"Answer the door boy!" Uncle Vernon yelled from his position on the sofa in front of the television. Harry sighed and dragged himself off of the relative comfort of his bad, and opened the cupboard door. The bell rang again, and Harry rushed to get it before his Uncle got too angry at him.
He found on the doorstep a rather peculiar person. She appeared elderly, yet held herself with a strength and dignity that warned Harry not to mess with her. She was wearing an odd long black cloak and her black hair was held up in taught bun above her head. Before Harry could take in more of her appearance, she spoke:
"Are you Harry Potter?"
"How...Only my teachers call me that and I haven't seen you in School. Have I done something wrong?"
"No of course not, why would you think that." This wasn't what she was expecting. "Now what do people call you if they don't call you Harry Potter. Do you go by Harry or do you have a nickname?"
"No, they call my boy..."
Just under one year later.
"You have to understand Minerva, Harry must go back to the Dursleys. The blood wards must be replenished."
"Why?" She demanded angrily.
"Well, otherwise they wouldn't work. I thought you were cleaver then that my dear."
"I didn't mean that you old fool. I meant why does Harry have to go back there at all. Ever!" She glared at him, and knocked the bowl of lemon drops he was offering her out of his hand. "I'm serious, why can't Harry remain here over the Holidays."
"He couldn't possibly stay here. For a start who would look after him. No-one but Hagrid is here all summer, and as much as I love him, I don't think he'd be able to hold off the horde of Death Eaters that are still out there, let alone Voldemort. Hasn't Harry's most recent encounter taught you that he must be protected?" He finished speaking, and clasped his hands together playing the wiser than you look.
She was furious now. "Don't you dare trying to blame me for that incident. I left Harry in Flitwick's very capable hands, after he told me what he knew about the stone. I came straight to get you, and if he hadn't managed to give Filius the slip then Voldemort would be immortal by now. If you had put some proper defenses around the stone, rather than that half baked 'test' you made for him, then none of this would've happened."
Dumbledore shifted uneasily. She was being such a pain, and she'd even gone as far to mess with his lemon drops. She'd defiantly never been this angry before. "The point still stands, Harry needs the protection the Dursleys can provide him with, and I know things might be a bit rough, but I'm sure he can put up with a few weeks of it. They are his relatives after all."
"They hate him. He was malnourished and physically abused. He would slave after them all morning, go to school with no friends and get bullied by his cousin, go home and slave for them while getting bullied by his uncle, then go to bed in the cupboard under the stairs. If you call that 'a bit rough' then I'd hate to see your childhood."
"Maybe I'll have a few words with Petunia then. If they leave him alone all summer that'll be fine, and he can get all his work done in peace."
"Sorry Albus, but I can see you don't get it, so I'm going to have to spell it out for you. Harry Potter will not be returning to the Dursleys this summer or ever! I've yielded to you before on the issue, but not anymore." See took a deep breath and stared down the aged Headmaster till he broke eye contact and looked out of the window.
"To answer your original question, I'll be looking after Harry at Hogwarts."
"I'm sure you have better things to do with your summer then looking after a student Minerva." Dumbledore was clutching at straws and McGonagall knew it.
"Nonsense and you know it. My two sons left home years ago, and as you know my husband is dead. Thanks for bringing it up by the way." She added sarcastically causing him to look away again in shame. As you know I've got nothing to do with my summer, which is why I agreed to attend your pesky muggle bridge nights last year. I've spoken to Professors Flitwick, Sprout, Vector and Babbling, and they have all agreed to return to Hogwarts with me for various periods. Plus Madam Hooch and Madam Porphyry will be around. There will be at least two competent teachers and Hagrid at the castle all summer to look after him."
"Now as long as you update the wards so only selected people's magical signatures are allowed inside the grounds then nothing will happen. Only Voldemort would be able to bring down Hogwarts wards, and that would take at least half an hour and the wards would alert you. The certain ghosts and paintings that you use to spy on the pupils will be able to keep you informed of how things are going, and of Harry's safety."
"You've presented a sound argument, but I feel..."
"Stop Albus! Stop now before I get really angry. I've told you what's happening, and that's what's going to happen. I'll see you at the leavers feast."
"That's a lot of presents you've got there Harry, you seem to have a lot of friends and a few female admirers by the look of some of those cards; especially that one with the beating heart."
