Left With More Than a Memory

Away From it All

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Away From it All

Minerva woke at her leisure the next morning and was shocked to see she had slept in until after 11. Enjoying the calmness of her day she took her time getting washed and dressed before heading downstairs for breakfast, or rather lunch at this stage

"She lives!" was the joking greeting she received from her brother when she came into the kitchen. She rolled her eyes with a smile.

"Oh leave her be Mal," Orla scolded, walking over to her sister in law. "What can I get you love? Tea? Coffee? And we have what's left of breakfast or I'm just making some sandwiches for lunch?"

Minerva asked for sandwiches and a cup of tea and Orla set to work. It was another absolutely beautiful day. The sky was clear and the sun beamed down, melting the last of the previous snow.

"Am I last up?" Minerva asked, taking a seat at the table.

"Yes, Louise went down the fields to Tippy and Max"

Tippy and Max were the beloved McGonagall family highland ponies. Orla, a keen equestrian since childhood, had passed the passion on to both her children and it had rubbed off on her husband as well. Max was the old man of the pair and had been with them since Thomas was five years old. Tippy was a relatively new addition to the family, a gift for Louise on her 14th birthday. One of four houses in the area, the McGonagalls had quite bit of land they fenced off behind their house. This was where their two trusty steeds resided. Minerva herself had spent many a happy summer trekking the highlands with her brother or another member of his family.

"I'll tell you what," Orla then said

"I can wrap up some of these and fill a flask so you can take them down the fields to her if you like? The weather is so fine you may as well enjoy it while it lasts"

"Do you know what Orla, I would like that very much" Minerva smiled.

"Have you got enough warm things with you? It's still bloody baltic out there"

"Not as much as I should"

"No bother at all. Malcolm knows where my things are, he can run some of them up to you"

Minerva rose again from the table and went upstairs to wrap up. She soon heard a knock on her door.

"Come in Mal," she called.

Her brother emerged from around the door.

"Right, I've got you a scarf, some gloves, and I brought you my hat because I think it's a bit warmer. Are you set otherwise or would you like something else?"

"I doubt anything else you could offer me would fit me at the moment" his sister chuckled, kneeling on the floor as she pulled her warmer clothing from her case before pushing it back under the bed.

"I reckon I've got enough layers to do me. I have a hat of own so you can keep yours. Give us a hand up would you?"

"I can try," he smirked, putting down the clothing and holding out his hand.

Malcolm had always been the joker of the family. Minerva was the brains, Robert was the maturity, and Malcolm was the fun. He did more to keep the McGonagalls together and going than anyone had ever given him enough credit for. When their mother had died, Minerva was still just a child, it had fallen to him to take care of her. Her father, Robert Senior, was run off his feet. It had been a shock to everyone. She had been killed by injuries sustained in a traffic accident in Glasgow. She was rushed to St. Mungo's but it was quickly determined that nothing could be done. She had died as peacefully as could be managed hours later. Robert lent heavily on his eldest son and the tole that took became quickly evident. Malcolm kept Minerva distracted and smiling, away from the horror of the whole ordeal. She did not know the gravity of it then. But she had held it closely to her heart every day since she had.

Malcolm pulled her up, teasingly groaning loudly as though straining.

"Merlin Min," he jokingly huffed when she was successfully stood up.

"Oh you are charming," she retorted, throwing his hat back at him.

"I do try," he quipped as he left the room.

"Hello old boy," Minerva smiled as she came across Max after about about 10 minutes of walking.

He was grazing peacefully in the field. Seeing her, Max raised his head and Minerva pulled out an apple she'd been given by Orla as a treat for him. She pet his neck gently and remarked to herself his increasingly greying hair. Max's hair had been deep chestnut brown in his youth, but his head was now speckled white.

"You and me both Max, you and me both"

She then heard the low thud of approaching hooves and looked up to find Louise and Tippy cantering toward them. Minerva gave Max a last pet before walking away from him. Louise slowed to meet her.

"I come bearing gifts," Minerva said, holding up the sandwich pack.

"Thank goodness because I am STARVING" her niece replied. "Let me just get Tippy's saddle off"

Minerva walked alongside the two to the barn and sat down on a bench to wait.

"Oh, I almost forgot. Your mother gave me this for Tippy" Minerva remembered, handing her another apple. Louise fed her and Tippy soon wandered off back into the field. Louise came sit next to Minerva and tore into the fresh sandwiches.

"Louise, I'm not sure if you have heard of it but there is this revolutionary action known as chewing." Minerva laughed as the girl quickly moved from her third to her fourth sandwich. "You should try it"

They then just ate a gossiped for a while. After she had had her fill Louise stood back up.

"It makes your soul ache" she said, walking to the barn's entrance and staring out over the rolling highland hills.

"It's as though they can't touch me here"

Minerva put the remaining sandwiches down and got up to stand beside her.

"I do too," she sighed. "I truly don't think I have properly breathed in a long, long while"

Both of them stared into the hills now, lost in their own thoughts. They inhaled the crip air deeply. It was almost as though they called to mind everything that troubled them and expelled it into oblivion with each breath. Many moments of silence passed like this. But then Louise spoke.

"How are you, Min?"

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