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A/N: I'M BACK WITCHES AND WIZARDS! LOVE ME! LOVE ME NOW! THE MORE REVIEWS, THE MORE I'M INCLINED TO WRITE!

Chapter 8: Minerva's First Night...

Minerva was beginning to feel a serious rush of cabin fever. She always hated feeling trapped, no matter how long. When she had been a kid, whenever she had behaved badly, which was not very often, she would be sent to her room. That would always feel like the longest hour of her life, because she was confined to one room of the house. She loved the feeling of being free. She enjoyed the feel of grass beneath her feet, the wind through her hair, and a good tree branch under her fingertips. But now, just a few hours into her imprisonment, she began to feel incredibly claustrophobic. The walls were coming in around her, and she could almost feel the air around her crushing her, feeling helpless under the weight. If this was how she felt after just a few hours, how would she feel after a few days? Months? YEARS?

She had to stop thinking like this. She knew that if she continued in this train of thought, she would spiral swiftly into madness, and she would need all her wits about her if she were going to survive living in this castle with Albus Dumbledore. If that WAS Albus Dumbledore. He had changed so horribly compared with the pictures she had seen of him that she could not tell if he really was who he claimed to be.

On the other hand, there were the other people at the castle. They seemed convinced that he was Albus Dumbledore. And if they thought so, then who was she to dispute with them? There was a knock on the door, which brought her out of her ever wandering thoughts.

"Who is it?" She didn't really care. Whomever it was, she would be sending him or her away before the door even opened.

"It's Angela. May I come in?" Well, thought Minerva, I don't want to be rude. Besides, perhaps it would be good to have another female in this place to talk to. Despite her initial urge to send the intruder away, she changed her mind.

"Come in."

The door opened and the woman she had met earlier walked in, levitating some clean sheets, fresh towels, and a wash cloth ahead of her. Arthur scampered in behind her, seeming to ride upon her skirt.

"I thought you might like some clean towels and sheets," she said. "This room is so dusty, just like the rest of the castle, that I am afraid things have fallen rather below the usual standards. I never thought I would say this, but I am really beginning to miss the house elves we had here." As she was saying this, Angela was stripping the bed of the sheets and comforter it already had on it. Not wishing to just stand there feeling useless, Minevera decided that she should make herself useful by helping Angela. After all, this was to be her own bed, for the time being; besides, she never liked to be idle. So, she stepped up and began helping Angela.

"What did happen to all the house elves?" she asked, half curious and half wanting to think of something other than her entrapment. Angela sighed.

"After the incident, we thought it best to send everyone at Hogwarts - ghosts, elves, students, teachers – away until something could be done to help Albus." Minerva hesitate, only slightly, before asking her next question.

"If I may ask, what exactly happened to make Professor Dumbledore look the way he is? I mean, from everything that I knew of him before the war ended is that he was a great man, and a wonderful teacher. I never knew exactly what happened."

"You mean you never hear the story?" Angela asked "Arthur, off the bed." While they had been talking, Arthur had climbed onto the already made bed and started jumping on it, as young boys are want to do. Reluctantly, he did as he was told, grumbling about how he never had any fun anymore. Minerva smiled before turning back to Angela.

"I've heard rumors. But I was away with my father when it happened. With the war the way it was, he didn't want me in harms way, so he had taken me out of the country. I wanted to stay and fight, but he didn't want me to. And, since I love my father, I was willing to go with him anywhere he wanted me to go. Especially since I didn't want anything happening to him." Angela smiled,

"I can see you love him very much," she said. Minerva nodded.

"He's all that I have left," she replied. Angela thought for a moment, then decided that it would actually be a good idea for Minerva to know what she had gotten herself into.

"When Grindlewald was at his highest power, Albus knew that he had to do something. He knew that he could no longer sit idly by and watch the people he loved being slaughtered by the thousands. He also knew that the muggles had started noticing something rather unusual, and the last thing he wanted was for the non magic folk to have to suffer for the wrongs of a man in a world that they knew nothing about. So, he decided that he would do anything in his power to get rid of Grindlewald, for the good of the people. Now, this whole time, Grindlewald was keeping his eye on Albus. He knew that Albus was as great a wizard as he was, if not better. But instead of wanting to kill Albus for his talents, he hoped to gain from an alliance. He felt that even though he was already one of the most powerful wizards in the world, he craved more. So, he contacted Albus and asked to meet him on the Battlefield."

