"How?" Lily questioned. "How will you do this?"
"You know, Lily," Minerva said, ignoring the question that Lily had asked. "For you, the problem that I described is not the greatest worry you will face once you leave Hogwarts."
"By doing what you did and I know that you did the right thing," she continued, "you have painted a target on your back."
She was referring to the complaint which Lily had filed against the Slytherins on the basis of which they had been punished with suspension.
"And they would have tried to target me too for I was the one who delivered the judgement on their punishment but since they lack the strength to face me, you will be their sole target. You are alone. You have no political connections. And once you leave Hogwarts, you will be unprotected and vulnerable," Minerva said. "And these people… they can hold a grudge for a long long time."
"I know it is a hard thing to swallow, but you have put yourself in danger," Minerva continued. "I know that you had no fault to begin with and it was Lord Olario's praise for you when he did not even know made you the target of egoistic pure-bloods and everything unfolded. But such is life. It is hardly fair for someone."
"And I do not need to explain it in great detail, as you yourself know how you were targeted specifically and with the intent to be killed. You understand it. You know it. You are in grave danger."
Lily nodded, nervousness creeping over her face. Antonio had talked about these things when he had come to meet her. Since then, whenever she thought about the attack, she would shudder, not only at the trauma of what had happened to her but also at the possibility that she might be targeted again. It was not something that she could overcome easily. She had been trying to suppress that feeling wanting to live in the present but now that Professor McGonagall had put everything so straight forward, it all had come back flooding in her mind. The fear, the anxiety, the nervousness.
"Where are you going with this, Professor?" Lily questioned, her tone hesitant and a bit anxious.
"How are you going to protect me?" she pressed firmly.
"Lily," Minerva replied. "I have been teaching at Hogwarts for decades. I have seen numerous students. I have seen my fair share of geniuses, brilliant minds, and even people who could be said to be blessed by magic itself. People who later became one of the most known figures in Wizarding Britain."
"And you," she said, her voice oozing with confidence. "You stand equal to those top minds, if not better than them."
"Me?" Lily questioned in a tone of disbelief, pointing a finger toward herself.
"Yes, you," Minerva said with a chuckle. "Do not underestimate yourself. You have no idea what you are truly capable of."
"You have no access to the vast resources of knowledge that most pure-bloods do. You have no access to anything apart from what you can learn at Hogwarts. And here, we hardly teach anything that could be considered advanced magic, the kind of magic you can use to fight a war."
"In fact, during the months-long summer vacation when every pure-blood is practicing magic with the help of their family members, you are not even allowed to use your wand. And yet, no one is able to even stand equal to you. You are a true genius. A brilliant Witch."
"We can only imagine what you could do with resources like that," she continued. "If you had a teacher to guide you."
"You will become strong enough to defend yourself when you finally leave Hogwarts," she added. "Your power would grow so immense that the mere mention of your name would strike terror into the hearts of the Death Eaters."
Lily's face brightened at this. Who did not like to hear their praise, especially if it comes from a person whom you idealise a lot.
"Professor," she almost beamed. "Are you saying that you will teach me extra magic?"
Minerva shook her head, and Lily's face fell. "But you just said, a teacher to guide me..."
"Yes," Minerva nodded. "But I did not say that I would be that teacher."
"Who then?" Lily questioned with a frown. She could not think of anyone apart from Professor McGonagall who would actually be interested in teaching her. Sure, she enjoyed a great relationship with Professor Flitwick, but she doubted he would be willing. If she had been in Ravenclaw, his house, it might have seemed possible.
Minerva smiled mysteriously.
"There is someone," she said. "Someone very brilliant and powerful. And I hate to admit it, but that person might be more powerful than me."
"More powerful than you?" Lily mumbled. There was only one name Lily could think of who was more powerful than Minerva.
"Headmaster Dumbledore?" she muttered in shock.
Minerva burst out laughing. "Of course not," she said. "I mean, he is certainly more powerful than me, there is no 'might be' about it, but he is not the one. With this person, it is hard to say who would win if we fought seriously."
"Now," Minerva said, standing up from her chair and cutting off whatever Lily was about to say.
"Follow me. You are about to meet them. Today is your first class," she said to a stunned Lily, who shook her head to clear her stupor and followed quickly behind Minerva.
A bewildered Lily followed behind Minerva outside the Hogwarts wards before Minerva took hold of her hand.
"Prepare yourself," Minerva said. "Your stomach might churn."
Lily, who had never experienced Apparition, did not know what was about to happen when she felt the surroundings next to her blurring, her head feeling lighter, and finally, exactly what Professor McGonagall had warned, her stomach churning violently. Before she knew it, she was almost kneeling on the ground, and it looked as if she might vomit.
"It seems that it did not go well," a heavy voice said. It was a voice she thought she recognized, and it snapped Lily out of her discomfort as she craned her neck to look up.
"Lord Olario," she mumbled, as a looming Antonio Olario came into view.
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