Rookwood in the Library with the Truth

Minerva wandered around the empty halls of the Malfoy Manor. Her room was on the second floor, along with the other guest bedrooms. She assumed that the master bedroom and Draco's own room were on the third floor since most people did not venture up that way. Even then, most of the house guests remained on the first floor where the dining hall and kitchen were. There was even a lavish sitting room where the men liked to take their drinks and smoke. Only when a bed was needed did any Death Eater take the stairs to the upper floors.

It was on the first floor that she found large wooden doors with antique engravings. A true smile found her lips for the first time since she entered the Manor. She knew it had to be in this huge mansion somewhere and had been searching for it all morning: the library. Every pureblood family valued literature, whether they actually read the books or not and the library was a staple room in a Manor of this size and age.

Sure enough, when she turned the solid gold handle, she revealed a large open room filled with shelves and shelves of leather bound books. It was a circular room, two floors, with large windows that stretched to the ceiling. They looked out to the acreage that made up the back half of the estate. The sun was shining in, making the elaborate decorations in the room glitter in the rays of light. A number of couches and love seats were spread throughout the enormous room to make it comfortable. She could not see up the elegant winding staircase, but she assumed the second floor looked remarkably like the first.

Marveling at the library's beauty for a moment, she allowed herself to push her current predicament to the back of her mind. Minerva walked between the rows, running her fingers along the bindings of the books. There was no dust on them, so either the Malfoy family loved to read or the house elves were very good at their job. While the latter was most likely true, Minerva knew enough about the family to assume they had spent a fair amount of time in this room.

Someone, at some point in the history of the Manor, had organized the books into various categories, and in each category, they were alphabetical. She was glad, for it made finding something she would enjoy easier. In the section with a gold plaque labeled Transfiguration she found volumes that she had used to write her thesis decades ago when she had been studying under the Transfiguration Mistress of the time, Griselda Marchbanks. She also noticed one of the books she co-authored back in the late fifties when she began working at Hogwarts. Of course, she had all of these books in her own possession, but it was a familiarity that she needed at the moment.

Just as she was about to make a selection, she heard the heavy doors open for the second time that morning. She was in the middle of the room, hidden by the large bookshelves so she had to step over to one of the sides to see who had entered.

Augustus Rookwood's hair was nearly gray and he walked with a cane, much like the one Lucius Malfoy was known to carry. Only, the seventy year old man was leaning on it as a crutch to a bad knee. His hair was slicked back and even in his older age, one could make out the handsome man he had been in his youth.

"I thought I may find you in here," he said when he caught sight of Minerva standing near the windows. "Never could keep you away from the library."

"Here to mock me, Augustus?" Seeing that he was not a threat to her, she moved back to select a book. She tried to pretend to be paying more attention to the titles, but her curiosity was certainly piqued.

"Not at. Rather to apologize for my rude behavior at dinner the other night." He walked smoothly to across the room to the windows where he sat on one of the quilted window seats. Straight-backed, he watched her as she made her selection. It was a long minute before Minerva replied.

"You had every reason to question me."

"Yes, well, in any case, I do apologize." Augustus' jaw was firm, but his face was not harsh.

"Is that why you are here, to question me again?"

The other man actually let out a chuckle. "I don't have long enough left in my life to try to figure out what is going on in your head. I shall leave that to Tom." Minerva raised her eyebrow at the use of the Dark Lord's first name.

"You dare speak his name?" The quip was not missed and the smile stayed on his face.

"Only in private. I, like you, hold a certain importance to him. If any of the others heard us speaking, they would probably die of shock." Augustus fiddled with his cane and watched her carefully. Minerva sat down beside him, which seemed to make him uncomfortable because he pulled himself to his feet and faced the glass, staring at the green lawn.

"The view is nice," murmured Minerva. She was still confused about why he had come in to talk to her in the first place.

