The castle was still a mess. It looked better, but it still didn't look good, and the owl flew past teams of masonry wizards on its way up to the headmaster's office. Headmistress now.

Minerva looked frazzled as she opened the window for the owl, but her reaction to the short note was much the same as Clarissa's. She stared in disbelief, her gaze alternating between the note and the owl as she sank into her chair.

The owl turned back into a woman and looked around. "It hasn't changed much," Amelia noted.

"S-Severus didn't change anything and I haven't the heart to do so," Minerva replied, more-or-less calmly.

"I notice he doesn't have a portrait," Amelia said. "He was Headmaster last year, was he not?"

"Ah, well, he technically abandoned his post," Minerva offered.

"'Technically'?" Amelia repeated, raising her eyebrows.

"We, er, well, we, kind of, um, drove him away," Minerva admitted, discomforted. "I thought he was working for Voldemort! I thought he was going to take Harry!"

"He had something important Harry needed to know," Amelia offered.

"I know that now! But – when Severus needed us most, we didn't help him. What's more, we attacked him! Albus still hasn't forgiven me."

"The portrait?" Amelia asked, gesturing toward the portrait of Dumbledore dozing on the wall. Minerva gave a half-hearted nod.

"Brings us back to my original point," Amelia continued. "Severus deserves a portrait."

"Some of the Board members had been under Imperius spells at the time of his appointment. They decided his appointment was officially invalid," Minerva said unhappily.

"That's good for them. Severus' portrait will hang with the rest of the Headmasters if I have to paint and enchant it myself."

Minerva stared at her in shock.

Amelia shrugged. "I saw the memories he gave Harry the night he died. We've been experiencing some of what Harry experiences in the Pensieve theses last two years. The battle thinned the Veil – we saw those memories very clearly. I don't think I could have done what he did," she admitted. "I have been out of touch for the past two years, but I am fairly certainly he was universally hated during his term as Headmaster. And I am equally certain he was doing his damnedest to protect this school from the two Death eaters on staff and tell-tale Slytherins with Death Eater family. All while making sure the Death Eaters left him in charge here. Which sure as hell could not have been easy. So he will have his portrait on the wall of Headmasters."

"Ye disappear for two years and this is what ye have to say when ye return?" Minerva exclaimed

Amelia lifted her hands helplessly. "It took us a while to find our way back. We had a lot of time for reflection; and we had friends willing to help us put together some pieces we had missed."

"Ye fell through the Veil two years ago!"

"Sirius fell. I dove. And therein lay the loophole that allowed us to return," Amelia explained.

"Albus . . . thought there was something . . . unfinished about that," Minerva said slowly.

"He was right," Amelia agreed. "And to escalate matters, I tried to Apparate, as an owl, halfway through. That, evidently, turned out to be the easiest way back."

"You're . . . both . . . ?"

"Yeah, Sirius came back with me. I was kind of hoping Kingsley would be able to smooth our reappearance, seeing as he's Minister now. I stopped at my mother's on the way," Amelia clarified at the look of question Minerva wore. "Congratulations, by the way."

Minerva gave her a look of such incredulity that Amelia raised her eyebrows. "Congratulations?" Minerva repeated. "On what? On inheriting this mess? I have a castle that is falling apart, that took a hell of a beating back in May, and that might not be ready for the students in September! I have a staff that might not be ready; I'm down three professors and you'll notice a lack of people queuing up for the posts. This school has a reputation for not holding onto its professors – bad things tend to happen to them."

"Three?"

"I can't teach Transfiguration as Headmistress, but that's not the biggest problem. Charity Burbage is dead, and after the hullabaloo last year, no one really wants to teach Muggle Studies. And to top it all off, Defense Against the Dark Arts is open again. Albus had trouble filling that post. After what has happened recently, I cannae honestly blame them, but I have six weeks to find three qualified professors and it's nay looking good!"

It was Amelia's turn to stare at Minerva. The older woman rarely lost her cool. "That bad, huh?"

Minerva sighed. "Yes, that bad. But you're alive, that's a bit of good news, finally."

"When they mention battles, they never talk about the cleaning up, do they?"

"No, they don't," Minerva said tiredly. "All you hear about lately is what else needs to be fixed, who else turned up dead."

"It's been two and a half months," Amelia pointed out.

"Fine!" Minerva exclaimed, throwing up her hands. "That's all I hear. They're rebuilding, repairing, like my smashed castle. "

"It bothers you about Severus, doesn't it?"

Minerva stilled. She looked down at the desk, avoiding Amelia's eyes. "We attacked him. I attacked him; I struck first. He didn't fight back. I've gone over the memory, in the pensieve, after – I knew. I tried to find any – anything – a hint, a clue, something . . . some reason for what happened. He didn't fight back. Severus dodged our charms and curses, he didn't send any back. If we – if I had just – listened – to what he had to say, maybe it could have gone differently. Maybe he wouldn't – have – "

Amelia shook her head gently. "Riddle would not have confronted Harry unless he thought he had utmost command of the Elder Wand. He thought Severus was the master, therefore he would have found a way to kill Severus before killing Harry, and he could not be killed until he had killed Harry. It . . . it was a foregone conclusion. There's nothing you could have done; nothing you did would have changed that. So don't take it out on her!" she added sharply, addressing the slumbering portrait.

"Hmm?" the portrait replied, feigning awakening. "Ah, Amelia Zeraff! You've returned from beyond the Veil, I see."

