Detention

[McGonagallsGirl]

There are to be four chapters to this story. I don't own the characters...um... AD/MM in the last chapter, the one I'm still writing (so if you have suggestions...)

Thanks to my Beta, childminerva. Your promptness astounds me.

Here we are, Chapter One.
****

Minerva McGonagall sighed. The tension of the week was going to kill her, she just knew it. Four different students lodging complaints against Dolores Umbridge, as if there was something, anything, Minerva could do to help them. There was a mess in the Hogwarts kitchen on Tuesday, the students almost didn't get to eat. Her classroom caught fire yesterday and, as it was the day she was teaching her second years to transfigure inanimate objects into firewood, almost burned to the ground. She was doing all of the actual work for the Headmistress, the Deputy Headmistress, the Head of Gryffindor, and the Transfigurations Professor.

And Albus Dumbledore hadn't written to her all week, leaving her to wonder whether he was alive or dead.

During weeks like this she wasn't sure which she wished for.

Minerva set aside the neat stack of papers she had just finished grading and set her head in her hands. She had managed to arrange for Harry Potter's current sentence of two weeks detention with Dolores Umbridge to be shifted so that it was three weeks detention with herself. Well, it wasn't as if Harry had Quidditch practice to be disappointed in missing an extra week of. And aside from that, Minerva had a foul suspicion that Dolores was doing more to the boy than having him write lines or beat erasers. She simply couldn't quite put her finger on what.

She remained with her head in her hands, mind shifting back to Albus for another ten minutes at least. She was at the point of begging for any news from him, feeling physically ill with worry, when she heard a tiny knock at the door.

"Professor?" It was Harry Potter.

"Come in, then, Potter."

"Professor, you don't look well."

"Mind your own business, Potter." She answered and it made Harry smile. "Mr. Weasley? What are you doing here?"

"I've come to stand by Harry. I'll not let him be taken alone."

"Mr. Weasley, you have a test tomorrow in my class, you're going to tell me you have nothing better to do with your time tonight than to sit here and suffer a detention you didn't earn?"

"Harry didn't earn this one either, Professor." Ronald Weasley said, trying to look as if he had courage.

"Goodbye, Weasley."

Ron sighed. "Right then. Bye, Professor McGonagall." And with a shrug and the satisfaction that he had at least tried, Ron Weasley left to return to the Gryffindor common room.

"Professor, I --"

"Sit down, Potter."

Harry looked a bit like a guppy as he closed his mouth and moved to his usual desk in the Transfigurations classroom.

Harry tried again, "Professor, it's Umbridge, she's--"

"First of all, and I want you to listen carefully, it's 'Professor Umbridge'. If she feels we aren't showing her proper respect then the educational decrees will only get worse."

"But isn't that giving in?" Harry asked, seemingly scandalized that his Head of House, who had virtually been running the resistance for the adults of Hogwarts, would even suggest such a thing.

"Stop interrupting me, Potter." She said, as if she were swatting at a rather annoying fly. "It is not 'giving in'. It's holding out. I have a duty to protect the children in this school. And, like it or not, you do too. Your fame has given you a power and an influence over the other students that you couldn't possibly understand that you have."

"I don't want it."

"Did I ask you? Of course not. And if you don't stop interrupting me I'm going to make you write lines."

Harry sighed, but held his tongue. He had developed a particular dislike of writing lines in his time with Umbridge.

"As I was saying, we both have a duty to protect the children, some of whom are hardly eleven years old, and the oldest of whom may barely scrape eighteen. If we can do anything to stave off the wrath of the misguided Ministry of Magic, and really Dolores Umbridge, then we haven't got a choice. We must." Professor McGonagall inhaled deeply through her rather sharp nose. "And so, first of all, it's 'Professor Umbridge'. Questions?"

Harry nodded. "Where's Dumbledore?"

"Professor Dumbledore."

"Where's Professor Dumbledore?"

"I don't know."

"Of course you do, you're his deputy."

"Obviously my loyalties lie with him, and only him. But, may I remind you, that it is Professor Umbridge who is the current Headmistress. Thence, technically, I'm her deputy."

"Don't change the subject."

McGonagall cleared her throat and Harry realized his tone had been entirely too sharp, he realized she was trying to help him, but more starkly, he realized he was crossing a witch he really shouldn't be crossing.

