McGonagall taught in Hogwarts for a long time, at least long enough to know the Marauders, Lily Evans, and possibly young Snape. As deputy headmistress, she would be privy to some of Dumbledore's plans, but not all. She appears to have no idea about Snape's true role in Dumbledore's schemes.

That Boy

Minerva McGonagall swept into the Headmaster's Study in a whirl of robes. No, it was her office now. The portraits of former headmasters and headmistresses regarded her curiously. There was an empty space on the wall for her most recent predecessor. The portrait sat on the floor, still in its wrappings. The Hogwarts elves probably did not feel she would welcome this addition to her sanctuary and had given her the discreet choice of disposing of it should she chose. With a flick of her wand, she stripped the brown paper and spelled it into place on the wall.

Severus Snape. It was just as well she spoke to Harry before she came to her office. Otherwise, a perfectly good portrait could have been consigned to flames. The portrait was as unflattering as they came. Dumbledore smiled benignly out of his frame, a twinkle in his eyes. Snape just scowled, as if on the edge of delivering a scathing comment. His teaching manner always left much to be desired.

"How does it feel now being Hogwarts' shortest-tenured headmaster?" she asked. Snape's portrait did not reply. She had not woken it yet. Perhaps not today. There were still repairs to be overseen before they could reopen their gates to the students.

"He was a brave man, Dumbledore's loyal spy among the Death Eaters… He deserves better…" Harry had spoken earnestly despite their mutually fraught relationship during Snape's lifetime. They had recovered Snape's corpse from the Shrieking Shack after the battle. Between the snake venom and having been left in the unseasonal heat for almost two days, it was not a pretty sight. Potter had been sick outside the shack after they came to recover his body for burial. He had no living kin left and apparently few friends. A burial in an unmarked grave, until his godson Draco and Harry decided to grant him a proper tombstone almost a decade later. The boys could not agree on granite or black marble. She later heard Mrs Malfoy had wanted to grant him a place in the Malfoy crypt, but her husband protested on grounds he was only a halfblood.

It should be an easy thing to honour Harry's wishes and see that Snape was recognized for contributions to Hogwarts, but to have his portrait up and see him almost daily… Knowing she had failed that boy that he once was… No, they had all failed him in their own way - that scrawny boy who found himself too often at the receiving end of her young lions' bullying.

A full moon night about twenty years back…

"How is he, Albus?" Minerva rushed to the infirmary. She had received an urgent summons from Poppy. Had Lupin gotten loose? Was he hurt? Or worse, had he attacked someone?

She noticed a black-haired boy out of the corner of her eye, his eyes pools of fear as he cowered on his cot. His clothes were muddied, with his knees drawn up to his chest. He was shaking like a leaf. Poppy was muttering angrily about low stocks of Calming Draughts as she rummaged through the medicine chests. There was no sign of Lupin.

There was instead an angry quarrel in the ward. James Potter and Sirius Black, known troublemakers in her House. No doubt they were the reason for her summons.

"Someone could have died!"

"Just a prank – teach Snivellus not to poke his nose…"

"Do you have any idea what would happen to Moony if he bit someone?" If Lupin had bitten someone, it could be the Kiss for him. The laws did not look kindly on werewolves.

She saw Black raise his hand as if to strike Potter. She grabbed his arm before he could do something he would later regret.

"Shut up and sit down!" McGonagall ordered firmly. The boys complied.

Remus Lupin was safely secured in the Shack. Black had thought it would be a lark to trick a fellow student into going down that secret passage, knowing he would encounter a transformed werewolf at the end of Gryffindor Head of House felt her teeth ache. Lupin's problem kept secret from most of the staff and students. Somehow, he had entrusted his secret to his friends, one of whom saw fit to misuse it. Lupin would need her support after he returns to himself, aware how close he had come to infecting another.

Snape had seen the werewolf at the end of the tunnel before Potter managed to rescue him from being bitten and possible death. Black earned himself detention and points lost. Potter a lesser punishment of lost points considering his selfless rescue of Snape. He should not have been out after curfew. Black and Potter were as thick as thieves. Now their friendship was threatened with rupture. Despite it all, it would endure this storm like so many.

Her wayward students dealt with. She turned her attention to the shellshocked boy.

