Thank you for your comments and PMs. Here is a chapter before the Holidays. My gift to the fandom. Again thank you.

~Alex

A Moment and a Promise…

Minerva was stunned to silence. Couldn't move a muscle. She watched as Andromeda walked closer to her and then around the sofa in the room and sat with a grace that seemed unnatural, almost predatory. Of all the Black sisters, Andromeda always seemed to give her the most pause. When andromeda broke their gaze, Minerva found she could finally breathe, blink, and shift on her feet. She stood standing but she maneuvered behind a high wing-backed chair, her wand slipping into her hand.

Then laughter broke out from the woman on the sofa. Her head flew back, her neck exposed, and her eyes closed in absolute mirth.

"Oh, come now kitty cat. I have not come to play with you," Andromeda laughed as she wiped tears of laughter from her eyes, "Sit down, please. There is no need for the wand."

Minerva stood firm her hand clutched the wand tightly. Who was this woman? She asked herself that question many times in the past and never found answers. Not that she went looking. To be honest Minerva was glad to be rid of her once she graduated. Her family was a stain on the wizarding world in her opinion and she was glad the woman broke free, but she found that when she left Hogwarts, she began to breathe easier. Sure, Narcissa was there, and over half the known Death Eater squad but once Andromeda left it felt like the chill in the halls left with her. It was an eerie sense of peace in the days of impending gloom and war.

"Minerva," Andromeda looked straight into the professor's eyes, "Sit… down… please. Do not make me ask again," Andromeda commanded. Minerva rounded the chair slowly but did not put her wand away as she sat. Andromeda scoffed and rolled her eyes.

"Is that truly necessary?" Andromeda asked.

"I don't know. You are here without sounding any wards, and I am not sure exactly who you are,' Minerva replied on edge.

"Or what I am," Andromeda sighed as she shifted from a relaxed position forward with her elbows on her knees. Minerva nodded. Andromeda stood and walked to the fire and watched the flames.

"I haven't seen her so long. I saw her for the first time the other day and a piece of me…" Andromeda's voice fell to a whisper as she faded off as she watched flames dance.

"I… wasn't there for her," then Andromeda turned toward Minerva, "I gave her a better chance by giving her to her father. Believe me… in those times, it was for the best," Andromeda said as she turned around holding her frame, hugging her own body tightly as if protecting herself.

"Yes… The war…" Minerva stopped as Andromeda smiled and slightly chuckled bitterly.

"You could say that," said Andromeda as she sat back down.

Minerva narrowed her eyes. One thing she knew of this woman was she never minced words. She chose them deliberately. The wheels in Minerva's mind spun faster and faster as she watched the woman on the sofa.

"From what I can tell she is highly intelligent, insightful, and a force to be reckoned with. I have met her briefly at her father's home, and once more in the Alley. She always seemed a bit… otherworldly," Minerva supplied thinking hard about the girl in her care.

"That's good. She is beautiful, isn't she?' Andromeda said as she mused on the one-time meeting with her daughter. Minerva said nothing. She simply watched Andromeda muse and stare into the flames.

"Protect her," Andromeda's voice turned hard as stone as she whipped her head to glare at Minerva.

"Of course, she is a student, and she is of my house. I protect my own. You know that," Minerva spoke nothing but the truth almost an oath. Andromeda stared at her, eye to eye, and then she nodded. She stood up and sighed.

"Time to go kitten," she said with a wink.

"Why? Tell me…" then there was a knock on the door and her eyes flew to the barrier and then back to the woman.

She looked around, head flashing this way and that. She was gone. She heard the knock on the door and then she took a breath. She looked around as she opened the door. When she opened it she blinked.

"Miss Granger."

Finding a way…

Hermione went with the students, found her dorm room. She would have to kill her father. She was to room with morons. She pinched the bridge of her nose. They chattered. It was like a never-ending stream of nothingness. IF this was hell, she must have done something severely evil to beget this torture.

"Hermione, what do you think," one of the girls asked. She had brown hair and was easily excited.

"I'm sorry I was not paying attention," Hermione hopped she was off the hook as she turned around and began to put her things away.

"Harry Potter. He is cute, isn't he?" she asked and then a girl of Indian descent chimed in.

"I think he is dreamy," she said, and Hermione could almost see little hearts in the girl's eyes.

