A/N: I'm back! So sorry it took me two years, but I'm finally ready to reread the Harry Potter books. Also I was hesitant to write part 3 because part 2 had such a perfect ending. But I had always planned for this story to go all the way. So what I want to do is to look at the books from Albus' and Minerva's perspectives. I hope I won't bore you to death because obviously we all know what happens. We'll see how it goes. I'll probably have to rely on guesswork here and there, especially where Albus is concerned. Feel free to tell me if you think I got something wrong. I love to talk Potter theory.

And now, I hope you'll enjoy this first chapter and that some of you might want to join me on this last part of Albus' and Minerva's journey.

47. New Normal

For the longest time Minerva had loved Hogwarts castle during the summer. Teaching was still her pride and joy and a school without students was pointless. But during the summer holidays the castle didn't seem empty to her. Rather, it felt like it was catching its breath, preparing for what was to come on 1 September. Perhaps this year more than ever.

Her time to enjoy the peace and quiet was cut short when the rest of the Hogwarts staff returned for an unusually early staff meeting. No one seemed all that surprised to have been asked to come back to the school already. In any case, Minerva was glad to see most of her colleagues.

"You're in my seat."

But certainly not all.

"Excuse me?" As she looked up at Sybill Trelawney, Minerva tried to keep her voice calm, professional, worthy of her many years as a teacher. It would not do if the deputy headmistress sounded like the young girl who had been banned from a Divination classroom once.

"I have foreseen that I will be sitting in this exact chair," Sybill explained, the many bracelets and charms on her arms jangling.

"Then I suggest that you get your Inner Eye looked at," Minerva replied, her voice neither calm nor professional. She cringed inwardly. Sybill Trelawney brought that out in her every time. But Minerva had outlived her predecessor and she had every intention of being there when the time came for Sybill to leave Hogwarts castle as well.

"Who needs their eyes checked? The school year hasn't even started yet. Don't tell me somebody already managed to get it poked, hexed, vanished or blown up to the size of a pumpkin!" Poppy Pomfrey had joined them and the Hogwarts matron had clearly only caught the tail end of Minerva's sentence.

"Oh no, Poppy, don't worry. The eye I was talking about doesn't actually exist," she hurried to reassure her friend while she sat next to her.

Looking highly affronted, Sybill wrapped her scarf more tightly around her thin neck and walked away without another word. Minerva only felt marginally bothered by this little incident. The staffroom was big enough and there were lots of empty chairs left at the table. In the end, Sybill chose to sit next to Severus Snape, most likely because that was as far away from Minerva as she could get. The Potions master looked up to see who had intruded into his lonely corner of the room. The expression on his face reminded Minerva of the time she had bit on a Bertie Botts bean that had tasted like one of Filch's cleaning cloths after he had tried to mop up owl droppings.

"What's so funny?" asked Pomona Sprout after she had claimed the chair on Minerva's other side. "What did I miss?"

She quickly wiped the smile off her face. "Nothing. You didn't miss anything."

"Oh, good, I'm rather curious about this meeting. Feels like it's more than the usual start-of-term announcements, doesn't it? Since Dumbledore asked us to come in early and even you don't know what it's about."

Minerva's brow furrowed. "Who said that I don't know?"

"Well, do you?"

Before Minerva was forced to admit that she did in fact not know (much to her chagrin), Silvanus Kettleburn made them all jump a little when he took a seat and heaved his wooden leg onto the table with a loud thud. "This better not be a bloody waste of time," he butted in. "I was this close to catching a Graphorn."

"Are you sure it wasn't the other way around? Looks like it got to you first," said Poppy worriedly, though why she even still bothered with Silvanus, Minerva didn't know.

"Bollocks! Never been better. Most wizards go their whole life without ever seeing one. Isn't that right, Quirinus? Heard you've been travelling all over Europe."

