XXIII: Escaping
Chapter 23 of 141
MMADfanDanger closes in as Minerva tries to find a way for them to escape.
ReviewedXXIII: Escaping
Minerva raced back to the road as quickly as she could, leaping over fallen tree limbs, slipping through the bracken, and dashing beneath bushes. As she approached the spot where she'd left Frankel, she slowed and crept quietly forward toward the edge of the road. She saw no one. She heard nothing. Nonetheless, she remained completely motionless, as she could only in her Animagus form, and crouched by the soft shoulder of the road, waiting, listening intently, and testing the air with her nose.
Underlying the odours still emanating from the burned-out jeep, Minerva could smell petrol in the air or was it diesel? that hadn't been there before. She didn't know how long such a scent would take to dissipate, normally, but there was a light breeze, and she decided that a Muggle vehicle must have driven through recently. After several minutes of crouching by the roadside, hearing nothing unusual, Minerva stood and sauntered into the road. Batting a fallen leaf about, she attended to the sounds around her in the night. She still heard nothing. She walked in a seemingly aimless pattern, tossing her dry leaf, patting it along the ground, jumping on it, catching it, and losing it. She then chose a small stone to bat about and send skittering along the surface of the road, never pawing it too far from her. Whilst an observer may have thought that she was a mere house cat out on a lark in the middle of the night, Minerva was making note of everything she saw and everything she smelled, remaining attentive for any sounds that might indicate the presence of another person.
As she tossed her leaf about, she found tyre tracks, barely visible on the hard-packed, frozen dirt road. Indeed, if she hadn't been looking for them, believing them to be there, she wouldn't have seen them, even with her acute night vision. As a cat, she was somewhat farsighted, and so when she leapt onto her leaf to capture it beneath her, and examined the track closely, she used her nose, and her slightly opened mouth, more than she did her eyes. She would really have to begin a study of the way thing smelled at different intervals, she thought. Although she believed the tracks smelled fresh, she couldn't be sure. She was fairly certain, however, that they were much more recent than that morning, and did not belong to the jeep that had been carrying Dumbledore and the two Aurors.
Abandoning the leaf in favour of a small, round pebble, she criss-crossed the road until she finally reached the spot where Frankel had fallen. Stopping there and sniffing would be perfectly natural for a cat, so Minerva explored the ground carefully, opening her mouth slightly in order better to smell, or taste, the odours around her.
The Auror had bled quite a bit, she decided, but she also found discarded bloody cloths that had apparently been used to staunch the flow. Following the scents along the ground, she deduced that the soldiers had lifted Frankel and carried him to the south side of the road, where they'd laid him down again. There was very little blood there; they must have bandaged him up and perhaps stopped the bleeding.
She sat by the spot where Frankel had lain, and washed her face, something she normally disliked doing in her Animagus form (although, truth be told, it did feel rather nice), but she needed to think. If anyone was watching, they would just see a finicky cat bathing at the side of the road.
Minerva was discouraged. She had hoped to find Frankel still there, although she had known that there was a good chance he would be gone by now or that she would be unable to reach him even if he were there. Wondering whether he had managed to use his Portkey yet, she washed her shoulder, then her hip, and then chased her tail in a circle.
The soldiers had left cigarette ends tossed by the road, she noticed. She sniffed one, then batted it aside. Disgusting things. Another discarded bit of bloody gauze. A button. Putting her nose to it, she thought it smelled of Frankel. She was glad now that he had held her in her Animagus form when they Portkeyed. She certainly wouldn't have noticed his particular scent, otherwise. She played with the button, tossing it back toward the spot where the soldiers had laid him, apparently to wait for the vehicle that had come and, she surmised, driven them away.
Minerva lay down and sniffed the air again. Still no scents that she wasn't expecting to be there. She wished that she could sense magic in her Animagus form. After working with Albus at Hogwarts, Minerva had come to be able to detect the tingle of a powerful ward while she was in her Animagus form, but she was completely blind to any other magic when she was a cat. Of course, it was not as though she were particularly sensitive to magical traces in her ordinary form, either. That type of heightened sensitivity, if not a natural gift, was the product of years of training and hard work. Even if she were in her ordinary form, Minerva doubted that she would sense any common magic being used in the area without using her wand. She had promised Albus that she would stay in her Animagus form, though, and she would. It wouldn't be particularly wise to wave a wand about out here, anyway.
Remembering the almost unnatural stillness that had emanated from the hollow where Albus had lain beneath his Imperturbable Charm, Minerva pricked her ears, trying to detect whether there was no noise where she would expect to hear at least the rustle of the wind. She finally concluded that, for the moment at least, she was alone and unobserved. Keeping in mind that her situation could change at any second, Minerva began a minute, inch-by-inch, search of the ground near where she'd found the Auror's button. She primarily used her nose, but stayed alert for anything that might gleam unnaturally against the dirt, and pushed aside leaves and debris with her paws.
