A/N: Thank you all for the reviews. Harry Potter is not mine this is a story from a fan.

A helping hand

C8 Week after week.

Andrea had a terrible weekend. She didn't sleep as well as she wanted and was almost bitchy when she got back in class.

Her attitude disappeared the moment she saw Harry sitting in his spot next to the fence. While she made her way over to him she looked him up and down. Something told her that his weekend had been just as bad as hers had been. Slowly she sat down and laid a hand on his shoulder.

Harry was startled and immediately ran over to the tree, screaming "Please keep the dog away, please keep the dog away".

Andrea looked around herself for the dog Harry was screaming about, but she could not see a dog anywhere. So she walked over to Harry and looked him over again. He was desperately trying to climb into the tree. "Harry would you please calm down. There is no Dog here".

"No, no, Ripper is here somewhere he is here all the time".

It took Andrea another fifteen minutes to get Harry away from the tree before he believed that there was no dog. With a little difficult she took Harry with her into the classroom and closed the door behind her.

Harry walked to the back of the class and started to climb onto his desk.

Andrea sat down behind her own desk and saw Harry sitting on his. Why he was doing this she didn't understand, but it had to be something that had really traumatized him. It was the one thing she was sure of.

Slowly Harry started to realize that the dog he was seeing wasn't there. As he climbs down from his little desk and sat down on his chair Andrea knew that she wouldn't ask him any questions, at least not yet.

At half past eight, the other students started to come into the classroom. Dudley Dursley was the last to walk into the classroom, the moment he saw Harry he barked like a dog.

"No, Ripper No" Harry screamed as he tried to get back on top of his desk.

"Mr. Dursley, out in the hallway now" Andrea screamed just as hard as Harry did while she made her way over to Harry. "Come Harry you will come with me for a moment".

Harry nodded while the other students were just laughing at him.

Andrea had to bite back a detention for the whole class when she said. "I want you all to stop laughing and take a piece of paper. On that paper I want you all to write down why it is not funny to laugh at someone who is scared, I also what you to write down if it is okay when someone is laughing at your fears". It was now that Andrea gave a true McGonagall look at the class that made them all sit up with fear in their eyes. "Now, what are you waiting for".

Every student scrambled to get their paper and started to write down something, just to let her see they were doing it.

So Andrea widened her eyes and gave a sharp nod before she guided Harry out of the classroom.

In the hallway, Dudley started to bark at Harry and saw how he ran into the toilet slamming the door behind him. "No, Ripper please no".

It was for the second time that day that Andrea was at the point to lose it all. With a couple of very deep breaths, she gave a deep sigh and gazed at Dudley. "Mr. Dursley, you will go home now, you are expelled from school for two whole weeks. Later tonight I will write a letter to your parents explaining why. Now go and get out of my sight".

"When my father hears about this he will show you, it's all the freaks fault" Dudley screamed as he wobbled his way out of the door.

Before Andrea could knock on the bathroom door to see if Harry was okay, she heard her name being called from the other side of the corridor.

"Miss McGonagall". I'm really sorry to bother you but did I just see Mr. Dursley walking out of the front door".

"Yes headmistress you did," Andrea said. "Mr. Dursley was very rude as he made fun of the fear of one of my other students. At first, I told him to stand in the hallway but it was there that he again made the rude gesture at that student".

"Who was the student and why is Mr. Dursley walking home".

"Headmistress, Mr. Dursley is walking home because I have just expelled him for two weeks. I, however, don't see why it matters who the other student is" Andrea said with a very sharp look.

"It does matter because you don't know if that student had proclaimed it over himself by his own actions when they were at the schoolyard".

"Headmistress that student was Mr. Potter and I assure".

"Ah Mr. Potter, I should have known".

The eyes of Andrea narrowed a bit. "What is that suppose to mean" she could barely stop herself from snarling out the words.

"Miss McGonagall, Mr. Potter has a track record to play the victim of his own actions. But you are new, so I know you will see it for yourself in a matter of time. For now, I will go and call Mrs. Dursley and tell her that Mr. Dursley will be allowed to get back to school come first thing tomorrow". With those words, the headmistress walked off and disappeared around the corner.

