Disclaimer: I own little to nothing of what it is named/referred to and am making even less from it.
Chapter 2.
Poppy looked up from her inventory at the sound of footsteps entering the main ward of the hospital wing. She usually would have been tucked up safe and sound in her chambers at this time of the morning, but after Severus' rather rude awakening of her an hour or so earlier, she had decided that she might well be needed before morning in any case. Now it looked as though she was going to be right.
It had worried her hugely, what he had told her after his rather abrupt questioning, but it had not surprised her wholly. Minerva McGonagall was by no means stupid, and was probably the best qualified person on staff, barring the potions master himself, to teach the subject, but she was also fiercely independent and disturbingly nonchalant about her own health.
Standing, she crossed her office and opened the door to go out and meet whoever it was. Even with her professional mask firmly in place she couldn't cover the surprise she felt when she saw the motley crew before her. Severus was scowling just as much as ever, but the effect was ruined somewhat by the little girl in his arms. Albus on the other hand looked like he was doped, which if the conclusions she was drawing were correct, was hardly surprising.
The Head and his Deputy had never been married per se, but they were as good as, and the child did bear a startling resemblance to the woman in question.
"Poppy." The younger man greeted her.
"Minerva?" She asked and the little girl did turn to look at her, even if she made no sign of letting go of the front of Severus' black robe she held in one hand or of stopping chewing on the little finger of the other hand
"That's what we've come here to establish." The man replied curtly.
"Well, why don't you set her down on the bed here and we'll see what we can do. Oh and Albus? Sit down would you?" She asked, summoning a chair from the other side of the ward.
The other man looked a little shocked but did as she'd asked for which the medic in her was glad. Severus on the other hand seemed to be having more difficulties.
"It's alright, if she's happier sitting on your knee that's fine." She told him, seeing him struggle to try and detach himself.
"It is not fine." He ground out, but the more he tried the more adamant the girl seemed to be. "Would. You. Let. Go." He ground out and Poppy was about to admonish him for the harsh tone in his voice but it seemed to have the desired effect in that she loosened her grip enough for him to be able to deposit her. Instead of looking frightened or upset though she seemed merely curious.
"Hello sweetie," She said perching on the edge of the bed so she was at a closer level to the girl. "What's your name then?" There was a short pause before she spoke.
"Càite a bheil m'athair?" She was quite calm; the question, or what she was assuming was a question carefully put and deep blue eyes searching her own for the answer.
"She doesn't appear to speak English." Severus pointed out as he smoothed the front of his still rumpled robe. "And what is it that she keeps saying Albus?" He continued turning to the other man.
"Hmmm? Oh, she wants to know where her father is."
"And what are we telling her?" Poppy enquired.
"Nothing." Albus replied. "My Gaelic skills certainly aren't up to explaining this kind of thing to a three year old girl." He seemed more than frustrated by this, which she supposed was understandable. However long she had known Minerva, she had never revealed a great deal about her childhood, but she did know that she had been brought up by her father in some remote part of the Scottish Highlands until he had died shortly after her tenth birthday. At that point she had been enrolled at the school a year early and certainly hadn't seemed to suffer for it.
Now however, Poppy was faced with an entirely different problem – how to deal with the child who obviously had no understanding of what was going on around her. In order to establish if the girl in front of her was in fact Minerva McGonagall she would require a pinprick blood sample and she didn't like the idea of taking that without her knowing what was going on.
Looking to the dark haired girl she saw that she had backed up onto the pillow so that she was sitting with her back to the wall and was watching Severus pace back and forth with great interest.
"Dè an t-aimn a th' oirbh?" Albus said after a moment, and the reply gave her a fair indication of what had been asked.
"Is mise Minerva McGonagall." She said pointing to her self. She then turned to face the medi-witch and said: "Seo Setherus agus seo Albus." Pointing to the relevant men in order. Obviously they had done this before, and the frown on her face showed that the toddler wasn't particularly impressed at being asked to repeat herself. Severus frowned slightly at the mispronunciation of his own name but she had known him for long enough to tell that he had found the display quite amusing. She smiled a little herself before moving on.
"Poppy." She said simply, pointing at herself. Now the next bit was going to be a little harder. Talking to her all the way through, she showed the girl what it was that she wanted to do to her, on her own finger first. When she moved to take her hand though she withdrew it rapidly.
"Minerva!" The potions master said, turning a toned down version of his scowl on her. Instead of its leading her to do what she was told though, all she did was cross her arms and scowl back. After a moment of stalemate the girl simply pointed at him. Poppy couldn't help but smile.