Just as she was prepared to give up and return to the middle of the road to examine the spot where Frankel had originally fallen, her paw encountered something beneath a prickly bush perhaps a berry bush, thought Minerva which did not feel like a leaf, or dirt, or anything else that one would naturally find beneath a berry bush at the side of a road.
Unwilling to raise her own hopes too high after all, it could be a bloody handkerchief, or something Minerva crouched as low as she could and crept under the thorny stems, wishing that her coat were heavier, or her fur longer. It wasn't a handkerchief. It was cloth, though. Her heart racing, Minerva hooked her paw around the object and dragged it toward her. It smelled of Frankel. She backed out from under the bush, no longer noticing the thorns, dragging the object along. When it made a very nice little jangle as she pulled it more forcefully from its hiding place, Minerva could have danced for joy. It was her stupid, blasted, belled collar, still buckled, and other than a bit of dirt and sweat, apparently none the worse for having been discarded under the berry bush. Minerva hadn't smelled any footprints near the bush, nor anything else human, hence her readiness to give up the search and return to the road. Frankel must have either tossed it there or Levitated it wandlessly. Either way, he had taken a risk. Of course, the soldiers could have found it on him and kicked it or thrown it aside, but it had been so far underneath the bush, it had to have been tossed from a very low vantage point such as that of a man lying on the ground or been whisked there with a charm.
It was also possible that he had managed to leave the Muggle fountain pen behind in the same manner, but Minerva didn't want to take the time to look for something that might not be there. Besides, she could fairly easily carry the collar; she supposed she could have managed the fountain pen, instead, if she'd had to, but she didn't believe that she could carry both Portkeys at once without some difficulty.
Minerva manoeuvred the collar about with her paws, then lowered her head and caught the bell up in her mouth. When it was well-settled, she stopped, looked, listened, and smelled the air again. Still nothing to indicate the presence of anyone but herself. She dashed across the road, hunkered briefly beside the shoulder, then began to pick her way back through the underbrush, going more slowly and carefully this time. She didn't want to drop the collar: picking it up by its bell had been a difficult operation to do once, she didn't want to have to repeat it. In addition, she had to avoid snagging the thing on the overhanging limbs and stems that she had been able simply to brush past on her way there. As frustrated as Minerva was that this journey would take a bit longer, she felt immense satisfaction, both human and feline, that she would be able to present Albus with a prize upon her return.
She was several yards in from the road when she suddenly heard several loud cracks coming from the area between the jeep and the site of Frankel's ambush. Those cracks would be recognised by any witch or wizard: multiple Apparitions. Minerva froze, glad that she was a dark tabby, glad that she was several yards from the road, and glad that there were trees and bushes between her and whoever had just Apparated in. She stayed to listen, unmoving. Who had arrived? Friend or foe? The sound of their voices answered that question for her. They weren't speaking English. The Ministry had not sent these wizards. Grindelwald had.
Minerva slunk quietly away, knowing that rushing could draw attention to her. Albus was not safe in his hole. He may be well hidden from Muggles, or even from a desultory inspection by a wizard. But these wizards knew for whom they were looking. They would find his path; they would not be fooled long by a Disillusionment Charm; they would capture him; they would bring him to Grindelwald. Grindelwald would subject him to the unspeakable interrogations for which he was infamous, and then, if Albus were lucky, they would kill him. But Minerva would not let that happen, not if she had to die to prevent it.
As she got further from the road and could no longer hear the wizards, Minerva broke into a trot. She was still unable to proceed as quickly as she had earlier, but she would reach her destination in just a few minutes. Running through the woods, scrambling over fallen trees and through the ferny undergrowth, she considered Albus's situation. Before they left before she left, she corrected herself she would have to eradicate any sign of his having been in the area. She didn't know how much he had bled when he had been near the jeep, but she knew that he had cleaned up any detectable blood between the road and his hiding place. She hoped that whatever blood was at the original scene was Moody's or Carson's, or at least that it was so well mixed with theirs as to be unusable for any Dark Art. Yes, she would have to banish all the blood from the scene, as well as the traces that he had left when he had leaned against the tree. Minerva hadn't heard of urine being used in a Dark Spell, but she had not made a study of such things, either. She couldn't be too careful.
