...
"If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn't be. And what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?"
Lewis Caroll
...


Harry winced when he saw the lifeless form of his transfiguration Professor. She looked so small in Xemerius' arms; nothing like the strong and solid witch he had seen only minutes before. He turned around and looked at Hermione, who had covered her mouth

with her hands, eyes wide and starring at the scene

"Oh no! I promised Uncle Dan I would treat her wounds!" she whispered, guilt clearly written all over her face.

"It's alright, dear girl, you can do that now," Xemerius said, breathing hard, as he laid the unconscious witch down on an empty table nearby and softly brushed some loose strands of hair out of her face.

Hermione quickly walked over to stand next to the silver eyed wizard. She drew her wand out of her jacket, muttered a spell and waved it over the body of her favorite Professor. Harry watched in amazement as different colored lights, one after another
appeared, floating quietly over the witch's body.

Hermione took a deep breath.

"Ok, healing spells are difficult and best be performed by a proper educated healer or mediwitch. But this one should be good enough. Each light is an indicator for a wound or injury. The colors depend on how dangerous and painful they are," the young witch explained, took a closer look at the witch in front of her and winced slightly. "The purple spots show the most important wounds I am capable of treating, which in her case are… the concussion and the broken leg. Apart from that we should make sure she regains consciousness again as soon as possible. "

"You know, thinking about it, it's actually better for all of us if she stays unconscious for a little while longer," Xemerius pointed out and a little smile appeared on his face. When he saw that everyone was staring at him with questioning eyes he shrugged
his shoulders and explained, "I don't know about you, but I certainly don't want to get into yet another argument with her and deal with that bloody Scottish temper – especially if she's already worn out, injured and didn't get enough sleep. In this state she won't be able to argue with us."

Harry looked around and noticed that – to his relieve - he wasn't the only one who had to work really hard to stop himself from laughing out loud. I don't think there is anyone who doesn't know Professor McGonagall's infamous Scottish temper, he thought. With the time passing he grew to like the silver eyed wizard more and more, who - despite his obvious concern for his old friend - succeeded in his reassuring attempt to make Hermione and everyone else feel a little better in this still serious situation.

"For your own sake you better hope Minerva won't ever find out you said this, Xem," Augusta Longbottom laughed.

The older wizard shrugged sheepishly and was about to reply something when Molly Weasley intertwined.

"Now, Hermione dear, why don't you go ahead and do whatever it is you need to do," the Weasley matriarch said, gesturing towards the transfiguration mistress on the table and giving Hermione a reassuring smile. "Minerva did trust you and your abilities enough to leave you in charge after all."

Harry saw his friend taking a deep breath. Then she started rummaging in the little bag she had been carrying with her during their horcrux hunt; the one with the undetectable extension charm. Harry then heard a rumbling sound and he looked at Hermione, who groaned as she eventually pulled her hand out of the bag, holding two little viols with shining liquid in it.

Xemerius just laughed, "Do tell me when I'm wrong, but didn't that sound suspiciously like a huge pile of books falling over?"

The young witch looked surprised. "Yeah, how do you know?"

"Oh, the same happens to Minerva every once in a while. The two of you seem to have the same habit of carrying far too many books around," he explained grinning.

Hermione beamed brightly at the old wizard; feeling honored to be compared to her favorite Professor. Then she turned her attention back to the witch in question and – like Aidan – she put on the white, rubber gloves. She was about to draw her wand and whisper another spell when – to Harry's and probably everyone's surprise – they heard a very hoarse and weak voice.

"You can never have too many books, Xemerius,"

.

"Thank Merlin; you gave us quite the fright, Minerva." Arthur Weasley said and Harry felt relieve floating through every vein of his body and as he looked over to Ron, Ginny, Luna, Neville and Hermione he could see that his friends had the same feeling

about seeing the transfiguration mistress in a slightly better state of health.

When he saw her trying to move on the table, Xemerius helped the transfiguration professor sit up. He sat down next to her on the table and put a supporting arm around her again, so she could lean against him.

