A Friend in Need

A/N: In regards to the teachers' living quarters at Hogwarts. I always imagined they had a small sitting room that you walked into immediately with the bathroom and bedroom adjoining through a door. The sitting room included a small couch, an armchair or two, a coffee table (I'm not sure if that term is correct in countries other than America) with a fireplace and maybe like a desk/chest of drawers or something. Anyway, that's what I imagine in this chapter.

A/N 2: I know that in the books, Rookwood was at the Ministry during OOTP. He was still there (as you'll see in this chapter) however he was never captured and sent to Azkaban. Rookwood (in the books as well) worked for the Department of Mysteries. He leaked information to Voldemort during the first war. That is all still true. Sorry, just had to make sure we were all on the same page with him. He's a complex character in this story, but not in JKR's. That's where the difference is.

Minerva tried to calm herself as she walked back to her room. She clutched her injured hand to her chest and silently hoped she wouldn't meet anyone along the way. Gritting her teeth, she tried to forget about the pain; Dark Magic was as painful as it was dangerous and she wondered if the wounds could even be healed.

The piece of Tom's soul had recognized her. That's why the crown had burned her. She had felt it probe her mind and it knew she was trying to destroy it. Albeit, that should have scared her by itself, it wasn't what had her drawing back in fear. What scared her the most was how hard she had to fight herself not to stop Severus from destroying it. Something inside of her was screaming out that she needed to save it. His soul was crying out to her.

Her stomach churned at the very thought. Of course she felt horrible about destroying: it was one of the last pieces of Tom's life. And indirectly, it was one of the last pieces of her own life. She feared that if she had any more contact with the diadem, she would have fought Severus to keep him from destroying it. Pieces of Tom's soul were scattered about and she wondered if it had ever been whole. Just as she doubted her own soul's wholeness. Hers had been shattered when Selene died...how long had he been dividing his?

"Selene," she whispered when she reached the portrait of the proud griffin that guarded her chambers. Unease crept through her as she entered. If she was in her cat form, her hair would be standing on end. She pulled her wand swiftly from her robes and she could see a small light on in her sitting area. It seemed to be coming from a wand tip. She counted three figures in the shadows. One of them was seated and the other two stood on either side.

She took a deep breath and willed the pain in her wandhand to subside. Then, with speed most of her students would have been shocked to know she still possessed, she pushed all of her energy into a non-verbal spell. There was a loud crack followed by a bright light and two of the mysterious figures were thrown to the floor. Minerva disarmed the third person with a second spell and the lights in her chambers were on with a third.

"Goodness, Minerva, I daresay you were expecting someone else." A woman about Minerva's age, who's hair had completely grayed, was sitting in the armchair with a bright red handbag on the floor beside her. Two young men, whom Minerva now recognized as Neville Longbottom and Seamus Finnigan, were behind her groaning on the floor.

"Augusta," she breathed, finally recognizing her old friend. Augusta Longbottom smiled coyly as she rose to her feet. "You're alive."

"Oi, Professor," gasped Seamus. "Remind me to never get on your bad side. I think I broke something. " He and Neville slowly got to their feet as the two women stared at each other. Both were using the other for support as they tried to climb to their feet.

"Of course I'm alive. They only sent one poor man to pick me up. Needless to say, he wasn't expecting a fight out of this old lady." Augusta spread her arms out wide and much to the boys' surprise, Minerva stepped around the small table in front of the sofa to embrace her. Augusta's head only came up to Minerva's shoulder and her arms went all the way around Minerva's slender waist, but the two friends held the hug for more than the usual allotted time.

"I thought you were dead...I thought all of you were dead," whispered Minerva.

Augusta shook her head and patted her friend lightly on the cheek. "No, I'm still kicking. But you heard about Alastor, right?"

"Yes...I wasn't there, but I heard." Minerva dipped her head in sorrow.

"Speaking of dead," Augusta muttered as she took a step back to look Minerva up and down. "You look like death warmed over, my dear. And you didn't have to blow away my grandson and his handsome friend here." Seamus grinned at Neville at her comment and Neville pushed him back down on the floor.

"You were standing in the dark and no one knows my password. How did you get in?"

"I guessed it. Minerva, really..."

Minerva rolled her eyes and offered out the three wands she presently had in her possession. "I'm sorry, gentlemen. Would you all like your wands back?"

The two reached out with sheepish expressions and took the wands from her. When Augusta took hers, she grabbed Minerva's hand and gasped. "When did this happen?"

Minerva tried to pull her hand away, but Augusta's grip was strong. Her friend turned the scalded hand over to look at the angry red lines. She obviously had grabbed something she shouldn't have. Minerva sighed and admitted, "Funny you should ask since it happened just ten minutes ago."