She arrived. Albus was there, dozing. Minerva crept in beside him and dropped the collar on his chest. He woke up at that and was just about to say something when Minerva quickly put a paw over his mouth and shook her head. Paw still to his lips, she slipped back into her ordinary form with barely a whispered pop. She did not remove her hand from his mouth, but felt for her wand with her free one. Awkwardly, she cast a light nonverbal Imperturbable, then took her hand from his mouth and moved it to his chest.
"Shh," Minerva breathed. She grasped the collar, taking hold first of the bell to silence it, despite the charm she'd just cast. Still holding the collar tightly, she found his hand and pressed the collar into it. Letting go, she whispered, "Grindelwald's men. No time to talk. The trigger word is 'spero.' You must use it alone, if it comes to that. You must promise me. Do not make Carson's life, and mine, wasted through delay. I need to destroy all traces of your blood in and around this spot. I will do the area beneath you last. If need be, I will do it after you Portkey. You know what they'd do with your blood, Albus."
"I will not leave you behind, Minerva."
"If we do this right, you won't have to. If worst comes to worse, I'll return to my Animagus form and find the British or American Army. I'll be fine. It's you they're after. They don't even know I'm here."
"Unless they've questioned Frankel," Albus whispered back, urgently. "They may even know what form you take."
"We will not need to risk that if we are quick about this. Stop arguing, Albus. Lie there for a moment, but be alert in case you need to get out of here."
Minerva rolled out from beneath the rock. First, she dashed over to the tree where Albus had relieved himself, and cleaned up there, doing away with any bodily fluids he left behind. She then returned to the rock and began casting strong, nonverbal cleaning charms over the rock and the surrounding ground, first Dilutus, then Ablutus. Fortunately, Albus had been very careful, and had eradicated his traces up to that point.
"Hold on, Albus," Minerva whispered. "This may not be comfortable." With that warning, she swished and flicked and Levitated Albus from the hole, just missing hitting his head against the scrubby tree as she did so.
"All right, I'm going to Levitate you upright. Take hold of the tree to stay that way. Try not to lean on it. You've still got blood on your clothes." Albus had little choice but to obey. He gripped his borrowed wand in the same hand that held the cat collar and wished for his magic and his physical strength to return. Wishing it did not make it so.
After giving Albus his instructions, Minerva Levitated the Transfigured body from the cavity and deposited it at his feet. Then she thought of something.
"Your jacket, Albus, where are the sleeves?" she whispered desperately. She thought she heard the popping of a branch breaking somewhere in the distance.
"Under the rock, further under," he whispered back. He, too, had heard something, and his stomach was a riot of dread and foreboding. "Hurry, Minerva, hurry!"
Hurry she did, throwing herself onto her stomach and waving her wand, Summoning the sleeves and hoping they would respond despite being hidden in the gloom. Successful, she stood, holding the bloody remnants in her left hand, and cast the Ablutus Charm at the area where Albus had lain for so many hours. Just as she finished, she could hear voices, and rustling, approaching from the distance.
Turning toward Albus, Minerva thrust her wand into her belt. She bent and hefted the log that was Carson's body in her left arm, grabbed Albus's hand with her right, and said, "Now, Albus, now!"
Albus needed no further urging. "Spero!"
And they were gone, as if they had never been there.
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Latest 25 Reviews for Resolving a Misunderstanding
954 Reviews | 6.45/10 Average
Okay...I think it's time for a Gertrude and Malcolm story. If you got any ideas like the proposal or her pregnancy I'm all ears. I've read this story 100 times but just wanted to say that this story is great every single time I read it, it always feels like my first time.
I have a love hate relationship with this fic. I do not enjoy stories where people spend time angsting when they could just tell each other how they feel and be done with it, no matter how it plays out. I enjoyed this because of Quin. If you hadn't had he or Getrude, this story wouldn't have worked for me. The witty dialogue is what kept me interested to the end. Well done with your OCs.
Review in progress... :-)
Putting myself in Albus's shoes - from his vantage point of what had played out between them - I can very well imagine how awfully guilty he must have felt, how repulsed by his own behaviour, how defeated, with no option but to assume things were over. Really sad and horrible, for him.
But then Gertrude...oh, how I love that woman! Her questioning of Albus, her coclusions: brilliant! Utterly love that small scene! :-)
Forgot to rate...
Must have been very upsetting, embarrassing and worrying for Albus indeed, to have found a young woman attractive for a few moments, only to find out that she's actually his student. I can so imagine how he must have been shocked and appalled by himself.
I loved seeing these two lively, bright and, both of them, determined and decisive girls: Melina seeing the need to educate on healing spells, before even being allowed to hold a wand; and Minerva, trying to take matters in hand concerning Albus's health as well as the running of Murdoch's household. Yet, I always find Melina bordering on overpowering and you already show that here, in her as a young girl.
