Chapter 25: The Woman Who Lived

A/N: I'm estimating between 4 and 5 chapters are left in this fic. I'm still trying to decide whether or not to split one chapter. I'm sad that it's coming to an end, but also relieved that I will be finishing it probably by the end of the month (although, by the way my schedule is going it could be the end of October). As for this chapter, I spent a great deal of time going back and forth between the books and my writing (especially Sorcerer's Stone, because it really changes the tone of the conversation Albus and Minerva had) trying to make it as canon as possible with my wild and crazy ideas. We're back to flashbacks in this chapter. And unless I see the need to include the one I've already cut once, it will be the last set of flashbacks.

Any familiar dialogue or scenes are from SS/PS Ch1 'The Boy Who Lived' and OotP Ch31 'O.W.L.S'

He was doing this to punish her, she was sure of it. Watching him desecrate the grave of the man who meant so much to her was breaking her heart. Or at least, what was left of it. It had been almost ten months since Minerva had last seen the body of Albus Dumbledore; she had done her crying by the bed that held the shell of his body the night before they placed him in the tomb. Now here she was. Only, there would be no tears today. Lord Voldemort was testing her- making her watch as he removed the wand from Albus' dead fingers.

"Do you know what this is, Minerva?" He never looked at her. He was too enthralled by his treasure to worry about her any longer. He had his prize and this was her punishment. Of course, Minerva had no idea the significance of the wand, which only seemed to amuse him further. "The Elder Wand. The Deathstick. The Wand of Destiny."

"The Elder Wand? But that's a fairy tale- a wizarding tale…" she voiced her confusion. She had grown up listening to the 'Tale of the Three Brothers' and similar wizarding lore. She wouldn't have thought Tom Riddle had ever been exposed to that. It wasn't a story she had told Selene.

"Only a wizard who has mastered death can control this wand." There was pride in Lord Voldemort's eyes as he spoke. "If only I had possessed this seventeen years ago…"

If only indeed. Would it have changed the outcome? All of the Potter's dead and Lord Voldemort reigning over the Wizarding Community? Voldemort didn't have the Elder Wand and Harry Potter lived. But then of course, so had she.

It was a cloudy night, but the air felt eerily dry. Her back was stiff from sitting all day. She would definitely be feeling that in the morning. When she had received Albus' Patronus, he had mentioned bringing the boy here. The gnawing dread in the pit of her stomach that had began clawing at her from the moment she heard of James and Lily's death had only grown worse as the day had progressed.

Here? Albus was going to bring Harry Potter to live here? Was he daft? Petunia Dursley could not be more unlike her sister. It had to have something to do with blood protection. She knew it couldn't be because no one had offered to take the baby boy. She knew for sure that Frank and Alice Longbottom were offering to take him. Their son, Neville, was the same age. Augusta had told her this morning before she had left to investigate the Dursley's.

Surely, Albus had thought this all the way through. If in fact Petunia Dursley was the only person left on this Earth that could protect the poor child from Lord Voldemort, then so be it. But Minerva couldn't help but think there had to be other options. Which is why she had been perched on this dreadfully uncomfortable wall all day. And after a day of observations, she was not impressed. How Petunia and Lily were related at all was beyond her.

The midnight hour was drawing close and Minerva waited impatiently for him to arrive. Hopefully, he had no trouble getting Harry. She had a feeling that the Ministry would be happy to hand over the baby to Albus, given the circumstances. No amount of Ministry protection could protect Harry; that much had been proven by James and Lily's tragic deaths. Her ears twitched when they picked up a faint 'pop' from the end of the street.

Finally, Albus had arrived. Narrowing her eyes, she noticed he was not carrying anything with him. No Harry. The painful feeling in her abdomen clenched tightly. All of her sources had told her that Harry Potter had survived the horrifying attack on the Potter's home. Her thoughts came to a halt when, from the far end of the street, Albus seemed to notice she was there. How he could possibly tell from that far away that it was her?

Slightly irritated and still feeling the dull ache in her hindquarters, she decided that he could come to her and explain himself. It didn't take him long to put out the lights and join her on the wall. "Fancy seeing you here, Professor McGonagall."

Transforming into her human form, she bit back, "How did you know it was me?"

"My dear Professor, I've never seen a cat sit so stiffly." Minerva resisted the urge to roll her eyes. How he could be making light of such a situation was beyond her.

"You'd be stiff if you'd been sitting on a brick wall all day."

Albus' eyes gleamed back at her as he smirked. "All day? When you could have been celebrating? I must have passed a dozen feasts and parties on my way here."

