Saturday, September 18th 1999

Lucy and Charlie laughed as they watched Tonks change her appearance to look like Bill's. Bill gave her a look and she copied. They were outside today. It had been a nice day so they had been able to convince their parents to let them play on the grounds. The sun was set now and the crickets had come out. It wasn't cold yet so they were still running around.

"You're so weird," Bill muttered, not very amused by Tonks's trick, having seen it so many times before and always on him.

"You're so weird," she copied in a very bad Bill impression.

"You need to work on your impression if you want to pull that off," Charlie said with a laugh.

Tonks turned back into herself and smirked. "I think that I sounded just like him!"

"Yeah, no," Bill muttered.

Lucy laughed. "What? Bill, you don't think you sound like a girl?

"Definitely not," he replied, puffing up his chest a bit. "I'm a man!"

Lucy and Tonks laughed. Lucy shook her head. "Okay, whatever you say," she said with a smile. He gave her a look but she ignored him. "So, anyways, what should we do now?"

They shrugged and she frowned. They tried to brainstorm some new games they could play as the grounds got darker.

Andromeda and Minerva were sitting on a picnic blanket nearby to watch them. Molly had to stay in to keep an eye on her younger children. Minerva had her papers and quill out, not wanting to waste time, while Andromeda was lounging, leaning back on her hands and watching as fireflies started coming out. She saw the children walking towards her and waved. The kids waved back. They looked around at the fireflies too and Charlie wasted no time challenging everyone to a firefly catching competition. Andromeda conjured up some jars for the four of them and they got to work, running around and giggling. She watched them with a smile before looking over at Minerva and frowning. Andromeda reached out and nudged Minerva with her elbow.

"Come on, Minerva. You can't take one night off?"

"Work piles up," she muttered, not looking up from her paper. "I've been putting off school work seeing as the year only just started so that I could focus on Order business but now it seems it's piled up."

"You put off work by doing more work. That's not really the same. You should take a break," Andromeda persisted. "Look, Lucy just caught three fireflies."

"Excellent," Minerva said absentmindedly, still not looking up.

Andromeda looked over and raised and eyebrow at her. She rolled her eyes and said, "oh, now she's eating them all, one by one."

"That's nice."

"You're not even listening to me!"

Minerva didn't respond. Andromeda sighed and looked back over at the children running around. She gave Minerva a nasty look before getting up and picking up Lucy's camera.

"Hey, let's get a picture with your fireflies," she said with a smile.

"I think I caught the most," Tonks said, holding up her jar triumphantly.

Lucy looked closely at it and counted the flies. "You got eight. I only got six."

"I got six too," Bill said. He pointed to Charlie with his thumb and laughed. "He only got four."

"They didn't listen to me!" Charlie exclaimed defensively. He brought his jar close to his face and glared at the bugs flying around inside. "I only like animals that listen."

"You like dragons. They don't always listen," Bill said with a laugh.

"Dragons are different. They're cool."

"Fireflies are cool!" Lucy said. "They're the real stars."

Andromeda smiled. "Yes, fireflies are very cool. Now, come on and get together and I'll take a picture of the four of you."

They all got closer together, holding their jars of fireflies up to the camera. They smiled big smiles and Andromeda took the picture. It developed out of the front of the cameras and she took it. She looked it over and smiled. "You look lovely. Want to see?"

They nodded and ran forward so they could get a closer look. Bill looked at it and laughed. "Charlie, you look angry."

"No I don't. You look stupid," Charlie replied.

Andromeda rolled her eyes at the two boys but smiled. She handed the picture over to Lucy so she could put it in her album.

"Thank you," Lucy said.

"Of course," Andromeda replied with a smile. "Why don't you go put that in your book and while you're over there tell your mother to put her papers down for just five minutes. She's going to work herself to death!"

"Okay," Lucy said happily, running towards her mother. Minerva was still sitting on the picnic blanket doing some marking now. Lucy ran over to her and shoved the jar of fireflies in front of her face. "I caught six fireflies!"

Minerva looked up and smiled. "That's wonderful, darling, but I really -"

"And we took a picture," Lucy interrupted, holding up the photograph Andromeda took.

Minerva took it from her and looked at it. "That's nice."

Lucy sat down beside her and opened her backpack. She pulled out her photo album and opened it up. She held her hand out for the photograph. Minerva returned it to her and she put it into the book. Minerva looked down at it and smiled.

"You've almost filled that whole book."

"Yeah, I might need a new one soon!" Lucy said with a smile. She flipped through the pages. "Look, I took this photo of Harry and James yesterday. They're making the same face."

Minerva looked at it and watched James contort his face to make the same grumpy face that Harry was making before bursting into laughter. She smiled and shook her head. "He is ridiculous."

"A little bit," she said with a laugh. "Look, this one is of Ron after he made Ginny cry."

