Chapter Three
Melanie split her time between sitting with Minerva and helping her fellow Aurors go through the rest of Grindelwald's prison, looking for files, traps, and clues that may lead them to where the Blackcoats and Grindelwald were hiding.
She had spent another dozen fruitless hour trying to get Minerva to open up to her before coming outside for some air and running into Albus Dumbledore.
"Good morning, Auror Ramirez. How are you this fine morning," the red haired Professor said with a polite smile.
"I, er—good. How are you, sir?"
"Quite well, thank you. Just some curse breaking over at the prison, but alas, no success," he said lightly before giving her another smile and walking towards Moody's tent.
"Professor, can I ask you something?" she called after him. He turned half way and walked back to her. Dumbledore nodded and folded his hands behind his back, pensively. "Of course. Let us walk around the edge of the camp, yes?"
She swallowed and nodded. The handsome and intelligent professor always made her flustered. She matched his stride as they walked the edge of the encampment and forest. Dozens of tents were set up in a semi-circle around the prison. Some of the survivors were sitting out with the Aurors on blankets in the grass, playing chess and other games or simply relaxing in the sun.
"Who is she, sir?"
He smiled quietly, almost to himself.
"Her name is Minerva."
A nervous giggle escaped Melanie. "Yes, I know her name sir, but who is she. I can't get her to talk to me, she refuses to write anything down, let alone open up. I … I don't know what to do to help her."
Albus stroked his beard warily. "Minerva is perhaps the most wildly intelligent, passionate, brave person I have ever met. Even so she is intensely private. You help her by being a reoccurring presence, something that is always present and is quietly accepting."
"You seem like you know her well, professor."
Dumbledore's cheeks flushed and he smiled slightly. "Minerva and I are very close," he responded diplomatically. Melanie smirked at his embarrassment. She decided not to push her luck.
"She's not from England," she said, not really questioning it.
Dumbledore shook his head. "Minerva's family lives in Caithness, on the coast of Scotland."
"Do they know where she is?"
Dumbledore gave a bitter laugh. "I doubt it. I unfortunately know from experience Minerva's family wouldn't be exactly upset if she failed to show up during the summers anymore."
Melanie frowned and Dumbledore sighed and explained. "Her parents had her committed to an institution in Scotland at age eight because they thought she was possessed; her magic frightened them into becoming paranoid and destructive. When she came to Hogwarts she flourished. She is the most well-known and powerful Transfiguration prodigy since myself. I believe she will soon surpass my skills at her age. But the happiness was short lived; Grindelwald came and began to target Muggleborns. Minerva is young, beautiful, and powerful and she is close to me. She didn't even stand a chance."
"How did the Blackcoats get their hands on her?" Melanie asked.
Dumbledore bent down to pick up a smooth stone from the edge of the forest line and threw it swiftly towards the tree line. "We continued to let the children go into Hogsmeade under the impression that the Aurors and the barriers would hold off any backlash from the Blackcoats. They came anyways and were trying to bait a handful of the younger children, mostly third year Muggleborns who hadn't been to the town before. Minerva and her friends stepped in to help and several of the men recognized Minerva. There was a struggle and two of the Blackcoats ended up dead, but they took her anyways."
"She's just a little kid," Melanie breathed.
"So are you," Dumbledore said quietly.
Melanie didn't answer as they began to walk back towards the camp tents. The new information about the girl in her tent swirled around in her mind, opening up questions that she wasn't sure she wanted answered.
"Kitten? KITTEN?"
The man was thin and tall long scars clawed down his face. He wore a ratty tee shirt with long oversized pant. His arm was wrapped in a sling and an eye patch covered his left eye. His hair was chestnut and long with knots. Dumbledore and Melanie ran over to the three nurses who were trying to hold him back and sedate him, but Dumbledore waved them off.
"Steady, m'boy, can you tell me what's wrong? What's your name?"
"'t's Lewis," he said distractedly. "I need to find Kitten. You need to help me, please we have to get her."
"Easy, easy. Who are you looking for?" Dumbledore eased the man down on to the ground with a calm, but concerned look. His aura seemed to leak with calm and openness. The man, maybe in his mid-twenties took to it like a starved lion.
The man wilted against the tree stump and ran his ragged shirt sleeve over his eyes. He looked around wildly and for a moment Melanie wondered if he even knew where he was. Then he turned around and focused on Dumbledore's face.