"Oh, Min, what have you gotten yourself into this time?" Augusta reached for Minerva's other hand and cradled them both in her own. She ran her thumb over the cold metal of Minerva's wedding band. Neville and Seamus were doing their best to make themselves blend into the background. "So this is it?"

"I hope so..." her voice was thick with emotion and she was startled by Augusta's bitter laugh.

"You know, if you had told me over fifty years ago that I would be the last one standing out of our little group, I would have laughed." Augusta pushed herself up on her toes to press a kiss to her friend's cheek. "They were all so young..."

"I miss them sometimes, Felicity and Rheanna. But then I'm glad they are spared all of this. They died happy. " Minerva pulled away and walked over to the window. She stared out at the dark night falling over the castle. She could remember a time when she sat on the green grass or frolicked in the white snow with three innocent girls. Rheanna's red hair bouncing as she danced around; Felicity's wide smile and blue eyes that matched a beautiful sky; Augusta's over enthusiasm in everything they did with a dash of Gryffindor scarlet. That was over half a century ago. So much had changed since then. Minerva no longer had memories in color. The colors were gray and getting darker with each passing day.

"They all seem so young now. At least that's how I remember them. But we were never as young as these poor kids are now." Augusta moved to put her arm around her grandson. Neville leaned into the embrace to comfort her. She ruffled his hair and looked between Neville and Seamus with sad eyes. Minerva felt the bile rise in her stomach as she thought about her students and the danger they were in.

"We're tough, ma'am. We'll make it," said Seamus with confidence. Neville nodded in agreement and kissed his Gran on the top of her head.

A moment of silence passed before Minerva turned from the window with a frown on her face. "How did you get in?"

"I told you, I guessed the password," Augusta looked at her friend with concern on her face.

Shaking her head, Minerva asked the question again. "No, I mean how did you get into the castle?"

Neville and Seamus suddenly found the floor very interesting. Augusta settled herself back into the armchair and started digging through her handbag. "When I jinxed that poor fellow, I knew the Order was underground so I came to you. And because I'm the brilliant person that I am, I knew the best way to get to you. Aberforth Dumbledore." She pulled a foil wrapped package from the red bag and held them out to her friend.

"Aberforth?"

"He said you still liked homemade ginger newts." Seeing the dangerous glint in Minerva's eyes, she set the package on the small table in front her. "There's a passage from his pub to that room the kids have adopted into their headquarters. I thought you knew."

"I did not know," she snapped and her eyes bore into her two students.

"Oh, come one, Professor-" started Seamus throwing his hands in the air.

"I will not 'Come on', Mr. Finnigan."

"What Seamus means is we thought that since it was safe there was no reason to worry you about it..."

"Worry me about it? Safe? How can you say it's safe?" Her face was pale and her hands were shaking as she bared down on her two students.

Augusta stood up between her grandson and his teacher. "Now, hold on Minerva. They were only doing what they thought was right. This is a war and they are so young. You can't blame them. They got me to you, safe and sound."

Minerva's lips pulled thin and she closed her eyes briefly as if steeling herself to say the right words. Both boys held their breath as she finally replied, "You aren't safe here, Augusta. You need to get underground."

"Yes, well, I figured you were the best person to help me with that."

"Usually yes, but as it happens to be, I cannot leave Hogwarts." She self-consciously curved her injured hand into the top of her stomach just under the turn of her breasts. The fingertips of her other hand were pressed to her forehead as she tried to think. It had been a long day and this was the last thing she expected to be dealing with after destroying a horcrux. Suddenly, the answer came to her. "Augustus."

"No," said the other woman gently and pointed to herself. "I'm Augusta."

Minerva gave her an exasperated look that caused Augusta to chortle. "I may be a lot of things, but I'm not senile. I meant Augustus-"

"Rookwood?" Augusta widened her eyes in surprise, but as she processed the thought, she shrugged. "I haven't seen him since the funeral. To be honest, I wasn't sure he was still alive. He's getting old."

"He's younger than us," retorted Minerva.

"Life as made old women of us, m'dear."

An eyebrow arched and the corners of her lips pulled into a smirk. "I resent that comment."

"Resent or resemble?" Both women chuckled lightly. Augusta sat back down, but this time on the sofa where Minerva could join her. Behind them, Neville and Seamus were whispering adamantly. "But honestly, Minerva, would he help me?"

"Rookwood is a Death Eater! He was at the Ministry when we broke in!" Neville finally raised his voice loud enough for the two women to look at him. He was trying to contain his worry and frustration that had a hint of anger in it. "You can't trust him, Gran. You can't. I don't know why you would think-"

"Neville-"

"No! No, I won't allow you to put yourself in danger!" Neville squared his shoulders as he stood before them. His eyes couldn't hide his nervousness at confronting his grandmother and professor in this way, but he would protect her; he had to protect her.