"I appreciate your concern, but you shouldn't worry so much about an old witch like me," she mumbled and Harry saw her looking worried in the direction of the curtain, behind which Aidan and Madame Pomfrey were still trying to save his godmother's life.

Apparently Xemerius also noticed her look, pulled her even closer to him and squeezed her hand softly. "Nonsense. I know it's hard, but I'm afraid there is nothing you can do for her at the moment, Min."

"Uncle Dan will do everything he can to save her, Professor," Hermione said reassuringly.

Taking a deep breath and with one last, tearful glance towards the closed curtain, the transfiguration mistress turned her head to face the young witch.

"I hope you are right, Miss Granger." She whispered and Harry could see a single tear drop running down her cheek. She quickly wiped it away. "Well, I suppose there is no way out, so could we please get this over with as quickly as possible?"

"Of course, Professor!" answered Hermione quickly and handed one of the viols to the Professor. The elderly witch eyed the purple glowing liquid suspiciously.

"It's for your concussion," the young witch explained, "it will also help for the headache."

Seeing that the Professor still hesitated, she quickly added, "I got it from Aidan; he brewed the potion himself."

This seemed to convince the transfiguration mistress a little more and she mumbled, "Very well," before bringing the little viol to her lips and emptying the content.

Harry had to grin slightly when he saw his professor struggle to keep a straight face after swallowing the liquid and he could have sworn he heard her quietly cursing something that sounded suspiciously like, "…more disgusting than Poppy's stuff…".

"And one would think you're already used to the taste of potions by now," Xemerius pointed out, laughing hard at hearing his friends mumbling, "Taking in consideration the quite huge amount of time you've already spent in several hospital wings. Not to
forget Poppy's constant reminders not to expect anything like pumpkin juice."

Ginny, too, started laughing. "Merlin, I think Madam Pomfrey tells that to everyone who's ever been in the infirmary."

"But that certainly doesn't make it any better, Gin," Harry said, shivering when he remembered all the times he had been under the stern mediwitch's care. So he quickly flicked his wand and conjured a glass of water and handed it to the black haired witch,
who took it gratefully and gave him one of her rare smiles.

"Thanks Mr. Potter, I appreciate it greatly to have at least one ally in this room."

Harry returned the smile, "You're quite welcome, Professor."

"Allies? Well, that's certainly one way to call it, Min!" Xemerius laughed even harder, "You're both just horrible patients that's all."

Professor McGonagall and Harry first glanced at each other, than turning to the silver eyed wizard and both raising an eyebrow. But before either of them could say anything a loud "Way to go, Professor Brooks!" was shouted at the same time by Fred and
George, both holding their stomachs and wiping away tears.

Harry looked sheepishly around; the emerald green eyed witch rolled her eyes, but smirked nonetheless, and surprisingly leaned back against Xemerius again, closed her eyes, then slowly laid her head against his chest and sighed. Everyone else – including
Hermione, Mrs. Weasley and Mrs. Longbottom – couldn't contain their laugher any longer. It felt quite good after all these month of little things to be happy about.

"So, 'Mione, you're all done there?" Ron asked, eyeing his former Head of House skeptical and with – for him quite unusual – concern.

"Good question, Mr. Weasley," pointed the emerald green eyed witch out, lifting her head to look at Hermione and Ron, who gave her a small smile in return.

Though Ron had never had been as comfortable being around the Head of Gryffindor House as Hermione and himself, Harry knew that his best friend had indeed grown up during the last few month on their mission and learned that showing concern for a person – or teacher in this case - was not something to be ashamed or embarrassed of. And seeing the transfiguration Professor fight against Umbridge – who, as Harry assumed, had been taken to one of the dungeons by Moody – resulted in Ron now looking at the Scottish witch with new found admiration and respect.

Turning his attention back to Hermione, he saw that the young witch had a rather sheepish look on her face. "Well…"

"Yes, Miss Granger?"

"I kind of – sort of, - well…"

"Hermione, I'm the one who is known for stuttering, not you," Neville said and Luna nodded with Batty still sitting on her shoulder.

