What Are Heads of House For?

Author's Note: This is a story for adama-roslinlove. She had a special request for a McGonagall mother fic, and I finally have it.

Disclaimer: None of these characters are mine.

Sitting by the fire after a long day, Minerva McGonagall looked at the papers in front of her. She would never tell anyone, but for as much homework as she gave out, she really did hate the tedious task of grading. It wasn't so much the grading part as much as it was the sheer stupidity that some of her young pupils showed. Looking down at a particularly stale paper on the transfiguration of an owl into a pair of opera glasses, she quickly skimmed the length of paper before awarding it a failing grade. Mr. Goyle really should know by now that she had read almost all articles known to the wizarding world on anything Transfiguration related. After a quick note about plagiarism and the need to speak to her after class, Minerva decided to take a break.

Between normal class schedules, grading, detention supervision, the new patrolling schedule, and the insufferable meetings that Dolores insisted on having, she was exhausted. A cup of tea was exactly what she needed, but she knew that at this late hour…or early hour… she would not be able to sleep a wink if she had anything to drink. Usually the grading could wait until a later date, but with the inspections, she would not give Dolores a reason to send her packing. The thought of being thrown out like Sybil was not a comforting one, especially without the presence of Albus.

She looked at the schedule for tomorrow… or rather later today, and sighed. Here it was, 3:12 in the morning, and she had a staff meeting at 6:30 and at least another 30 minutes of grading. Summoning all of her strength, Minerva walked back to her desk and grabbed the stack of remaining essays. There were only three left, but from the size of the stack, one of them was definitely Miss Granger's. Smiling at the elegant handwriting and the attention to detail, Minerva read through the immaculate paper in twenty minutes. Although there were no corrections to be made, she liked to leave comments every once in a while to feed the young woman's curiosity.

Ron Weasley's essay was next and it was short and to the point. The length of the paper was just at the minimum, but there was effort in the words that were written down. He really had improved over the years, and she couldn't help but think that most of it was from the company he kept. There were a few inaccuracies and confusions here or there, but overall it was a good paper. While he didn't have the same level of understanding of the topic as Hermione, he was definitely better than the likes of Goyle and Malfoy. Marking the top of the paper with an "A," she set it aside with one final note of praise.

Finally, she picked up Harry Potter's paper. It was just as long as Ron's, but as she began to read the paper she became concerned. He was not known for the same level of intellect as his mother, but he was certainly better than what she was seeing on this parchment. Shaking her head, she made correction after correction on the work in front of her. When she was finished, it looked as though she had written the entirety of the essay in corrections. She was about to deliver her final verdict on the grade when she noticed a sheen to the paper.

Standing up to move towards the fire, she confirmed her suspicions. There was some sort of concealing charm on the parchment that was hiding something. She would not have noticed it had the fire not jumped the way it did. In fact, had she not been grading this late, she probably wouldn't have noticed it in the natural light. It was very delicate and advanced wand work. She suspected that he either sought help from the library or Hermione, but either way her curiosity was gnawing at her. Normally she wouldn't pay much mind to it, because she had definitely done the same to student's papers when an unfortunate tea spill had marred their papers; however, this was the first time she was seeing this charm on a paper that was intended to be handed in.

Quickly grabbing her wand, she whispered a simple counter charm and watched as the sheen disappeared. The gasp that escaped her would have shocked anyone that knew her. She was never surprised or caught off guard, and yet what lay before her on the once concealed paper made her heart stop. There were drops of blood scattered across the paper, but not randomly. They were in line with the words written by Harry, leading her to believe that he was bleeding as he wrote the assignment.

She took a better look at the writing and realized that the words were sloppily or lazily written, similar to how her writing slightly deteriorated as she got more and more fatigued. The sloppy writing was throughout the whole paper, though. That meant that his hand was likely fatigued before he began writing, and she would bet all of Gryffindor's points that it had something to do with the blood. Setting the sheet aside, she couldn't help but let tears form in her eyes.

Had she really been that blind to an issue? Was Harry alright? Was it just Harry?

She looked at the clock again and thought about an appropriate time to approach him. Now 3:47 am, there was no hope of getting any sleep, but she could write a letter to Harry to be delivered during the morning rounds. In fact, she could personally deliver it to Hedwig if she went to the Owlery now. Snatching up a piece of paper, she scribbled down a quick note asking him to see her before first class, and started her journey up the winding staircases.

7:30 am

Minerva took the first chance she could to get out of the meeting and away from that insufferable witch. All she wanted at the moment was a nice hot cup of tea and some time to just sit and not have to talk or listen to anybody or anything. Making her way into the Grand Hall through the staff entrance, she approached her seat only to find a piece of parchment in her seat. On closer inspection, she saw that it was a note to her in the very handwriting that had caused her so much worry only hours prior. Looking around her, she carefully sat down and unfolded the note.

