A/N: Ok guys, this is a really long chapter, so I suggest everyone grab a cup of coffee or tea and snuggle in before you start reading.
Lucero, I hope you still like the story!
For pronunciation of the Gaelic names: Siofra is like She-fra; Rioghnach is Rio-knock; Granuaile is Gran-ya-wail (Grania is Gran-ya); Riordan is Ree-r-dan.
As always, enjoy!
xxxxxx
By the end of the week, the students were somewhat pulled out of their depression by a rousing week of Quidditch games.
It seemed fitting, really, to have everyone all excited and worked up over the sport she loved best.
She wouldn't have wanted them to despair over her. She would have wanted them to fly.
And fly they had.
Hufflepuff had been knocked out after the first round, then Slytherin. To everyone's amazement, Ravenclaw played a hard match against Gryffindor, but in the end it was Minerva's team that had won.
Tessa had been released from the hospital wing, but she chose to stay in there most hours of the day so that Esmerele wouldn't be alone.
She too had felt much relief over the past days. She didn't know if it was Poppy's gentle care or having her sister by her side, but she felt better.
Inwardly, she knew it was because she was back in Hogwarts with her mother. And nothing made her feel safer than that.
Percival spent most of his time in the potion's rooms, much to Professor Grey's chagrin. Too often Percival would make faces (exactly like Minerva) whenever Grey said something he disagreed with or knew was wrong. Before too long, the students picked up on this, and they always sought him out whenever they needed answers or clues.
By the end of the week, Minerva had made her son stay in the private working room away from the class. He had also finished the Defense Against the Dark Arts books and was on his way to becoming quite the formidable opponent.
The Ministry had heard nothing new about Donal- there were no leads, no tips… nothing.
Minerva was more suspicious than calmed by this. It seemed like a calm before the storm, though her dreams had given her no insight as to what the storm could be.
Xxxxxx
On Friday night, when the students were occupied by another Quidditch game and her own children were preoccupied, she went to the Manor.
Arriving, nothing had changed. She withdrew a small knife and cut her hand, spreading the red blood on the wrought iron gates. The iron glowed a bright green, then creaked open to allow her access.
A millisecond after she entered, the gate slammed shut and disappeared.
She stepped forward, and a ghost appeared in front of her.
"Revelus McGonagall."
"Minerva, so it would seem."
"What riddle have you for me this time?"
"Your mother had a horse of whom she was particularly fond. What was his name?"
Minerva gave a small laugh. "My mother was allergic to hay, therefore she avoided horses because she always got reactions from the hay residue on their fur."
The ghost smiled and disappeared into the ground.
The house slowly appeared before her. She always seemed to forget how large the house actually was. It was white with a stone foundation that was easily five feet off the ground. With a large porch that wrapped around, it almost looked more southern American than Scottish. But the second story boasted a gray stone wall with high turrets jutting up on the eastern side. The third story was stone still, and the fourth floor ended in several high peaks.
The front door was an elaborate masterpiece of wood, iron, and glass. Seven feet tall and nearly six inches thick, it always made Minerva feel like she was entering another world instead of her home.
She walked up the large staircase to the front door.
Three knocks, and a face appeared in the glass.
"Password?"
"Maseurtoile." Please in Scottish Gaelic. Simple, but the McGonagalls figured by the time someone made it up to the door, much more protection would be useless, as they would definitely be in range to blow up the whole place.
The face receded and the door slowly unlocked, making four short clicking sounds as the internal workings allowed her access.
She opened the door and shut it behind her. Her house smelled like heaven- Ginger, wood polish, books, evergreen, and a hot fireplace.
She took in her house. The front door gave way into a main ballroom with a long table along the right side and an empty dancing space to the left. In the furthest left corner was a grand piano that her father had bought. He had always loved music.
The walls were white with Gaelic inscriptions. The ceiling was a large mural, very reminiscent of the Sistine Chapel.
A large fireplace roared from behind the dining table.
At the back of the room was a staircase that gently wound upwards. Though not visible to anyone entering, the staircase continued downward to the kitchen and cellar.
Minerva walked across the perfect wood floor and her small house elf appeared before her.
"Mistress."
"Lera. How are you?"
"Fine, and yous? How are things at Hogwarts?"
"They are fine too, dear. I have a question. Has anyone been lurking about in the woods?"
Lera looked confused. "Lurking? I's doesn't know what yous means."
Minerva struggled for words. "Has anyone taken an extended hunting trip? Or for some reason been walking around … um… anyone surveying the land? Newcomers?"
Lera still gave her a confused look. "Mistress, if anybodies happens upon this land, they's memories are gone."
