listened. A part of her was trying to see fault in Leland's choice, but the other part of her knew that she'd have done the same if someone - anyone - had done that to one of her and Hermione's children. Still, she'd loved the uncle who she'd never known to be this kind of a monster, and it was a hard pill to swallow, to just take Leland at his word, when everything inside of her want to believe he was lying to her. "Thank you," she croaked out. "For sharing your side of the story with me."

"If I know you as well as I think I do," Leland said kindly, "then I expect you're itching to storm over to your brother's place and get confirmation. Go on, leannan. I certainly don't hold it against you for wanting to be sure."

Minerva nodded, and her eyes flickered toward the gate; the nearest point from where she could apparate. "Can you alert Filius that I've stepped out for a short while? And Hermione as well. Tell her I should still be back within the hour… we have a discussion of our own to finish."

"Consider it done," he replied, reaching out and touching her arm for the first time in too many years to count.

The touch of his always cool hand was comforting, and before she could stop herself she leaned into his waiting embrace like the child she used to be. He held her tightly, kissing her hair lightly and whispering assurances as she whimpered out an apology for doubting him. Yes, she needed to still hear it from Robert, but her heart already knew Leland wasn't lying.

Ten minutes later, Minerva was standing in front of Robert's London flat, taking a few more deep breaths before raising her hand to knock on the door. It opened a moment later, and Robert greeted her with a warm smile. "Well isn't this a surprise!" he exclaimed. "What are you doing…"

His question died on his lips as he took in the heartbroken expression on her face. "Min, what's wrong?" he demanded. "What's happened? Is it Mal? Jackie? Patrick?"

"All fine," she whispered. "As far as I know."

"Hermione?" he dared to ask.

"Fine, as are the children," she replied, sitting down on his sofa as he closed the door quietly behind her.

"Then what the bloody hell is wrong, Minerva?" he asked, looking frustrated. "I haven't seen you this upset since… oh."

She could see it in his face all at once. She saw her brother's guilt, sadness, and anger over what had happened all those years ago. "Why didn't you tell me?" she whispered.

"Wasn't your burden to carry," he said gruffly, running his fingers through his greying hair.

"You let me hate Leland, all these years…" she accused, more than a little peeved at that fact.

"No, Minerva," Robert replied harshly. "That's on Leland and yourself. I told you that Leland didn't deserve your hatred, and thanks to the sneaky git and a drunkenly taken Unbreakable Vow, I could not tell you more than that. He was determined that if ever you or Mal learned the truth about that day, you'd be getting answers from him. He called it his penance for actually doing the deed."

A shaky sigh left Minerva's lips as she came to terms with the fact that ultimately, it was her anger and she needed to take responsibility for it. No more blame games. The same mindset needed to be applied to her upcoming conversation with Hermione. "Alright," she said softly. "Thank you for… well, confirming what Leland told me. And for the rest… protecting me and Mal. Does he know?"

Robert shrugged off the thanks. "As far as I know, Malcolm is as clueless as usual. That said, I think Jackie knows, somehow. Every damn time I try sulking in her presence the bloody woman says 'Stop playing the abused child'. Her secondary specialty is psychology, after all, though I doubt that she knows who was responsible or when it happened."

"Did Albus know?"

"I suspect he did, though we never talked about it," came a sad reply. "The vow I made with Leland only stopped me from telling you and Mal - I have, for the record, seen a therapist - and I believe Leland did that because he was afraid in the heat of anger I might lash out and blame one of you for my problems. He was, in his way, preserving our relationships with each other."

"And that worked out so well," Minerva said dryly.

The McGonagall siblings both chuckled, thinking of their black sheep brother and how very little he had to do with either of them in recent years. The two sat, just talking for a little while longer, before Minerva realized the time and told him she needed to get back to Hogwarts.

"Next time you drop by," Robert said tenderly, pulling her into a hug, "Let's try it without the tears. I know we're both busy people, but you're my sister, and I love you, and this damn war starting up again has reminded me just how fleeting life can be. We need to make more time for each other."

"I agree," Minerva said, wrapping her arms around Robert tightly. "And loathe as I am to do so, I think we also need to make a better effort to get along with Malcolm."

"I have a feeling that's your wife talking."

"Hermione is not my wife," Minerva grumbled.

"She might as well be," he teased. "And one day, I imagine she will be. Merlin save us if she and Jackie get to be friends."

"We'd be doomed," Minerva agreed with a laugh. "On that note, I do need to go. Said not-wife and I have a long overdue discussion scheduled."

"You two got into a fight didn't you?" Robert accused.

"Duel, actually."

"Ouch."

"We were about to kill each other and Harry stepped in and stopped us," Minerva admitted, rubbing one of the places a slashing hex had hit her an hour ago. Leland had patched her up before sending her off to see Robert, but the area was still tender.

"Double ouch," Robert winced. "Neither of you are going to live that down any time soon."

"Of that, I am quite sure."

Final goodbyes said, Minerva made her way back to Hogwarts, and after alerting Filius and Leland both that she was back in the castle, she made her way to the Head Tower. Hermione, to no surprise was in their bedroom, waiting for her.

"Leland said you two had a heart to heart," Hermione said softly in greeting.

