In the hospital wing, Severus Snape was being highly praised for his heroics. Madam Pomfrey was healing the wound at the back of his head and had given him tonic to clear the effects of a terrible concussion. Severus lay in the hospital bed, listening with his eyes closed, as Albus Dumbledore and Cornelius Fudge, the Minister for Magic, stood, discussing what accolades Severus ought to receive for his contributions to the capture and subsequent execution of Sirius Black.

Severus felt a thrill arise in him.

"Speaking of which, Minister, we ought to be going up to the turret and taking care of our business as is needed there, we can return here to the hospital wing once the patients are awake and --"

Severus opened his eyes. "You haven't done it yet?"

"Oh and look at this, what splendid timing," Dumbledore said merrily. "Severus, you're awake."

"Or should we say, Severus - Order of Merlin, Second Class?" Cornelius Fudge said, "First class, if I can wrangle it!" He patted Severus on the shoulder, making Severus wince, then said, "We're very proud of you and are grateful for your contributions!"

"Thank you very much indeed, Minister," Severus said, dipping his voice with what he hoped rang as humility.

"Nasty, nasty injuries you've got there, Mr. Snape, terribly nasty - I suppose they are inflicted by Black? A wound in the fight! You'll be touted a hero - front page of the Daily Prophet, I expect! You'll be wanting to take a shower before they take the photographs, get the filth of the fight off you, 'ey?"

"Yes I am sure that the entire wizarding world will be waiting to hear your story, Mr. Snape," said Dumbledore, a slight smirk playing upon his mouth as he rolled to his toes and back to his heels, staring into Snape's dark black eyes.

Severus struggled to keep his voice even. "It was Potter, Weasley, and Granger, as a matter of fact, Minister..."

"No!"

"Yes," Snape said slowly, formulating as he went, "Black bewitched them, clearly... a confundus charm, judging by their... regrettable... behavior... They seemed to think there was some possibility that he was innocent! Best to be on your wits, Minister, when questioning Black. He's extremely good at feigning his innocence... and apparently can be quite convincing for the unprepared mind."

The Minister nodded distractedly, "Yes, yes, indeed... indeed..."

"They obviously thought they might capture Black single-handed. The Potter boy, especially, is always gotten away with a great deal before now..." Severus snuck a sly look at Dumbledore at this and Dumbledore smiled benignly, "I'm afraid it has given him - them all, in fact - a rather high opinion of themselves...  of course Potters have always been allowed an... extraordinary... amount of license... at Hogwarts...."

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled.

"Ah well, Snape -- Harry Potter, you know! We've all got a bit of a blind spot where he's concerned, haven't we?" Cornelius Fudge looked from Snape to Dumbledore with an amused expression upon his face.

"And yet - is it good for him to be given so much special treatment? Personally, I am sure to treat him just like any other student," Snape said lowly, "And any other student would be suspended - at the very least - for leading his friends into such danger. Consider, Minister - against all school rules, after all the precautions put in place for his protection - and he is out of bounds, at night, consorting with a werewolf and a murderer --"

"A werewolf?" Cornelius Fudge chuckled. He paused. "Black's werewolf? I've heard the aurors speaking of it downstairs. Is it true, then?"

Dumbledore was glaring at Snape, but Snape was too delighted with the expression of shock and interest on the Minister's face to stop.

"Yes, and not just any werewolf, Minister - but a staff member at that! Remus Lupin."

The Minister's eyes widened. He looked from Snape to Dumbledore, a bit of a panic on his face as his skin paled. "No! Lupin?" He looked at Dumbledore. "The one that Mr. Scamander was talking about, not six hours ago?"

"Mr. Scamander --?" Snape looked confused.

Dumbledore looked quite frustated. "Yes," he said hesitantly.

"Did you know? Good heavens! A werewolf on the staff at Hogwarts! What will the people think of the Ministry for overlooking -- isn't he on the Registry? How could we possibly have -- Dumbledore, did you know?"

"Unregistered, I'm afraid," Dumbledore said slowly. "But apart from this very night, Mr. Lupin has been nothing but a very excellent teacher. We have been working with him -- you know what, Mr. Fudge, why don't we discuss the matter of the werewolf and what we shall do going forward with the appointment of Mr. Lupin at another time? Right this moment, we are pressed for time, I am afraid and --"

"Pressed for time? We've got all the time in the world!" Fudge argued.

"Don't you want to see to it that Mr. Black is taken care of? Before another incident like the Hippogriff occurs?"

Fear tripped into Cornelius Fudge's face.

"Yes, yes, let's take care of Black, then. Then we shall see to the details. Come, Albus, let's go to the holding cell now and get this done with." Cornelius Fudge turned and started toward the door.

