After The Half-Blood Prince, Chapter Two
The Person At The Door
Minerva took a couple of deep breaths to compose herself before opening the door. She wasn't expecting to see anyone in particular, but she was especially not expecting to see…
"Harry Potter?"
The boy nodded and ran his hand though his hair much the way his father used to.
"Professor, I'm sorry to bother you during the summer, but I was wondering, maybe…"
"Yes, Potter?" She had not seen the boy sine Bill and Fleur's wedding a month before and she was surprised to see how much older he looked already.
"I need some advice, I suppose. No, more than that. I just need…to talk to…someone. Someone who knew…him."
She took another deep breath and gestured for him to enter. "Would you rather speak to him yourself, Potter?"
Harry stopped walking and swiveled around to face the Transfiguration professor. "What?"
"Hello, Harry." Harry's eyes, like Minerva's had upon hearing Dumbledore's voice, filled with tears. Minerva felt the sudden urge to hug him, but she refrained, afraid to embarrass the child. 'No,' she reminded herself. 'The adult. He's seventeen.'
"Professor…Dumbledore?" asked Harry, gazing at the portrait. "I didn't even think…it never occurred to me to… You're here."
"Don't feel bad, Harry. You weren't the only one who never thought to look for my portrait," replied Albus, grinning at Minerva.
"Oh, shut it." She said quietly. She conjured up a comfortable chair a few feet from the portrait and motioned for Harry to have a seat. Minerva then settled herself on the edge of his desk – her desk – and folded her hands in her lap.
Albus looked from her to Harry, and back at her again. "You do not mind if Professor McGonagall stays for this talk, Harry?"
"No, sir. Maybe she can… help?" answered the boy, fidgeting.
"What do you need help with, Harry?" asked Albus, leaning so far forward that Minerva almost expected his nose to protrude right through the canvas.
Harry shrugged. "I…don't know. Hermione, Ron and I are staying at headquarters right now. It was Hermione's idea… That locket, sir, that was not the right locket."
"I know, Harry. I know. Have you figured out…"
"Ron did, actually, and Hermione was jealous she didn't get it first." Harry smiled for the first time since he'd arrived back at Hogwarts. "We had it all along, sir. Fifth year, when we were cleaning up Sirius' house, we found the locket and it wouldn't open. We had it all along."
"Merlin, Albus! Is that true? The Horcrux was, all the time, it was…" Her voice trailed off when she saw the look Harry was giving her.
"You know about the Horcrux's?" He demanded to know. "You knew all along?"
"I knew only that you-know-who had split his soul several times… He preserved himself in that diary. In that ring… Albus, your hand!"
He held his arm up for all to see. "Just fine."
She smiled softly. "I'm glad." Turning back to Harry she explained, "I didn't know that the locket was one until I saw it in the Pensieve, after Albus…After Professor Dumbledore had been… I wanted to know where the two of you had been, before… I saw… Well, continue you talk, Potter. You needed advice?"
Harry and the former Headmaster talked for another hour or so, and Minerva listened (and occasionally contributed, in addition to consoling Harry a couple of times when emotion overtook him and Albus was unable to come to his aid). After some time passed, Harry turned to Minerva and asked whether she would mind leaving the room for a bit. "I really need to speak to Professor Dumbledore alone, please?" he explained, and she understood.
"I'll be back in thirty minutes, will that be alright?" she asked, and it was. She locked eyes with Albus for a moment before exiting, and felt herself tearing up again. She left and shut the door behind her, and wondered where to go next. She decided to simply walk about the castle, thinking, trying to clear her head.
"He's back," she thought happily, and yet she could not shake the sadness she also felt. "He's back, but he's not… I can speak to him, yes, but I will never again feel him. He will never hug me, never run his fingers ever so lightly over the scars from the stunners, never gently kiss me goodnight… I can speak to him, yes, but I will still have to sleep alone, every night until I… It's almost like a tease," she thought bitterly. "I will spend my days chatting with him, but when night falls, I am really alone." Suddenly Minerva collapsed in the hall, overcome with grief and the hard, painful sobs that she could no longer hold back. For perhaps ten minutes she cried alone, and she did not hear footsteps approaching. Someone reached down and touched her shoulder, and her body tensed up. She looked up to see who it was that had joined her, and her crying eyes met those of the boy who lived; he was also in tears.
He knelt down beside her and for several minutes neither of them spoke. "If you would like to come to dinner, sometime, Professor," Harry said quietly after some time, "Send an owl ahead, and Hermione, Ron and I will be there… that is, if you'd want to. And maybe, sometimes, I could come here and visit you? Both of you?"
She nodded, finally starting to compose herself. "I'd like that very much, Potter… Harry. I'd better get back to my office now, there is much paperwork to do. We've decided to open the school after all. If even one student decided to attend… I know that you and Miss…that you and Hermione and Ron have much to do, Harry, but if you return to Hogwarts… I made a promise to make you an Auror, Potter. And I promised Miss. Granger that she would be an animagus. And I daresay Molly Weasley will not be too keen on another one of her children neglecting to finish his education."
"We have to destroy him, Professor," said Harry, seriously, then remembering her promise to Delores Umbridge over a year earlier with a small smile, he added "But perhaps we can come back sometimes, and you can work with us a little? Of, if we can… if we succeed before the year is out, if we might return? It is difficult to think of the future past … this. But…"
Their conversation was interrupted then by a large snowy owl, Hedwig, swooping down the corridor and landing on Harry's left shoulder. He took the scroll from her leg and read it. "I am sorry, Professor, but I'm wanted back at headquarters. Ginny is…she came to visit me." He blushed, and Minerva chuckled.
"Go see Miss. Weasley, then, Potter. I shall see you soon, though, to take you up on your offer of dinner, alright?"
"Yes, Ma'am. Well… Goodbye then." He took a miniature broom from his pocket and whispered a few words; it became his trusty Firebolt, which he climbed on and took off.
"Goodbye, Harry," she whispered as he flew around the corner. She turned, whipped the tears from her cheeks and began the walk back to her office. She had someone waiting for her there. And she wanted to speak with him again.
A/N
Okay, a lot less ADMM here, but some people wanted to know who was at the door! The next (and final) chapter will be a bit lighter, fluffy, even, and be all about the ADMM … so … stay tuned! And please review! Thanks!
AL