Song of the Gemini

"But it's not the way it use to be right now
You come so far to just let this go my friend
The same way you did the last time
You'll break when you fall
Don't make the same mistakes you did all over
You've got to believe in yourself this time"

-3 Doors Down, "This Time" (From Away From the Sun)

Chapter 4

When Dumbledore awoke the next morning he was relieved to know that it wasn't all a dream. He noticed that the coffee table had been cleaned and a tartan blanket covered them. Minerva. There was a faint lingering of her perfume. She'd have a hundred questions no doubt.

"Allexia?" He gently nudged her sleeping form. Her eyes fluttered open and it took her brain a few seconds to register where she was. She sat up slowly.

"I didn't mean to fall asleep on you, Dad."

"That's quite alright, dear."

A large grandfather clock chimed seven times. Allexia wanted nothing more than to go back to sleep, but there was too much to do and see in this place. She searched through her bag and took out a silver flask.

"Bit early for spirits, don't you think?" Dumbledore said, as she took a long drink.

"It's just an energy potion. My body's still on California time." She downed the whole thing. "Ah, better than coffee some days. Can I use your shower?"

"Of course. It's right through there."

Allexia paused before opening the door and turned to face him. "You would think from the pleasant conversation we just had that nothing had gone amiss between us. It's like nothing had ever happened. No bitterness in my voice or anything. Funny how things turn out."

"I agree," he said moving closer. "I wasn't expecting this, but I'm glad it worked out this way."

"I think that if we had tried this any sooner it wouldn't have been so easy. We've both reached points in our lives where we're ready to move on without all the excess baggage." She kissed him on the cheek. "I'll be right out."

She walked into his bathroom and knew that she wouldn't be right out. This place is bigger than my bedroom, she thought. The bathtub alone was as large as a king-size bed, with depressions on the sides so you could sit, and it must have been three feet deep. An underwater scene was painted on the bottom and sides. Various marine life swam in and out of view. Wow. A separate shower stall was situated in the corner. Allexia debated whether to try out the tub or just grab a quick shower. In the end she chose the shower, but would be back later for the bath.

She set her bag down on the counter and took out clean clothes. She enlarged and pressed them with her wand. Something near the sink drew her attention. There were two toothbrushes in the seashell holder. Her eyes traveled down the countertop and found a bottle of perfume and some lotion. Either Dad's gone gay or he has a live-in girlfriend. Shrugging, she shed her clothes and hopped into the stall. The long brown hair she found stuck to a shampoo bottle confirmed that her father still liked women. Allexia wondered who she was and how she was going to react to her presence. No one knows I'm his daughter. What if he wants to keep it that way?

While his daughter was in the shower, Dumbledore went to his bedroom to freshen up. A change of robes and a quick cleaning spell later, he was back in the living room looking through a photo album. There was a knock at the door. Just from the sound he knew it was the deputy headmistress.

"Good morning, Headmaster," she said a bit too cheery. "May I come in?" Not waiting for an answer she hobbled past him and sat on the sofa. She looked around for that woman, but saw no one.

"She's taking a shower, Professor." He shook his head at her innocent expression. "I know you were here last night, Minerva, your perfume gave you away."

"Albus, who is this woman and why was she sleeping in your arms?" Minerva was never one to beat around the bush.

"Jealously does not become you, my dear." She shot him one of her infamous glares in response. "Her name is Allexia."

She interrupted him, "Sir Nicholas told me her name was Alexandria Price and she was American."

"She uses a false name in her line of work. Her real name is Allexia Celeste Dumbledore." He took a deep breath. "She is my daughter."

Allexia opened the door, but stopped suddenly when she heard voices. There was a woman with a slight Scottish accent talking to her father.

"Your daughter?" She heard the woman say. Allexia decided to hang out here for a bit to see her reaction. The lady went on. "Since when did you have a daughter!"

"Since she was born thirty-five years ago."

"Just when were you planning on telling me, Albus? Were you ever?" Minerva's voice was clipped, betraying her temper. "You never told me you were married, either. I thought we knew everything about each other."

