Disclaimer: This is not mine, Harry Potter and characters belong to JKR drat. If wishes were horses and all that.

Chapter 4: Looking at the Past

Professor McGonagall was walking to her temporary office the day after Albus Dumbledore was arrested and Severus Snape was soundly trounced by Harry Potter. She didn't understand what happened really. She didn't understand why her old mentor had been arrested. Albus always worked for the Greater Good.

Harry was supposed to be safe with his relatives. Blood wards were impenetrable. What had he meant that there were no blood wards? What about Severus? He was vital to the Order. His information helped to save lives, why was Harry being so vindictive? That was just not like him, or so she thought.

She paused when she reached the gargoyle and gave the password. "Victory." The gargoyle moved out of the way and she made her way up the spiral staircase. She opened the door and stopped in shock. Several cauldrons were spread throughout the office in various states of melting. Some had some horrible potion spewing smoke or slowly seeping sludge over the side. Once she had overcome her shock, she pulled her wand and tried to Banish the cauldrons. However, they would not be Banished. She tried again, still nothing. She called a house elf.

One appeared. "Can Pinnit helps you Miss Professor?" The little elf asked.

Professor McGonagall nodded. "Yes, Pinnit, will you please remove these cauldrons from my office. And get any help that you require to help you. In the meantime I will use my old office, if you or anyone else needs me." She turned to leave the office.

Pinnit nodded his head, "I be doings it Miss Professor. I gets help." He popped away to get the help he would need.

As she walked to her old office she wondered how someone had gotten into the office to put all of those cauldrons there. Meanwhile, as soon as she left Dobby popped into the headmaster's office and vanished all of the cauldrons and potions with a snap of his fingers. He looked around to make sure that he hadn't missed anything, nodded and popped out with a smile of satisfaction on his face. Pinnit never did come back to the office.

McGonagall opened her office door to see hundreds of letters floating about. She gasped in shock, then in outrage. She grasped the closest letter, needing to know what this latest foolishness was about. What she found was a letter of complaint against one Severus Snape and his bullying and horrible teaching practices. This was from a parent of one her lions when Snape first started teaching at Hogwarts. She grabbed another letter, it was the same subject. As she looked around her office, she realized for the first time the magnitude of complaints that she had ignored on Albus' orders. Why had she done that? Wasn't her duty to the students? Albus always said that it was necessary for the "Greater Good". She had believed him, and let the complaints slide. Had she been wrong? Snape was now out of a job, and Albus had been arrested. She didn't know anymore. She decided to go into her classroom and do her work there before retiring to her rooms.

After she had left, Dobby popped into her office and again cleaned up the mess that had been made. All of the letters were put back where they belonged. He smiled and popped away.

McGonagall stepped into her class, walked to her desk, and placed her work on it so that she could see what would need to be done before the board found a new headmaster/headmistress. Suddenly the doors closed and sealed themselves. She pulled her wand and looked around, but could see no one. Of course, that did not mean that there was no one there. Then, in the middle of the class, a wisp of silver smoke rose up and coalesced into a more or less solid form of a memory. The memory was of one of Snape bullying a first-year Gryffindor, making the poor boy cower in his seat for no apparent reason. When this memory vanished, another took its place, where Snape punished a couple of students from Ravenclaw, when it had clearly been the Slytherins who had been at fault. Memory after memory appeared, showing similar actions on the part of the former professor.

McGonagall was sitting in a chair, white with shock, and sick with shame when a new set of memories began. They were of a small boy with messy black hair and brilliant green eyes being abused at by his "family". The memories showed years of neglect and abuse, both verbal and physical at the hands of the Dursleys. They showed that Harry was nothing more than their personal House Elf, an abused one at that. Then the memories from school started. The ones from Snape's class where the greasy git took great delight in tormenting him. Memories which showed he was punished simply because the git felt like it. She saw his detentions with Umbridge. She saw his "Occlumency" lessons with Snape, which were nothing more than mind rape. She watched as Sirius fell through the veil. By this point she was crying. The memories stopped.

The door unsealed and Harry stepped into her classroom. He looked at McGonagall with an unreadable expression on his face. "How did you like my little presentation professor?" He asked politely.

She looked at him, with tears streaming down her face, and didn't know what to say. She had failed Harry and so many other students.