"Minister," Snape's voice was eager. "Don't you need a - a witness? For the execution?"

Cornelius Fudge paused and turned back. "Yes, we were going to ask our head of the department of magical law enforcement, someone with experience seeing the kiss performed. Mad-Eye is on his way in, and --"

"I should volunteer as the witness," Snape said darkly.

There was an uncomfortable pause.

"They - they say it is quite terrible to behold. I - even I myself plan not to watch -"

"It is near to unbearable," said Dumbledore.

Snape drew a deep breath, "After everything that's happened tonight, I should think that I would not sleep soundly without having seen for myself the absolute proof that Black is -- thoroughly -- taken care of."

Another long, uncomfortable silence.

Cornelius looked to Dumbledore.

Dumbledore's lips twitched. "Very well, Severus, come with us."

They turned toward the door of the Hospital Wing as Severus scrambled to get up out of the bed he was lying in. He could feel his hands and face breaking into a sweat, eagerness welling up inside of him. All those times that Sirius Black had stood by and watched as James Potter tortured, abused, and mistreated Severus during school - all the bitter, horrible things he had said and done to Severus himself, all the times he'd mocked and teased and attacked him - all the torn bookbags, all the spit balls, all the spilled frog spawn, the singing knights at Christmas, all the laughter and hateful speech, slurs, mockery about shampoo, and turning Lily Evans against him after all those years and invested time and love - all of that would finally, ultimately, completely be over and avenged.

Severus Snape could hardly believe it.

He could hardly wait to see it.

He practically ran to the door of the Hospital Wing, panting with excitement.

"WAIT!"

It was Harry.

"WAIT!" Harry said, he was sitting up in bed, his face screwed up with pain at the effort.

"Harry, Harry, what's this?" said Fudge, turning and looking quite concerned indeed. "You shouldn't be out of bed! Have you had any chocolate, you poor, dear boy?"

"Minister, listen!" Harry shouted. "Sirius Black is innocent! Peter Pettigrew faked his own death. We saw him tonight - Ron, Hermione and I - we saw him! You can't let the dementors do that thing to Sirius, he's --"

But Fudge had a small, sad smile on his face. "Oh Harry, Harry, you're very confused, you've been through a dreadful ordeal... you poor boy. Lie back down, now, we've got everything under control. You needn't worry about facing Black ever again, my poor boy. Very scared, obviously still under the charm..."

"YOU HAVEN'T GOT IT UNDER CONTROL!" Harry yelled, "YOU'VE GOT THE WRONG MAN!"

"Yes Minister, please listen!" Hermione was up and beside Harry now, gazing imploringly at Fudge's face. "I saw him too! It - he was Ron's rat, Scabbers! He's an animagus, Pettigrew is. I mean, and --"

"You see?" Snape sneered, "Confunded. The both of them."

"WE ARE NOT CONFUNDED AND YOU KNOW IT!" Harry roared, "YOU WERE THERE! YOU WERE THERE AND YOU HEARD THE ENTIRE THING!"

Dumbledore put a hand on Harry's shoulder. "Trust me, Harry, for just a moment," he said quietly, "And I assure you that I will be here in just a moment." He looked at his watch, nodded, and said, "And together, we will get this taken care of." Then he turned to Fudge and Snape and they stepped out into the corridor, and the door closed heavily behind them.

There was a pause of less than five minutes... and the door opened again and the Headmaster was back... and although Harry couldn't quite say what it was about Dumbledore upon his return, there was something different... something not the same as the Dumbledore who had left with Fudge and Snape moments before.

As though this Dumbledore had come from another place in time.

Sirius was chained to a chair in a holding room when he came-to, torso bent forward, head hanging, looking down at the knees of the prison robes - so filthy from all of the evening's activities that the stripes could barely be seen.

Damn. The stripes were the only thing saving this look from being utter garbage, he thought.

His lower back was in so much pain, and as his senses came-to he realized his entire body was incredibly sore and stiff and something deep within him felt broken. Every breath sent pain through his nervous system, so he took shallow breaths that he held and released with whimpers. He winced and kept his eyes closed.

"'Tis a broken rib that ye're feeling, Mr. Black."

The way his eyes flew open, though, at the sound of that Scottish accent. His head snapped up.

Minerva McGonagall was standing across the room, close to the door, her wand drawn and aimed, her eyes bright and fearful. She was in a man's tartan robe, pulled tight and tied at the waist, her hair in a long braid over her shoulder - once that braid had been black, but now it was grey. She had moved so fast when Fawkes came for her, she hadn't even bothered to change.

Sirius Black has been captured. Meet us in the turret of Gryffindor Tower immediately.