"And what a pity we can’t hold hands as innocently as Melina does." I love this observation, which, I'd say, actually counts for all of us.
You made me realize it's a bit sad, isn't it? Holding hands is comforting and gives a sense of closeness, but once you're above a certain age (and experience?), there's just no way the innocence will ever come back, unless it's holding hands with a small child. Which means that I, and most likely by far the most of us, hardly ever hold hands anymore. Alas.
Very nice, serious chapter and probably decisive in Albus's later 'hesitations' towards Minerva. Right???
Soap in the eyes indeed! Malcolm is such a twit ... its hard not to like him at least a little ... still ... I think Gertrude is far too big a catch for the likes of this McGonagall ... *snorts*
Forgive me Madam Raven ... I'm bound to get uppity with at least one of your characters.
Even with my aggravation, I did enjoy Malcolm and Gertie's banter.
Response from MMADfan (Author of Resolving a Misunderstanding)
Awww, you'd like Gertrude to be single and still all shades of mourning? Poor Malcolm! He adores her, you know! :-) ;-) He also amuses her & brings her some vitality. Glad you enjoyed their banter! :-)
Response from Fishy (Reviewer)
I know I know ... and you know why, of course ... his arrogance and swagger embarrass me because .... yes ... exactly ... reminds me of a younger version of ... someone foolish ... not saying whoooooo ... *whistles innocently*
And of course we can't have Gertie in all shades of black forever! She needs her lime green suits - just like in this chapter - she redresses in three shades of ... GREEN! Gertrude Spring! Seee! That's where I got the lime green from! *grins*
That and I would want her to find joyous love ... I love Gertie too much not to. Even if it has to be Malcolm. *grins*
Response from MMADfan (Author of Resolving a Misunderstanding)
There's a place in life for people who are a bit brash. Aside from their entertainment value! haha! But don't be down on those characteristics of yourself. You've noted yourself that you've learned to tone down a bit and not just say whatever pops into your head! :-)Yep, Malcolm got her to wear green, green, and green, and look all nice and cheerful. I was pretty sure you were remembering her post-Malcolm greenness when you mentioned the lime green suit. hee!
Response from Fishy (Reviewer)
I will share something simple I have learned. Humility is a virtue and pride is a liability. *nods* And I has lots more liabilities than virtues, me thinks.
I so love this chapter. The dragon riding is just so incredible ... and then the duel is ABSOLUTELY awesome! I love the giant field of sunflowers and the fireball - aka - fire don't hurt phoenixes - snap you're stunned, Buddy bit.
Give me a Madam!
Give me a Raven!
Ravenclaw's Madam Raven!
Response from Fishy (Reviewer)
Holy COW! Bloo knows English!
Dragons Dragons Dragons!
Response from MMADfan (Author of Resolving a Misunderstanding)
It was a stunner to get any review from Bloo that didn't consist of "Cheers for posting." It became so tiresome to keep opening TPP review alerts, go to the review page, and discover yet another of the exact same three words. I didn't want to turn off alerts altogether because I was still getting a lot of real reviews for fics that were still WIPs at the time.I'm glad you enjoyed the dragon riding and the "whoops, you're Stunned!" at the end. :-)Thanks!
Madam Raven, remind me which house Siofre was sorted into?
Response from MMADfan (Author of Resolving a Misunderstanding)
She's Ravenclaw. And Lydia is Slytherin. Siofre's first husband - Merwyn's father - was Gryffindor, and her second husband Herbert was Hufflepuff.
Response from Fishy (Reviewer)
I thought she was Ravenclaw. Still no idea who Lydia is ... I know her daughter is Maisy, or Maise or something like that.
Forgive me, I get all the McGonagalls and their affiliates, across yours, mine and Squibby's universes confused.
Response from MMADfan (Author of Resolving a Misunderstanding)
Lydia's her sister-in-law, remember? Murdoch Tyree's wife. She's a major CSG character. (I thought you were reading that at one point, but I must have misremembered.)
Response from Fishy (Reviewer)
No I was reading it (you are correct), but in the last six months I've lost about 40 IQ points and have forgotten nearly everything I used to know ... so I am behind on RaM-verse extensions. Bad me ...
*sighs* Albus ... Albus ... Albus ... most romantic man to ever grace .... fiction. If only men could be so romantic anymore. That poem is beautiful ... I am guessing, since there are no foot-notes, that it is one of your originals?
Response from MMADfan (Author of Resolving a Misunderstanding)
Yep, Albus and I wrote that way early in the story. I'm not much of a poet, but I thought it felt and sounded like a poem that Albus would write.