The bushy haired witch took a deep breath.

"I need to examine your leg and therefore I have to sort of get rid of your robes…" she said, blushing. After all she didn't want her favourite Professor to be uncomfortable in front of all the people around her.

The transfiguration mistress looked down at her legs, which were indeed hidden by the thick material of her heavy black teaching robes and sighed. They already saw me losing control seeing Arina's lifeless body; she thought and her heart ached with pain; might as well expose my legs.

She sighed again, but before she could reply, Xemerius did, grey eyes dancing with mischief.

"Just do it, Miss Granger. I already carried her through the great hall – bridal style I might add. Showing her legs won't do any more harm to her reputation than that. Besides, they are one of the prettiest I've ever seen."

That last sentence earned him yet another elbow in the ribs from the Scottish witch.

Harry grinned, at least the potion is working and she's getting back to her old self.

"I appreciate your attempts to save my last bit of dignity, Miss Granger, but as you've heard, I obviously won't be given any choice in that matter."

Hermione nodded and started working again. She quickly tore the robes on her left side apart – though only as much as necessary – only to stop in confusion. He grinned as he noticed Ron's mouth also hanging open, so Harry leaned forward to get a better look and his eyes widened in surprise – however not because of the broken bone. Wow, the transfiguration mistress' legs were indeed a sight! And though he never really gave a thought about what his teachers might wear beneath their teaching robes, he didn't expect to see his head of house wearing a pair of modern, dark blue jeans and matching black –

"You're wearing heels, Minerva?" Mrs. Weasley asked half surprised, half smirking.

The Scottish witch groaned. "I couldn't sleep last night, so I started sorting out my closet – don't ask. And I didn't bother changing when we were all called to the great hall. How was I supposed to know that someone – "she gestured towards Harry at this point, "would make an entrance in the middle of the night and turn the school into a battlefield?"

Molly shook her head, smiling brightly.

"You know, last time I checked you were a witch – quite a good one that is. So, why not transfiguring them into something a little more comfortable?" Xemerius asked, pretending to think really hard, causing everyone else to erupt into laugher again. If Fred wasn't already a ghost, Harry thought he might have died laughing all over again.

The emerald eyed witch slowly closed her eyes and took a deep breath – clearly trying not to lose her famous Scottish temper and hex her friend into the next century.

"I did cast a comfy-charm on them, so stop mocking me, Xem. You're enjoying this a little too much," she said and glared at him, then turned back to Hermione. "Now, Miss Granger, I think you got the wrong leg there. If you'd be so kind and- "

"Of course, Professor."

Another spell later and this time, everyone saw that her other leg was indeed broken. A short part of the bone was visible on the outside and the fabric of her jeans was bloody all around it. Mrs. Longbottom was close to fainting again, leaning heavily on her grandson and even Professor McGonagall's eyes widened at the sight, though she quickly mumbled "… not as bad as it looks…", which earned her a dry "yeah, sure." in response from Xemerius.

But the young witch professionally ignored what was going on around her, didn't waste any more time and muttered one incantation after another. The wound started glowing and the bone slowly began to move backwards through the skin to its rightful place.
Harry knew mending bones was a painful experience and even though his Head of House tried hard to keep a straight face, Harry saw her gripping Xemerius' hand. Hard.

Then Hermione said the magic words.

"I'm done, Professor."

The black haired witch released her friends hand and sighed in relieve. She smiled at Hermione and reached out to take Hermione's hand in hers.

"Thank you, Miss Granger."

"You are more than welcome Professor," Hermione answered smiling. "I am however afraid, that I didn't have any salvia syrup left. It's the best for open wounds."

"Don't worry about that, dear, it's not import-"

Her sentence was cut off by a voice Harry didn't expect to hear and he stared at him, eyes wide and eyebrows raised.

"I think I can help with that," Draco Malfoy said, handing a little bottle to Hermione.

.

"Malfoy?" Harry asked confused.

