Saturday, April 24th 1999

"You wanted to see me, Albus?" Amelia said, walking into Dumbledore's office without knocking. He was sitting at his desk with a very large blue bound book in front of him and a tired look in his eyes. He nodded and motioned for her to come sit down. Amelia closed the door and walked over to the desk.

"You've heard, I assume," he said quietly.

Amelia sighed and nodded. Of course she had heard. Dorcas Meadowes, a girl who seemed almost untouchable, gone. "She was a wonderful young witch with her whole life left to live," she whispered. "She didn't deserve this."

"They knew."

"I know."

"It is becoming more and more important to find this spy in our ranks," Dumbledore said with a sigh. "I know that we do not want to believe that someone we trust the most is working for the other side but we would be fools to live in such a delusion."

"I know," Amelia said again, looking away from him.

"I was the one that asked Minerva to investigate you. I was the one who had my doubts, not her so if you want to be angry at someone direct your anger to the correct place," he said. She looked up but before she could say anything he put up a hand. "When I asked her to do so she told me that her spying on you was ridiculous, unnecessary and a waste of her time. She told me that you were the most loyal person that she had ever met and would never have sold out your friends and family to anyone. She stormed out of her, refusing to spy on you, and I had to convince her to humour me. I just had to be sure."

Amelia stared at him. "Why did you think that I was the spy?"

"I didn't know. I just knew that you were present at all the dinner party when Lucy let it slip that they were going up to Castletown and you had access to all the information that the Death Eaters seem to know. I just wanted to explore every possibility, even if they seemed ridiculous," he said. "It may surprise some but even I make mistakes. It just so happens that when I do, they turn out to be larger than most people's mistakes."

"Why are you telling me this now?" she asked.

"Because since you caught Minerva investigating you, she has refused to investigate anyone else," Dumbledore replied. "I care about you both very much and I hate that this is destroying a great relationship but I will admit that is not my primary goal for trying to fix it. It may sound selfish but it is very important that she continue the assignment I have assigned her. She is the only one who could successfully do so."

"You want me to forgive her so that she will continue to do what you want her to do," Amelia mumbled, furrowing her brow at Dumbledore. "You are very manipulative, Albus."

"I am trying to do what is best, Amelia," he said with a sigh. "I'm trying to win a war. If that means that, in Minerva words, I become somewhat of a dictator, so be it."

Amelia sighed. "War changes good men," she mumbled as she stood up and walked towards the door.

Dumbledore didn't respond. He watched her go with a sigh, hoping that she did what he hoped she would.

...

"Lucy, darling, can we please come in?" Minerva called through the door. She got no answer. Lucy had been doing this every day since she found out about Dorcas. She spent the whole weekend and then every evening after school in this room. Minerva had sent word to Daniel and Nina, telling them about what had happened and how Lucy was doing, and they had sent a letter back saying that this was the same thing that happened when Jay had died as well. Minerva sighed and looked over at Raj. He had taken a few days off when Minerva had informed him what happened, knowing full well that Lucy wasn't going to take it well. Minerva had brought him up to the castle so he could help but with Lucy locking herself in her room all the time there was nothing he could do either.

Raj sighed and knocked on the door again. "Sweetheart, listen, we know it hurts but we want to help," he said. "Please let us in."

Again no answer. Minerva decided to just try the doorknob and found that it was locked. There wasn't supposed to be a lock on this door. Minerva pulled out her wand and waved it over the doorknob. She tried again and still the door would not open. Minerva frowned and knocked on the door again. "Lucy open the door, please!"

"Go away!" Lucy's voice came through the door. She sounded like she had been crying and her voice was still shaking. "I don't want to talk!"

"Lucy, please. We just want to make sure you're okay," Minerva said.

"We're all worried about you," Raj said. "Charlie, Bill and Tonks have been asking about you. They want to play with you. Please come out."

"No."

"Open this door, Lucy," Minerva said, starting to get frustrated. Lucy didn't respond again. Minerva heard movement and looked at Raj, who gave her a little smile. Progress! Finally Lucy was listening.

