Harry...McGonagall?

Summary: What would have happened if Harry had been adopted by his favorite teacher at Hogwarts during his third year? How would his life have been different? Would his oldest allies stay with him? Would he gain new enemies? And how will his new family deal with the chaos that seems to follow him around?

Rating: M, for mature themes, language and lemons in later chapters.

Pairings: [Harry P. Daphne G. Hermione G. Millicent B. Su Li.] Multi, Harem.

Warning: Trigger Warning, Verbal and Physical abuse mentioned.

(0) means notes.

Chapter 1

Welcome to the Family

Harry James Potter was sitting in a small, plain room deep inside the Ministry of Magic. He was tired, he was sore, and he needed a shower. Harry was in trouble, deep trouble, and he could think of no way to get out of it. Sighing he laid his head on the table and pulled the hood of his jacket over his head, if nothing else he hoped to be able to get a nap before his doom was pronounced. Nearly an hour later the door to his room opened and two people walked in, Harry blinked his eyes opened and looked up, nearly choking when he saw who had walked in.

The first was just a nameless, generic ministry wizard in dark robes and a fake smile plastered on his face. It was the second person, however, that caused Harry's moment of panic… Professor Minerva McGonagall, his favorite Professor, as well as the sternest, from Hogwarts

Before the ministry wizard could say anything, Professor McGonagall came around the table and pulled Harry into a tight hug; "Thank Merlin we found you Potter," she said. Harry was stunned; he had never thought that his Professor would ever show this kind of emotion for anyone, let alone him. When the hug ended, she met his eyes; "Now then, Harry, tell me what happened."

Harry sighed, this was when things were going to hit the fan and he knew it.

"I ran away, I couldn't stand it anymore, Professor," he explained; "Always being locked in a room half the size of this, day in and day out, only allowed out to do what the Dursley's didn't want to do. Only being fed cold vegetable soup once a day. And then there's the constant yelling... called things that even Malfoy wouldn't say," he looked down; "And then there was the beatings… sometimes several times a day."

McGonagall stopped him with a raised hand; "Beaten, Potter? What do you mean?"

Harry sighed and took off his jacket and shirt to show McGonagall what his Uncle was doing to him. His body was covered in scars, a lot of them McGonagall noticed were recent, his ribs were misshapen, and she noticed that he had a lot of bruises.

"What in Merlin's name..." both adults breathed.

"Unc... Vernon, he's been beating me since I was a child. Said that he "would beat the freak out of me". When I came back last year, he was furious that I hadn't managed to get myself killed," he sighed; "That's when the beatings started happening more than once a day…"

With every word that came out of Harry's mouth, McGonagall saw red… no, Gryffindor Scarlet. Someone had been hurting one of her Lions, and that simply would not stand! Harry, however, didn't notice this.

"A few weeks ago, Aunt Petunia came into my room. She had a large rucksack and a sleeping bag with her, she told me that Vernon went out to a pub and that now was my chance. She had a large bruise on her cheek and a split lip," he shook his head; "She helped me out the back door and over the fence… she even slipped me a couple of twenty pound notes to help get me to London."

McGonagall growled, literally growled. Not only did this man hurt one of her Lions, but he also beat his wife! That was it; she was going to kill him. The Ministry wizard, guessing where the Professor's thoughts were going, called for an Auror to come into the room. The Auror in question was a tall, bald, dark skinned man who introduced himself as Kingsley Shacklebolt. He pointed his wand at Harry and sifted through his mind, when he was finished he confirmed that what Harry had told them was true.

"Well?" McGonagall asked with a snarl; "What are you going to do about it?"

"Don't worry Professor, in five minutes time there will be an arrest warrant for him," he replied with a smile; "On charges of Child Abuse, Domestic Abuse, Child Endangerment, and Endangerment of Magic. All of which are felony offenses."

Harry caught Shacklebolt's attention; "I won't have to go back, will I?" he asked.

"No," the Auror replied with a shake of his head; "as of this moment you're a ward of the Ministry and will remain that way until we can find you a family to be placed with."

McGonagall shook her head; "I will Adopt Mr. Potter, if that will be acceptable to both the Ministry and Mr. Potter."

"A-are you serious Professor? That you would adopt me?" Harry asked in disbelief.

"Yes Harry, I'm quite sure that I didn't start speaking in Goblin, I did say that I would adopt you," she then gave him one of her rare smiles; "I know that you've never had a real family before and my husband died before I could conceive a child. I have no heirs and you have no parents. I would like for us both to change that, if you would be willing."

Harry smiled and clasped her in a tight hug and did something that he hadn't done since he was five, he cried. He cried in joy, cried in pain, cried in sorrow, cried in rage at the injustice of his parents being murdered, of having to leave the one person who had always done her best to protect him, of his uncle, a person who should have been protecting him, hurting him instead, and he cried in relief that he would never have to go back to that house again. Ever. And all through it, Professor Minerva McGonagall held him, her own eyes filled with tears as she heard the young boy release over twelve years of pain and misery.