"So no then?"
"No ma'am."
Minerva sighed. "Good. Thank you. That'll be all."
"Is yous staying?" Lera gave her a hopeful look.
Minerva reached down and patted her head. "Not today my dear. But soon I shall."
The elf gave a small nod and disappeared.
The witch made her way across the rest of the room and headed up the staircase.
At the first landing, she went down the left hallway into the first room on the right. That room was her family's library. Colossal didn't quite cover it. With a twenty foot ceiling and floor space that was the size of the main ballroom, it held thousands of books in its shelves.
Minerva sometimes wondered if that total had reached a million.
In her flat in Scotland, that is where the texts had been hidden when Donal had stolen them. Now they were all secure inside the walls of her home.
This room was always Minerva's favorite. As a young girl, this was the first place she could have a respite from her cousins' rough housing and nagging.
She remembered her father most here, too. Her mother, who was always busy about the house, never took time to read. Her father would always come home and go straight into the library, and he would find his girl tucked into the corner of the leather sofa reading a book.
They didn't say much, but their time together had meant the world to both of them.
She shut the door and went down the hallway. Opening the last door on the left, she entered and locked the door behind her.
To everyone else, it was simply a linen closet, but Minerva knew better.
She withdrew her wand and cast a spell, the words silently forming on her lips. The words were old Scottish Gaelic, words she learned from her grandmother as a young girl.
The shelf then began to move backwards and rotate, revealing a staircase behind it.
Making sure the door was securely locked, Minerva walked down the stairs, the shelf turning and locking behind her.
This passageway was privy to only the Master or Mistress of the McGonagall house. When she died, it would fall to Percival.
Even the house elves didn't know of the passageway's existence.
"Lumos," she said, and the stairway was bathed in creamy light.
The stairs were winding down, steep and curvy, the stone wall cold and gray in the dim light.
She moved downward still, until finally she arrived to a thick wooden door with another elaborate lock.
Again she withdrew the small knife and cut her arm, allowing the blood to drop into the small opening on the top of the brass lock.
The door clicked, the inner locks twisting and turning.
The door swung open slowly, and with a deep breath, she entered.
Xxxxxx
Donal paced around in the cave, punching the stone siding for the hundredth time that day. His knuckles were a bloody mess, with bone beginning to show where they kept colliding with granite.
He was so furious. Rolanda had turned against him and he had killed her. Rolanda. His only true love. The woman who had stuck with him through it all.
And Minerva had won her over too.
And his search for the Manor was absolutely useless. There was nothing on any map anywhere that indicated the kind of magical reserves he believed to reside there.
Because of his UNDESIRABLE picture posted in all of the wizarding towns, he couldn't go into a library or the Ministry and obtain the records he needed to find the house's location.
He was running out of options and time. He had to do something.
Moving to the back wall, he went through everything he had managed to take from the children's homes.
Percival's were almost pointless to go through.
Potions… notes… potions… recipe…
Hypothesis… testing… experiment…
Notes… testing… notes…
He threw that pile to the side.
Grabbing the box of Esmerele's things, he began shuffling through.
Transfiguration notes…
A map of Scotland without any markings…
Request for additional materials…
Receipt from Madame Malkins…
More notes…
A recipe for lamb stew…
More transfiguration notes…
He threw that box to the side, too.
Grabbing Tessa's, he took one look in and decided it wasn't even worth his time to go through it- it was all letters exchanged from another girl named Gabrielle.
Nothing in their house had been older than a couple years old. Apparently, Tessa hadn't acquired the same knack for keepsakes like her mother and father.
Again he hit the wall, his hand bursting with pain as he continued pacing his circles.
Maybe it was his psychosis, maybe it was paranoia, maybe it was the truth- but he knew the Unspeakables were on his heels. He knew he wouldn't be free for long.
He started a small fire with the flick of his wand. He moved to grab the boxes and throw them in when an idea stopped him.
The receipt.
The receipts always had an address to them if they were delivered.
Dumping the box on the ground, he rummaged around until he found the slip of parchment he was looking for.
Receipt
Minerva McGonagall
One violet silk inner dress- 1,546 Galleons
One black inner robe- 2,458 Galleons
One velvet trim on black and violet silk outer robe 4,360 Galleons
Magical Seams- 345 Galleons
Total- 8,709
At this, Donal was a bit shocked. Minerva had never been one for anything expensive, much less clothing. And at those prices, she was buying nothing short of the best designers in the wizarding world.
Shaking away his surprise, he continued reading.
