A/N: Okay, we've thrown the book out of the window.
As my chapter 37 reviewer's (up to 19/6 my time – I do realise someone posted a review last night, but as I only got the email about twenty minutes ago I thought I'd finish this first - I will reply to you, have no fear, you just may not get a spoiler) know, we're heading into the AU-verse, simply because so many of you asked me to oh and yeah, cos I wanted to as well lol
If this is an issue for you then you really should have reviewed earlier!
It will still kind of follow the story, but then the story is pretty much over now, so yeah if you want me to continue, which apparently a lot of you do, you'll have to forgive me!

Talk about fluffy too! Not really sure what I think of the ending to this chapter, but then I had to finish it somewhere!
Hope you all still love it!

They did not have long to wait. A wail that mirrored a banshee floated down to them and Minerva had to really concentrate to stop the smile that she wanted to display from forming on her lips. She could hear Fudge talking angrily to Albus as they got closer, but what was slightly more disconcerting was the mumblings of Severus, which she could hear over all of that.

The hospital wing doors flew open with such force Minerva was quite sure that Severus lost control of his magic for a moment.

"WHERE THE BLOODY HELL IS HE?" he screamed as he advanced on Harry, who, in the short time it had taken for Sirius' escape to become apparent had fallen asleep. Minerva, sensing that Severus indeed was angrier than she'd ever witnessed him to be quietly whispered to Hermione to scoot off her knee allowing Minerva to stand.

"Severus calm down." She said forcefully as she placed herself in between the rather irate potions master and a now bleary eyed Harry Potter.

"HE HELPED HIM ESCAPE." Snape said as he gestured wildly, his eyes darker than ever and his usually greasy, yet neat hair sticking up all over the place. "WHERE IS HE YOU PIECE OF,"

"ENOUGH." Minerva screamed, just as forcefully. Snape snapped out of his ranting for just a moment, just as Harry chose to sit up in his bed, not really understanding what was going on. He took one step forwards, coming toe to toe with Minerva as they stared each other down, "Back off Severus. Harry, Hermione and Ron have all been here with me these last twenty minutes and before that the hospital wing doors were locked." She said quietly, but with no doubt as to the meaning behind them.

"Minister, somehow, these brats helped Sirius Black escaped." Snape said as he turned to the Minister for Magic, who had just arrived at the door with Dumbledore. He looked momentarily shocked at how the two professors were looking at each other, but turned his attention to Snape again.

"My dear fellow, do you have proof?" he said taking the suggestion a little bit serious. Minerva stepped around the slightly more cheerful Snape to talk to Fudge, glancing for a moment at Albus, who surreptitiously nodded.

"Minister, Professor Snape is mistaken; Harry, Hermione and Ron have all been here in the hospital wing since you were last here. Between then and now, the doors were locked by Professor Dumbledore himself and once they were unlocked, they have been here with me. Madam Pomfrey can confirm it easily enough." She said quite seriously.

Snape was looking at Harry oozing the kind of hatred that scared Hermione a little bit. She couldn't hold back a whimper, making Minerva look back at her. Seeing her favourite student staring at Snape she realised she'd left Harry open to his venomous attacks and moved back to Harry's bedside, standing right next to Harry's bed staring pointedly at Snape. She shot a look of sorrow at Hermione, who was standing behind the armchair Minerva had conjured looking a little afraid.

"Is that right Albus?" Fudge said, seemingly ignoring the issue that was brewing a little way away. Ron chose that moment to wake up and Hermione took the opportunity to remove herself from the whole situation, moving to Ron's bedside and talking to him in a quiet whisper.

"Sorry Professor Snape, it looks as if Sirius Black escaped on his own." Fudge said stroking his chin. "Strange that two beings escaped tonight isn't it." He said more as an afterthought. Snape looked around.