*snip*
“Ah, well, it’s best not to rush things. Enjoy it, Minerva, savour it. He’s likely nervous, as well. The age difference is probably causing him far more concern than it is you. His perspective is different from yours, and as I said when you were here on Friday, he is from a different time and place. He also has had experiences in his life that you and I, fortunately, have been spared, and that I can only dimly imagine.”
*snip*
I really like that. That shows uncommon wisdom.
Response from Fishy (Reviewer)
*snip*
“No, simply . . . odd, disorienting, I suppose,” Albus replied, though Minerva thought that he did look tired and drawn. “It was so long ago, it is almost like remembering a dream. Collum was actually almost five years younger than I, in Aberforth’s year, but he was in my House, and I was also good friends with Perseus. Perseus and Crispinian were cousins of some sort, and Crispy was great friends with Collum, who was only a couple years younger than he. Anyway, for some reason – I don’t remember why, now – we were all here for a few days that summer after my NEWTs. I had just married, and I remember that Dervilia persuaded me that we should accept the invitation because I would be beginning my apprenticeship soon and would have much less time for my friends. I hadn’t been inclined to, wanting to spend the time with her, and feeling that they were all still children while I was a married man – at all of eighteen! But we actually had a good time. I remember that the girls – Siofre and Gwyn – visited once for the day and gave Dervilia some relief from our masculine company.” Now Minerva was beginning to feel peculiar. Gwynllian and Siofre, the “girls,” were her grandmothers. Perseus was Gwynllian’s brother, and Crispinian was her other grandfather. For a dizzying moment, Minerva felt as though she had stepped back in time, to a point when her Great-uncle Perseus was just a boy, friends with Crispinian, not knowing that Crispinian would marry his sister, Gwyn, nor that Collum would marry Siofre and die in an accident when his son, Merwyn, was just a baby. And Albus and Dervilia . . . that their happiness would be very short-lived.
*snip*
Woah ... yeah that would make me uncomfortable as well ... that is ... well that is just ... well ... my head would be swimming if I were Minerva.
Response from MMADfan (Author of Resolving a Misunderstanding)
Yes, it is dizzying for Minerva, and it gives her an appreciation for some of the points her mother made, and for how and why Albus would not be completely comfortable yet.
*snip*
“Hold still, Merwyn! Your collar is all askew here,” Egeria said with slight impatience.“Don’t see why we have to get all dressed up,” Merwyn grumbled. “I thought what I was wearing this morning was perfectly acceptable.” “Those old brown robes make you look like Friar Tuck,” Egeria grumbled back.“They do not! Besides, I thought you liked my brown robes. That’s what you said the last time I wore them!” “No, it isn’t. I said I liked taking them off of you. There is a difference,” Egeria said with a smile. She patted his tummy and added, “And you are right, you don’t look like Friar Tuck. You have a much nicer figure – though heaven only knows why, when you sit behind your desk all day or in the library with your feet up.”
*snip*
Tee hee hee ... now Madam Raven, don't take my head off here, as you know I tend to picture your characters in my mind regardless of how you describe him ... but I thought you'd like to know how I picture Merwyn ... and here I see that I was wrong.
I picture Merwyn of average height, black hair that is now full of silver and white, and a very round figure ... probably from all that sitting behind his desk.
Response from Fishy (Reviewer)
*snip*
Minerva laughed. “Fly without a broom? No, haven’t mastered that, wouldn’t try. It’s not possible.”It was Albus’s turn to laugh. “Not impossible, merely very rare in this part of the world. And the Ministry would like to keep it that way. Hard to regulate that sort of thing. Most witches and wizards couldn’t accomplish it, anyway.”Minerva stopped and looked back at him. “You are joking, aren’t you?” “Not at all. I rarely do it, myself, although when I was with Master Nyima, I became quite adept. I would sometimes fly with Mother Dragon. I think that is one reason she took a liking for me, actually.”Minerva looked at him a moment, digesting this information, then she shook her head and continued the climb. Well, she hadn’t believed it was possible to become as completely invisible as Albus could, either. In fact, at the time, she had actually thought that she had always believed becoming invisible was as impossible as flight without a Charmed object. Apparently, it was, though not the way that she had believed. She should never underestimate Albus Dumbledore.
*snip*
*grins* I like this.
See ... we HP fans know that Dumbledore is brilliant and amazingly powerful ... but just to say it, well its a bit of a let-down, and harder to take as fact. But showing it ... especially in a sideways manner such as this ... an off-handed type of author's compliment, well that seems to me, to be perfection. I can truly appreciate his amazing talents here ... especially considering that Minerva (who is particularly powerful and talented) is amazed.