Albus knew he had to calm her down quickly. He knew never to mess with an angry Minerva McGonagall. "I met her mother while visiting some of the wizarding schools in America and we had a brief affair that lasted a weekend. We were not romantically involved, so marriage was not an option. Allexia was kept a secret, while her mother raised her in America."

Her temper was starting to dissipate, but Minerva was still in shock. "To save your reputation, no doubt. If the school governors had found out that you had an illegitimate child, they would have sacked you. But what of the mother, did you give any consideration for her reputation?"

Allexia smiled at the sudden defense of her mother. I like this woman. "Her mother didn't care about that. I actually suggested we get married, but Mia refused me." Allexia didn't know about that. Her father continued, "I would visit Allexia nearly every summer. No one suspected a thing."

"But why is she here now? The board may still frown upon this."

Allexia chose that moment to make herself known. If her being here was going to put her father's job in jeopardy, she would leave immediately. Knowing about Lord Voldemort, this school needed him more than she did. She purposely closed the door hard to announce her presence. They both turned at the noise.

"If that is the case, I will leave," she said walking towards them. "I don't want to ruin anything."

Minerva gazed at the younger woman standing in front of her. Her long black hair was braided again and she wore muggle clothing. Her eyes caught Minerva's attention. She had never seen anyone with the same color blue as Albus'. They even had a familiar twinkle. She had an athletic figure and was nearly as tall as her father. Minerva thought she was striking.

"Nonsense! I don't wish to keep you a secret any longer. I've spent the last fourteen years without a daughter. I want to shout my happiness from the Astronomy Tower, little one!" The ferocity in her father's conviction touched her deeply.

"She's hardly little, Albus," Minerva said blandly, causing Allexia to laugh. The older witch stood up, leaning on her cane. "Aren't you going to introduce us, Headmaster?"

"Yes, absolutely! Allexia, this is Professor Minerva McGonagall. Professor, may I present my daughter." He watched with relief and happiness as they shook hands.

"I'm afraid, Miss Dumbledore, that I am still in shock of your relation to the headmaster."

"Please call me Lexy," insisted Allexia. "I've never used the name Dumbledore in public. I suppose you could call me Miss Price, if you need to. Don't worry, Professor, I'm still in shock that I'm here at Hogwarts and in the same room with your headmaster."

Minerva's puzzlement was apparent. Allexia thought she knew of their difficulties. She gave the short version. "I'll just say that Dad and I had a falling out many years ago and it's taken 'til now to patch things up."

Albus moved to put his arm around his daughter. He still couldn't believe that they were starting anew. Minerva looked to Albus for assurance. She now understood him better. All those haunted, depressing looks in his eyes that he thought she hadn't seen were beginning to make sense. How awful, she thought. Her mind returned to last night in the Great Hall when they just stood, unmoving, staring at the other. Albus, as usual, knew exactly what she was thinking.

"Last night was the first time we'd seen each other in fourteen years," he said.

"Why so long?"

"You will have to ask Allexia. I will leave it for her to decide whom she wishes to know." Allexia looked back and forth between them. She didn't want to tell anybody else the details, at least not yet. Thankfully, Minerva picked up on her unwillingness.

"That's alright, Lexy, it was improper of me to ask. But if you wish to talk, I've been told I'm a good listener."

Allexia smiled graciously. Albus was the happiest he'd been in years, even with Voldemort off plotting their domination. He felt eighty years younger. "I had hoped that the two women I love most in the world would get along. I see that I have nothing to worry about." He enjoyed the surprised expressions on both their faces. Minerva began to turn a brilliant shade of red. His daughter merely laughed.

"I guess it must be your hair I found stuck to the shampoo bottle," Allexia told the older witch. "And all those lotions? I hoped to Merlin they weren't Dad's."

The deputy headmistress' face slowly returned to its normal hue. She laughed softly, seeing the amusement in the situation. "Only a few friends know of our relationship though. You don't mind keeping it a secret?"

"Believe me, I know how to keep secrets. If you two are happy, then I'm happy too." Allexia meant it completely. She liked Minerva and they looked so right together. "Must have been awkward when you found us asleep on the couch last night, huh?"

Her father and Minerva both asked how she knew. Allexia shrugged her shoulders. "I track people for a living. You left your scent behind and your walking stick left impressions on the rug. I learned to see little things like that."