Professor,

I regret to inform you that I already have detention with Umbridge before first class. I can talk to you after class if that is alright.

Harry

Minerva was not surprised to find out that the bane of her existence was fixated on Harry as well. He was the only one who seemed to challenge her at this point…well, at least the only living one. After the Weasley's got their suspension and brooms taken away, Peeves seemed to take it upon himself to fill the void of chaos. Minerva would never admit to helping him, but there were certain things that not even ghosts knew about the castle.

The morning was rather uneventful thanks to Umbridge occupying Harry's time, so she took the time to plan the lesson for the day and double check that all of the required materials were available for the class. As the 5th years filed in and took their seats, a simple flick of her wrist sent their graded assignments flying towards their writers. One came back to her however, and it was then that she noticed that Harry was not in the room. Quickly beginning the lesson and having the students pair up, she went straight toward 2/3rds of her Gryffindor trio.

"Ms. Granger, Mr. Weasley," both looked up at the sound of her voice, "Where is Mr. Potter?"

"He had a meeting with Professor Umbridge," Hermione said quietly, looking at Ron as if to send him some sort of message.

"Does that woman not understand-" Minerva stopped herself before she started to rant in front of her students.

"He was only supposed to be with her until 10 minutes 'til first class, professor," Ron said worriedly, "I haven't seen him since he left this morning, and we were supposed to meet up before class."

Taking a deep breath to help the uneasy feeling she had in her stomach, she patted his shoulder and thanked them.

"Please continue practicing with your partners," she gestured to her 7th year student at the back of the class, "I will be gone just for a moment, and you will all follow any direction given to you by Ms. Wells."

With that, she turned on her heels and headed out the door. Once she made it to the hall, her animagus was soon sprinting down corridors. She knew that he had met with Umbridge, so she decided to head that way in hopes of running into Harry. Within a few minutes, Minerva became more and more concerned for her pupil as the distinct smell of blood filled her sensitive feline nostrils. Rounding a corner, the sight that she was met with made her stop in her tracks. Quickly transforming back into human form, she rushed to the black headed young man that lay propped against a wall.

"Harry!" she shrieked as she rushed forward.

He did not respond to his name or her gently shaking his shoulders. She crouched down next to him to make sure he was breathing, and there was a great sigh of relief when she felt that puff of breath against her wrist. She sent out her patronus to notify both Poppy and Severus before she examined him further. As she tried to shake him again, she noticed something wet on his school robes. Grabbing her handkerchief, she dabbed at the substance only to find the stark white stained brick red with blood. She was no Mediwitch, but she knew enough about first aid from her war days to know she needed to find the source of the bleeding.

At first she thought the blood was from his chest where the blood had been found, but when she examined his arms and hands, she found the source. His right hand was bleeding profusely from what looked to be a reopened scarred over wound at first glance. Transfiguring a piece of her robe into a bandage, she gingerly took his hand into her own.

He must have been clutching it to his chest, she thought as she took in his bloody robes and the blood on his other hand. As she began to wrap the bandage around her pupil's hand, something about the wound caught her attention. Were those letters?! Tilting his hand into the light, she let out a strangled cry as she saw the true extent of the injury. There engraved into his hand, surrounded by blood and infection laden red skin were the words "I must not tell lies."

Rage was not something that should ever be seen in a Gryffindor's eyes, because there is not a situation in which that rage is not channeled into fighting whoever put it there. Taking extra care not to let her rage affect her gentle handling of Harry, Minerva carefully laid him flat on the ground so she could levitate him to the hospital wing. As soon as she got to the entrance of the wing, Poppy and Severus were anxiously waiting for her.

"Minerva, what in Merlin's name happened?" Poppy asked while trying to assess Mr. Potter's condition.

"I do believe he passed out due to blood loss from an injury on his right hand," she said through gritted teeth.

"An injury to the hand?" Severus scoffed, "A transfiguration gone wrong, Minerva?"

One look from her, and he instantly knew the time for sarcastic banter was over. Whatever this was, it was serious.

"What can I do?" he said, trying to start the conversation over again.

By this time, Poppy had taken Harry back and now it was time for the rage to find an outlet.

"She used a blood quill on him, Severus," she hissed angrily, emulating her animagus form.

"What?" Severus said shocked, "Why? She should know those are illegal. Why would she do something like that if it could get her kicked out of the school?"

"You and I both know that she has Fudge wrapped around her finger. That man doesn't even have a spine. If we were to bring up accusations against her, she would just turn it around on us. We would be seen as supporters of Albus and be sent packing. Lord knows Fudge would do anything to discredit all of Albus' friends now," she was pacing at this point.

