Harry McGonagall

Chapter 1 - Defying Dumbledore

Harry Potter and all characters, etc. belong to J.K. Rowling, not me.

Author Note: Many people over the years since I first wrote this have pointed out things in this story that are inconsistent with current known canon, such as the entrance to Ravenclaw tower. I wish to explain that I wrote this story before the last book came out (which was also before Pottermore), and while I've incorporated a few details from that story, as a policy, I am not changing this story to accommodate the new information JKR has revealed. (Just the information she revealed about Professor McGonagall's family would completely change this story.) The only edits I'll be making in the future will be typographical corrections. If you can live with that, I hope you enjoy my story.

Harry McGonagall - Chapter 1 - Defying Dumbledore

"Good luck, Harry," said Professor Dumbledore as Minerva McGonagall watched the baby lying outside the door of Number Four Privet Drive. The aged headmaster turned on his heel, and with a swish of his cloak, he was gone.

McGonagall knew that she was expected to leave as well. She knew she was supposed to trust Albus' judgment, but she had watched these muggles all day, and they were the worst sort of people you could ever meet. She bent down to touch the baby's hand one last time, and he started crying. She quickly picked him up and he stopped crying immediately. She gazed into the infant's eyes that looked so much like his mother's and sobbed.

"How can that man just dump James' and Lily's child on a doorstep like a milk bottle when he's never even seen these people?" she muttered to herself. As images of what she'd observed coupled in her mind with what Lily had told her about her sister's hatred of magic and refusal to acknowledge she, James, and Harry as family, Minerva came to a decision to do something she'd never done before. Defy Albus Dumbledore. She looked at Harry's little face again and said sternly, "I will not allow that man to ruin your life!" and disapparated away as people meeting in secret all over the country were holding up their glasses and saying in hushed voices: 'To Harry Potter - the boy who lived.'

-HM-HM-HM-

As Minerva walked toward the house pushing a buggy she had conjured, she knew she had to act quickly if she didn't want the Headmaster to know she'd taken the child. She'd spent the night in a muggle hotel considering her options. If she didn't show up at Hogwarts, Albus would know she'd kidnapped Harry, and she'd be living as a fugitive. If she brought the baby to Hogwarts, Albus would find out soon enough and send Harry to the Dursleys, probably firing her in the process. She needed to find Harry an appropriate home, at least for a few years. She may eventually disguise and take him in to live with her at Hogwarts, claiming that he was her nephew or something if necessary, but not for a few years. She couldn't give him to a wizarding family, because they would all know who he was. She did agree that the boy didn't need to grow up famous. There was only one person she could think of. She hadn't seen him since last Christmas, nearly a year ago, but she'd always gotten along very well with him, and thought that he and his wife were wonderful people. She was very glad that the Headmaster had called off classes in honor of recent events.

She knocked on the door of Number Eight Churchill Drive wearing a plain muggle dress. The door opened, and a dark-haired woman with brown eyes, who was in her mid twenties, opened the door and smiled. She was wearing maternity clothes. She was five months pregnant and showing it very much.

"Aunt Minnie?" she exclaimed, "and a baby. Come in."

Smiling at her nephew's wife, she said, "Hello Cindy. I must say you look absolutely radiant. Is Mark here? There's something I want to talk to you two about."

Cindy grinned at Minerva. "Yeah. I'll go get him. Cute baby. Whose is he?"

Minerva sighed. "That's part of what I need to talk to you two about."