Minerva regarded him respectively. Her 'teacher voice' was strong when she spoke. "Yes, Mr. Longbottom, he is a Death Eater. He is loyal to Lord Voldemort. But he may be the one person who can safely get your grandmother out of Hogsmeade and into hiding."

"You can't possibly know that!" he argued.

"But I do." She turned slightly to her dearest and oldest friend. "Do you trust me?"

"Of course, m'dear."

Minerva nodded and took out her wand once more. She hardly winced when it made contact with her damaged hand and muttered an incantation of some sort. A silver transparent tabby jumped from the end of her wand and pranced through the outside wall.

Neville was not going to back down easily. Even Seamus looked as if he had his own reservations, but for once, the young man knew better than to say anything. "It's not a matter of trusting you, but a matter of trusting him. He was there at the Ministry! I saw him...I fought him!"

"Neville, do calm down. Minerva and I were bridesmaids in his sister's wedding. Our families go way back. Probably further that either one of us cares to believe." Augusta opened up the foil holding Aberforth's homemade Ginger Newts and popped one into her mouth.

This only seemed to enrage Neville further. "You were friends with his sister? How does that qualify him as a friend? Especially since he's a well known Death Eater?! If you're so chummy with his sister why don't you ask her for help?"

"Because she's dead. You-Know-Who murdered Felicity and her two daughters because her husband was a Muggle," deadpanned his grandmother. This seemed to slow Neville's rant. Seamus' eyes went wide. Seeing as she wasn't going to get a response from her fuming grandson, she continued. "Frankly, he owes me one. He promised to keep her safe and instead she ended up in a grave."

"But it's my job to keep you safe," whispered Neville so quietly, the other three in the room almost missed it. A number of emotions ran across Augusta's face as she stared at her grandson who had seemed to grow up overnight. She slowly rose to her feet and gently enclosed him in a hug. With her arms wrapped tightly and securely around him, she tried to keep the tears in her eyes from her voice.

"My dear boy, keeping me safe has never been your responsibility." She rubbed small circles on his back and exchanged a sad glance with Minerva. Neville was a whole head taller than her and he encompassed her completely as they held on to each other.

The tender moment was interrupted by the entrance of a Patronus at the window. It was a bald eagle and it opened its beak to vibrate the deep voice of Augustus Rookwood. "I know of a few places where she will be safe. I can be outside of the gates in fifteen minutes."

Augusta stood on her tiptoes to press her lips to Neville's cheek. "Come on, love. We've got to go."

"Are you sure he'll take care of her?" he asked Minerva.

"I promise. Now say your goodbyes. You and Mr. Finnigan need to get back to your Common Room. I'll make sure she gets out of Hogwarts without being seen."

Neville kissed his grandmother on her forehead. "I promise to stay safe if you will."

"Of course, love, of course." Augusta wiped her eyes. "And, Neville. My lovely boy. I am so terribly proud of you. You are your father's son. And I couldn't be happier with the man you turned into."

"I love you, Gran."

"I love you, too." They hugged once more before Augusta patted his cheek and said, "Get going, you two. And please be careful."

"We will, Mrs. Longbottom. I promise to keep my eye on him." Seamus reached out to shake her hand, but instead found himself in a hug as well. With a little hesitation, both young men left the two elder women alone in McGonagall's room.

Augusta picked up her red handbag and met Minerva at the door. Taking her best friend's hands once more, she spoke through her soft tears. "If I don't make it when you do..."

"Augusta..."

"No, hear me out. If this war doesn't do me in, I want you to tell Louis that he's an ass for leaving me so soon. And that I love him very much and he should be so proud of his family. I want you to give Felicity and Rhea a huge hug and tell them how much I miss them. Lastly, I want you to take your little girl into your arms and fill that empty hole in your soul. I want you to hear from her that losing her wasn't your fault and know that she has always been watching over you. I want you to have your family."

Minerva choked on her heart in her throat. She dropped her eyes from her best friend's face down to their clasped hands. Augusta stood on tiptoes again to press a kiss to both of Minerva's cheeks.

"Tell that beautiful little girl how special she is and how much you love her. Selene was so beautiful. And after everything you've been through, you deserve to hold her again. Because there is nothing like not being able to hold your baby close to you. I may not have Frank, but I have Neville. As sad as I am to think this will be the last time we see each other, I'm happy that your misery will finally be over."

"We should get going," whispered Minerva.

Hand in hand, the two friends walked swiftly and silently together one last time through the halls of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.