Harry nodded at her, seeming to sense that she didn't know what to say. He spoke, "I know what I did to you seems a little harsh, but I need you to realize what you had allowed to happen because you blindly followed Dumbledore." He looked up at the ceiling than back at McGonagall with a sigh. "I know that he defeated Grindelwald, and was considered very wise, but he was human like all of us. He didn't know everything, and in the end, he began to like the power and adulation." He looked at her with a hard expression. "He particularly didn't like the idea that I might be more popular than him, or that when I defeated Voldemort, that I might overshadow him. His plan was to keep me weak and dependent on him, and that he would take the credit for killing Voldemort since Dumbledore figured that Voldemort and I would kill each other. If I survived, than I would be so dependent on the old coot, that I would follow his lead." Harry snorted at McGonagall's shocked look. "Unfortunately for him, I had started suspecting something was wrong at the end of my fourth year, and had Dobby help me buy lots of books before I went home."

Here McGonagall interrupted. "But you didn't seem to be any better in your classes than before Mr. Potter. If you did all of the studying you say you did, why didn't you improve?"

Harry laughed. "Snd let that old coot know that I was studying and learning things that he didn't want me too? No. I knew he was keeping things from me, so I figured two could play that game. Actually, four could play that game. Ron and Hermione were in on it. They were studying right along with me. Why do you think that the DA did so well? I had a firm grasp of the subject I was teaching! I mean, I was teaching seventh years for their N.E.W.T.S. I couldn't very well do that if I didn't know what I was doing, now could I? And all of the students that I taught did extremely well from what I hear." He smiled at her expression. "Professor, the hat wanted to put me in Slytherin when I was sorted, but I begged for another house, I didn't want to be in the same house as Malfoy." He laughed again when he looked at her shocked face. He sobered. "Now to get down to business. The reason that I had this set up. Have you figured it out?" he asked.

McGonagall nodded. "I believe I have, Mr. Potter. I failed to listen to the students. I listened to Albus and his 'Greater Good' nonsense and my students paid the price." She closed her eyes and opened them again to look at Harry. "You paid the highest price for my loyalty Mr. Potter. I knew those Muggles were horrible, I protested your placement with them. Albus, argued that it was necessary for your protection, the blood wards, and I let it go. I see now that I should have looked into things more thoroughly. I am truly sorry for that and will work at not making the same mistakes in the future Mr. Potter. You have my word on that."

Harry nodded, "I believe you professor. You were always fair and honest. You just believed in the old coot too much. That is why you will not be the new headmistress. After this, you might be, but nothing can be done about it now."

McGonagall shook her head. "I have no desire to be Headmistress. I enjoy teaching too much and would not wish to give it up yet. Maybe in another twenty years I will be ready to retire from teaching." She stood up and walked up to Harry and held out her hand. "I hope that you accept my apologies, Mr. Potter, for not providing you with a safer home and school environment. I will endeavor to make sure that no other student has to endure what you have in your life."

Harry looked in her eyes and took her hand. "I accept." He smiled cheekily as he released her hand. "I think that I should let you get to work, Professor, or you won't be ready for your first class." With that he turned and left her classroom.

McGonagall walked to her desk and sat down. Instead of getting right to work, she ordered some tea. She need to relax and do some thinking before she could work.

Harry joined his friends sitting in front of the Gryffindor fireplace. They wanted to know how it went. He smiled. "It went well, I believe. She'll be processing this for a bit, but she won't let it happen on her watch again. Dobby!" He called.

His little friend popped up. "Yous called, Harry Potter, Sir?" Dobby squeaked.

Harry smiled at Dobby, "I did. I wanted to thank you for all of your help with Professor McGonagall's lesson. It went very well."

Dobby practically vibrated he was so excited at being thanked, "oh the Great Harry Potter is thanking Dobby, Dobby is so happy to helps Harry Potter!" He hugged Harry's legs before popping away.

Harry and his friends laughed at Dobby's antics. Ron piped up. "So who's next?"

A/N: Thank you to all who were so kind and reviewed this story. I have enjoyed poking fun at two of the characters. I would also like to thank my beta harryhermionerw, she has been terrific. I forgot to mention her when I updated last, that won't happen again.

Second note: I changed course a little with Professor McGonagall because I felt that she always believed that she was doing the right thing and ignored what was going on around her all because Dumbledore said it was necessary.