Minerva looked at that photo and saw a one year old with bright red hair looking down angrily at his crying baby sister. She laughed. "What did he do?"

"I don't know," Lucy replied with a laugh. She closed the book and put it back into her bag. She stood up and said, "I'm going to go back and play."

"Okay," Minerva said with a smile.

"Mrs. Tonks says that you should put down your papers for just five minutes or you'll work yourself to death!" Lucy said.

"Good to know."

"So, you'll take a break?"

"No."

"Okay," she said, not seeming too concerned with this response. Minerva smiled and watched her run back towards her friends. "Bye!"

"Bye, Lucy," Minerva said with a smile.

She got back to her work while the children continued to play. Andromeda had giving up on Minerva and was sitting on the grass with the children. She was using her wand to conjure up birds to fly around the kids. They laughed and watched the birds. They also released the fireflies they caught and watched them fly up into the air to join their friends.

Suddenly Bill pointed his finger up at the sky towards Hogsmeade. "What's that?"

They all turned and looked to see eerie green clouds come together to form a skull with a snake coming out of it. Andromeda's heart stopped for a second as she sat there in shock. She finally regained control of herself and stood up quickly.

"We have to get inside, quickly," she said, grabbing Tonks's hand. She looked back at where Minerva was still sitting. "Minerva!"

Minerva looked up to see what they were shouting about. Andromeda pointed behind her. Minerva looked back and her eyes widened. She stood up quickly and used her wand to clean up everything into Lucy's bag. She picked up the bag and ran towards Andromeda and the children. She grabbed Lucy's hand with one hand and Charlie's with the other.

"Let's go," Minerva said. "Quickly."

Andromeda took Bill's hand too and dragged them towards the castle, Minerva following behind with her kids in tow. Lucy looked back at the clouds with a frown.

"Professor McGonagall, what do those clouds mean?" Charlie asked.

"Um," Minerva said, looking back at the clouds. "It means that it's dangerous to be outside right now so we have to go inside."

"Dangerous?" Lucy whispered.

"We'll be fine inside the castle," Minerva said. "Don't worry."

They made it into the castle and into the Great Hall where everyone had gathered, running around and speaking frantically. Bill took Charlie over to where Molly and Arthur were and Andromeda took Tonks over to her husband. People were frantically trying to figure out what was going on.

"Have you seen?"

"Death Eaters in Hogsmeade!"

"Three Order members dead!"

"Bellatrix Lestrange... and maybe You-Know-Who himself!"

Lucy moved closer to Minerva. "Mum... what's going on?"

"I don't know, love," Minerva said, looking around trying to find Dumbledore but it didn't seem like he was here yet. She did, however, see Remus running towards them. "Remus, where you down in Hogsmeade tonight?"

He nodded. He moved closer and whispered, "Death Eaters came in great numbers. A lot like how they did in Castletown."

"Was... was he actually there?" Minerva whispered back. She was trying to talk too quietly for Lucy to hear but she wasn't sure if it was working. It wasn't. Lucy craned her neck so she could hear everything.

"No," he replied. Relief filled Minerva and she let out the breath that she had not been aware she was holding. "But... there were a lot of them. They came quickly and... a lot of people died. Three Order members. Burgis, Kris, and Lien."

"Oh no," Minerva whispered. "Where's Albus?"

"I don't know. I haven't seen him since I got back," Remus said. "We sent word when we realized that we couldn't hold them off. They had us vastly outnumbered. Dumbledore came out himself and was able to scare a lot of them away. We caught some of them but most of them got away."

"How many... how many died?"

"I don't know the final tally," Remus muttered. He closed his eyes and shook his head. "It - it was a lot. They blasted most of the Three Broomsticks and a few other shops while people were still inside."

Minerva closed her eyes too. She reached up and rubbed her face, thinking about what she needed to do next. "Okay," she said finally, very aware of Lucy and Remus's stares. "Okay, everyone is scared and the only one who will be able to calm them down is Albus. I'll go find him. Lucy, please stay here with Remus. I'll be back soon."

"W-what! No, please don't leave!" Lucy exclaimed, holding onto her mother's hand tightly. Tears were falling down her cheeks. "Please, it's dangerous! Please don't go!"

Minerva sighed and kneeled down. She cupped Lucy's cheek with her free hand and wiped her tears away. "It's okay, my love," she said. "I'm not going far. I'm not leaving the castle. I'll be back very soon. Remus will stay here with you."

Lucy let go of Minerva's hand. Minerva gave her a small smile and kissed her forehead quickly before getting up again leaving the room to find Dumbledore. Remus sighed and kneeled down too. Lucy moved closer and hugged him.

"It's okay, Lucy," he said. "She'll be okay."

