A/N: Hello everybody – long time no see. And yes, this is an update. And I am pleased to announce that the following chapters will come in a quicker succession. To my faithful reviewers I would like to say: thank you for being here today and for giving me your thoughts. Please, continue to do so. And now, I give you…
Chapter 34 – "Eagle"
"Honestly Uray, I wish I had your confidence." Diana sighed. "I just cannot forgive so easily."
"I never said I forgave him. I only said that I know he loves her. And I know that he was put under some kind of spell. Nothing else."
"Are you still at it, aunt Sym and Papa? We have more important things to do."
"You are right, child. There are really more pressing matters to attend to." Uray answered and then turned to his siblings. "So, any idea how we could strengthen the wards around the manor? I certainly don't want aurors or even Death Eaters marching in and out of here."
Mercury nodded. "Me neither. But we will need Min to enforce them. No spell will be powerful enough without her in the caster's circle."
His twin, Hermes, nodded as well. "So, where did you leave her?"
"Talking to Albus."
"You think it wise?"
"I think it necessary, Dion."
Dion nodded. "Very well. Still, I hope she will come soon. We need her. Meanwhile, what do we know?"
Melina sighed. "Not much. We have the globe with the prophesy here and it is overly ripe. What it contains we don't know."
"Any idea, Uray?"
"Not really. We do believe that it is connected to her name. Her second animagus form is an owl. She can communicate directly with owls, can call them into her service. All features of Minerva – or better Athena, but we still don't understand how they would be employed."
Hermes tapped his nose thoughtfully. "This is tricky. Though Mama and Dad made a point to name the girls in a Roman fashion, I find it still odd that Minerva shows all the signs of Athena. There was a strong difference between the two goddesses. Athena was a warrior, while Minerva wasn't necessarily. It doesn't really add up."
His twin looked at him. "True. If only we could listen to that prophesy, it would make things so much easier."
"That it would." Diana sighed. Then she became serious again. "Be that as it may, my guess is that we need to get into Hogwarts at some point. Do we not?"
Dion frowned. "What do you mean, Sym?"
His sister shook her head in exasperation. "Honestly, don't you ever think ahead? You-Know-Who will not attack the manor, even though he might have realized by now that Dumbledore is here and that Min is alive and well. Whatever he'll try, it will happen at the school."
The faces of her brothers were masks of confusion. "What are you talking about, Sym?"
The woman groaned. "Morgana, spare me from dense men!" She turned to Melina. "Do you at least know what I mean?"
Melina couldn't help the little grin playing in the corners of her mouth. "Yes, I think so and you are right. You-Know-Who has built up his whole operation in and around Hogwarts. He has aunt Min and Dumbledore removed from the school. His henchmen have been searching the castle for aunt Min's belongings. And he let Dumbledore announce that all students will receive extra holidays right before the end of term. That means his plans center on the school. I don't think this has changed, if only because he knows now that our family will contest his claims and plans."
"Exactly! He has spent so much time and effort on his build up in the school. He will not abandon it just to deal with us. And the point is, if he carries out his plans and we want to prevent his success we cannot do it from here. We need to go to Hogwarts. The question is: How do we get there and onto the grounds without being killed? Any one of you clever gents ever thought of that?"
The McGonagall brothers frowned at their sister. It was such a bear that all of their sisters had this piercing logic. Made it so hard to argue with them.
At that exact moment, the walls of the study began to groan and to creak.
"What is this?" Melina exclaimed, horrified.
The noise became more and more deafening and one stone of the mantle began to glow in an eerie pale light.
"I don't know!" Diana shouted back with a distinct tremor in her voice. "What could it be?"
"Oh Merlin! The sky is falling in on us!" Hermes groaned.
"Yeah, and you're a Gaul!" His twin shot back.
Diana pointed at the mantle. "Look at the stone. The stone is glowing. What is this?"
"Oh Merlin!" Uray breathed. "The connection stones. It has begun."
