It had taken Minerva forever to make Albus see that she was not going to be staying safely inside the castle when he emerged to fight Grindelwald. It had been a long argument of whether or not she was in his care and therefore his to protect. Shed been vehemently against the idea. She'd gotten herself this far by herself. She was well able to go out onto the battlefield.
In the end, Albus caved, though not completely. Alexander Potter had an invisibility cloak that he had put at the disposal of the force defending Hogwarts. If Minerva would agree to wear the invisibility cloak the entire time, Albus agreed to let her come with him. She did.
"Are you sure it's wise to make me wear an invisibility cloak?" she asked him, hazel eyes sparkling and employing a cheeky manner that no one had ever seen her use before. "You won't be able to keep track of me."
"Not everyone is fooled by the magic of invisibility cloaks, Minerva," Albus replied gravely.
Minerva could have sworn she felt her jaw drop to the floor. Did Albus actually mean what he seemed to be implying? It was impossible. It took a very powerful sorcerer to see through invisibility cloaks. There had not been one in at least a century and a half.
"Now put that on and come with me."
Her mind still churning over whether or not Albus would actually be able to see her under the invisibility cloak, she slipped easily under the flowing silver material, vanishing from sight. He nodded at her then began walking away down the corridors.
He lead her behind a statue and then through a corridor she had not known existed until Albus had told her about it just over an hour before. They followed it for a few minutes then came upon the door that he'd indicated would be at the end of it.
"Stay close behind me, Minerva," Albus told her with a quick glance over his shoulder.
Minerva had never seen so many spells flashing around as she did when Albus opened the wooden door at the end of the corridor. The smell of many burning things flooded her nostrils. There were people everywhere, seemingly disorganized but Minerva could pick out her formations amongst the disorder. These were her battle plans in action. It was astounding to witness.
They moved out of the castle and into the chaos. It seemed to Minerva that more of the people lying on the ground were Grindelwald's people rather than her own and a faint twinge of pride hit her. Her plans had been keeping these people alive. She could not have been more glad. The death of her father already weighed heavily on her conscience. She did not need the deaths of many more people weighing on it too. These people were, for the most part, well and alive. She could feel like she was doing some good. Despite what Albus had told her about what was going on out her, she had not been able to believe it until she'd seen it. She'd shrewdly ignored her feelings and simply gone on as she had been, doing her best to help Albus.
Sneaking around the edges of a battle like the one that happened that day was something that Minerva would never forget. It was nothing like anything she'd ever seen in the sixteen years of her life. Even the death of her father, though more traumatic to her by far, could not compare to this. The smell, the sound, the many flashes of light that all the spells whipping through the air caused . . . It was like nothing she'd ever experienced before. The dawn was alive with battle. Had it not been so terrible, it might have had a sense of beauty.
But all the flashes of green reminded of exactly what was happening before her eyes and reminded her terribly of where her father was right now. He was still lying in their pine forest, dead, because of the curse she saw flashing about the air before her.
A flash of green streaked toward the castle and the window through which three people were attacking Grindelwald's forces. Minerva's pace slowed as she watched them all duck behind the window as the curse flew through it, causing an audible explosion where it hit the walls inside the castle.
She shivered. People dead, Hogwarts damaged like it had never been before . . . Things would not be as they had been before. It would be a long time before the effects of this war would be washed away and forgotten. It was something she would never forget, that was certain.
A red stunner came scarily near to hitting her. It was only Minerva's wariness that kept her from being hit.
"Minerva, are you all right?" Albus asked and Minerva could see the worry etched on his face. She suddenly felt guilty for putting it there. Hadn't this been what her father had been avoiding when he told her to leave him?
Perhaps it was, but look at where that had gotten her father. Maybe if he'd have known that she was by his side they could have worked together to do more. Her father's death had more than convinced her that when someone went up against Grindelwald, they should not do so alone or even close to it.
She would feel better for Albus' safety, and even her own, if there were more people with them. She wished that Albus had more than just her by his side.
"I'm fine. Keep moving. We want to get to the gates far before Grindelwald does."
Albus nodded and they continued their furtive movement. Minerva was expecting Grindelwald to want to make an entrance onto the battlefield. Walking grandly through Hogwarts' front gates would certainly make an entrance and would run him no risk. There were no combatants left in Hogsmeade, and that was the only thing behind those gates. It was perfect for Grindelwald's purposes.
