DISCLAIMER: All of the places and characters in this story belong to the genius Ms. J.K. Rowling. No profit is being made from this story. It only serves to (hopefully) entertain.

-First Class-

It was over.

The bodies of the fallen had been moved out of the Great Hall, but Minerva didn't know where they'd been taken. This was curious, seeing as she knew nearly everything that went on within the walls of Hogwarts, but she'd spent the last few hours tending to other things. She'd been consoling the younger students who'd seen far too much for their innocent eyes to handle. She'd been planning the reconstruction of their beloved school, her home. She'd been taking head counts, a task which proved to be much more daunting than she'd anticipated.

And she hadn't shed a tear.

This came as a shock to no one, not even Minerva herself. She was known for being stoic, for her strength and invulnerability, and rightfully so. No one had ever seen her sad, much less cry. She couldn't even remember the last time she really cried. This wasn't to say she never got hurt or felt loss – of course she did – but she never let the bad things get her down. She'd learned very early in life to get right back up and move on.

And that's what she would do: move on. She wouldn't look back. She'd look toward a better tomorrow and nothing else.

That's what she thought, anyway.

She left the Great Hall after hours of watching survivors both mourn their loved ones and bask in the fall of the Dark Lord. She wasn't sure why she left; after all, there was still much to do and she was likely needed somewhere. But something propelled her to leave, to get away from it all, if only for a little while.

She knew why as she approached her classroom.

Minerva stopped involuntarily in the doorway, glancing around the room she'd spent so much time in over the last forty years. Miraculously, it had made it through the battle untouched. Her desk was just as she'd left it the day before, and the empty student desks and chairs we perfectly intact. Only they weren't really empty – not in her memories, at least. As she stared at the back row, she remembered the boys who spent the majority of their time in her class goofing off, throwing paper airplanes, and occasionally taking naps. She remembered the girls, too, whispering and passing notes and blushing whenever the right boys met their glances.

No, she thought. Don't think about all of that. It's a waste of time.

She shook her head and continued her trek through the school, occasionally stepping over a bit of ruble or skirting around a fallen pillar. She hadn't intended on going to Gryffindor Tower, but an unseen force pulled her there, and in the back of her mind she knew it was because no one would be there. No one was in Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, or Slytherin Houses, either, as anyone who'd wanted to get some sleep had gone home. No, Gryffindor Tower would be empty; she was sure of it.

She couldn't decide if that made it better or worse.

Minerva wasn't surprised to see the Fat Lady wasn't in her portrait; none of the painted figures had been in their proper frames since sundown the night before. Instead, she was greeted by a Spanish swordsman who, by the looks of his eyes, had consumed a bit too much mead.

"Password?" he slurred.

"Open up," Minerva declared. It's not as if the little drunk man knew the password, anyway.

The portrait swung open, revealing the vibrance of the Gryffindor Common Room to her indifferent eyes. Just like her classroom, the room was unscathed, save for a couple of chairs out of place and a table that had likely been knocked on its side by a panicked student rushing out in the late evening hours.

She fixed the table. She adjusted the chairs. The room looked perfect, but it didn't feel right.

Something was missing.

Then she saw them again. She saw their faces, young faces, all nine of them, smiling and joking and living their lives.

Minerva had educated thousands of youngsters in her forty years at Hogwarts. Thousands. But none of them stuck with her like they had. There was Sirius Black, edgy on the outside but a true romantic at heart to the few who he allowed to see it. Mary MacDonald and Peter Pettigrew were the quiet ones who were very talented yet never gave themselves enough credit. Emmeline Vance had been much tougher and powerful than her petite frame and generally reserved nature would make one expect. Lily Evans and Dorcas Meadowes both had fiery tempers and sometimes liked to run their mouths, but they were easily two of the most caring, kindest witches in the school. Remus Lupin was a bit of a wallflower and was the one everyone went to for advice and secret-keeping. Marlene McKinnon was quick-witted and impulsive, but had a heart of gold. And James Potter was the fearless leader, the one the boys looked up to and the girls fancied.

