Disclaimer: All Harry Potter people, places, things, or ideas (all Harry Potter nouns) belong to J. K. Rowlings.
Chapter 5: Until I saw you anew.
Xiomara burst into the room seconds later. "Min, I was working out a few kinks in the new broom I bought out on the Quidditch Pitch when I noticed you. What were you doing outside and…" she trailed off, having spotted Albus. "Oh my word! You found him!"
Her friend nodded. "Yes Mara, but I do not know how to wake him. Was it too late before I ever reached Egypt?"
She gave the Headmistress a hug. "We will find a way to bring him back. You did the best you could, no matter what happens." Minerva reached into her pocket, looking for a tissue but only finding the note. She pulled it out and began to finger it.
Poppy grabbed Albus wrist and then placed her fingers on his neck. Her brow furrowed in confusion as she turned back to Minerva. "He is alive in a manner of speaking. Somehow he is breathing but he has no pulse. It's as if he's missing his heart."
Minerva was at the end of her emotional rope and started to cry. "What are we supposed to do then? I have failed him! We were so close and now I have failed him!"
"No you haven't! You have done the best you could and this is not your fault," Xiomara expressed. She put a hand on Minerva's shoulder. "You've done all that you can for now. It might be a good idea if you rested for a while."
"Xiomara's right. Minerva if you went to Egypt, you've hardly slept at all, not to mention what you should have eaten. I will see if anything else can be done while you get some sleep," the medwitch persuaded.
Minerva nodded and sighed, brushing a hand over Albus' cheek. "I will be back, I promise," she whispered as she left reluctantly.
For the next five days Minerva stayed in the infirmary as much as possible, sometimes bringing her paperwork along. Poppy had used as many diagnostic spells and waking spells as she could find, but still nothing seemed to work. Minerva had brought the last note with her, thinking that there might be some last puzzle they had all missed.
"I'm so sorry Minerva, but I can't find anything useful. The only thing I do know is that if we cannot revive him, he won't be with us more than a couple of weeks," Poppy relayed.
Minerva sat on the bed next to Albus and held his hand. Her eyes were brimming with unshed tears as she placed the note she had brought on the table next to the bed. "I cannot lose him again, Poppy, not when we are so close. There has to be something I missed."
A few minutes later Xiomara arrived, walking toward Minerva. "I dropped by to see if there were any changes."
Minerva shook her head. "He's the same, I'm afraid. And we are still no closer to an answer."
The note on the table fluttered to the floor as Minerva's robes brushed it. Xiomara picked up the parchment and read it. "Min," she began, looking intently at her friend, "the end of the note says, 'You hold my heart in the palm of your hand.' What were you holding when you found him?"
Having wiped away most of the tears, Minerva put her hand in her pocket and removed the object. "I had almost forgotten about this little scarab. It glowed and showed me where he was."
The flying instructor's eyes opened wide. "Don't you know what that is, Min? The Ancient Egyptians often substituted a heart for a carved scarab similar to that one when someone was embalmed."
"Do you really think this is what the note was referring to?" Minerva questioned.
"It doesn't hurt to try," Poppy commented.
Minerva sighed and walked over to Albus, carrying the scarab. The medwitch had undone his shirt to expose the skin over where his heart should have been beating. As Minerva lifted the scarab over the area, it glowed a deep red instead of blue. She placed it on top of the skin and it disappeared in a red flash.
Then sparkling blue eyes opened to the world again and Minerva held her breath. She stayed planted to where she sat on the bed as Albus reached up and touched her cheek. He sat up slowly as tears of joy ran down her face. He gently took her face in his hands and wiped her tears away with his thumbs.
"My Minerva, there is no need to cry. Everything is fine again. I knew that you would eventually figure everything out," he told her.
"Oh Albus, I thought I was going to lose you again. Xiomara and Poppy helped me solve your puzzles. There is so much I- what I mean to say is- I'm just so glad that you-" she could not express in words the joy she felt knowing that he was now alive.
He seemed to understand what she was trying to say and drew her to him for a sound kiss. She returned the kiss when they had parted. "I love you so much. Don't you ever do that to me again," she exclaimed as they rested their foreheads together.