Back and forth. Back and forth. Frankly, it was driving Severus mad, but he was not about to cross her when she was already this riled up about the pink toad. Suddenly, something hit him. He started to think about all of the students who have been clumsy in Potions as of late. Some of them, it was just in their blood to bugger up an easy potion, but others were uncharacteristically so.

"He's not the only one," he said suddenly, effectively stopping her in her tracks.

"What do you mean?" she questioned, not knowing if she actually wanted to know the answer.

"I just put the pieces together," he shook his head, "Several of the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw students as well have been dropping things in Potions. Their handwriting is getting sloppy, which leads to mistakes, but I thought it was just laziness."

She saw the look of regret in his eyes before he was able to mask it.

"Severus, I didn't notice anything was wrong until last night," she said as she dove into the tale about Harry's bloodied paper and the fatigued handwriting.

"So what do we do?" Severus asked, "We can't do anything in direct defiance of her without the risk of leaving Hogwarts in her hands and without any Order members."

She started to pace again, but instead of just rage in her eyes, there was also determination. Severus watched her pace a few more times before she came to a halt.

"Can you distract her long enough to allow me to sneak into her office during a detention?" she asked cryptically.

"Yes," Severus said looking at her uncertainly, "Are you going to do what I think you are going to do?"

"I'm going to charm that bloody torture device to give her a taste of her own medicine."

The next day

They had managed to pull it off while she had a 3rd year Gryffindor in her office. Severus and Minerva convinced Peeves to steal one of her hideous decorative plates, and it had done the trick. Minerva sent the student on her way and charmed the quill. She was out within a few minutes, and Umbridge had been none the wiser.

Now, here they were at lunch, waiting for the toad to make an appearance. Harry kept looking at her from the student tables, but she was far to occupied with her own musings. Suddenly, the staff door burst open and Umbridge walked straight for Poppy without saying a word to anyone. Minerva was given a dirty look, but she could care less. There was a poorly executed glamour charm on her right hand, and Minerva could see that she was being very careful with her movements.

"Finite incantatum," Minerva whispered under her breath and waited.

She was not let down as within seconds Filius was commenting on the angry red lettering on her flesh.

"Oh dear! You best get that looked at!" Filius said loud enough that some of the students could hear him.

Soon, the whole school was turned towards the toad as she hastily tried to apply glamour after glamour, only to have it removed by either Minerva or Severus.

At the Gryffindor table

Harry had been trying to make eye contact with Professor McGonagall all afternoon. Madam Pomfrey had let him out of the hospital wing after third period, and he had been filled in by his friends about McGonagall finding him. According to the Mediwitch, it really could have been worse had he not been brought in that day.

Trying to catch her eye to somehow thank her, he found that she was quite occupied with something else. She and Snape kept looking towards the staff door and back at Umbridge's empty seat. They were obviously expecting something, but he couldn't be sure what.

"Guys," he turned to Ron and Hermione, "have you noticed McGonagall and Snape acting weirdly today?"

Both friends turned towards their professors and nodded.

"They were doing something similar this morning at breakfast," Hermione said as she abandoned her lunch and continued to watch her professors.

"They're looking for Umbridge," Ron said after swallowing another mouthful of food, "Apparently she cancelled all of her detentions today. A 3rd year said that McGonagall came in and told her the detention was over after Peeves stole some dish out of the toad's office."

Hermione and Harry looked curiously at the two professors as Ron went back to his food, which he soon abandoned again as said toad crashed through the staff door. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary until there was a shout from the Charms professor and everyone noticed Umbridge desperately trying to glamour her hand.

"She can't even perform a proper glamour," Harry heard a Ravenclaw scoff.

Hermione however was not convinced.

"She's doing everything right," she said confused, "It's almost as if someone is removing the charm."

Just as she said that, Harry saw Snape mutter something and then the lettering reappeared. She performed the charm again, but this time McGonagall whispered something and it was revealed yet again. As much as he hated to admit it, he really had to hand it to the two heads of house. This was the best he had felt in a long time. He couldn't help but laugh with what seemed to be the rest of the school when she hastily made her retreat and almost tripped on McGonagall's chair as she pushed off the table under the guise of trying to help Umbridge.

"That was bloody brilliant," Ron practically yelled as the toad fled the Great Hall.

Yes it was, thought Harry as he smiled brightly up at his Head of House. The smiles would not last long however, because that night, yelling from Hagrid's hut could be heard as several men approached his hut. Within minutes, the hero that was Minerva McGonagall was struck down by cowards in the middle of the night. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were the first ones leaving the astronomy tower, but before they knew it, they were being told to go to their common room. What started out as a great day was easily turning into one of the worst.