They waited but the door still didn't open. Suddenly a piece of paper slid from underneath it by their feet. Minerva frowned and picked it up.

"My teacher wanted me to give this to you," Lucy whispered. Her voice sounded a lot closer now. She was right behind the door now.

Minerva looked down at the paper. It was written on Lucy's school's letterhead. She read the note and sighed.

Dear Ms. McGonagall,

I am writing to inform you that your daughter is not keeping up-to-date with her homework. Homework is extremely important as it extends the amount of work that can be completed by pupils and consequently improves examination results. Lucy has always been a great student and a joy to have in my classroom. She has alway been respectful and I've never had any issues with her before now but recently she has shown a very poor attitude towards her work.

On top of ignoring assigned work, she no longer participates during class discussions or plays with the other children like she used to during recess. She barely speaks and I have not seen her finish her lunch in quite a long time. I've begun to get quite worried. She doesn't talk to me when I try to find out what is wrong or what's bothering her.

If you wish to discuss this matter with me further please do not hesitate to contact me through the school. Thank you for your support.

Yours sincerely,

Mrs. Emily Geller

Minerva sighed and handed it over to Raj so he could read it too.

"These are the same kind of letters that came home after Jay passed," he said quietly, handing her the letter back to her. "Not doing her homework, not playing with her friends, not eating her lunch."

Minerva closed her eyes for a second and rubbed her face before opening them back up and knocking again. "Sweetheart," she said softly, knowing Lucy was just right there on the other side of the door. "Please open the door. I'm not going to get mad at you. I just want to -"

She was cut off by a knock at her office door outside. They both looked back at the door to the office. "I'll stay here," Raj said. "It might be important, you should go."

Minerva sighed and nodded. She looked back at Lucy's door one last time. "Alright, there's someone at the door. I'm going to go see who it is but then I'll be back and we can talk."

She didn't expect a response and did not get one. She walked over out of her private quarters, Raj still whispering through the door behind her trying to get Lucy to come out, and over to the door of her office. Minerva opened the door and to her surprise found Amelia Bones standing in front of her. "Ah, hi."

Amelia doesn't say anything, she walked in and closed the door behind her. Minerva realized why she must be here. "Oh, you've probably heard that Lucy isn't leaving her room," she said, moving back a bit to give Amelia her space. "Maybe she'll listen to you."

"How are you?"

"M-me?" Minerva said shocked by this response.

"Yes, how are you doing? I know you loved her too," Amelia said kindly.

"I - well," Minerva stammered, still caught off guard by Amelia's sudden change of heart. "I'm - I'm fine. I've just been trying to get Lucy to - to eat more and actually... actually talk to me and... and..."

Tears had filled her eyes and even though she had tried very hard to stop them, they fell down her cheeks. Amelia suddenly walked over and hugged her tightly as she cried. "Shh... it'll be okay. Lucy will be okay."

"They - they knew! Amelia, they knew she was going to be there! He knew! He was waiting for her!" Minerva cried.

"I know," Amelia whispered, rubbing her back. "I know... I'm so sorry, Minerva. I should never have been so angry with you. I know you were just doing your job. I shouldn't have -"

"No, no. I'm sorry," Minerva said. "I knew that you were innocent. I should never have followed you. I should never have investigated you."

They stood there for a long time, just crying and apologizing to each other. Finally they pulled apart and wiped their tears away, realizing how ridiculous they had both been acting.

"Do you - do you remember when we first met?" Amelia said with a little laugh as she wiped the tears away from her cheeks.

Minerva smiled a little. "Oh yes," she said with a shake of her head. "September of '62, when you punched Abraxas Malfoy in the nose for insulting my Muggle father."

"Got myself a weekend of detentions," she said with a smile. "First week of classes as well."

"You're lucky it was Albus who caught you and not someone else. They would definitely have given you a lot harsher punishment," Minerva replied.

"And then you said," said Amelia with a shake of her head. "You said, 'I can fight my own battles, thank you.'"

"I recall you calling me something not so nice in French, not knowing I could understand," Minerva said with a smile.

"Oh, the birth of a new friendship is beautiful, isn't it?" Amelia said with a laugh. Minerva smiled and shook her head. Amelia then sighed and her smile faded away. "You have to keep investigating our friends."