"The Hippogriff escaped as well?" he said look at the Minister, completely astounded at the stupidity of the man. Fudge simply nodded, smiling at Ron, who was looking a little bemused at everything. "Minister, we should be talking to Hagrid then, he will have something to do with it, stupid oaf is in league with the brats."

"LEAVE HIM ALONE." Harry shouted, pushing past Minerva, who had to hold him back from attacking Snape right there.

"Really Severus, Hagrid was with me the entire time, as the Minister can attest to," Albus said, his eyes twinkling. He really was sorry to lie to Severus, but this grudge really had to stop. "Does that mean you are calling both the Minister and myself a liar?" Albus said before ushering Fudge to the door. "That being said Minister, I can see no reason for the Dementors to stay on the grounds any more, kindly send them back to where they belong." Albus said politely, but with a tone that Fudge seemed to understand meant he was not going to take no for an answer.

"Certainly Albus, I see no reason for them to remain here, especially with only a few more days left in the term." He said like it was his own idea. Ron and Hermione rolled their eyes, but Harry was still glowering at Snape, who had not yet turned away.

"Professor McGonagall, I will show the Minister out in my chambers, if you could please make sure that these students get some rest, I shall be back momentarily." Albus called as he ushered Snape out of the wing. Poppy Pomfrey had since come in to check on Ron, who was asking quiet questions to Hermione. Poppy winked at Hermione, giving her more chocolate before making Ron take a particularly foul tasting potion to help the pain in his leg.

"I know you did it Potter." Snape said dangerously. "You've just pulled the wool over everyone's eyes." Minerva rolled her eyes.

"Really Severus, at some stage, you really are going to have to let this go." She said nodding towards the door.

Snape turned towards the door, glaring at Ron and Hermione, who paled slightly under his gaze and moved back to where her own bed, feeling slightly safer now that Minerva was sitting in her chair again. Harry flopped back down on his pillow a string of curse words flowing through his head at his potions professor.

"Urgh." He said closing his eyes. He giggled a little as he thought back to the story of his father and Snape, "Snivellus." He said without thinking, snorting a little in his amusement.

The effect on the potions master was instantaneous. He screamed and turned sharply and before anything could even be said to him he had shot off a curse faster than anything Hermione or Ron had ever seen. Minerva had though and she threw herself over Harry, shielding him from the spell. Time seemed to stop as she gathered him into her arms and Hermione squealed just as the curse seemed to impact them, but before anyone could do anything, the spell shot straight into the ceiling, causing a small explosion.

"PROFESSOR SNAPE." Poppy screamed as she watched it all unfold before her. Before anyone else could move, Dumbledore had appeared in front of Snape and was pointing his wand at the potion master's chest.

"That was a rather foolish thing to do, was it not dear boy?" he said quietly. Snape paled even more, if it was possible, as he looked at the man before him. He looked at his wand and dropped it just as quickly, shocked that he had thrown a curse at a student, even if it was Harry-bloody-Potter.

"Headmaster, I." he stumbled over his words, completely shocked at his actions. Dumbledore smiled and lowered his wand.

"Severus, how about you and I go for a nice cup of tea." He said gently, picking up Snape's wand and giving it back to him. "Poppy." He said bowing his head in way of farewell. The doors of the hospital wing seemed to close of their own volition with a bang, as if signalling the end of any other conversation.

Harry had not moved; shocked at his professor, but even more so that Minerva had thrown herself onto him and the curse had seemingly just decided not to hit them. He looked down at his grandmother, who was still clutching him tightly, refusing to move.

"Minerva?" he whispered. She didn't respond and he got slightly worried at the lack of response he was getting. "Minerva?" he said a little more forcefully, poking her in the side. He realised then that she was shaking and he looked at Madam Pomfrey, who just smiled and waved her wand, drawing the curtains around them. "Seanmhair?" he whispered curling his arms around her. "Seanmhair, I'm fine."

She started mumbling something and he couldn't quite make it out, realising that everything she was saying was in Gaelic, and it was far too fast for Harry to understand.

