Chapter 40: "It"
Hey! Time jump here to another year.
And we now switch from Hermione's POV to Minerva's POV.
May 7, 2006
5th Seventh of May
An agonising sensation woke Minerva McGonagall, her emerald eyes snapping open at the roaring fire inside of her which predominantly emanated from her chest. Under her pillow, her right hand clenched, waiting for the burning feeling to stop. And as suddenly as it attacked her, it ended.
The 'it' had been plaguing Minerva for a year, and there was no telling how long she would have to suffer from its bouts. Her consolation lately was that she had noticed that the count of occurrences had considerably lessened. Plus, the degree of pain with each episode was not as excruciating, compared to when it started... That, or she had gotten used to its torture.
Minerva would never forget when she first felt it— she had just entered her office and didn't even make it to a chair; she keeled over and had no strength to even let out the tormenting scream rippling from her body. Truthfully, she had thought 'it' meant that she was finally done in this life, about to depart from a heart attack.
However, 'it' was not fatal. Instead, Minerva would have to endure 'it' from time to time, for an undetermined number of months, or perhaps years… There was really no remedy, no potions or spells to counter the attack. Minerva simply had to manage until it went away.
Poppy, witnessing the fifth, or perhaps the seventh attack, had insisted on bringing Minerva to St. Mungos after her instantaneous health scanning had shown how volatile Minerva's core magic had gotten. Unsurprisingly, Minerva refused, but she compromised to let Poppy set a strict and regular schedule of check-ups on her. The Healer accepted the concession, recognising that it was already much more than the usual nothing from Minerva McGonagall, who was notoriously neglectful regarding her own health issues… It also frightened Poppy, for it said a lot about what Minerva was truly experiencing.
The closest explanation for what it was— after undergoing several examinations under Poppy's wand, was that Minerva was suffering the aftermath from that fateful night. It was the lingering adverse reaction to her choice of breaking through Azkaban's anti-apparation barriers…when she gambled everything— to save the love of her life.
When Harry Potter followed Hermione out of the castle to respond to the reported dark mark at Azkaban, Minerva was pulled apart with several misgivings:
One, Minerva— the Headmistress of Hogwarts wanted to remain in it. To check every inch of the castle for any security issue, and triple check for general vulnerability… And she wanted to go through every student and staff— to personally assure them (and herself) of the school's protection.
Two, Minerva— the Ministry's Special Advisor and war survivor wanted to rush to Azkaban. She could feel her magic faintly reacting at the mere notion of potential conflict at the prison island that may unleash forces of evil. She was much aware how another wand— her wand— would be a tremendous upside to the Ministry to prevent danger from breaking out.
And above all, Minerva— the unknown Minerva…wanted to run after Hermione…the woman she loved… the woman who left with the utmost misconception.
Just the same, Minerva McGonagall was neither free from her responsibilities with Hogwarts nor from her role in their Wizarding society. And as always, Minerva ended up mitigating to the best of her ability, of all the demands from her… And bravely pushing her personal wants down the list.
Instead, she rushed to request from Hogwarts an entry to the focal chamber where she could fortify the wards of Hogwarts…
This undisclosed location was Minerva's discovery while she was repairing the castle after the war. When she consulted the portraits of all the previous Heads, none seemed to be aware of its existence, not even Albus Dumbledore... Although to be fair, Hogwarts was never brought to such dire need of repair. It must be the only reason why the castle had revealed the chamber to her. Minerva had privately referred to it as Hogwarts' core.
The said chamber was similar to the room of requirement, in terms of not having one specific location for its entry, but seeming to open up when she called for it. But significantly dissimilar to the room of the requirement, the size of it was barely ten by ten by ten feet, with nothing but runes everywhere that seemed to constantly transform, as if alive, and almost tangible.
In the passing years after its discovery, Minerva hadn't completely finished transcribing and exploring the great deal of runes in the chamber. But of the ones she ultimately transcribed, they had given her important knowledge about the castle, tremendously more than the many decades she had spent residing in it, and apparently beyond what has ever been written about Hogwarts.
