Memory IV:

Harry blinked into the sun. It was a bright and warm day in a peaceful little town. He was standing on a pavement of what seemed to be the main road. All of a sudden, Professor McGonagall was walking past him. She looked a lot younger than Harry knew her. Besides, she wore a decent Muggle outfit and had a bunch of flowers in her hand. She had a smile on her face which was odd for Harry. He had hardly seen his teacher smile – mostly it was just a hint of a smile. He had to speed up in order not to lose her track. She went around the corner and entered a hospital.

'I would like to see Lily Potter, please.' Professor McGonagall enquired at the front desk.

'3rd Floor, room 14.'

'Thank you.'

Harry followed his teacher down the corridors – his heart was beating fast. Was he really about to see his mother?

He had a lump in his throat when the Professor knocked at the door and walked into the hospital room.

'Lily, my dear!' he had never before seen his Professor beaming. Then all his thinking stopped when his mother turned around to face them.

'Minerva! I am so glad to see you!' she smiled happily. She got up and hugged her former teacher. 'Come here and meet our little Harry!'

Harry stopped dead in his tracks – there was a freshly born baby in a cradle next to the bed. He had not noticed before since he was so engaged in watching his mother.

McGonagall was looking at the baby in awe. 'Oh Lily, he is really sweet. He has your eyes.' She smiled at her friend.

'Do you want to take him?' Lily asked.

'I would love to.' Harry watched his teacher amazed – she was softly picking up baby Harry and cradled him tenderly in her arms. Who would have thought his stern teacher could even make cooing sounds?

Lily Potter smiled contently. 'Harry seems happy with you, Minerva. I hope you can come visit us more often and spoil our little one.'

'I intend to take good care of him, Lily. And I am sorry I could not come more often recently. There had been so many meetings with the Order. We have to be extremely careful these days – but I am sure James has filled you in anyway.'

'Yes.' Lily sighed. 'It was a drag not to be able to join you lately but I was just not feeling well and could not risk the baby's health.'

There was a knock at the door and Harry almost stumbled when he made a step to the side. His father came in together with the young version of Sirius.

He placed a kiss on Lily's cheek and smiled warmly at Professor McGonagall.

'Hi, Minerva. I see you have already met our little Harry.'

'Hi James, hello Sirius.' Minerva smiled happily at the men. 'Congratulations on such a sweet little boy, James. He is adorable – I already fell in love with him.'

Sirius moved closer to them and had a look at the baby as well. 'May I?' he asked almost apologetically.

'Of course' Minerva handed little Harry over to him. 'Please welcome your little godson.'

Present:

Harry had to blink back tears when this memory ended. This was obviously one of Professor McGonagalls' and he wished it would have been longer. He could have stayed in this hospital room forever – together with his parents, his godfather and amazingly enough an affectionate and soft Professor.

He had not known that his Head of House had been this close to his parents. She had never mentioned anything – nor had anybody else given any hints. How weird. Harry made a mental note to talk to Professor McGonagall once she was out of St. Mungos'. Maybe he could find out how she was doing in hospital in the meantime.

He felt a bit guilty all of a sudden. His teacher had tried to protect Hagrid and some students when she was sent down by four stunners. This would already have been very hard on a young and healthy person but after all, Professor McGonagall was not so young anymore. And all the time he was caught in his grief and self-pity not even asking about her condition.

He was hoping to have a chance to do so soon and grabbed another phial in the meantime.

Memory V:

Harry saw himself lying on the floor unconsciously. He was still very young – probably in his first year. Then he saw that he was right – it was in his first year since he had the famous Philosopher's Stone in his hand.

In this moment he saw Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall enter the room. His Head of House let out a small cry and immediately rushed towards him while Professor Dumbledore still scanned the room to assess the situation.

'How is Harry, Minerva?' Dumbledore approached her after being sure that there was no immediate danger to them anymore.

'I don't know, Albus. He is unconscious and suffered some burning apparently. We must bring him to Poppy immediately. It must have been a powerful opponent he was fighting. How could this happen?' Professor McGonagall's voice was shaking a bit.

'It was the worst opponent, Minerva' Professor Dumbledore whispered 'I think he was braver than we could ever have thought, Minerva. Let's get him to the hospital wing. Severus has already taken Mr Weasley there.'

He gently lifted Harry with a spell and brought him to Madame Pomfrey. Professor McGonagall was silently walking next to him her eyes never leaving Harry.

'Professor Dumbledore, if you please leave Mr Potter in this bed. I will need to examine him thoroughly first.' Madame Pomfrey was all business.

'Thank you. It would be great if we arrange for some privacy for Mr Potter.'

'No problem; Sir.' The mediwitch turned her attention to Harry.