Her eyebrows shot up to her hairline and her lips pulled thin. He could be so senseless sometimes. "Celebrating? What is there to celebrate? Two beautiful young lives have been cut unfairly short and-"

"And one terrible one has ended." There it was. Even in the pitch darkness, she could see his facial features change. However, his voice was still gentle as he continued. "You can't blame them. We've had precious little to celebrate for eleven years."

This time he was met with silence from her. Instead of pushing the conversation, he merely looked to the sky, seemingly entranced by the stars. Minerva glanced down at her hands and tried to stop them from shaking. Oh, the Wizarding World was celebrating all right. She had seen it on the Dursley's news. Flocks of owls, shooting stars, wearing Wizard clothing in Muggle public. It was troublesome.

"He's not gone." There was a hitch in her voice that matched the shaking of her hands.

"I know."

"They all believe he's dead. That he's gone. Everyone has been saying that Harry, oh poor child, that Harry defeated him for once and for all. That after all he's done…all the people he's killed…that he couldn't kill a little boy." She finally met his blue eyes, searching for an answer to her unspoken question. Albus had no answer to give her. Instead, he reached out and took her hand, patting it softly.

"And yet, we are burdened by the truth," he murmured softly. This did not pacify her. Minerva stood suddenly, as if she had been burned.

"The truth," she choked. "The truth? The truth is I should have never woken up this morning. The truth is people should be celebrating. The truth is Harry Potter should have vanquished the Dark Lord and I should be resting next to my daughter!"

"Minerva-" Albus was cut short by her manic laughter. He was still seated by on the wall, looking very weary.

Hand clutched over her heart and tears in her eyes she tried to control her shaking body. "The truth is, Lord Voldemort isn't dead and I'm living proof of that."

"Something still happened at Godric's Hollow, my dear. Yes, Lord Voldemort is still alive, but he is barely so. Remember the Horcruxes, Minerva. Death Eaters are running scared. They think their Master is gone. Something transpired between Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort that will change everything."

Shaking her head, she whispered, "But how in the name of heaven did Harry survive?"

"We can only guess," said Dumbledore. "We may never know."

Pulling out a lace handkerchief, she wiped away the tears. Albus pretended not to notice her distress as he checked a gold pocket watch, mentioning offhand that Hagrid was late. Minerva fixed him with a stern glare as if suddenly remembering the reason she had been sitting in front of Number Four Privet Drive all day. "Of all the places, Albus, here? Harry Potter come and live here!"

"It's the best place for him," he said firmly. "Petunia Dursley is his only living relative. He needs her protection. His aunt and uncle will be able to explain everything to him when he's older. I've written them a letter."

"A letter. You think you can explain all this in a letter?" Minerva pursed her lips at his gaffe. "Albus, there are so many other places he could go; so many other people who would be more than willing to take care of him. Augusta said just this morning that Frank and Alice-"

"Would you take him?"

His question shocked her and it showed in her face. The darkness did not disguise the guilt that crept into her stern facial features and her emerald eyes seemed lifeless. Bitterness fell off her tongue. "That's possibly a worst idea than leaving him here. Harry Potter, go live with Madame Voldemort?"

Albus slowly got to his silver toed feet. His hand brushed under her jaw to lift her face. "That's the reason he must come here. No matter how wonderful a mother you are, he would not be safe with anyone other than a blood relative."

Before Minerva could formulate a response, a low rumbling sound could be heard in the distance. But not from the road they were standing along. No, the sound was definitely coming from the sky. A curious thought came to her as she tried to figure out what the sound could possibly be.

"You said Hagrid was late. What does Hagrid have to do with all of this?"

"Oh, he's bringing Harry," replied Dumbledore as if it was the most obvious thing to have done with a fourteen month old baby.

"Do you think it wise to trust Hagrid with something as important as this?"

"I would trust Hagrid with my life."

Thinking back, she should have assured Albus that she felt the same. I would trust Hagrid with my life. She hadn't meant to insult him. In fact, Minerva knew how gentle the half giant could be. Everything about him caring for Harry made sense. It was just she also knew how emotional he could get. Lily and James meant the world to him and she wasn't sure how he would react to their deaths. If there was one thing in this world she wanted for Hagrid, it was to spare him pain.

She glanced over her shoulder at the little hut in the distance. There was no smoke coming from the chimney. Nor had there been for weeks now. Rubeus Hagrid was on the run. Oh, how she hoped he would stay away from this place. She could no longer protect him. Nor could she ever repay the debt she owed him. Not that he knew; no, Hagrid had no idea she stood by and allowed him to be expelled from Hogwarts, holding the only evidence that someone else was guilty of his supposed crimes. She hadn't know, back then, that Tom was responsible for not only Myrtle's death, but for orchestrating Hagrid's expulsion as well.

