Meia- for that had been her name, hadn't it?- walked very quickly, and Minerva had difficulty with keeping up with her as they went up stairs, walked through corridors, went down stairs again, crossed large halls… Minerva could only wonder where she was now, but she was confident she'd find that out soon enough. No, her only worry was now the money shipment. True- Alastor had told her it would be there, but still… Would it be enough to convince Grindelwald? Though Alastor and Mr. Flamel had promised to create a fair amount of gold- using the Philosopher's Stone, of course…- they still could not use it unlimitedly.

Minerva had to admit her opinion of Grindelwald had slightly changed through her little talk with him. She, who had always linked evilness to stupidity, now realized that that was not true- at least, not always. Grindelwald was not stupid.

Well, she was not stupid as well.

But before she could go on worrying, the girl who had been her guide had turned around and opened a door.

"Here it is." she, still in that soft, docile voice, said, not looking the other woman in the eye. One quick glance from beneath her eyelashes was enough, though, to fill Minerva with a sudden feeling of recognition. Before the young woman could take up her quick pace again and leave her companion alone, Minerva rested a hesitating hand on her arm.

"Wait-" she said, not really knowing why. "Are you- well, yes… Meia Abernethie, isn't it? Ravenclaw, three years above me?"

Just the feeling of being recognized was apparently enough to Meia to melt a part of that strange, timid attitude. A careful, shy smile curled her lips.

"Yes. And you are Minerva McGonagall, I suppose- Gryffindor, weren't you?"

Minerva just nodded, mirroring the other woman's smile with her own.

Meia Abernethie. Yes, Minerva did remember this girl. Minerva had been fourteen when Meia had been in her 7th year, but Meia herself hadn't looked a day older than fifteen, then. Always a small, slender figure, she had been, and always a shy one.

But not as unnaturally as she was now.

And what, Minerva realized with quite a shock, what the hell did this girl- this girl in whom, though shy, had never been a single molecule of evil- here, in the center of all malice of the world?

The answer came quickly, and even before Minerva had asked for it.

"Now I am not Meia Abernethie anymore, though. My name is now Meia Malfoy."

Minerva felt her jaw drop and she simply could not stop it. Malfoy? Malfoy? It couldn't be…

"Malfoy?" she asked, questioningly narrowing her eyes. As if she did not know the significance of that name…

Meia nodded and softly commented

"Yes. I am the wife of Anselmus Malfoy."

Minerva read the reluctance in the other woman's eyes, oppressed her urge to ask more, smiled and just nodded.

Meia faintly answered her smile, yet, in a somewhat brusque gesture, turned towards the door again.

"Well, I- I must go now. Do you-"

A new, uncomfortable expression crept into the light eyes as she muttered, suddenly holding a key in her right hand,

"Do you mind my locking the door- orders from the Master."

Minerva just nodded and waved her hand.

"Do whatever you have to do."

And Meia Malfoy nodded and, with a mere rustle of her light blue gown, closed the door behind her back, leaving a very confused and tired Minerva McGonagall behind.

The wife of Anselmus Malfoy? That girl?

With a slight shake of her head, Minerva dropped on the large, rather luxurious four-poster-bed in the corner of the room.

Oh yes, she very well knew Anselmus- as everybody knew him. Yet- not only he must be about- ten?- years Meia's senior, he also had always been known as a very dark wizard, and though Minerva had never known much about Meia Abernethie nor her family, but one thing at least she knew for sure. This woman- this girl- was not evil.

This was not a member of the Mass Murderers Gang. This was not a follower of the Horrible Torturers United. This was one frightened girl.

Because- even though Meia had to be about twenty-three years old and thus three years Minerva's senior- Minerva found it very hard to think of Meia as a married woman.

As the wife of Anselmus Malfoy.

As Meia Malfoy.

No, Minerva decided, to her, Meia was and stayed Meia Abernethie, that timid, frail-looking Ravenclaw with her big, grey eyes.

Because why on earth could she ever have considered marrying Anselmus-slimy-evil-git-Malfoy?

Minerva's intuition immediately yelled "Imperius Curse!", but she had to admit that was highly improbable. Even notorious Death Eaters like the Malfoys didn't use the Imperius Curse just to keep their own wives under control. Or couldn't, for that matter, because Minerva, as an ex-Auror-In-Training, very well knew how difficult it was to perform an Imperius Curse, especially for a longer period of time.

And Meia simply *had* not been on an Imperius. Minerva had very intensively been studying the Curses and their side effects, and she knew very well Meia's eyes were in the least not vague enough to be under such an Unforgivable Curse. Unless it was, perhaps, an unknown variant of…

But Minerva shook her head. Now she mustn't get paranoid over it. Perhaps Meia Abernethie just appeared to love the man. Was such a thing that impossible?

Minerva secretly thought it was.