Hey Lovelies! So here is Chapter 9 and what better title for a chapter about Minerva and Sirius than Cats and Dogs? I hope you like it, let me know what you think! Enjoy!

Chapter 9 – Cats and Dogs

Minerva was thrilled that she had successfully avoided Dolores all morning and she hadn't seen the woman in the Great Hall at lunch. She had been having a rather coded conversation with Albus when Harry had arrived and the Headmaster had all but shut down. He still wasn't speaking to or even hardly around Harry. It was something that she had noticed before, but she was willing to let it go. She was sure that he would tell her eventually.

She had chosen to have a late lunch, mainly to avoid any unwanted interaction with certain, other staff members, and so it was already one-thirty by the time she excused herself from the Head table and headed back to her office. Harry caught up with her in the hallway outside her classroom.

"Minerva!" She turned around at the sound of her name, a slightly aghast look on her face.

"Harry! I know that I told you to call me that, but what if someone hears you?" She looked all around them and then cocked her head to one side listening and Harry smirked.

"See, there was no one around to hear me."

She raised one eyebrow at him. "Except for the paintings. They do have ears you know?"

He nodded, "I know. They won't say anything though. I promise." He reached for her and his hand on her arm helped to take the edge off of some of her worry.

"If you say so." She fought the urge to roll her eyes at him. "Are you headed back to the library?"

"Yeah, I just have to grab something out of my trunk and then I'm going back. Are you locking yourself in your office again?" He shot her the cocky grin that he had inherited directly from his father.

"I was planning on it." She smiled, "Let's go." They made their way down the corridor and Godric swung forward on his hinges to let them into her quarters. She paused outside one of the doors leading off the hallway. "Good luck on the rest of your homework. What do you have left?"

"Potions…" He grumbled as he came back out of the bedroom, a rolled up piece of parchment in his hands. "Where does that door lead?"

She pushed it open and smiled when his eyes went wide. "Did you really think that my office was in no way connected to these rooms?"

"But the way the castle is built, that shouldn't be there." He shook his head, and stared into space as if he were trying to picture the layout of the floor in his mind. "That room shouldn't touch these at all."

"Magic." She smirked at him before she passed into her office, "Go finish your Potions essay young man."

"Yes mo bhanrígh."

She hid her smile behind the door as she gently closed it between them. He really was a charmer.

She warded off the main door to her office so that no one could get in that way, and she wasn't particularly worried about anyone besides Harry getting past Godric. She was sure that after their discussion the other night he wouldn't even allow Albus in her quarters without asking her first. She settled behind her desk and waited for Sirius, if her assumptions proved correct he would be here within the next five minutes.

The roar of the fire to her right caused her to look up from her paperwork. "Sirius." She smiled at him and stood from her desk. "Thank you for coming."

"You seemed a little upset in your letter this morning." He followed her direction to the two armchairs in front of the fire. "I wanted to make sure that everything was alright."

She waved her wand and the tea set that she had asked for only minutes earlier flew from her desk to the tiny coffee table. "That's not the only reason you're here though is it?" She knew the answer, but she wanted to hear him say it.

"No. It's not. I, I have some questions that I want to ask you." He looked over his shoulder towards the door.

"Don't worry, no one is getting in here. I made sure of that."

He nodded. "Well, you seemed awfully worried about Harry this morning, and I can't help but wonder,"

"Why the sudden concern?" She provided for him.

"Yeah." He waited for her to collect her thoughts before pushing her. "Well, Minerva? Why the sudden concern?"

She sighed, "When he said that this morning it made me worry, what if someone was tampering with Harry all summer? What if him not getting any of his mail was part of some larger plot? What if she,"

She was getting more and more angry and frustrated, and she didn't know where it was coming from.

Across the castle in the library Harry threw his quill down on the table. This was pointless. He was never going to finish this essay and he couldn't have cared less about the properties of the potion he was supposed to be analyzing. He didn't understand.

He had told Minerva that morning that no one had written to him, and he hadn't thought anything of it at the time, but now that he had seen her reaction he was worried. What if it was all connected? What if the dementors, and not receiving his mail, and the Prophet eating him alive, and Dumbledore not speaking to him, and the Ministry sending that Umbridge woman here, what if it was all connected?

No, Harry stop. He shook his head, trying to shake all of the thoughts out of his head, where were they coming from anyway? He hadn't thought that any of those things were connected, and even if they were, why would Dumbledore be involved? He stood and stretched his body out, hoping that a change in position would help to clear his head.

"Minerva, calm down!" Sirius watched as the witch in front of him became more and more frustrated.