Quirrell, who had just entered the room, stopped dead so suddenly that tiny Filius Flitwick walked right into him with a surprised 'Oy'. "I-I … w-w-what?" Quirrell stuttered.

"Did you meet a Graphorn during your travels?" Silvanus repeated his question.

"H-heavens, n-n-no," Quirrell replied and quickly looked for a place to sit.

Somehow he ended up next to Severus, who, boxed in between Sybill and Quirinus, looked positively murderous.

Meanwhile, Minerva exchanged a meaningful glance with Filius, who followed behind Quirrell. They were both wondering the same thing. How was Quirinus supposed to teach the students with that stutter he had developed?

More of their colleagues arrived. Bathsheda Babbling and Aurora Sinistra, chatting amicably, were among the last before Hagrid eventually took up all of the remaining space in the room.

"Sorry ter be late. Loads o' important Hogwarts business lately," the gamekeeper exclaimed, forgetting to use his inside voice.

"You're not late, Hagrid," Minerva informed him kindly.

"And we're all here on important Hogwarts business, even if we don't yet know what that is exactly," added Pomona with a wink.

Professor Vector scooched over impatiently to make more room for Hagrid. "The only one who's not here is the one who asked us to come. I'd say the headmaster is the one who's late."

"You have my sincerest apologies, Septima. It appears I'm no longer as fast as I used to be." Naturally, Albus Dumbledore had chosen that exact moment to sweep into the room. For as long as Minerva had known him, he had never failed to make an entrance. And how could he? He had clearly been joking about being too old to get around. Yes, his hair and beard had gone completely white, almost blindingly so, but with his piercing blue eyes he stood as tall and fierce as ever.

Septima looked embarrassed, but Albus didn't give it another thought. "Thank you all for coming. I hope you had a wonderfully pleasant and thoroughly enjoyable summer without the loss of too many body parts."

"All good, Dumbledore. Still got me two thumbs." Silvanus held them up to prove it.

"How delightful," Albus said serenely.

His eyes travelled the length of the room, lingering on Minerva for just a little bit longer. They hadn't been able to spend as much time together as they usually did over the course of the summer. They had both been fairly busy with preparations for the new school year and Albus had stayed with the Flamels in Devon several times while Minerva had visited Malcolm and her nieces and nephews.

She was looking forward to catching up with Albus about those visits in private. At the moment he couldn't greet her differently than any of the other teachers. They weren't officially married after all, only according to Scottish tradition and, most importantly, according to the love in their hearts.

With a start she realised that it would be ten years this November. Since the handfasting, that was. How many years she had loved this man, she couldn't even say anymore.

But now was not the time for such sentimentalities, Minerva reminded herself. Albus looked as though he had something serious to share with them. Well, most of the things he said and did were rather significant, though most definitely not all. He was just as well known for his humour and his idiosyncrasies – or his madness as some people called it. Today was not such a day. Minerva could tell by the tension in his shoulders and the way the smile on his lips did not reach his eyes.

"I'm sure you're all wondering why I cut your holidays short – and I'm terribly sorry about that. However, there are some preparations for the new school year that need to be made that are both time-sensitive and somewhat unusual."

"Does this have anything to do with Harry Potter starting school this year?" asked Rolanda Hooch, who had been quiet so far. In her straight-to-the-point sort of way she now said what most of them had probably been thinking.

Bathsheda sat up straighter in her chair. "That's this year? Oh, how exciting! I'm so envious that I won't get to teach him in his first two years."

"Or possibly ever," said Sinistra.

"Oh, don't be mean, Aurora."

"It's not my fault that Ancient Runes is neither the most popular nor even remotely fun…"

"Just because you failed your O.W.L.s in my subject doesn't mean Harry Potter couldn't do better than you. As a matter of fact, I bet he could."

Minerva rolled her eyes, not nearly as patient as Albus, who had politely listened to the two women going back and forth. "Will you be quiet so we can hear what this is actually about?"