"You want me to do it to Severus first?" She asked, grabbing his hand before he could back away.
"I can't believe I'm actually doing this…" He mumbled but he let her get on with it and once they were done Minerva had no problem acquiescing to the simple procedure.
After collecting a few drops of the girl's blood she took them away to mix them with the ident solution that the Ministry required every medical facility to hold in stock. It would take around half an hour after she had mixed the potion and the blood together and poured it over a sheet of parchment for the results to become clear. As she laid the sheet out, the pattern, which was unique to every individual, was already beginning to form. If, in thirty minutes the pattern was the same as that she already had on file as Minerva's, there could be no doubt about who the child was. Not that there was a great deal to begin with, she supposed.
On her return she ran another few tests, just to assure that the child was in good health, which she seemed to be, and by the time she was done the time was nigh to retrieve their results. It didn't take long for her to match up the dots so to speak. There was no doubt that the girl sitting out there now was Hogwarts' very own transfigurations professor.
As she went to enter the ward again she stopped. Severus was talking in hushed tones with Albus but that wasn't what held her attention. The little girl had slipped off the edge of the bed and was walking slowly back towards the younger man. Before he even noticed what was going on she had pulled herself up and onto his lap.
"What the…" She heard him exclaim and stifled a chuckle surprisingly well as she headed back towards them. Severus looked as though he was trying to remove her but every time he grabbed a hold of her she wriggled free effortlessly. As Poppy was nearing, the girl pretty much slipped out of the still giant nightshirt.
"You'd think that one of you would have been able to do something about that." She said as Severus blushed a little and tried to re-organise the silk around the child. Poppy shrunk the garment a little so that it fitted somewhat better, but Severus had given up trying to remove her. "Well. Do you want the good news or the bad?" Neither of the men deigned to answer her though so she continued on anyway. "Well I can tell you that this is in fact Minerva, albeit her three year old, or there about, self." There was a moment's silence, in which Albus opened his mouth several times but never actually succeeded in saying anything.
"I left the list of ingredients supposedly in the potion with you," Severus began.
"I'm assuming that you haven't been able to…" She shook her head.
"You know what it's like, that thing records everything that was present in the atmosphere, on the floor, in the cauldron, to the extent that it probably recorded what hadn't quite been cleaned out of it after the last practical class." She said referring to the record book. And she knew he did.
The problem with potions was that it was incredibly easy for something to go wrong, though she had little doubt that in this case it was an intentional action that had resulted in this scenario. This was one of the reasons she had been so pleased when he had been appointed Professor. The number of accidents in his classes, even accounting for regular visitors such as Neville Longbottom, was significantly less than any of his predecessors.
"Do you know…that is…" The Headmaster enquired hesitantly. "Do you have any idea how long…" Though she had been expecting this question, she certainly hadn't been looking forward to answering it. Before she could begin though, the potions master spoke up.
"There was no sign of any of what we refer to as the cyclic ingredients in the list. Ones that have a propensity to time-keep." He began shifting so that he was facing the other man and Minerva leaned in against his chest. "That would suggest that either the potion would have required an additional kick-start, that Minerva would have had to come in contact with one of these substances before the other active ingredients left her system, or that it would be following it's own timescale.
"There have been instances when potions like this have been shown to take hours to kick in but in these cases there tends not to be any evidence in a reverse of their effects. At least not within the subjects life-span." The other man nodded but Poppy was still a little concerned that he didn't quite seem to be connecting. Conjuring a cup of exceptionally sugary tea she handed it to him.
"Hmm, oh thank you."
"Severus would you care for one?" She asked
"No. No, thank you. I believe I have some students to interrogate. The sooner the better." He finished and she could feel the anger radiating off them. He might have sparred with the Head of Gryffindor relentlessly, but she knew that deep down they both cared for each other on some level. That, and the fact that the potions master was unlikely to appreciate such an inexpert attempt to sabotage a class by one of his own house. Minerva obviously sensed the change too, as she sat back a little in order to look at his face. Severus looked down at her, softened his scowl and pulled the end of her hair out of her mouth and said quite clearly.
"NO."
A/N:
Càite a bheil m'athair? - Where is my father?
Dè an t-aimn a th' oirbh? – What is your name?
Seo Setherus agus seo Albus. – This is Setherus and this is Albus.
Thanks to all who reviewed and if you didn't – do so now (please grin) Thanks again to M and just so you know this premature update is for a friend who shall remain nameless grin
If you're confused I apologise but feel free to contact me and I'll try to help
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