Disclaimer: See "Stories of the Hogwarts Sisterhood"

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Note: This is a sequel to "Stories of the Hogwarts Sisterhood"; taken place several months later during Easter holidays, so read that first.

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Rated PG-13 for content

Chapter 3: Memories

Meanwhile, in the year 2004...

"Minerva?" asked Dumbledore at night, "Are you asleep?"

Minerva just lay on the bed without even lifting her head to look at Dumbledore. Her green eyes were wide open.

Dumbledore sat on their bed beside Minerva. "Minerva, are you still thinking about what happened today?"

Instead of answering his question, Minerva sat up on the bed and asked, "Albus, am I being too harsh on Achilles?"

"Well, not harsh. But you are slightly overprotective." said Dumbledore after a while.

"Huh?"

"You see, Minerva, being a parent, one must learn to let go. You can't keep Achilles or Athena beside you forever. You should let Achilles be an Auror when he wanted to 19 years ago. In the future, if Athena wants to be a curse-breaker in Gringotts, you need to give in too."

"I-I just don't want to lose Achilles like we lose William and Nicholas." said Minerva softly with her voice trembling. "B-but he doesn't understand me, do you remember what he said before he left? He said...." she started and began to think back.

***

1984

"Look Mom, you don't understand, I have to be an Auror! Voldemort is out there, torturing Muggle-borns and Muggles with his supporters, I have to be a part of the Magical Law Enforcement, the more dark wizards I catch, the safer the wizarding world is! Don't you see? I am trying to make the wizarding world a safer place to live!" yelled 18-year-old Achilles from the front door at his mother, who was standing in the living room. Dumbledore was sitting on an armchair, folding his arms and looking at them.

"There are other Aurors to catch the dark wizards!" snapped Minerva.

"One person can make a difference!" Achilles shot back.

Minerva frowned and folded her arms. "Yeah right, who do you think you are, young man? The Muggle hero Superman?"

Achilles went silent for a while. Then he shouted, "Do you want me to just sit back and watch helplessly as Voldemort and his supporters use their Three Unforgivable Curses on everyone they see?! That is not my style, Mom!"

"Don't talk to me about style, Achilles! I am talking about your safety now!" screamed Minerva.

"How long are you going to pretend that there is no such person called Voldemort? We are at war with him and his supporters now. Do you think that victory is possible without facing danger?" asked Achilles quietly, trying to be as calm as possible.

"No. That's why I won't let you to be an Auror!" screeched Minerva. "Go back to your bedroom, now!"

Achilles glared at his mother menacingly, walked past her quickly and stormed upstairs. He slammed his bedroom door shut and a few minutes later, he opened his door again and came downstairs with his backpack. He walked past his parents as if they were invisible, got his shoes and sat down to put them on.

"Achilles, where are you going?" asked Dumbledore gently.

"Out." said Achilles shortly.

"Where?" asked Dumbledore again.

Achilles didn't answer.

"Achilles, your father is asking you a question!" said Minerva sternly.

"It's all right, Minerva....." started Dumbledore when Achilles got up and shouted: "Away from this house!" He faced them. "Especially you, Mom! I am not a child anymore, people who are younger than I am have already started their education in the Magical Law Enforcement!"

"You are not an adult either!" snapped Minerva.

"I will be an Auror no matter what!" roared Achilles and reached for the doorknob.

"ACHILLES DUMBLEDORE! IF YOU DARE TO STEP OUT OF THIS HOUSE...." began Minerva and Dumbledore jumped up from his seat.

He rushed to Achilles and put his hand on his shoulder. "Achilles, don't." pleaded Dumbledore.

Achilles put his own hand to his father's and removed it. "Goodbye, Dad. I can't stay here. I will miss you." said Achilles in a hoarse voice and whispered: "Send my love to my dear future sister when she is born."

He shifted his bag, glared at his mother again, opened the door and left. Minerva's mouth dropped open and she screamed hysterically, "Fine! Just go! I don't care if you die in the hands of Voldemort!" Then she went to a chair, sat down and buried her face in her hands.

***

2004

Dumbledore pulled Minerva close to him and patted her back as she cried in his arms. "There, there, Minerva...."

"I wish that I could see him again just for one minute." said Minerva, her voice muffled. "But he has been disappeared for 20 years, I don't even know if he is dead or alive......"