"You may leave, Minerva. Please take Potter and Black back to their dorm…" Dumbledore murmured

"But Snape…"

"I have summoned Horace. It is best his Head of House attend to him…"

Perhaps she should have stood her ground. Yet she had always deferred to her former professor. She turned her back on the boy and left with her little lions, knowing that it was unlikely Slughorn would rouse himself until breakfast. By then, Dumbledore had Snape sworn to secrecy over the night's events and Lupin's lycanthropy. She had always in awe of the Chief Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, Headmaster… How did she ever allow herself to be convinced leaving baby Harry with the Dursleys was a good idea?

She did not watch young Snape as closely as she would have if he were in her House. She did notice that Lily Evans no longer sat with Snape by the Black Lake on sunny days. Instead, he had joined a cohort of fellow Slytherins, many of whom would become Death Eaters. They would lose James and Lily Potter during the first war. Sirius falsely imprisoned for the treachery of another. They had sorely misjudged Pettigrew.

She was surprised when Dumbledore leapt to Snape's defence during the Death Eater trials following the First Wizarding War. The Chief Warlock claimed he was his spy for the Order in the Death Eater ranks. The Wizengamot believed him. When she returned to Hogwarts to teach after Elphie's passing, Snape had taken Slughorn's former post as Potions Master – a bitter, disillusioned man who found little joy in his life and blighted the lives of the students who filed through his class.

Snape kept his secrets close. Perhaps that trait made him invaluable as a spy. During the Second War, many in the Order had suspected his loyalties. After Dumbledore's demise, they had condemned him as a traitor and coward. When Voldemort took over the Ministry, he was installed as Headmaster, to the dismay of all the teachers who had remained, McGonagall among them. They had watched their students hounded and tortured by the likes of the Carrows. Students vanished with alarming regularity in those dark days. They had not known about Hogwarts' secret haven for the students most in need of her protection.

Had Severus's presence as Headmaster helped rein in the Death Eaters' excesses, even just a little? Had he agonized at night over keeping his facade of loyal follower while young Longbottom and others were Crucio-ed by the Carrows?

They had duelled, a close duel. She had not held back at all. Did he? She always knew he was a powerful wizard in his own right, a master duellist and talented potioneer, though a solitary man by nature. He once declared would rather cut off his right hand than host the students' duelling club and be subject to the company of more students after his put-down of Lockhart. Flitwick had declined earlier due to his heavy workload tutoring the NEWTs class for Charms.

If Snape had not been seduced by the Dark Arts in his youth…

If she had extended a helping hand that night…

If his friendship with Lily had survived…

Snape loved Lily. When Voldemort threatened her, he lost Snape's loyalty forever. It would have been hard, taking on all the hatred from his colleagues and students alone after Dumbledore's death - acting the loyal servant to the wizard who had killed his only love. Between the Wars, he was mostly friendless, apart from a somewhat cordial relationship with the Malfoys. After Lily, it seemed his heart withered and died as well.

She could always blame his infatuation with the Dark Arts for his misfortune… Had it all been an act?

When you look at young Harry, who do you see - the bully of your schooldays or the girl you loved? Snape took that answer to his grave.

If things had gone differently, would Severus have had a chance to heal after the war? Perhaps find love anew, like she had done with Elphie? Ah, it had been different then. She made her choice with Dougal, and heartily regretted it since until she opened her heart to dear Elphie. She only wished she had accepted her husband's proposal sooner.

Minerva sighed as a house elf apparated with her dinner. It was late. She was an old woman now. She had lost so many close to her over the years and nursed her own fair share of regrets. There was no Albus Dumbledore now to place her trust in now or seek guidance from – apart from the headmaster's portrait of course. She must oversee the rebuilding, undoing the damage done to the old castle as well the education of so many caused by the war. There still OWLs and NEWTs to prepare for, admission letters to be sent out to a new crop of students who will hopefully learn in an era of peace.

Perhaps there will be a time in the future when she would need advice from Snape. Until then, she would be content to let his portrait sleep.

Author's Notes:

Minerva is going on a little guilt trip. Snape was not the most popular guy in the staffroom. Not too sure if her teaching career would have brought her in contact with Tom Riddle. She was a teacher in 1930s, but apparently there was a break in her teaching career at some point where she was working at the Ministry.