"The Battlefield?" Minerva asked.

"It was a giant piece of land that had been desecrated in a heated battle. Knowing what he had to do, Albus decided to meet him. Grindlewald made the offer, and Albus refused. To make a long story short, they both cast spells at the same time. Albus shouted out the killing curse and Grindlewald shouted out the Eliando curse, which..."

"Which causes the affected to grow a black heart," finished Minerva. Angela nodded.

"So you've heard of it?"

"My father loved learning about all sorts of spells. I guess he passed his love for learning to me. But he would never hurt anyone, no matter what the curse was."

It was at this point the Minerva could no longer hold back her tears. She thought she had finished crying, but these tears suddenly came without warning or her wanting them to. She sat on the bed. Angela walked around the bed and sat beside her, placing an arm around her shoulders.

"There, there, Minerva," she said. "No need to cry. I am sure we can work something out. I know things look helpless now, but there is still hope."

"I don't see how," sniffed Minerva. "After all, if what you say is true, then Albus should be getting worse, if the curse is anything like what I have read about. If he won't show mercy now, then he most certainly won't show me mercy once he gets worse. And I can't think of a way that he might be cured."

Angela bit her tongue. If Minerva had read about this spell, then she should know that there was a cure. But, perhaps she had not gotten far enough to learn of this cure. For a brief moment, she thought of telling her. Instead., she kept her mouth shut. Telling Minerva might prove to be a hindrance rather than anything that might be of help to her.

"Chin up, dear," she said. "I have a feeling things will look up for you, and much sooner than you might expect." With a final pat to the back, Angela stood up. "Well, I must go now. I need to speak with Aberforth and Armando about dinner for tonight. Let's go, Arthrur." The boy had been by the dresser and quickly pulled his hand back from a jar of night cream that had been been placed there, even though Minerva didn't know whose it was.

"NOTHING!" he exclaimed, almost in a knee jerk response. Angela quirked a brow.

"I didn't ask what you were doing," she said as she walked to him.

"Oh," he said guiltily, turning a bright shade of red.

"Let's go," Angela said, grabbing his hand.

"But I didn't do it," he said as Angela began to drag him out of the room.

"Then why do you look so guilty?" Angela asked.

"That's how I always look, Mama. That's my face. You said so yourself."

That was the last Minerva heard of the mother and son as the door shut behind them. She laughed in spite of herself. Who would have thought that one could find a hint of humor in a place as dark and gloomy as the Hogwarts castle?

Albus woke, feeling extremely groggy. He blinked several times, then rubbed them rather roughly when blinking proved to be almost completely futile. He stretched, feeling incredibly stiff. Finally, he opened his eyes and saw Aberforth staring out the window and Armando dozing off in an armchair, a book resting on his lap (it looked like it was going to fall off), and a fire in the fireplace.

"How long was it this time?" he asked rather hoarsely. Aberforth turned to look at him, then turned back around. Armando's head shot up slightly, a snort coming from his nose. He looked, to Albus, as though he had lost some sleep. Despite his red eyes, he smiled at Albus.

"You're up," he said. He stood and walked to him. He grabbed Albus' wrist and checked his pulse on a pocket watch.

"How long?" asked Albus. Even though he was able to remember most of what happened, he was never able to recall time while the spell was affecting his heart. For some reason, there were times when he felt as though years had gone by, and other times, he felt as though it had gone from day to night within a matter of seconds.

"Several days now," Armando replied, replacing his pocket watch into the folds of his robes once more. "We thought you might come out of it a while ago, but then that man showed up and... Well..." Albus groaned as he rubbed his face.

"The girl..." he moaned. He stared at Armando. "How is she?"

"A lot better, now that there is an entire castle between the two of you," Aberforth commented. Armando glared at him.

"You are not helping, Aberforth," he said. "I am sure Albus feels bad enough as it is, without you adding your insensitive comments." Aberforth turned on his heel.