Bathsheda turned towards her. "Easy for you to say, Minerva. You know Harry Potter will end up in your house."

"I know no such thing!" she disagreed. Having been a hatstall herself, she knew better than anyone how unpredictable the Sorting Hat could be.

"Of course you do. Both of his parents were in Gryffindor. He defeated You-Know-Who. Where else is he going to go, eh? Slytherin? Would you like to have Harry Potter, Severus?"

Rather than answer, the Potions master pressed his lips into such a thin line that they almost turned white.

Filius spoke up next. "He could also be clever and quick-thinking."

"Or kind and loyal," Pomona added quickly.

"Or he could be all of those things in one way or another, mind you, like a real human being," Poppy chimed in.

"If you must know," Sybill spoke up haughtily, "I already consulted the stars and..."

"And I assume they told you to stay out of the poor boy's business," Minerva snapped.

Bathsheda, who looked as though she would have actually liked to hear that drivel about stars and fortune-telling, slumped disappointedly in her chair. "Excuse me for not being completely indifferent about the Boy Who Lived."

While Minerva was smarting from that thinly veiled accusation, Albus cleared his throat. "I'm sure you will all give our new first-years a very warm welcome to our school, regardless of who they are, which house they will be sorted into or what subject they might excel at." He paused for a moment. Nobody dared to argue with that. "But this is not actually about the students. I speak to you today on behalf of my good, old friend Nicolas Flamel. I dare say some of you will have heard of him."

"He's old enough that even Cuthbert knows who he is," Sinistra joked.

Cuthbert Binns was well-known for not being particularly up to date on current events since he had stopped caring about anything that had occurred after his own death. He was floating around in his usual spot and he only seemed to pay attention now because someone had said his name. "I beg your pardon?"

"We were just saying that surely you can tell us all about Nicolas Flamel," Sinistra said loudly.

Using his classroom voice (even after all these years Minerva remembered it well), Binns didn't hesitate. "Certainly. Nicolas Flamel is a French alchemist who was born in the year 1326..."

"Thank you, Cuthbert," Albus cut him off swiftly before this meeting could turn into a History of Magic lesson. "I hate to interrupt what I'm sure would have been a fascinating lecture, but like I said, time is of the essence."

"Shouldn't a man like Flamel have all the time in the world?" Pomona surmised.

Albus gave her a thin smile. "Very true, but only as long as he's still in possession of the Philosopher's Stone. And there has already been one attempt to steal it."

A sudden hush fell over the room and all the (mostly) good-natured ribbing stopped instantly when Minerva's colleagues began to grasp the seriousness of this conversation.

"You're referring to the break-in at Gringotts," Septima said shrewdly.

They had all read about that in the Daily Prophet of course. Well, everyone except Binns, who had gone back to being disinterested now that his expertise wasn't required. Next to him, though, Quirrell looked almost as pale as their ghostly colleague.

"So that's what the thieves were after. High-security vault, indeed," Septima added.

"But they didn't get it, did they? Or was that just another example of bad reporting by the Daily Prophet?" Filius asked.

"No, fortunately, the stone had been taken out of Gringotts just in time."

At this, Hagrid looked extremely pleased with himself while Minerva was a little shocked how much she had missed by not talking to Albus for a couple of days. The last time they had spoken, she had informed him that there was no evidence that Harry Potter had received his Hogwarts letter. He had assured her that he would handle it and that she should go on to be with her family as planned.

"You knew that someone would try to steal the stone," she said.

"I suspected," Albus replied demurely.

"Sounds as though you have the situation well in hand." Silvanus stretched generously in his chair. "What's all the fuss about, Dumbledore?"

"The fuss," Albus repeated pointedly, "pertains to the utmost importance of protecting such an immensely powerful magical object that is capable of restoring immortal life to anyone who seeks it – as the Philosopher's Stone would not distinguish between someone who is pure of heart and a powerful dark wizard."

