A/N: Hi there. This is NOT part of my Births & Deaths universe, just another something. I love Min taking care of a young Harry. Not sure if it's going to work and the plan is simply so I can get rid of some ideas and concentrate on New Lives. Hope you like!

Disclaimer: If I was J.K. I'd be sending me my Pottermore welcome letter, instead of writing this. Not Mine.

"Minerva, I'm sorry, but I really must insist. You cannot go and see Harry again."

Minerva McGonagall rounded on the unfortunate wizard, fire dancing in her emerald eyes.

"Albus, in what possible situation do you ever think that you could ever presume to tell me what I can and cannot do?" she queried, her tone laden with ice and a force that even Albus Dumbledore could not deny. He sighed.

"My dear, I know that you miss him. And I am sorry that he has to remain there, but you know we cannot draw attention to Harry and too many people know your Animagus form." Minerva sat down heavily on the sofa, looking beaten.

"Why couldn't I take him Albus?" she said dejectedly.

The pair had been having the same argument for four years, ever since the day that Voldemort disappeared, the day that Minerva lost everything she had come to hold dear. Albus sat on the same sofa, looking equally upset.

"Min, we're been over this. Harry needs the blood protection afforded to him by Lily's sister. It will protect him more thoroughly than you or I ever could."

"I loved her Albus." Minerva said vehemently. "I loved her like she was my very own. Like I'd carried her and fed her and clothed her and I would do anything for Harry, for her son." Albus sighed. "I would die for him."

Smiling sadly at the heartbroken woman before him, he edged closer.

"I know my dear, I know." In a gesture he knew she would only allow from him he pulled her into his arms and held her tightly. She sobbed for a few minutes, finally in control of herself she sighed into his chest.

"I will stop Albus." She said forlornly. "But please allow me to see him, once more. I haven't seen him for months, seeing as every time I try to you keep me busy." She glared pointedly at him and he had the decency to look a little ashamed. "Please Albus. Come with me if you must, but please, let me see him once more if I am not to see him until he is eleven." She pleaded, looking up at his soulful blue eyes. As he looked at her, he could see the remains of her tears and he knew he could not deny her this last visit.

"Alright. But I will be with you and it will only be a short visit. Once you have seen him we must go." Minerva nodded distractedly as she gathered her cloak. Albus stilled her hands and made her look at him. "Min, we are not going to linger." He said with stern glare, making her nod sadly.

They may have been colleagues for years, more years than both of them wished to remember and as such very close friends, but he still considered himself her protector. Minerva smiled, placated that they were going to see the closest thing to a grandchild she would ever have.

She morphed into her tabby cat form as soon as their feet hit the pavement along Privet Drive and Albus wouldn't help but smile as she tore off to the house they were visiting. He followed, at a slightly more serene pace and came to a stop beside her at the lounge window, casting as disillusionment charm over the both of them, concealing them from prying eyes. The watched the family of three sit down to dinner. Albus frowned.

"Where is Harry?" he asked Minerva quietly, a little startled when she glared at him.

"I told you months ago, before you decided to stop me from coming that ever since he levitated a bread roll to himself, he has been banned from the table." Albus looked horrified.

"I, I thought you meant for the night." He said sheepishly, frowning internally as he watched the family in front of them.

The Dursley's were not magical, and by all accounts, didn't really like magic. He had been Minerva's friend long before she grew attached to Lily and so when Lily had moved to McGonagall Manor, Albus had visited them often sometimes only to watch just how happy his colleague and best friend was when she had Lily in her life. Not for the first time Albus Dumbledore cursed the day Tom Riddle was born. Movement from the dining room drew his attention back to where it was supposed to be as he watched the woman who was Lily's sister, Petunia, put all the leftovers, all the meagre parts of meat that they had deigned inedible, onto a small plate before walking to the hall. Albus and Minerva followed her movements, shifting to the windows at the front door for a better view. They watched as Petunia walked to the cupboard under the stairs and pulled two locks on the door. She yanked it open and threw in the leftovers, slamming the door closed again quickly before relocking the two locks. Minerva and Albus frowned to each other.

"I wonder when they got an animal." Minerva said with a shrug. "To be completely honest, I never envisioned Petunia allowing one into the house."

"I don't know my dear." He said as he moved back to the lounge room window. "Where is Harry?" he asked his friend and he scanned the room. Minerva shook her head.

