A/N: I apologize for the long hiatus. I went through some stuff.

To Lexus Lloyd, thank you for your encouragement. It gave me a kick to write again of sorts. I've just felt a bit down with the haters. Wika0304, we'll get there my dear. Guest reader, yeah I doubt if they'll do that. Thanks for reading this story Trekkifulron, Netchka, Cateagle, Gime'SS, Cassandra30 and god of all. Thank you to everyone else who've read this story and continue to do so. Try and read my other stories too if you can spare the time.

This chapter is my homage to my favorite Harry Potter character, Minerva McGonagall.

McGonagall then ordered the students to be brought to the Great Hall.

Minerva McGonagall didn't just see Hogwarts as a place of employment, or her former alma mater. This was her home, this is the home of many wizards and witches before her. She loved her late father, but he was a Presbyterian minister. He didn't see magic as something casual or natural. Minerva and her brothers had to hide their magic at home. But it was in Hogwarts that she truly flourished. It was in Hogwarts that she could be herself.

She and Kingsley Shacklebolt told the student body that those who are old enough to fight could stay if they wanted, while younger students would be evacuated by Poppy Pomfrey and Argus Filch by way of the passage through the Hog's Head Inn. Even as the professors set defensive charms and spell around Hogwarts to fend off Voldemort, they knew that no matter what protection they gave, it is only a matter of time.

Minerva remembered how the Sorting Hat wavered for five and half minutes between placing her to Gryffindor and Ravenclaw before finally deciding to place her in Gryffindor. She met friends in Hogwarts, grew as a person and as a witch in this very halls.

As Hogwarts Castle was being fortified, Harry asked Flitwick about Ravenclaw's diadem, but Flitwick informed him that it had not been seen "in living memory." Kelly mulled on it. Meanwhile, McGonagall enchanted the school's statues and suits of armour to help defend the castle and ordered Filch to summon Peeves the Poltergeist to aid in the defense.

Minerva was quickly recognized as the most outstanding student of her year with a particular talent for Transfiguration. By the end of her education at Hogwarts, she had achieved an impressive record: top grades in O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s, Prefect, Head Girl, and winner of the Transfiguration Today Most Promising Newcomer award. Under the guidance of her inspirational Transfiguration teacher, Albus Dumbledore, Minerva had managed to become an Animagus; her animal form, with its distinctive markings (tabby cat, square spectacles markings around eyes) were duly logged in the Ministry of Magic's Animagus Registry. She played for Gryffindor Quidditch team in her student years, in which she proved to be gifted. However, she suffered a nasty fall in her final year: a foul during the Gryffindor versus Slytherin match which would decide the Quidditch Cup winner. This event left her with a concussion, several broken ribs, and a lifelong desire to see Slytherin crushed on the Quidditch pitch.

When Harry and Luna returned to the Room of Requirement, they found that even more people had arrived. Asides from Kingsley Shacklebolt, there was Remus Lupin, Oliver Wood, Katie Bell, Angelina Johnson, Alicia Spinnet, Bill Weasley, Fleur Delacour, Arthur Weasley, and Molly Weasley. Fred Weasley had alerted Dumbledore's Army, and they, in turn, summoned the Order of the Phoenix.

After graduating from Hogwarts, Minerva was offered a position at the Department of Magical Law Enforcement of the British Ministry of Magic. She returned to her family's manse to spend one last summer with her family before moving to London. She then met Dougal McGregor, a Muggle. He was the handsome, clever, and funny. The son of a local farmer. The two shared the same sense of humor, argued fiercely, and suspected mysterious depths in each other. She fell deeply in love with him, being the first and only time in her life that she might have been said to lose her head. Eventually, he proposed to her and she accepted his offer. But she had been unable to tell her parents. She thought of her envious mother, who lived vicariously through her children while her own wand was locked away. She thought of her future, she knew right then and there that marrying a muggle who didn't know she was a witch would have her follow her own mother's footsteps. She would be unable to follow her dreams. Early next morning, Minerva went to tell McGregor she had changed her mind and could not marry him, aware that if she broke the International Statute of Secrecy and told him why, as she would lose the job at the Ministry for which she was giving him up. She could give him no good reason for her change of heart, leaving McGregor devastated and left for London three days later. These months were the most difficult ones of Minerva's life. She remembered how Hogwarts changed her life and clung to that sense of wonder and amazement as she cried for the love she gave up.