He hadn't said the name, but he might as well have. The temperature in the room immediately dropped a couple of degrees. Or so it seemed to Minerva. Part of her had already felt like something was changing. The time Albus had spent brooding had increased exponentially of late.

"But if Gringotts wasn't safe enough, where is?" Pomona asked into the quiet.

"I offered Nicolas to keep the Philosopher's Stone here at Hogwarts."

She had seen this coming and yet Minerva had hoped to be wrong. "You can't be serious," she heard herself say.

Albus slowly turned his eyes on her. "And why is that, Minerva?"

"I understand the significance of protecting the stone, but you just reminded us of the danger that comes with it. You can't mean to bring that directly into the school."

"Well, I wasn't planning on displaying the stone in the Entrance Hall. We would need to discuss the appropriate enchantments next."

"Discuss the enchantments? But not whether or not we agree with keeping the stone in Hogwarts in the first place?" Minerva pushed.

"Yes. My decision on that is rather final, I'm afraid," Albus rebuffed her politely but firmly. She hated when he did that. "Naturally, the safety of the students is – as always – paramount. However, Hogwarts has always had and always will have a vital role to play in our world and in making sure that the right forces prevail in it."

No one seemed to know how to respond to that. It fell to Silvanus to break the tension in the room. "Gotta hand it to you, Dumbledore. You do know how to make a man reconsider his retirement."

"I'm pleased to hear that you will stay with us for a little while longer, Silvanus," Albus replied, though he didn't actually look very pleased. But the issue at hand was more pressing than Silvanus' ever mounting collection of reprimands and probations. "I wanted you all to hear about this from me. But I must ask you not to speak of this to anyone outside of the Hogwarts staff, certainly not to the students. I'm sure we can all agree that would be the safest way to proceed. And in the interest of safety, I would like to ask the Heads of House to each assist me individually with the necessary preparations. Oh, and of course, our new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor."

Everyone turned to look at Quirrell, who cringed so badly that the strange purple turban on his head was knocked askew. He had never done particularly well with being the centre of attention. In fairness, there were a lot of eyes on him and they weren't necessarily friendly. Severus' look was more of a death glare and although Albus smiled, there was nothing of his usual kindness in that smile.

Quirrell looked as though he was about ready to faint. Just what one hoped to see from a Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher.

"I-I... y-yes, h-h-h-appy to help," he stammered.

Minerva gritted her teeth, trying to keep her thoughts to herself, but she couldn't really help it. If Quirinus Quirrell was tasked with protecting the Philosopher's Stone, they could just as well hand the bloody thing over right now.

Albus walked through the narrow stone passageway towards the light. Which sounded a lot more dramatic than it was. Although he was curious as to what he would find once he got there. It was Minerva's turn to create some form of obstacle for anyone who might come down here looking for the Philosopher's Stone. He had thought it best to give her some room to do so.

Or perhaps, rather a lot of it, he amended as he entered the giant chamber. When he saw the chess set which was just as large, he suppressed a chuckle. The surrounding circumstances were no laughing matter, but this was so much like her, it was almost enough to make Albus smile.

Minerva on the other hand was not smiling, as far as he could tell. She was all the way across the room on the other side of the gigantic chessboard.

"Very impressive," Albus said loud enough for her to hear, but she pretended not to. Patiently, he added, "I don't wish to interrupt, but I was hoping to talk to you if you would be so kind as to give me a moment of your time."

He took a step forward because he didn't want to yell. But he was stopped immediately by two crossed blades. Albus had to crane his neck to glimpse at the lifeless and yet somehow angry faces of two black chess pieces. Then he gave Minerva a bit of an exasperated look.

She just folded her arms. "Looks as though you'll have to play your way across."

Albus sighed, but chose not to argue. If this was to be his punishment, so be it. He indicated to her that she should make her opening move, but nothing happened. "Are you sure you cast the spell correctly?"