"What do you want here?" Ron's snapped angrily and he wasn't the only one who watched the young man suspiciously.

"I am here to make amends." he explained slowly.

"You expect us to believe that? After everything that happened?" Neville asked, uncharacteristically harsh.

To Harry's surprise Draco sighed. He looked ashamed when he faced all the people standing around.

"I know what I did. I know you don't have any reason to believe or forgive me for that. And I don't expect you to any time soon. But I am sorry."

At first nobody said anything and the young Malfoy started to walk away, but deep down Harry had a feeling that he was telling the truth.

"Malfoy!" he exclaimed, causing the blond to stop in his track and turn around. "I believe you."

Ignoring his friends who apparently still doubted his decision – especially Ron – Harry smiled when he saw disbelieve, shock and hope flickering in the Slytherin's eyes as he extended his hand to him in a gesture of offering peace between the two of them.

And the next sentence caused Draco's mouth to fall open and Harry to smile even more.

"So do I, Mr. Potter."

Professor McGonagall said, proud lingering in her voice and she smiled when she saw the two young men shaking hand.

"Thank you, Professor," Draco said gratefully, a small smile appeared on his face when he saw her taking the little bottle out of Hermione's hand and pour some of the liquid on her wound; showing him and everyone around that she did indeed trust him.
However, his smile it didn't last long.

"Why in the name of Merlin would you do that, Minerva?" Mrs. Longbottom exclaimed angry.

"Because Augusta," the Scottish witch snapped, "Sometimes, we are forced to do things we're not proud of. And everyone deserves a second chance if you just ask for it."

Xemerius put his arms around her again and nodded approvingly. Augusta just stared at the transfiguration mistress, but didn't say anything. Understanding slowly floated through everyone else and surprisingly it was Ron who spoke up first.

"She's right," he said and also extended his hand to the Slytherin. "But I warn you. If you ever call Hermione - or anyone else – a mudblood again, I will hunt you down."

"Fair enough," was the reply and he immediately turned to the bushy haired witch. "I hope you accept my apology, Granger."

"Hermione."

"What?"

"You called me Granger in the past. You want to move forward? So call me Hermione," the young witch said simple.

The Slytherin smiled. "Will you accept my apology, Hermione?"

The witch smiled and shook his hand. "Yes, Draco."

Harry knew it would indeed take some time to fully get used to not seeing Draco as an enemy anymore. But as he watched Ron, Neville, Luna and his other friends – including Mrs. Longbottom - shake hands with him, Harry also knew that it was indeed a time
for second chances.

Thinking about second chances, he glanced back at the curtain, feeling sad and hopeful at the same time and still wondering about the life he might have in the future with his godmother.

Professor McGonagall apparently noticed this and reached out to pull him into an unexpected – though nonetheless not unappreciated – hug. Then she lifted his chin to make him look into her emerald eyes. "Mr. Potter – Harry… there is something you should
know."

Harry noticed the use of his first name and he knew what she was about to say and smiled. "Professor, I already know she is my godmother."

"You have a godmother?" Draco asked confused, and Harry nodded.

Her emerald eyes widened in surprise. "How long have you known?"

"I only found out a couple of hours ago. But nobody seems to know anything about her. I was hoping you could tell me more about her, Professor." he whispered, not trusting his voice to be steady.

Harry could see her eyes filled with tears, but she nodded. "I will," she said softly. "And the first thing you should know is that - despite what you might think – she loves you very much, Harry."

Harry smiled. "I know that, too."

"Do not forget that this includes you, too, Miss Granger." she said and put an arm around her also.

Hermione looked at her confused. "Professor?"

"It's been so long and you probably won't even remember the last time you met, but Aidan-"

Neither Harry nor Hermione found out what she was going to say, because Xemerius interrupted.

"Speaking of Dan. I really wonder what they learn at med-school, that he is able to stay this calm."

"Why is that?" Fred and George asked, again at the same time.

Xemerius shrugged, looking at the floor. "Well, I wouldn't be able to think that clear if the woman I love was this close to death."