Lucy cried into his chest and he sighed. He looked around the Hall. You could feel the tension in the air. Remus knew what they were thinking. Was Hogwarts no longer safe? Were the Death Eaters planning an attack on Hogwarts? Was this attack just to test out their defenses? Will they return with more numbers and maybe even Voldemort himself? Remus didn't want to think about what would happen if he came here. He had seen the damage they had done to Hogsmeade. Half of the Three Broomsticks collapsed, killing everyone sitting inside, drinking and just trying to escape the war for a while. Shop windows broken, people slaughtered, kids... kids killed. He had seen it all, he still saw it when he closed his eyes and he did not want that to happen to Hogwarts as well. There were a lot more children here than there were at Hogsmeade. A lot more unsuspecting people and protections that would make it impossible for people to Apparate to get away.

Remus spotted a mess of black hair in the corner of the room. Sirius was standing, leaning his back against the wall watching the craziness. Their eyes met and Remus tried to invite him over with his eyes but he just glared and turned away. Remus sighed. He had tried so hard to have Sirius trust him again. It wasn't even his fault that the Death Eaters tracked him down in Essex. He wasn't the turncoat. He had done everything to prove that but Sirius wouldn't listen. He was still so angry after Marlene's death and wasn't thinking straight. He seemed to be looking for evidence to support his theory and, if he couldn't find it, fabricating his own. Sirius probably thought that Remus had something to do with what happened. This idea made Remus so angry. He had done so much, lost so much, and still this man, who he thought was his friend, didn't trust him.

"Remus?" Lucy whispered, pulling Remus out of his angry thoughts.

"Yes?"

"What were those clouds?" she asked, pulling away a little bit. "I've seen them before. They've been on the news and in the papers since I was little. What are they?"

"That's - that's called a Dark Mark. Death Eaters cast it," Remus mumbled.

"What does it mean?"

"When a Dark Mark is hanging over a building," he said with a sigh, "you know that the Death Eaters killed someone in there."

"Are - are they coming here?" Lucy asked, looking very scared, more tears flowing down her cheeks. She buried her face in his chest again.

"No, no," he said quickly, giving her a little squeeze. "We were able to get rid of them. They ran away and I don't think they're coming back."

The Great Hall doors opened and silence fell over the Hall. Dumbledore and Minerva walked in. The first looking calm and collected and the second looking very worried. Everyone looked at them expectantly but Minerva ignored them. She left Dumbledore to deal with the crowd while she ran back to Lucy. Lucy let go of Remus and hugged her mother instead. Minerva hugged her tightly and kissed her forehead.

"There was an attack in Hogsmeade tonight. At the moment the Ministry is working hard to identify the victims and help the survivors," Dumbledore said loudly. People who had friends or family visiting Hogsmeade today burst into tears. Dumbledore closed his eyes for a moment before continuing again. "This attack was very close to home but I assure you -"

"Is Hogwarts not safe anymore?" a man yelled from the crowd.

"We came here because we thought our children would be safe here!" a woman who was holding a baby cried. "Were we wrong?"

"Are they coming here? Is it true that hundreds were killed?"

Dumbledore tried to calm the crowd. "I assure you that we will up security -"

"What good will that do? If they want to come they will come!"

"You-Know-Who is winning! What are we going to do? We're losing too many people!"

Minerva could not believe these people. There were children around listening to this. Their children! They needed to stay strong for them. She looked down at Lucy who was still crying and gave her a little squeeze. "Shh, it's alright, darling," she tried to sooth her daughter but the hopeless yelling made it very hard. "We'll be -"

"We're losing this war! We're all going to die!"

"Enough, we are not -" Dumbledore tried but was cut off yet again.

"How can we win this? We are fighting a losing battle!"

"Maybe we should just surrender! Maybe he'll let us live if we surrender!"

Lucy looked petrified. "Mommy... are - are we going to die?" she whispered.

"No, no, darling," Minerva said quickly, wiping the tears from her eyes. "We're not going to surrender. We're not going to die."

Remus looked around. People kept shouting and Dumbledore kept trying to calm them down to no avail. Children were clinging to their parents, crying and looking absolutely horrified. Mothers and fathers were trying but failing to hold it together for their children. Wizards and witches were trying to yell over each other. Remus put a hand on Lucy's shoulder.

"The way I see it," Sirius Black said suddenly, pushing himself off the wall he had been leaning on in the corner of the room. Everyone turned to stare at him as he walked forward, arms crossed and wand in hand. "We have two options. Keep fighting for what we believe in or lay down our weapons and surrender, letting those who died die in vain."

Nobody spoke a word. They kept staring at him. Lucy moved closer to Minerva and hugged her tightly. Minerva put a hand on the back of her head. Sirius walked to the centre of the room and looked around at the fearful faces.

