Out of her Hands.

A/N: Ang, thank you so much for being my beta reader! Many thanks to all the people who took the time to review. I am glad that you are enjoying the story. I really like writing it and I think that is because it's a little darker than my normal stuff but be assured that this story will not continue down a dark route. I would love to hear your thoughts on the story as I go along as it sometimes gives me direction.

Chapter Four: Reality Breaks

The morning rays shone through the gap in the curtains and awoke the sleeping man who had sunk to the floor the night before. He still had the letter clutched to his heart as he stirred. He had cried himself to sleep that night and he was quite exhausted from the emotional and physical pain he was feeling. He still wasn't one hundred percent well but he had given the healers at the small private hospital such a hard time about discharging him that they finally allowed him to leave. But not before cautioning him that he needed to take things easy for a few weeks. They knew that he would not listen to them but they let him leave anyway. Many of them had liked Albus and had agreed to keep his whereabouts a secret so that he could recover. They had been sad but relieved when he limped out of their hospital. He had limped out with a purpose and had looked very different from what he looked like now. As he lay crumpled up on the floor, he looked like a broken man.

His blue eyes opened and adjusted to the light filled room. It took a moment or two before he realized where he was and then closed his eyes again when he remembered she was not there with him. His body ached from sleeping on the cold floor. His joints felt stiff but that was nothing compared to the ache in his heart and his brain telling him that he only had himself to blame. He knew he needed to get up and take his medication but what did he have to live for? He was presumed dead. People had accepted that and moved on and perhaps he should not come back from the dead and uproot people lives again. He could stay at the cottage for the rest of his days and die here without anyone knowing any better.

He didn't know what to do as he pulled himself slowly to his feet. He looked around the kitchen and felt his heart begin to break again. He had made this kitchen with her in mind. He had incorporated rustic farmhouse chic with her Scottish heritage. He could remember the smile of her face as he had led her into the kitchen and told her to open his eyes. He remembered her flinging herself into his arms and planting lots of soft kisses all over his face before capturing his lips with her own.

He shook his head to bring himself out of his thoughts. It was not good from him to dwell on the past because it would prevent him living his future. The future that lay ahead of him what not the one he had ever expected. He had expected Minerva to be there and he had hoped they would have started a family together; she was the only woman he wanted to have them with. He made his way up the winding stairs that led to the master bedroom, the two spare bedrooms and the large bathroom. He walked into the bedroom and collapsed down on the bed. He could still smell her familiar scent on the fabric and it brought a smile to his face. He had bought her that perfume for her birthday and she had loved it and had since refused to wear anything but that perfume. He rolled over on to his side and winced with pain as his ribs hit the surface of the bed. His cracked and broken ribs were mostly healed but he still felt tender around that area and couldn't put to much pressure on his side. He was about to roll over on to his back when a picture of Minerva caught his eye.

The picture had been taken during the spring, before he left to face the destiny that had been written for him before he was born. Minerva had been standing in a bluebell field and was smiling brightly towards him as the sun shone down on her. As her hair reflected the sun it seemed to have blue streaks amongst the luscious ebony locks. That had been the day Albus had got down on one knee and asked her to marry him. He hadn't planned to ask her that day. Instead he had planned to ask her over a starlit picnic that night but when he saw her in that field he knew that it was time. He had gotten a muddy knee as he had kneeled down in front of her amongst the blue bells and her eyes had shone with hope and love as he asked her his important question. Before he had even finished asking her, she had flung herself down into his arms and cried out "yes!"

He smiled at the memory as he reached over and picked up the picture. He rolled back over on to his back and stared at it for a while before he traced the outline of her with a long, slightly crooked finger.

"Oh Min," he said out loud with a sigh "I love you so much and I hate myself for hurting you as I have!"

Albus did hate himself. When he had been lying there on that hospital bed had he really thought not telling Minerva was for her sake or was it because he was ashamed and revolted about what he had become? He had told himself that he was doing it for Minerva and that she needed to live her life and not feel obligated to look after him. He had even convinced himself of that but now he was back home and he finally realized that he had been wrong to have done that to her. He was disgusted with himself. His pride had taken a battering and he wanted no one to see him this way. He didn't want to hear words of sympathy or get the pitiful looks from people. He didn't want to be stared at as though he were an animal. He had missed Minerva terribly and had thought about her all the time but he had taken the one thing she loved and wanted away from her because of his pride and he had to make it up to her.

With a renewed sense of purpose, Albus sat up on the bed and scanned the bedroom for the one thing that would help him locate her whereabouts. His eyes fell upon the small address book that she kept on her dressing table and he made his way over to it quickly, ignoring his body's protests. He had a faint idea where she might have gone but he wanted to be sure that the address was correct. He didn't want his head to pop up and frighten some strangers half to death. He knew that his appearance would be a shock to anyone but he wanted to find Minerva before word got around that his head was popping up in fires all over the Scottish highlands.

He found the address of her best friend, Poppy Pomfrey, and he found that she still lived at the same place. He sat down in a chair in front of the fire. A small pot of floo powder still sat on the small table to his right. He collected his thoughts before taking a pinch of floo powder and throwing it into the fire

"Poppy, Alexandra Road!" he said clearly into the roaring green flames.

Poppy had been in the kitchen, making some tea when the green flames had roared in the fire. She stared in shock, as she looked at the head that was floating effortlessly in the green flames, her hands instinctively coming to rest upon her bump.

"Poppy!" said Albus softly "I am sorry to have of startled you."

"Who are you?" she asked in confusion.

"Poppy," he answered with a slight smile "it me, Albus!"

Poppy stared at him before answering him. She was trying to be sure that she wasn't imagining things. Her brain had been playing silly tricks on her ever since she had been pregnant and she didn't want to feel stupid again.

"Well I know who you are," she finally replied "but your dead!"

"Poppy, please listen to me," he urged, trying not to grimace when a sharp pain shot through his spine. "I am not dead, I have been alive all this time……."

"Do you KNOW what YOU have put that poor lassie through?" cried Poppy, interrupting him as anger flowed through her body. "You have been alive all this time and you didn't send her a single word! What kind of man are you?"

Albus had been expecting something like this but he was worried about Poppy getting herself into a state. He had noticed that she was heavily pregnant and knew that she shouldn't get worked up.

"Poppy, calm down" he suggested, raising his hands up. "It's not good for you or the baby. I need to know where Minerva is. Is she with you?"

Poppy wasn't sure what to say. She didn't know how Minerva would react and did Albus have the right to turn up eight months later and uproot Minerva all over again? Poppy thought about Alastor and what she would want if she where in Minerva position. She would have wanted to see him so she decided to go and find Minerva and tell her. But a voice from behind her stopped her from moving. It was full of shock, confused and disbelief.

"Albus?"

To be continued!