Work Text:
Minerva apparated to her little cottage in the Highlands on the first day of the winter holidays, just after the Hogwarts Express pulled away from Hogsmeade station. She had only a few days of rest before she would need to return to Hogwarts to take over the supervision of the few students who had remained at school over the break.
It had been a difficult term, and the late nights of grading and overseeing detentions were catching up to her. Two of her new Gryffindor first years, James Potter and Sirius Black, were definitely causing the crop of new white hairs she was developing.
Minerva dropped her bags and slumped against the door. She had shopping to do and potions to pick up from the apothecary, but she was tempted to change into a cat for a few hours of rest before doing anything else. She always took better naps in her Animagus form.
Her telephone began to ring just as she was about to shift, and Minerva immediately tensed. There were only a few people who had her number, and even fewer who would be likely to use the telephone rather than some form of magical communication.
She picked it up.
"Minerva, is that you?" The voice of a frantic sounding man came through the line.
Minerva’s traitorous heart leapt to hear the voice of her ex-fiance. "Dougal?"
"Finally. Thank God. I thought your term must have ended, but I didn't know when you'd be home. I've been calling every half-hour from a telephone box."
"Dougal, what’s the matter?" She tried to speak calmly, but her voice hitched just a little as she said his name.
"This is going to sound absurd, you’ll never believe me, but I don’t know who else to turn to, and you always told me that if something odd or unbelievable happened I should let you know."
"Of course I'll believe you. Tell me what happened."
“I returned home from town yesterday to find that my house was gone, just gone. I turned up the lane, drove all the way up to where the house should be, but there was nothing. No barn, no stables, no house, nothing. It was like it had never been there at all.
I tried calling for Mary and the girls but there was no answer. I don't know if they were abducted or if they had disappeared with the house."
Dougal's voice cracked and he broke down into heavy, gasping sobs.
Minerva waited until he quieted. Logically, she knew that jealousy over Dougal’s distress over his missing wife was unreasonable, but she had always resented how happy Dougal was with Mary, how easily and quickly he had moved on after she had left him.
None of the increasingly desperate and dangerous things she had done in the subsequent years had eased the Dougal-shaped chasm in her chest.
"Go on, Dougal," she prompted. "What happened next?"
"I went to the police, but they didn’t listen, said I was mad. Said there was no record of a house ever being in that location, but I've lived there since Mary and I married. You know that. Everyone knows that. But the coppers said there was no record of me living there, nor any record of me living in Scotland at all. Not of Mary or the girls either. We just don’t exist anymore. So I went back to check on the house again and it was still gone, but there was this odd green smoke in the sky just above where the house should have been. Looked like a skull. It frightened the daylights out of me and I couldn’t think of what to do. That's when I remembered what you told me all of those years ago and I decided to call you."
Horror flooded through Minerva. "Dougal, I'm coming to get you. Where are you right now?"
There was no answer.
"Dougal? Where are you?"
Minerva shrieked "No, No, Dougal! Let him go! Please!"
The cold voice became clearer as the wizard on the other end of the line picked up the phone.
"You always had your secrets, Min. Was this muggle lover the reason you broke off our arrangement?"
"Please, Tom, I haven't spoken to him in years. He has his own family. Let him go."
"I don't think so. Besides, he doesn't have a family anymore. Dolohov will have seen to that."
"Tom, please. Let him go. I'll do anything."
"You always did beg so prettily, pet, but it's too late for that. What could this muggle have done to deserve such devotion? We could have been so powerful together. We could have ruled the world.”
The cruel tone of his voice softened slightly. “Why would you do anything for him but not for me?”
“Please Tom, don’t do this. What we had was never meant to be a long term affair. Your plans would never have involved me, and I would never have approved of your methods.”
“It doesn't matter now. I don’t need you. I am closer to achieving my goals than I ever was. Your Gryffindor sentimentality is your weakness, but it won’t be mine. Let me show you what happens to those who betray me.”
Minerva heard Dougal retching and gasping. The silencing charm must have been lifted.
“Say goodbye to your filthy muggle lover, Min.”
“No, Tom, please!” She sobbed.
“ Avada Kedavra ."
Minerva heard the thud of the heavy muggle body hitting the floor of the phone booth.
"You might as well call your brothers to say goodbye. Dolohov should be arriving any minute."
“Tom, please! I’ll spy on Albus like you asked. I’ll marry you if you still want me to. I’ll do anything.”
She heard him scoff through the phone.
"Goodbye, pet. I’ll be seeing you soon."
The line went dead.