Minerva's smile faded away too. She looked away and shook her head. "I don't know about that."

"Minerva, they got information that made it easier for him to kill Dorcas," Amelia said quietly. "We need to find the person who's feeding them our information. We have to stop this from happening again." Minerva didn't respond. "And I will help you."

Minerva looked back up and frowned. "How are you going to help me?"

"Well, I can help investigate the ones that work in the Ministry. I have much more access to them than you do," Amelia said. She smiled a little. "There are ways of tracking people other than following them in your animagus form."

"Alright," Minerva said. She looked back at the open door to her private quarters. "But I'm not doing anything until I'm sure that Lucy will be okay without me. I need to focus on her right now. She needs me."

Amelia nodded. "Yes, how is she? You said she's not eating?"

Minerva sighed and shook her head, turning back to look at her. "She's not eating, she's not coming out of her room." She pulled out a piece of paper from her pocket and showed it to her. "Her teacher says that she's not doing her homework, playing with her friends at school, or talking very much at all either. Raj took some time off so he could come stay with us and try to help her but she won't listen to him either."

Amelia sighed as she read over the letter. "Well, I guess we can try getting her out of her room first."

"She's locked the door with magic. I don't know how she's done it but I can't unlock it," Minerva said sadly as she led the way back towards Lucy's bedroom.

Raj looked over at them and gave them a little smile. "Made up, huh?"

"You were listening?" Minerva asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You left the door open and the two of you are loud. What can I say?" he said with a small smile. His smile faded away and he looked over at Amelia. "You doing alright, Bones?"

"I'm alright," she said. "How's Lucy?"

"Still won't come out," Raj said sadly. "I've tried everything."

Minerva walked closer to the door. She tried the doorknob again but it was still locked. She knocked loudly on the door. "Darling, open the door. Your Aunt Amelia is here now too."

"Lucy," Amelia called. "Will you please open the door? We want to talk to you."

Lucy didn't respond but Minerva could hear crying sounds coming through the door. She sighed again. "Okay, Lucy, open this door right now or I will blast it open."

Raj and Amelia both gave her a look but Minerva ignored them, pulling out her wand. There was a moment of silence and Minerva was about to flick her wand when she heard the door click and open slowly. Lucy poked her head out and Minerva saw her red swollen eyes and terrible dark bags. She looked thinner and her hair was frizzing upwards, coming out of her braid. Minerva sighed, kneeled down and pulled her into a hug. Lucy wrapped her arms around Minerva's neck and hugged her tightly.

Minerva picked her up and walked into the bedroom. It was dark. The lights were off and the curtains were pulled over the window. Minerva sat down on the bed and wrapped her arms around Lucy, rubbing small circles on Lucy's back, while Amelia opened the curtains to let some light into the room. Lucy buried her head in the crook of her mother's neck and sobbed.

"Shh... it's alright, my love," Minerva whispered. "I know it hurts. I know you miss her. I miss her too but you can't lock yourself in your room all the time. If you're lonely, hiding away isn't going to help."

Lucy didn't say anything. She slid down into Minerva's lap and rested her head on her chest. Minerva sighed and ran her fingers through Lucy's hair, trying to tame the flyaways. She kissed the top of her head and looked over at Amelia and Raj, hoping they would have some idea as to what they could do.

"Ah, well, it's almost time for dinner," Amelia said, walking over and sitting down beside her on the bed. She put a hand on Lucy's shoulder and noticed how small she was now. "We could go down to the Hall and get some food."

Minerva nodded. "That's a good idea. You need to eat something."

Lucy shook her head. "Don't leave."

"I'm not going anywhere," Minerva said. "I'm staying with you."

"Maybe we should just eat here," Raj suggested. "The Great Hall will be very crowded and busy. I think that we should stay away from that for a while."

"Yes," Amelia said with a nod. "I can set up a table in your sitting room and have a House Elf bring us some food."

