Change the Weather

"Albus?" She peered into the headmaster's office without a knock.

"Oh, Minerva, you're here. Take a seat, take a seat." She smiled as he drew a chair for her yet again.

"Thank you. What do you - "

"The Boneses are dead, Minerva."

"What?" she asked quietly, questioning him with her eyes.

"Edgar Bones and his family were killed by Lord Voldemort earlier this evening," Dumbledore explained hollowly. She was too stunned to flinch at the name.

"And his children?" she managed to ask.

He nodded solemnly.

"But they were two of the greatest - "

"I know, Minerva. It is a horrible loss - to the Order and the family. But I have notified his brother and his family; they should be arriving shortly," he informed her, already planning and already pushing aside the hurt to continue. "I thought you might want to know, considering he was a student of yours."

"Yes, and thank you, Albus. And get some sort of rest, you can only handle so much." She tried to smile reassuringly, but he did instead. Without a good-bye, she walked hurriedly out of the headmaster's office without destination or direction.

The deaths were nothing new - she should be used to them by now, they should roll off of her as easily as the shocking news rolled off of Albus. But a student, such a gifted wizard, witch, and their promising family were suddenly gone. The situation wasn't any different from the deaths of the Prewetts, yet she couldn't help feeling the shock of both families' sorrows build up, cracking like the thunder of the storm right outside.

The Great Hall was dark and stormy, grey clouds covering what might have been the pink sky of dawn. Lightning lit the halls ephemerally, leaving gloomy shadows between flashes.

"Good morning, Minerva." She jumped to find Albus behind her. "The weather, it would seem, is quite appropriate for the mood."

"Did you speak to the Boneses already?"

"Yes." He smiled weakly. "But I'm afraid that they wanted to leave as quickly as humanly possible. I can't say I would want to stand in the presence of the man who sent my brother to his death for too long, either."

"Albus! It wasn't - you had no control over it, you have no control over him."

"If I had warned them, maybe I could have stopped him."

She rarely saw him in such a mood of self-doubt, and she never enjoyed it. Yet he always blamed himself for tragedy because it was bigger than him. "If he had his mind set on it, it would have happened eventually. You know this, Albus."

"But if I could end it, if I could defeat him, he would not have the opportunity in the first place." He looked at her sadly, reminiscently of a student who just earned a dreadful exam grade, and she could think of nothing else to say that could possibly reassure him. They stood in silence for a long moment, but when he began to walk out of the Great Hall, there was no need to speak as they walked together through the corridors until they reached her office.

"You should try to rest," he advised her with another small smile.

She raised her eyebrows. "And you. You know, Albus, you can't change the weather. Sometimes you just have to watch the storm."

He nodded. "But I probably could change the weather, Minerva," he told her seriously, though the twinkle returned to his eyes.