Her sin – 6 – Resisting the truth…
He looked around. Minerva seemed to have disappeared, until a tabby cat jumped on the desk of the other side of the room.
"I'm afraid it's time to tell the truth, Kitten…" he said to the cat.
The animal jumped down and Minerva appeared standing behind Albus, gazing the man laying on the floor.
"I swear I have no idea what he was doing in here…" she told.
"Isn't him the father?"
"No! I've never been involved with Mr. Smith" she declared.
"Then why was he trying to attack you in the middle of the night"
"I – have – no – idea" she said slowly "How the hell do I have to tell it to make you understand it? I listened to a noise, I turned back and he was there…"
"Didn't you close the door?" he wondered.
"Of course I did! Like every night I locked it with my… Oh my god!" she suddenly let her body fell on the bed.
"What is it?"
"Nothing… I… You should leave, I'd like to rest…" she said with trembling voice.
"What about him?" he pointed the unconcious body on the floor.
"You're the headmaster... Do whatever you have to do in these cases…"
"But I came to talk with you"
"There's nothing to talk about, Albus… Even less, now… Good night"
Nobody used to come into the pub so early in the morning, that's why Aberforth Dumbledore knew exactly who his visitor was before seeing his face.
"What's on, brother?" he asked "Don't you have any important meeting today?"
"I did… but I canceled it…" told Albus sitting on the bar.
"What's the matter? Is it because of your green-eyed princess again? Did she get too upset because you stood her up?"
"I never did that!" Albus exclaimed.
"Of course you did, yesterday… don't you remember?"
"I'm not sure… Tell me, please…" the Headmaster asked confused.
"She came here alone, I found it weird, so I asked… She told me you'd send her a note to meet her in here at six o'clock… She was waiting for a long time, but you never came… When she got tired everybody had left, it was dark, so I walked her to the end of the town… She's nice… I can't understand how she can love you so much…"
"Did she say that to you?"
"Not with these words, but by the way she talked about you, obviously she'd die for you…"
"Abe, let's do an effort, alright? Who was in here when she came?"
"I don't know…"
"Please…" Albus begged.
"There was a woman… near the door… a slut, I'd swear… There were two men too… they left right when she told me she was going to leave…"
"Who were those men?"
"I couldn't tell… they kept their faces hidden… you know the kind of wizards who come in here… Though… one of them… I saw his face when I served them… he comes usually… I think he works in the school…"
"A young man? Brown haired, green eyes…"
"Sure. That's him"
"He tried to attack her tonight in the castle…"
"For Merlin's sake! Is she alright?"
"She is… but…" Albus stood up and stepped to the door.
"Hey brother, wait, what's on your mind?!" asked Aberforth following his older brother after close the pub.
"He followed her, surely he sent her the note… maybe he threatened her somehow to make her change her mind about the wedding…"
"What wedding? What are talking about?"
"It's a long story… but if she didn't lie me… if he isn't the father, then he was working for someone else, what means she still being in danger!"
"Whose father?" asked Aberforth running behind his brother, confused.
They reached the school when everybody was having lunch in the Great Hall, Albus went in bravely and looked directly to the empty chair of the Transfiguration teacher. Ignoring the whispers of the students and teachers he had frightened with his entrance, he went back to the school hall and continued his way to the Gryffindor tower, where her private rooms were.
He didn't knock the door, but was neither able to come in, it was lock with a spell.
"Minerva! Minerva if you're inside, please, open the door" he asked "Minerva McGonagall, if you don't open this door immediately I'm going to knock it down!"
"You should calm down, brother…" said Aberforth, but before he'd finished the sentence Albus throw a spell to the door that not just destroyed it, but also made a big hole on the wall.
"Have you became crazy?!" exclaimed Minerva from the bottom of the room "You could have killed me!"
"Are you leaving somewhere?" asked Albus calmly, staring at the opened suitcase on the bed that Minerva was trying to hide with her thin body.
"I…" her voice trembled.
"You can't run away alone… he's tried to attack you in the school… what if he finds you and I'm not there to help you?"
"It's the only I can do… You could help me because that poor young man was just one of his servants… but if he comes himself… Oh Albus, I've seen what he's able to do… he would kill you…" she told among her sobs.
"How can you be so sure? Who's this wizard that scares you so much, Kitten?" he wondered embracing her and caressing her hair sweetly.
She shook her head nervously and moved away from his embrace.
"Minerva, you told me you liked my brother 'cause you felt saved being with him… Why don't you trust him? If you really don't want to come back with that wizard, you need help to keep him away from you…" Aberforth said "Let us help you…"
"…Ryddle…" she muttered.
"Tom Ryddle?" asked Albus and she nodded "He can't be… No! I can't believe you've been with…" Albus resisted believing the truth, while Minerva broke down crying harder and Aberforth tried to calm her not really understanding the situation.
TO BE CONTINUED…