"The woman he loves?" Mrs. Weasley asked confused. "You're not saying that woman – "

"That woman's name is Arina" Professor McGonagall interrupted, sad emerald eyes fixed on Harry and Hermione, "Arina Gold. She's Aidan's wife."

..

First they just stared at Professor McGonagall, then at each other, eyes wide.

"Excuse me, who is Aidan, who is his wife?" the blond Slytherin asked, now completely confused with everything.

"Alright, mate, come over here. Give them some space, we'll fill you in," Neville said, gesturing toward Luna, Ginny and Ron. Draco walked over and they quietly started talking.

Hermione was the first to recover; her brain was working like crazy and she started pacing around.

"Oh God! Harry's godmother - She's my aunt? I mean, of course Dan mentioned often enough that her name was Arina, and it's not a common name - How could I not have seen the connection? I - "

The young witch wasn't able to finish her sentence. Looking at the curtain her eyes filled with tears and she started sobbing. "I – this cannot be happening. What – what if. Oh Harry!"

Harry didn't hesitate and pulled her into a hug. "Hermione," he whispered gently. He glanced towards Ron and saw him nod, giving the permission to let his best friend comfort his girlfriend. So Harry rubbed her back and gave her a brotherly kiss on the
cheek before he continued. "You need to have faith. That's what you said to me. Remember, Dan is the best."

The sobbing stopped, but tears were still running down her cheeks.

"She'll fight. For both of you," Professor McGonagall whispered softly, and Harry could see her green were also filled with tears.

Xemerius squeezed his old friend's hand again; then looked at Hermione and Harry. "Kiddos, I'm no healer. Hell, I couldn't be further away from that. – "

He was interrupted by an uncharacteristic dry laugh from the transfiguration mistress.

He chose to ignore it. "But I can tell you that she resembles her mother too much to ever let that pink toad get the better of her."

The Scottish witch took a deep breath; Harry and Hermione smiled at the silver eyed wizard.

"Let's hope you're right, Professor Brooks," the bushy haired witch said hopefully.

The wizard grinned. "I'm always right," he said and promptly got another elbow in the ribcage from the Scottish witch.

"Ok, I mean, most of the time," he corrected himself quickly.

"Careful, Professor Brooks, or you might end up with several broken ribs," Fred and George shouted together.

"Oh don't worry, I'm already used to that. Years of experience." And everyone laughed again.

After everyone had calmed down again, the Weasley Matriarch turned to Professor McGonagall and spoke. "So, what's going to happen now, Minerva?"

The black haired witch shrugged. "I don't know Molly. All we can do now is wait until we get news from Aidan. So I suggest we all find something to do to distract ourselves. Which shouldn't be a problem; taking in consideration the amount of destruction Hogwarts endured lately."

Molly, Arthur and Augusta nodded, walking towards the group of young adults, who were still filling the Slytherin in on the latest events. Professor McGonagall was about to get of her table, too, when Hermione spoke in a rather demanding voice.

"I'm sorry Professor, but I insist you use a walking stick."

The Scottish witch grumbled something incomprehensible, though Harry was sure he heard the words …infernal stick again…; but she waved her wand nonetheless and the desired object appeared. However, Xemerius snatched the stick out of her hand and
looked at her sternly.

"You won't need that."

"Thank you. Now can we – "

"You won't need it, because all you will do now is sit right here where you are. And don't even try to argue with me."

To Hermione and Harry's surprise, she sighed in defeat and leaned back against her friend, who smiled triumphantly.

They watched their group of friends – now somehow including Draco – start walking out of the great hall, when Luna came running back to them.

"Here," she said, and handed the little bat she had been carrying around to Hermione. "You healed a real person, now you should help Batty, too."

This said, she raced after her other friends.

"Though I hate to admit it, we cannot do anything for Arina now. But it will probably be a good distraction for the two of you." Professor McGonagall said casually, "Aidan set up his own little office in the hospital wing. I am sure he wouldn't mind if you went in to look for something to treat the poor thing."