"I'm sorry, but I'm not feeling very much in the mood to be supportive. We've got a frightened girl in the opposite wing, who misses her father. Now, if you ask me..."

"We didn't," replied Armando. Aberforth walked towards Armando so that they were now toe to toe.

"Well I'm going to give you my opinion anyway," he said. "I think we should send that girl away before anything horrible happens to her. Now that Albus is back, at least for the time being, he should go to her, apologize, and release her. This way, he can save her any further irritation."

"I agree," said Albus.

"Well, I don't," replied Armando. The other two men stared at him, completely shell shocked.

"Are you barking mad?" asked Aberforth. "We can't, in good conscious, keep her here, especially against her will."

"And if we let her go, then this spell might never be lifted." Aberforth and Albus looked at each other.

"Armando, I don't think this is a good idea," said Albus. "After all, tricking a girl to stay here in the hopes of convincing her to break a spell that she has nothing to do with is a rotten thing to do."

"That it is, my friend," agreed Armando. "But, until we find another way, we have no alternative." Albus was silent.

"It makes great sense, but I don't feel right doing it," he said finally. "We must either find another way, or you must face the only other choice we have."

"No!" growled Armando, sounding very much like a beast himself. His features softened when he saw the worried look on his friend's face. "No, we can't do that. I will not let you just fade into obscurity, alone and a victim to this terrible curse. You are much too good a person to let that happen to. And if you think any different, then I will just have to stay with you until such a time that you perish." Albus' heart soared as he heard this passionate speech of his closest and truest friend. He could barely believe that he had such a wonderful friend by his side.

"Thank you, Armando," he said. "You are truly a treasure among friends." Aberforth huffed and threw his arms up in the air.

"This is such rot and rubbish," he grumbled. "Fine, do as you will, but I want no part of it. There is no way that I want to take any credit for the destruction of a young woman's life. We are men, not kidnappers." With that, he walked back to the window, hoping the find some way of convincing the others that this was an absolutely horrible idea. "I should find Angela. I'm sure SHE'D find something wrong with this plan of yours."

As if by cue, Angela opened the door to the infirmary and made her entrance, dragging Arthur behind her.

"Honest, Mama, I didn't do anything."

"Hush, Arthur," she said, smacking him upside his head. "And if you continue to cry in that manner, you'll feel the back of my hairbrush on your hide." Arthur covered his mouth to keep himself from speaking anymore. He knew that he would never keep his mouth shut unless he kept his mouth covered with his own hand, a little reminder to himself that he should stop speaking.

"How is she?" Armando asked.

"She is alright, but not great, as you can imagine," she said. "But what's more, she knows what the Eliando curse is."

"Well, that's convenient," said Armando.

"Not quite," she said. "She doesn't know of the cure for it." Armando sighed.

"Well, I am sure if she did, she would never believe it," huffed Aberforth. "True love's kiss. It sounds like a bloody fairy tale. Something that some bleeding fairy tale author would create."

"Well, aren't you just Mr. Sunshine?" mocked Angela.

"Maybe we should let her go," said Albus.

"Finally, some sense," growled Aberforth. "We don't need a casualty on our hands."

"I think she should stay," said Angela.

"What? Are you crazy?" cried Aberforth. "Has the entire world gone mad?

"Here me out," said Angela. "If Albus can keep himself under control, perhaps Minerva can find the man beneath the beast. After all, Albus is such a great person. Perhaps she'll grow to love him. It's worth a shot."

"Yes, and maybe I'll marry a centaur and we will go skipping into the sunset, riding a goat." Aberforth rolled his eyes and shook his head. "I'm getting out of here. I'll be at the Hog's Head if anyone needs me." With that, he stormed out of the hospital wing, muttering to himself the whole way.

"Well, Albus," said Armando, turning to Albus. "What do you think?"

Albus thought about this for a moment. What should he do? What should he say? What could he say? Risk her life or risk everyone else?

A/N2: BUM BUM BUUUUUUUUM! For Albus to keep her prisoner, press one. For Albus to let her go, press two. But you must do this before I explode. I will self destruct in BOOM! ~Always Hopeful~