As younger students were being evacuated, an argument broke out about underage Ginny Weasley, who wanted to help fight. Her mother eventually relented to the point of allowing Ginny to stay at Hogwarts if she stayed in the Room of Requirement. The Weasleys' estranged son Percy suddenly arrived, and loudly apologized to his family for not supporting them; the Weasleys immediately forgave him. Looking around, Harry wondered where Draco, Ron and Hermione were. Ginny told him they were attending to something having to do with a bathroom, leaving Harry puzzled. The Order of the Phoenix and the professors have agreed upon a battle plan and begin dividing into groups. As tension mounts over the approaching battle, Harry anxiously searches the room for his friends and Ron who were still amiss.

Suddenly, Voldemort's magically amplified voice rang through the hall and heard throughout all of Hogwarts and Hogsmeade. Voldemort informed the school that if they surrendered Harry to him by midnight, nobody in the school would be hurt. Nobody spoke. The students, even those who are underage who fought to stay clutched their wands showing their unity. Minerva felt like Dumbledore would be proud of this house unity.

After she grew dissatisfied with her job at the ministry because of the blatant anti-muggle bias of her time, Minerva applied to teach at Hogwarts. Her former mentor welcomed her talents. Through her efforts and work, Minerva proved to be a inspirational yet strict teacher, maintaining control of her students with a stern hand that made her someone not to be crossed. By this time, Minerva was a shock to learn from her oblivious mother (in the middle of a chatty letter of local news) that Dougal had married the daughter of another farmer. Albus discovered his former student and colleague in tears in her classroom late that evening, and she confessed the whole story to him. He offered both comfort and told Minerva some of his own family history, previously unknown to her. The confidences exchanged that night between were to form the basis of a lasting friendship.

Most of the student body remained to fight even if McGonagall tried to dissuade them and wanted to evacuate them out through Hog's Head. Prompted by Professor McGonagall, Harry set out again in search of the Horcrux. Heading down an empty corridor, he began to panic. He has no idea where to search for the Horcrux but Kelly calmed him down. She told him they can do this, they can find it.

After several years and several rejections from Minerva McGonagall, she finally relented and married her former boss and long time friend, Elphinstone Urquart. He purchased a small cottage in Hogsmeade for the pair of them, whence Minerva could travel easily to Hogwarts Castle every day. Minerva kept her maiden name to symbolize she had not lost her identity. The marriage was a very happy one, and a period of great fulfillment for Minerva. The couple did not have any children of their own, but they were close with Minerva's nephews and nieces (children of her brothers) and they were frequent visitors at their cottage. But this happiness was cut short, for only three years after their marriage, her husband died from a Venomous Tentacula bite. After her husband's funeral, Minerva left the Hogsmeade cottage and returned to her living quarters at Hogwarts Castle. Regret, in all the time she lost, in which she could have spent with him. As it always had, Hogwarts became her sanctuary.

Tension was palpable in the air. Minerva didn't feel fear, she felt like there's tightly wound coil inside her. She felt anger. How dare they try to destroy her home. She and the other defenders of Hogwarts prepared for anything, to buy enough time so that Harry could finish his search for the object of Ravenclaw's. For a time, the defenders managed to fend off the Death Eaters using a myriad of tactics. Professor Sprout and Neville planned to use dangerous plants from the greenhouses against the Death Eaters, such as lobbying mandrakes over the walls, Devil's Snare, Venomous Tentaculas and Snargaluff pods, as well as the bewitched suits of armour and wand duels. The whole castle shook with the force of the Death Eaters' sinister enchantments and the counter spells that its' defenders launched.

While this went on, Harry met up with Aberforth Dumbledore and Rubeus Hagrid, his boarhound Fang, and his giant half-brother, Grawp, as they joined in defending the castle against Death Eaters. During the duels, portraits on the walls, including that of Sir Cadogan, rushed between their canvases screaming news from other parts of the castle. These portraits gave their encouragements to the fighters.