Minerva had learnt of several secreted passages of the castle, some of them leading to longer routes within the school for no reason at all but to provide alternatives. Some were basically speckled by elves' magic, as Minerva assumed was the preferred course by Hogwarts elves. And then there were those leading completely outside the school; a couple would even drop you in the forbidden forest, mostly covered by a disappearing boulder…
Also, the runes presented to Minerva a very ancient magic within the castle's edifice. It explained the mind-boggling designs of classrooms, offices, and personal rooms of Hogwarts staff that seemed to be always adapting accordingly…
For example, Minerva elected to repair and keep her damaged transfiguration office and personal chamber after the war, wanting to get the large amount of content in order, never wanting to occupy the rooms commonly allocated for Headmaster/Headmistress. But the day before September 1, she found herself and all her current rooms relocated to more or less the same area as Albus Dumbledore's office/personal rooms, but confusingly keeping the latter rooms quite intact within the same section.
Prior to the discovery and understanding of the runes, Minerva had accepted, like everyone else, how the castle was riddled with ambiguous old magic, similar to whatever powers were in the Sorting hat. After all, there had been instances in the past that new professors would experience the castle's magical initiatives when they joined the staff. Moving around classrooms and offices suitably. Likewise, expanding or collapsing sizes of classrooms, depending on the current students' population.
Much later, after comprehending this part of the runes, she realised that the magic behind all of it was in fact created from the four founders' infused magic when they designed the castle. Secured in its foundation, and seeming to be astutely pre-conditioned to foster by the order of innocent magic, all abundantly supplied by underage students during the months when school was in session. It was nothing short of astonishing to uncover the infinite and correlated magic by the founders with the youngsters in relation to the castle's interior organisation.
Also amusingly, Minerva had learnt that the moving main stairs were from the antics of Godfric Gryffindor and Helga Hufflepuff. Something that the two had conspired as their entertainment, betting to see who could randomly figure out the technique of handling the stairs at that time… And the two never lifted the formulated enchantments… For more than fifty years at Hogwarts, Minerva did not know anyone, whether staff or students, who never experienced casual woes in delays for missing the right floor because of the moving stairs. But now, Minerva possessed the key to make the stairs land where she intended to go… And would grinningly make use of the discovered code.
Furthermore, two years after the war, Minerva McGonagall completed a momentous transcription of one sequence of runes; it stated one grave provision by the four founders that could have changed the course of the last ended war…
Godric, Helga, Rowena, and Salazar had their differences and eventual fall-out, but in its origin, even Salazar was absolutely onboard with the idea of bequeathing part of their natural magic for the ultimate protection of the castle and its residents, and with only one caveat— that would be a full pledge commitment by one long standing resident of Hogwarts.
Minerva cried her heart out upon fully understanding the runes— that if a resident had submitted their magical core inside the said focal chamber, that was in effect making the unbreakable vow to commit one's life to safeguard the school, wherein Hogwarts deemed the offer worthy…the castle would call upon the founders' magical defence, and would hold off attack, not for an unlimited time, but apparently long enough for the residents to either flee for safety and/or cast their collective magic that would have reinforced the wards, withstanding any counter spell for a considerable period, even from a dark powerful wizard.
The revelation had Minerva unraveling with abandon— especially after she actually submitted her magical core and Hogwarts accepted it...she felt the castle's protection wards communicating to her magic… And emotionally, she felt the weight of consequences for it being two years late— an offer she could have submitted… a way that could have saved many lives. The faces of those who perished during the Hogwarts battle swam in her mind, and the impact of their deaths fell on her once again.
The deep guilt from such deduction was so much that it drove her to confess the discovery to Filius. Fortunately, she benefited from the perceptive discussion with the wise head of Ravenclaw. He compelled her to remember the fact that no one possessed such information prior. And he helped her accept the reasoning that thus no one was culpable of not submitting such a commitment to Hogwarts.
Filius also declared that if Minerva was to assume the burden of guilt, he was equally guilty, as were many of the residents of the castle who fought the good fight, who in a heartbeat would have submitted their commitment. Whether Hogwarts would have deemed their offers worthy was of course another matter, but just the same, he spoke for himself, that he would have made the offer…
And the noble wizard also gave her the room of acceptance that the battle of Hogwarts did happen, that no matter how much they wished otherwise, they already went through it... And while they all carried the wounds from the destruction and lost lives— again, it was in fact when Harry had defeated Voldemort for good— essentially the juncture where they closed the chapters of that darkness for their society, and were enabled to live in precious peace today…
In the same vein, Filius made certain to assert his admiration of Minerva. The moment the woman learnt of the provision of protection, the witch took the commitment without reservation… He declared how it was a testament to Minerva's long-standing dedication to the school, to the students who were the future of their Wizarding world.