"Seanmhair?" he said, his worry growing. She hugged him closer as a light started shining out from between them. "Ur?" Harry said awkwardly as he noticed. "Seanmhair? Madam Pomfrey?" Harry called quite worried at what was going on. The medi-witch seemed to recognise the tone of voice, and swung open the curtains, just as the light encase them both. Poppy shot a Patronus off to Albus, who appeared next to them moments later. He seemed to understand what was happening and smiled at Harry.

"Close your eyes." He said soothingly to the boy, who did what he was told, before the headmaster moved everyone else back, sitting them on Ron's bed, watching the scene unfold with the twinkle in his eye shining brightly.

"Is that?" Hermione started, before stopping and looking at Albus, who just smiled at her.

"I believe it is Miss Granger." He said happily.

"Albus?" Poppy said looking from Hermione to him, not understanding what was happened. The room seemed to light up as if the sun was directly inside, waves of light pulsing off the walls, all emanating from the two people lying on the bed.

"I believe this is Minerva taking Harry into her protection." He said gently as the light dimmed a little before a new sphere appeared around the two, made up of two halves, one a deep shade of green, the other a shade quite similar to the red of Gryffindor. "The McGonagall's are an extremely old family." He said simply, as if they all knew what he was talking about.

"She's related to Merlin isn't she?" Hermione said quietly making Poppy gasp as they sat watching the sphere of two colours pulse.

"I believe she is my dear." He said putting his arm around Hermione's shoulders. "This magic is one that is not summoned purposely and I have only ever heard of it being summoned once before." He said to the group, none of them taking their eyes off the now shimmering orb in front of them. Albus fell quiet as the two colours merged, a bright golden light blinding them for a moment, before the light disappeared, making everything seem dark.

Harry opened his eyes and looked around. That had to be the weirdest feeling he'd ever had. For a moment he felt like his whole body had ceased to exist and then he was slammed back into it, a new feeling taking up residence in his chest. It was a warmth he'd never really felt, a kind of protection that he'd only felt once in his life, although he was far too young to remember it. As he blinked, trying to make his eyesight cooperate he realised that Minerva was still lying on the bed, although now she was lying next to him, arms still wrapped tightly around him. He extricated himself from them and sat up, looking around.

"Harry?"

Harry turned and saw his friends, as well as Albus and Poppy Pomfrey sitting on Ron's bed all looking at him with massive smiles on their faces.

"Huh?" he said looking behind him, just in case they weren't looking at him.

"Harry, how do you feel?" Hermione said looking at him intensely. Poppy clicked her tongue at the young witch for stealing her line. Hermione merely smiled and stepped back a little, allowing the medi-witch the check Harry over, as much as she could, simply because Minerva seemed to have passed out.

Harry shrugged and looked at Dumbledore, whose eyes were twinkling like mad.

"Good," he said thinking about it, "Actually, really good, um, Albus, what's going on?" he said just as Minerva moaned.

"Urgh. What in Merlin's name just happened?" she said sleepily as she say up, her bun uncharacteristically messy. Harry caught her eye and for a moment, the whole world ceased to be. He realised what that new feeling was, he knew what it was because he'd felt it before, a long time ago, before he could really remember.

"Seanmhair." He said softly.

"Harry." She said equally quiet before hugging him tightly. "Tha gaol agam ort." She whispered as she kissed his hair, feeling more love for him than she'd ever felt before. "So much." She said with tears forming in her eyes. She pulled him out of her arms, looking at him. "Are you hurt?" she said looking over him for injuries.

"Um, no, do you know what just happened?" he said looking at her like she'd gone mad. She looked back at him frowning.

"Severus shot at you." She said looking at him oddly. "Do you remember that?" she asked him, turning his body so she could check his back.

"Um, Seanmhair, I think maybe you should stop for a second." Harry said grabbing her hands and looking at Dumbledore, who had moved to their side.