'Poppy, you could please let me know once you are finished with Mr Potter?'Minerva quietly asked her friend.

Madame Pomfrey sent her a questioning look but agreed instantly. 'Sure Minerva. If you can just wait outside for a moment.'

Harry and Professor Dumbledore watched his teacher pacing the corridor nervously.

'Minerva, why don't you wait in your quarters. I am sure Poppy will notify you as soon as she has examined Mr Potter.'

'No, Albus. I can't. I have to be close to Harry right now.' She had a desperate look on her face and started pacing again.

Professor Dumbledore sighed and sat on a nearby chair.

The minutes stretched but finally Madame Pomfrey opened the door.

'Mr Potter will be fine again soon. He is still unconscious and might remain so until tomorrow morning. If you want you can see him though.'

Professor McGonagall let out a relieved sigh and went into Harry's room. Professor Dumbldore watched her worried but followed her inside anyway.

His Head of House took a seat next to his bed and tenderly brushed his hair out of his face.

Professor Dumbledore put a hand on her shoulder. 'It's going to be alright, Minerva. You should get some sleep tonight.'

She shook her head and was apparently fighting back tears.

'I simply can't, Albus. I will stay here with Harry tonight to make sure he is fine. Don't worry – I will be gone when he wakes up.'

'Alright my dear. If there is anything I can do for you, let me know. I have to see to a few things in the meantime.' He squeezed her shoulder and left the hospital wing.

Present:

Harry was completely astounded. Why would his Head of House stay at his side for the whole night? He could not believe it. He really had not known.

He had woken up the next morning and found Professor Dumbledore sitting at his bedside. But in the end it had been Professor McGonagall who had really sat with him most of the time.

Harry was deep in thought while he grabbed the next memory.

Memory VI:

He found himself in Snapes office where he saw himself and Ron sitting there with guilty looking faces as well as Professor McGonagall who looked extremely angry. Professor Dumbledore and Professor Snape seemed to just have entered the room.

'Please explain yourselves' Professor Dumbledore demanded.

Harry and Ron told how they could not approach the platform and therefore had taken Mr Weasley's car in order to get to Hogwarts.

'We will take our stuff', Ron mumbled when they had finished their story.

'What are you talking about Weasley?' Professor McGonagall snarled at him.

'Aren't you expelling us from school?' It was hard to even hear Ron since he was mumbling to the floor.

'Not today, Mr Weasley' came Professor Dumbledore's calm reply.

After a serious warning the Head Master was about to leave the room with Professor Snape.

'Since you belong to her house it is up to Professor McGonagall to decide about your punishment.' He said – then facing Professor McGonagall 'Minerva, I will have to attend the feast again – there are a few things I would still like to try.'

There was a short blur in the memory as if it was skipping a bit and moving fast forward. Harry felt like looking into a nebula – then he got a clear picture again.

The next moment, Harry saw Professor McGonagall sitting next to Professor Dumbledore at the teacher's table. The Welcoming Feast was still in full swing apparently.

'What do you think about their story, Minerva?' Professor Dumbledore whispered to his Deputy.

'I don't know yet. I have never heard of anybody having been denied to platform 9 ¾ - this seems really odd. On the other hand, Harry might be a prankster like his father but he is also very honest. He would not make up such a weird story.' Professor McGonagall said frowning.

Then she suddenly smiled. 'He so reminds me of his father, Albus. When I was about to deduct points from Gryffindor he just interrupted me saying that all of this had happened before the school term started and, therefore, I should not have a reason to deduct points yet. I was speechless for a moment, Albus!'

Professor Dumbledore now had an amused look on his face, too. 'Now that rather exceptional, Minerva. You are rarely impressed enough to be speechless. I wish I could have seen your face in that moment.'

They were both laughing now.

'Indeed, Albus. I am curious what the new year will bring. The start was quite extraordinary already.'

Present:

Harry remembered the start of their second year just too well. How scared they had been to be excluded from school. He had never seen Professor McGonagall this angry before. Her mouth had been a thin line only and her whole body had radiated anger.

She had been kind enough though to get them some food and indeed had not deducted points from Gryffindor. They had had to spent several hours of detention with her during the next weeks but Harry had to admit that these hours were always productive and helped them on with their school work.

He had to grin at the thought that she had been amused by him even in such a situation. Back then he had suspected that she had to suppress a grin herself although it was hard to imagine such a stern person being amused by anything. More and more he got the feeling that his Head of House was a person with her heart in the right place.

Authors' note: Thanks for your input. I will try and take in your ideas within the next chapters. Hopefully, you like them. Sometimes I might not use the right expressions/names since I only have the German books – sorry for that then!

Please review or correct me.