"He is alive somewhere. I can feel it." whispered Dumbledore and stroked Minerva's hair. "Try to get some sleep now, Minerva."

Minerva nodded and Dumbledore released her. Dumbledore reached out and switched off the lamp. They lay down together and Dumbledore removed her tears away with his finger and watched as Minerva fell asleep. A few minutes later, before Dumbledore drifted off to sleep, he swore that he heard his wife crying softly in the dark.

***

1983

"It's great that you came here today, Athena." said Achilles as he and Athena walked to the Great Hall. "We have a Quidditch match today! And I am the Captain and Beater of the Gryffindor team! Wait until you see my team's Quidditch moves, I invent them myself!" He said with a mixture of cheerfulness and excitement.

"Now this I got to see!" said Athena.

Then Achilles stopped so abruptly that Athena almost bumped into him. He turned around to face her and ask, "What do you mean by that? You mean that I have never played Quidditch in front of you in the future?"

"Err....." started Athena.

"Nah, you will explain to me later after the match." said Achilles and turned around again to walk to the Great Hall.

***

"Hey there, McGonagall! Who is the babe?" asked Sirius and grinned as Achilles and Athena came to the Gryffindor table.

Athena scowled at Sirius; she hated people calling her "babe". "Don't "babe" me, Sirius Black. I hate that." she said darkly.

Sirius blinked in surprise. "How do you know my name?" he asked.

Athena ignored him.

"Everyone, this is my, err, twin sister, Athena. She had been transferred here from, err, a school in Ireland." said Achilles and crossed his fingers in his pocket.

Remus Lupin held out his hand. "How do you do, Miss McGonagall." he said politely.

"This is our Prefect, Remus Lupin." said Achilles as Athena shook Lupin's hand. "This is troublesome duo ("Oh come on, Achilles, you don't mean that right?" asked James.) James Potter and Sirius Black, this is Peter Pettigrew..."

Athena raised her eyebrow that Peter, thinking of how much damage that a plump, short and timid-looking boy could do to cause the Second Voldemort War by helping his master to return. She scowled again at Peter, as if he had just said, "The Dark Lord is the greatest sorcerer in the world and your father isn't."

"It was your entire fault, if it wasn't for you, Harry would still have parents and Sirius would not be in Azkaban for more than 11 years." she thought furiously.

Peter gulped, wondering what he had done to provoke her.

"She looked exactly like Professor McGonagall when she scowls." whispered Sirius to James.

Achilles didn't notice anything. "This is Lily Evans." he continued.

Athena stopped scowling and turned to smile at Lily. Lily held out her hand and she shook it. "Hello, Lily."

"So James, are you ready for today's match?" asked Achilles as he and Athena sat down.

"Ready as ever." said James confidently as he ruffled his hair.

Athena noticed that Lily was rolling her eyes in annoyance.

"But I think you better check on Wood, through." added James.

"Wood?" asked Athena.

"Charles Wood, Oliver Wood's uncle." whispered Achilles and turned back to James. "What happened to Wood?"

"Snape hexed him just now when he was not looking, now he is in the hospital wing with some bluish thing covering his eyes. Madam Pomfrey said that it would probably take hours to get that thing off." said Sirius in a flat tone.

"Oh no, not now! Wood is one of the Beaters! And the match is going to start in an hour!" groaned Achilles.

"I know. I try to hex Snape too, but then the Head of the Slytherin House caught me and took 5 points away from Gryffindor for attempting to use magic in the corridor!" said Sirius and he gave a glare at the Slytherin table. "Can't believe that I am related to one of those snakes." He said in disgust.

"Now what are we going to do? We don't even have a reserve Beater!" said Achilles helplessly.

"What about Athena? Can she play Quidditch?" asked Lily and all heads turned to Athena.

"Err...." started Athena.

"Well?" asked Achilles impatiently.

"I am okay at Quidditch...." said Athena slowly. "But I don't play in real matches."

"Who cares?" said James, waving his hand. "Are you a good Beater?"

"Fair." said Athena shortly.

"Good! Athena, you will be our reserve Beater for today!" said Achilles happily and got up from the table. "I'm going to tell Mom!" He said and practically skipped off to the High Table.