A/N: You thought, the last was bad? Well, I think, I can raise the standard by another notch. Hehee…

This is for my dear niece, L, the dark angel…as a farewell, God speed-gift.

Chapter 29 - "Open your Eyes"

This morning was vastly different from the last. It had snowed throughout the night, covering the grounds of Hogwarts with an innocently white blanket. Though Severus was generally not fond of this type of weather, today he found it even more dreadful. The whiteness produced an almost deathlike quietness, fitting the gloom that had settled over the castle.

After the shock of the headlines in the morning the rest of the day had been oddly quiet. The students seemed to be in a trance-like state and he himself had been strangely detached from the mundane goings of the day.

The public branding of Minerva as a criminal had stung painfully. Not only him, but the student body as well. Though the article had to admit that the officials were no closer to the capture of McGonagall, it had brought no relief to their hurt. From the short, hushed conversations in the common room, Severus had gathered that even his Slytherins felt pain and betrayal. No house rivalry or even resentment against the stern fairness of the Transfiguration teacher made his little snakes believe her capable of such a crime. Instead they saw it as a witch-hunt. Even young Malfoy voiced the opinion that this whole plot was designed to remove the obstacle of a Gryffindor-heir from the scene.

This had soothed Severus' frayed nerves somewhat. However, later in Pomfrey's office, when they were hunched over a letter from Alastor Moody, his nervousness had returned full force. Moody wrote that they had indeed escaped unseen and unharmed, but that according to the prophecy they had retrieved, a stand-off in the near future was inevitable.

So despite his own uneasiness, Severus had spent the better part of the evening calming Poppy Pomfrey over the fact that her fianc (Snape had raised a surprised eyebrow at this piece of information) had not only been in on that break, but would also be in the frontline of the coming battle.

Surprisingly, the solution of the emotional situation had come from the ever-quirky flying instructor. Xiomara Hooch had declared in no uncertain terms that Moody wouldn't be alone at the frontline. They all would be there. Looking back, Snape had to admit that the declaration had fulfilled its purpose. Pomfrey had stopped sobbing and they all had left with new determination. Still, in the morning faced with breakfast and his classes of the day, he felt utterly exhausted.

Approaching the Great Hall, he once again felt the oppressive silence. The Great Hall was so quiet that just outside its doors no sound could be heard.

Stepping inside, Severus stifled a gasp of surprise. Next to Voldemort a guest was sitting and this guest was none other than Albus Dumbledore.

"What is he doing here?" he whispered to Baldur Nipps. The other man only shrugged.

---

"What is Dumbledore doing here?" Ron asked, his words somewhat muffled, since his mouth was full of scrambled eggs.

Harry only shrugged uneasily, while he tried to eat his breakfast. This morning, however, the delights on their house table were lost on him. Even his toast felt like lead in his stomach. He still couldn't believe it.

McGonagall a criminal? An assassin? Impossible! Ridiculous! Just thinking of his straightforward head of house being involved in something even remotely illegal was unfeasible.

"He'll probably show that this 'assassination attempt' was not successful. That he is unharmed and well; fully capable to fill his position." Ginny quietly supplied.

Harry looked at her for a long time. Since the news of yesterday morning, she had taken over the role of the strong and reasonable one in their little group. Hermione had been shaken so badly by the news that she was barely functioning. For almost 24 hours now, she had been staring into nothingness most of the time.

It was an eerie sight to see their normally smart and controlled friend with such an empty face. Not even during the time she was petrified had Hermione looked so expressionless. Still, Harry guessed that her world had fallen apart, when her idol had been branded a criminal.

"Unharmed? Fully capable? A fully capable Dumbledore would never do that to McGonagall."

"We got that far already, Ron. It is obvious that something is wrong with Dumbledore."

"Yeah, but to what effect? Voldemort is headmaster now, but nothing has happened so far. He's even ignored Harry until now."

"But that will change. I am certain of that. I think everything that has happened is just a diversion. The extra holidays, McGonagall's removal from Hogwarts."

"You mean they plan to do something here soon and therefore need to empty out the school?"

Ginny and Ron nodded. "I think so." The girl said.

"But how does McGonagall fit into this? Except having been Dumbledore's right hand and being a determined enemy of Voldemort?" Harry asked.

"Mate, I told you before, she's a McGonagall." Harry's face was a confused frown, so Ron explained. "The McGonagall's are one of the oldest families in the community. They go back to the founders. Directly from the line of Gryffindor himself."

"Exactly," Ginny added, "there is no telling what powers they could derive from that heritage. Nobody knows just how much power a McGonagall hides."

"So Voldemort, as the heir of Slytherin, would have to face his Gryffindor-counterpart who would most probably be standing in his way?"

The Weasley siblings nodded.

Harry felt his head spin. Ever since he had heard about his past, he had felt trapped by his responsibility. It had become worse last spring, when Dumbledore had told him about the prophecy Trelawney had made about him. He had raged against his fate, blamed everyone in reach and still was angry about it. Now he heard that he was probably not the only one. If his Transfiguration teacher was indeed an heir of Gryffindor, then what was her role? Secretly, Harry had always suspected that there were quite a few things the formidable professor didn't let on about, but this? What were her secret powers? How had she coped with being a direct descendant of Gryffindor? How had it influenced her? But most importantly, was her fate tied to his? And how?

At this exact moment, there was a bang at the heavy doors of the Great Hall. They swept open with a rush of wind. Every head in the Great Hall turned to the doors.