"Potter, I've not heard from the Headmaster in over a week. And he hasn't told me of his whereabouts. He feels it is in the best interest of everyone, and safer for me, if I don't know."

"I'd imagine you gave him an ear-full for that."

McGonagall lifted an eyebrow and, after giving him a look, replied, "As a matter of fact, I did."

At that moment an owl started to peck at McGonagall's window. It was dark out and she squinted for a moment before rising and muttering something like "Chiltion".

"Chiltion?" inquired Harry.

"Aberforth Dumbledore's bird."

"Professor Dumbledore's brother?"

"Who else?" she replied, short of patience, as she let the bird in and took the scroll from it's leg. As soon as she had the scroll the bird took off for the owlery. It was clearly not it's first time at Hogwarts.

McGonagall opened the letter and read it several times, possibly growing misty eyed at a certain point, although Harry strongly suspected that that had been a trick of light. McGonagall didn't seem the type to grow misty eyed. Finally she shut the letter in the drawer of her desk.Then she paused for a moment, wrestling with herself, and finally took it back out of her desk and set it aflame with her wand.

Her voice sounded hoarse when she continued, after it had burned up. "Professor Dumbledore says hello."

"You burned it?!" Harry demanded, surprised at the anger within himself.

McGonagall walked quickly over to him. She was, indeed, quite tall. Especially as he was sitting.

"Anyone could find it and anyone could read it, and of course, by 'anyone' I mean Dolores Umbridge. I know exactly what that letter said, I've learned it by heart. So you needn't worry about the information getting lost. Calm yourself."

Harry nodded, realizing that McGonagall was indeed, a very smart witch, if not a bit scary. And he was only fifteen and, perhaps, may not quite know everything yet.

[MinnieQuill]

Continue ASAP please!!!! I'll update 'Don't Need the Sunshine' faster....
all right I probably can't do that but pretty please!!!!

[EloquentPhoenix]

Wow, it's really different and new. Different to what I usually read, and I like it because although it's ADMM it has more than that. I can't wait for an update

All of the 3 characters were so in-character, and it gives so much to your story. You capture them all really well, there isn't a single bit that's unbelievable or doesn't seem right. I'm especially fond of the burning of the letter, and Minerva's internal battle.

Absolutely wonderful.

[childminerva]

You a very welcome, the story looks great. Email me when you have the next chapter and I'll try to check it as soon as I get it. I don't want to keep your adoring readers waiting!

[pinkie]

Oh my this is exciting!!! I cn't wait for an update - even though my internet is off for the coming three weeks...

[expectopatronum08]

This is so lovely. You wrote all of the characters *very* well and I'm impressed with the plot. I can't wait for more!

[McGonagallsGirl]

I've sent off the next chapter to my beta, it'll be up tomorrow

Happy last night of Hannukah!

[childminerva]

I just checked it...and it will be up as soon as McgonagallsGirl gets it!!!
Fear not sweet readers, you will have the second chapter soon!

[McGonagallsGirl]

Hey all. Happy Holidays. Here's Chapter Two.
Or (as I like to call it) ' In which: The readers lose all faith in me'.

Thanks, this round, goes to Kaylee, for spelling corrections and being my mistress. And, of course, my delightful beta, childminerva.

Far too many commas in that last sentence for my taste.

***

The next night Harry found a note on the door of Professor McGonagall's room that instructed him to meet her at the top of the Astronomy tower. Ron walked with him, still intent on sharing the burden of the detentions. When they got there they found Professor McGonagall staring up at the sky, pulling a tartan blanket around her shoulders tightly.

"Professor, are you cold?" Harry asked.

"Potter, welcome to detention. Weasley? Have a pleasant evening."

"Please, Professor! You have to let me...take some of the detentions from Harry. We'll share them. I'll take even days, he'll take odd." Ron begged.

"Weasley, you scored a 90 percent on your exam today. Perhaps you'll want to write your mother?"

"I did?!" Ron exclaimed.

"It's the best I've seen you perform all year."

Ron grinned and took off down the Astronomy tower's stairs, "Thanks, Professor!" he called behind him.

Harry caught a hint of a smile on Professor McGonagall's lips before she turned back to the sky. "Potter, look up at the stars."