The senior Death Eater sighed deeply before speaking so quietly that she had a hard time hearing him. "I don't care whose side you are fighting for, Minerva. I don't care where your loyalties lie. I don't even care who wins this bloody war."

"Oh?" The book was forgotten on the window seat as she rose slowly at his words. She knew the risk he was taking by talking to her, but she needed to know what he needed to say.

"I am no longer a fool." His words were bitter. "I placed my trust in him too, you know."

"I know," she replied gently.

"I lost everything." The statement seemed to be a revelation to himself. Minerva closed her eyes at her own realization.

"Felicity." She barely choked out the name.

"She was my only family. Even though she was older, I felt like I needed to protect her." Both of them stood silently side by side as Augustus searched for his voice. "She was so young and beautiful. So innocent. And those kids. Two wonderful girls." There were tears in his eyes.

"She was a wonderful mother to Elizabeth and Eva," she reassured.

"I was a terrible brother and uncle. I should have protected them. If I could have convinced her to leave him, then Tom wouldn't have…"

"You know Felicity would have never abandoned Jonathon. She loved him." Tenderly, she reached over to place a comforting hand on his shoulder. It pained her to feel it shaking with emotion.

"But it would have saved her life." He turned to her. "I should have saved her life. But I was too weak."

"I couldn't help her either." Her words went unheard.

"She died almost forty years ago now. Elizabeth would have been forty-eight this month. Eva, forty-four. They should have had children of their own. Felicity and Jonathon should have been enjoying their grandchildren." His eyes were dark with years of pain. "I was a coward."

"Augustus-"

"I am no longer a coward. I know what Tom is capable of." His dark brown eyes met her green ones with a final admission of truth. "And it terrifies me."

He left her with those last words, as unsettling as they were, Minerva understood perfectly. Augustus Rookwood made his choice as a child to befriend Tom Riddle. As a young man, he chose to follow the allure of Lord Voldemort. Now, as a grown man, watching himself age, he saw the error of his ways. However, there was nothing he could do about it. While Minerva could chose to fight for the side her heart was on, Augustus had to live with the choice he made all those years ago. Minerva also knew, as a tribute to Felicity's memory, that Augustus would not stand in the way of any of her plans.

She heard the door close behind him and sat back down on the window seat. She ran her hands over the cover of the book she had picked up. As she was about to open it to begin reading, she heard voices outside the door.

"My, Lord." Augustus had just left, so he was the one speaking. The other was unmistakable.

"Augustus. I did not know you were going to be here today."

"I felt like dropping by. I had…" Minerva's heart stopped at his hesitation. "…business to attend to."

"Have you seen-" Both Augustus and Minerva knew what he was about to ask.

"She was my business here today. I wanted to make sure she was here for the right reasons."

"And what did you find?"

"I believe her heart is finally in the right place." There was a slight pause again and Minerva was sure she was going to have a heart attack. "All I have to say, Tom, is if she is fooling us, then she deserves a medal, because she seems genuinely sorry for leaving you. She knows her place."

"Good." She could hear the gloating pride in Voldemort's voice. She closed her eyes, dreading the next movement on the other side of the door. The door opened again and she almost groaned as she heard his footsteps drawing nearer.

"Hello, Tom," she said with a sigh. Stretching her legs out on the seat, she placed the book in her lab and waited for him to find her.

"Ever so perceptive." He rounded the nearest bookshelf with a wicked smile on his face. The long cloak drug along the expensive carpet of the floor. "And while reading. You must be a teacher to multitask so well."

"I was. Once upon a time." A thought crossed her mind as he looked at her, lying there under the light of the morning sun, if she could still make him want her. She was certain that Tom Riddle had been sexually attracted to her, but did Lord Voldemort have such feelings? When they had sex, whether it be passionate love or even pouring their anger into sex after a fight, she could feel his desire and his need for her. Could she still evoke such emotions from him?

"Is that so?" His eyes traveled from her toes up her legs to her hips and breasts to the calm expression on her face. "When were you fired?"

