Theresa was looking at herself in a mirror, and she was wearing a beautiful wedding dress. Lily Potter was there, looking lovely in her bridesmaid's gown. Theresa walked up the aisle alone, but her mum and dad were among the guests, and so were Severus and Dumbledore, and the ancient wizard Ptolemy, for some reason.
Sirius was waiting for her, smiling. He was so handsome, so happy. He said his vows and then he leaned in and kissed her gently. When he pulled away, his eyes were wild and his hair was snarled. He put his hands on her throat and his face turned into a big, black, hairy dog. Its jaws closed on her face, and she woke up.
She was sitting up, gasping for breath, pressing her hand to her chest. She was in the Hogwarts hospital wing. "What am I ? How did I get here?"
"Professor Sprout found you in a greenhouse this morning." A woman who must be the school nurse was bustling toward her. She pushed Theresa down into the bed and straightened her blankets. "You were lucky she popped in to check on things before the fanged geraniums found you."
The nurse busied herself with some jars of medicine at Theresa's bedside. On her other side, she saw movement, and someone took her hand. Theresa turned. "Severus?"
He looked as grim as always, but his face was white as a sheet. "I can't leave you alone for a minute, can I?"
Theresa smiled weakly. "You can add it to my bill." Her smile faded. "Oh, dear. I can't feel my arm." She lifted her free arm, which from the elbow down was wrapped in bandages so thick it was impossible to tell if there was still an arm in there.
"I've numbed it," the nurse said. "Otherwise you'd be in a great deal of pain. Up you get." She lifted Theresa's head and arranged the pillows so she could sit up a little. "You lost a lot of blood. Drink this up."
Theresa took the cup she offered with her good hand. It tasted terrible, like someone had boiled cabbage with a load of smelly socks, but Theresa drank it all.
"And this one," the nurse said, handing her another. It was purple, and it tasted like very salty bitter apples. The third one was indescribable, but fortunately there was only a drop of it. She handed Theresa a fourth glass.
"I suppose you brewed all of this, Severus?" Theresa asked plaintively, noting that it was filled to the top with a colorless liquid.
"Most of it," he said.
"That one's water," the nurse said. "Drink it all up, you're quite dehydrated."
"Oh." Theresa obeyed.
The nurse bustled away, and Severus pulled his chair closer. He regarded her with his usual, slightly disapproving expression. "I suppose it's pointless to ask what you were doing on Hogwarts grounds in the middle of the night."
"Yes, I suppose it is."
"What I would like to know," said a soft voice from the direction of the door, "is how you broke into a locked greenhouse without a wand." Professor Dumbledore appeared in Theresa's field of view and pulled up a chair beside Severus.
"I don't remember," Theresa said. She frowned, thinking hard. "I thought I could break the glass, but it wouldn't shatter."
"Because there's an Unbreakable charm on it," Dumbledore offered.
"Right, I realized that at the last, but I was starting to pass out. And I think I was becoming delirious or something, because I remember calling out for help, though I knew no one could hear me. I fell down, and then I leaned on the door, and it just swung open. Like it had been unlatched all along. Perhaps I was delirious from the start."
"No, I don't think so." Dumbledore was nodding thoughtfully. "I think the school itself responded to your cries. Help is always given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it."
"But only to those with pure intentions," Severus added softly, as if it proved a point.
"That is true," Dumbledore allowed. He turned to Theresa seriously. "Now will you please tell us what happened to your hand?"
"I was attacked by a dog," Theresa said simply.
"A dog? Not a wolf?"
"No, it was a dog. It must have been a stray from the Muggle village."
Severus sighed and appeared to relax. Theresa remembered with chagrin that it had been a full moon last night.
"And where is your wand?"
"I ... er ... don't remember what happened to it. I must have lost it after I was bitten."
"So, even though you had your wand, a Muggle dog was able to attack and nearly kill you?" Dumbledore stared at her intently. She did not meet his gaze. She was a very good liar, but he was an equally good Legilimens.
"I never saw it coming," she said, "It was enormous."
"I see. " Dumbledore sighed. "I'd like to believe you, Theresa."
"It's all right," she said wearily. "I'm used to being doubted."
"The direction from which you approached the castle suggests you were in the Forbidden Forest. You were looking for Black, weren't you? Did he do this to you?"
