A/N: Hello everyone – Can I just saw that I am HONOURED that you all like my story so much. The reviews I've had are fantastic and the amount of people that have favourite or alerted it is phenomenal. I try to reply to all my reviewers, but if I haven't send me another review (Ahah didn't think I was that crafty did ya!) and I'll get back to it pronto!
Oh, thanks to agnar for pointing out that Harry did not in fact have a run in with a dementor in Little Whinging until later, and he in fact blew up Marge. This has now been corrected in Chapter 1 but I applaud the picking up of my mistakes so please everyone feel free to tell me!

Disclaimer: I thought I saw my Ferrari arrive, but I was mistaken – not mine.

Albus Dumbledore was not a man to give in to panic, but having just read the Minister for Magic's last correspondence he knew that a little panic was inevitable. The Minister had finally forced the dementors onto the school, and Harry Potter was the last person he wanted lost while those vile creatures were around. Bringing out the fear and hurt in anyone made the dementors one of the most feared creatures in the magical universe, but bringing out Harry's fear and hurt, especially today was just wrong. They wouldn't know that though, they'd enjoy inflicting the pain of a lifetime of hurt.

"Albus," Minerva McGonagall had waited in the fire. After a half century of friendship she gave him his two minutes of thinking time before prodding him back to where he was meant to be.

"Yes dear, get all the students to their common rooms and have all the teachers search the castle and the grounds. The minister is sending dementors Min, and we need to find him before they arrive."

"Merlin's beard," she whispered before disappearing from the grate. Dumbledore listened as her voice was projected over the grounds and a flurry of movement began. Picking up a particularly lovely purple cloak he charmed it so it wouldn't get wet before moving swiftly to the entrance hall. Pomona Sprout, Filius Flitwick and Rolanda Hooch were already there waiting. Albus smiled gently at the latter, she was sopping wet, but eager to go back out if it meant looking for Harry. Waving his hand over her he had her clothes and hair dry in an instant, and she looked at him gratefully.

"Never was good at those Albus," she said with a pained smile. She had known Minerva McGonagall since school and while she had great respect for Potter as the quidditch mistress, she was mainly doing this for her. "How is she?" she asked quietly in case they were sprung talking about their stern friend.

"As well as to be expected given the circumstances surrounding the week, and now this." She nodded satisfied and nodded to Sprout and Flitwick. Soon all the teachers were assembled in the hall save for Snape.

"Where is Severus?" Albus asked before starting. Minerva snorted.

"I found Harry and him pointing wands at each other last night, so I have no doubt he's sitting toasting his feet by the fire in the dungeons." She spat angrily, her usual façade skipping. She wasn't angry with Albus, and he knew that, but with the dementors coming and Snape, it all just go a bit much for her. She took a deep breath and the severity returned to her face. She listened as Dumbledore divided the teachers up into search teams and nodded when he gave her instructions.

She followed him out of the doors and into the grounds, finding Hagrid waiting for them.

"Hagrid have you seen Harry?" Dumbledore asked over the now teeming rain. Hagrid shook his head

"No, but I'm an oilskin missing so he's been in the hut." He shouted. Both McGonagall and Dumbledore nodded before striding into opposite ends of the grounds. Hagrid went down the centre, calling out Harry's name as he went. After twenty minutes of searching Minerva could feel the panic building in her chest and it was consuming her. She couldn't lose him. He was all she had. She felt the panic take over and she cursed herself for not keeping a better hold on her emotions. You couldn't tell because of the rain, but she had tears running down her face. She had to find the boy. She was done living the lie that she'd agreed to lie when he was a baby. Albus was right. He should have known about her from the beginning. He should have been able to visit whenever he wanted to. She knew he had an awful time at his Aunt's house, but at the time, it seemed like the safest way, both in terms of death eaters trying to kill them, and safe for her own heart.

She suddenly felt very cold, and the despair she'd been feeling all week grew to an unimaginable level. Keeping her head she looked up and saw the reason. The dementors were here. She didn't need to send a message to Albus; he would feel them too, as would anyone subjected to their power. She cast a patronus for herself and felt the despair lift a little, pulling her Head of House persona back onto her face she continued the search.