There was a section of forest near the gates, however, and there Minerva saw an opportunity for them to ambush Grindelwald. She was not certain it would work, though. Grindelwald would certainly have thought of that possibility and his guard would no doubt have been told to be especially wary of an attack from the forest. What they needed to do was overpower that guard quickly. It would have been far easier with more people, but the fact of the matter was that no one could be spared from the defense efforts for the castle. It was she and Albus—mostly just Albus—and she had no idea whether they had the power between them to do this. She certainly did not and Albus would have to prove himself to be a truly amazing sorcerer to pull this off.
They entered the edge of the forest and skirted quickly along the tree line towards the gates. There were few spells flying around here due to the cover of the trees and their progress was much quicker. Minerva knew they were not far from the front gates.
Albus moved ahead of her, careful to keep Minerva shielded behind him. She wished he wouldn't do that. It seemed much more practical for her to be the one in the lead. She was wearing the invisibility cloak. They couldn't see her, yet Albus would not allow her to get ahead of him. Every time she started to pass him, he maneuvered ahead of her. It seemed he really could see through invisibility cloaks.
The front gates became visible, though just barely, through the trees. She and Albus both found a tree well placed near the gates and quickly climbed them. Minerva placed herself on the highest branch that could support her light weight and began staring at Hogwarts' gates. All she and Albus could do now was wait, and so they did.
/E/E/E/E/E/
Minerva shifted her weight for what felt like the thousandth time. They been waiting for about two hours now and the sun had fully risen in the sky. It was beautiful morning. If she were one who believed in sign and forewarning then she might have taken it as a good one. It was a day that seemed like one in which nothing could go wrong.
They'd seen not hide or hair of Grindelwald and she had to admit that her patience was wearing thin. He would come, she knew he would. It was his pattern. It was just a matter of when he would come. Two hours was not actually long to wait, but it seemed that the longer she waited with Albus the more tense she became. She just wanted to get this over with. If something was to go wrong, it may as well happen quickly.
Neither she nor Albus could be certain how much later it was that Grindelwald finally appeared, but he did as they both knew that he would. He appeared right outside Hogwarts statue flanked gates with a swish of a long red cloak with nearly twenty guards around him. Minerva had no conception of how they were to get though to all of those people to Grindelwald.
They both waited quietly as Grindelwald began breaking through the locking charms on the gates, aided some by Albus who, like Minerva, wanted to get Grindelwald in the gates as soon as possible. As soon as Grindelwald was in the gates, Albus was to blast them shut so that Grindelwald could not get away. His being inside the gates was key. They could not have him apparating away. It would defeat the entire purpose of this entire maneuver.
The ancient iron gates groaned open and Grindelwald marched with a smug confidence into Hogwarts' grounds. He thought he'd won. Minerva could see it on his face. The look in his pale grey eyes as they swept over the battlefield said as much. Well, whether or not she and Albus succeeded, he was in for a nasty shock. Some Polish friends of Minerva's father were refugees in England. They'd run into a Ministry official, Tom Retram, another friend, and been told what was happening at Hogwarts. They'd contacted Minerva via floo and she'd sent Fawkes to them with plans to sneak in and ambush Grindelwald's forces. They suddenly had back-up of the best kind: Polish. The Muggles of their country were amazing and the magical people there doubly so.
Grindelwald's army would never know what hit them—but for their distinctive, though small, dragon mounts. Controlling dragons was what the Polish did best.
The gates slammed quickly shut behind Grindelwald. He whirled around behind him with a look of immense confusion of his pale face. His guards looked suddenly far more wary.
From the trees Minerva and Albus sent down as many spells as they could in quick succession. Then, they were down from the trees and sprinting in opposite directions still firing off spells as fast as they could. Minerva was pleasantly surprised to see how many of Grindelwald's guards had gone down. The surprise, in combination with this pincer movement was working better than she had hoped. They were especially confused by Minerva. People did not like fighting what they could not see.
She and Albus pushed together towards the center of the mass of wizards. They scattered outward, a group of them making sure to keep Gindelwald in the middle of them. Albus focused on the group with Grindelwald in its center. Minerva focused her attentions on the other group, trying to keep them from moving to surround Albus. That would be the death of him. She needed to keep his back protected. As long as she did, his rather remarkable shield charm seemed well able to do the rest. She'd never seen anything like that charm. Albus was truly remarkable.
Spells were flying past Minerva. If she hadn't been invisible or quite so nimble she was sure she would have been hit by something—possibly the killing curse. There were certainly enough of those flying around.