Harry rolled his eyes upward. "Professor, I take Astronomy, I know--"

"You know? Then tell me. Tell me what I was going to say."

Harry swallowed, catching his mistake. "No chance it had anything to do with Jupiter?"

"None at all."

"I see. Well...in that case, you were going to tell me to stop interrupting you."

She remained quiet for a few moments before continuing. "Harry, I need you to stop assuming that no matter what you do, or how you react in a situation, things will always work out for the best. Believe it or not, they don't."

Harry frowned. "I don't. I mean, I don't assume anything."

"Of course you do. If you didn't then you would be far more careful about your behavior."

"Professor Umbridge--"

"I don't care. I really don't. ...As the Wizarding world is becoming increasingly ...uninformed, those of us who know better have to know better." She was looking at him with a great amount of intensity. It made him fairly uncomfortable, but he felt compelled to look into her eyes. Alight with intensity, her eyes were rather spectacular.

"So I ought to control my temper?"

"That's part of it. You also need to pay attention to what you say. Be careful not to reveal anything. And be careful of how you word things. If Dolores thinks you're being smart with her she won't hesitate to make my life hell. Pay attention, Potter. And know better."

Harry nodded and looked at her curiously as she shivered again. It wasn't that cold out. Harry wondered what was wrong with her, but decided against asking the matter. It didn't seem wise at the time.

After a few minutes of silence he heard the Professor take a sudden breath. "Harry...Potter, you take for granted that we will win this war. We might not. Nothing says 'Good must triumph over Evil'...not in our world. Where, in the stars, is it written that Hogwarts will always remain?" She seemed to genuinely be asking as she turned her gaze upward, towards the sky, searching. "I brought you here to demonstrate, because from here you can see the entire grounds of Hogwarts. Those of us who can, must be faithful guardians of the school. Because I've looked, Potter. The stars say nothing."

Harry nodded. There were times when Professor McGonagall certainly could sound like Dumbledore.

[childminerva]

yay! very good chapter, I like how Harry compares her to Dumbledore and the way she treated Ron was very amusing.
I didn't say much in my email...but I do really like this chapter!

[McGonagallsGirl]

*chuckles* 'Come to the Dark Side, we're sparkly!'

[childminerva]

mcgonagallsgirl said:

*chuckles* 'Come to the Dark Side, we're sparkly!'

hehe, you betcha! I'm going through Slytherin withdrawl right now as I just switched houses on another site; I just had to put up my Slytherin avvies.

[MinnieQuill]

And then? You must continue! I am hooked!

[EloquentPhoenix]

Well I haven't lost faith in you, this is wonderful again. Quite a harsh snap to reality too. What if they do... lose?

Update soon.

[expectopatronum08]

childminerva, I just love your avatars.

This chapter was great...I haven't lost faith in you yet. I really like how Harry compares her to Dumbledore...that was a very nice image.

Wonderful!

[McGonagallsGirl]

Here's Chapter Three (In which: I forget where exactly I'm going with all of this). And, Excellent news, I've just finished Chapter Four. My hope is to have it up before the new year.

Thanks to my beta, Childminerva. Facebook buddies for life.

A note here, just for your information (but mostly minniequill). I miss 'Don't need the Sunshine'. I really do.
****


When Harry and Ron reported for detention on the third day he found Professor McGonagall standing by her desk, gathering up her papers as if she were leaving.

"Professor?"

"We're going to my rooms tonight."

"Why?"

"For your detention, Potter. Why else?"

"Professor, I had a thought today in Potions." Ron said.

"Did you really? Your marks in that class would suggest otherwise."

"Hear me out. I made a chart, and if you'll look, you'll see it's actually very economical for you to strike these detentions. See, by the end of these three weeks of detentions, that's 21 straight days--"

"Weasley, I admire your unyielding effort. 5 points to Gryffindor." McGonagall said, eyes sparkling, although her face remained stoic.

"...I...wait, what? ...Thank you, Professor!" Ron exclaimed. He then exited the room without even having to be asked. Harry thought, perhaps, he had forgotten his task in his glee.

Harry turned his attention back to his Professor, who had just finished clearing the chalk board. "Professor? What's my lesson tonight?"