In the frame stood a cloaked figure. Though the doors were so big that even Hagrid, the half-giant fit easily through and this person was of average height, the stranger seemed to fill out the frame. The aura of the strange person was one of incredible coldness and hatred.

Instantly, Harry felt a chill of fear running through the hall. This feeling was even intensified, when a large eagle flew inside, did a few rounds with chilling cries and finally landed on the stranger's outstretched arm. From there the magnificent bird climbed up to the human's shoulder.

With bated breath all occupants of the hall saw the stranger taking a first step inside. Then the next. And another. The heels of his boots clicked loudly on the stone floor.

Through the speed of movement the hood of the cloak fell down and revealed the stranger to be a woman. A stunning woman with long ebony hair, pale skin and piercing dark eyes. To Harry she looked awfully familiar. The woman's cloak billowed behind her, revealing robes of tartan underneath.

"Wow, that is a McGonagall if I ever saw one." Ron breathed in awe. In the dead silence of the Great Hall, this whisper rang like a cry.

The woman stopped at their place at the Gryffindor table and eyed Ron piercingly. The redheaded young man swallowed nervously. A minute twitch of the woman's lips was his answer. Then she turned her scrutiny towards Harry. Under her intense gaze, Harry felt x-rayed, but in her face there was no sign of hostility. Instead, she seemed to size him up. After what seemed like hours, she nodded her head shortly and turned back towards the staff table.

About ten feet away from the dais, the woman pulled a paper out of the pocket of her robes. She pushed the paper, the most recent copy of the Daily Prophet, into the beak of her eagle and let him loose.

The majestic bird flew some more rounds and finally landed on the staff table, directly in front of Dumbledore. The old wizard's face had taken on an uneasy expression, which deepened upon the hard look on the much younger woman's face. Hesitantly, he picked up the Daily Prophet, unfolded it and gasped.

Tears began running down his face instantly, and brokenly he whispered: "No. Merlin, no."

The woman's voice was commanding and deathly cold. "Read! Aloud!"

Dumbledore looked at her, asking for even the slightest bit of understanding or sympathy, but he found none. "Read!"

Brokenly, only audible courtesy of the instant "Sonorus" charm", he read:

"Minerva McGonagall – Suicide!

After yesterday's report on the criminal activities of Minerva McGonagall, the former Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the editors of the Daily Prophet have been presented with a communiqué announcing the death of the formerly well-respected teacher this morning.

The communiqué, signed by Uranos McGonagall, brother of the deceased and former head of the Department of Mysteries, declares that Ms. McGonagall, after having been faced with charges that – as her brother states – were completely untrue, committed suicide last night, performing the Unforgivable curse on herself. Furthermore, Mr. McGonagall stated: 'My sister had always been an avid defender of justice and fairness. Those completely unfounded and ridiculous charges destroyed her belief in sense and reason. Her death was a logical consequence of the turn politics have taken in our community. Therefore, I will not rest until the people responsible for THIS crime, meet their justified punishment.'

In its closing paragraph, the communiqué, sent this morning from the McGonagall estate, Albany House, states that in the light of these events, the family council will consider the removal of all funding made available to the wizarding community of Great Britain.

For more information on the case, Ms. McGonagall's career and background information on the McGonagall family, please turn to page 5."

The whole school was shell-shocked. McGonagall was dead. Had committed suicide after being unjustly branded a criminal. But the show wasn't over.

During Dumbledore's reading, the woman had stepped closer to the staff table. Now, she was standing right in front of Voldemort and Dumbledore. The latter one seemed to have completely lost his control, if the tears streaming of his face and the barely suppressed sobs were any indication.

The woman's voice was metallic as she announced: "I am Melina Galatea McGonagall. And I have come to retrieve the personal belongings of Minerva Athena Minuet McGonagall. They are to be returned to her family. And you will give them to me." When no reaction came, Melina's voice turned malicious. "Or do you want to keep them? Murderer!"

Comments:

Mathchick92: Thanks for your compliments. Good to know that you are devouring my story.

Margo Wulfric: Thankies on your compliments on Snape. As I was discussing with somebody these days, I see him very similar to Spock (Startrek), who hides his passions under a mask of open indifference. The same goes for Minerva – and such a situation would shatter everybody's control, I think. However, I never said, she was wearing tartan. That honor belongs to Melina.

Liz O'Brien: Well, you know what happened, so you can see, what Rita made out of it. And yes, you can only hope for a happy ending.

Evilwoman: Well, you can make it up by faithfully reviewing this chappy. Anyways…how do you like the view from this cliffie?

Moo(): Thank you…and thanks for the hint, I admit, I have seen so many versions that I dunno, how this word is abbreviated (me and English abbreviation is a no go)

Morgana-Alex: Now, take a deep breath. And another one. No need to exhaust yourself. Hope, you liked this as well.

Minerva's Quill: Of course, Minerva is no assassin – yet. One never know, what comes. And yeah, Albus still loves her. How could he not (especially since I am a die-hard AD/MMer)

LinZE: Won't you rush your auntie? She's posting all in due time. Anyways, what do you expect of Ms. Skeeter, huh?

Jestana: Of course, he loves her. Albus loves Minerva – that is a basic universal truth. And really, one couldn't expect anything else from the Skeeter, right?

HogwartsDuo: I can't leave you hanging like that? Well, what do you think of this then? Anyways, of course, it is so…

BloodSucker13: Mucho thankos

Thanks to all, of you who reviewed. And thanks to all, who read, but didn't review (Shame on You!). Please, redeem yourself and use that little button down there.