Charged to Minerva McGonagall's Gringott's Account ***********5
Delivered to 47 Hallows Court, Godric's Hollow, England
With a triumphant yell, he threw his fists in the air, flicked his wand, and apparated into the foggy sky.
Xxxxx
Minerva entered into the dark chamber. She extinguished her light and moved from memory into the center of the room.
She kneeled down and felt the stone floor for the familiar markings. Finding the Celtic cross on the floor, she removed her clothing and laid them away from the center markings.
Standing naked, her body shivered, her hands and feet numb in the icy cellar air. Her teeth began to chatter.
Lying down on the cross, her arms spread out like someone being crucified, her body shook as the cold granite hit her flesh.
Then the cross began to glow a faint green. She felt a warmth slowly ebb over her body.
The glow began to shine brighter, and she felt herself being pulled into another realm, another world.
Her eyes shut as the light grew blinding, and her mind receded into a private place.
In this limbo, dream like state, she was standing behind a table. Around it, the rest of her clan that had passed the veil sat.
She looked down, and her body was covered in a silk emerald dress.
Struggling to keep her wits, she bit back tears as her mother and father smiled at her, her cousin playfully winked her way, and her grandmother gave her an air kiss.
She moved to her chair and nearly lost her control as Albus turned to look at her.
Her heart melted at seeing him. God she had missed him… missed his arms around her… missed his laughter… missed his smile… his damn lemon drops.
She fought the urge to kiss him and hold him. She wanted nothing more than to jump in his lap, hold his face, and get lost in those gorgeous blue eyes.
Instead, she calmly sat beside him. She felt his hand move under the table to intertwine with hers. It felt so complete to have him holding her hand again. She was still wearing her wedding ring, too.
From the front of the room, a wizard who looked like an aged Zeus, except for his elaborate emerald robes, stood up. His long brown and gray beard seemed to blend in with his hair, much like Albus wore his in his youth.
The man was Riordan McGonagall, the first of the McGonagall clan. "Welcome, Minerva. It is good to see the Mistress of the clan alive and seemingly well."
"I am well, your Grace."
"Minerva," his wife, Rioghnach, address her. "It is so good to see you my dear."
Tessa bore a striking resemblance to her ancestor. Both had the perfect red air and blue eyes.
"It is good to see you too, my Lady."
"What calls you to summon us, my dear child?" Riordan asked.
"I fear that the Manor is in danger."
A grumble went out amongst the table, and many of them looked distressed.
Riordan put his hand up and the room fell silent. "Go on, Minerva."
"A man that I once trusted, Donal Bregger," at his name, Albus tightened his hold on her hand, "abused that trust by stealing Transfiguration texts from my personal library when I lived in Scotland. He used that information to aid Grindelwald in the war. He was immediately caught and sent to Azkaban, but he has escaped. From what I can gather, I believe he knows that my magical stores are tied to this house. He has already attacked my girls and Esmerele is still in the hospital."
A flurry of, "Is she well?" "What happened?" "Is Tessa alright?" "Will she recover?" went up around the room.
Minerva raised her hand, "She will be fine, but all the same, he had the means to find them. They are all three safely at Hogwarts now, your Grace."
Riordan studied her face. "What makes you think he would try to harm the house instead of just killing you?"
"Because he can't just kill Minerva." Albus said calmly. "She is the most powerful witch in the world at the present time, though Hermione Granger is well on her way to reaching Minerva's level. However, as you are aware, if Donal can destroy this house, he has a much better chance of killing her."
"But what has the clan done to anger him?" Rioghnach asked.
"Nothing, my Lady." Minerva said. "He is only thinking of his revenge for me. He doesn't understand what is held within these walls… That there is a true link to everyone in the clan even after we have passed…"
"That we are bonded to this place." Riordan finished.
"Yes," she breathed.
"What of your secret keeper?" he asked.
"Dead as of the beginning of this week, your Grace."
Riordan narrowed his eyes. "I'm assuming the same man is responsible for her death?"
Minerva nodded.
"And what of the children? Do they know how to get here?"
"Well," Minerva fiddled with her broach.
"We have a safe house." Albus finished.
Riordan snapped his head to look at her husband. "A safe house?" A small smile spread across his broad face. "Ingenious. How?"
Albus gave a small chuckle. "One of our children never had a particular, shall we say, inclination for the protection of the clan."
Rioghnach smiled. She was the one who kept up with the children of the McGonagall's. "Is this Theressa?"