Response from MMADfan (Author of Resolving a Misunderstanding)
I'm glad you liked that. :-)I remember knowing that I would slip that in way back when I wrote the chapter where Dumbledore invisibly observes Minerva doing her tutoring session, and I always envisioned it happening at her family home -- I'd originally been going to have him actually fly, but without a good reason, it would have felt too stilted, especially since his Animagus form flies, so that would be more natural.
*shakes head* Malcolm, Malcolm, Malcolm ... there is such a thing as tact .... *groans* sadly .... I think I get most frustrated with Malcolm because he reminds me of myself ... er ... I should clarify, my younger self, who was obnoxiously blunt and said what ever came to my mind ... and I likely came off as gruff and uncouth as Malcolm does ... so its an annoying reminder of just how ungracious I can be. *grumbles*
Response from MMADfan (Author of Resolving a Misunderstanding)
He doesn't always employ his internal censor, and he doesn't always have the best way of putting things, but his heart's usually in the right place. And when he wants to, when he puts his mind to it, he can be tactful. But that takes work for him!
Response from Fishy (Reviewer)
Sounds like someone I know ... *groans* Another reminder for me. I guess some of us are just ungifted with the 'gracious' gene.
Response from MMADfan (Author of Resolving a Misunderstanding)
He doesn't always employ his internal censor, and he doesn't always have the best way of putting things, but his heart's usually in the right place. And when he wants to, when he puts his mind to it, he can be tactful. But that takes work for him!
Response from Fishy (Reviewer)
Sounds like someone I know ... *groans* Another reminder for me. I guess some of us are just ungifted with the 'gracious' gene.
FINALLY! Hooray for Quin and Wilspy ... *steals Wilspy and takes her to the island where she's stashed Gertrude*
I thought about stealing Quin but ... I am on this celibacy kick ...
Response from MMADfan (Author of Resolving a Misunderstanding)
Oooohhhhh noooooes! *MMADfan enlists Quin to help find and steal back Wilspy and Gertrude*
Response from Fishy (Reviewer)
Response from MMADfan (Author of Resolving a Misunderstanding)
*Quin turns on the charm , turning
Response from MMADfan (Author of Resolving a Misunderstanding)
's celibate knees to jelly so she can't chase after MMADfan as she steal back Wilspy and Gertrude*
Response from Fishy (Reviewer)
*floats like a jellyfish (uber slow) across the water while she sees Quin, Gertrude and Wilspy sail off on the boat. Is quite sure Wilspy and Gertrude are crying and waving in mourning as Quin steals them both from the enchanted island*
Response from MMADfan (Author of Resolving a Misunderstanding)
Heheheh!!
Response from Fishy (Reviewer)
Its an island enchanted to have no mosquitos, sand flies, fire ants or thorny trees/bushes but lots of beautiful fish, both shell and fin, and a huge variety of fruit trees and veggies year round, and maintains a perfect temperature and humidity level ... *sighs*
Response from MMADfan (Author of Resolving a Misunderstanding)
I wanna go there!
Response from Fishy (Reviewer)
Me too!
This is the chapter that I want to throttle Minerva and grant Quin sainthood ... honestly ... what she does to that poor man ...
Response from MMADfan (Author of Resolving a Misunderstanding)
I know. Minerva was not at her best there, was she? Poor Quin!
*snip*
Finally, at midnight, he went down to his office and opened the cupboard in which he kept his Charmed parchments. He rarely used them, and he hesitated to now. It would be prying . . . it would be for his own personal gain, not for school business. But he cast the necessary spells, and the results were clear and easy to read, there were so few people in the castle. Johannes was in his bedroom in Ravenclaw Tower. Gertrude and Malcolm . . . were both together. In her rooms. In her bedroom, in fact. Well, that answered one question that he hadn’t wished to ask. Johannes’s name was steady, but Gertrude’s and Malcolm’s names seemed to pulse, becoming thicker and bolder, then returning to the normal script. He could imagine what that might mean, and he averted his eyes. But Minerva’s name was not on the list. There was Fawkes listed. For some reason, he was perched in the Astronomy Tower. But no other being or creature was named. Albus still hadn’t set the wards properly to detect the ghosts. It had been a low priority, and he had never managed to get to it.
*snip*
OOOOOOOOOooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhh, so THAT's how the Mara's Map was created! Or at least, that is one way ... nice little intry there, Madam Raven!