"I don't know I haven't been here lately so I do not know what is going on?" she said, shooting him a pointed glare. He conceded the point with a nod. He had been preventing her from coming and was ruing that decision right now. Something told him that all was not right. "Albus what is something has happened to him?" she said, turning and studying his face. He tried to remain calm, to block out his emotions, but a lifetime of reading him told her that he was worried about the same thing. As he watched the muggle family go about their evening as if nothing was wrong a definite pang of dread settled in his chest. "Albus?" she questioned as she watched these thoughts convert into feelings that flashed across his usually jovial bright blue eyes.

Waving the disillusionment charm off them suddenly he walked to the front door, knocking, only out of courtesy. Vernon Dursley opened the door, his fat pasty face paling as he looked at the two strangely dressed individuals currently standing on his doorstep.

"Who are you and what do you want?" he asked, checking to see if anyone around them was watching. He drew himself up as a sense of bravado overcame him.

Albus watched the ridiculous man for a moment before turning to Minerva, who looked ready to hex anyone that got between her and her honorary grandson.

"Where is the other boy that lives here?" she said in calmly, her voice like ice against the warm night air around them. Vernon, who had relaxed a little when the strange man had turned to the woman beside him, but he realised much too late that he would probably rather deal with the man.

"Urgh, what other boy? There's only one boy here, my son. Dudley." He said with a flourish, as if expecting that the two weirdo's at the door would congratulate him for being able to produce offspring. Minerva sneered at him and took half a step forward, pausing only when Albus place his hand on her arm.

"I suggest you let us in Mr Dursley, before my esteemed friend here finally decides on which insect she wishes to turn you into." Albus said with the usual twinkle back in his eyes as he imagined Vernon Dursley as a very fat and slimy insect.

Vernon looked to be on the verge of refusing when Minerva growled her displeasure and he suddenly realised that she had her wand in her hand. He stepped aside immediately and they entered the lounge room, Petunia turning as pale as her husband as she recognised Minerva McGonagall as she entered her lounge room.

"Where is he Petunia?" Minerva said, looking the slightly shaken woman before her directly in the eye, refusing to waist any more time.

"He, um, he is at a friend's house." Petunia said, casting a quick glance at her husband, who looked as if he was trying to become one with the floral wallpaper.

"Get him back here. Now." Minerva said using every inch of the persona she had developed as a teacher over the years.

"They've gone away, to Corfu. Won't be back for a while." She said with a weak smile that was not returned by either professor.

Minerva moved across the room suddenly, before Albus even knew what was happening, and stood toe to toe with Petunia, who, if possible, had gone even paler.

"I know what you are like Petunia. I know how you treated Lily, she told me just what you were like as a child, and I comforted her as she cried for the family that disowned her. I am inclined to believe you wouldn't have changed much. And I do not for one second believe that Harry is in Corfu."

Minerva growled as she disappeared from in front of Petunia, morphing back into her cat form as she turned away. Consumed with her ire she didn't see Dudley, who had stopped watching cartoons momentarily, his attention drawn by the animal now in the room. The adults weren't really watching him as he grabbed her tail forcefully, yanking the cat closer to him, receiving a rather painful swipe of the claws for his troubles. Over Dudley's screams, Minerva's cat ears heard a series of noises followed by nothing and she moved to investigate where the noises had come from. Morphing back into herself, she stood in the hallway. Ignoring the over-zealous screams of the boy she had just injured she turned to Vernon Dursley, who was so angry there were red patches appearing on his cheeks.

"What type of animal would need two locks on the outside of the door, and since when would Petunia allow such an animal into this house." She asked him, as calm as ever.

Vernon shifted uncomfortably as he looked between the door and his wife, looking rather sick. As the penny dropped, Minerva swayed on her feet, before spinning around to Petunia.

"Please," she said, her heart aching, "please do not tell me he is in there." She said looking at Albus, who looked as sick as she felt.

Turning to the door she threw open the locks and yanked open the cupboard. As the light from the hall penetrated the darkness of the cupboard, Minerva's heart broke and tears fell unchecked as she lay eyes on what was, for all intents and purposes, her grandson, cowering underneath the cot like structure that filled almost the entire room, the only thing visible were his feet, which she noticed, were chained to the wall.