Chapter Four

Minerva and Melanie sat on the grass outside on a thick blanket. The prisoners didn't seem to mind the cold as much as the Aurors. Melanie reasoned it was the freedom over the air around them that made them all want to stay outside as long as possible.

The Transfiguration prodigy had taken an immediate liking to one of Melanie's teammates, the tall and muscular, Kingsley Shacklebolt. The dark skinned Auror was only a few year out of Hogwarts and remembered Minerva as the shy little First Year from the back of his NEWT Transfiguration class. He was much more comfortable around the silent girl and often made her smile.

"May I ask you something?" Melanie said, leaning over to Lewis. They sat a little farther away from Minerva and Kingsley with a handful of the others on the blanket.

The man looked up from the game and inclined his head. "Only if I may ask one in return," he said calmly.

Melanie smirked and nodded. "That's fair," she agreed. "Why Kitten?"

The name brought a smile to Lewis' lips. He stretched slightly in the grass and turned to face the young Auror.

"The first night in the cell, after they threw her in with the lot of us, she moved back to the corner of the cell. It was dark and freezing in there. I can still smell the death burnt into the walls. She curled up in the corner of the cell, away from the rest of us. We normally sought comfort in a group, harder to pick us off, I guess. She didn't seem comfortable with the big pile of bodies. She jus' stayed in the corner, to settle herself I think. To think maybe.

"Halfway through the night, there was a quiet pop that woke me up. I looked up and 'stead of the little girl, there was baby cat. Since she wouldn't tell us her name, I called her Kitten. Fitting I suppos' at the time. After that, it jus' kind of stuck."

Melanie nodded, committing every part of the story to her memory.

"When can we go home?"

Melanie's eyebrow puckered and her heart sank at the question. She felt Lewis' eyes on her as she struggled to deliver the bad news.

"We have orders from the Minister of Magic that we have to hold down the fort, no one gets in or out of the perimeters until we've gone through all of the prison and finish talking to the Blackcoats we captured. We want to be able to care for the injured before we take anyone home. The press has been all over the event and we're not letting anything slip until we know all the details of the entire operation. Moody thinks we can use the information we find here to help get a location on Grindelwald and hopefully defeat him."

Lewis nodded dejectedly and fingered the gauze around his arm. "Got yeh," he said quietly. "Can't be good though, for her I mean, to stay here without her friends and family."

Melanie's eyes found Minerva, her pale slender hand moving one of her black knights up the board, taking out Kingsley's pawn.

"It's not good for any of you, but there's nothing we can do about it at the moment. I wish I could tell you something else. Where…where will you go? After you're released I mean?"

The man gave a heavy sigh.

"To make peace with my wife. I have friends from school in the States that I can stay with before I can get back on my feet. Will Kitten go back to her family?"

Melanie shook her head. "Back to Hogwarts I think. Her family's in Scotland. I don't know if they know about…" she trailed off. "Dumbledore will know what's best for her. He'll take care of her.

"Yeah," he said with a tone Melanie didn't quite recognize. "I'm sure he will."

Just as the two were moving to rejoin the group watching the chess game, the auburn hair professor they were just discussing walked into view.

"Kingsley, m'boy, you're not honestly playing against Minerva, are you? She'll take you for all you're worth within minutes," Dumbledore said, coming to sit on the ground next to his student.

She smiled up at him and he gave her a gentle curve of his lips in return.

"I'm afraid so, sir," Shacklebolt said with a concentrated frown on his lips. "I should have thought this through before challenging your mentee shouldn't I? I remember you used to be quite the chess player yourself."

Dumbledore inclined his head slightly. "I'm afraid, Miss McGonagall has far surpassed her teacher in this area. Ooh, she's got you in quite the trap doesn't she?"

"Eer, bishop to D4?" Kingsley said hesitantly.

Minerva eyes sparked slightly and her hand slipped from petting the grass around her to her black queen, which made short work of Kingsley's king, leaving it in a pile of rubble on the square. The rest of the black pieces erupted in an animated hurrah.

"Ouch Shacklebolt, that was ugly," Melanie quipped, laughing at the glare her teammate sent her across the blanket. Dumbledore smiled at the encounter.

"Checkmate."

Melanie's mouth sagged.

The rest of those on the blanket went silent and Minerva looked up from the chess board innocently. Dumbledore smiled broadly and squeezed her hand gently.

"Well done, Minerva."

"Mister Caverly, this is the lot of them."

The group looked up to see Alastor Moody, ragged at ever, standing next to a well-dressed man with navy robes and a M ministry pin next to his pocket.

He had close cropped blonde hair with a few strands of gray in his military cut and sharp brown eyes with a steely stare that made Melanie uncomfortable.

"This Albus Dumbledore, the Junior Auroring Squad, and Minerva McGonagall. Dumbledore, this is Michael Caverly, the Secretary to the Minster of Magic. He's here to conduct some interviews about the eradication of Nurmengard."

Caverly extended a hand towards the Transfiguration professor. "Dumbledore, pleasure to finally meet you. I wish it was under different circumstances."

"And you, Mister Caverly."

The man turned towards Minerva and knelt down to extend his calloused hand towards her. There was a coldness in his gaze towards her.

"Miss McGonagall, it's truly a gift to meet you. I've heard quite a lot about you."

Melanie leaned forward, waiting for the raven hair girl to say something else, but her lips gently closed and the wild fear at the sight of him seemed to quiet. She shook the man's hand timidly before folding her arm around her torso.

Dumbledore seemed to notice her discomfort and rose to his feet. "Well let's get that interview done then, shall we, Mister Caverly?"

"Of course, after you, professor. Good to meet you Miss McGonagall, Aurors. Keep up the good work."