And the night that Minerva and Hermione received Harry's patronus about the appearance of a dark mark outside of the Ministry building, Minerva's magic conveyed assurance that Hogwarts was far from endangerment. But her mistrustful head, borne of experience from three wars had her mechanically directing herself to her default comportment to be at Hogwarts to protect and defend it. Besides, the pull of her responsibility as its Headmistress was enough to have her running back to the school… loathing but needing to part ways with Hermione in such a critical situation…
Then when she felt Hogwarts' wards admit Hermione's magical signature, which she deliberately set as the only grant for entry, her ardent desire was to rush to the entrance and check on Hermione. However, her animagus had just picked up the faint scent of the missing first year student and she did not want to drop the track. Plus she was beginning to feel wary of the whereabouts of the young student.
Lamentably, finding the eleven year old in such a manner thoroughly threw off Minerva's equanimity. Never had she seen a student in a state like this— seemingly blindly firing off a vague version of avada kedavra, which fortunately missed her, except the curse had caused a line of trees to ablaze, and she failed to avoid one falling branch, which hit her temple.
The entire episode shook Minerva. Not for the danger to herself, but to the young kid. And then the duty to shield him away from any risk just plunged Minerva into the cold realisation that she could have lost a student— under her care, again, post war…
The crippling insight made her entirely foolish in her words… In her dismissive remarks to Poppy. Especially when she knew that the healer had nothing but concern…And following that had been her deplorable ramblings, which led to a dire error, to a grave misconception that wounded Hermione... with such a torturous belief…
When Hermione left after Harry's news of Azkaban, Minerva wanted to run after her in the next second. But doubt and self-anger forcefully held her frozen. She was truly frightened that because of what transpired, she would see finality in Hermione's face… that this was some kind of doom intervention to tell Minerva what she had always feared— that she did not deserve Hermione… Because bloody hell, she knew that she deserved that slap, and even more, for her behaviour today, and all the days following that May 7, 1998, beginning at the Manor…
Then, and now, she fallaciously conveyed to Hermione that the time spent with her was all about fucking… But nothing could be further from the truth… Not when being with Hermione was and would always be the finest thing in Minerva's tedious life…
It was only at Harry's gentle touch on her shoulder, and his words, "Follow us, Minerva…" that Minerva resumed breathing, not realising she was almost drowning in wretchedness. His piercing olive eyes told her he had heard/witnessed that miserable misunderstanding, including the slap… "The moment you can," Harry added before he too pivoted and left Hogwarts.
And so, Minerva did what she had to do at Hogwarts as fast as she could... Checking on everything in the castle… And then she sent a patronus to Filius, informing him of her going to Azkaban, just before she disapparated from Hogwarts.
The moment her feet landed at the only apparation point allowed on the prison island, Minerva's heart went into overdrive…for hardly taking her first step towards the main entry, an explosion shook the ground.
Hermione...! Minerva thought with utmost fear, but before she could make out the actual location, a second blast had Minerva sagaciously casting a protection spell…
One…two…three… Minerva mentally counted the seconds whilst conducting a general assessment of the situation, looking out for possible incoming assaults from different directions, and taking note of the emergency wards activating all around the island…that meant, no one was getting in or out of Azkaban until they took them down.
I have to find Hermione.
Minerva was attempting very hard not to panic and logically, she knew she needed to measure her immediate plan of action, but the thought of Hermione had her discounting her usual judiciousness. She transformed into her animagus and took the route she knew would lead to the visitors' area, where she assumed the actual explosions had happened.
Upon reaching the juncture, she transformed back into human form, keeping her wand firm and ready, as she digested the revealed pandemonium of dust, smoke, fire, falling debris, swirling magic, and ongoing forewarning of the prison's wards…
Her emerald eyes began scanning for Hermione in a grid-like method. And after surveying over several sections, she found Harry who was rapidly moving away endless wreckage with his wand… For a second or two, she glanced away from Harry to search again for Hermione before coming back to Harry's location, and she gasped at the scene.