She remembered the day she met them all. Minerva placed the Sorting Hat onto forty-three heads that evening, but they had been the only nine to end up in Gryffindor. She'd watched them from the teachers' table as they enjoyed the welcoming feast with their new classmates. It was bizarre how well the nine of them appeared to suit each other. Even though certain tensions arose when Sirius spilled his pumpkin juice all over Marlene, when James began mocking Lily for visiting a friend of hers at the Slytherin table, and when Dorcas sneezed suddenly and sent the crumbs on her plate soaring onto Peter's half-finished slice of treacle tart, Minerva saw the hidden friendliness and balance between them that would eventually bubble to the surface.

She felt different that night, as she should have; it was her first year as Gryffindor's Head of House. Minerva was more than ready to lead the house she was once a member of herself. That was all she expected to feel, but she was wrong. After seeing the first group of first years she'd ever lead as Head of House, she felt pride and something that closely resembled protectiveness, but not quite. It was something she'd never felt before despite being a teacher for years, and she hated that she couldn't pinpoint exactly what was so different about that group of kids.

Once classes began, she even began to notice subtle differences in her teaching and overall presence at Hogwarts. Minerva had always been known for being strict and having a zero tolerance policy for nonsense, and the majority of the time, she retained this image. What was different was how she taught the first years. While she still reprimanded bad behavior, she'd occasionally turn the other cheek when one of her first year Gryffindors did something. She'd pretend not to notice when Remus doodled on a spare piece of parchment when he should have been taking notes, or when Lily would pass notes to Severus, or when James would try to use his wand to burn said notes. Of course, she had to dole out some punishments when one of the sparks James sent hit the sleeve of Mary's robe instead of Lily's letter, but she let the little things slide from time to time. She even caught herself grinning about their antics when no one could see.

It was so unlike her, and it drove her mad.

She figured it was just because they were a cute group of kids, but her leniency didn't go away as the years wore on like she'd expected it to. Minerva didn't scold Remus for staring at Emmeline when he should have been reading, nor did she scold Emmeline when she was gazing at Remus. She pretended to be completely unaware of James's blatant attempts to get Lily's attention while she obviously couldn't care less and continued to be friendly with Severus instead. She let Sirius and Dorcas get away with dozing off every once in a while. She'd lost count of how many times she allowed Marlene to stare out the window and daydream.

What really surprised Minerva, though, was just how interested she was about their lives. Being a teacher, she was obviously concerned about the academic success of all her students, but for those nine Gryffindors, it was more than that; it was personal. She typically disliked having students in her office on her own time, but she didn't mind so much when one of those nine needed help with something. While she didn't always show it, Minerva was more than happy to answer their questions and didn't say a word when one of them swiped a sweet or two from the bowl on her desk when they thought she wasn't looking.

There were times she even invited them into her office. During the group's fourth year, she'd found Sirius in quite a disheveled state, and that was the first time she'd ever asked a student to come up to her office for something other than homework help or issuing a detention. That day, Sirius told her about how much he loathed his family and that he desperately wanted to leave. He'd visited her several times in the following years to talk about his worries for Regulus and his love-hate relationship with his parents. It warmed Minerva's heart when Sirius once told her he liked having her to talk to.

For Lily, it was always about Severus, for better or worse. Early on, she'd come up to talk about how difficult it was to deal with the stigma of having a Slytherin for a best friend. It evolved into annoyance about James's nonstop pestering, apprehension about Severus's choices, and eventual heartbreak and anger when he called her the foulest of names. Despite James's often pigheaded and careless demeanor in an attempt to show off in front of his friends, Minerva knew firsthand that all the insults and badgering were really masking his concern for Lily. Since his second year, James frequently expressed his worries to Minerva; he was certain there wasn't something right about Severus and didn't want Lily to get hurt somehow. Minerva wasn't sure when she began to suspect the attraction between Lily and James, but she was over the moon with joy when they began seeing one another in their seventh year.

The first time Mary found herself in the office was after Minerva discovered her sobbing her eyes out in one of the corridors. Mulciber had tortured her for her blood status, and instead of hunting him down like she normally would have, Minerva dispatched another professor to find him and take care of discipline. After the nurse gave her some medicine, she brought the poor girl up to her office. She made some tea and fetched a few biscuits, and they spent the whole evening talking. Minerva couldn't even remember the specifics of what they discussed, but whatever it was made Mary feel better, so much so that from that day on, Mary and Minerva had a mutual understanding that they'd meet once a week for tea and a chat.