"If I told you that, we would be profoundly bored for the next two hours." McGonagall said, turning to him and taking off towards the front of the room with the papers she had gathered in her arms.

Harry followed her through the halls until they wound their way around to her portrait at last.

It was a large portrait of a beautiful Scottish landscape. Harry must have past it millions of times in his jouney's around the castle, never knowing it was hers. The frame of the portrait stretched all the way to the floor and the antique finish on it seemed to absorb the light around it and, rather than reflect the light back, hold the light within and glow.

"Savoir Faire" she said as her password. The portrait swung open, acting as much as a regular door would. She stepped through and Harry followed, suddenly finding himself in a spacious sitting room as the portrait swung closed behind him. It had a fireplace in the wall to his left. There were two extremely comfortable looking chairs, near the fire, facing inward towards a small round table. Beyond that there was a door which Harry assumed lead to the bed and bathroom.

"Take a seat, Potter." The Professor said as she moved towards the window on the other side of the room. There was a desk just below the window sill and she set her papers on it. Then she moved over to the right of the portrait opening, to a small closet and took off the outer, emerald layer to her robes. She hung it in the closet and as she did so Harry had to notice that she was an extremely slender woman, much more so than he had assumed. Of course, he had never really assumed.

However, what surprised Harry the most was next, when she took the pins out of her hair and set them on a stand to the right of her closet. Her black hair fell to just below her shoulder blades and it shone in the firelight.

At last the Professor sat in the chair opposite Harry's. He noticed that she seemed pale, or perhaps it was just the firelight.

And the shadows under her eyes may not have been caused from exhaustion. It was very likely that they were shadows cast by the fire, for, after all, Harry hadn't noticed them before they entered her rooms.

But Harry had a feeling it wasn't the firelight.

"Potter, have you ever played Wizard's Chess?" she asked.

"Oh, yeah, Ron's been teaching me since my first year."

McGonagall nodded. "Well, then I'm afraid you have five years on me. I've never played. But, you know, Albus...Professor Dumbledore, has always wanted me to learn. I read a book on it, I think I've got the gist. Would you care to play me?"

Harry blinked. "This is still detention, right?"

McGongall sighed, annoyed, "If you'd rather clean trophies I can--"

"No, no! It's fine. I'd be happy to play you, Professor."

McGonagall smiled slightly. "Good...now...where did I put that chess set Albus gave me?" She was up and looking around the room the next moment. "That's funny, I don't usually lose things...I'm fairly organized..."

"Professor, why don't you just summon the set?"

McGonagall looked up at him, surprised. "Why, yes of course. I should have thought of that. Accio chess set." and the set came flying to her, she didn't even need her wand.

The wandless magic impressed Harry, and he quickly started helping her set up the board on the small table between them. She put some of the pieces in the wrong places and got yelled at by a bishop and a knight. Harry had to laugh at this.

Finally they started playing. Harry was thrilled, he needed a good win. And this is one he could really gloat about in front of Ron, who would be furious, of course.

And, of course, It was no more than fifteen minutes later when McGonagall called 'check-mate'. Harry had never been beaten so badly, so ruthlessly, in his life. Even Ron went easy on him.

"I thought you said...you didn't know how to play, Professor."

The Professor snorted. "Of course I know how to play. Don't you remember what I did to protect the Sorceror's Stone?"

Harry thought back. "You transfigured a...giant chess set...of course. I can't believe I forgot."

"But you felt so good going into that match, didn't you? I'll bet you thought you couldn't fail." Harry nodded solemnly, and she continued, "Harry, you mustn't assume that the enemy you are fighting is stupid. Evil is never stupid, not true evil. Grindlewald was a genius. And I remember Tom Riddle...his knowledge and his seeming omnipresence were enough to make anyone quiver, even back then. It will be your biggest mistake, and your last, if you assume that evil is stupid. Not even Dolores Umbridge is stupid...not even she."

Harry nodded, soaking in what he could of this odd moment. It was Professor McGonagall, but her hair was down...her eyes were intense again, and it was as if she wasn't trying to be his professor at all. At that moment, it was as if she were trying to mother him.

He smiled a bit and looked up at her, she was gazing into the fire. The smile fell off of his face when he realized she was trembling.


