A/N: I just need the time to get my ideas on paper.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter

Minerva's eyes peeled apart, only to be resealed by painfully strong beams of light. She recoiled to find she was supported by copious soft pillows. Instantly a chorus of eager voice broke out.

"Lass? Juno! Get in here!"

"Min! Mighty Morgana, finally!"

"Miss McGonagall, please don't move!"

"Healer, I'll get her potions ready."

In typical McGonagall fashion, Minerva attempted to yell at everyone, telling them to piss off because her head hurt. But all she managed to get out was a whimpered:

"My head!"

"Out, everyone, out!" said a commanding voice, "Healer In Training Pomfrey and I will check her over, and then you may come back in the room, quietly."

"Albus…" the word croaked over the vast desert of her cotton textured vocal passages. And the only return on her effort was complete silence. She opened her mouth to run the vocal marathon yet again, but she was cut down in her efforts.

"Shhhh, Ms. McGonagall," the Healer admonished. Minerva could hear the hum of both diagnostic and healing spells. While these sounds were comforting, Minerva could not help but flinch as she remembered the last time spells were cast on her, "Ms. McGonagall, you must lie still. You are alive, but only just. It is essential that you not waste your energy. Pomfrey, pass me that potion please."

After choking down her potion, Minerva gasped, "Poppy?" Minerva's eyes flew up faster than twin white windowshades. The room appeared less glaring with the prospect of a friendly, familiar face.

"I'm here, Minerva! Please, do as Healer Doughan asks and save your energy." Her voice sounded incredibly tense. Minerva began to wonder exactly how bad her injuries were. "You're very lucky to be alive." This last part sounded as a slightly relieved whisper.

"Where is Albus?" but whatever potion they had given her was working. She could all ready feel that she was sinking. She tried to resist but every muscle in her body had all ready given up the fight.

Her next awakening was not nearly as fuzzy. A tray had been dropped outside the door. She heard shocked voices.

"Hello?" Minerva was able to sit up this time. The moment her body relinquished the pillow she felt a smoldering soreness in every nook of her body. Poppy scuttled in as if she had just skirted a tussle. The spells seemed to return satisfactory measurements this time.

"It looks like you might be ready to leave the bed by the end of the week!" She beamed

"How long was I knocked out, Poppy?"

"Overall? Two weeks. You regained consciousness periodically but you were in too much pain to comprehend things. It took quite a while to find a counter curse for some of the things they did to you. I was observing for most of the process once the damage was repaired, your parents insisted we bring you up to your family manor to finish treatment and let you mend." Her hold Hogwarts friend provided. She had the same manner as she did when they were gossiping about a fellow Hogwarts student. But this time, it frightened Minerva to realize she was in bad enough shape to be the center of this gossip.

"Can I see my family?" Minerva secretly wanted to know the nature of the tussle outside, but sensed something was being kept from her intentionally.

"I'll bring them in for you," And she seemed a bit nervous to set foot outside the door.

A moment later, Apollo, Juno, and Neptune all entered, looking flushed as though recently upset. Minerva carefully embraced each of them before asking with quavering voice, "Where is Albus?"

And the room exploded, Neptune began to say something. Apollo grabbed him, placed a silencing charm on him, and dragged him from the room. Juno threw up her hands and started pacing. As the boys ran out, Poppy and Healer Doughan slipped back in. Minerva could see they were preparing to put her under again.

"No!" She roared. This time a protective shield cracked around the edge of the bed and threw the Healers on their backs. "I need to know what happened, even if I am weak"

Helplessly, Juno looked to the healers who were picking themselves up off the floor. Even wandless and severely weakened, Minerva was too much for them to tackle. Lady McGongall took a deep breath and dove into the freezing.

"The battle was brief, we far outnumbered their forces. There were few fatalities on our side. Your brother broke his arm, but it has been mended. But Albus… Darling, Albus went straight to Grindelwald. The minute he reached him, that terrible wizard apparated him away, we know not where. Hitler has fallen, Germany surrendered to the Muggle Prime Minister. But, my dearest girl, no one has seen Albus in two weeks. The Daily Prophet just released a story claiming that he has been given up for dead." She had inched closer to the bed, and by the time she finished her explanation, Minerva had lowered her defenses around the bed. Juno wrapped herself around her daughter, consoling her.

But Minerva refused to take the proffered pity. "It's all right. I know he is alive, I can feel him." She insisted stubbornly Juno looked at her worriedly. "Albus taught me a form of Legilimency where we can kind of embrace each other with our minds. I don't know what he's thinking necessarily but I can tell you he is most definitely alive and well." Juno gave a deeply disturbed look to the healers. They all swiftly stood to leave the room. The whispered words "spell damage" "permanent" and "denial" could be heard.

A great frustration lit in the back of Minerva's mind at that moment. This frustration would only continue to build as Minerva realized, no one was going to believe her.

*!*!*!*

Albus had spent two weeks as Gellert's prisoner. At first, he had dueled him with wands, and then with fists once his wand was taken. But soone he was too badly injured to continue. He was given free rign of this expansive palace. They were the only wizard occupants. House elves brought him any luxury he requested, but never a weapon of attack. He was even certain a house elf was set to follow him to prevent him from harming himself.

Truth told, Grindelwald's final stronghold was breathtaking. The stone was all bewitched to look and feel like ebony marble. Albus could see that it was designed exactly for him. There was a reading room of lavish purple silk, a ten-pin alley, a concert room with a nonet of enchanted instruments, an entire pantry of replenishing sweets, a room enchanted to look like the part of the world Albs wanted to see at that moment, and a library so vast Albus tired walking the width of it. Under any other circumstances, this would have been his ideal retreat, even still he was flattered and alarmed by the care put into its design. Gellert still very clearly had feelings for him.

But Albus' host had vanished after their initial bought. Albus left him alone while his wounds mended. He was desperate for information about the outside world, and he also wanted to find out about Minerva. However, and Albus realized this periodically in his moments of clarity, this particular stronghold was enchanted to make its inhabitants forget the things outside its walls. Day by day, Abus forgot about Hogwarts, his students, the Ministry, even the war. But a little nudge in the back of his mind kept reminding him of Minerva. When he found his keeper he felt the need to ask him something, but could never remember what. He simply asked about Minerva to receive a rueful smile in return. And then Albus would realize Gellert was biding his time until Albus forgot everything. He would fight back but to no avail. The world outside these lavish halls grew smaller and smaller. But the insistent murmur in the back of his head forced him to remember Minerva.

And finally he started talking to Grindelwald again. The two men confided in each other as they had back in Godric's Hollow. And completely forgetting why they were there in the first place, and being relieved of the memory of Grindelwald atrocities, Dumbledore began to enjoy the company of his former love.

A/N: Keep sticking around! The ride only gets crazier!