Dear Minerva

Please come see me after dinner tonight. I have something I want to talk to you about.

Albus

After reading the note she received during lunch, Minerva couldn't stop wondering what Albus wanted to talk about tonight. They had already discussed everything that had happened in the past week during their game of chess Friday night. And when she walked into him in the hallway, he wouldn't even hint at it.

"Come in."

"Albus, you wanted to see me?"

"Good evening, Minerva. Please take a seat. Tea?" Albus said while walking towards the couch.

"Yes, please."

"Here you go. Now, I need you to not freak out, but I believe your daughter is alive."

It took a few minutes for Minerva to take in what Albus just said. But when she finally fully understood, she looked like she was going to faint. "Ho..how do you mean… m.. my daughter might be… alive?" she managed to get out in between trying to take deep breaths.

"Hermione came to see me this morning. The Sorting Hat told her something about her parents. It told her that she had two mothers, from very different houses."

"That doesn't mean that she is my daughter."

"You told me yourself that you thought you recognised her from somewhere. I think she reminds you of her other mother."

"You're right. Now you say it, she does remind me of her."

"I told her that there is a way for you to find out. I, however, did not tell her about you or Bellatrix. I told her I had an idea about who her parents could be, but I also told her that it was up to them if they wanted to know it. You know that if she is your daughter, there is a good reason why her death was faked."

"Why didn't I know it was faked? She could have told me that." Even after all these years it still heart her to talk about her lost love and their daughter. She understood why her dead was faked, if Hermione was really hers that is, but she just wished she had seen her.

"You know why. Just as you know that if this becomes common knowledge, she will be in a lot of danger. So I need you to really think about it. Do you want her to know about everything?"

"I don't have to think about that. Yes, I want her to know. And then we can see how to take it from there. But I need to know if it is really her. And I do know why, and I understand. It just hurts."

"Okay. How about I come see you and her after your Transfiguration class tomorrow?"

"I will hold her back after class."

"Good, then I will see you then, Minerva. Good night."

"Good night, Albus." And with that, Minerva left.

Albus sat down behind his desk and thought back at a memory from eleven and a half years back.

"Are you sure you want to do this, Bellatrix? You don't have to, we can protect you." Albus said to Bellatrix Black, who was standing next to him, looking out of the window.

"If I don't do this, my parents will hunt us down and kill us. I can't do that to Minerva. I love her too much for that." Bellatrix said, looking very sad. "This way, I can be a spy without them knowing. Also, you can't tell Minerva why I really left."

"I won't tell anyone for the time being. However, there might come a time I will have to tell her."

"When that time comes, please tell her I love her very much and always will?"

"I promise you that."

Coming back to himself, Albus thought that now might be the best time to tell them. When Bellatrix was sent to Azkaban, he had asked her to reveal herself. But she had refused. Knowing just as he did, that Voldemort wasn't really dead, she wanted to keep her position as a spy and go to Azkaban. Now he thought he should perhaps pay her a visit.