The couple seemed impressed. "Just what do you do for a living?" asked Minerva.

Allexia noticed a fleeting expression of dread appear on her father's face. He tried to conceal it, but wasn't fast enough. He may not like her job, but he vowed to accept her no matter what. She stood up slightly taller and her countenance hardened out of reflex. She contemplated telling her any number of normal vocations, but she couldn't stand to lie.

"I'm a bounty hunter," her voice sounding more harsh than she intended. She stared at Minerva waiting for her to pass judgement. It never came. The deputy headmistress nodded once before suggesting they go on to breakfast, but the older witch saw the apprehension in both their eyes at her question. There is more to this than I know, she thought.

* * * * * *

Allexia had taken down some of the most dangerous fugitives and lately found herself working for some of the toughest criminals, but she found herself terrified at the prospect of being introduced to the Hogwart's staff. Minerva had been kind enough to help her transfigure some robes and promised to go shopping with her later. When the professor wasn't looking she made it a bit more form fitting, so she didn't feel like she was wearing a circus tent. Minerva had gone into the Great Hall ahead of them.

"Are you sure you want everyone to know about me, Dad? What about Voldemort?"

Dumbledore stopped in his tracks. How could I have been so blind? Riddle shouldn't know about Allexia's relation to him for the same reason he shouldn't know about Minerva. "You're absolutely right! We can't tell the general public, but I will introduce you as my daughter to the Order."

"The Order?"

"I'll explain later in private, so don't bring it up. Let's go, I'm starving."

She followed her father into the Great Hall and gawked at the ceiling. They didn't have that at Salem, she thought. Most of the staff had already assembled. They eyed her with interest, some smiling and others looking indifferent. Dumbledore motioned for her to take the seat next to his. The last teacher to arrive stormed through the doors, menacing in his black robes. He sat at the far end of the table. The headmaster stood up.

"Nice of you to join us this morning, Severus." The potions master gave no acknowledgement. "Before we stuff ourselves silly I wish to apologize for my sudden departure from dinner and to introduce an old friend from America. Miss Alexandria Price will be staying with us for the next two weeks, so please make her feel welcome."

Allexia smiled at the professors closest to her. Minerva sat on the other side of her father, leaving Allexia next to a tiny old wizard.

"Welcome to Hogwarts, Miss Price. I'm Filius Flitwick." The little man seemed very nice.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Professor. I was actually told to tell you hello from someone."

He paused consuming his toast. "Oh? From who?"

"My friend, Elizabeth Brooke. I believe she was in your house."

He squealed excitedly. "I remember Miss Brooke. How is she? I recall her being quite a precocious young witch."

"She lives in LA, not far from where I do. She, um, works in Muggle Relations." Allexia couldn't think of anything better than that. It was a hell of a lot better than professional thief, she surmised.

"I remember Miss Brooke, Filius," Minerva said, joining in their conversation, "and precocious isn't quite the word I would use to describe her. Promiscuous is more like it. I don't remember how many times I caught her in the Gryffindor boy's dorms!"

Allexia couldn't help but laugh out loud and her father smiled at the sound. "That's sounds just like Liz, but she is pretty smart. She knows more about computers than anyone I know." Seeing confounded looks on the teacher's faces, she added, "Computers are muggle contraptions. They are quite complicated."

Allexia couldn't help but notice what a peculiar collection of witches and wizards made up Hogwart's faculty. There would be time after breakfast for more formal introductions. She glanced down the table and came upon the dark haired wizard who was reading the paper and ignoring everyone around him. He was so engrossed in an article that his shoulder length hair hid his face. Only when he looked up to reach for his coffee did she see him clearly. His features were sharp and defined, but his nose was bit on the crooked side, like it had been broken before. His eyes were what held her attention. Two shining obsidian orbs that focused so intently on the coffee cup, she was sure it would shatter. He looked in her direction, feeling her penetrating gaze. She gave him a small smile before returning to her own coffee. A few minutes later, she looked down the table again, only to see the back of his retreating form heading out the door.

