The Teacher's Son

Chapter 6

Naturally, Harry and Ron were late for school.

It seemed unavoidable.

The two of them just seemed to have bad luck from the beginning.

"C'mon, we're gonna get detention!" Ron shouted over his shoulder as the two of them ran down the corridor.

"You think I don't know that!"

Ron didn't answer. He was too busy pushing himself to run faster, as if it would change the fact that he was already late and class would have already started.

"She's gonna kill me." Harry muttered.

"What, mate?" Ron asked.

"Nothing."

When they reached class, it seemed that McGonagall wasn't there.

"No detention for us then!" Ron cheered under his breath as they moved to the open desks, which just happened to be in the front of class by that girl Hermione from the train.

Harry froze as something caught his gaze from the corner of his eye.

There was a cat sitting on the desk.

A cat that had distinct markings around it's eyes.

He blanched slightly.

The markings that looked like glasses.

Before he could tell Ron to shut up, the cat leapt off the desk and transformed into his mum.

"You two are late. Ten points from Gryffindor each, now sit down and we will begin."

After class, McGonagall gave Harry a meaningful look. He sighed and stayed in his seat. Ron didn't seem to notice, walking out while talking loudly with Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan.

"Harry, this wasn't a very good start to your semester." McGonagall said calmly.

"I'm sorry, Mum, I don't know what happened."

"I'll allow it this once, but next time it happens you will have detention, along with Mr. Weasley should he be with you. Now go to class, I won't be the reason you're late to another period."

"Yes, mum." He turned to leave.

"Oh, and Harry?"

"Yes, mum?"

"I'll see you after school for a late tea."

Harry nodded and left quickly, hoping he'd get to his next class in time.

Minerva watched him go and sighed. Her little boy was growing up and it made her sad to think he'd be leaving her in a few years. He'd have his own job, hopefully his own family, and he'd be too busy for her.

"Don't think like that, he'll always remember you." She scolded herself.

People always told her that they pitied her, not being able to have children.

"I gave it up for a reason." She'd say.

Sure, she was left out of having children, but she'd never planned on doing that.

The illness had just insured it.

And now Harry had come along.

Sweet, considerate, friendly, humble Harry, who knew that being the Boy Who Lived changed nothing about him.

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Minerva stood and headed for the door to her classroom. It was her turn to patrol the hallway for skivers. She assumed she'd see at least one redhead, probably one of the twins. Peeves was likely to be with them.

As she opened her door, she heard a loud crash and footsteps pounding down the corridor.

Looking left, she saw a flash of red hair and black robes turning the corner, a toppled suit of armor behind them and a very elated Peeves floating above it.

"FRED AND GEORGE WEASLEY!"

-------------------------

"Mum?" Harry stuck his head in the door of his mother's study.

"Come in, Harry." McGonagall called.

"Hey, Mum." Harry smiled as he came in the room fully and closed the door.

"How was your day?"

"It was pretty good. Snape seems to hate me and I don't know why."

Minerva sighed. "Just ignore it, Harry. Professor Snape seems to have a prejudice against the Gryffindor house in general. How about the rest of the day?"

"It was pretty good! We had a lot of classes with the Slytherins, but Herbology was with the Hufflepuffs."

McGonagall nodded and handed Harry a cup of tea. He sipped it carefully, not wanting to burn himself.

"Hey, how did you do that thing this morning?"

Minerva raised an eyebrow as she sipped at her tea. "What thing?"

"The cat thing. How did you do that? It looked really cool."

"Ah. That's something you'll cover in a later year, during 3rd, Harry. It's called an animagus and it is a reflection of a person's innermost self."

"Can it change? Can you pick what kind of animal you are?"

"No. It rarely changes, only in times of major emotional stress."

"Could I do it?" Harry asked her eagerly.

"It takes years of practice, Harry, quite a lot of hard work. When I teach you about it in Transfiguration 3rd year, I'll explain some of the basics of doing it. If after that, you still want to learn how, I will teach you about it, alright? It is very hard, Dumbledore can't even do it. Not that I have any doubts he could if he wished, he just chooses not to."

Harry nodded. "Okay, Mum."

[A/N I have a headcanon that Mama McGonagall can't have children because of some sort of blight. Haven't decided what it will be yet and I'm debating changing the story a little bit after that last discussion.... hmmmm]