Minerva McGonagall had been in an awful mood ever since she found out that Sirius Black had been acquitted of the charges. Not because he didn't deserve it, because he did. But because now she would have to face him once more. After that fatal night where they had been acting like hormone driven teen-agers she had avoided him. Avoided him like he had the plague or was the plague. It had been the hardest thing she ever had done. A crush wasn't killed that easily.

Neither was the result. Abortion wasn't an option in the wizarding world. Minerva was glad that it wasn't, because for a second she had been tempted. Tempted to remove any evidence of what had been and of what would be. Dumbledore had understood. He had let her take a maternity leave. She had left Hogwarts and stayed in the house she had inherited from her parents. It was a huge house, secluded from most of the world. Minerva used the time to catch up with her reading. Redecorating the house took sometime as well. She added a baby room. A purple baby room. Purple, she reasoned, had to be the ideal color if you didn't know whether or not you would be having a boy or a girl.

Nine months after the "fatal" night the baby came knocking. Minerva had heard about childbirths and labors taking up to 12 hours. She had felt extremely lucky when it only took 2. Although that felt like eternity at the moment, she couldn't begin to imagine what 12 hours felt like. But at least something good had come out of the two long hours. A tiny baby girl with black hair and blue eyes had looked at the world with surprise.

Minerva had named her Aurora, after her mother. Aurora enthralled her. Feeding Aurora, changing Aurora's diapers and putting Aurora to sleep. The days were long and fascinating. In between she used the time to read up on what ever she hadn't had the time to before. When Aurora was six months old, Albus Dumbledore came to visit. McGonagall knew that his visit wasn't purely social.

"Lily Potter told me yesterday that she was pregnant. I have taken steps to protect them. What I need, Minerva is for you to come back to Hogwarts and take on duties as deputy headmistress. I am going to have to leave at times. I need to know that the school is in safe hands while I am gone. Professor Clairvoyant retired last month and the person who took her position is not capable of being deputy headmistress of anything."

"What about Sirius?"

"Young Mr. Black has ceased to roam Hogwarts in search of you. He is back as an Auror, currently in Romania, I believe."

"What should I do with Aurora? I can't very bloody likely drag her along with me to Hogwarts, can I?" Dumbledore didn't flinch when calm collected Minerva McGonagall used the b-word.

"I am sorry for having to suggest this. But would you consider adoption? I know you want to be with her, and I truly do understand it. But I believe it is for the best."

"Adoption, Albus?" Her voice rose an octave. "She is my daughter. I can't just give her away." Dumbledore looked over at Aurora, lying contently in her cradle. "This isn't a time for personal happiness. We all have to make some sacrifices during this period. It is not for the rest of your lives. She would have to have a new name. We can't risk people hurting her to get through to you. Am I making any sense here?"

Apparently he was because a week later Aurora had been adopted and Minerva was back at Hogwarts.

Minerva's eyes got misty by just thinking about the day. She had been so happy and absorbed in her own little world that it had been a huge shock to get back to the real world. Voldemort was killing people; Voldemort was killing her close friends. There were some amount of happiness, James and Lily got Harry and Aurora had gotten two teeth. Or maybe they should call her by her new name; Christina Mullet.

She had tried her best to let Aurora/Christina go. The Mullet's had a daughter and a son, but they wanted another daughter, and Minerva had known that they would treat her right. That they did. When Christina came to Hogwarts for her education and was sorted into Gryffindor Minerva tried her best not to show any favoritism. That led to her being stricter with Christina than anyone else, except maybe the Weasley twins. But Christina held her chin high and looked back at her with Sirius' eyes. She had guts. Minerva knew that somehow she had done the right thing. However how painful it had been and still was.

Now Christina's adoptive parents and brother were dead, her adoptive sister off in Ireland playing Quidditch, and Sirius Black was back. Minerva McGonagall didn't know what to do. But she had to do something.

***

A/N: I don't own anything but the idea. I like to think of that as mine… or at least the general pairings… :)

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It says it is age-restricted, but I only put it in the Harry Potter category; why is that adult content????

Oh, if you have any ideas feel free to share them.