**********

"Illumino," he muttered, causing all the candles in his office to burn brightly. They cast eerie shadows on the gray dungeon walls. Snape slammed the copy of the Daily Prophet onto the desk and sat down angrily. The picture that graced the front page showed a small cottage in a secluded glen. It would have been a lovely place to retire if not for the glowing skull floating above it. The mark's presence invaded the serenity of the home like a pestilence. The headline read, 'You-Know-Who Strikes Again!'

Guilt weighed heavily on his conscience. Nothing he could have done would have prevented this from happening, no matter how hard he tried, but it still stung. He had been ostracized from the Dark Lord's inner circle, which made learning any relevant information, in time, impossible. His Death Eater purpose now was to brew dangerous potions and to give false or misleading information about Dumbledore. Snape began reading the article for the fifth time, offhandedly wondering who hired such an inarticulate reporter.

'The Jacobsons were found dead at their summer cottage last night after a neighbor

noticed a mysterious glow emanating from their property. Upon investigation the neighbor,

Lawrence Critcher, 64, was shocked to discover it was, in fact, the dreaded Dark Mark of

He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named shining in the night sky. He immediately contacted the Ministry

and aurors arrived to secure the area. Derek Jacobson, 36, was found in the living room, hung by

his neck from the chandelier. His wife of six years, Margaret Jacobson nee Brooke, 36, was found

facedown in their bedroom. The only visible marks were deep cuts on the palms of her hands.

Aurors deduced she was most likely done in by the Killing Curse. The couple's four-year-old twin

boys were missing from the house, taken, no doubt, for some despicable purpose. A thorough

search of the area revealed no clues as to their whereabouts.'

The kidnapping of the children was what bothered Snape the most. He had heard nothing of that particular part of the plan, only that there would be an attack on the family. Unfortunately the exact time of said attack was not given to him, therefore preventing the Order from stopping the tragic events. He had no idea what the Dark Lord wanted with the twins or what significance the cuts on the mother's palms meant. The professor exhaled slowly, rubbing his temples. As of late he had been questioning his value as a double agent since none of the information he could gather seemed to be of any use to the Order. He was not looking forward to their meeting tonight. At least with Black dead, he thought, there would be no one to point out his failure. He could almost hear him from the beyond. 'Nice going, Snivellus, tell me why you're so important to the Order again?'

He closed his eyes and thought of the woman Dumbledore introduced at breakfast. The headmaster's reaction to her appearance last night caused quite a stir amongst the staff. He'd caught her staring at him and found something familiar in her eyes. In an effort to occupy his mind, Snape decided to re-catalogue his potion stores, not really caring that he'd already done that yesterday.

*******

Shopping in Hogsmeade was a lot different than shopping at the Marketplace and Allexia found that she preferred the less confusing and friendlier little village. Professor McGonagall and Madam Hooch took her into every shop. Allexia managed to find a couple of nice robes, a cloak, and new boots. She especially enjoyed Honeyduke's, where she bought way too much candy including plenty of lemon drops for her father and herself. The women were relaxing at the café before heading back to Hogwarts. Allexia finished off her cappucino then popped open a bag of lemon drops.

"Lemon drop?" she offered to both teachers. Minerva couldn't help but smile at how much she reminded her of Albus, but declined the offer.

"You're just as bad as the headmaster!" cried Hooch, who also declined.

If you only knew the half of it, thought Allexia. They sat out on the terrace and she took a second to watch the various people go by. The one thing she noticed above all else was the amount of aurors, however it looked like most of them were trying to blend in with the villagers. Occasionally an auror on a patrol would walk by, but there were others pretending to be street sweepers, window washers, or sidewalk vendors. The increased security around Hogwarts was understandable, but she had to surpress a giggle at some of them. Allexia prided herself on being able to see through a disguise and sniffing out an undercover cop a mile away. She wondered if her companions knew that their waiter was really an auror incognito.

Minerva watched as Allexia went up to the counter to buy a pastry 'for the road' as she called it. The younger witch was flirting with their waiter, laughing at something he said.

"Do you know anything about her, Minerva?" asked Hooch.

"I know as much as you, Rolanda, Albus hasn't told me anything." She hated lying to her friend, but the headmaster expressly said that only members of the Order were to know of Allexia's true identity and although the flying instructor knew of her relationship with Albus, Minerva would let him decide who outside the Order would know of his daughter.