Minerva McGonagall watched as Harry slept on the bed she had given him, he had been asleep for more than four hours, having passed out in her arms at the Ministry. The Healers called and informed her that Harry was suffering from extreme malnutrition, and sleep deprivation. She had to promise that she would take him into St. Mungo's when he woke up for treatments to heal his ribs and recent injuries as well as potions to help with the malnutrition. In the meantime, however, it was decided that what his body needed most was sleep.

Minerva sighed, while what she had told Harry was true, she didn't have either a child nor an heir of any kind, she didn't tell him that she had felt like a mother to him since he had come into her classroom two years ago. She hadn't know what Vernon was doing to him, or to Petunia, and now that she found out she felt sick to her stomach about what he had been put through.

Harry woke up a little while later, sitting up he looked around the room with wide green eyes until they landed on Minerva; "Professor-" he began but she held up her hand.

"Please, Harry, when we're in private I want you to call me Minerva, at least. I get enough 'Professor' nine months out of the year," she smiled.

Harry smiled sheepishly and nodded; "I guess you do...Minerva." he looked around: "Where are we?"

"The McGonagall ancestral home in Caithness, Scotland," she replied with a smile

"Scotland? Really?" he asked in surprise

Minerva nodded; "Yes." She looked at him seriously for a moment: "Harry, I...I have bad news."

Harry closed his eyes: "Aunt Petunia's dead, isn't she?"

"Yes, it looks like she had her head bashed in."

Harry sighed, and looked at the floor; "I figured that would happen... Vernon always beat her when I wasn't around or if she tried to intervene."

Minerva sighed, and frowned slightly at this. This twelve, almost thirteen year-old boy shouldn't have to know these things, shouldn't have to be so damn understanding of things like this.

Harry drew in a deep breath after a few minutes; "So, what can you tell me about the McGonagall family? I'm guessing that it's one of the Ancient and Noble houses?"

"Yes, it is Harry. Only a century or two younger then the Potter or Longbottom house's," she explained with a sad smile; "However, until your adoption goes through Harry, I'm the only McGonagall left."

"Until my adoption goes through?"

"Yes, until the adoption has been approved, you will be a ward of the family McGonagall. You won't be forced to go anywhere you don't want, plus you would have the protection of the Ancient and Nobel house of McGonagall," she said then stood; "Come on, we have to get you to St. Mungo's to get you healed up from what happened," she held out a hand to Harry; "We can get something to eat afterwards."

It wasn't until the next day that Minerva and Harry returned from St. Mungo's, they had kept Harry overnight, in a magical induced coma in order to spare him the pain of re-breaking his ribs and then healing them overnight. As they walked in Harry was pale and shaking, while he was spared the pain, his body was still put through the trauma of this. He was also ravenous; they had poured three bottles of healing potions down his throat, most to heal the internal damage that was done, but the remaining potions were to simply increase his appetite and make sure that he could eat.

"Blitz, Coram," Minerva called with a smile; two house elves appeared at once. Both of them were tall for house elves, nearly three feet, and they both wore a tartan sash with the McGonagall colors on them.

"Mistress," they said as the bowed.

"Blitz, Coram, this is Harry Potter," she informed them, still smiling; "He's a ward of the family, and I'm trying to adopt him as my own. Treat any order he gives you as though it came from me," the two elves bowed again.

"Mr. Potter, Sir," they said as they bowed to him. Though both of them were just as eager as Dobby had been, they were certainly more...refined, and didn't allow their eagerness to show though as much.

"Now then, we're both hungry, so if you could please bring two breakfast's to the patio table, it would be most welcome," Minerva asked them. They both smiled and nodded before vanishing with the sound of whip cracks. Minerva led Harry toward the back patio of a large estate house, telling him the history of the McGonagall family, and simply allowing him to take in his new home.

The estate was quite simply the largest place Harry had ever been in other the Hogwarts, the Dursley's house would have fit into it several times over, and that was only on the first two floors of the four floor estate. The panelling was of a dark wood as were the floors from what he could see, the walls were lined with paintings, some of which moved while others were simply still like what Muggles would paint. There were also suits of armor (what was with old places and suits of armor? Harry didn't understand it at all), that were situated at almost every doorway.

When they arrived at the patio, Harry's head was spinning and they ate breakfast in silence, (Harry would never be sure what they ate), Minerva just smiled and let him have his time to think. When he was finished, Minerva smiled: "Now then, I want you to go to bed and then we shall go to Diagon Alley and get you some new clothes."

"Okay Minerva," he replied sleepily.

Harry met up with Ron and Hermione at Diagon Alley, Ron was looking for tonic for his rat Scabbers, and Hermione was looking for a pet of her own. When they both saw Harry they dashed over crying "Harry!" the first thing that Ron did was punching Harry across the jaw, surprising everyone there.

"Why didn't you tell me you great prat?!" Ron said before pulling Harry into a tight hug "Why didn't you ever say a bloody word, two years we've known each other and you never said one bloody word about what was happening to you!"