"Minerva." Albus said gently, taking one of her hands from Harry. "Darling, what do you know about Màthairean Beannachd?" he asked gently. Harry flinched as she gripped his hand tightly.

"What?" she asked sharply.

"Màthairean Beannachd." He repeated, not at all dissuaded from his purpose with her tone.

"How do you," she started before looking between him and Harry. "Albus what just happened?"

"My love, I believe you have just performed the ritual." He said gently, rubbing his thumb along the back of her hand.

"Wha," Minerva looked at Harry, who just looked a little confused, before looking over at Hermione, Ron and poppy, who were all still sitting on Ron's bed looking pleased. "When? How?"

"Do you understand me Minerva?" Albus said looking into her eyes. "Do you understand what that means?"

"Of course I do, every McGonagall does." She said indignantly, "What I asked you was how?" Albus chuckled at her tone.

"I believe that the act of sacrificing your life for Harry's, coupled with the love you have for him, you fulfilled all the necessary parameters the spell needed to be triggered." He said gently, kissing her knuckles. "And it was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen." He said with a smile, getting up and steering Poppy away from them before she could interrupt. "Poppy, they will need time together before they are ready to deal with anything." She huffed indignantly.

"What was that Albus?" she asked motioning to her friend and the boy that had stolen everyone's heart.

"Minerva effectively, magically adopted Harry. They are now linked, as surely as if Minerva had given birth to Harry and they will feel as such, more so than before." He said with a small smile. "I imagine she will be both ecstatic and heartbroken about this, and so we will leave them to talk." He walked over to Ron and Hermione. "Give them some time you two. That was an extraordinary piece of magic and I imagine they will be talking for quite a while yet." He said patting Hermione's hand.

Hermione nodded, looking thoughtful and Ron just shrugged tiredly, the effects of the pain potion Poppy had made him take making him drowsy.

"How did you know what it was Miss Granger?" Poppy asked as she ushered her to a bed next to Ron's, leaving the other side of the ward free for Harry and Minerva to talk for as long as they needed.

"I read about it once in a book and it sounded so amazing that I did some research on it. It never said which families were related to Merlin, so I hadn't a clue there, but there were little snippets of information here and there and I put two and two together." She said shrugging as Albus and Poppy stared at her open mouthed. Albus chuckled as he kissed her hair.

"You are so clever." He said proudly, smiling as Poppy took her hand.

"And so like Minerva." She said winking at her as she helped the girl shuffle down under the covers.

"Albus?" she asked tentatively, glancing over to where she knew Harry and Minerva were, "Will they be alright?" she said, understanding beyond her years that although it was a wonderful thing that just happened, for both parties with would have a difficult time understanding and accepting it. Albus smiled at her, helping to allay her fears.

"Once Minerva gets over the guilt of not saving Lily again and Harry gets over the amount of love she has for him, I imagine they will be just fine." He said winking at her. He was almost to the door when she whispered something to him.

"He won't have to go back now will he?" she asked more as a question than a plea, as was her way. He shook his head at the level of her intelligence.

"No, my dear, he will not, however that is something I would like to tell him, so please do keep that to yourself." Hermione nodded and grinned, before placing her head back on the pillow closing her eyes and falling asleep with a smile plastered to her face. Harry would be so happy. And that's all a best friend could ever hope for.

Harry got up off the bed and moved to the chair, uncomfortable with the feeling that seemed to be consuming him. He grabbed his chest and rubbed it absently as Minerva watched him. Seeing he was in pain she moved to his side and stopped his hand, gently rubbing her hand over his chest instead.

"Are you in pain mo mhac [my son]?" she asked without thinking. His head snapped up like he'd been hexed, again.

"What?" he asked, not really sure what was going on. The only thing he really knew right now was that Minerva comforting gesture was making the feeling worse. He stood, shrugging her off. "What did you call me?" he said, not angrily, but with feeling.