Harry meanwhile had fallen asleep, ignoring the cold and damp seeping into his very soul. When he woke up he didn't know where he was, or why he was there, only that he was cold and he was in pain. He didn't think it was possible, but suddenly it got even colder, he blood ran like ice through his veins and all the hurt and confusion and anger built up inside him until he was sure that he would die. Through the turbulent emotions he heard a scream and it pained him to hear it. He knew it wasn't outside, somehow he knew it was in his head. He shook it trying to clear the heavy fog that had descended on his thoughts as he tried to get up off the ground. Having no energy he slumped back to the cold wet ground, the fog lifting only for a second as he looked into a pair of familiar green eyes that had appeared by his head. Harry remembered the nightmare he'd had last night, but collapsed before anything else could be thought, succumbing to the day in the harsh Scottish climate.

Minerva McGonagall was not a well-built woman. She was skinny and bony. Twiggy, her father used to call her. She knew she had inner strength though and when she saw Harry, she felt it surge and she raced towards him, shocked at how pale he was. She cast a patronus to stop any dementors getting any funny ideas while they were sitting there and signalled for Albus to come from where he was ordering the vile creatures to remain outside the perimeter until permitted to enter. He was suddenly by her side and checked Harry over.

"We need to get him to Poppy," he said with urgency in his voice. She muttered a feather light spell and picked him up, shivering when she realised that not only was he literally drenched, he was absolutely freezing as well. The two raced up the corridors of the castle to the hospital ward where Poppy Pomfrey was already waiting, having been warned of their arrival by Albus' patronus.

"On the bed Min." Poppy said gently as she watched her friend place their young charge down. She'd also known Minerva from school and was still a firm friend, aside from their working relationship.

Minerva McGonagall had never felt so helpless in her life as she watched her friend casting diagnostics over the now very small looking boy on the bed. Albus stood with a hand on her shoulder, and she suddenly felt warm again as he cast a warming charm over them both. She smiled weakly at him and accepted the chocolate from him, knowing it would do her good. As Poppy peeled off Harry's sodden robes they gasped collectively as his thigh appeared. Poppy shook her head and began treating the most recent looking cut, trying to stem any infection he might get from subjecting his body to the elements. Dumbledore was angry, and Minerva could feel the anger coming off him in waves, and when she turned to him his eyes were the darkest she'd seen them since the night he decided to face Grindelwald. She just felt numb.

How could she not have known this? He was her, she didn't like to finish that thought but she should have known. She felt Albus guider her out of the space and into the hallway outside the healing wing, sitting her in a chair that he conjured for her, before joining her.

"What have I done?" she whispered to him. "I should have told him, he should have known."

"It wouldn't have made a difference, dear heart; I still would have made him stay with Petunia, so that the wards could protect him." He offered her simply. He had a plan for Harry's future, and while Minerva knew about it, she just didn't know what it was. Sometimes even Dumbledore didn't know what it was, but it required certain things of Harry, and his survival was obviously paramount, which is why he'd flatly refused to even consider anywhere else, knowing that the blood wards inadvertently placed on Harry when his mother died would protect him more than even he could. She nodded and leaned over to lean on his shoulder. Placing an arm around her they sat in silence, both wondering what they could have done differently, if anything, that could have stopped this from happening.

Minerva didn't know how long they'd sat there, but she was comforted by Albus, as they'd always done for each other. She knew there was nothing romantic there, never had been, and never would be and she didn't particularly want there to be. They had the best friendship of the wizarding world in her opinion, except maybe Harry, Ron and Hermione's, and cherished every moment of it. She was interrupted by Poppy strolling into the hall looking tired. She motioned for them to come back in and they sat in her office, both taking a nip of firewhiskey that was being offered to them to help warm their bones and calm their feelings.

"He's very ill." She started, and Minerva's heart sank. She looked at Poppy pleadingly, receiving a small smile and squeeze of the hand. "Having said that, he's doing remarkably well. He will probably get the flu, which in turn may become pneumonia, but I think we can head it off now that he is here. I've will have Severus make some more potions for later as I fear we will run out. He's going to be in here for a while though. And I don't know when he is going to wake up. But it would be better for him to wake naturally," she said with a smile as Dumbledore had opened his mouth to say something. Poppy had discovered for all his qualities he was not an overly patient man, and would go round waking up her patients, without consulting her, if he could. He nodded sheepishly before indicating she should continue. He glanced at Minerva, who was a white as a sheet, and he took her hand, giving it a squeeze. Poppy frowned slightly at the lack of reaction her friend gave before continuing to the subject she knew they both wanted to hear about.