She felt Severus's hand tighten over hers. "Surely," she said stubbornly, "you can tell from the wounds that it was an animal."
"I was hoping you would tell us how he did it."
"I think you underestimate my husband. If he had tried to kill me, I'd be dead."
"Why do you continue to protect him?"
"Why should I continue to talk to you if you won't believe anything I say?" she flared.
Dumbledore sighed. "I'm only interested in justice, Theresa."
"Oh, justice. Is that what you call it?" Theresa said savagely, struggling to sit up. "Is it justice to send a man to Azkaban for life without even a trial?"
"I was against that decision."
"But you didn't do anything about it, did you?" she demanded, pushing Severus away when he tried to calm her. "You could have gotten him a trial if you'd demanded it. But you didn't care. You thought he was guilty, too."
"No one has offered a scenario in which he is innocent that makes any sense."
"Because no one ever asked him!" she shouted. "You never even heard his side of the story! Is that justice? Who made you the one to decide who's innocent and who's guilty? How is that any different from Voldemort?"
"Tess!" Severus hissed, trying to push her back down in bed.
"Don't call me that!" she snarled at him, jerking her arm out of his grasp.
Dumbledore got to his feet. "I am sorry, Theresa. I did not mean to upset you."
"Of course not." She leaned her head on her hand. Her energy had run out. "You never do anything wrong, do you?"
"I make mistakes, like everyone else, Theresa," he said. "And I have regrets."
"Well, at least you have justice." It was vicious, she knew it, but she didn't care anymore.
Dumbledore gazed at her, his face expressionless, for an instant. Then he said quietly, "Good night, Theresa," and left them.
"You used to trust him," Severus said when he was gone.
Theresa lay down again, trying to smooth the covers with her bandaged hand. "That was a long time ago," she said shortly.
Severus stroked her hair gently as she sank back into sleep.
* * *
She awoke in the dark. It must have been very late at night, because even Severus had gone. Her head was spinning with everything that had happened. Why had Sirius hurt
her? She had been sure he wouldn't harm her. But he hadn't seemed to recognize her. Something was wrong. Was he mad, as everyone thought? He could have killed her if he'd wanted to. She'd probably be dead now if he'd simply walked away from her. But instead he'd taken her to safety. And he had taken her cloak, and her wand. The wand weighed on her mind. If he was mad, she'd just armed him. And what would Dumbledore do? How long would he allow her to lie to him? She was certain he could force the truth out of her if he wanted to. She had to get her wand back. She'd found him once, and she could do it again.
She sat up and slid out of bed, feeling very wobbly on her feet. She found her clothes neatly folded on the bedstand and dressed clumsily. She had to tear the sleeve of her blouse to get her bandaged arm through it, the noise sounding unnaturally loud in the silent ward. Last of all were her boots, which proved nearly impossible to tie with only one hand. Sitting on the floor, she managed to get one Tying Charm to work without her wand, but the second boot's laces lay defiantly limp and motionless until Theresa was so frustrated that she swore out loud.
"Theresa? Are you okay?" Blankets rustled across the ward, and Harry Potter appeared around the screens isolating her bed. Barefoot and dressed in pajamas, he carried his wand in one hand and trailed a blanket from the other.
Blushing furiously, she said, "You didn't just hear me say that."
He smiled. "Hear you say what?"
"Och, I barely know you, and already I'm corrupting you." She sighed and struggled to get up. Harry took her good arm and helped her sit back on her bed. "Maybe it's true, what they say about me."
"Doubt it," Harry said, sitting on the foot of the bed. "But then, I don't seem to know you as well as I thought I did."
Theresa winced. "I deserve that. Would you mind?" She pulled her leg onto the bed and offered him her untied boot.
"Were you leaving?" Harry asked, eyeing her clothes.
"Yes. I don't think I'm quite wanted here."
For a split second, she saw in his eyes that she was wanted, after all, and her heart nearly broke. Then he turned his attention to her boot."Snape wants you."
She sighed. "Yes, well, he's used to wanting things he can't have."
He pulled her bootlace tight and tied it off. "You said you were friends with my dad."
"I was."
"But you're friends with Snape, and he hated my dad."
"I wasn't part of your dad's crowd in school, Harry. I was too young, and I wasn't cool enough."
"So you were friends with Snape instead?"