Weeks Later

Minerva McGonagall leaned heavily on her cane as Severus dismissed his two pupils into the castle to deliver her bags to her rooms.

"I'm glad you are back in one piece, Minerva," he said as he kept his pace slow to not make her tire out.

"As am I," she smiled, "I heard the toad is gone."

"Ah, that would be at the hands of your ever-in-trouble trio," he said while barely containing a smirk.

As insufferable as those brats could be, it was entertaining to have the centaurs get ahold of Umbridge after everything she had done.

"As much as I enjoy your delightful company, Severus, I can handle myself from here," she said as she headed off towards the stairs that would lead her to her room.

Taking the hint, he bid her a good day and was off towards the dungeons. She took the trek slowly, taking in the feeling of home again. By the time she made it to her room, she was exhausted, but happy to be back in a place that didn't smell like a hospital. As soon as she made it through her portrait, she was instantly assaulted by three young people hugging her. The surprise wore off quickly as she took in her unexpected guests. Brown bushy hair, ginger locks, and raven black tendrils. Her Gryffindor trio. Giving into temptation, she hugged them back.

"I see I was missed," she joked.

"Terribly," Hermione said as they broke apart.

"Hogwarts isn't the same without you, Professor," Ron smiled sheepishly.

"Not to mention we weren't able to thank you for what you did to Umbridge to stop the detentions," Harry said with tears in his eyes.

She pulled in for another hug as she softly whispered to him, "I wish you had come to me sooner. I hate seeing you suffer. Any of you."

Harry let a tear fall before he pulled away and gestured behind him, "we and the rest of Gryffindor wanted to give you a proper welcome back."

"Students from other houses pitched in too," Hermione smiled.

She looked towards her desk, or at least where her desk used to be, and saw an enormous pile of gifts and cards. There were sweats, handmade sweaters, gloves, and trinkets. There were stuffed animals galore and massive arrangements of flowers. There was so much.

"You- None of you had to do this," she choked as she fought back tears, "This is too much."

"Just think of it as a way of all of us saying thank you for everything you do for us each and every day," Harry said while picking up a blanket and wrapping it around her.

"After Umbridge left, I figured we could do a little something for you," Ron said shyly as he offered her a chair, "These are gifts from other Professors and students… past and present."

All three of the students smiled as they saw the distinct "W" crocheted into the blanket around her shoulders. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had made sure that they made a contribution to the gift mountain that was her desk. They waited patiently as she read through a few cards and took in the sheer magnitude of the gesture. They were starting to worry when she finally broke her silence.

"This is all so beautiful," she finally said as the tears ran freely down her face.

"Wait until you see the best part," Ron said giddily as he searched for an object on the desk.

After a few minutes of frantic searching, Hermione took pity on him and accio-ed the present from the three of them.

"This is from the three of us," Hermione said as she handed her the box, "it took a bit of time, and the charming was a bit difficult, but Harry was able to find the last spell we needed in the library."

Minerva was touched by the fact that they had made her a gift as well as the fact that Harry had spent time scouring the library for the perfect spell. She carefully opened the box to find a small piece of glass, about the size of her hand. Placing it in the palm of her hand, she watched as it quickly morphed into a small figurine lion. Colors suddenly began to pop into place as the lion became animate and cautiously explored her hand. It walked along her palm until it was satisfied with its surroundings, and then it let out a roar and sat down looking up at her.

"It's charmed to only react to you," Harry said, "That was the tricky spell I had to look up."

She knew she looked like a mess at that point as she could no longer control her tears. She pulled them all into a hug again and held them for a few seconds.

"I am so lucky to have students like you three," she said proudly.

"No," Hermione said, "we are the lucky ones."

"Yeah," Ron chimed in, "It's not every day you get a Head of House who will seek revenge on a toad for her students."

All four of them chuckled at that comment.

"Well, that's what Heads of House are for. We protect our students and we will fight for them… I will fight for you three and the rest of this school. I just need you to tell me when things are not right. Understood?"

There were nods all around, especially from Harry as their eyes met. He knew that comment was meant for him. There was a brief pause as they all hugged one last time, but the silence was broken as she cleared her throat.

"As much as I have enjoyed this, I would like to be able to get some rest."

All three students agreed that was a good idea, and began to head for the door when she stopped them.

"Harry, Hermione, Ron," they turned to look at her, "I do appreciate all of this. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart."

"Anything for you, Professor," Harry replied with a smile before they left to give her some alone time.

She had never felt as honored to be at Hogwarts than this very moment. She truly did love them all.

THE END.