TIMES OF TRIAL
Disclaimer: None of the characters, places, objects etc. that you recognise belong to me. They are mot likely the property of one JK Rowling.
Summery: This story is and will probably always be centred on Minerva McGonagall and the other professors at Hogwarts. It is set in Harry's fifth year and the dream-team will likely appear however. The rating may be subject to change but all reviews are welcome.
A/N: I do apologise for keeping you waiting so long but I kind of got confussled about what I had posted, what my beta (GEM) hand corrected and what I was writing. I'm going to blame it all on the fact that I've been trying to figure out an ending for thins. Whether I've been successful or not you'll have to wait and see. If you do have any questions feel free to let me know *smile* I think that's it…
*****
Albus watched her retreat for a moment before he spoke.
"Oh well. In all honesty I think I would have been more worried if she had let me win." And to an extent this was true. The day that Minerva McGonagall conceded to do anything she didn't want to without a bloody good argument, and a better reason, was the day that he would really start to worry about her. Unfortunately that said, he still had little explanation for the unease that lingered with him but he chose to blame it on the recent breach in the school's security. After he had spoken briefly to both Serverus and Remus he headed over to where Alastor was standing, overseeing the escorting of the separate houses and their heads back to the castle. He received a nod in acknowledgement of his arrival as his old friend finished separating his men into four separate groups.
"Think you're going to be alright." He told him matter of factly. "But we're still on guard. You were lucky that wasn't exactly the most typical of Death Eater attacks." Dumbledore tore his gaze from the distance and looked directly at Moody.
"You are sure that they were Death Eaters then?" He nodded again.
"Despite their somewhat unusual tactics. The ones we managed to apprehend have His mark branded on their arms. A couple are even 'repeat offenders'." This time it was Albus who nodded but more slowly. "Don't get me wrong, your lucky that it wasn't far worse than it was. My respect for Snape has gone up significantly. That was quite some stunt they pulled off."
"That is not a topic you will find any argument on here. They're both rather remarkable." Albus agreed with a smile. He was certainly proud of them.
"I sometimes forget quite how much of a punch your Minerva packs." Alastor admitted. Albus certainly couldn't deny that and just chuckled at his friend.
"Baring that fact in mind you might not want to refer to her as anybody's Minerva within hearing distance."
"I don't know, it's been a while since we flexed our duelling muscles against each other."
"Only because you lost last time."
"Well considering she's just proved herself quite capable of managing even after she's been disarmed… That's one powerful woman." The light-hearted air that had taken over the conversation a moment before had gone.
"It's not unusual for animagus to be more competent at wandless magic Alastor – it stands to sense."
"Sure but they don't tend to do it while pulling of a stunt like the one those two pulled off today. In any case, we have a lot to be thankful for."
"Hmmm." Albus agreed. "And if we're lucky this might even prove to boot Cornelius Fudge into the present century and into admitting we have a problem."
"And wonders will never cease." The auror scoffed. "I had better be getting inside the castle. Majority of the students and all that." And with this he set off up the slope, tagging onto the end of the Gryffindor procession.
Albus couldn't be sure whether Alastor was generally mellowing with old age, back into the carefree student he had once know, or whether it was just genuine respect that had urged him to pay the two younger members of his staff these compliments. It had certainly been a long time since he had heard him say anything similar. With this thought he turned and saw that the Slytherins were already on their way back to the castle but instead of the main entrance they were converging on a much smaller door that led directly into the dungeons. His long stride helped him cover the ground reasonably quickly and he followed the last auror down into the dark. He hadn't noticed how cold it had become until he thought of this area of the school as being pleasantly warm. As the last of the students filed into the common room the aurors broke off and headed back outside. He smiled at them all as they gave him varying degrees of reverential nods as they hurried past. They all looked so young. Before he could walk too far down that path however he heard Serverus begin to speak to his charges.
"You will stay here until you are told explicitly to do otherwise. If you must contact me you may use an owl. There are windows in the seventh year dormitories. I trust you will all behave impeccably or be willing to face the consequences." Short and to the point as ever. Well he could never accuse him of wasting either words or time. The Potions Master swept back into the corridor and turned, waiting for it to close. Once it had he placed his wand at the four corners of the door and Albus leaned in to hear the incantation that he spoke but failed to make it out.
Without looking toward him, Albus began to follow Snape who was on the move again as soon as he was done. Down the corridor, around a bend, through his classroom and into his study and yet it wasn't until they were both seated that the silence was broken.
"I didn't know." Was Serverus's abrupt statement as he stood again and began to pace.
Pulling the paper bag from his pocket Dumbledore proffered it to the other man.
"Lemon Drop?" He asked taking one for himself. He received only a scowl in reply. Sometimes it amused him how much that the current heads of Gryffindor and Slytherin had in common. Both scorned his obsession with muggle sweets and neither could stand still when frustrated. "You're going to wear a hole in the carpet."
"There isn't any carpet."