Harry smiled at the older witch, grateful that she understood all their mixed up feelings and offered them a change to shorten the wait. He couldn't imagine why, but somehow he knew that the Scottish witch cared for his godmother – and Hermione's aunt – as much as they did. Maybe even more than we think, considering her previous behavior. And he supposed that the waiting wasn't easy for her either. Harry was also quite sure that – given the chance – she even would have joined them, if Xemerius didn't have his arms around her; which prevented her from leaving.

"Sounds good, Professor," he said, gave her an unexpected hug and grabbed Hermoine's arm softly. "But you will inform us as soon as you get any news, right?"

The transfiguration mistress nodded. "I will," she promised and Harry walked with his friend to the hospital wing.

On their way to Aidan's office they saw that it was indeed more crowded than ever. As they passed by the pale, sleeping form of Professor Severus Snape lying in the small hospital bed, Harry chuckled, despite his best efforts not to. Aidan apparently
hadn't been joking when he said that they had hand-cuffed the potions master to the bed.

"Harry, you have to wait until he wakes up. Come on now," Hermione said and dragged him into her uncle's temporary office and walked to his small desk.

It didn't surprise Harry that the office was kind of a mess, considering all the work the healer had to deal with lately. So they decided to settle down on his desk, which was relatively tidy - apart from some books, a mirror and Band-Aids, of course.
Hermione spotted another of Aidan's bags and set the little bat down on a small shelf above the desk, next to some bottled up blood samples and potions before she started rummaging around.

Neither of the two noticed that Batty – with a broken wing – tried to fly away from the shelf. But the little bat couldn't hold his balance and fell down, knocking off some of the stored blood samples and potions, causing them to break and spill their liquid all over the surface of the mirror on the desk.

When Harry saw the mess, he immediately tapped Hermione on the shoulder and together they tried to clean it up. Suddenly a small glow appeared hovering over the little hand mirror.

"Harry, what is that..." Hermione asked as she picked the mirror up to get a better look.

"It looks like the surface of the mirror absorbed blood and potions and created that swirling, dark red liquid pool inside of it," Harry said, simply describing what he saw.

Hermione handed the mirror to Harry so she could take a better look at the remains of the broken bottles on the desk. After reading their names she spun around to face Harry but it was too late.

She watched as her best friend, curiously, touched the swirling liquid with his other hand and before she could do anything, Harry started to glow. All she could do was grabbing his arm in the last minute and together they got sucked into the red substance,
right through the looking-glass.


With the same nauseous feeling that came over them when they first tried the side-along- apparition, they swirled around until it suddenly stopped and they hit the ground.

Harry was the first to recover and helped his best friend to her feet. Confused they looked around, trying to figure out where they were. What in the name of Merlin happened here? He asked himself.

Harry observed that they found themselves in a small office, decorated with a desk, several book shelves and countless other things. This however wasn't important, because somehow Harry knew this office, and apparently so did Hermione because she looked
at him, confusion written all over her face.

But before he could say anything the door opened and his eyes widened. Entering the office was Professor McGonagall, holding a huge pile of books in her arms – and she was followed by none other than Albus Dumbledore!

"Professor Dumbledore! How is this possible?" Hermione asked, and to her extreme shock the old Headmaster and his deputy walked straight through her.

Wide eyed, she turned to her best friend, unable to speak.

Harry looked her in the eye. He had a certain feeling about what happened to them. "Hermione, this is a memory," he explained in a whisper, "I think we just created a pensieve."


A.N.: Hi! I know it's been quite a while since the last update, but now I finally found the time to write a litte more, so here's the next chappie! And because you all waited so patiently *Hands out Cookies* it's an extra Long one! Thanks again to all of you who reviewed/fav/followed the Story! As always, I hope you enjoy reading it, and tell me what you think!

To Mawenn35: Thank you so much for the review! I'm really glad you like it so far! I do try hard to describe Minerva - inlcuding her behavior and feelings - as realistic as I can; she will always be my favourite character :)

Yours, Lexi