With each word he squeezed his best mate tighter (1) and said "You know that we would have taken you in in a heartbeat, you never would have gone back to that place, ever."

"That's alright Ron, I won't anyway," Harry replied as he hugged his best friend; "Professor McGonagall has taken me in as a ward," he stepped back; "She's even going to try and adopt me," he added with a smile both his best friends returned fully.

"That's great news Harry" Hermione said, the first words that she had said since the meeting, she walked over and pulled Harry into a tight hug as well before letting him go and asking; " What are you doing here?" Harry explained that they were shopping for him, new school supplies and clothing that actually fit him. "Well then, let's go find Professor McGonagall," Hermione said grabbing his hand and dragging him off down the streets.

Ron chuckled as he watched his two friends walk down the streets, he thought that they looked cute together, always had in his opinion, Ron just hoped that they got together soon, before he lost his mind.

Harry spent the rest of the summer getting his homework caught up and getting prepared for the next year's classes, practicing for Quidditch, spending time with Ron and Hermione and getting used to his new life. When he wasn't doing that, he was learning all that he could, (as a ward); of the McGonagall family and reading the books Minerva gave him to read. One day he was sitting outside polishing his Nimbus two thousand while talking to Minerva when Blitz appeared and told her that Mrs. Weasley was at the door along with Ms. Weasley.

When they were shown to the back yard, Molly and Ginny came running over to him for the typical Weasley hug before Molly turned to Minerva; "Thank you, Minerva, for taking Harry in. I wish we could have adopted him but the Ministry just passed a law stating that a family can only have seven children before they have to 'Hive-off' to form a kind of... branch family(2). And that goes against Weasley family law."

Minerva nodded; "I understand, the McGonagall's have always been accepting of other families laws," she smiled as she continued; "As long as you understand that the McGonagall family has no such law's in place." Molly nodded and the two women went inside, leaving a totally confused Harry and Ginny behind.

"Um, what were they talking about Ginny?" he asked her.

"All the Ancient and Noble houses have separate law's Harry," Ginny explained; "Laws that, while separate from the Ministry's, are recognized nonetheless," she shrugged; "The Weasley family law's state that we're not allowed to form a branch family, which would be a kind of servant family to the main one. No Weasley would do that to anyone."

Harry thought about it, then nodded; "I can understand that, I've been a servant, a slave, or near enough to one."

Ginny nodded, then sighed; "Harry, there's something we need to talk about," she said.

Harry blinked as something clicked into place, as long as he'd known Ginny she'd never spoken this much to him, and certainly not without blushing and stuttering. "What is it Ginny?" he asked.

"Do you remember when you saved me from the Chamber (3) Harry?" she asked with a sigh, when he nodded she went on; "When you did that, something called a ' Life-Debt' was created between us Harry. It means that, I'll always be indebted to you for saving my life. Literally. Like you could ask me anything and I could not deny you it, you could tell me to do something and I would have to do it or risk either my life or my magic."

Harry frowned even as he paled; "What are you saying Ginny?" he asked.

"What I'm saying Harry is that... for all intents and purposes… I'm your servant. Your slave should you wish it. Until the day I die or I save your life."

What!? No Ginny, no you're not. You can't be," Harry replied his eyes wide.

"I am, Harry. That's how Life-Debt's work," she sighed; "Dad already checked, it's on the records in both the Ministry and in Gringotts. There's no way to get out of it, our Magic have already recognized this."

Harry was so stunned that he dropped his broom; "This can't be," he said, stunned.

Ginny smiled sadly; "It is, Harry. It's real, legal, and magically binding."

For several minutes the only sound that could be heard was the wind blowing until Harry broke the silence; "Ginny, who else knows?"

"Mom, dad, the Goblins at Gringotts, Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall, and you," Ginny informed her crush.

"Alright," Harry nodded; "Can you keep it secret? Not tell anyone else?"

"If you told me not too, I would literally not be able too," she replied with a nod.

Harry shook his head and said " No, but I will ask you to keep this secret," he replied with a shake of his head; "Only bring it up if you feel it's important or if you feel that keeping it secret will harm either you or me."

Ginny nodded, in her mind she had decided that the second part was a hidden order, and could already feel her magic take hold and enforcing the terms of her perceived order.

"And... if you could act more normally around me, especially with your family around, that would really put my mind at ease," he asked the added; "I so don't want to explain that to Ron."

"No worries Harry, I don't want to explain that to him either," she replied with a laugh.

A/N: Hey all, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'll try to get more out as I go along.

Notes:

(1): I've noticed a prolific number of stories on this site that take Ron so far outside of canon Character as to be practically unrecognizable. I've decided to keep him within canon as much as possible.

(2): I'm biasing this off of the Hyuuga clan from Naruto, my idea is that when a family reaches a certain size they have to form two groups, a main family and branch. For those who want an example I'll use Naruto again Hinata was main family, while Neji was branch.

(3): these events happened in book two, the Chamber of Secrets