Harry just scooped Hermione up in his arms from where he dug her, placed her a few steps away for an even ground and began reviving her. Minerva felt her world crush in on her… She ordered herself to go to Hermione and promptly fell on the ground with her first step. She had to pick up her wand that rolled away before she stood up and forcefully headed towards Hermione.
"You're not dead. Come on, Hermione. Please, breathe. Fuck it. You're not dead. Just breathe."
Minerva's own heart almost stopped at hearing Harry's chanting over and over, as he tried to get Hermione's heart pumping.
"You are not fucking dying today. Please, please just breathe, Hermione. Fucking, breathe."
Harry was cursing and begging as he tried his damndest to restore life into her. And after an unknown count of attempts, Minerva heard him say that he felt Hermione's pulse… very weak, but a pulse…
And then, even before Harry barked that they had to bring Hermione to St. Mungos, even before an Auror told Harry the bad news that no one could depart the prison island because of the emergency wards, and even before another Auror advised that they'd began to take down the anti-apparation enchantment, and even before Harry's loud cursing competed with the roaring waves… Minerva's heart recommenced functioning with one goal…
Without further thought, Minerva made the grievous decision— bring Hermione to St. Mungos by risking everything she had…
Minerva crouched beside the boy-who-lived-best-friend of her love, "Let me have her, Harry." She gently commanded as she gathered Hermione completely into her arms. She cast the most powerful protection she could summon to wholly surround Hermione… Internally prepared her magical core, and Minerva broke through the anti-apparation veil.
Minerva would never find the words to describe with precision the slithering burning that came first, and then the erupting explosion inside, forcing tears out of her eyes as she did not withdraw from going through the magical passage. The pain was beyond unbearable… But then, she held on with only one thought— Hermione cannot die… But I will— if that is what it takes to bring Hermione to St. Mungos… for a chance to live…
Three quarters of an hour after apparating to St. Mungos, Healer Hypatia told Minerva that Hermione would be all right… That she just needed plenty of time for the potions to complete the healing… It would be the first breath Minerva would expel in real relief before she finally let go with her empty tank of energy and collapsed…
Three hours later when Minerva woke up at St. Mungos, also confined, she learned from Hypatia of her almost depleted magic… that a couple of more minutes and her magic would have expired— that there would have been no point of return. And most likely led to her death…
Further, Hypatia said that if she wanted to recover her full power, she would have to refrain from using magic for several weeks… Minerva just knew that she had to obey this order, much to her grief… A Headmistress who couldn't use magic was absolutely pointless, but she had to subscribe to Hypatia's recommendation in order to regain her power soon… For one, locking herself in at Hogwarts and limiting her outside engagement in the succeeding weeks would help… And perhaps, that would also be best…given these latest events…
And today, basically a year over, Minerva could not honestly claim that she had her powers completely recouped… Perhaps she had recovered above ninety in calculation… She would need more time to feel the same natural dominance in her magical core…
Moreover, she still suffered these episodes of burning attacks… Another thing she was keeping in tight confidence; only Poppy knew of the bouts… Such a temporary unwelcome token to her health from that grave decision… A decision Minerva would choose all over again— to save Hermione.
But just a few minutes ago, Minerva woke up from said attack… She waved a hand to gauge the time, finding it a quarter after three am. She groaned, "I really need more sleep, at least an hour."
Considering that Minerva had finished all her work and gone to bed around midnight, she could use more hours to re-charge herself... She weighed the merit of taking a cooling potion that Poppy provided to somehow give her a bit of relief. But then, Minerva quickly decided to forgo it, as the potion tended to make her lethargic for twenty-four hours… And while today was actually Sunday, it would be a long day for the Headmistress of Hogwarts.
With that thought, Minerva had the urge to hex the Board of Governors; during a dinner party last December, they convinced themselves how great an idea it was to hold a sort of open fair on Hogwarts grounds for the eighth commemoration… That would be today… Hogwarts would be a full house… But as Minerva rolled onto her stomach and then hugged a pillow, she could only think of one confirmed attendance— Hermione's…
.
.
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End of Chapter 40
Year 2006 – "It"
Posted 2022.0703
What do you think this POV of Minerva?
Edited AN:
The idea for Hogwarts' "power" in this story was from the concept of artificial intelligence, sort of magical intelligence (MI), magical written codes. But a reader ( mapledonut94) suggested to call it RI: rune intelligence, which I think is so apt!