"I, um, I'm sorry Harry, I don't know why I did that." She said haltingly, kicking herself for being so unthinking.

"Yes you do, what is Màthairean Beannachd?" he said looking at her. He had to grab the end of the bed to stop himself from crawling on her knee and going to sleep. He was so tired and all he wanted to do was be held by her. He ran his hands through his hair. "And why in God's name do I feel like this." He said anxiously.

Minerva watched on in sadness, how could she tell the boy what had just happened. She should have been with Lily before her end and if she had, none of this would have happened. Harry would still have his mother and Lily would still be alive.

"Harry, sit down sweetheart. There's something I need to tell you." She said gently, patting the bed next to her. Regardless of how she wanted this to go, she was yearning to take him up in her arms and never let him go. She made a mental note to apologise to Molly Weasley for thinking perhaps she was a little over protective of her brood. Feeling what she felt now, she knew that Molly was definitely right.

Harry sat down and leaned into Minerva, who wrapped an arm around her boy. That touch was all then needed and they held each other, tears of joy rolling down Minerva's face.

"Baby, I love you so much," she whispered, confusing Harry even more so.

"Please," he said pulling himself out of the hug. "Tell me what just happened?"

"Màthairean Beannachd is an ancient spell that is said to be one of the first to be created." Minerva said gently, running her hands through his hair. He visibly relaxed and she lay them both down on the bed looking at each other as she continued her story. "I do not know how accurate this is, as it was handed down from generation to generation, but, the story goes that one of my earliest Ancestors came upon a child in the dead of winter. My ancestor took the child in, fed it, clothed it and gave it some comfort it would otherwise not have had. The child followed my ancestor everywhere and as such, saw and learnt everything my ancestor could do." She took a deep breath and glanced at Harry, who was watching her intently. "When the child grew, my ancestor realised, amazingly, that it possessed magic, just like they did and so they taught that child everything that they knew, helping it on its way to greatness." She said gently, once again running her hand through his hair.

"Who were they?" Harry asked astutely. "There has to be a reason that you aren't telling me their names?" Minerva laughed gently and kissed his forehead.

"In good time little one." She said gently. "My ancestor had to leave their home for a day, no-one is really sure why, but when he returned he noticed that all was not well. He ran into his house, finding his adoptive child cowering on the floor, with a bandit standing over him. As the bandit brought down his sword, intending to cleave the young thing in two, my ancestor, unthinking, leapt onto the child, to save it from death." She wiped a tear from her eye as she ran her fingers over Harry's face. "A bright light surrounded them both, and when they woke, it was as if they had been connected to each other from birth."

"So who were they?" he asked again. She laughed and kissed his forehead.

"Merlin." She said gently, "and his son, or the boy who became his son."

"you're, you're related to Merlin?" he asked incredulously. She nodded a little embarrassed.

"My family is rather an old one." She said gently.

"Is that what happened here?" he said gesturing between them, "when you jumped on me to stop Snape's curse, is that what happened?" he frowned, already knowing the answer.

"I am so sorry Harry, I never, ever want to replace your mother." She said sadly, sitting up. She shook her head, wiling the tears that were forming behind her eyes not to fall. "If I'd have been there I could have saved her." She said quietly, looking at her hands. "None of this would ever have happened."

Harry felt the pain in his chest tighten a little and he subconsciously started rubbing it again. He stood up and walked around the bed.

"If none of this ever happened I might not have met you, I might not have liked you." He said quietly, a little uneasy with everything he was thinking and feeling. "I would never have met Ron or Hermione and you might never have gotten up the nerve to go out with Albus." He said, still rubbing his chest. It wasn't painful, as such, but it sure did feel uncomfortable. Minerva noticed his discomfort and pulled him onto her lap.

"Are you alright?" she said, gently rubbing his chest for him again. He nodded, afraid to speak as the feeling inside his chest grew. "Harry?" she asked as he remained quiet. "Harry, what's wrong?" He shook his head and buried his face in her shoulder, mumbling as he did. "I can't hear you a linbhin [my child]."