"We did," Minerva replied. "I believe we are in a position to… move forward, and past our differences."

"I'm glad to hear it. It's not a secret I wanted to be keeping from you," Hermione said. "But it wasn't my secret to share."

"I understand, in that case," the older witch conceded. "But that's not the only thing you've kept from me, and while I do think I owe it to you to hear out your reasoning in each case before I lose my temper, I also cannot stand here and be okay with so frequently being the last to know things. Especially when those things impact me personally, or the school for which I am responsible. Or my…"

"Your what, Min?" the Head of the Order asked tenderly, as if she already knew what Minerva was trying to say.

"Children. My family. Our family, our children, Hermione," Minerva said, sinking onto the edge of the bed. "I know we're not married, I know I have no legal rights, and I know I'm not the one that Harry called mum an hour ago, but gods save me I love Harry like a son, I love Dudley like a son, and I love Emma like a daughter. And you, Hermione, no matter how much you frustrate me, I love you to the ends of the earth. I love you like you're my wife and I am that committed to you, but to make all of this work, to make it last, I believe we need to work on becoming the family that we already act like we are. We need to… face problems as a family, instead of just enjoying the happy moments together. We need to support each other better, and not just lean on each other when it suits us. I'm not saying we and only meaning you, by the way. I know I am just as guilty of all of this."

Hermione took a moment to digest what Minerva was saying. "I agree with everything you're saying. My biggest failing, and I believe I need to be held accountable about this more, is that so much of my life is nothing but a pile of secrets, which are only shared when it serves my aims. It's difficult for me to switch mindsets. I didn't tell you about Helena because I didn't see how knowing my daughter with another woman was around would serve to improve our relationship. I didn't tell you about the threat to Malcolm and Jackie because their protection was not something I intended on making you responsible for, so I didn't see sense in making you worry. I didn't tell you about Umbridge - we'll get back to that in a moment - because you were already upset with me and I didn't see how making you more upset would help anything."

"I'm not just an Order member," Minerva whispered. "Or at least, I hope I mean more to you than that."

"You mean more to me than anyone ever has, and I swear to you Minerva, everything changes right here and now," Hermione promised. "I will do whatever it takes to earn back your trust, because I know I've violated it numerous times. Also, as soon as Sirius and I formalize the adoption of Harry so I can be legally responsible for him in totality, I will draw up paperwork giving you legal rights to all of the children. You've been there from day one with each of the children. They are just as much yours as they are mine and I am sincerely sorry if I've made you doubt that at all."

Minerva nodded. "Can we start with clearing the air about the latest two issues? What's being done to see to Malcolm and Jackie's protection? And what's going on with Umbridge that involved some sort of lead to follow?"

"Regarding Malcolm and Jackie, I've had them moved to Prince Manor, and they've agreed that if they are not at St. Mungo's, they will be at the Manor. If they need to go elsewhere, they let me know and I arrange for Order members to escort them. They use the floo to get to and from work," Hermione reported. "That went into effect four days ago, and prior to that I had Order members tailing their every move while I set things up."

"Acceptable, especially as I know that while St. Mungo's stands, my idiot brother and his idiot wife will keep going to work," Minerva replied, somewhat sourly. Of course, now her mood was more directed toward Malcolm and Jackie's stubbornness and less at any criticism of Hermione's arrangements to protect them.

"Umbridge?" Minerva prompted.

"Reached out to me via Owl minutes after you left the dinner table that night," Hermione explained with a sigh. "She has been… displeased with Voldemort's regime and wanted out. She offered to become a double agent on the condition that if she was discovered, the Order would see to her protection."

Minerva took a deep, centering breath. While decidedly displeased at this development, she was not Head of the Order and it was not her call to make. "The so called lead?"

"As a show of good faith she offered some information - that Voldemort is hunting magical artifacts," Hermione continued. "At first I was concerned he was trying to make more horcruxes but then she said that first, none of the artifacts she knows of are Goblin made, and second that Voldemort has in his possession a piece of a spear which was once held by both Grindelwald and Hitler. This artifact sounded a good deal like something an old friend of mine from the Founder's Era once told me about. He was immortal, or rather is in theory, and left me clues to find so I could track him down once I returned to my proper time. I have the book in which the clues are, and I'm nearly finished with deciphering them. I mean to locate him, assuming he's still kicking, to help get a better handle on the types of artifacts that Voldemort is seeking. If he is after what I think he's after, then we'll need his help."

Minerva was silent for a moment, processing. "See, that wasn't too hard," she finally said, trying to break the tension that still hung in the air. She didn't know about Hermione, but for herself, Minerva was exhausted and more than ready to let the rest sit for another day.

Hermione chuckled. "Not hard at all. I really should just make a habit of telling you everything."

"I think I'd be more than okay with that."

"Was it so hard to have a conversation with me without starting to throw hexes?" Hermione asked, tone teasing.

"Ehhhh..." Minerva drawled, feigning that this was debatable.

Hermione hit her with a pillow, and just like that the weight of the world was gone, if only for a moment. Giggles followed, and then some well deserved make-up sex before the couple retired for the night, the promise of a better tomorrow hanging in the air.


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