***

Savoir Faire, you ask? It is the French equivalent of the English phrase 'Know How'. I thought it appropriate as Minerva is giving Harry so many lessons to live by.

Also, I know the default term in Fanfic seems to be 'Philosopher's Stone' but, in this case, I wanted to go a bit with the films and call it 'Sorceror's'. I beg all of Europe's forgiveness.

[StormAngel]

yy!! nice update!!

[MinnieQuill]

I used that phrase in 'Here Where I Stand at the turning of the Years' - nearly died when I saw it here. As for 'Don't Need the Sunshine'...it's now 4000 words but I don't like it. Therefore I will be tweaking it somewhat. lol
Update soon!

[childminerva]

another great chapter...yes I've already read it, but I never say much about the good stuff in my emails
The scottish landscape was wonderful, btw
cheers.
childminerva

[Apocalypticat]

*Applauds*

I can't quite put into words what I want to say about this fic. Does it sound silly to say that the words are just the outer surface, bobbing on a river of emotion. I adore how Minerva is teaching Harry, and the times when she seems so intense. Update!

[EloquentPhoenix]

Wonderful again, and the trembling certainly curious. I like the password very much, also.

[McGonagallsGirl]

Chapter the last ( In which: I remember where I was going with all of this and go there).

I'm thinking of doing this entire fic over, from the percpective of Minerva. What do you think? Would there be any interest in it?

Thanks to Childminerva, Look at what we've done! And thanks to everyone who has reviewed. Life is fun with reviews.

*****

It had been a lazy Sunday and Harry was sorry it was time for detention. He wasn't quite ready to stop enjoying time with his friends. But as he and Ron made their way to the fourth day of detention, he knew he could have had it a lot worse. In fact, he knew he would have it a lot worse, because as soon as his batch of detentions with McGonagall was over he'd most definitely receive a new batch with Umbridge. Professor Umbridge.

"What now?" asked Ron, bitterly. "Is she going to take you shopping for sweets today?". He was a bit upset about his missed chance to play the Professor in Wizard's Chess.

Harry shrugged with a smile and walked into the Transfigurations classroom. Professor McGonagall was sitting in a chair near the front of the room, and she had transfigured a fireplace that she appeared to be warming herself by.

"Mr. Weasley, not today. I'm sorry you haven't had the incredible good fortune of getting a detention with me. But don't give up, I'm certain it'll happen for you one day, too."

Ron nodded, still sullen. Then he said, "I feel cheated! I could've taken you in Wizard's Chess! I could have at least challenged you. Instead you chose Scar-Face here who wouldn't have half a wit to save his life."

"Hey!" Harry exclaimed.

"Yeah, okay. That was little out of line. Sorry, mate." And then he left, head hung low.

"Poor Ron..." Harry smiled. He had been torturing him all day with tales of the chess match.

"Close the door, Potter." She sounded serious. He closed it behind him solemnly. He moved into the room and she placed a serious sounding locking charm on the door behind him. "I received a letter today from Professor Dumbledore. He's going to Floo into my classroom in a few minutes. I considered canceling your detention session, but Albus suggested it would be better if we could all meet together. He wants to discuss something with you."

"Professor Dumbledore's coming here? Is that...safe?"

"No."

"Oh."

"I told him not to do it, but apparently Madame Pomfrey had a few words with him and now he simply won't listen to reason."

"...Madame Pomfrey?"

"I ask you to hold the bulk of your questions until after Professor Dumbledore leaves, Potter." She said, changing the subject. "He won't be here for long, and chances are I can answer them later, once he's gone. We'll want to make good use of our time with him."

"Yes, Professor. ...Professor, do you know what he wants to talk to me about?"

"If I did, I certainly would have told you." Professor McGonagall said, as if Harry had just asked the dumbest question she'd ever heard.

He pulled up a chair and they sat together, waiting for Dumbledore to arrive. Harry noticed that she looked older with her hair up. Witches live longer than muggles...she had no business looking as old as she did, Harry decided. But perhaps that was part of the racket. The older she looked, the less likely she was to be perceived as a threat to Voldemort.

After about ten minutes of silence and anticipation, the flames roared green and Professor Dumbledore stepped out of the fire. "Harry! Minerva! Excellent to see both of you."

Harry was shocked. He felt as if he were seeing a ghost. "Professor Dumbledore..."