There was sound everywhere. Grindelwald's guards were yelling frantically in German, but what it was Minerva could not say. She knew no more German than 'nein' and 'ja'. They could have figured out exactly where she was now standing in the invisibility cloak, picking them quickly off and she would have no idea. She moved again. The more she moved the less likely they were to know where she was.
She caught a flash of brown of brown robes out of the corner of her eye. One of the guards from her little group was making his way towards Albus, his wand raised. She skidded to a halt just behind him and pointed her wand at him.
"Stupefy!"
He stood not a chance. He's been right in front of her. He fell swiftly to the ground, his wand still pointed toward Albus.
The group of wizards she's been corralling an picking off had quickly dispersed when she'd taken her attention from them to deal with the rogue. Now that they were not grouped together there seemed to be a lot more of them. It was all Minerva could do to keep them all from joining their fellows or cursing Albus as he made his way rather impressively through the second group of them toward Grindelwald.
It suddenly occurred to Minerva that it was a very real possibility that this might work.
It was less than a second later that Minerva caught sight of a man rounding upon Albus, a curse on his lips.
"Crucio!"
It was without a thought that Minerva used herself as a barrier between the curse and Albus. It hit her soundly in the ribs and she fell to the ground, body shaking with pain like she'd never even imagined could exist. She twitched helplessly on the ground for a few moments. The hood of the cloak fell away a few inches and Minerva McGonagall's fair face could now be glimpsed lying cheek to ground, bodiless on the ground. She knew not what to do but scream.
Albus rounded on Minerva's attacker. Through the tears that had sprung to her shocked hazel eyes, Minerva could just barely make out his form as he send a cruse hurling at her attacker. Something had changed about the great wizard. She could not see what it was through tear-blurred eyes, but she knew. She could feel it distinctly in the air, even through pain the likes of which she would always remember.
In an instant the man was down. He moved toward Minerva, placing himself protectively between her prone and limp form and the two remaining people near the gates.
The last one of Grindelwald's guards quickly fell under the spell that Albus sent his way. Now it was just Grindelwald and Albus. Minerva watched them both from where she pull herself into a sitting position on the ground.
"Wer . . . Wer bist du?" Grindelwald whimpered. His pale eyes glittered with fear. The man was a craven coward. He could be brave and incite wars and kill great wizards like Tempus McGonagall—but only when he was surrounded by his many guards. Now that he was alone, it was plain to Minerva that he was a coward.
It made her blood boil. Couldn't he be a man? Why did the man who killed someone great—far, far greater than he—like her father have to be such a miserable coward? He was just going to sit there and whimper while Albus captured him. It wasn't right.
"Albus Dumbledore."
It was a calm response. Albus could not have been calmer, but it carried with it immense power. Minerva had never seen something so awesome in her life. Albus Dumbledore must be the greatest sorcerer in the world. No one, especially not the cowering Grindelwald, could match the power that Albus radiated.
This was the change that had come over Albus when he'd rounded on Minerva's attacker. Albus, the great teacher and protector, was a powerful wizard indeed. Grindelwald could quite clearly see that, and he pelted for the closed gates, yelling charms and curses of all sorts at them, trying to get them to open for him.
They would not. Grindelwald beat on them for a moment but they would not budge. He turned on Albus.
"Avada Kedavra!"
With a grace and speed that Minerva never would have expected from a man as old as she knew Albus must be, Albus had removed both of them from the curse's path. The grass burned where the curse had hit.
"Move into the forest, Minerva and stay there."
Knowing that next time Albus might not be able to react as quickly, and that she needed to remove herself from this place so that he could focus completely on Grindelwald, Minerva obey Albus without question.
Despite being a coward—or perhaps because he was a coward—Grindelwald proved himself to be a nuisance to defeat. He would run and curse and do everything he could to evade or kill Albus. He would do anything to get away.
Minerva had never before seen a duel like this. She would have loved to have been able to say it was an epic battle, but it was not—though the Daily Prophet would later make it out to be so. It was simply one very scared and somewhat powerful wizard trying his cowardly best to evade an even more powerful and certainly anything but cowardly wizard. In the end Albus cornered and stunned him.
The war was over. Albus had won it for them. There was great fanfare and the media made Albus out to be a shining hero.
Yet it was not they who crowned him to be the greatest sorcerer in the world. It was Minerva, the girl who'd been with him as he'd defeated the dark wizard who did that. She'd seen it. She knew it to be true, and before she could help herself, she found she'd told the papers—and the world—that very same thing.