"Please forgive me."

In the morning, Albus went as usual to check on Minerva, hoping that she had managed some breakfast and was feeling better, enabling her to speak to him. Just short of the Hospital Wing, Poppy came around a corner, barring his way.

"What is it?" he said abruptly. "What's wrong?"

His heart began to beat faster and his palms were suddenly wet. His panic was obvious and Poppy shook her head in reassurance.

"She is as well as can be expected."

She turned Albus with a light hand under his elbow and began to walk him back down the corridor.

"What's the matter with her?" Albus demanded.

"She doesn't want to see you just yet," Poppy said.

Albus stopped dead and pulled his arm from her grasp.

"Why not?" he demanded.

Poppy hesitated, as though choosing her words carefully.

"Well, it's just … she is convinced that you can't love her anymore. She thinks you're repulsed by her. Minerva …"

The rest of what Poppy was saying was lost as Albus pushed his way rudely past her. The door to the Hospital Wing swung shut with a soft thump behind him and he brushed aside the curtains around Minerva's bed.

Minerva sat in bed and starred out the window. Her hair was flowing softly to her waist covering her battered back. She was wearing a light nightgown around her thin frame. Her skin was still covered in healing bruises and cuts. Albus' eyes filled with tears as he watched her. Nothing in this woman reminded him of his wife. Minerva had always been strong and would fight for her lion cubs even if it was the last thing she would do. Now her eyes were blank and unseeing. Her hands lay in her lap, not doing anything anymore.

Trying not to exhibit any outward sign of disturbance, Albus quietly pulled up a stool and set down near his wife.

"Minerva, my love ... oh, my love ... please come back to me ... I need you."

He spoke so softly it was barely audible. He picked up a pillow from the bed and hugged it to him as though for protection, a substitute for the comfort he could not give his wife. He rested his forehead on it for a moment, gathering strength.

"I won't touch you but you must talk to me."

Albus waited for several minutes while Minerva stared at the window, lying in bed unmoving with her shoulders hunched defensively. At last she sighed and sat up, moving slowly and painfully, swinging her legs over the edge of the bed. But as soon as she turned towards her husband, Albus became aware that she didn't want to talk. She was trying to get away from him, trying to run, trying to hide from memories and from him. It was clear that she was not yet ready to talk and to face the inevitable.

"Minerva, please don't run away! I'm not here to hurt you more but I'm here to help. Minerva? Minerva! HELP!! I need help!!! Poppy!!"

Albus nearly didn't make it in time to jump up, round the bed and catch his falling wife. Her face was deadly white and her eyes and turned up wards and into her head, leaving her unconscious and breathing shallowly.

Poppy came running through the hospital wing, closely followed by Severus and Filius Flitwick.

"What is it, Albus? Oh no, Minerva! What happened to her? Why is she up?"

Within seconds Poppy had crossed the room and was standing next to Albus, bending over Minerva with a worried expression.

Her wand was a blur in the air, that fast she wielded it, casting diagnosis spells.

"Oh no, we managed to reduce fever last night and dam in the blood poisoning but her womb is still infected. I'm afraid we have two remove it to save the life. Would you consent a hysterectomy?"

Carefully she cast a sidelong glance over to Albus. He was stunned, shocked to the very root of his being. What would Minerva say late on when she discovered that her uterus was gone? He remembered clearly one time when one of their muggle friends had been diagnosed with cancer. Her 'doctors' as removed her uterus to save her live and later at home she had complained to Minerva that now she wasn't a real woman anymore. Would Minerva feel the same way? Would she ever be able to forgive him?

Poppy interrupted his dark thoughts, gently placing her hand on his arm.

"I need your permission to remove the uterus, Albus."

Turning to Poppy, he said quietly:

"You have my permission to do whatever is necessary to care for my wife."

Poppy looked questioningly at Albus.

"Will you stay with her?"

Albus nodded silently and with tears in his eyes. Nothing and no one could pry him away from his beloved Minerva. 'Minerva, please forgive me', he prayed in desperation.

Minerva was quickly placed under anesthesia and Poppy prepared herself for the operation.

Albus just stared at Minerva's face, stroking it gently and trying to ignore the procedure.

"I love you" ,he whispered over and over.

Hours later, Albus had lost all feeling for time, the operation was over and Poppy walked up to him again, after cleaning herself from her friend's blood.

"Albus? We stopped the bleeding and we saved Mina. She will need to recover for a few weeks. I'm sorry for what had to be done. I wish there had been another solution." Poppy looked to the floor, forlorn and feeling terrible for the decision she had made. "Minerva will be awake from the anesthesia in a few hours."

"Thank you … For everything, Poppy."

A./N.: I'm so sorry it took me so long to update but I'm still in college and had two stressfull weeks. Please review!