Peter, much like Mary, often visited Minerva to talk about the most random things, though as the years went on, she got the sense that he never felt good enough. He occasionally talked about the way his father raved about his elder sister's achievements and how Peter's grades weren't always what he deemed to be acceptable. He constantly compared himself to his friends, saying how much he admired Remus for his intelligence, Sirius for his charisma, and James for his effortless ability to lead. Peter never outright told Minerva he felt inadequate, but she knew that's what he worried himself with, and she did everything she could to subtly let him know that he had more to offer the world than he could see.

Marlene and Emmeline were always worried about the future. Both of them could sense the trouble that lay ahead between Voldemort, his followers, and the rest of the wizarding world. Marlene feared for the safety of her family, all of whom were known blood-traitors, and consistently expressed her determination to do everything she could to protect them and her friends. In her seventh year, she used much of her time spent in Minerva's office to talk about Sirius, and eventually admitted her feelings for him – the first time any of them ever admitted a crush to her. Emmeline, on the other hand, came up to the office mostly to seek advice on becoming an Auror. She frequently discussed her uncertainty about getting into the program because she was a girl, to which Minerva always assured her that was nonsense, and that the Ministry would be more than thrilled to have someone as bright and ambitious as her.

And Dorcas and Remus were constantly distressed about being different. Whenever Remus was in the office, his lycanthropy always came up, and although he'd been accepted by his three best friends, he never stopped thinking about what would happen when the school and eventually the world learned what he was. Meanwhile, Dorcas struggled with the reality that she liked girls. She knew what her parents would think of it and she worried that her friends, too, would want nothing to do with her. Minerva was always there to welcome them into her office whenever they wanted to vent or simply needed reassurance that nothing was wrong with either of them.

During the seven years these nine students attended Hogwarts, Minerva was fairly certain she was the reason Honeydukes stayed in business; she'd never refilled her bowl of sweets so much in all her years as an educator.

Minerva experienced a strange feeling unlike she'd ever felt on their final night at students. As she watched them from the teachers' table during the end-of-year feast, she felt a twinge of sadness as she remembered how just seven short years prior, they were all innocent first-years with chubby faces and big dreams. Now, they were young women and men, ready to face the world and take on the challenges it was more than prepared to throw their way. They'd come a long way and all turned out absolutely fine, and she couldn't have been more proud of them.

They were her first group of first-years as head of Gryffindor House. She'd watched them grow with an attention, concern, and a protectiveness she'd never bestowed upon any other student. In a way, they'd become the children she never had.

They all stayed in touch with her after leaving Hogwarts. Emmeline did go on to become an Auror, and Dorcas joined her. Minerva was all smiles when she attended James and Lily's wedding, and she teared up with joy upon the announcement of the birth of their first child. Sirius and Marlene admitted their feelings to one another and became a couple. Peter took a job with the Ministry, Mary became a healer, and Remus wrote for the Daily Prophet.

When the Order of the Phoenix was established, James came to Minerva about to talk about joining. Naturally, it was him who rallied the rest of them and encouraged them all to enlist. Minerva was so thrilled the night all nine of them arrived for their first Order meeting with so much enthusiasm and determination; even after leaving Hogwarts, they were still living up to their Gryffindor name.

Though their world was dark and danger lurked everywhere, Minerva still had hope for these nine wonderful people. She was sure they'd make it through.

And just as quickly, that hope was taken away.

Dorcas had been the first to fall. It was June of 1981 when she'd somehow been separated from her partner on an Auror mission. Voldemort tortured and killed her himself. A mere month later, Marlene, along with her entire family, were slaughtered at their manor in Scotland. It was an ambush of Death Eaters; there was no way of knowing whose hand Marlene had fallen victim to.

