A/N: I'm so glad that everyone is enjoying this story; I'm having so much fun writing it. I swear to you the next three stories I have (Including this one) will have happy endings to make up for the end of "The Needs of the Many" however, the perfect ending is a long ways off in this story as it is really no where near the end, despite the fact that it looks like it is.
A/N 2: Okay, final medium for my plea. I have another story that I've been posting on FF.net recently called "The Legacy." But it's only had two reviews and I don't think anyone's reading it. It IS AD/MM. I promise. And I'm still writing it and having a blast with it, but I haven't been posting because no one's been reading. Please, in addition to reviewing this story go read "The Legacy" review that one too.
This chapter is for Aeryn Alexander for starting the Albus and Minerva Group on Yahoo. Thank you Aeryn!
Chapter 7
The Black Forest. It was appropriately named Minerva decided as they walked under the canopy of trees. No light was seeping through, and they'd already gotten lost several times. To top it off, they'd almost been caught by the hunting parties that had been sent out to look for them and she hadn't dreamed in the three days since she'd awoken. "Does any of this look familiar?" Helena asked crossly.
Minerva shook her head and struggled to keep the tears back. They were all feeling the stress. Minerva was on the verge of crying almost constantly, Helena was cross and snappish, Serena had withdrawn into herself, and Poppy was jumping at the slightest sound.
Suddenly the reached a clearing with a large stone castle in it. The other three girls entered it without a thought, but Minerva froze on the barrier. There was something familiar about the clearing and the castle stones. "This is it." She whispered.
"How are we going to get in?" Helena asked as she stared at the forbidding structure.
"Minerva and Serena could get in, no problem. The hard part would be to get Dumbledore out."
Minerva fished her wand out with a steely glint in her eyes. "I have a plan." She muttered a quiet spell and transfigured her wand into a collar. "After I change put the collar on me, but loose enough that I can paw it off." They nodded and Minerva transformed into a little grey and black tabby cat. Poppy gently slipped the collar over her friend's furry head and latched it loosely.
The cat licked her hand in thanks. She meowed at Serena, who in an instant became a raven. She flew close to the ground, close to the cat as they set off over the clearing. There was a window open on the first floor. If any had been looking they would have thought it strange for a Raven was carrying a cat comfortably in her claws and she set the feline down gently on the stone floor once they were inside.
The castle was deserted. And they made it all the way to the dungeons without so much as a sign of another living being. The cat took point. She made it around the last corner then scurried back behind the wall. A plaintive mewl let the raven know that there was a guard and the cat didn't know how to slip passed, let alone get the door open. The raven transformed back into Serena Sinistra. "Trust me," she whispered. "And follow."
There was a lustful glint in the woman's eye as she sashayed toward the guard. The man swallowed nervously as he noticed her approach. "Hello." She fairly purred. Minerva fought to roll her eyes, reminding herself that it was a very un-cat-like thing to do. Serena backed the distracted man up against the wall next to the door. As her hand reached around him, she flicked open the handle with the wand she'd hidden up her sleeve before she'd transformed. The door opened just a crack, but it was enough of a crack for Minerva to get her paw in and slip passed into the cell.
She wriggled out of the collar and transformed it back as she herself took her human form. "Albus…" She whispered.
He woke from his sleep and stared at her. Then he smiled. "Welcome back."
"I'm really here this time. It's time to go." He blinked, to surprised to form words. "I have to get you out of here, so you're just going to have to trust me okay?" He nodded. With a flick of her wand and a few muttered words, he was a small mouse. "Trust me," she reminded the creature. Then she shrank back into a cat, the wand melding with her body. She scooped the mouse up in her mouth as if it were a prize she'd caught.
Minerva slipped back out the door and shut it softly. As she snuck passed the guard and Serena the mouse gave a tiny squeak. She shook him slightly to shut him up and scraped her paw on the side of her friend's ankle.
Serena disentangled herself from the guard's arms and ran off. The second she was out of sight, she turned back into a raven and took the cat and the mouse out of the first window she came too, just as the alarm of Dumbledore's escape sounded. The cat, the raven, and the mouse hurried quickly into the forest, two girls on their heels. When they were deep within the trees, Minerva and Serena became human again, and Minerva turned the headmaster back as well. Poppy immediately went to work on his injuries as Helena kept look-out and the two other girls caught their breath.