"Kitten, you have to find her," he said clearly. "Dark, dark hair. Little faerie of a girl. Eyes, big green eyes." His hands shook. "You have to go back and find her. Macnair was looking for her," he breathed horror struck.
Dumbledore straightened. "Wallace Macnair, Grindelwald's Deputy?" he said, his voice no longer as calm. His blue eyes darkened.
"He … bothered her," Lewis said with a scowl. "And then he came for her and the two just disappeared, gone, poof. But she's not dead. They couldn't kill her," he gave a nervous giggle, "she just wouldn't die. He knew she was important like that." The man was moving back into hysteria quickly. Dumbledore knelt before him and place two sturdy hands on his shoulder.
"I need you to stay with me, Lewis, can you do that?" he said carefully.
"Kitten," he repeated again weakly.
"He's looking for Minerva," Melanie said, her tongue thick in her mouth. The man made the young Auror skittish.
"Minerva?" the man repeated, his eyes wide. "You mean you've seen her?"
"She's all right, Mister Lewis," Melanie said. "They've just been patching her up," she said, trying to give the man some peace.
"I have to see her," he said, trying to move to his feet, but Dumbledore stopped him.
"I don't think that's a good idea," Dumbledore said, pushing on his good shoulder to indicate for him to sit back down. "She's still not out of the woods yet and we don't want to overexcite her. How do you know Minerva?"
"She saved the lot of us," he said quietly. He looked out towards the other survivors in the grass. "In the first few weeks she kept us all sane. Never would tell us her name, guess she realized they knew how important she was and knew the rest of us weren't as strong as she was." He gave a bitter laugh. "We'd tell them anything thing they wanted to hear to make it all just stop."
There was a pause before, "Why were you imprisoned?" Melanie asked quietly.
Lewis looked up at her. His eyes were dark and empty. "After I left school, I went back to my village. I was Muggleborn and attended Salem in America. When I returned home before going to work for the Ministry, I fell in love with a Muggle girl I had known from my primary school days. Karen." His voice turned soft. "The Blackcoats found out and dealt with me and my wife."
"I'm sorry," Dumbledore said gravely.
He chuckled bitterly and pulled up some grass at his feet in despair. "You never think you'll make it out of a place like that. There's nothing but death there. Death and darkness. Then she showed up. Something about her. I don't know if it was her eyes or youth. Something about her gave us all hope."
Albus smiled sadly at the man's assessment of his mentee. Lewis turned his face back up towards Dumbledore.
"You're the one she was waiting for."
Melanie wrinkled her nose confused and turned to look at Dumbledore. He however didn't look confused. His eyes intensified and his hand sagged on the man's shoulder.
"She knew you would come for her. No matter what, we tried to convince her no to keep that kind of false hope. I thought it was just 'cause she was a kid. You know how naïve they can be. But she wasn't wrong. You came for her."
"Not fast enough," Dumbledore whispered desolately.
*The Great War 1944*
Melanie and Albus spent the rest of the day talking to the other prisoners, gathering intelligence about Minerva from the different survivors. All the survivors told the same sad little story. When they returned to the tent, Dumbledore moved to sit with Minerva, whispering in her ear and holding her hand sadly, but lovingly for a long time.
Melanie left them to their privacy and went to brief Moody on the news she had discovered. When she came back to the tent, Minerva was alone, sitting up on the bed, reading through some of the textbooks they had found in the prison.
Some of the older Aurors who seemed to have a soft spot for the girl, were scoping through the prison when they found some of the smallest clothes for her to wear. Though they were still largely gaping off her little body, they looked better than the one large shirt she had been wearing like a dress the last week.
"Hey," Melanie said with an awkward smile. She perched lightly on the edge of the bed. "I know I have no reason to be here and I know you know why Moody's wants someone with you all the time. You're much, much smarter than he gives you credit for. I just want to be honest with you. I'm not going to make you do anything you don't want to.
"We've been talking to some of the other survivors; the things you did for them, that hope that you gave them, you deserve so much more than being used as a pawn. If you want to talk, then we can talk about anything you want. If not then we can just sit around or play chess, whatever makes you feel better. Perhaps we can even be friends."
The offer for friendship was there and Minerva gave Melanie a small smile and slipped her hand into Melanie's, accepting it.