Professor McGonagall, for her part, had paled considerably. "Albus..." she managed.

"Ah, Minerva. I see what Poppy said is true. You've not been well."

This snapped her out of it. Harry noticed a distinct flush return to her cheeks as she said, "I've been perfectly fine, thank you very much."

"You've not been eating."

"I've been busy. It's not easy doing your job on top of my jobs." She defended herself.

Dumbledore smiled at her, fondly. "I've come to collect some of the work and take a bit of the load off of you."

McGonagall inwardly sighed and tilted her head slightly to the left. "You can't Albus. You aren't the Headmaster any longer. These papers require either Dolores' signature or mine."

Dumbledore nodded. "I see. But surely there's something I can do." McGonagall glanced at Harry and then shifted her gaze to the floor. Dumbledore then turned his attention to Harry.

"How have you been, my boy?"

"Fine, sir. But...is there a reason you wanted me here?"

"Straight to the point? Impressive. All right then, I was wondering if you would do me a favor. You see, while I've been gone Professor McGonagall has been a tremendous aide in keeping me up to date on Hogwarts happenings...but as you can tell, she's stretched a bit thin right now." Professor McGonagall glared, but she did look more than a bit faint. " So do you suppose you could work with her? The two of you can write me once a week with current information I may need to know. This way Professor McGonagall can focus more of her energies on keeping this old school glued together."

"Of course, but...Professor...How will I know what I should report to you about?"

"Minerva will know."

Harry nodded, realizing that was probably one of the questions he should have held for Professor McGonagall. "Is that all, sir?"

"Well, really Harry I just wanted to check on the two of you with my own eyes. I've heard things from reports I've been getting and it sounds like Dolores Umbridge is giving the both of you an unbelievably difficult time."

Professor McGonagall cleared her throat and said, "Potter, would you wait in my office please?" Harry nodded and walked into the tiny office connected to her classroom. She didn't use it for much, as her desk was out in the actual classroom. Harry found a chair and listened very carefully, peaking through a crack in the door.

"You wanted to check on us?!" McGonagall was angry. "You wanted to bloody see us with your own eyes?!"

"Minerva..." Professor Dumbledore was speaking in hushed tones, even as McGonagall raised her voice.

"I don't want to hear it, Albus. You act as if you're completely helpless out there. Are you or are you not Albus Dumbledore?!" she demanded, rising from her chair so as to be eye-level with Professor Dumbledore.

"I am, of course, but--"

"No buts! You stopped writing to me! You abandoned me!"

Professor Dumbledore's eyes widened. "Is that what you think?" he asked, sounding distant.

"You have no idea what it's like. She's literally out to get me, she's out to get all of us! And in my desperate, and failing, attempts to protect the students I always forget to protect myself, and of course, that's what you're supposed to be for! But you aren't here! And I keep forgetting that simple fact and so I wake up every morning disappointed, I pass through the day taking as many bullets as I physically can manage for these children, and I end the day just like I started it. Disappointed. Because you aren't...there...waiting for me..."

Harry's jaw dropped to the ground.

"Listen to me, Dumbledore, I don't know what it is that you do out there all day, but it's nothing like this. There is nothing like this. I thought battling Grindlewald was bad. I thought...The Depression, World War II...I watched people die and had a better time than I'm having here."

Professor Dumbledore looked at her sadly and took a step foreword. He wrapped her in the tenderest sort of hug Harry had ever seen. McGonagall halfheartedly hit her harms against his chest a few times and then sighed, relaxing her entire posture. It was the only time Harry would ever see her give up.

Harry couldn't hear what they said next. They were whispering back and forth, McGonagall not bothering to remove herself from Dumbledore's arms. After a minute of this exchange, Dumbledore pulled back from her a bit to look at her, and then he turned to the office, where Harry was sitting.

"Harry, You can stop spying now. Come on out and join us."

Dumbledore had known...but McGonagall clearly hadn't. She jumped back out of his arms, face flushing, and quickly started smoothing invisible wrinkles in her robes.

Harry emerged, looking ashamed. Dumbledore turned to McGonagall with a small smile. "Minerva, it's all right. Harry is allowed to see you as a person, and not just as a formidable professor." But she still wouldn't look at either of them.

