The Teacher's Son

Chapter 43

Minerva McGonagall wanted to scream. Spit curses, fling hexes, throw books off her bookshelves.

She knew she should have gone to the Weasley wedding, she'd had a feeling that something would go wrong. But she'd had other matters to attend to, and this was how she paid the price.

She had no clue where Harry was, or his friends. The wedding had been attacked and in the chaos, the three had disappeared. Molly was hysterical with how much had happened, so she'd gotten a brief patronus from Arthur explaining the situation.

She burst from her room at the castle, making a beeline for the first room with a window.

This was worst situation. The Ministry had fallen, Voldemort most likely already had puppets in place. Severus had been placed as the Headmaster, and she could only imagine the problems that would come from that. And now her son was Lord knew where, doing who knew what, in a world that was not ready for the war that was upon it.

Minerva walked into the Charms classroom and threw open the windows. Sure, a patronus could go through walls, but she had found that when she was upset it was easier for her to send it out a window. It improved the concentration a little bit. She conjured up her patronus and sent it flying with a simple message to Harry.

As the tiny cat flew away, Minerva turned and marched out of the room.

She had never been one to seek out conflict, but now all she wanted to do was find a way to take her frustration out.

Her footsteps led her to the corridor where the Room of Requirement was. After some pacing, the door appeared, and she pulled it open without hesitation.

The room inside looked much like it had when Harry had been teaching the DA. Minerva waved her wand, summoning the training dummies into a circle around the center of the room.

"Piertotum locomotor." She boomed, waving her wand again.

They rattled as they began to move.

"Attack me. Aim to disarm." Minerva said, tipping her chin up.

They began to move and she whirled, slinging curses when they got too close to her.

The methodical thud of hexes hitting metal pieces over and over calmed her a little, but she kept going. If war was coming, it would be good to practice these.

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to say Harry was a bit surprised when his mother's patronus appeared in front of him was an understatement. He actually pulled his wand on instinct before he recognized the silvery glow.

"Harry." His mother's voice emitted from the cat's mouth. "I don't know what happened, or where you are, but I'm begging you to send me a patronus. I just need to know you're alive, that you're okay. Make safe decisions, don't do anything beyond reason. And tell Mr. Weasley that his mother is very displeased with him. As for Miss Granger, let her know that as an adult figure in her life I want her to be safe as well and that I wish it wouldn't have come to this."

Harry smiled softly and pet the cat's head before it disappeared.

"Was that Professor McGonagall?" 

He glanced over at Hermione. "Yeah. She wanted me to tell you that she wants us to be safe. And as... what did she say... an adult figure in your life, she wishes it didn't come to this."

Hermione nodded, smiling softly. "She's always been a motherly sort of figure for all of Gryffindor house. I guess it was more noticeable for you, you were her actual son."

"Well," Harry smiled a little. "Almost."

"Right." Hermione nodded. "Did she say anything to Ronald?"

"Yeah," Harry looked up and noticed his friend had walked back over. "Mum said your mum is really upset. She wanted me to let you know that, and say that she wants us to be careful."

Ron plopped down, pushing two bundles of clothing towards them. "I found these."

Hermione picked hers up. "I still have some in my bag too."

"This will still be helpful." Harry shook his head. "We need more than just a change of clothes each time."

Hermione sighed and nodded. "No, that's fair. I can put them in the bag, unless you want to change."

Harry shrugged and grabbed his bundle. "I'll be back."

[A/N so I think there are 2 more chapters of this. Thanks for reading, hope you enjoy the last two]