"What has begun, Papa?" Melina screamed to be heard over the deafening noise made by the walls. By now she was shaking even more than they.
Dion, white as chalk, answered. "You-Know-Who has started with his plan! And he really is attacking the school! From within! He's going for the castle itself!"
"How do you know?"
"The glowing stone is a connection stone. Hogwarts is built of enchanted stones." Minerva inserted from the doorway, her voice rather breathless.
"The manor is built with the leftovers. He attacks the castle, he attacks the manor." Uray added in cut up sentences. "Min, we must act! What do we do?"
Minerva tried to take some steps forward, but by now the ground was shaking too. Behind her, Dumbledore came staggering into the study as well. Having been interrupted in their tender moment by the horrible noises, they had both run for the study to find out what was happening.
Minerva's chest heaved from the exertion and from pure agitation. This was it. The moment they had waited for. But they were not prepared. Not prepared at all.
"Min, we need to act! Do something!" Diana begged.
"I don't know what to do!" Her sister responded desperately.
"We need to stop You-Know-Who! You need to stop him." Hermes shrieked.
At this moment, the ruckus had grown to earthquake-like proportions. An especially heavy lurch made all occupants of the room fall to their knees.
"Are you hurt?" Dumbledore asked when he got his bearings again. They were the first words he had uttered since leaving the other room.
None of the witches and wizards had taken any injury. But this couldn't be said for everything else in the room. Through the intense shaking of the house, the orb containing the prophesy had come loose from its resting place on a side table and was rolling towards its edge.
"The prophesy!" Melina screamed.
All occupants stared in shock as the glass orb rolled over the edge of the table and fell down in slow motion.
Before anybody could even think of moving to prevent its fall and consequential destruction, the small orb hit the floor and shattered into a thousand pieces.
For a second, over the noise from the still shaking house, the silence in the study was absolutely deafening.
Then an eerie voice, sounding like a Cossack choir, started to recite…
"Not a Warrior,A Protector she shall be.
A warming hide shall be her weapon,
To shelter, to protect, to shield.
In times of peril
the Warrior shall turn to her:
for Protection and for Courage.
While he defeats the Dark,
It shall be her to erase it.
Her weapon to be like its own."
After the words had been spoken, the red mist that had been visible in the glass orb quickly diminished into the air.
The siblings stared at each other. Judging from Dumbledore's and Melina's faces they had not understood either what the riddle was supposed to mean.
However, the continuing groaning and creaking of the walls kept them from further dwelling on the thought. By now, the connection stones sported a blinding white light but had also started to swell, as if they were about to pop out of their hold.
Diana was the first to get her bearings. "Min," she screamed over the noise, "we need to do something. Make it stop, or our house will collapse along with the school."
Minerva didn't answer, only stared at her unseeingly for several moments. Then she suddenly sprang up and rushed over to the fireplace. Within seconds she had grabbed a handful of floo powder from the dark green jar on the right side of the mantle, stepped into the fireplace and yelled "Hogwarts!" In a flash of bright green flames she was gone.
The other occupants stared after her though only Albus moved. "Minerva!" he shouted and lunged towards the fireplace while another wave of shaking hit.
Before he could get any closer to the hearth, the bright green flames appeared again and Minerva was violently thrown out. She landed in a rather ungraceful heap in front of an ottoman.
Hermes was the first by her side. "What happened?" he asked breathlessly.
Minerva gasped, still suffering from the impact. "He blocked the fireplaces. I was thrown back."
"Did you have the right floo powder?" Uray asked.
His sister only glared at him.
"He has blocked our special connections. We need to find others."
"But we don't have the time for a long search, Min."
"I know that, Diana. Melina, Hermes and Mercury come with me. You try to find the one spot he must have left open."
"Min, what do you plan to do?"
"What I have to." She turned to Albus and a tender smile came to her face. "I love you." She mouthed.
Then she hoisted herself up from the ground and ran from the room.
And for the upteenth time, Albus could only stare after her.