Sirius stared at her, wide eyed.

She stiffened, seeing his gaunt eyes upon her. "Ye took a nasty fall. It's a wonder ye're alive."

"I can feel that," he gasped, his voice hoarse with pain. He paused, then, "Hypothetically speaking, what would -- would cause an animagus... to... unwillingly change... back to human?"

Her mouth was a bitter straight line.

"I'm - I'm asking for a friend," Sirius murmured.

She stared at him. "If yer animal form were injured unto the point of death, yer body might be forcit intae the change unwillin'... ter try at savin' yer sorry life."

"So my - I - Snuffles is - is dead? Will I not be able to - to change again?" Sirius asked.

"I doubt verra much whether that will matter to ye in a moment or so, Mr. Black, as ye'll be dead as well... and verra much earned, might I add."

She paused, then reached into her pocket and withdrew a balled up scarf. But it wasn't - she carefully unwrapped James Potter's teacup. Sirius stared at the cup - it had been years and years since he'd seen one of the cups and she walked closer, holding it up for him to see. The pattern had changed on the cup and Sirius stared in horror...

A blue house, with a blue lawn, a blue creek - all very much the same as always - and there, in the lawn, where usually there was a stag and, after marrying Lily, a doe, and... after having Harry, a fawn... But now. Now it was just the fawn, alone in the grass, its head hung low.

"Oh James," Sirius gasped and his face crumpled.

"You dinnae say the name of James Potter, Mr. Black! I havenae the heart tae hear it come from the mouth of the man who's killed him."

Sirius looked up at her, his eyes full of tears, and his voice shook. "Let me expl--"

"No! This is - this is my chance to tell ye exactly what I think and I willnae have another." Minerva McGonagall drew a long, shaking breath and she said, fiercely, her Scottish accent so thick that she was practically speaking another language. "I properly believed in ye all thae years, all thae years... what, when none o' the other teachers believit ye could ever apply yeself... I fought for ye, Mr. Black. I fought the Ministry for ye, I fought Albus Dumbledore for ye... An I trustit ye more than I ought tae have done... and I lovit ye more than any teacher ought to do. Ye were more than a student to me. I cared for you as a mother would her bairn more than once when ye needed it.I wasnae just the other Marauders that ye betrayed that night, Sirius Black, it was me as well!"

Tears poured from her eyes in great rivers over her reddened face and she trembled, holding the cup in her hands tightly as her hands shook. She roughly wrapped the scarf back around and waved her wand, disappearing the cup away, back to the safety of her office - she didn't trust her own hands to hold it any longer.

"When ye killed James Potter," she struggled to finish, "Ye killed a bit of me as well."

The determination and ferocity of Minerva McGonagall's face was so intense - she meant every word she'd spoken, and it was clear, with the articulation and the clarity that she'd thought it out many a time, rehearsed it, perfected it, and had known for ages precisely what she wanted to say should she ever have the moment to speak face-to-face with the man who murdered James Potter.

"I hated that ye taked him away from me," she said, breaking, "But I hate ye more for taking away yerself!"

Sirius's whole heart shattered harder than it had done in twelve years.

McGonagall shook her head. She backed away, still facing him, staring at him as he started to sob as well, and she shook her head, "Tha's all that I have tae say to yeh. I haven't got another word -- I -- Tha's all I want tae say... and I dinnae think I can take another moment being in the presence of yeh." She turned and hurried to the door, "The Headmaster and the Minister are on the way, and they'll bring with them the dementor who will see to it that I havenae never look upon ye again... Ye have only God to answer to now, Mr. Black." She was reaching for the handle and she had wrenched it opened, when --

"Minnie!" Sirius wailed suddenly.

The name echoed off the walls of the chamber.

"You're the only person that ever properly believed in me back then..."

She shivered with the echoes - not just the ones in the chamber where they stood, but the echoes from the past, from their Fifth Year, when Sirius Black begged her for mercy... when he had worked exceedingly hard and proved her belief well founded...

"Don't give up on me now, please."

Minerva McGonagall closed her eyes. She stood stock-still, back-to him so that he could not see her expression, could not see her face or know what she was feeling, how those words had cut her deep to her very soul. Without another word, she stepped into the hall and slammed the door closed behind her.

Sirius wept bitterly.

Outside, Minerva McGonagall stood, shaking, her hands and back pressed against the closed door, weeping, trying at catching her breath. There were three times in her life that she recalled ever weeping so bitterly as this - once when Dougal McGregor died, once when Charlus Potter died, and once when Elphinstone Urquart died. And now - now when she'd spoken the last words he would speak to Sirius Black, the boy she'd loved and practically raised, whose bright eyes and laughter had filled her heart with joy so many times over the years he'd been at Hogwarts. He was gone already, she tried to tell herself that, he was gone twelve years ago... but now, now he would be gone forever, irrevocably... worse than dead.