He nodded. "Yes, though from my wife I gather that she has changed a bit during these trying times. But I digress. Minerva and I built a safe house that would transport us to the Manor. The house is located in Godric's Hollow, but in order to get from there to the Manor, Minerva must be there. It requires the present Mistress or Master to be there and cast a very complex array of spells for the wards to realign for the ten seconds it takes us to apparate there."
Riordan nodded, understanding. "So if this man finds the house on Godric's Hollow…?"
"He'll think that he has found the true Manor and, I assume, he will then attempt to kill me." Minerva finished.
The leader nodded. "So the threat is serious then. He is baying for your blood."
"He is, but I know that I can defeat him. The only variables…"
"The only variables in this are rage and fury, and my dear, the equations are not in our favor against it."
The man who spoke up was Conner O'Malley McGonagall. He was, and probably still is, the most skilled Arthrimancy master in the world. He had accurately predicted many events in the McGonagall clan's existence, and he was the main reason that most of them had outlived their colleagues.
"What do you mean?" Rioghnach asked.
"My Lady, I factored in Minerva's figures plus the children's. Now, stocked up against Donal, the chances are good, but that is if all the children are at their prime as far as dueling, which, Albus informs me, two of them are not."
"And Esmerele is very weak." Albus added.
Conner nodded. "So, we subtract a percentage of Esmerele's and reduce the other two."
"Only partially reduce Percival's," Minerva interjected. "He is learning quickly. He'll be good."
Conner nodded and his quill scratched furiously. "Ok. So we are reducing Esmerele's by roughly 41.94%..."
Riordan interrupted, "Just do the equations and tell us the final answer. You know I hate when you go into all those details."
Conner rolled his eyes and continued scratching, his lips moving in sync with his writing.
"Ok, so with all the changes, the odds are not with Minerva. The predictions have the favor of Donal. They also say that…" he stopped himself.
"Say it." Minerva said, though her heart wished he didn't.
"It predicts that one of the children will die in the fight, though I can't tell which one."
She closed her eyes. "And where are you predicting the battle will take place?"
Conner looked confused. "I'm sorry…?"
"The location, are you factoring in a normal house such as the one at Godric's?"
"Yes, but I…"
"Factor in Hogwarts."
Albus turned to face his wife. "Minerva you cannot bring the fight to the school! There are students there who will not be brought into the crossfire."
"Do you know what month it is?"
Albus shook his head.
"It's the last week of November. In two weeks, the children will be leaving for the Holiday vacation. The Forbidden forest will be sealed off to the remaining children anyway. If I can lure him there, I'll be close enough to pull on Hogwarts' magic as well as the McGonagall magic."
"Minerva, that is risky." Albus' eyes were glassy with concern.
"I know it's risky, damn it! But right now I don't have a choice, Albus!"
"58.3 to 52.6," Conner said weakly.
The room grew deadly silent.
"What did you say?" Riordan asked.
"58.3 to 52.6 in favor of Minerva's win, your Grace."
"Losses?"
"The equation still holds losing someone."
Albus shook his head. "Not good enough."
"And that is with Hogwarts?" Minerva asked incredulously.
"Yes." He said sadly.
"Minerva," her grandmother softly said. "Minerva, I think you can do it. But you must attack him first and weaken him before the final battle. Conner is calculating everyone at his peak strength. If Donal doesn't have his full strength, the odds go in favor of you more."
Albus shook his head. "No, Siofra! That's not good enough!"
"It must be, Albus. For if he discovers that the house at Godric's is a decoy, he's going to capture Minerva and take her memories himself."
"But how do we weaken him?" Minerva asked.
"I have an idea!" Piped in Granuaile. She was Minerva's great aunt, her grandmother's smallest sister. She died when she was only twenty-four after being caught in the crossfire of a rogue duel.
She had fierce, curly brown hair with red streaks. She was tall, about 6' 2", and she was all tomboy. Strangely enough, when she was growing up, she had been known as the prettiest girl of siblings. She was vivacious and daring.
Siofra rolled her eyes. "No, Grania, we are not going to listen to your wild woman ideas. Sit down and shut up." Grania was her sister's nickname, which she hated.
Minerva rolled her eyes. Typical sisters. Granuaile put her hand over her sister's mouth and kept speaking anyway.
"How about you rig the decoy house?"
Siofra roughly removed her hand. "Grania, that is the thickest…"
"WAIT!" Riordan cried. "What did you say?"
Granuaile's eyes went wide. She wasn't used to being called out in meetings.
"Rig the house, your Grace?" She said in a small voice.
"Details." The leader demanded.
"Well, if he believes that the house at Godric's is the real thing, he's going to go in there and search for the passageway to the heart to destroy Minerva's magic stores. So if we lure him there, we can rig the house to extract his magic while he thinks he's taking ours, your Grace."