Ire flashed in Minerva's green eyes. He could tell from all the way over here. "First, you have to choose how you want to play," she said and demonstrated what she meant by walking onto the chessboard. The white queen immediately bowed to her and walked off so Minerva could take her place.

"I see," Albus said, shaking his head, but he followed suit and replaced a black bishop.

Now they started to play. As they had done countless times since they had known each other. Needless to say, this was different. It certainly got his heart racing a lot more than chess usually did. Albus was a tall man, but these chess pieces were towering over him menacingly. He briefly wondered if they had been designed that way or if they simply mirrored Minerva's bad mood.

"I realise that you're not happy with the situation," Albus said, making use of the fact that he and Minerva were now close enough to talk without having to raise their voices. "I assure you I thought long and hard about bringing the stone to Hogwarts. But in the end, there was simply no alternative."

"And while you thought so long and hard, it never crossed your mind to talk to me about this?" Minerva ordered one of her pawns to take one of his and the white piece tore into the black one with a vengeance.

Albus was tempted to duck as to not get hit by the debris. "It was just an expression, Minerva. In fact, we had very little time and we were almost too late in getting the stone out of Gringotts."

"Which you asked Hagrid to do – of all people!"

"I trust Hagrid with my life. As you very well know," Albus told her and watched his rook destroy one of Minerva's bishops with some satisfaction.

"Yes, but with the stone, Albus?"

"As a matter of fact I will ask Hagrid to help protect the stone and I think he will do very well. Which is good, since you seem to think that's more important than my life," he said, just as he had to move so Minerva's approaching army of pawns wouldn't kill him.

She didn't seem to mind. "You were the one who insisted that protecting the stone was really about protecting the entire wizarding community and more important than any one person!"

"Which is why I'm doing all of this and why I was hoping for you to support me, not be angry with me."

"I'm not angry!" Minerva hissed. One of Albus' knights was knocked off his horse and then shattered into a million little pieces by Minerva's white counterpart.

Albus' brows shot up towards his hairline.

Minerva huffed. "I'm... worried," she admitted.

In response Albus made a move that was exceedingly dumb as far as the game was concerned. But it allowed him to walk closer to Minerva, so he didn't particularly care. Minerva didn't hesitate to capitalise on his mistake. She sent one of her pawns all the way to the end of the board, where it walked off and the original white queen took its place. She didn't have an actual face and yet she managed to give Albus a derisive smirk. Oh, he was in trouble now.

He forced himself to turn his back on the evil chess piece and focused on Minerva. "I promise you I will do whatever I can to make sure that no students are harmed because of this. Most of them won't even know the stone exits, to say nothing of its whereabouts."

"Most of them?"

"Well, you never know. The ability of students to come up with the most ingenious and foolish ideas never ceases to amaze me. Those marvellous Weasley twins of yours come to mind," Albus said.

Minerva wasn't amused, but she softened a little. "I know you'll protect the school. I'm sorry for suggesting otherwise. That's not really what concerns me."

Albus almost crossed the remaining distance between them, but remembered just in time to do some damage control and to take Minerva's second bishop instead. "What is it then?"

"When we did the handfasting ceremony after the war was over and You-Know-Who was gone, I remember thinking… if it only lasts for a year and a day, I'll be happy with that. But then it lasted two years, five, and now it's ten. And I don't want to... check."

Too wrapped up in her words, Albus needed a moment to understand that they were still playing and that Minerva had just placed his king in check. Impatiently, he moved to block it so he could hear the rest of what she had to say.

He saw it in Minerva's eyes first before he too realised that by protecting his king he had given himself up. "Oh my," he muttered. It took all of his self-control to stand his ground and not defend himself as Minerva's second queen came right at him, raised her sword and prepared to skewer him with it.

Only to freeze in the last second.

Albus released a breath he had been holding against his will and looked to Minerva, who put away her wand. "I don't want it to end," she finished her sentence.