Dumbledore took McGonagall's hand and pulled her over to the chair that Harry had waited for him to arrive in. He sat down and rubbed her hand a bit with his thumb. "Harry, take a seat." He said, finally. Harry did as he was told, taking the seat McGonagall had vacated.

"I want you to understand something." Dumbledore began. "I have fought dark wizards for most of my life. It's exhausting, if I may say so. It feels quite a bit as if, no matter what I do, they keep coming back. What my entire life's work boils down to is trying to weed incessant evil out of a beautiful garden of good. But it is tiresome. And it often feels like an unbroken, incredibly deadly cycle. And incredibly dangerous. Often I ask myself why I fight at all. Why I ever fought. Why I'm still fighting, at over a hundred years old. Do you know, Harry? Do you know why I fight, and the one true secret to my success?"

Harry blinked. "...No...sir..."

Dumbledore nodded. "Love, Harry. I fight to protect those I love. And to give the one I love a better world in which to live. Because there's nothing I wouldn't give her if I could."

McGonagall sat on the arm of Dumbledore's chair, lacing her fingers through his. Harry's mind was screaming. A million different ways of expressing shock raced through his head, but only one tumbled out of his mouth.

"Bloody Hell!"

McGonagall looked at him very carefully. "Potter...there is something that Professor Dumbledore and I wish to reveal to you. Knowledge that, if history is correct, will prove to be invaluable in your struggle with...the Dark Lord."

"Now, surely you can use his name, Minerva--"

"You know perfectly well why I don't--"

"Yes, but that was years ago--"

"Not so many years--"

"Fear of a name only increases fear of--"

"Albus, we're not having this discussion again, and certainly not here..."

Harry cleared his throat. They certainly bickered like a couple.

McGonagall returned her attention to him. "Potter...We fight for each other...and, often, we fight for the students at this school, who are as good as family to us. We've always thought of them as our children. In short, Love is what keeps us going in the darkest depths of war. I can't imagine your motivation would be the same...You've been shown so few examples of love in your short lifetime." She turned her gaze to Dumbledore and very nearly glared at him. He pretended, unsuccessfully, not to notice.

Dumbledore then said, "Harry, why do you fight?"

Harry thought for a while, unsure. Then he remembered the Sorcerer's Stone. "My parents ... they died protecting me. ...And Cedric, he died too. I think I'd like revenge--"

"An excellent guess, but not nearly powerful enough to be the force that has gotten you through the things you have suffered." Dumbledore said, eyes twinkling.

Harry furrowed his brow. "Shouldn't I be the one to say what I'm fighting for?"

"No." Professor McGonagall said.

Harry sighed, frustrated, and started thinking again. After several minutes he looked up at the pair of Professors sitting across from him.

"My Friends. I fight for my friends. To keep them from getting killed...or...something..."

"Something?" McGonagall asked.

"Yeah. If Voldemort were to win...to defeat me...they wouldn't last a day. Friends of Harry Potter? He'd kill them in a heartbeat. Or worse."

"Your friends are the closest to family that you've ever come, is that not so, Potter?" McGonagall asked, pointing another look at Dumbledore.

Harry thought of the Dursleys and dismissed them immediately. "That's true..."

Dumbledore nodded. "Alas, Love of a softer sort. You're very perceptive, Harry. ...You need only give things a closer look." He said mysteriously.

After a moment of that phrase hanging in the air, McGonagall rose and removed her hand from Dumbledore's.

"That's all for tonight, Potter. You may return to the common room."

Harry stood and started to leave. "And remember." She added, causing him to turn back and look at his Professors. This time he noticed a golden band on both of his Professor's ring fingers. He blinked and turned back toward the exit.

As he left he considered telling Ron and Hermione of what he had just learned.

But something told him he shouldn't.
****

Minerva turned to Albus once the boy had gone. "Do you think he'll tell? It could be disastrous."

"I trust him, Minerva. He knows better."

She nodded curtly and moved to the seat Harry had occupied when he left. She and Albus looked at each other for several long moments.

"You need to eat, my dear."

"I know. I simply don't."

"But you will now?"

"I suppose so. ...Yes."

Albus nodded. "And how am I to get you to sleep more often? Poppy tells me it's been days."