"We were all drafted into a war we did not want," he continued. "A war that started when we were much too young to understand anything going on outside these castle walls but we fight anyway because we know it is right. We fight because we know that a person's value cannot be judged by their blood. We fight because we know that we can create a world better than the one we have right now. So let us mourn those we lost. Let us mourn our fallen friends, families, and loved ones. Then let us stand up and keep fighting." He looked around at the children in their parents arms. "For the ones that are still here. And for the ones that are yet to come. For a world that will be bright and beautiful where our children will play without having to worry about who their parents are. I have not lost hope for that world and nor should you."

Minerva stopped hugging Lucy and stood up. Lucy clung to her legs still and Minerva put a hand on her head. "He's right," she said. "We can't lose hope. Without it we will have nothing."

Sirius looked at her and smiled. She gave him a small smile back.

"Security will be increased," Dumbledore said, finally able to finish a sentence. It seemed that the people didn't need reassuring words from him. They needed reassuring words from someone they could identify as one of them. Dumbledore had become somewhat of a legend over his time so he could not tell people not to be scared. They would not believe him because nothing scares Albus Dumbledore. Sirius on the other hand was just a man doing what he could. They could relate to him so his words of hope drove home more meaning. Dumbledore was glad that he stepped up. He could feel the tension in the room decrease ever so slightly. "Not just at the gates or in Hogsmeade but inside the castle as well. We will not be left unprotected, I promise you. This attack was serious and brutal but we will not let it crush our spirits. We will not surrender. We will fight and win this war. Hug your loved ones tightly and the try to get some sleep. Hogwarts will always remain a beacon of hope and light no matter what may happen outside its walls."

People began to relax a little bit. Dumbledore and Sirius's words helped a lot. Dumbledore had the House Elves bring tea and hot chocolate for everyone to help calm their nerves a little bit more. Minerva picked up a mug from a nearby table and handed it to Lucy. She grabbed one for herself and they sat down on the steps of the stage the staff table usually sat. Lucy leaned in close and Minerva put an arm around her. They watched people talk in hushed voices or leave to try to get some rest. Remus had headed out to take up his guard post at Hogsmeade. Sirius had also left to do the same but he waited till Remus was well underway before walking out himself, not wanting to risk conversation. Minerva watched them and shook her head. Now was not a time to turn on friendships. She sighed and looked down at Lucy.

"Would you like some more marshmallows for your hot chocolate, my love?" she asked. Lucy nodded slightly and Minerva used her wand to float a few more marshmallows into the mug. Lucy took a slip before leaning her head down on her mother's side. Minerva smiled and gave her a little squeeze. "Today's been a crazy day but we're okay."

"They keep coming," Lucy whispered, staring down at her hot chocolate. "When - when will they stop?"

Minerva sighed. "I don't know, love. I don't know but they will. We will beat them and then they'll stop. It just takes time."

Thursday, October 14th 1999

Minerva ran up through the hallways towards the Headmaster's office. She yelled the password at the gargoyle and climbed up the stairs quickly. The war had gotten even worse in the few days since the attack in Hogsmeade. The Death Eaters had been getting more confident. More Muggle villages had been raided, more Order members had been attacked, more people had died, and Minerva had been in Dumbledore's office more and more recently. She burst through the door to find Dumbledore sitting at his desk waiting for her. They both started at each other for a moment before either one of them spoke.

"Tell me it isn't true," Minerva whispered. "Frank and Alice..."

Dumbledore shook his head. "A fate worse than death."

Tears filled Minerva's eyes. "They... their minds?"

"Gone."

"But the healers at St. Mungo's!" Minerva exclaimed, tears falling down her cheeks. "They could - they could help... they could do something!"

Again Dumbledore shook his head. "They are doing what they can but... it's not something that can be easily fixed by casting a spell or drinking a potion."

Minerva didn't say anything. She looked away wiped the tears from her face. She thought about Frank and Alice Longbottom. They were some of the bravest and smartest Aurors she had ever met. They were kind and thoughtful and courageous and did not deserve this. She had yet to visit them in St. Mungo's because she just couldn't. She couldn't see the minds of two of the brightest Order members destroyed.

"Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange have been arrested."

Minerva nodded a little, still not looking at Dumbledore. "What about the baby? Neville," she asked. "Where will he go?"

"Augusta has taken over his care," Dumbledore replied.

"That poor child."

There was a long silence. Neither of them knew what to say. Minerva had heard of others being tortured into insanity by Death Eaters before. Bellatrix Lestrange was infamous for doing this. She just never thought it would happen to any of them. To anyone on the Order. She had worried about her friends' deaths, about them getting injured. Losing body parts like Moody. But she never thought about this happening. It just never crossed her mind. Now she had more to worry about.

Author's Note:

Hey, it's been a while and I apologize for the wait. Things have been... well, crazy. Anyways, I hope you liked this chapter. Please leave a review letting me know what you think. It makes me happy to read your reviews :)