Once More Unto the Breach

After all their tears had been shed and handkerchiefs passed 'round, Professor McGonagall stood and motioned for the assembled Gryffindors to quiet down.

"My chil—" she began, then stopped. She began anew. "I was about to call you 'my children,' but sadly, I can no longer call you that. Over the past weeks you have all seen more than enough to rob you of the innocence that, by rights, should have been yours for at least a few more years.

"I know that many of you pity me for what happened last night. But the crime that has been committed against you all is so much worse, and for that, I can never forgive those who perpetrated it. I will speak to you about it now, and then I hope we can all put it in the past and move forward with the work that must be done to defeat evil and ensure that it never is allowed to flourish again."

Her voice seemed to drop an octave, and the group had to listen closely to hear her next words.

"What you witnessed last night was an act of violence, no more, no less. It had nothing to do with sex, and even less to do with lovemaking. No doubt it was Voldemort's intention not only to frighten you into obedience, but also to ensure that what should be an act of love is forever associated in your minds with violence and humiliation. It is his purpose to try to sully everything that is good and beautiful because he is incapable of experiencing or creating it.

"When the time comes for each of you to fall in love and experience the joys of expressing that love physically with another person, I hope that you will remember what I am saying to you now rather than what Voldemort and his thugs hoped to scar you with last night. Love is miraculous, and I have been privileged to have experienced that miracle. The memory of it sustains me through the dark times, and it is stronger than any terrible thing I have ever, or will ever, endure. If you are able to give and receive love, you are already far more powerful than Voldemort can ever hope to be."

Never had they loved her more.

Before she excused them, Professor McGonagall asked them to share the message with their friends in Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and, she added, those in Slytherin who would listen. She almost gagged on the name.

Before the evening was over, Professors Sprout and Flitwick had heard the story from their students, and both stopped by Minerva's private quarters to congratulate her for her courage.

Filius kissed her hand then dabbed at the corners of his eyes with his handkerchief. Pomona, more practical, brought a bottle of the best Firewhisky she could find, and together they raised a toast "to love." Minerva enquired about Hagrid, and was reassured when Filius told her he had recovered with no sequelae from the Stunners.

When they parted, Pomona left the bottle.

Finally alone, Minerva poured herself a large glassful and sat gazing into the fire. As she felt the potent liquor hit her bloodstream, she realized two things: one, she had forgotten to eat anything that day; and two, she desperately wanted a shower.

/***/

Several days passed relatively uneventfully. Colin Creevey endured a savage beating at the hands of Amycus Carrow after spitting at Snape's feet. When a sheepish Colin returned from the hospital wing, Professor McGonagall warned her students against "pointless displays of rebellion." She admonished them to save their acts of heroism for moments in which they might do some good. Nevertheless, she kissed Colin on the forehead, making him blush beneath his bruises.

She resumed her classes, determined to act as if nothing had happened. She ignored the smirks of a few Slytherins—whose Transfiguration homework mysteriously "vanished" from her desk, earning them failing marks—and handed out a detention requiring the author of a particularly disgusting limerick to clean Moaning Myrtle's bathroom with a toothbrush. Other than that, Minerva's week went better than she had anticipated. Work had always been a good tonic for her.

She and Snape had managed to avoid one another. She did not return to the Great Hall for meals, and he, everyone assumed, was holed up in the Headmaster's office or off doing whatever horrible things Death Eaters did in their spare time. As long as he wasn't doing them at Hogwarts, Minerva couldn't bring herself to care.

She had taken to transforming into her Animagus form when her classes were over for the day. It was easier; she could slip through the corridors unnoticed and unmolested by either well-wishers or smarmy Slytherins.

As it tends to, life went on despite everything.

Minerva was showing her third-year Hufflepuffs how to change a pumpkin into a bathtub with running water when a house-elf appeared just inside the classroom door.

"Thank you, Trixie," said McGonagall evenly as she took the note the little elf held out to her. When she saw the seal, however, she felt the blood drain from her face.

As nausea threatened to overcome her, she hoarsely told her students to continue practicing and quickly left the room. She managed to make it into a stall in the nearest girls' lavatory before she vomited.

After she washed her face and rinsed her mouth of the bile she could still taste, she warded the lavatory door, conjuring an "Out of Order" sign from a paper towel, which she magicked onto the outside of the door.

With trembling hands she broke the Headmaster's seal and read the message:

Professor McGonagall,

Please see me in my office at 5:00 this afternoon. I need to meet with you privately.

S. Snape, Headmaster

The dread words echoed in her consciousness for the twenty minutes it took her to slow her breathing.

“I need to meet with you privately."

"… privately."

She crumpled the note and Transfigured it into a small bird. As the creature flew towards the window, a stream of flame burst from her wand and immolated it.