Chuckling, he kissed her again. "I love you too, forever and always."
He raised an eyebrow as she then proceeded to place his hand on her abdomen. "There is another bit of news that I need to mention: you are going to be a father."
Without hesitation he pulled her to him again and kissed her deeply. The world around them seemed to disappear until Xiomara cleared her throat, reminding them that she and Poppy were still in the room. They blushed as they parted.
The medwitch performed a diagnostic spell on Albus and smiled broadly. "It would appear that your plan worked. With a bit more rest, you should be back to your old self," Poppy told him.
"What I want to know is will you be Headmaster again?" Xiomara inquired.
Albus looked at Minerva, taking her hands in his. "No, Mara. My return must remain a secret until Voldemort is destroyed," he paused and spoke to Minerva. "My dear, think of this as my retirement. It is time that I passed the torch on to you. And if I am not so busy, I can look after our child when you cannot. He or she also must be kept a secret for a while."
Minerva nodded in agreement as they stayed in each other's embrace. "Albus you cannot stay hidden in some room waiting for You-Know-Who's demise, neither can you use an invisibility charm the entire time. Something tells me that you have another idea."
He kissed her softly. "You know me well. If you recall, one of my animagus forms is a snowy owl. When I need to go somewhere I will become an owl. You can simply explain that you have a new familiar. You may even call me 'Checkmate' if you wish."
She laughed heartily. "Finally you have succumbed to my streak of victories I see."
"You lost the last one though," he reminded with a smirk.
The Headmistress swatted his arm playfully. "You were distracting me during the last game."
As he began to kiss her neck she began to purr. He whispered, "You always distract me, whether you realize it or not."
Poppy tapped her fingers on the table loudly. She spoke when she had Albus and Minerva's attention. "Considering that you two are going to spend the rest of the day shamelessly flirting, I would rather you two engaged in it someplace else. I'm releasing you Albus, because I'm tired of listening to you two."
They all laughed and Albus changed into a hansom snowy owl, perching on Minerva's shoulder. The halls were quiet as she walked to the Headmistress's suite. When they were inside and the door was shut Albus transformed back into his human form and conjured tea for them.
As they sat on the sofa in front of the fireplace, both were content to sit in silence for a while, enjoying each other's presence. Then Albus set his cup down, deciding that it was time to speak. "Minerva, my love, there is something that I need to ask you."
She also set her cup down. "Of course."
He took her hands in his, gently stroking them. "You did not give up trying to find me, though I know it could not have been easy. You have always been my best friend, my voice of wisdom, and now the woman I love very much. Minerva, I would be honoured if you would be my wife. Will you marry me?"
A few tears of joy slipped down her cheeks as she smiled brightly. "Yes, yes Albus. I love you more than I have words to explain. I could not bear to be here without you when I realized that there might be a way to have you back. I would be greatly honoured to call myself your wife."
Voldemort was defeated by Harry Potter a week before Minerva and Albus' daughter was born. With raven-black hair and sparkling blue eyes, Anastasia Minerva Isis Xiomara Dumbledore cooed in Minerva's arms. Albus sat on the bed next to her.
"When did you want to tell the school?" he asked.
"I will tell them as soon as possible that I have a lovely daughter and a wonderful husband," she replied with a warm smile.
He grinned broadly as she handed the infant to him. "You do realize that some day we will have quite a story to tell her about how she came to be and how I returned?" he mentioned with a wry grin.
Minerva nodded and kissed him on the cheek. "I think she will especially like the part where we tell her what a gift she is, as are you."
Leaning over, he kissed his wife warmly. "And you, my dear Tabby, are my gift because you never gave up on me."
…………………………………………………Fin……………………………………………………
(This was an entertaining idea that absolutely had to be written. I hope you have all enjoyed reading this tale as I have enjoyed writing it. My thanks to Lady Epur, TartanLioness, Isabelle(), Leta McGotor, Lia06, HMS Frivolity and Felines, SherbetKitty, sportsnightnut, Lady Jolly, Alesia G., Trekkie101, ParadoxofInfinity, and Becca() for reviewing :D).