Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to JKR. I'm only borrowing them for a bit.
Minerva sat down at her desk with a sigh. It had been a long night, and appeared it would be longer yet, as she opened a drawer in her desk and pulled a shifter and bottle of good Scottish Whiskey, and poured herself a a couple of thumbs. She quickly downed the glass, and refilled it to the brim, then sat back, and contemplated the events of the night and what had lead up to this point.
Voldemort had been possessing one of her fellow teachers for an entire year, and she hadn't even suspected.
The man develops a stutter and takes to wearing a turban, and she buys the story that he had a bad experience
with a vampire. Like a vampire would be much of a threat to an experienced troll wrangler. Not only did he
almost take the Philospher's Stone, 2 of her lions had been injured, with the 3rd quite distraught over the pair,
trying to stop him. Thinking back of the year, Minerva remembered a couple of other incidents, that should have
alerted her that something was wrong in her school, much less the fact that Albus had brought the stone here, and practically taunted the student body to find out what was hiding in the school. A troll getting into the school
should have been a big warning, but for a man known for his talent with trolls, to just stumble into the Great Hall, announce that a troll is in the dungeon, then faint, should have tripped every alarm in her head, that something was wrong. Not to mention the quidditch match, where Harry had the problems with his broom. It was only through the quick thinking of Severus and Ms. Granger, that Harry survived the match. She really wondered at times what went through that boy's head, one minute he's cursing Harry's very existence, and the next fighting to save the boy's life.
Looking back over the year, she wondered when had she actually talked to any of the students, outside of class, or assigning detention or taking points. Oh, she had talked to prefects and the head boy and girl in the performance of their duties, but what else? Had she been spending to much time as the Deputy Headmistress, and not enough as the Head of Gryfindor? Had she even done her duties as Head of Gryfindor? She didn't talk to the second years about their class choices for the next year, and rushed through the fifth year career interviews. In previous years, she had meet with all the First Years within days of their arrival, but this year she had let the prefects take care of them. Because Albus had suggested that they needed to maintain a proper distance from Harry. Of course, a suggestion from Albus is more of an order and her Lions have suffered for it. She knew nothing of her students outside of their performance in class. If more events like this night occured, and with Harry's presence in the school, it was more than likely. She needed to take a more direct interest in what her children were up to. Albus would have to find someone else to pass the details of running the school off on to. With that thought in mind, Minerva drained her glass, wrote a couple of letters, and headed out the door.
Infirmary, later that night
Minerva opened the door to the infirmary and smiled as she saw that Hermoine was curled up on the end of Harry's bed with Harry sitting next to her, and gently brushing her hair, while Ron was snoring away in the next bed.
"Professor McGongall, what are you doing here?" asked a startled Harry.
"I came to talk to you and your friends, Mr. Potter." Minerva said. "I've had a series of revelations tonight, and I find myself in a strange position."
"What position is that, Professor?" asked Hermoine. "And don't stop Harry, it's nice." She added as Harry pulled back from Hermoine, as he realized that she had been awake most of the time, he had been brushing her hair.
"If you'll wake your compatriot, I'll tell you." Minerva added.
Hermoine uncurled from her position next to Harry, drew her wand and cast a tickling charm at Ron.
"Huh, what's going on?" Ron blurted out as we woke up.
"Professor McGongall wants to talk to us, Ron." Hermoine said as she sat up.
"Oh, OK." Ron yawned.
"First, I must apologize for dismissing your concerns about the safety of the Philospher's Stone. The very fact that you knew about its being in the castle, and that someone was going after it should have been enough for me to at least check on it." Minerva said.
"You don't need to apologize to us, Professor. You were doing what you thought was right." Hermoine said.
"Ms. Granger, thank you for the vote of confidence, but I was wrong and you three ended up putting your lives in danger because of it. My job is to teach you and protect you from danger while you are at this school. Just like your parents should protect you from harm, while you are at home." Minerva said as she sat down on one of the other beds. "I'm going to tell you something most people never learn. Just because a person holds a postion of authority, does not mean that they are right. You must decide for yourself, if a person is worth following, and how far you are willing to follow them."
"But my parents always told me to respect authority."
"Respecting authority is important, Ms. Granger. Otherwise, society would not function. But, you must be careful of blindly following authority. You've read about the events of last World War, haven't you?"
"Yes, what about it?"
"One of the many things that the German soldiers said, especially those at the Death Camps, was that they were just following orders, as they helped put millions of people to death for not being 'Aryan'. The Allies said that was not an excuse, and some orders should not and can not be followed."
"Oh, thank you, Professor."
"Anyway, we have had enough serious talk for the night. I have a favor to ask though."
"Anything, Professor" replied Harry.
"Tell me about your school year and how you found out about the stone?"
"Of course, Professor"
"Very well, let me arrange for some refreshments then. Timmy, can you bring some milk and biscuits?"
A second later a small table with a tray of milk and biscuits appear next to Harry bed, and after the group each had a glass and some biscuits, our intrepid heros starting telling Minerva about how their school year had gone.