Minerva nodded and Amelia got up to do that, Raj decided to go after her. They left the room, leaving Lucy and Minerva alone. "When was the last time you ate anything?" Minerva asked, looking down at Lucy with concern. She had always been small but she had never been this weak before. Lucy just shrugged, still holding onto Minerva tightly. Minerva sighed and rubbed her back. "It'll be okay, my love. We'll be okay."

"Mum."

"Yes, my love," Minerva said.

"Who's He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?" she whispered.

Minerva sighed. "He's a bad person," she replied. "The leader of the Death Eaters."

"He killed Dorcas," Lucy whispered.

"Yes. He's not a good man."

"But... but she's so strong and powerful," Lucy whispered, sounding very confused. "She beats up Death Eaters all the time. How could he beat her? She's so strong and she trained so hard."

"I know, darling," Minerva said, giving her a little squeeze. "She was a very powerful witch and she did train very hard but... but sometimes... sometimes other people win. Sometimes you try your very hardest but you lose anyway. Dorcas fought very hard and she took a lot of his followers down but... he was too powerful."

"But how - how can you lose when you're on - on the right side," Lucy whispered, breathing getting faster and more shaky.

"It's okay, love. It's okay," Minerva said soothingly. "We'll beat him. He may be strong but when we work together we are so much stronger."

"But - but if not even Dorcas could beat him..."

"We will beat him, darling. We'll beat him for her and for everyone else who's died fighting for what is right," Minerva said as Amelia walked back into the doorway of the room. Minerva looked up at her for a second, giving her a little nod before looking back at Lucy. She pushed Lucy's hair out of her face, pulled her chin up to face her and wiped the tears off her face. "I promise we will beat him."

Lucy sniffed and wiped her nose on her sleeve. "How do you do that?"

"Do what?"

"How - how do you keep hoping when so many people have died?"

Minerva cupped Lucy's cheeks in her hands. "You know what gives me hope?"

"What?"

"You."

"Me?" Lucy asked looking confused again.

Minerva smiled and nodded. "You are my hope, darling. When I look at you, I see a kind, loving, smart, amazing little girl. I see a future filled with love and tolerance and that gives me hope. You give me hope. You give me so much hope."

"I just want everyone to be happy," she whispered, leaning her head down on her mother's chest. "I just want all the pain to stop. For everyone."

"I know, sweetheart. I know," Minerva whispered, leaning down and kissing the top of her head. "But you can't beat yourself up over it. There may be a lot of pain in the world, too much for you to be able to fix no matter how hard you try, but there is also a lot of love and happiness. So much love and happiness. You might not be able to fix all the pain but you can definitely embrace all the love."

Lucy gave a little nod into her mother's chest, making Minerva smile a little. Amelia gave her a smile and a thumbs up. Minerva rolled her eyes at her before looking back down at Lucy. "Alright, let's go eat dinner," she said, putting Lucy down on the ground, standing up and taking her hand.

Amelia pushed herself off the doorframe she had been leaning on and led the way to a small white table she had set up in the sitting room. It had four spots set with silver plates and cutlery. There were large empty dishes in the center like the food dishes in the Great Hall. Raj was already sitting there waiting for them. He gave them a small smile when they came out. Lucy let go of Minerva's hand and flopped down in her chair at the table, across from Raj. Minerva sat down with a sigh and Amelia sat down across from her.

Food appeared in the center of the table a few moments later. Minerva picked up the plate in front of Lucy and started pouring food into it for her. She set it back down before picking up her own plate and getting her own food. Lucy looked down at the chicken and rice in her plate, picked up her spoon and pushed her food around a bit.

Minerva watched her for a second before looking up at Amelia. "Oh, Amelia," she said, thinking of a way to try and improve Lucy 's mood. "You were asking Raj and I about our meetings with Peggy Carter, were you not?"

To her surprise Lucy didn't react to the mention of her hero's name. Amelia smiled and nodded, playing along. "Ah yes," she said. "Ms. Carter, the only female Howling Commando right?"

"Yes, worked directly with Captain America," Raj said with a smile.

"And then with an American agency after the war. The SRR, I believe," Minerva said.

"SSR," Lucy whispered, correcting her mother.

"Of course, sorry. The SSR," Minerva said with a smile, counting this as progress.