"Yes, I have. And I saw those memories, though I wasn't exactly clear-headed at the time. You knew Riddle would come after Severus about that wand. No one else saw what happened, no one else would have connected Draco to the wand. Severus killed you, therefore a casual observer would have thought the wand had passed to him. At least that's what Riddle would have thought. You knew that was going to happen. So don't you dare blame Minerva for that," she said fiercely.

"I had hoped it would not come to that," Dumbledore began.

"Really? Are we talking about the same Riddle?" Amelia demanded.

"It was not necessary for Severus to die – "

"But you knew it was a possibility! You knew Riddle better than anyone else – was he really going to ask the Death Eaters about the details of your death and raise questions about his super wand when he thought he knew the answer? And then he would have killed Malfoy instead. And don't say you wanted to explain," Amelia snapped, "or warn him, or whatever else, because you were with him all of last year – you had plenty of time!"

Both Albus and Minerva stared at her, slightly nonplussed. "You have changed," the portrait said finally.

"I . . . I had a lot of time for reflection, seeing as I spent the last two years in what was essentially an elaborate Pensieve. I . . ." she paused, trying to find the right words. "I reckon I faced a lot of what used to bother me. We both did."

"Quite right you are," Dumbledore's portrait admitted. "I had long feared Riddle would kill Severus, for one reason or another."

"But because it was your wand and you asked him to kill you, you feel somehow responsible," Amelia finished. "You're all the same," she added with a long suffering sigh. "It's not your fault. As I've said, nothing you did or did not do would have changed how it played out in the end. And . . . Severus was not Harry; he might not have been able to face Riddle, knowing it would end in his death, especially as he had not yet passed on your information to Harry."

"You are right," Dumbledore admitted reluctantly.

"I know."

"Well," said Minerva, breaking the silence, "if you want Kingsley to handle your return, Sirius should probably be here as well, seeing as he will be the more difficult of the two of you."

"He's not still thought to be a Death Eater, is he?" Amelia asked.

"The truth was pried out of Fudge, quite reluctantly I might add, back when he was forced to acknowledge I was telling the truth about Voldemort," Dumbledore said.

"Of course, it was posthumous," Minerva added. "Or so we all thought. And with the Ministry and the Prophet finally admitting Voldemort was back, and all the ruckus that raised, the news the Sirius was innocent might have gotten lost among the community at large."

"Well, now they can be reminded of it," Amelia replied.

Minerva nodded. "Yes, they can. How is Sirius going to feel being on the front page of the Prophet again?"

"This time it won't be his mug shot," Amelia said with a smile.

"Does anyone have a better picture of him?"

Amelia grimaced. "Good point. Maybe I should make sure he's cleaned up and photogenic when I bring him here later."

Minerva smiled slightly. "I think you have your work cut out for you there."

Amelia shook her head as she smiled. "You have no idea. He's currently wearing a pair of my sweatpants; sweatpants don't look good on anyone." She shook her head again. "Do you have Floo Powder?" she asked.

"In the urn on the mantle," Minerva replied. "Make sure he arrives as a dog, though, please. Having a dangerous murderer from a few years ago suddenly reappear will not go over well. Especially around here. That first year, there was a curfew, and dementors all over this area – people don't forget that quickly. His face was posted all around Hogsmeade; they would not fail to recognize him."

"True," Amelia agreed. "That would be a problem we do not need."

Minerva paused and considered for a moment. "How do you plan to get him here?"

Amelia smiled. "Floo powder to my house, Apparate to the edge of Hogsmeade, then Animagus to the Gate, where I would hope you would let us in."

"That I can do," Minerva acknowledged with a laugh. "When should I meet you there?"

"Er, an hour?" Amelia guessed. "Our Apparation location is on the edge of the village, plus I'll need time to make adjustments to his wardrobe."

"An hour should be good. I can contact Kingsley and let him get ready for the paperwork," Minerva remarked.

"We are going to need to register him as an Animagus while we are at it," Amelia added. "And Sirius does not want his house back."

"Well, since I believe Harry moved into it, that is probably a good thing," Dumbledore noted.

"In that case, we also need whatever paperwork is required to turn the house over to Harry," Amelia said.

"Kreacher, too," the portrait added.

"That's right," Amelia remembered. "Harry befriended the house-elf, didn't he?"

"He did," Minerva said. "Something to do with Sirius' brother."

Amelia nodded. "We learned some of that while we were, er, gone."

"Is that what you call?" Minerva said with a smile. "'Gone'? Gone what? Fishing? On vacation?"

"Vacation, not so much," Amelia said grimly. "You know how people say your life flashes before you when you die? Well, they aren't wrong. We spent the last two years in what was essentially a giant Pensieve. And, as Sirius pointed out, I was just as broken as he was. So it was not the most pleasant of experiences. But we aren't dead. That's something," she finished with a shrug.

"Uh, interesting," was Minerva's nonplussed comment.

"Sorry, it's a lot to process at once. Time moved differently; it didn't feel like two years. And so much has happened. It's – disorienting."

"It is perfectly reasonable," Dumbledore assured her.

Amelia gave a self-deprecating laugh. "Well, I will see you in an hour." With a flick of her wand, she had a fire roaring in the fireplace. She took a handful of Floo powder out of the urn and tossed it into the fire; the flames roared green. Amelia gave Minerva a nod, stepped into the fireplace and called, "29 Eirea Way!"

The flames whirled and carried her away.