Response from MMADfan (Author of Resolving a Misunderstanding)
Yes, the magic that allows those Charmed parchments is the magic that was tapped into to create the Marauders' map. It's part of the magic that was being tested and fixed that summer when Minerva helped with the wards, changing back and forth into her Tabby self to see whether the wards detected her identity when she turned into her Animagus form -- the wards had been so damaged that they no longer detected someone who was in Animagus form.Many years later, this became important for seeing Peter Pettigrew and Sirius Black on the map. Also, by the time that he enlisted Minerva's help, Dumbledore had already fixed the ward that detected the true identity of someone who was disguised using Polyjuice -- meaning that during GoF, Potter saw that B. Crouch was searching Snape's office. Of course, he thought that it was B. Crouch senior, not the crazy son who had supposedly died in Azkaban. The fake Moody (Barty Crouch) took the map from Harry so that Harry wouldn't notice that Moody never left his office (where he was stuck in the trunk), and that where Moody apparently was, Crouch actually was.
*snip*
“I thought I was being seduced, but it has been a while . . . I may have been wrong,” Gertrude answered, her breath warm upon his face.
*snip*
I just love her wit.
Response from MMADfan (Author of Resolving a Misunderstanding)
She is one sharp Slytherin, and she loves answering a question at a different level than it was being asked. :-)
*snip*
“Yes, you mentioned that at the party. You are aware of how Gertrude’s husband died, though?” Minerva asked.
*snip*
What the hell does that have to do with anything?
Goodness - Minerva has a serious voyeur problem, doesn't she? Naughty!
Response from MMADfan (Author of Resolving a Misunderstanding)
She's concerned that Malcolm might bring up a sensitive subject in an inappropriate way, for one, but mostly, she's worried that Malcolm might just be in it for the fun and that Gertrude is vulnerable if he just up and leaves. Gertrude hasn't formed any other attachment since the trauma of having her husband killed in such a gruesome manner, as far as Minerva knows, so Minerva's worred that Gertrude is opening herself up in a rare manner and that her brother might just be too cavalier with her feelings. (I'd have to reread the section, but that's what I remember o fher motivation.)I'm sure Minerva wishes she had better timing! lol!
Response from Fishy (Reviewer)
As I continued to read, Minerva's concern was apparent, as usual, in my typical Gryffie fashion - we leap before we look ... or rather, we shoot our mouths off before we have all the facts. *sighs*
Oh hooooo! Malcolm may think he doesn't want to become too ... attached ... but his heroic defense of 'good' Slytherins sure tells me something or other about a recent acquaintance of his.
Response from MMADfan (Author of Resolving a Misunderstanding)
Yes, he is definitely defensive here! Seems he is becoming more than a little attached to a certain Slytherin!
I so love Gertrude. I want a Gertrude in my life! *steals Gertrude and runs away*
Response from MMADfan (Author of Resolving a Misunderstanding)
*MMADfan puts on her running shoes and jogs after
Response from MMADfan (Author of Resolving a Misunderstanding)
*
Response from Fishy (Reviewer)
*snip*
“It was a long time ago, as I said, that it all began. When I was a child, really, I suppose. I would like to be able to say with some modesty that my time as a student was unremarkable, but it was not. I excelled at whatever I put my hand, mind, and magic to. I was eager to learn, even more eager than you were – indeed, the Sorting Hat very nearly put me in Ravenclaw, but it decided, in the end, that my nature and my need were Gryffindor. “I chafed at what I saw were restrictions on me and my progress. I found most of my teachers wanting, and believed them dull and unimaginative. Nonetheless, I wanted to please them, and please them I usually did. But I pushed every boundary and stretched it. If it weren’t for the guidance and firm hand of Professor Futhark, I might have become even more insufferable than I no doubt was. But despite my general attitude, I found myself with friends of all types, and, with a rather foolish and overblown sense of my own importance, I came to believe myself not only advanced academically but also better than my peers and their natural leader. And, I suppose, I was – academically advanced and a leader, not better than they,” he clarified.
*snip*
I really like this ... it sounds very Albus to me ... save for the Ravenclaw bit *grins* but sometimes you just gotta tout yer house, right?
Response from MMADfan (Author of Resolving a Misunderstanding)
I think that sometimes, it's really clear that there's one House that a witch or wizard belongs in, and other times, there are others that would suit, too. I think Albus could have fit in with Ravenclaw -- he certainly pursued knowledge, both Light and Dark -- but there were bits of his personality that drove him that were Gryffindor that shaped his intellect and his use of it. (I can't have written that part of the monologue and really substituted "Hufflepuff" -- though I think that with a few tweaks to the text, Slytherin could have been included as an option -- he is a wily wizard, after all!)I'm glad you like it. It's one of the reasons that I think this section, these chapters, work better as a first-person recounting than as I had originally written it -- in the third person as a kind of flashback. We get to see Albus's personality then and now, and his own take on his character as a teen and young man, and how it developed.