In October of that year, James and Lily were killed by Voldemort within minutes of each other, leaving their little boy orphaned. Minerva had been in shock for days following the news that not only were James and Lily dead, but that they'd seemingly been betrayed by none other than Sirius Black. Peter, at that point in time, was also assumed deceased. Five of her nine Gryffindors were dead, and one was as good as dead as he began to serve his lifetime sentence in Azkaban.

It was a double-edged sword for Minerva when twelve years later, it was revealed that it had in fact been Peter who double-crossed James and Lily, and Sirius had been innocent all along. She was relieved that Sirius hadn't done such a thing, and she was embarrassed she'd believed he had. However, her relief was tarnished by the fact that Peter had been disloyal and had taken Voldemort's side. Despite his insecurities, he'd always been a fine young man. She could only assume he made his choices based upon his ever-growing desire to make a name for himself, even if that meant doing so in a negative way.

Sirius's death in 1995 was all the more saddening because he'd never had a chance to clear his name. A handful of people knew of his innocence, but to the rest of the world, he was a killer, a madman.

Dolohov got Emmeline in the summer of 1996. She was on a night watch outside the Minster for Magic's home, and he attacked her in an attempt to get inside. She was able to set up extensive wards before he killed her. Her body was never recovered; a polished grave marker with no remains buried beneath it was placed in the meadow near her childhood village. The very next year, Mary was killed by none other than Mulciber. She'd been protecting an innocent Muggle child in London.

When Peter took his own life in 1998, Minerva was still dismayed at the news. Though he'd made some horrible, unforgivable choices, she firmly believed he regretted his decisions. She'd learned his suicide was what helped Harry Potter and his friends escape the confines of Malfoy Manor and the Death Eaters, and she liked to believe his actions were his final attempt to make some sort of amends. While she would never be certain if that was true, she assumed the best of him because she knew, deep down, he had a good heart.

Just mere hours before during the break in battle, Minerva pretended she hadn't seen what was right in front of her in the Great Hall, because it simply couldn't have been Remus lying there dead. He was a skilled dueler. He was a new husband, a new father. He was the last one.

But as the sun began to rise and the bodies started to be moved, she couldn't mistake Remus's seemingly sleeping face as a weeping Hagrid carried his lifeless body to a quieter place.

And that was it. It was over. She couldn't ignore it anymore.

Dorcas Meadowes... gone.

Marlene McKinnon... gone.

James Potter... gone.

Lily Evans... gone.

Sirius Black... gone.

Emmeline Vance... gone.

Mary MacDonald... gone.

Peter Pettigrew... gone.

Remus Lupin... gone.

All nine of those beautiful children, all nine brilliant young adults... gone.

Minerva had half a mind to go to her office in hopes of finding one of them snagging a sweet from the dish on her desk or asking silly questions about an assignment. Though she'd hate to see them sad, she'd even be thrilled to find one of them up there crying about a crush or a fight or a fear, just so she could console them one more time.

But they wouldn't be there. They were never coming back.

In spite of the sadness that loomed, Minerva couldn't help but feel proud of all they accomplished. They'd all fought like Gryffindors until the very end, even Peter, and somehow she knew they didn't regret it in the least. The fight had been worth it.

But she still missed her children.

She stood beside the portrait hole, staring out at the scarlet and gold room before her. For a brief moment, they were all there. Nine innocent, carefree eleven-year-olds were sitting in those sofas and chairs, all talking and laughing together. Marlene's chestnut locks bounced as she howled with laughter at one of Peter's jokes. James, Sirius, and Dorcas were engaged in an intense game of Exploding Snap. Lily and Remus were enthusiastically discussing a passage in a book. Mary and Emmeline were whispering and giggling with one another. They were all so happy with so much to live for.

Just as quickly as it began, the vision faded, and Minerva was alone again. The battle was won and the war was over, but they weren't there to share it. She was surrounded by nothing more than a bunch of empty chairs.

And then, and only then, Minerva allowed a lone, salty tear to trickle down her face.

Author's Note: This was written for round three of dimitrisgirl18's Diagon Alley Fic Crawl on the HPFC. Long overdue, but complete nonetheless!

A wonderful artist was gracious enough to create a stunning banner for this story, the link to which can be found on my profile page. Definitely give it a look if you get the chance! :D

Thanks for reading! :)