"When the man who hired me died," she replied simply, taken aback by his teasing tone. She had played this game with many people over the years, but this was different. And yet, for a split second, it could have been the same. As if she were twenty years old talking to her husband.

"And if the new Headmaster rehired you?"

"What?" She stared blankly back at him.

"You will remain at Hogwarts as the Transfiguration Professor," said the Dark Lord.

"I thought I was going to be here…"

"I thought it would be what you wanted." There was no smirk or mocking tone. He was completely serious. "You will return to Hogwarts with Severus at the start of term."

It was a command. She was not supposed to argue. But how could she? She did want to return to Hogwarts, to protect her students; to keep her children safe. As Minerva watched him turn and leave the library, she cursed herself. He always had the upper hand; always in control of her. He knew her inside and out and perhaps, even after all these years, better than she knew herself. In one short, five-minute conversation, he had turned the tables on her and manipulated the hell out of her.

As aggravating as it was, she knew that fighting him was the worst possible course of action. So instead, the proud Gryffindor chained her temper to keep fighting among the snakes. There was a price to be paid and if she wanted to make sure everything went as planned, then she would pay it, no matter how high.

Over a hundred miles away, Harry, Ron, and Hermione sat on the floor of Ron's room at the Burrow. Ginny had just retired to bed and Hermione had feigned an upset stomach to excuse herself from the room they were sharing. She was currently fiddling nervously with a beaded bag in her lap. Ron kept yawning, but was doing his best to pay attention.

"There is no way I can go back to Hogwarts," said Harry slowly. Ron did not seem to mind the thought, but Hermione briefly shut her eyes at the thought. "So if you are going to insist on going with-"

"Come on mate! Would you stop trying to convince us we shouldn't go with you?" Ron crossed his arms in frustration.

"And we already have worked out the details. Ron has spattergroit and I moved to Australia for my safety. Stop being ridiculous."

"I'm not being ridiculous, I'm just trying to make you realize that I don't exactly…" Harry trailed off, swallowing hard.

"Know what you're doing?" finished Hermione tenderly. Reaching across their little triangle, she patted his knee. "We may not have much to go on, but if we work together we can-"

"We can what, Hermione?" Harry put his head in his hands in aggravation. "We have a fake Horcruxes and only a description of the others. We have nowhere to start."

"Yeah, but we can-"

"No, Ron. No." Harry jumped up and climbed over the extra bed in Ron's room to the door.

"Where are you going?" His question went to deaf ears as Harry slammed the door behind him. "He's going to wake up the whole bloody house."

"He's just under a lot of pressure, that's all," said Hermione. The two sat awkwardly for a moment.

"He really has no idea where to start, does he?" She shook her head no and bit her lip. Ron's eyes widened in alarm at the small sign of tears to come. "Hey, it'll all work out. We never know what we're doing."

Hermione wiped away a stubborn tear that had pushed through her defenses. "I know. I just…It just hits home, you know? How dangerous this all is…" She stopped talking, afraid if she said much more that the emotions she was currently holding back would overpower her. Ron slid closer and wrapped his arms around her without any hesitation. With a gentle hand he unwrapped the bandage on her wrist where the word 'Mudblood' had been carved in. Hermione sniffed and turned her eyes away, unable to stop the tears now.

"Hermione, that is what we are fighting for. I may not have your intelligence or Harry's…whatever special power he has, but I am willing to fight to make sure that nothing like this ever happens to anyone, especially you, again. So what if we don't know what we're doing? So what that we don't know where to start?" Ron placed a finger under her chin and brought her eyes to his own. Fiercely he said, "All that matters is we know how to finish this. And we know we must win."

Preview: Till Death Do Us Part

"Minerva McGonagall," started Tom. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a black box and knelt down on one knee. A hush fell over the crowd as people craned their necks to see what was going on. "Will you do the honor of marrying me?"