With her eyes closed, Andrea shook her head and walked over to the door of the bathroom. As she knocked softly she opened the door and looked around. Harry was not in sight so she knocked on the stalls. By the third stall, she heard something that sounded like a soft sob. "Harry could you come out here," she asked. After a long minute of waiting she still hadn't heard a word so she had to ask it again. "Harry please come out and talk to me".

After another moment of silent, she heard the doorknob turn. Harry came out of the stall and looked up at Andrea with red eyes. There were no tear treks but Andrea could see that he wanted to cry. Her instinct told her to take him into a hug and to kiss him on his head, just like a mother would do if it was her child. But something told her that it would freak him out if she did. "Harry what happened this past weekend for you to act this way".

With a shake of his head, Harry told her No,

"I want to help you Harry, but I can only do it if you tell me what happened".

It was another shake that told her, No".

After an internal sigh, she patted his shoulder. "It's okay Harry, You don't have to tell me but I'm here if you need me".

Two Emerald green eyes looked at her with a little hope that was immediately replaced with a look of doubt. No, Harry don't get your hopes up. She is just like all the others. She does not care for you, you're a freak and freaks are not to be cared for. We are not allowed to cry and to whine, we are only good to work and do as we are told.

Andrea saw the hope in his eyes and right after that the doubt he had. It hurt her deeply to see that he still didn't trust her enough to tell her what was wrong. So this week she decided to let him be. If he came to her she would be there for him like she promised.

*#*

The next day she again saw him sitting at his place next to the fence. It was again an hour before the start of the class. Like every day she walked over to him sat down and took him into a hug. Harry didn't respond like he had done the week before so it disturbed her a bit.

"I..".

Andrea heard him starting to say something but she didn't react. From her aunt, she had heard that if a disturbed, troubled or abused the child was going to say something you must let them do it at their own pace. Don't push them; never push, always let them take the pace they need.

"I…I…".

Slowly she started to bite her bottom lip because she wanted to do what everyone would do and that was to push.

"I…M Sorry".

"Why are you sorry Harry".

For the umpteenth time, there was a silent's that would drag on for way too long if you would ask Andrea.

"I'm sorry for yesterday". Suddenly Harry got up to his feet and started to run to the tree.

Andrea wanted to follow but the car she heard stopping made her turn around. She saw Dudley stepping out of the car but also how his mother came after him. The next person that came out of the car made the car jump a foot in the air and it sounded like the car screamed a breath of relief when its shocks came back to their normal positions.

With a quick look over her shoulder, she could see Harry hiding behind the tree and making himself as small as possible.

"Miss McGonagall, would you please come along" she heard the headmistress ask her.

Andrea was a little startled but nodded and followed the mammoth that was walking in front of her. She wiggled with her nose in a disgusting way as she watched the father of Dudley walking ahead.

In the office of the headmistress, Andrea sat down and listened to all that was said.

"Mr. Dursley, I'm sorry to say this but, there has been an incident yesterday and young Dudley may have behaved a little badly".

While she heard the headmistress talking she had one word running through her mind. "BITCH". How dare she turn it all around like that?

"It was informed to me that Dudley had barked at Harry. Now by doing this, he scared him a little".

A little she says. Really I'm not sure anymore if the Dursleys are abusing him or if it is this school that is doing it, Andrea thought.

It was now that Vernon spoke up. "Yes we heard but Boys will be boys, it was all a joke I tell you. Maybe a little bad one but it was all a joke. You see last weekend my sister came to stay with us for the weekend with her new dog called Ripper. Now, all that the dog wanted was to play, but you see Harry was scared of it and ran away. Now the dog did go after him and while playing he bit Harry".

Andrea took a breath. "My god, you did go to the doctor didn't you" She almost screamed.

Vernon looked at her like she had grown a second head. "Of course we did, we took him to the vet and everything".

Andrea heard the word vet but didn't think about it for another second.

"Well I'm very glad we could settle this little misunderstanding," the headmistress said.

Bitch: was all Andrea thought again.

It was not long after that that Vernon and Petunia left.

"I still can't believe that that is the sister of my friend Lily". Andrea said to herself while she shook her head.

A/N: This was it again at this time.
See you again for the next chapter.

Gr. Winmau.