After eyeing the chess pieces to make sure the game was really frozen, he finally joined Minerva on her square of the board. "Why would it end?"

"Because if something like this starts happening again, I'll have to share you and can no longer claim all of your time and attention. But I might have forgotten how to do that. I'll probably be as rubbish at it as you were at playing chess just now."

Albus gave a startled laugh and took her hands in his. "I won't lie to you. Things will probably be a little different at Hogwarts this year and possibly going forward. But I have never known you not to take such changes in stride and to face them head-on. And I have certainly never known you to be rubbish at anything. This should serve as ample proof of that."

Minerva surveyed her chessboard. "I want to add a couple more spells to make it virtually impossible to destroy or alter the pieces by magical means. But even so, it won't be enough."

"It will serve its purpose perfectly. And it won't be the only obstacle down here," Albus reminded her.

She remained sceptical. "I have no doubt that Severus came up with something vicious, but as far as Quirrell is concerned..." She paused, torn between pity and annoyance. "I thought his reason for taking a year off from teaching was to find himself. I don't know what it is he found, but it made matters so much worse."

"It does seem as though Quirinus' travels have brought him face to face with something... unexpected," Albus replied cautiously.

"Something that doesn't actually exist you mean? Do you know he's telling people that he got that turban as a gift for saving an African prince from a zombie?"

Despite himself, the look on Minerva's face made Albus chuckle. "That does sound like an entertaining story."

"Right, and I'm a direct descendent of Mary, Queen of Scots," Minerva scoffed.

"Now that I would find a lot less difficult to believe." He winked at her.

But she would not be deterred. "If you don't actually believe him, then why the sudden promotion?"

"I'm surprised at you, Minerva. I wouldn't have expected to hear you refer to switching from Muggle Studies to a different subject as a promotion," Albus pointed out, which wasn't exactly fair of him. But he had already lost one battle today.

Minerva looked askance. "That's not what I…" She stopped herself mid-sentence and sighed. "Fine. Let him teach the students how to defeat zombies. Stranger things have happened at Hogwarts, I suppose."

"Oh, of that I am sure," Albus nodded with a soft smile.

Once again Minerva scrutinised her giant chess set. "It's a shame, really, that you came down here to test it first. I was rather hoping to lure Bathsheda into it."

"I don't think she meant to insult you the other day."

Her gaze almost pleading, Minerva said, "I am not indifferent, Albus. I was the one who held Harry Potter in my arms when Lily and James… when they refused to let you protect them. I remember, and I do care."

Albus raised a hand and softly cupped her cheek. "Of course you do."

"But I think what he needs is to be treated like any other student. So he can finally have some stability and normalcy."

"That's a nice thought. But I'm afraid Harry was never meant to have a normal life," Albus said sadly.

"You sent Hagrid to get him, didn't you? I'm sure that went over well with his Muggle relatives." Minerva snorted.

"Ah, I think that tail will be easy enough to remove."

"What?"

"I mean," Albus corrected himself, "it went well for Harry, which really is all that matters."

Minerva watched him as they walked off the chessboard so she could reset it properly. "You could have gone to talk to him yourself."

Albus shook his head. "It wasn't my place."

"According to whom?" Minerva asked while she cast those spells she had mentioned earlier and she did so nonverbally as if they weren't complicated at all, certainly not difficult enough to stop her from carrying on a conversation.

He hadn't been her teacher in so very long, but every now and then he was still proud. "You, for one. Just now. I wouldn't call being personally chaperoned by your headmaster normal, would you?"

"But you said that wasn't an option for him one way or another." Minerva lowered her wand and looked at him fully. "If I couldn't have normalcy in my life, I would definitely want Albus Dumbledore in it instead."

And then there were these other things he felt for her, far more powerful and wonderful than pride. "Then it's very fortunate that he's already yours."

Before she could argue about timeshares, promotions or stones, he sealed that simple truth with a kiss.