"Severus and I grew up together. One of my earliest memories is of him trying to teach me to play chess when I was four."
Harry seemed to struggle with that thought — perhaps it had never occurred to him that Severus had been a child once. "But he's so ... "
She smiled fondly. "I've already gathered that you and he share a ... special relationship." She leaned back against her pillows. "He's like a brother to me, Harry. I may not always agree with him, but I care about him anyway."
Harry didn't look pleased with that answer. "What about Sirius Black? I suppose you grew up with him, too?"
"No, I met him at school."
"You didn't even tell me your proper name when we met before. I heard Professor Dumbledore call you Theresa Black."
Theresa sighed. "I prefer McGonagall-Black, actually, but nobody likes to pronounce it."
"So you are married to him?"
"Yes."
"Why didn't you tell me that?"
"If I'd said to you, Hello, I'm Theresa Black; you might be familiar with my mass-murderer husband, Sirius,' would you have gotten in my car with me?"
"Probably not."
"I wanted you to get to know me before you started making judgements."
"Is that why you lied about Hagrid sending you?"
"You really have been checking up on me, haven't you? All right, yes, that's why I fibbed about Hagrid. But we did have tea, and we did talk about you."
"Why does everyone think you were trying to kidnap me? Just because you were married to Sirius Black?"
"No." She wrung her hands once, took a deep breath and plunged on. "It's because I did kidnap you once."
"You what?" He gawped at her.
Now it was Theresa's turn to stare at her boots. "Your parents never wanted you to go to the Dursleys', Harry. They couldn't stand those people. I wanted to bring you up myself; I told Dumbledore that's why James and Lily gave you godparents "
"Godparents?" Harry interrupted. "I have godparents?"
"Your parents knew they were in danger, Harry; it would have been foolish for them not to make arrangements." She sighed again. "But Dumbledore didn't think you'd be safe with me. The right thing to do would have been to bide my time. Perhaps I could have won him over eventually. But I was too impatient. I took matters into my own hands."
"You wanted to raise me yourself," Harry breathed.
Theresa smiled and reached forward to squeeze his hand. "It was easy enough to take you from the Dursleys; they hardly paid you any mind at all. I had it all planned out: I disguised us as Muggles and used forged papers to buy tickets on a boat for Aruba. But the Ministry caught up with me before we got on board. Dumbledore and Severus intervened to get me out of jail, but I was forbidden to see you again." She looked into his face searchingly.
"You mean," Harry said, sounding sick to his stomach, "I could have grown up on a sunny island, with a proper mother, instead of in a broom cupboard?"
Theresa chuckled. "I don't know about a proper' mother, but Dumbledore may have been right; it was very dangerous. It was a stupid thing to do either way. I'm still paying for it."
"Why didn't Professor Dumbledore trust you? You didn't know Black was going to murder those people!"
Theresa shifted her weight. "How much do you know about that?"
"They say he killed twelve Muggles and a wizard with one curse. And that he was a big supporter of Voldemort."
"He was no Death Eater!" Theresa said fiercely. "I knew him better than anybody! I lived with him! I would have known if he was hanging around with that sort of people. And I don't believe he meant to kill anyone."
"Then what really happened?"
Theresa pretended to wipe her eyes as she chose her next words carefully. "I believe that the wizard who died attacked him, and that he was defending himself."
"But what about the Muggles?"
"Sometimes, when you've had a shock, a spell can get away from you. It was only the day after James and Lily died. I don't think he meant to hurt anyone."
A brief silence passed between them. Then, Harry jerked his chin at her bandaged arm. "Did he do that to you?"
Theresa hesitated. No more fibs, she decided. "He didn't recognize me," she said softly.
"What if you're wrong about him? They say wizards go mad in Azkaban."
"I have to find out." She glanced up at him. "Even if he's mad, I won't let him hurt you. If he's mad, he's going back to Azkaban."
"What if you can't stop him? He could kill you next time."
Theresa swung her legs out of bed and stood up. "Then I reckon my troubles will be over." She pulled her bag onto her shoulder. "I'd better go, Harry. It's getting late."
Harry watched her step past him and start down the ward. "Theresa?" he said, when she was about halfway down.
She stopped, but didn't turn back. "Yes?"
"Be careful."
Theresa closed her eyes briefly. "I will, Harry."