"No Sirius, this is ridiculous, something is going on here, and we have to figure out what it is." She glared at him across the small space and he recoiled a little bit.

"McGonagall listen to me! There is more than one thing going on here! There is whatever was happening to Harry's letters, there's whatever this Ministry witch is doing in the school, and there's whatever in the hell is going on between you and my godson!"

Minerva gasped and her eyes went wide, but she recovered quickly. "You have no idea what you're talking about Sirius. Let that one go."

"I don't think I will." He reached in his pocket and pulled out the book that he had been trying to study all morning. "Something is going on between the two of you and you're going to tell me what it is! I saw the way the two of you were acting the other day; I saw the look in Harry's eyes when Poppy showed up at the house. You two have some serious explaining to do!"

"No we don't Sirius! I called you hear to talk about the letters. To talk about who could be trying to keep Harry away from all that is happening in the world." She looked down at the book he had thrown on the table, "Not to talk about things that you don't understand."

"Make me understand then!"

Harry could tell that something was wrong. Something was causing Minerva's emotions to go haywire. She was nervous, and upset and hostile, and then all of a sudden she was afraid. He didn't think. He didn't even stop to tell Madam Pince that he was leaving all of his things. He ran.

He tore off down the library corridor, and took the stairs two at a time on his way down to the Transfiguration corridor. He swung around the corner and into her classroom, only to remember that she had sealed this door.

The closer he got to her the more he could feel her and it felt as if she was going to explode. She was angry, yelling, panicking and he couldn't get to her. Godric! He swung back out of the room and up the hall. "I need in there!"

"She's in a meeting." The founder didn't seem to care that Harry was about to rip his own hair out.

"I know that! But she needs me! I need her! I have to get in there!" He took a deep breath and tried out his best impression of Minerva on the portrait. "She told you to let me in. I know how the magic in your painting works, now move aside."

There was an air to his voice that commanded respect and the painting seemed surprised at his show of force. "You really do care about her?"

"Of course I do! Now get out of my way." It was practically a growl and the portrait had no choice but to swing forward and allow him access. He flew through her apartment to the last door off the hallway. With a grand tug he wrenched it open causing Sirius to look away from the witch in front of him.

Harry didn't spare but a single glance for his godfather, he moved to stand directly between the two of them, facing Minerva. "Are you alright?"

She nodded, but he could tell that she wasn't. She was shaking, though he didn't know if it was anger or fear that was causing the tremors she was feeling so much of both.

He took ahold of her upper arms and let the contact regulate both of their emotions before he spoke again. "The truth this time mo bhanrígh. Are you alright?"

"Tha, mo loach. I'm okay. Your godfather and I were just having a little disagreement." She looked pointedly over his shoulder at Sirius, who was staring at them open-mouthed.

"A little disagreement?" He raised an eyebrow at her and grinned. "I could feel it all the way across the castle! You were more than a little upset."

"What the bloody hell is going on here?" Sirius was staring at the two of them. "It's true isn't it? What I saw in that book? You really are connected to each other now?" His temper was getting the best of him and he was starting to yell again.

Harry turned around to face his godfather, careful to make sure that he was blocking Minerva completely with his body. "Yes. It is true. But I won't let you yell at her for it. It wasn't her fault. If anything it was mine, so back off." He took a step towards the older man and Sirius's face blanked. He hadn't realized that Harry was actually committed to this. Harry took a deep breath and refocused on the conversation. "What are you doing here?"

Sirius nodded towards Minerva, "She asked me to come. She said she wanted to talk to me, and then I got here and she got upset and I started yelling, and things got a little crazy."

Harry faced Minerva, "You asked him to come?"

She nodded and smiled, "I was worried about you. You said that you weren't getting your letters over the summer, and I sent Sirius a letter. I'm worried that someone was trying to stop you from receiving any news from our world. That you were being kept in the dark on purpose."

"He was." They both turned to look at Sirius, who was staring back at them rather uncomfortably. He hadn't missed the fact that they had gravitated closer together without either one of them realizing what they were doing.

"What?" She snapped. "What are you talking about?"

"He was being kept in the dark. On purpose."

Harry was confused, and angry, and his own emotions were mixing with Minerva's as the both of them became more and more upset. "Who would want to keep me in the dark enough that they stopped my letters?"

"The Ministry?" Minerva looked hesitant.

"No." Both sets of emerald eyes peered at him as he shook his head. "It wasn't the Ministry. It was Dumbledore."

"What?!" Harry's fingers just missed her arm as she stepped forwards.

Tha = Yes

Mo Bhanrígh = My Queen

Mo Loach = My Warrior