Everyone sat silently, waiting to see what Riordan would say.
Seconds ticked by. Granuaile looked at her hands. Siofra stared at the ceiling shaking her head at her sister.
Minerva tightened her hold on Albus's hand.
Minerva's mother gently rested her hand on her daughter's knee.
"How would we go about extracting his stores?"
Granuaile looked uneasy. "Well, I don't exactly…"
"Legilimancy." Minerva stated.
Rioghnach nodded her head. "Yes. That would work. But there must be someone there to cast the spell."
"I can do it." Minerva said. "I'll just stay in my animagus form. It's easier to be stealthy."
The clan was quiet. Riordan stroked his beard as he pondered what she had said.
"Conner? If she extracts his magic?"
"If she can hold him there and deplete at least twenty percent, her odds of winning outright are seventy to thirty without any losses."
"Can you do that, Minerva? Can you hold the spell that long in your animagus?"
Minerva nodded, with more conviction than she actually felt. "I can."
Albus turned to face his wife. "Minerva, if he finds you, get out of there. Don't try to engage him there. You could trigger the porthole without even trying. Are you even going to call the Ministry about this? They could just as easily arrest him."
Minerva froze. Truthfully, the Ministry hadn't even crossed her mind. "I think I need to do this alone, Albus. I'll let Kingsley know when he attacks the school, but my house… Albus, that's my call, and I don't want anyone trying to tell me what it is I should do."
He shook his head. She was so unreasonable sometimes.
"How are you going to ensure when he'll attack?" Riordan asked.
Minerva laughed dryly. "How else do we get anything done? Put it in the paper."
Everyone looked confused. "What?" "What's she talking about? "Has she gone mad?"
Minerva clapped her hands and again the room went quiet. "Thank you," she says sarcastically. "What I mean is, I'll tell the Prophet to run a story saying that I will be staying at my home at Godric's Hollow during the Christmas Break. That way he'll make his attack while he thinks I am there. Two birds with one stone."
"And Kingsley won't suspect anything?"
"I'll put it in the gossip section." She said caustically.
The McGonagalls sat in stony silence, considering the options before them.
Rioghnach stood up to speak. "This is a very serious time- not a matter to be taken lightly. If Minerva feels that she is capable of carrying out this plan of action, then I put my support behind her. I move that we bind a part of our magic to Hogwarts, so that when he does attack, she will be able to pull from both simultaneously in a duel. Do I have a second?"
Minerva dared not breathe. If the clan didn't allow her to use the magic stores freely in connection with Hogwarts, she and her children would be fighting with sheer will.
"I second the motion." Siofra said, smiling at her granddaughter.
"Second!" Granuaile cried.
Riordan stood. "All those in favor please say 'aye.'"
A loud chorus of "Aye!" went up in the room.
"All those opposed?"
The room stayed silent.
Minerva stood up and walked to the head of the table. Riordan turned and placed his hands on top of her head.
"Godspeed, my child. The task you are undertaking is risky and uncertain, to say the least. You have the support of the clan, as you always have. Use our magic wisely, Minerva. It is all that keeps us here. Use your wisdom, your skill, your Gryffindor courage, and your McGonagall power. Godspeed, my daughter. Godspeed."
He kissed the top of her head gently. He whispered in her ear, "You may say goodbye to Albus. We will leave you be."
"Thank you," she began, but as she raised her hand she was greeted to an empty room except for her husband who still sat in his seat.
She ran over to him and threw her arms around him, kissing his cheeks, his nose, his lips. She held his cheeks in her hand, pressing their foreheads together as their tears mingled. He held her hand within his, the other hand wrapping around her thin waist, pulling her as close to him as he could.
"I miss you so much." She breathed against his lips. "I need you with me. I need you next to me at night. I need to fall asleep in your arms. Albus…"
He kissed her and wiped her tears. "Everyday, Minerva. Everyday I sit in the stars and watch you from afar. My heart breaks with you, my laughter rings with yours, my tears run the same course, my love. I am always here with you. Always."
"I don't want to be apart from you anymore, Albus, it hurts too much."
He ran his hand in soothing lines down her back. "But you must keep living, my dear, you must. For this is your time. I have already lived mine. You must live yours."
She kissed him again and stared into his blue eyes, those endless blue eyes…
"I love you." She whispered.
He kissed her. "I love you."
She leaned in to press her head against his, but instead of meeting her husband's face, she met nothing but the empty air of the inner chamber.
Xxxxxx
A/N: A very long chapter, but I hope everyone enjoyed it!