Chapter 009

"Mr. Potter. Take a seat," McGonagall finished grading the paper in front of her before directing her attention towards Harry. "Mr. Potter, let me preface this by saying that I am extremely glad none of you were injured last week. Thank you very much for going after Miss Granger. In the future however, should – Merlin forbid – another emergency comes up, please make every effort to inform the staff or the Prefects that there is an issue."

"Yes, Professor."

"Now..." McGonagall's pleading expression turned into a glare that made Harry wilt. "Just what were you thinking?! Keeping an item so volatile inside your pack!? You could've been killed!"

"But, ma'am it wasn't volatile," he said, "it wouldn't do anything unless activated and it couldn't be activated except by sending power directly into the Primer rune."

"And if a stray spell from a classmate had hit it during class? Or while walking down the corridor?"

Harry's mouth went dry and his eyes widened. "I-I hadn't thought about that..." Images of smoking Harry-chunks raining over the hallway flashed through his mind.

McGonagall sighed and rubbed her forehead. "Mr. Potter, I appreciate you attempting to keep others safe by not leaving the rune cluster lying around but you need better precautions than simply chucking dangerous items into your pack. I will not go so far as to forbid you from experimenting. Merlin knows how well that ever works out," she muttered. "But, I will insist that you either leave your experiments locked in your trunk if unfinished or carried in a spell resistant lockbox." Harry nodded. "I trust you've learned from this incident?" He nodded again. "Very well then. I see no reason to forbid you from playing in the upcoming Quidditch game," McGonagall finished with the hint of a smile.

"Thank you, ma'am," Harry said. "I was really looking forward to that."

"I expect you to win, Mr. Potter. I want that trophy." Harry just nodded again with a small smile finally cracking his face. "Now, you should get some homework done while I continue with these essays."

"Um, Professor?" McGonagall lifted an eyebrow at him. "Professor Flitwick said that you had met with my parents a few times after I was born..."

"Ah." McGonagall sighed and leaned back into her chair. "Yes, I did meet them occasionally. Your father was one of my best students despite his lackadaisical manner. After they entered hiding he had asked me to assist with improving his Transfiguration techniques for efficient use in battle. I was unable to see them often but it was more than most."

Harry smiled. How different things could've been if not for a madman. "Do you know why my mum changed her mind about my Aunt Petunia?"

"What do you mean, Mr. Potter?"

"I found this a few months ago," he said handing over the runes notebook and flipped to the page with Lily's note to never let him go to the Dursleys. "The date was a few months before I was born and there's nothing in that or any of the other notebooks I found about her forgiving my Aunt so I was just curious about what changed. I figure they had to have updated the will again after this at some point since I ended up with Aunt Petunia after all."

McGonagall's frown deepened as she read and reread the little note. "Damn you Albus," she muttered barely loud enough for Harry to hear. Looking back up at Harry, McGonagall sighed. "I was unaware that the Potters' had wills, Harry. None were ever executed after their passing. I do not know the full specifics regarding this, Harry. I can tell you that I was present for the incident that likely caused this entry. From what I remember, the dates do seem to line up. I am...not sure you would wish to hear this. It is not pleasant and it does not paint your...relatives in a decent light."

"Professor, it'd be rather difficult to paint them in a darker color than I already do," Harry said, a bit of the ice that Ronald Weasley had experienced creeping into his tone. "Please, tell me."

"Very well," McGonagall sagged, looking every bit her age. "I was training with James when your mother returned from speaking with Petunia and her husband. Lily was several weeks pregnant at this point and she was quite distraught. Before I left she told James and myself that Petunia and Vernon had...well they had recommended with rather strong language to terminate the pregnancy."

"Let me guess, they said something like 'we don't need any more freaks in the world like you' right?" Harry scoffed.

McGonagall's mouth dropped open. "How could you know something like that?"

"Well they certainly say it to me enough."

"They-they what?!"

"So if it was that bad, then my mum probably never forgave her before she died. So how the hell did I end up with the Dursleys?" Harry muttered.

"Albus said that it was the safest place for you..." McGonagall stared at the cabinet where she kept her firewhiskey. "I watched them for the evening before; I knew they weren't very pleasant but surely they wouldn't have...to a child?"

"You and Dumbledore left me there?!" Harry's voice drained of all warmth broke through McGonagall's shock. He stared at her and the breeze through her window picked up, scattering some of the papers on her desk. "Thank you for the talk, Professor. I think I'm just going to study now like you said."

"No, that's alright, Harry. I think this Detention has gone on long enough. You may return to your dorm." Harry silently slipped his mother's notebook back into his pack and left the room, the breeze dying down behind him. McGonagall stood to pour herself a shot of firewhiskey before turning to shut the window. Only then did she realize that it had been shut the entire time. With a strangled laugh, McGonagall poured herself a second glass of the liquor. "Damn you, Albus."

Harry dropped down into the couch in the Common Room and immediately took out the books that Shiva had given him. He focused on the runes using the clusters and the prime elements to force the conversation he had just run from to the back of his mind. Runes always calmed him down.

Harry was so engrossed in the book and he didn't even notice when Hermione sat next to him and laid a hand on his arm. "Harry? Are you alright?"

"Hermione!" Harry said with a small jump. "Jeez, warn a guy when you sneak up on him."

"Harry..."

"I'm fine, Hermione." Harry sighed, turning to smile at her. "Thanks for asking though."

"You're not fine," she said barely loud enough for him to hear. "You look like I felt when I ran to that bathroom. Except angrier."

"Really, I'm okay," he responded, taking in her doubtful expression. "It's just Professor McGonagall mentioned some things that got me pretty mad. I have these new runes that Shiva gave me now though so give me like ten minutes and I'll be right as rain. Okay?"