"What does that stand for, Lucy?" Amelia asked.

"The Strategic Scientific Reserve," Lucy replied quietly, still pushing her food around her plate. "They created Captain America."

"They created him? How?" she asked.

"Using a secret Super Soldier serum," she said, looking up at her aunt. "It was made by Dr. Abraham Erskine and Howard Stark, the founder of Stark Industries. The serum made Steve Rogers, who used to be really skinny and short and weak, into a super strong and tall superhero."

"A real life superhero," Raj said.

Lucy nodded, looking back down at her food.

"So, Ms. Carter," Amelia continued, wanting to get Lucy's attention again. "What did she do in the SSR?"

Lucy waited for Minerva or Raj to respond but when neither of them did, Lucy said, "The SSR investigated threats during the cold war. She worked as an agent for them. They didn't treat her very good at first because she was a girl but she proved them wrong."

"She can do one hundred and seven push ups, you know?" Minerva said.

"Really?" Amelia said, sounding very impressed.

"Yes, I recall," Raj said with a smile. "One armed push ups, not regular ones, right?"

"Yes, one hundred and seven one armed push up," she said with a nod.

Lucy looked up at him. "How do you know?"

"Her nephew, Tony Stark, told me when I met him at the Start Expo before you were born," she said with a smile.

"Tony told me as well," Raj said with a little laugh. "When he came to visit London with his father a long time ago."

"It seems Mr. Stark really likes bragging about his aunt," Amelia said with a smile.

"Tony Stark is really smart," Lucy said quietly. "He graduated when he was ten and then got into MIT."

"Yes, I believe he graduated from his third degree at MIT last year," Raj said. "Last time he came up here he said that that he may go back and do a PHD as well."

"Wow," Amelia said. "How old is he again?"

"Sixteen or seventeen now, I believe," Raj said.

"Yes, he told me all about his Aunt Peggy when we met," Minerva said with a smile, thinking back to the small nine year old boy excitedly going on and on about how great his aunt was.

"I wish I could meet her," Lucy said with a small smile. Minerva smiled too. She hadn't seen Lucy smile in a really long time. "I told Dor-" Her smile faded away as quickly as it had appeared and she looked back down at her food.

Minerva sighed and she looked at Raj and Amelia.

"Ah, hey," Raj said, "she actually comes up here for meetings and stuff like that a lot. I can make some calls, see what I can do."

Lucy looked up quickly with wide eyes. "You - you could get her to come here?"

"Well, not here," Raj said with a laugh. "I don't think she'll come to Hogwarts but to the Collins Enterprises building. I'm sure your mum wouldn't mind bringing you down for a couple hours so you could talk to her."

"Really!" Lucy exclaimed. She looked over at her mother excitedly. "Could we, Mum? Could we please?"

"Of course," Minerva said with a smile. Lucy was finally starting to sound like her old self. She looked over at Raj and smiled. "Thank you, Raj."

"Of course," he said with a smile.

"Lucy wrote an essay on Ms. Carter, you know," Minerva said, looking back at Amelia. "One of only three children that didn't write their hero essay on one of their parents."

"Wow," Amelia said. She gave Minerva a small reassuring smile before looking at Lucy. "So you must be an expert on her then."

Lucy smiled a little. "I don't think I'm an expert," she said. "I just did a lot of research for my essay. I told everyone about her. Tonks likes her too now."

"Lucy did a lot of research," Raj said. "It was insane. Her essay was eighteen pages long. It was wonderfully written though. I very much enjoyed reading it."

"I would love to read it as well," Amelia said. "If you'd let me."

"Okay," Lucy said. "Researching was actually kind of hard."

"I'll bet," Amelia said with a smile.

"They didn't have a lot of books about her in my school library and I couldn't go to the public library to look up stuff and there was only one book with her in it here at Hogwarts," Lucy said.

"How did you research then?" Amelia asked.

"Remus found some books when he went to visit his dad in Scotland," Lucy said. "And Dor-"

Again she stopped. Lucy looked down quickly. Why did she keep doing that to herself? She kept forgetting and then trying to talk about her. It hurt too much to even say her name. She needed to stop but she didn't know how.