"These detentions with Potter take up time I need to be spending doing paperwork. And so the paperwork gets moved into whatever time I would usually use for sleeping. ...But, Albus, I couldn't...he's just a boy. He can only take so much of Dolores trying to break him."

Albus appeared slightly angry. "And how much can you take with no food and no sleep?"

She gave him a withered look. "There's nothing to be done, Albus. There simply aren't enough hours in the day. And time-turners are so much more exhausting than just staying up late to finish my work."

"Poppy says you've contracted a virus. Which means she has no medication for you, and so you ought to be in bed resting. And indeed, any lesser witch would be in a right state of catatonia...but instead, you..."

"Man the fort. I'm not as ill as that, Albus. I'm really not."

Albus stood, readying himself to leave. Minerva stood, too, but perhaps a bit too quickly, as the room began to spin.

He took her in his arms and kissed her forehead, dismayed at the extreme fever that burned his lips.

"Minerva, you are my voice at Hogwarts right now. I need you to be well. But, more importantly, you are my wife. And I will not stop worrying myself about you until you are well."

She looked at him, distantly. "Don't be a hypocrite, Albus. Not to me. Here I have worried myself sick about you... and if you had truly been so concerned, you'd have written more often, and I wouldn't have been in the state I was in to allow myself to get so sick."

Albus shook his head. "You know. You understand already. That's the fever talking. Or the hunger. Or the exhaustion."

He saw tears in her eyes. "I know...I'm just so tired...Albus, I'm so...tired..."

Albus kissed her softly on the lips. "I'll pull some strings, your paperwork will go down. And give me all of your ungraded documents. I'm going to grade them. There's no need to even attempt them, just start owling them directly to me..."

She nodded, gratefully. She didn't even put up a fight as she summoned all of the ungraded papers on her desk and gave them to him.

"I'll write you soon." He promised.

"I'll believe that when I see it." She said.

Then he stepped into the fire, and like that, he was gone.


****

[expectopatronum08]

Oh my goodness. That was just...brilliant. It was good, raw emotion and...wow.

I am very impressed. I love how you interpreted this time in their lives--the way Min was angry with Albus, the way she treated Harry, all of it.

Brilliant work. And I would love another version of this fic from Min's perspective.

[childminerva]

hehe...you want to know something ridiculous? For some reason (possibly the fact that I am crazy) I thought that this was supposed to be in the Drama section. So even though you had pm'ed me and said it was up, I didn't think you had posted it because I didn't see anything new in the Drama section...I need to sleep more, or just hit myself-I think I'm losing my mind.

Anyway...the fic is brilliant and the final chapter looks great. Thanks for letting me be a part of your writing process! I think another fic from Minerva's perspective would be great.
My favorite line (or one of them anyway) from this chapter ---They certainly bickered like a couple. ;D
Great work, I love this fic!

[EloquentPhoenix]

Wow. Oh I said wow after one of the other chapters too. The chapters are always so striking, though, so full of emotion and meaning. And you write them so well, you write Albus and Min so well together. I loved their little tiff over saying Voldemort's name. I love the realism you portray in their relationship, it's not all smiles and roses, it's a proper relationship. And that's from a romanitc at heart that lives for pointless fluff I'd like to know what they were whispering. And if he doesn't write soon I will personally kill him

[beMMADfabulous]

Wow, that was great! Very original, very in character! ;D

[EloquentPhoenix]

I'm so stupid, I skipped the note at the top in order to read the story quicker. now that I've read it yes please do write it from Minerva's POV. Sorry to see this end, so I'd like to see it from her eyes.

[McGonagallsGirl]

ok, so the consensus seems to be 'yes' on a new version of this story.

I'll be able to start work on it sometime this month, but it probably won't be shipped to beta until February because that's when my contract expires and I'll once again have free time in between auditions. Yay, free time.

Thanks for your patience, and for reviewing!

[Drake]

That was AMAZING!!!

*bows in awe of your mad skillz*

[McGonagallsGirl]

"but it probably won't be shipped to beta until February"

...oops. I swear I didn't forget, I just got started on a new play.

But it's looking like we'll be cancelled in the next couple of weeks (personally, I'm okay with that. This show...not my favorite).

And if/when that happens, I swear swear super swear I'll be back in action.

cross my heart.

sry.