"Oh well then I guess that isn't a problem." He replied smiling. "You need not doubt that I question your loyalty Serverus." The other man paused, then threw himself back down into his seat.
"I don't know how I'm going to explain this." He said head in hands.
"This? You mean your actions during the attack?" He nodded. "Well, if you have heard no mention of any such action at any recent meeting?"
"No, nothing of the sort."
"And you've received no sign that you are being eased out of the inner circle?" Another reply in the negative. "In that case I think you acted the only way you could. To do anything else would have created the greatest suspicion on my part and then you would have lost not only my confidence but any chance of you learning anything useful." Snape nodded and the shared another moment of silence.
"This wasn't by his doing."
"You think not?" Albus asked him.
"No. He wants to stay anonymous for the time being. He didn't want overt action taken. No, this smacks of Lucius." The headmaster raised and eyebrow at this and would have questioned him further if he had not been distracted by the small cough of his companion obviously designed to cover up a chuckle.
"Something you find amusing?" The younger straightened out his face.
"I do believe that Minerva may have just singed the Gryffindor common room carpet." In his limited experience of the kind of conduit magic that they had performed earlier, it was not unusual for the participants to continue to be 'aware of each others minds' or linked in some way for hours and even days after the spell was cast, so this insight didn't come as a great surprise.
"Dear me. That would not go down well, and I fear she is in a rather bad mood with me already." But as he talked the sparkle that had stayed alight in the Slytherins eyes was extinguished and his forehead crinkled with what was either concentration or anguish.
"Serverus? Is something the matter?"
"No. I'm not sure. Maybe." He closed his eyes and seemed to try and focus on something, as if he was trying to remember a fact just on the tip of his tongue. "She was lighting the fire, in the common room, and she cast the charm with a little more power than was perhaps necessary. It wasn't too horrific though. But then…I just couldn't feel her anymore."
"The bond you created was only ever going to be temporary." Albus reminded him trying to round down on his own sense of fear that was swelling rapidly.
"You're right." He conceded making a rather vain attempt to get back into his usual cynical air. Again they sat in silence. Neither one sure what to say but just as Dumbledore began to formulate his next utterance Serverus beat him to it. Standing the young man swept in an ark towards the doorway.
"Go to her." He said as he paused for a second before leaving the room.
"Serverus?" Albus called standing also but not following him out. There was no reply. He knew that the other man was no sentimentalist. He did not trust in the more lax forms of magic and would certainly never pander to instinct. And yet…
He was on the move even before these thoughts were fully processed and with an energy that was not natural for someone of his age. The journey from dungeon to tower would take at least five minutes at his top speed and that was with the staircases fully co-operating, which they certainly were not. He did not spare this a thought however but wound his way through the castle trying to remember all of the shortcuts he had learned over the years. He was slowing in order that he could make the turn up to a narrow flight of stairs when he heard his name being called. Looking up to the top of the stairs he saw Harry Potter leaning on the banister beckoning him up.
"You…we need…. Professor McGonagall…" Was all he had managed by the time that the Headmaster had reached his side. Albus nodded and the boy seemed to understand as he led the way from which he had come. Before long they were standing at the still open portrait hole. He did not want to think what had occurred that would lead to this complete breach of security. It didn't take him long to take in the scene that greeted him as in his heart of hearts he knew at least in essence what it was that he would see. The older students stood around the edges of the room in tight knit groups, occasionally sharing whispers but seeming so imposed upon by events that even their breathing was hushed. Fred and George still knelt on the floor before the fire in the hearth but it was only Minerva that Albus saw as Remus Lupin pointed his wand at her chest and obviously not for the first time called 'Animo Vigoris'. Her body jolted as if shocked by electricity but as the twins checked her once again it seemed that she was as lifeless as ever. Again Albus acted without thinking and before either Wesley had the chance to fill her lungs more than once.
"Animo Vigoris." He threw all his power behind the words. His love, his fear, and his anger at what he saw all serving to amplify the effects the incantation wrought. Her body arched up off the floor to the extent she seemed, for a moment, to levitate. A fraction of a moment later however she fell back to the floor with an unhealthy thunk. The unearthly silence that had filled the room since before the Headmaster's arrival was shattered in the next instant though. It seemed to Albus as if an almighty battle raged within her to decide whether it was more imperative that she expel the toxic carbon dioxide that had built up within her lungs or to fill them with oxygen, in any case the result left her coughing and spluttering. The next thing he knew he was by her side and kneeling there he watched her take her first breath. He found himself staring into deep blue pools and smiling down at her, brushed a loose curl away from her face but even as he did her eyes began to roll back and with a flutter closed once more.
"Out of the way!" He turned at the sound of Poppy's voice as she bustled into the room. "What in Merlin's name….?" She asked as she took in the scene, then moving towards pushed him out of the way.
