11th September 1971

'Knock, knock,' said Minerva, poking her head around Albus' door and trying to hide the small parcel concealed behind her back.

'Come in – oh Minerva!' he said, his face breaking into a smile when he saw her.

'Not too busy for a chat with a friend?' she asked, eyeing the large stack of parchment swaying precariously on Dumbledore's desk.

'Never, my dear,' he replied, flicking his wand and sending the stack of paper into his desk drawer, 'Now what can I do for you, Minerva,' he asked.

Minerva pulled out a chair and sat down, 'Well, first of all, I wanted to wish you a happy birthday,' she said, revealing the parcel she had been hiding and holding it out for Dumbledore to take, 'Happy birthday, Albus. I hope this year is as good as the last.'

Albus smiled and took the parcel gratefully. 'Thank you. The years seem to have flown past.'

'And you are looking as well as ever,' replied Minerva tactfully.

Albus chuckled, 'If only, my dear, if only,' and he shook his head wistfully. 'There were days when this beard was not pure white but auburn.' Minerva rolled her eyes but smiled all the same. Albus shrugged and then turned his attention to the brown package now on his lap.

'Oh how kind of you,' he said after a few minutes, holding up a pair of yellow woolly socks, 'One can never have enough sock,' he said knowledgably, folding the socks back into the brown paper and promptly sending them flying into his cupboard, which stood at the end of the room.

'I'm glad – Oh and there was something else!' said Minerva suddenly, fishing deeply into her robe pocket for a small yellowing envelope bearing the scrawny handwriting of Alastor Moody, 'Here you go,' she said, at last, handing over the letter.

'Ah, yes…Hm…'

Minerva leaned back in her chair as she watched Dumbledore open the envelope. His eyes zigzagged across the page and he nodded his head several times, as though he had been expecting to receive the letter for some time. Intrigued, Minerva studied his expression, which was a mix of sad, worried and yet oddly pleased.

'Something you were expecting?' she asked, not wanting to appear too nosy, however, interested enough to want to know the purpose of the letter, which seemed to have triggered such mixed emotions.

'Alas yes, however, I had hoped that my theories would have been proved wrong…' Albus shook his head gravely. Minerva, now even more curious, did not answer and instead waited for him to elaborate, as she knew he would.

'I am right in saying that you remember of the Death Eaters I told you about?'

Minerva nodded her head slowly. A worrying thought popped into the back of her mind however, she tried to ignore it and instead hoped that she was wrong.

Albus nodded once more, 'Well it appears we have found out who their leader is.'

'We?'

'I have been talking to your dear friend Elphinstone at the ministry and it seems that they also have linked the muggle attacks to the Death Eaters. It seems they have also spent a lot of their time tracking suspected participants down and their inquiries have led them to the name Voldemort. Or as he likes to call himself: Lord Voldemort.'

A sudden flare of anger sprung in his blue dazzling eyes, such that Minerva had never seen before. Suddenly she remembered that despite his appearance and age, Albus Dumbledore was the most powerful wizard of their age and had been the one to take down Grindelwald single-handedly.

Suppressing a shudder she managed to say, 'But you knew that already, Albus! You told me all of this only a few days ago,' she said, failing to hide the irritation in her voice, 'Have you found out anything else about him?'

Albus looked sadly into the fireplace, 'I'm afraid not,' he answered, his voice coming out in a low whisper.

Minerva sighed and rubbed her eyes with her fingertips. She knew he was hiding something from her but, having known Albus as long as she had, she knew pushing him would result in nothing, 'Alright then. Anything else?'

Albus smiled benignly at Minerva who sighed, knowing full well that she was not going to get an answer, 'Very well,' she said tiredly, 'But what has all of this got to do with Alastor's letter?'

There were a few minutes of silence, and at the precise moment Minerva was going to change the topic, thinking that he would not answer, Albus suddenly forward in his chair looking far more serious that she had ever seen him look, 'Minerva what I am about to say is in the strictest confidentiality however, before I do so I want to make sure that you are willing to undertake the risk.'

Minerva struggled for words under Albus' intense blue stare, 'Risk? What risk?' she managed to blurt out.

'I think we are going to have some very difficult years ahead of us now. Lord Voldemort does not seem to be slowing down and I fear these attacks will become even more numerous and dangerous…' he left the sentence hanging and Minerva finally understood what he was asking of her.

'Yes – I accept the risk,' she stammered.

'There will be a meeting next Saturday at the Hog's Head. I do not want to leave the school in the evening so it will be at three o'clock. Can I count on you being there?' Albus' eyes bore into hers and Minerva had the distinct impression she was getting involved in something much deeper than she had previously thought.

'Of course,' she said, her voice sounding distant to her own ears, 'yes, of course,' she repeated suddenly, shaking her head as though trying to clear the cloudiness which seemed to be enveloping her mind.

'I knew you would accept,' said Dumbledore, pleased, 'A loyal colleague and a true friend,' he said smiling gratefully at her.

A few minutes passed where Albus gazed unseeingly out of the window and Minerva studied him closely. She did not like what was going on. Attacks were getting more frequent and Voldemort and his 'army' were moving across Europe towards England. Despite having been born in the time when Grindelwald had already been defeated, Minerva still knew of fear and uncertainty of that time. She knew of the deaths and the massacres and she had a terrible feeling that something of the sort was happening again. History was repeating itself and not the good part of it.

Sorry I have been gone for some time. I'm so busy these days I can hardly find the time to write. Hope you enjoyed this chapter I'll try to get the next chapter on time next week - next weekend on Sunday at the latest (hopefully)

Order of the Phoenix coming soon! :)

Have a great day! Reviews are also appreciated :)