"I think you're making it worse." He said apologetically, but almost cried when she took her hand away. He grabbed it back. "No, don't go, don't leave me." He said quietly, the way he said it almost broke Minerva's heart.

"I will not leave you my leòmhann beag." She held him tightly and kissed his hair, "I'll always be here." She promised gently. She rubbed his back, wondering what was wrong with his chest. "Harry, would you let Madam Pomfrey take a look at you?" she asked gently, afraid that he had been hurt by the curse, or by the spell. Harry shook his head emphatically.

"I don't want to move." He said childishly, hanging onto her robes. She frowned.

"Aren't you in pain?" she asked, her brain working overtime to try and work out what was wrong with her cub. Harry shook his head.

"It's not pain, it's just weird." He said shrugging, but not taking he head away from Minerva's shoulder. "It's like nothing I've ever felt before, it's like I need to be with you all the time and when you were sad it hurt and when I'm here with you it feels like my chest is going to explode." He said, wondering whether he was making sense. She smiled gently down at him.

"And when I do this?" she said running her hand through his hair.

"It's worse." He said almost in tears. He loved it when she did that. She held him close.

"Oh leanabh [baby], that feeling?" she said gently, looking into his eyes. "That's love my darling." She let him think about it for a moment. "It's a mixture of my love for you and your love for me. Albus can probably explain it better, knowing him he already understands this much better than I ever will," she said with a smile, "but I think the understanding is that if this ever happens the two parties become linked, the feeling so strong that it is as if they'd been born to them." She said gently, taking his hand.

"You feel like you gave birth to me?" Harry said with a frown. Minerva took his facial expression as bad news.

"Harry, I am so sorry. When Severus fired that shot I couldn't think, I did the first thing I thought of, and clearly my heritage played a part there,

"Minerva," Harry said gently, trying to break her concentration.

"because if it hadn't I'm sure I would have killed Severus where he stood for firing at you.

"Minerva?"

"I never want to replace Lily. I loved that girl so much and if I'd have been there that night maybe,"

"Seanmhair?"

"Maybe I could have saved her, and then,"

"MUM." Harry shouted looking a little embarrassed. She looked at him shocked. "um, you were rambling." He said shrugging. Harry took a breath, before frowning a little, "I'm not really sure I want to call you that." He said sadly, "I kind of liked it when you were Seanmhair, but it's like I have to." He hated feeling compelled to do something.

"You don't have to do anything mo gradh [my love]. I am sorry for all this." Harry shot of her knee, surprising her.

"Will you please stop apologising. I," he looked at her, seeing she was next to tears. He sighed and knelt in front of her. "I've never been happier in my entire life." He said quietly. "I always felt bad for wanting this, wanting you to be, well, like a mum. I always felt like I was betraying Mum's memory or something." He said with a shrug, making Minerva want to wrap him up in her arms and never let go. "Sirius asked me to stay with him." Harry said, "before." He waved his hands trying to indicate a sort of time frame. Minerva stilled, silently working through all the reasons she could give him for not being able to leave. Harry took her hand, stilling her thoughts.

"I told him I was staying with you." He said gently, smiling for the first time since before Snape had come into the Hospital Wing. "Tha gaol agam ort Seanmhair."

Minerva's well-built walls broke as she looked at her boy. All the love that she was feeling as well as the love she held for his mother seemed to come pouring out of her as she pulled him into a fierce hug, laughing and crying at the same time. She rolled them back onto the slightly uncomfortable hospital bed and lay with her arms wrapped tightly around her boy.

"Gu bràth, mo mhac, gu bràth ma mo cridhe." [Forever, my son, forever in my heart] She whispered kissing the crown of his head as he held her just as tightly as she was holding him. "I love you." Before they both succumbed to sleep, worn out by not just the spell, but all the emotional turmoil it brought with it.