Disclaimer: I don't own these characters except for Professors Raven Carlyle and Marguerite Dubois… both of which have already had their 15 seconds of fame… only three more chapters to go….~~~

Three months had passed since Tom Riddle's horrible crime against Minerva McGonagall. Now that she knew who her attacker was, Minerva did her best to stay clear of him, though it wasn't easy. Having Remus around helped immensely, but she soon came to realize that she couldn't rely solely on Remus to protect her… if she did, what would she the one week of the month when he was away? It was an issue constantly on her mind.

She had also realized, in the past three months, that she loved Remus deeply. She didn't think she could ever love someone as much as she loved Remus. Every moment she spent with him was a bliss eternity yet it was never long enough. Several students had noticed that they were a couple and were very happy for them. Well, all except Tom Riddle and Severus Snape. Tom hated Remus for "stealing his girlfriend" and Severus hated him for stealing any chance he might have had with Minerva.

One day, the anonymous love letters had just stopped. The sender had realized that he could do nothing about the situation except grieve in silence.

Finally, Minerva found a way to occupy the nights when Remus was away: Animagus lessons with Professor Dumbledore. He had finally agreed to help her with her Animagus transformation. Though Minerva was already ahead of him, she figured it was the only way out she had since she didn't want to be alone and Dumbledore was practically the one who had raised her. She loved spending time with him.

One night after Animagus lessons as she was doing her Defense Against the Dark Arts homework, Dumbledore took a break from grading homework and sat down next to Minerva and observed he while she worked. She seemed as though she was carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders. After struggling with a particularly difficult essay question, she sighed as she put her quill down.

"Ugh. I fully intend on forgetting all of this the minute the N.E.W.T.s are over".

Dumbledore laughed slightly.

"You might not want to be so quick to forget it, Minerva… you'll need it later on".

"Nyeh".

"Minerva? Is everything all right?"

"Yes… perfect, Professor".

Dumbledore sighed. At this moment, he discarded his role as her teacher and assumed his fatherly role.

"Minerva… you know you're like a daughter to me… I've raised you as my own…and, well… do you trust me?"

"You know that I do, Professor."

"Minerva, I know you're going to deny this… but I've noticed that there's something troubling you… ever since that day you missed my class and I went to see you, you've been preoccupied… and I'd like to think that you trust me enough to tell me what's bothering you."

Minerva fought back tears.

"It's nothing… really…just stress from studying so hard for those N.E.W.T.s…"

"If it were nothing Minerva, you wouldn't be fighting back tears".

"I'm… I'm not".

Unfortunately for her, her body betrayed her at that point and a tear rolled down her check.

"You see, kitten?"

Kitten had always been his pet name for her.

"Professor, I'm fine…. I don't want to talk about it".

"Minerva I-"

"I SAID I don't want to talk about it!"

The room grew silent. Never in her life had she snapped at Dumbledore.

"I'm sorry Professor, it's just that… I really don't want to talk about it… there's nothing I can do about it, not a damn thing, and I'm so sick of wasting every waking moment thinking about that creep and I just want to forget that it ever happened and move on with my life.

Dumbledore processed what she said. It was all starting to make sense… sort of.

"I'm sorry Minerva… I have no right to invade your privacy."

"It's not that, Professor… you have every right to ask, it's just that--"

Speaking of the devil himself, Tom Riddle walked into the room.

"Sorry to interrupt Professor… nice to finally see you up and about, Minerva… I was wondering if I left my-ah, here it is!". He picked up a book. "Never mind, found it. See you tomorrow, Professor. See you later, Minerva… pleasant dreams".

With that, he left.

Dumbledore turned back to Minerva, who was now shaking slightly. He noted that her breathing had gotten heavier. He took her hand, now ice cold, and found that her pulse had gone way up.

"He's gone, kitten… relax".

More pieces of the puzzle were falling into place as Minerva was falling apart. He took her in his arms, just as he had done many times before in her youth. Slowly, she began to rant.

"You can't even begin to imagine what it's like, living in constant fear… but no matter what I do, I just can't get the thoughts out of my mind, I just can't shake the feeling… God knows I've tried…"

Dumbledore pondered the outcomes of what he was about to ask her;  he was almost afraid of what her answer would be.

"Kitten, you're one o the, if not the strongest person I know… but sharing personal grief does not make anyone weak; in fact, it makes them even stronger. Never be afraid to show your emotions Kitten, for those who are without the ability to do so are the ones who are truly weak".

He paused before asking his difficult question.

"What did Tom Riddle do to you the night of the Halloween Feast?"

Minerva looked up in shock. How on earth did he know?

"What?"

"You heard me… what did he do to you?"

"Why would you think that Tom, or anybody for that matter, did anything to me?"

"Because I've been observing you ever since… and you react entirely to Tom's presence… just now, for example… and I can sense when someone's hurt you, kitten… and I know that he did something to you… and I seriously hope it's not what I'm thinking".

"What are you thinking?"

"You do realize that he can be expelled for that, right?"

"It doesn't matter, Professor… what's done is done. There's no going back… besides, no one would lay a finger on His Majesty…. not after last year".

"This is a serious offense Minerva, and he has to be responsible for his actions".

"Whatever. It doesn't matter anymore, Professor… you can't change the past. The best thing for me is to just put it all behind me and move on with my life".

"You'll never be able to move on until you've achieved closure, which would be helped along, I'm sure, if he suffered the consequences".

"Professor, please… I just want to move on".

"Then please let me make that coward pay. I hate seeing you this way…. Please".

Minerva sighed. This was why she hadn't wanted Dumbledore to find out.

Dumbledore interpreted her silence and pulled a tissue out of his robes and handed it to her.

"Come on…. You don't want to be all red-eyed in front of the headmaster".