*snip*
“Not a bit of trouble, my dear man, not a bit of it! A friend of the Headmaster’s is a friend of mine, I’d like to think! And dear Gertrude, of course.” He winked at Quin. “She’s quite the witch, isn’t she? Knew each other as students of course. Had a bit of a crush on me at the time, I think.”
*snip*
I have to laugh at this ... I just do ... he's a younger and less wise Slughorn than the Sluggy I know from HBP, so it does make sense that he'd brag a bit louder and exaggerate a bit stronger ... but saying that of one's co-worker - wow! That takes some ... something ...
You know I have a soft spot for Slughorn I think it would be fun to pick his brain and study him ... especially try to determine what conditions cause him to puff out his chest the most ... call me weird.
I also love any and all descriptions of the various houses, since we only see two of them in the movies - Slytherin and Gryffindor ... never did get a chance to see Ravenclaw's or Hufflepuff's ... shame really. I'd love to see the Badger room, all decked out in black and yellow - I think I'd feel like I was snug inside a giant bee hive! Oh and I would imagine there would be plenty of honey.
Response from MMADfan (Author of Resolving a Misunderstanding)
Yes, Sluggy's sense of grandiosity is quite at its peak here. And it's not yet been burst by the emergence of the Slytherin "Death Eater sect" led by one of his former star pupils. So he's amiably pompous, tries a bit too hard to chum-up to Quin, and yet there is a part of him that genuinely likes other people (in my view) and simply wants them to like him in return. I really enjoyed envisioning the Slytherin dorms and some of the more decent Slytherins in "The Sorting of Susie Sefton." It was fun to look at them from a different POV than we had in the books, and yet try to make it all still recognizably Slytherin.It would be neat to experience Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. And I wonder if Hufflepuff would be all honey with no stings attached ...
*snip*
“It is worth far more than that, Horace, as you know,” Gertrude said, “and even if you offered what it might fetch on the open market, you know the Headmaster still wouldn’t part with it. Your grumbling about it every time he generously chooses to share it is most unseemly and detracts from our enjoyment.”
*snip*
HAHAHAHAHA! Stop complainin and enjoy the bloody mead, yeh buggar!
I do like this chapter, I love just the idea that being a head of house, or even just a teacher, creates some sort of bond, or weave, in the magical wards and structure of the castle. And its nice to see the faculty supporting each other.
Response from Fishy (Reviewer)
Oh and, I also love lore with the Sorting Hat - for some reason I find that 'character' of Rowling's to be fascinating.
Response from MMADfan (Author of Resolving a Misunderstanding)
I like to imagine that each teacher in the history of Hogwarts, especially Heads of Houses and Headmasters/mistresses, leave some of themselves, some of their magic, in the wards, helping to strengthen the school long after they're gone. That would be a heritage.The Sorting Hat is fascinating, and I think it is intriguing to contemplate whether it's sentient or not, and what its existence says about sentience, at least in the HP/Hogwarts universe.
*snip*
Besides, when I first began teaching, it wasn’t long after Reginald died. It didn’t feel as though it had been long, anyway. I was not particularly concerned with what I looked like. It became a habit. And now I’m too old to be worried about such things.”
*snip*
Oh how I can relate to that!
Response from MMADfan (Author of Resolving a Misunderstanding)
Yeah, I think Gertrude is quite human here. But it's interesting how when Malcolm comes into her life, she begins to take an interest in her clothes again! Or at least, they reflect a cheerier self. :-)
*snip*
Albus smiled and sliced them each a piece. The cake itself was chocolate, and it was filled with raspberries and thick whipped cream. There was more whipped cream, Minerva thought, than cake. The icing was chocolate, one layer of an almost brittle icing, then a softer chocolate butter cream over that in decorative curlicues and rosettes. Whole raspberries topped it all off.
*snip*
GAH! I want a cake like that for my birthday - ANY birthday!
Response from MMADfan (Author of Resolving a Misunderstanding)
Me too!
*snip*
“All right. Are you finished, then? Would you like more wine? I have another bottle – ”Albus laughed. “Are you getting me in practice for your brothers?”Minerva smiled. “I don’t think I could drink any more, either, but I thought I would offer. We can have some cognac with our dessert.”Albus pushed back from the table. “We could try out your wireless,” he suggested.“Good!” Minerva would be agreeable to almost anything he suggested right now.
*snip*
I'll bet she would!
Response from Fishy (Reviewer)
*snip*
Minerva looked up at him and was struck by how very attractive he was. In that moment, she would have agreed that the sound of monkeys banging ashcans was nice. Fortunately, this was the station’s “music for the dinner hour,” and really was pleasant.
*snip*
*bursts out laughing, barking in fact*
Response from MMADfan (Author of Resolving a Misunderstanding)
Minerva is in a very agreeable mood!