"I don't know. It keeps singing this annoying muggle love song by this horrendous Muggle singer that Dudley likes."
"That can't be that bad, I think it's sweet."
"It's from a seventh year..."
"Oh"
"...Slytherin."
"Ah. Maybe it is quite bad then. Don't worry though Harry I have some good news. I've argued your point with Professor Dumbledore, and he's agreed to let you stay here over the summer."
Harry jumped out of bed and hugged Professor McGonagall in joy.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. You're the best teacher in the whole world."
Harry had become attached to the transfiguration professor, and although she might deny it, she had a certain soft spot for him, ever since she had rescued him from the Dursleys. She taken him to the leaky cauldron, and although she didn't have time to show him around as she had to visit other first year families, she had arranged for Hagrid to show him around the alley, and buy him his school equipment.
He'd spent the last week of the holidays exploring the ally and all it had to offer. He was staying at the leaky Cauldron and the only rules Professor McGonagall had given him were that he had to be back by seven for tea provided by Tom the barkeeper, and that he wasn't allowed to stray into Knockturn Ally or Muggle London. These weren't difficult boundaries to keep as Harry had more than enough to keep him occupied in the alley.
Every day he'd get free meals at the leaky Cauldron, free ice creams from Florien, free use of all the books at Flourish and Blotts as long as he'd return them by the end of the day, and by spending a few hours organizing clothes onto the correct racks each day, Madam Malkin had given him some new clothes that fit so he wouldn't be a laughing stock at Hogwarts.
Over the process of the week he'd learned all he needed to know about the wizarding world, met some current and soon to be students, and for the first time in his life had fun.
Now at the end of his first year at Hogwarts he could truly appreciate what the short stint in Diagon Alley had done for him over the year. He'd carefully selected his friends to avoid all the hero worshipers he'd met while living in the Ally. He only wanted to know people who saw him for Harry not the 'Boy who lived.'
His best friends Hermione Granger, Neville Longbottom, Susan Bones and Hannah Abbott were great. Although Susan and Hannah had been sorted into Hufflepuff, not Gryffindor like him, Neville and Hermione, they still met every day in the library to do their homework, and they saw each other in Herbology and Transfiguration.
For the first week Harry had been followed around by Ron Weasley, but Harry didn't like the way he kept insulting Hermione, who Harry had first met in Diagon Alley and really liked. Harry had told him to leave Hermione alone or get lost, so Ron left Harry alone for the rest of the year, making friends with Dean and Seamus his other roommates along with Neville.
Harry limped down the corridor grinning. Madam Pomphry had finally relented and let him go to the leavers feast.
He pulled the doors to the great hall open, and crept in. Unfortunately someone spotted him and called out. Three Quarters of the hall got to their feet, and started applauding him. He waved a hand in thanks then scuttled off to the Gryffindor table where Hermione and Neville were waiting for him with an empty space between them.
He'd talked to his four friends in the hospital wing, and they decided that the population needed to know that Voldemort wasn't dead and everyone needed to prepare for when he eventually returned. That meant of course telling everyone about their adventure to rescue the stone, and the part he had in stopping the Dark Lord.
They'd spoken to Dumbledore, and fortunately he'd agreed with them and made the announcement before the meal had begun. Madam Pomphry had insisted on giving him a checkup before he left the Hospital wing, so he missed the speech, but it appeared Dumbledore hadn't saved the detail as most of the school was still applauding. Finally the clapping and whooping finished, and he was able to eat some food and talk to his friends.
In what seemed like no time at all, everyone was packing their bags, and preparing to leave. Fortunately Dumbledore had also explained to the students his situation with the Dursleys and about him staying at school. The Headmaster had also asked people to leave him alone and not crowd him, so apart from people pointing at him, smiling, and holding doors open, he was left mostly alone to say goodbye to his friends.
He stood by the gates with Filch and waved to the carriages as the left off down the road.
"You better get back to school now kid. Dumbledore has said it's not safe for you to go outside without supervision, and I'm heading off now. And remember our little talk. If I find the slightest thing out of place when I get back you're going to regret it."
Harry nodded dutifully and watched as the caretaker sauntered off down the road. He smiled as he headed down the drive back to the castle. He was really going to enjoy the next ten weeks.