Thanks for the lovely reviews! I really appreciate it - especially if I've had a long and difficult day at work (like today)!
Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter.
1 August 1995
It was early in the morning and a dull light filled the cold, dank kitchen of Grimmauld Place. Minerva had been sitting there for the past hour after returning from her shift at the Ministry. She had planned on going back to Hogwarts first. In fact, she would have welcomed the opportunity. Nevertheless, an Order meeting had been arranged for early that morning. Minerva had not deemed it worthwhile to return to her quarters only to leave for Grimmauld Place again immediately afterwards.
Thus, with only half an hour until the meeting, Minerva had decided to finish completing the list of house visits she was still due to make before the start of term. The list of prospective first years she still had to speak to was ever growing. At this rate, Minerva suspected that it was likely she would have to visit at least two families that afternoon.
She sighed at the thought. Did she really feel able to talk to two sets of parents that day and tell them that their son or daughter was a witch, she thought tiredly. It was a difficult conversation, and right now all Minerva could think about was going to sleep to rest her eyes and sore body. After all, remaining in her animagus form for a whole 8 hours while she stood guard outside a door at the Ministry, did no favours to her limbs.
Minerva sighed again as looked back at the piece of parchment on the table and scanned the letter. Dorset and Hull were her two next destinations. Thank goodness for disapparation, she thought gratefully.
"Working already?"
Minerva looked up to see Remus Lupin enter the dark and dank kitchen at Grimmauld Place. He smiled and came to sit down opposite her. "Did you stay the night?"
She shook her head, and folded the paper neatly back into its folder. "I have just returned from the Ministry," she replied.
A look of understanding crossed Remus' features, though after a moment he frowned. "I thought Sturgis was meant to take over this evening?"
"He was," she said, "but he was unavailable."
Remus nodded slowly, and it was then that Minerva noticed the paleness of his skin and his almost haggard look. Fresh cuts were visible on his face and hands. Minerva could also observe new scars lining his skin. It saddened her thinking of the ordeal he had to go through each month.
Noticing her looks, Remus cleared his throat. "Full moon last night," he said quietly. "Rougher than usual. Tea?"
Minerva nodded silently and Remus waved his wand. Tea things assembled themselves gracefully onto the heavy wood table sitting between them. He flicked his wand once more and the teapot hovered above each teacup and filled them with steaming tea.
"Thank you," Minerva said.
He nodded. "Maybe coffee would have been better?" he remarked, clearly having noticed how tired Minerva seemed. Exhausted perhaps would have been a better word to describe her.
A gentle smile tugged the corner of her lips. "Perhaps," she conceded. "But I expect tea will do just fine for now."
She picked up her mug and blew on the liquid gently before taking a sip. Remus meanwhile was looking thoughtfully at his clasped hands on the table.
"Sirius is grateful, you know," he said after a while. He looked up at her. "For what you and Albus did for him last year. He may not show it much now, but deep down he knows he owes you both a great debt."
"He nearly got caught staying in that cottage," Minerva pointed out. She set down her cup. "And although I stand by Albus' decision to send Sirius here, I do not believe Sirius is particularly grateful for being forced to stay here."
"Even so," Remus replied. "You have gone out of your way to keep him safe."
Minerva did not say anything immediately, and Remus took the opportunity to retrieve something he had been concealing in the inside of his cloak pocket. Minerva frowned as he placed a package wrapped in black cloth on the table.
"For you," he said, smiling faintly. "I think it's about time that they are returned to their rightful owner."
He pulled the cloth off the package to reveal two books stacked neatly on top of each other. Minerva's eyes widened involuntarily as she instantly recognised the Transfiguration animagus books that had gone missing from her office almost 20 years ago. She slowly reached out to trace her finger over the gold embossed title on the cover, before opening the book and looking at the inscriptions on the first page.
Property of: Albus Dumbledore 1935
Minerva McGonagall 1948
"Goodness," Minerva said softly, looking at her and Albus' name written in black ink; if slightly faded. "After all these years?" she added, looking up at Remus.
"I found them in a bookcase upstairs," he explained. "We were planning on returning them to your office after Sirius, James and Peter managed to transform. Sirius had brought them home, I expect, to study. Then, he must have left them here when he ran away."
Minerva nodded slowly.
"I didn't know Dumbledore was an animagus," Remus added conversationally.
"He isn't," Minerva replied. "He gave me these books in my third year to help me with my work on animagi. If I recall correctly, he gave them to me because he did not want to see them go to waste."
Remus raised his eyebrows. "You became an animagus in your third year?"
"I did," she said. "Though not until after many weeks of trying to persuade Professor Dippet and Albus to help me." Remus chuckled and Minerva smiled slightly. "Thank you for returning them," she added sincerely.
"It seemed only fair," Remus admitted. "We shouldn't have taken them in the first place, really."
"Well," Minerva began, "I am glad that you did. I suspect you would have tried the animagus spell with or without proper guidance. At least you had the best books to help instruct you on how to do the transformation correctly. Even if it meant that I spent many years wondering where these books had got to."
Remus grimaced. "Sorry."
"Apology accepted," Minerva said, and Remus smiled just as green flames erupted from the grate at the end of the room. Albus appeared a second later.
"Minerva, my dear, good morning," he said cheerfully, shaking off some soot from his robes. "Remus," he then greeted Lupin, before coming to sit down beside Minerva. His eyes settled on the books still on the table, and he raised his eyebrows. "The books that mysteriously disappeared from your office?" he said, picking up a copy and looking at Minerva. "These are very old."
"I do not like what you are implying, Albus," Minerva said, narrowing her eyes.
Remus snorted but tried to conceal the noise by coughing.
"I meant that the books were published a very long time ago," Albus corrected himself. "1901," he added, pointing out the date. "I was not referring to the date that they were last in use."
Minerva gave him a side-glance. "Hm."
He smiled, then she did, after a while. "The others will be arriving soon," he said. "Is Sirius here?"
"Where else would I be?" came the voice of Sirius Black from the kitchen doorway. He sighed and opened the door where Kingsley, Moody and Arthur, Bill and Molly Weasley were standing behind.
"All right," Moody said gruffly, pushing into the room. "Let's begin."