Suddenly, there were footsteps in the corridor.

McGonagall looked up.

Her face paled, her hands shook.

Coming down the hall were Albus Dumbledore, Cornelius Fudge, and Severus Snape. Thumping along behind them came Mad-Eye Moody, his wooden leg clunk-clunk-clunking along as he walked. Behind him were two solemn-faced aurors - Frederick Savage and Waldron Bryant - and, red from crying but trying to be strong, despite her shaking hands, was Nymphadora Tonks.

Gliding behind them by several paces, surrounded by seven patronuses, was the dark form of a dementor, robes billowing fluidly in the corridor as they approached, the air growing cold and the rasping sound of the breath coming from beneath the door.

Tonks kept stealing glances up at it, her eyes swimming with unshed tears. She had to be brave. She had to be brave. He couldn't die without someone in that room who believed in him. She refused to let it happen.

Despite Mad-Eye's anger with her - he'd nearly blown the roof off the castle when he heard that she'd stunned Savage and been running out into the woods to find Sirius Black and his werewolf by herself, armed with only her wand and a strong belief that Sirius was innocent that she'd long harbored against Mad-Eye's better judgement - she had somehow talked him into allowing her to be there.

She couldn't let her fear outweigh her love for Sirius. She just couldn't. She balled her fists with determination.

Now, Minerva McGonagall was the only thing between them and the door that led to Sirius Black.

She stared at them as they all approached, coming to a stop before her.

"Thank you, Minerva, for watching over the room for me while I went to fetch the Minister, Severus, and the aurors," Dumbledore said. "I appreciate you having come to perform your duties to protect this school as your title of Deputy Headmistress calls for... You are now free to go."

Dumbledore's eyes met hers and Minerva felt a burning grow from deep within her.

Her eyes moved from auror to auror, each stoic and emotionless, aside from Savage whose chin was raised with nervous pride... to Mad-Eye, who stared back at her with eyes the same as what he would've made when they were in school and he was keeping bad news from her... She looked at Cornelius Fudge, whose twitching expression was purely nervous... to Severus Snape, who was fighting very hard to keep his emotions buried, his face straight and unfathomable, but his eyes - his eyes glistening with a feverish excitement that turned her stomach to stone.

Finally, she looked at Dumbledore.

Dumbledore's eyes were... amused... daring her to say what she was feeling.

Minerva McGonagall squared her shoulders and planted her feet.

An echo went through her mind, then, from long, long ago.

"Stand Minerva, for what yeh believe in, for goodness sakes, stand even if ye be the only one standin'."

She could see her father's eyes - the Reverend Robert McGonagall, kneeling before his eleven year old daughter.

"Tell me, Minerva. Tell me what you want. In yer strongest voice, my girl."

"You cannae do it," she said, though her voice trembled.

"Stronger, my girl."

"I don't want to break your heart, da."

"And I don't want to break yours," he answered. "Fight for yer heart, Minerva, before yeh go protecting' mine. Go on. Fight for it!"

"You - you cannae administer the Kiss to Sirius Black."

"Is that your strongest fight? Is that all yeh've got in yeh girl?"

"I refuse to allow it!" she said firmly.

"Yeh don't mean it!"

"I refuse!" her voice rose louder.

"With all of your strength, Minerva!"

"I REFUSE TO ALLOW YOU TO DESTROY SIRIUS BLACK!" she bellowed, "HE IS INNOCENT! THIS BOY - THIS BOY -" she had a sudden flash back of Sirius Black, short haired and crying, ashamed and broken, laying on his dormitory bed, staring up at her, crying that the people who he loved most would stop loving him... It had never been about hair, she knew that then and she knew it now. It had been about a boy who had never been given proper love and care, a boy who clung to the people who did love him with an iron grasp that could not be broken. A boy who would have died rather than betray his friends... a boy who, although she could not explain it, could not have done what the world claimed he did. "THIS BOY DID NOT KILL JAMES AND LILY POTTER, WHATEVER YOU SAY, AND I WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO TAKE HIS LIFE FOR IT!"

Her voice rang in the hall.

Snape, Fudge, Savage, and Bryant looked shocked. Moody was giving her a look of suspicion. Tonks's face was alight with admiration. Dumbledore was grinning.

Minerva McGonagall drew her wand, spread her palms out to block the door with her entire body, and she stared them down. Her voice was stone cold. Her wand sparked, spitting bright white stars... ready to fight.

"Go ahead and try to take him and ye'll see just the sort of vicious trollop this old woman can be."