"The wounds on his leg are self-inflicted." She said gently with her gaze flicking to Minerva when she tensed in her chair. "I've examined all the ones that haven't healed properly yet and they all look to be about six weeks old. The one's I could, I've healed, but he'll have the scars of the older ones for life."

"Scars can be useful you know," Albus started before being cut off my and very angry Minerva,

"WE know you have a London Underground map on your knee Albus, and we don't care." She snapped before getting up and storming to the wing. Poppy gave him an apologetic look before following her friend. Albus just shook his head and smiled. Minerva was finally feeling something for the boy, and he was happy for her. She'd spent too long avoiding all her feelings and it was time for her to start to feel again. He walked into the wing, just in time to see Minerva collapse a little, and he conjured a chair behind her just in time. She sank into it and neither caring where she was, or who she was with she cried. She took Harry's hand in hers and she cried, not even stopping for Albus, who squeezed her shoulder gently before leaving to write a very scathing letter the Minister about his dark guardians hovering at the edge of the grounds. Poppy drew a blanket of the bed next to them with her wand, before laying over Minerva, drawing the curtains around the bed, leaving the witch to her sorrow.

The night was not a particularly pleasant one for Minerva McGonagall. She was racked with guilt and almost felt like she had to mourn Harry's parents again. As he lay sleeping she stroked his hair back off his face, the first time she'd felt anything remotely motherly in the last thirteen years. She watched as his face squashed into a frown and he started thrashing about. She panicked for a moment, wondering if she should get Poppy, but in a moment of clarity she simply got up, sat on the edge of the bed and held him close to her, his head resting on her heart and her chin resting on his now dry hair. She whispered to him that it would be alright, and that she was here now. She widened the bed a little, never taking her arms from around Harry who was now once again sleeping soundly, and lay down next to him. He subconsciously moved towards her, holding onto her as if afraid she would vanish. She simply lay there looking at him, marvelling at how much he looked like his father, gently stroking his hair before succumbing to sleep herself.

That was how Poppy Pomfrey found them the next morning, holding each other, both fast asleep. Dumbledore had told Ron and Hermione what had happened and as soon as they'd gotten a free moment they'd raced to the hospital wing, eager to see their friend. Poppy knew that even if Minerva was slowly coming to terms with Harry, she would not be ready for anyone else to know that she had another side to her persona, and so she told Harry's friends to wait until she was ready and went wake her friend gently.

"Min, Min you need to wake up." She said gently shaking her friend, careful not to wake her patient too. She watched as Minerva took in her surroundings, blinking at the light coming in through the windows. She looked at the body tucked into hers and she frowned slightly before grief flashed across her face. Poppy placed a hand on her arm, wondering why her friend couldn't just love him like she knew she wanted to. Minerva startled when she was touched and hopped out of bed like she'd been hexed.

"I was, um, he had a nightmare," she said rushed. Poppy just smiled at her,

"It's alright Min, relax." She said as she checked Harry over. He was infinitely better than yesterday and decided to hold off on another lot of potions to see if he would wake up today. She knew it was unlikely, but Harry was not a stranger to the hospital wing, and he continually surprised her with his rate of healing. Minerva just hovered as she watched Poppy work. She knew she shouldn't have been embarrassed, she'd known Poppy since they were kids, but it had been so long since she felt something, she wasn't sure how to react. Poppy's voice brought her out of her worry. "Hermione and Ron are here to see him," she heard as she looked at the boy in the bed, not comprehending what her friend meant. She felt a hand on her arm, turning towards it she saw Poppy looking at her pointedly. "Hermione and Ron are here." She said.

Finally understanding what Poppy meant Minerva cast another look over Harry before retreating onto Poppy's office, before Flooing back to her own. Albus, who always seemed to know just when she needed him, caught her as she dissolved into a lifetime of pent up emotions, no longer able to stand the nothingness she had forced upon herself.