It didn't keep her from trying to make up for that mistake for the forty years she had been working with him. In fact, it had taken waking up in St. Mungo's for her to realize just how far she would go to make sure he was never harmed in that way again. Death apparently was not a high enough price to quell her guilt. Of course, that was because she had lived, once again.

The sound of hammering on her bedroom door roused her from her sleep. Minerva reached for her glasses, trying to figure out who would be waking her at such an hour. The tartan dressing gown was on before she realized whomever was trying to get her out of bed was knocking on her bedroom door, not the portrait. Which meant they knew her password. That pretty much left Filius, Pomona, or Poppy. She highly doubted Severus Snape would be trying to beat down her door this side of midnight.

"Oh for the sake of Merlin, Minerva! Wake up! I know for a fact you aren't this heavy of a sleeper!" Pomona, then. Her words were frantic and she seemed out of breath. Minerva walked to open the door, trying to shake the sleep from her eyes. No sooner had she turned the doorknob, she was nearly smacked in the face by the door that Pomona shoved forward urgently.

"Pomona, do you have any idea-"

Red faced and gasping for breath, Pomona lifted a shaking finger to her friend's window. "Umbridge and her cronies are trying to get rid of Hagrid. I overheard them in the hallway as they were going down there. It was pure luck I was up- one of my first years was in hysterics over exams and-"

Flashes of faded red shown against the black sky outside. Pomona's eyes went wide at the implications and Minerva was suddenly more awake than she had been in days. A flick of her wand changed the dressing gown into black robes and Minerva was out the door. People would be impressed to see a woman of her age move so quickly. It didn't take long to reach the main entrance.

Her hands never touched the wood of the doors; they opened swiftly of their own accord. Her eyes swept the situation at hand. There were four people attempting to stun Hagrid. One was already unconscious and Umbridge seemed to be shouting orders. Her blood boiled. How dare they!

"How dare you!" She shouted, trying to catch their attention. They had an audience now- which might be enough to stop this madness. "How dare you!"

Oh, she'd have Dolores Umbridge's head for this! And if those were in fact Aurors, she'd have the Ministry's head on a platter as well. Umbridge's detest for anyone who wasn't completely human was the worst kept secret the Ministry had and if she thought she could exact her deranged agenda on Hogwart's grounds, she had another thing coming.

"Leave him alone! Alone, I say! On what grounds are you attacking him? He has done nothing, nothing to warrant such-"

The world went black. When she finally blinked back into reality, she found herself within the white walls of St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. And everything ached. Once her eyes focused, she could see Albus Dumbledore sitting in an overstuffed purple chair. And would you be damned, he was eating lemon drops.

"You're supposed to be in hiding." Minerva immediately bit her tongue at the harsh crackling of her voice. It sounded rather pathetic. Blue eyes gazed at her with pity.

"You're supposed to be dead," he replied soberly. He popped a lemon drop and got up from the chair to stand beside her bed. His weathered hand patted her own sympathetically.

Throat still sore from lack of use, she rasped, "They really tried to kill me?"

"Not directly. But four stunners to the chest, my dear, you had several people quite worried."

"Four stunners-" she murmured trying to piece together what had happened that night. "Hagrid?"

"More worried about you than himself." Albus was still watching her intently as if she would in fact die before his very eyes. Although, Minerva knew she was very much alive- the pain was enough evidence of that. She felt like she had had a fight with a brick wall and lost. Of course, stunners were much sturdier than walls…

"And you?"

He ignored her question. "You've caused quite an uproar here. They're calling it, and I quote, astonishing. I wasn't lying when I said those stunners should have killed you."

"Maybe I should try to get myself killed on a more daily basis. Think of all the doctors who will be 'astonished'." Albus obviously did not appreciate her sarcasm. His lack of response led her situation really to sink in. Here she was again- alive when she should be dead. Alive and still breathing. Damn.

The elder wizard reached into his robes to produce her glasses. He handed them to her and then placed a newspaper in her lap. "In case you were wondering what you missed."

The title page read 'You-Know-Who Returns!'. For some strange reason, she felt relieved. It was if they weren't fighting this battle alone any more. Looking over the top of her glasses, she smirked at her companion. "Have they given a formal apology yet?"

This actually drew a warm chuckle from him.

The wind whipped across her slender body. She felt the need to draw her robes closer, but never moved to do so. The cold was in her bones and soul. She was as cold as the tomb that held Albus' bones and the bits and pieces of Tom's soul. He had his new prize now. And it worried her. She had research to do when she finally got back to the castle. The Elder Wand? Surely not.

But then again, stranger things had happened. More astonishing things, in fact.