Chapter 28
Breakfast was a quiet affair, neither woman speaking as both remained lost in their own thoughts. The day moved on, both communicating as they needed to enabling them to complete their jobs; but little else. They worked in tandem as they began restoring the main foyer – the mountain of debris had been practically demoralizing when Minerva had begun to collapse it into one area before removing it from the hall.
And then slowly, painstakingly they began to repair the floor; and then the walls. They paused when the elves brought them lunch, before returning their focus back onto the walls…until night slowly overtook the windows and Hermione moved and closed the great oak doors; ending their work for the evening.
Dinner was practically over when Minerva finally broke the silence pertaining to something other than work. "I was dreaming of Amelia, last night."
"As in Amelia Bones?"
Minerva leaned farther back into her chair as she eyed the younger woman for several heartbeats before her shoulders marginally relaxed, a decision obviously having been made. "Yes, though legally her last name was McGonagall as she was my wife."
Hermione's eyes widened at the quiet admission, remembering the news bulletin that Amelia had died at the onset of the prior year, "I'm sorry for your loss."
"I wanted to tell you," Minerva set her fork down while reaching for her wine glass, "as I still," her jaw flexed, "miss her most evenings and have nightmares of her passing along with the events of the past year."
"If you don't mind me asking, what happened to her?"
"We were returning from the theater to our flat in London." Minerva swirled the glass once before finishing, "They were waiting for our return." She cleared her throat, "Though they did not know I would be joining Amelia. She stepped through first, disarmed and killed her before I had finished collecting the post."
"You were able to escape?"
"Escape?" Minerva repeated the word as if it was somehow foreign to her.
"Yes, from the Death Eaters."
"No," Minerva breathed, "I walked into our home to the sight of my wife's body lying in a crumpled heap on the ground with four wizards and two witches laughing about having caught Amelia, the Head of Magical Law Enforcement, unawares."
"What happened?"
Tears misted the edges of emerald eyes as she recalled flashes of memories from the event. "I lived." Minerva harrowingly answered, "They," she swallowed as she recalled the screams emitted from Fredrick and Quinton before she killed them, "didn't."
"Any of them?" Hermione quietly asked.
"No," Minerva finally answered as she met brown eyes, "I've never proclaimed to be a saint, Hermione. As I've lived through three wars, and have seen and caused my share fair of death. And in that instant, I do not regret having taken the lives of those I did." The strain of the topic evident in her voice, "I only wish I had not gotten the post that day; so that I…would have gone in first. As was usual, and she'd still be alive."
Hermione shook her head, "You don't know if she'd have lived, and you very well would have died too. And the war, how you helped Harry out would have been markedly different as you wouldn't have been there – there might not have been anyone who would have stood up to the Carrow brothers and ensured that Harry had time to find the diadem."
"Someone would have stepped up and saved Harry and Hogwarts."
"No," Hermione softly countered, "they wouldn't have, except perhaps Filius; but he wouldn't have been enough to galvanize the whole of the professors and the student body. That was you." She felt the words leave her lips despite the sorrow existing in emerald eyes, "It could only have been you. You were the right person at the right place at the right time, no different…" Hermione felt her own voice breaking at the words about to be admitted aloud, "than me. When I was captured at Malfoy Manor and tortured, as it helped to turn Draco and Narcissa which ultimately saved Harry's life."
Minerva stared for a long minute at Hermione before she finally found a voice to ask her question, "You were tortured at Malfoy Manor?"
Hermione didn't trust her voice as she nodded.
"By Lucius?"
"Bellatrix." Hermione managed to utter as a tear fell from her lashes, as a tear obscurely fell from Minerva's too.
Xoxo
Minerva jerked awake, breaths labored as her blood pounded in her ears; the nightmare as real as last night's meal as she blinked her eyes open; the world immediately coming into focus despite the blackness. She turned her head and stared at the clock, 3:58; and she inwardly sighed. It was too late to try and fall back to sleep, meaning that the day would be incredibly long indeed.
Flinging the covers back, she sat upright and placed her feet on the ground but paused at hearing the soft, almost muted cries from the other side of her suite. At once she leapt forward, body lithely moving to the other side of the suite where she could easily hear Hermione's whimpers. With the agility of her feline counterpart, she slipped through the door and then leapt up to the bed while morphing into her human form to lay a hand upon Hermione's back. "Easy," she murmured, "you're alright."
Hermione pulled away, gasping as she arched her back… "no…!" Eyes snapping open as another cry left her lips.
Immediately, Minerva wrapped her arms around Hermione who momentarily fought the hug before collapsing backwards into the warm embrace as she cried the memories away as Bellatrix's hot breath raked across her neck before she had cursed the word 'mudblood' into her flesh.
xoxo
a/n: Another day, another update :) Don't you wish every day was like this?