It seemed like hours had passed to Albus as he sat, still as a statue at the end of the main ward of the hospital wing. In actual fact it had only been a little over one hour since he had left Remus in charge of the rather shaken up Gryffindors and followed the mediwitch and her charge through what was once more an eerily quiet school. He had spoken to Alastor, who had assured him that despite the rather enormous breach in security procedures in the Gryffindor tower that he was fairly certain that they were in no further danger. He knew that he needed to speak with Fudge about what had happened but he also knew that he was certainly not going to be able to concentrate enough to make it a worthwhile process until he had at least heard Minerva's prognoses. As if on cue, Poppy Pomfry slid out of a room at the end of the ward and silently closed the door. He stood and made his way to where the mediwitch stood. He didn't need to say anything before she told him what he had been so anxious to hear.
"She's stable." It was more of sigh than a statement and certainly didn't hold any note of victory. "She shouldn't be. She ought to be, she was, dead." The other woman put a hand to her forehead and rubbed it lightly. Dumbledore could see the toll that treating her friend had obviously wrought on the other woman, there was only so far that professional detachment could take you. He put a hand on her arm in gentle support. "If it was anyone else, I would be recommending that she should be sent to St Mungo's as soon as possible…" She continued.
"In that case I'll contact them now and you can…"
"I said if. I don't know, I'll let you choose, but in all honesty…." She took a deep breath then tried again. "We're going to have to handle this very carefully, handle Minerva very carefully. What happened today, it was the culmination of a lot of things." His surprise was obviously at least partly visible in his face as she answered it fluently. "Don't get me wrong, the conduit was the trigger, but I have no doubt that she could handle something like that without too much of a problem. Adding what happened today onto the fact that she's been working herself to the bone since the beginning of the summer, worrying about well - pretty much everything and everyone, and then being disarmed… My guess is that when she lit the fire in the common room, she used the last of the pooled energy we had fed them and that was what had been keeping her on her feet." This made sense to him, though it hurt to acknowledge the fact that his absence had been part of the cause.
"So what happened? I mean why did she…"
"Go into complete coronary and respiratory arrest? I would diagnose the cause as a combination of extreme emotional, physical and magical exhaustion." This was in close enough to layman's terms that he understood what she was saying.
"So, what happens now?" He asked.
"Well, that's what I was getting at; there's only so much magic can do to help with problems like this, the best healers are always going to be time and rest."
"I can see where you might see a problem there." Albus predicted. "Getting Minerva to rest is not going to be simple."
"No. That's why I think we need to keep her here. If we send her to St Mungo's she's going to rebel as soon as she's able – which may not be for a while mind. But if we make the effort to keep her here and give her concessions every once in a while…"
"You mean like letting her back to her rooms earlier than you wanted?"
"Like that, I think we can manipulate her enough to ensure that she doesn't overtax herself at least in the near future."
"What is in the future? She will fully recover wont she?" Poppy nodded.
"It'll take time, how much I'm not sure but I'm sure she'll be back to her usual fiery self. I'm going to tell you now though that she may, MAY, be ready to start back in time for the start of the next term." Albus did the calculations in his head; there was another week of school left then three weeks worth of holidays. A month. The concept that it could take longer for her to get back on his feet scared him. He nodded slowly at this. "And I'm telling you now – I'm going to need all the help I can get. Especially if she's going to be getting out of here anytime soon." She told him bluntly.
"Of course." He could think of several of the staff who would be remaining at the school over the festive season that would be more than willing to help out. "So it's decided then – she'll stay here and we'll attempt to manipulate her into letting herself recover?" The other woman smiled a little wearily at this. "Is she conscious? Can I see her?" This brought out a more genuine smile.
"In and out of it at the moment and as if you'd listen to me if I said no."
"I would listen! I might then disregard what you ask of me, but I would listen." He protested his eyes twinkling suspiciously. She simply stepped aside and gestured toward the door, but now that the moment had come something in him just didn't want to take the final step that would land him on the other side of the door. He felt a gentle nudge from behind and taking a deep breath stepped through. The sight that met Albus would stay with him all through that weekend, when he went to see the Gryffindor students, when he spoke to the rest of the staff and when he met with Fudge. The Snow White image of the ghost of the woman he knew lying so pale on the starched bedclothes, the charcoal circles around her eyes and the way her prominent cheekbones seemed to jut out in angry relief to her sallow skin. It was a scene that he knew in that instant he would never forget in all his days but he wished with all that he was, that he would never have to witness again. Sitting at her side on the chair that had been left to the left of the bed, he took her hand that seemed so cold and fragile in his own lacking in the strength of its owner. Clasping it he leaned in close and whispered into her ear.
"Don't you ever think of doing that to me again! I'm an old man and my heart may not stand it if you do. Do you realise what a fright you gave me lying there?" He gently placed his lips on her temple for an instant before withdrawing. To his great surprise though he received an answer.
"Wouldn't have it any other way." It was barely audible and some of the words slurred but what she said was unmistakable. For a second he got ready to try and explain away his previous actions but either she had never really woken up properly in the first place or her body had over ruled her mind and she had slipped back into her healing sleep. He smiled and squeezed her hand tight in his.
"No, you really wouldn't would you?"