Minerva, Raj, and Amelia tried to get Lucy to hold a conversation again but this time there was nothing they could say to bring her back again. She kept staring down at her plate, refusing to speak. Minerva watched her push the food around her plate, making no move to actually eat anything.

"Darling, you have to eat something," Minerva said softly, putting a hand down on Lucy's arm. It was thinner than she remembered. Lucy sighed but made no move to scoop food into her mouth. "Would you like something else instead?"

"I'm not hungry," she mumbled.

"Well you have to eat something," Minerva said with a frown.

Lucy stared at her for a second before turning back to her food. She ate a couple bites very slowly and then pushed the plate away from her, indicating that she was done. She folded her arms up on the table and rests her head on them. Minerva sighed and put a hand on her back. She wished she knew what she could do to make Lucy feel better right now. She looked up at Amelia and Raj, who both gave her a reassuring look.

"Alright, well," Amelia said, trying to think of something. "Maybe we could do something else? Um..." what did little girls like to do? Amelia didn't know. She didn't have kids. She looked at Raj.

"Ah, we could play a game, maybe?" Raj suggested.

Amelia looked at Minerva who nodded. "Yes, what would you like to do, Lucy?"

Lucy shrugged.

Minerva sighed and stood up. Lucy looked up quickly when she heard Minerva's chair squeak. She stood up quickly and hugged her mother's legs as she walked towards the couch. Minerva put an arm around her and rubbed her arm soothingly. They sat down on the couch and Lucy laid down with her head on Minerva's lap. Minerva draped a throw blanket over Lucy. Raj got up and walked over as well, sitting down in a chair. Amelia vanished everything on the table before walking over too.

Amelia had a House Elf bring some tea for her, Raj, and Minerva and some hot chocolate for Lucy. Minerva was happy to see Lucy actually drink the hot chocolate. She had sat up properly and was leaning into her mother's side. Amelia told her stories that her mother used to tell her when she was young and Lucy even smiled a little bit.

Eventually it was time for Lucy to go to bed and Amelia to say goodbye. She gave Lucy a tight hug and told her that everything would be alright and that she would be back tomorrow to see her again. She also hugged Minerva and Raj before heading out. Minerva took Lucy to her bedroom and helped her change into her pajamas. When she got up to head back to her own room Lucy grabbed her hand quickly.

"Can - can I stay with you?" Lucy asked quietly.

Minerva gave her a small smile and nodded. "Of course."

Lucy grabbed her stuffed tabby cat, hopped off her bed and walked with Minerva back to her bedroom. Minerva told Raj, who was getting ready to sleep on the couch, that he could take Lucy's bed if he'd like since Lucy would be staying with her. Raj thanked her, grabbed his things and moved into Lucy's room as Minerva and Lucy went into Minerva's.

Lucy got into bed while Minerva left to change and get ready for bed. When Minerva came back she got into bed beside her. Lucy curled up close to her mother.

"I'm glad you and Aunty Amelia aren't fighting anymore," she whispered.

"Me too," Minerva said with a small smile, hugging Lucy close and brushing her fingers through Lucy's hair soothingly.

Lucy rested her forehead on Minerva's chest. She felt a little bit better now that she wasn't laying in a dark room all alone. She felt safer in her mother's arms but she still felt a pain in her chest that she could not explain. It hurt to breath sometimes. She felt the hole in her chest that she had already worked so hard to fill after her father died coming back. She had thought that she had filled it but after Dorcas, she realized that it was a part of her now. She had to live with a hole in her chest and pretend to be perfectly okay. She didn't know if she could do that. How can someone live with a hole in their chest? How do you keep going when so many people die? How could she be her mother's hope when she didn't feel any hope herself?

Author's Note:

*sigh* I miss Dorcas. At least Amelia and Minerva have made up though. Thank you for reading and please leave a review.

(Also, just a side note, the other day I rediscovered one of my favourite songs! It's called Santa Monica Dream by Angus and Julia Stone. Check it out if you like acoustic indie stuff. I like getting music recommendations so maybe someone will appreciate this one.)