His Daughter

Author: Leta McGotor

Disclaimer: I own nothing but some characters like Nostradamus Crehl and the McDrake family including Richard McGonagall. The other belongs to JKR. (A big thank-you goes to my beta Artemis Sprape – yes, you read it correctly, I mean you Arty!)

EM: Thank you for your review.

Kiwi.307: It is easy for them but for others it is disastrous. Thank you for reviewing.

DamesFan: Hallöchen. Ja, ich weiß, absolut fair, aber wenn es wirklich so wäre, hätte das ganze einige Kapitel weniger. Ich weiß nicht genau, ob mir das mit Azkaban in diesem Kapitel hier gelungen ist, aber ich habe versucht das Bestmögliche daraus zu machen. Danke dafür, dass du ein Review abgegeben hast und ich hoffe, ich höre bald wieder von dir.

SherbetKitty: No, they didn't mean something good, either, but they are not too bad. Albus, yes, he will not have a really good time. Thank you for your review.

Darkforces: Thank you for your praise and I hope I can fulfill your expectations with this chapter.

I'm really, really sorry that it took me that long but there was so much new in school for me, that it was impossible to even think about the next chapter. I have decided to learn Russian and because it's in the middle of term I have to repeat that last four months or so on my own. So I'm really sorry and I hope you can forgive me.

Chapter 13 It's cold

It was a long day and it was not. Albus sat in his little cell in Azkaban and it shook him. He could feel it when the dementors came near him or when they were floating away. But even when they were far away from him, he could still feel their presence. But this was nothing compared with what he had seen, heard and felt when they had brought him up hear. He hadn't noticed the missing glas of his window, had not seen the board he was to be sleeping on, all what had counted where the voices in his head.

Never Albus had felt more miserable than now. When he looked around he saw the depressing walls or the sea which seemed to be colder than ice. But when he closed his eyes, he saw them. Those two faces, he wouldn't forget in his whole life. He saw the lightening green eyes, the full red lips, the little nose. He could feel her smooth skin, the silky hair, he could even smell her parfume – roses, allways roses. But then suddenly the face faded and all what was left was screaming, crying. Every time he tried to help her but every time there was nothing but darknes, darkness and darkness around him. It tore his heart apart that he would never see her again – his beloved Victoria.

But mostly he didn't saw the face of Victoria McDrake but one, that was so much alike this one that a stranger would speak of twins. Surely there were differences between them and Albus knew them all by heart – the long bridge of her nose, her small mouth, the way of her smile, the sound of her voice, the way she moved. Indeed Minerva McGongall was an independent girl that liked to live her own life. Was there ever a chance that he would see her again? Was she awake yet? Had they told her what had happened and would she believe them?

Every time Albus tried to get rid of those thoughts he turned around and then he didn't saw her face beyond his closed eyes, but standing in the next corner watching him and the expression on her face broke his heart completely. In those times he had told himself again and again that these images were not true, not real and nothing more than that - images.

It was the deepest night now, or was it morning yet? Albus didn't know because they had taken all what he had from him. He had not only seen his wand vanish into a little box, but his precious watch – a present from Victoria – and all what he had carried with him as well. Now he lay awake and thought of all what had happened. It all went so slow that day but simultaneous so fast that he couldn't get it all straight what had happened at all. The memory was a strange thing.

First there were those officials from the Ministry, then the Ministry itself. They had asked again and again the same questions and every time they beliefed only themselves instead of him. Why had they asked him at all? He knew that he had not murdered Richard McGongall, but trying to remember what he had done at that time, nothing came to his mind. He couldn't even remember to have left the hospital.

Suddenly Albus heard a strange noise and only seconds later the door to his cell opened and a man staggered in. Shortly afterwards the door was shut loudly and the man fell to the ground. Albus sat up.

"Can I help you?", he asked.

"No, no, nobody can help me. Nobody." To Albus' great surprise the man started crying.

"There, there. There is always someone who can help you."

"No, nobody can bring them back.", the man cried now into Albus' shoulder.

"Who?"

"My wife and my children."

"What happened to them?"

"They are gone. I came home and… and they were gone… all of them… and all the blood… I swear I will kill the one who has done that. I swear it. You must know I have loved them dearly… Surely I was never worthy enough for her but she took me nervertheless and we are happy together, I mean, were happy together…"

"Why are you here?"

"I tried to kill someone."

"Why?"

"He has murdered them, I know it. The way he used to look at her and… and all. He is the murderer of my family, I know it."

"And you thought it better to kill him yourself instead of informing the Ministry?"

"The Ministry? Are you mad? That man is right. They get nothing straight. They wouldn't recognize a murderer when he is killing them. That man was right."

"What man?"

"In the pub… Said something about a guy – I have forgotten the name – he has… has killed. I didn't believe it when he told it but later I thought he could have been right. He knew all the details."

"Oh" was all Albus could say. His thoughts were far away now. Again he wished he could stay with his daughter. If there were so many maniacs out there, would she be safe where she was? The other man went to the other corner and began sleeping there, but Albus stayed where he was. Again with only one question in mind: Would he see his beloved daughter again?

Far away from the prison of Azkaban sat a lonely girl at a window and looked out. Like she had done it in Hogwarts, she did it not only because she enjoyed what she saw – although it was a wonderful view from her rooms in the highest tower the castle had – but because she needed to order her thoughts. There were so many questions that needed to be answered and so many answeres that didn't fit to her questions.

She didn't believe one word when the people around her told her of the murder of her "father". Of course Minerva knew that he was dead and she didn't doubt it, either, but she was sure that her real father had nothing to do with it. He would never do something stupid like that, never. Every time someone tried to peruade her from the "truth" – how they called it – she became more and more aggravated unil she couldn't control herself. Therfore she sat at the window now and looked at the darkness outside. She wondered what her father was doing now and how he was.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door behind her. Slowly she looked around. Who would dare it to knock at three in the morning? She called out that whoever might be there should enter. Minerva rolled her eyes when her uncle entered her rooms with a small candle in his hand.

"Good Morning, Minerva. How are you?"

"Don't ask things you don't want to know. What is it? Why are you here?

"I wanted to tell you that you have to pack your belongings." He answered calmly but with light anger in his voice.

"Why?"

"Because you are to go to school tomorrow."

"I can return to Hogwarts." Minerva's hopes went high. She could return to Hogwarts and afterwards her father could return, too. 'That would be wonderful. I could wait for him and then he would smile and hug me and then we would have a game of chess and…' Minerva thought and imagined all the things they could do when they were reunited. But then she looked at her uncle and saw that he shook his head.

"You are going to Beauxbatons. I had a chat with the headmistress a few hours ago. She would be glad to have you as her student."

"But I want to go to Hogwarts. Please Uncle Duncan, let me return to Hogwarts. The school is my home and…"

"No.", he said and stood to leave. "You are under my care now and I want you to study in Beauxbatons and not in Hogwarts. Professor Dippet understands me to the fullest. So get ready. There is not much time until we have to leave." With these words he left her rooms and Minerva with her thoughts alone. She knew instantly that they were final and all her dreams and hopes shaddered.

Reviews? Has anyone a clue which sentence may be important? I hope for your opinions.