"I think he is nice," Then she turned back to unpacking as the girls looked at her like she grew a third eye in the middle of her forehead.

"Hermione…" the light brown-haired girl began but stooped Hermione tensed up.

The was a vibration. It was as if there was a pull on her guts and she turned quickly and then left the girls. Before she closed the door, she heard them yammer on about Harry Potter. She walked down the stairs carefully. It was alive with upperclassmen, but she walked through the common room and walked toward the portrait opening.

"Oy! You can't just walk out the door!"

She kept walking as she felt in her guts that she was going in the right direction. She felt… called. She remembered that Death told her she would be able to sense the Hallows and she wondered if this was what he meant. She walked on, and dove into alcoves as others walked nearby. After the fourth alcove dash, she scoffed at herself and then focused. She became invisible. She walked one was and the sensation was gone and then she turned around and began walking.

Frustrated as she seemed to retrace her steps. These were not the Hallows… this was another one. Another immortal. She swallowed as she found herself walking up Gryffindor tower but stopped before a painting. She walked through the painting. Doors could not hold back the daughter of Death. No one was the wiser. She climbed the stairs as she came to a door. the crawling in her intestines grew and she heard voices.

It was her!

She lifted her hand to knock on the door. Just before the door opened the churning in her stomach disappeared.

"Miss Granger."

"Professor," she said as she walked into the woman's quarters looking around. She closed her eyes and reached out and found nothing. Her shoulders slumped. She was gone. Hermione turned around and Professor McGonagall still had her hand on the doorknob. Hermione blinked.

"Apologizes, I was told by the hat to ask for your assistance if I needed it but I would like to ask you personally if you are willing t help," Hermione inwardly cheered as she thought on her feet.

She watched the professor close the door then turn around with a severe look.

"You are in my personal quarters, uninvited mind you, and you stand there asking for help?' Minerva asked as she eyed the girl.

Hermione knew the power play for what it was. This woman thought of her as a little girl, a mudblood girl, from no magic, and she did have a point. It was late and she was in her private quarters.

"Yes, well the hat made it seem imperative to find my allies," Hermione said as if it was the most natural thing being there in the world.

"Who do you think you are barging in here?" the Professor asked as she went to her desk and took a seat. Hermione watched her movements. She took in her scent. She smelled… she smelled… dear god she smelled positively delightful, but there was a mix. It was uncertainty, fear.

"Don't fear me, Minerva," Hermione said as she went to sit. She sat in the same exact spot she sat. she could feel the warmth, however little there was it was trace.

"You do not have permission to call me that. I am a professor and the head of your house. I am the to addressed as Professor McGonagall."

Hermione smiled as she leaned back and leaned her head on her hand watching the Professor. It was so fun watching the woman get riled up.

"So…" Hermione said with a smile on her lips. She saw the professor furrow her eyebrows and then tilt her head in question. Hermione rolled her eyes and stood.

"So, will you help if I call?" Hermione asked as she walked toward the desk. Thunder boomed and lightning clashed and lit up the room.

A Flicker of Truth…

Minerva watched the girl storm into her quarters. She looked like she searched for something and then her shoulders dropped failing. Could it be her mother she sought? No. Not even He-must-not-be-named could manage that. Well, to her knowledge. She was taken aback so much by Hermione that she went to her desk, her sanctuary where she felt in control, powerful in the moment.

Then the girl went to the sofa, sat with the same grace and then that smile. She would not give the girl the satisfaction of a gulp, but she did clench the fist in her lap. Then she spoke. She was confused about what she was referring to. Then the girl rose and walked to her with the same steely panther-like grace of Andromeda. When the lightning flashed the inside of the room lit like a bomb and she could have sworn she saw … no she was a small girl. It did not matter who her mother was.

"If it is in my power, and it is right, I will assist," Minerva promised the girl.

"Excellent," the girl said and then stretched out her hand. Minerva took it. It was cold, strong, but cold, like death.

"Time to go," said the young girl, and Minerva stood and watched the girl walk from her chambers.

"What the hell just happened?" she muttered to herself.

The entire evening was a whirlwind. Minerva sat back down and conjured a glass and a decanter. She poured a measure and brought the amber liquid to her lips. It burned her throat and her belly.

"So like her mother," Minerva mused and she breathed out and leaned further back into her chair. She didn't know that the daughter of death was standing on the other side of the door with impeccable hearing.