Chapter Text
“WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?!”
The door to the Headmaster’s crashed open and flew off of its hinges into the bookcase; the noise reverberated around the entire room. Even the stone walls and window panes seemed to shake at the figure in the doorway, but the man in the ornate chair with twinkling blue eyes, a long white beard, and an abnormally crooked nose remained unruffled. He was even giving a small smile.
“Pleasure to see you, Minnie. What brings you here on this fine evening?”
“Albus-” and she levitated a set of brass scales out the window with a shatter- “Percival-” she strode across the room in two steps- “Wulfric-” the desk in front of the old man flew upwards and right through the ceiling- “Brian-” the doors to the shining basin of water in the corner slammed shut in fright- “DUMBLEDORE. What were you thinking?”
“I’d assume a great many things, as that is my usual state.”
“Oh, don’t you be cocky about this, you absolute idiot. Oh, I could strangle you! Do you know what I just saw?”
Albus Dumbledore smiled pleasantly. “I do not. Care to enlighten me?”
The woman before him was trembling. She had long graying hair, half bent like it had been in a bun for years, and her glare could have killed someone on the spot.
“Well, we just had the sorting-”
“Yes, my dear. I was there.”
“Let me finish or so help me Merlin, I will stick this wand so far up your arse-”
“This is no way to treat your superior, Minnie.”
“Superior? SUPERIOR? Forgive me, I thought someone in a position of superiority was supposed to be wise- to make THOUGHTFUL and HELPFUL choices for those around them-”
“I assure you that I have always tried to do so-”
“Tried? Tried? HA!”
“I’m afraid I have no idea what you’re referring to.”
“I’m sure you do.”
“I’m sure I don’t.”
“Really? Well then, let me explain. Today I sorted a great number of first-year students into their houses.”
“Really, Minerva, there’s no need to steal thunder. Our dear hat did all of the work, you just stood there- if standing wasn’t too hard, after your last-night’s run-in with Poppy-”
“Leave Poppy in peace, she doesn’t need this right now!”
“Well, she was certainly getting a piece last night.”
The woman gave a terrible scream and banged her fists on the desk. Albus Dumbledore could’ve sworn her hair was standing on end. She stormed towards the door, but turned around at the last minute and ran back, where she put herself right into the old man’s face. “Listen to what happened-”
“I’m listening.”
“And DO NOT interrupt me. Hagrid brought the first years to meet me at the underground entrance around seven o’clock this evening.” Dumbledore tried to add something, but the woman put a hand in his face and he shut up. “First came Hagrid, jolly as usual, and then a stream of little ones. Terrified, but that’s how they always are. A couple recognizable additions— the new Weasley boy, the Longbottoms’ son, another Nott, and Dragon Malfoy-”
“Draco Malfoy, Minnie.”
“Yes, yes, that. Well, they all congregated around me, but I couldn’t for the life of me spot…. well, spot….” For the first time, she looked at loss for words.
“Harry Potter?” suggested Dumbledore.
“Yes. Harry Potter. Nowhere to be seen. I tried to ask Hagrid what had happened to him, but I couldn’t get close enough. I began my speech, the whole affair, and nowhere could he be found. And then you saw me come in and make sure the Hall was ready for them. When I came back, do you know what I saw?”
“I do not.”
“Dragon Malfoy-”
“Draco Malfoy.”
“The Malfoy child was talking to Harry Potter. He wanted to be his friend.”
“Well, that’s lovely. I don’t see the concern.”
“Well, he was standing right in front of me the whole time.”
“Who, Draco Malfoy?”
“No, I noticed him. I mean Potter.”
“Ah, yes. How much like his father he looks, doesn’t he?”
“NO, ALBUS! He looks absolutely nothing like his father, because his father wasn’t on the verge of death!”
“Minnie, dear, calm down. I saw Potter tonight, he certainly wasn’t dying.”
“No? Well, you must not have got the opportunity to see him close enough, because I can assure you that two more months away from Hogwarts and Potter would have died, and the blood would be on your hands!”
“You’ve lost me, dear.”
“He’s positively ghostlike! His skin is hanging off his bones! His waist is about as big as his wrists- he’s practically fucking emaciated!”
“I think you may be imagining things.”
“Oh, you’ve got a lot of nerve. You know it’s your fault, don’t you, and that’s why you’re just ignoring the horrors you’ve afflicted on the boy! Albus, he flinched every time one of his peers talked to him and looked like he thought I might hit him over the head with my wand.”
“Well, you do tend to fling it about. Maybe you should keep it still.”
“I was keeping it still, and besides, the Goyle kid was about four inches from taking a gulp of it.”
“So?”
“So it wasn’t to do with the wand, it was to do with the boy. Did you see the way he walked, I’m sure he’s broken his leg at some point and nobody bothered to fix it!”
“Are you an expert on medicine now?”
“Poppy’s been giving me lessons.” Minerva McGonagall said loftily.
“That’s not the only thing she’s given you-” began Dumbledore with a crafty smile, but McGonagall waved her wand once and he was silent.
“Fine, deny it, but you saw the way he looked when the feast appeared. Eyes bigger than saucers, and he took more than anybody near him, including the Weasley kid.”
“He didn’t finish. Perhaps he’s just overzealous.”
“A-ha! You were watching it too! So you can’t deny it! Oh, put aside your pride for just two seconds. I’d swear to Merlin that the child has been abused.” Her voice was firm as the blue of her eyes, but the old man’s were getting suspiciously watery; at least, there was a definite lack of twinkle.
“I don’t think he’s been abused, Minnie,” said Albus Dumbledore in a low, lifeless whisper.
“He got lost on his way to the dormitory. Percy Weasley must have misplaced him.” The woman lowered her voice, like the paintings covering the walls behind Dumbledore might hear her. “He and the Weasley boy were wandering Cannon’s Corridor twenty minutes before they were supposed to be in bed. When he saw me, he jumped in front of Weasley like I was going to start tossing missiles. He put himself in that position, Albus.”
“You- you shouldn’t walk so angrily, then, Minerva. Besides, I don’t see why any of this is my fault.”
“Not your fault?” The manic glint returned to Minerva’s eyes. “You don’t see how it’s your fault? Well. Let’s think, shall we? How could he have avoided being abused? Walk normally, make conversation as though he didn’t think he was going to start being ridiculed or have his head bitten off? Oh, I know. Maybe if he hadn’t been knocked with those Muggles, who I TOLD YOU were the worst sort, for ten years of his life. His whole childhood. You made him like this, you took it all away from him.”
“They’re his only family.”
“Biologically, maybe? But the family that their friends forged was still there! Remus Lupin, Pandora Lovegood. Even Molly Weasley!”
“He’s better off growing away from all this. Where nobody knows his name. It would go to his head, otherwise.”
“I’d rather see another bigheaded Potter boy than one who disappears when he stands sideways. Oh-” the woman’s voice broke. “Albus, how could you? Why didn’t you listen to me?”
“It was the only way.” Albus Dumbledore’s face hardened into stone, and he sat back in his chair. Straight up, like a Headmaster should. He let tears stream down McGonagall’s face in silence for nearly five minutes.
“Well,” she choked out when she regained her composure, looking down on him like he was something nasty that couldn’t hear her. “I’ll tell you one thing. I’ll marry Severus Snape before I let him go back to those people.”
“He’s not your child, Minerva.” Old Dumbledore sounded very tired.
“Maybe not, but someone’s got to protect him. Good-night, Albus,” snapped McGonagall, and she turned on her heel, sighed, whisked herself away, and magicked the door into place with a loud BANG behind her. Albus Dumbledore gave a heavy breath and returned to his reading.