As it turns out, the next morning was just like any other morning. Albus greeted her like any other member of the staff and for that, Minerva was actually quite grateful. She had stayed awake almost all night thinking about it, and after weighing the pros and the cons, she had ultimately decided that she was not interested in being in a relationship at the moment. Somehow, Ron, Harry, and Hermione had become her main focus. She wanted to savor every moment she could with them. They truly had become her family. She watched as Harry and Hermione received their owls. They had already been told, discreetly, that they would be serving detention with Hagrid. This was more of a reminder so they knew what time to meet Mr. Filch, who insisted on escorting them.

That morning, she was teaching the first year transfiguration class with Gryffindor and Ravenclaw. Ron, Harry, and Hermione filed in with the rest of the students, each muttering "Good morning Professor McGonogall," and taking their usual seats. The trio's level of professionalism continued to impress her. They had become experts at keeping their home life separate from their school life and treated Professor McGonogall just like any other professor while in class.

As she was teaching that morning, she noticed Ron doodling around his parchment and nodding off. She wasn't sure what came over her, but she immediately snapped. "Mr. Weasley!" Ron sat up immediately.

"Please demonstrate the proper wand movements that I just showed the class," Minerva demanded, knowing that Ron would have no idea seeing as how he had not paying attention. Sure enough, Ron's ears turned red, and he muttered "I don't know…" At this point, Minerva wasn't sure what was causing it, but she felt a mixture of several things swelling up inside of her at once. Disappointment, embarrassment, and frustration were the first few that came to mind, although there were several other things as well. Before she could calm herself down, she snapped.

"20 points from Gryffindor."

Several students gasped. They had never seen Professor McGonogall take away that many points for simply not knowing the answer! Now, in addition to his ears, Ron's entire face turned bright red, and before Harry or Hermione could stop him, he shouted.

"WHY ARE YOU ALWAYS PICKING ON ME!? YOU KNEW THAT I WOULDN'T KNOW THE ANSWER! WHY COULDN'T YOU HAVE ASKED HERMIONE!?"

Minerva was completely thrown off and almost shouted right back at him, before a small voice in her head told her to breathe. In that breath, she realized what she had done. Ron was right. Somehow, she had set almost unrealistic, hard to obtain, expectations on all three of her wards. She would never have done that to another student and she had never had those expectations before they started to live with her.

Aware that the whole class was watching to see how she would react, she decided the best course of action was to defer. "Please stay after class Mr. Weasley. Now, Mr. Boot, do you remember the incantation we were discussing earlier?" And with that, the class continued.

Ron stared at his parchment angrily the rest of the time, while Harry and Hermione muttered sympathetic words of encouragement, trying to help him along so he wouldn't fall behind.

After class, Harry and Hermione gave Ron sympathetic smiles as they headed towards the exit. Ron stayed behind, fuming, and Minerva braced herself for the encounter that was about to occur. Ron slowly walked over to her desk, refusing to look up or make eye contact.

"Ronald…" Minerva began. Ron took a deep breath, bracing himself for the punishment that was about to come.

"I'm sorry."

Ron looked up, surprised. He was expecting to get yelled at for being disobedient and disrespectful. Instead, she was apologizing. Minerva continued, "I realized that I am holding you, Harry, and Hermione to a higher standard then everyone else. I guess I was afraid that people would think I was favoring you three if I weren't harder on you all. I don't expect the other students to watch my every move and listen to my every incantation. I know it isn't fair, and for that, I ask for your forgiveness."

Ron, still surprised that she wasn't screaming at him for his outburst, simply nodded. He wasn't sure how else to respond. He understood where she was coming from though. Just that week, Fred and George were teasing him for being a teacher's pet, saying that he'd get an easy A in transfiguration now that he was living with McGonogall. Minerva sighed, figuring she wouldn't get much more of a response from him at the moment. "Very well," she said. "Off to your next class so you're not late." And with that, Ron turned away and Minerva settled down to teach the 3rd years.

That night after dinner, Ron and Minerva sat silently in the living room, Minerva grading and Ron working on homework. Harry and Hermione had left immediately following dinner for detention with Hagrid that night. As Minerva watched Ron mutter to himself and scratch out a sentence he had just written, she smiled. She had to admit that since coming to live with her, both Ron and Harry's study habits had improved tremendously. Without saying anything, she silently headed to the kitchen and began preparing two cups of tea. When they were ready, she brought one of the cups over to Ron.

"I think that with Harry and Hermione out, doing god knows what with Hagrid, you and I deserve a break from working. How would you like to play a game of chess?"

Ron grinned. "That would be brilliant, professor." Ron still struggled with calling Minerva by her first name, even though she had told him countless times at that point.

"Very well. Go and get your pieces. I will give you 10 minutes to strategize and set up your side of the board."

About 2 hours later, Ron and Minerva were still in the middle of their chest battle. Minerva had known that he was a talented player, but she had never known that he had that much talent. He was even better than Albus! Thinking of Albus made her frown and focus back in on the game. She was using every last bit of energy trying not to think about him…which of course, only made her think about him more. It was a never ending cycle. Determined to bring her attention back on the present, she turned to Ron.

"Where on earth did you learn to become such a talented chess player Ronald?"

Ron blushed. He wasn't used to being complimented. "When you grow up with 5 older brothers, you have to find something to be good at. When I was younger, Bill would come home from Hogwarts and teach me how to play. Sometimes Percy would join us, but for the most part, it was just me and Bill. He taught me everything I knew and I guess it just came easy for me." Ron made his next move.

Minerva stared at the board, reflecting on what Ron had said. She had never really appreciated how difficult it must have been to grow up in the shadow of 5 older brothers. She had watched each of the Weasley boys grow up and realized the same thing that Ron had probably already realized. There was nothing else for Ron to achieve at Hogwarts. Bill had been prefect and Head Boy, Charlie had become quidditch captain and was the last known captain to bring home the quidditch cup trophy for Gryffindor. On top of all of that, Ron had become best friends with the Boy Who Lived, forcing him to follow in Harry's shadow.

'Poor Ron,' Minerva thought silently. She had been so focused on making sure Harry and Hermione had gotten the attention they craved, she never stopped to think about how Ronald might be in a similar boat as them. Granted, Molly Weasley was a fantastic mother and would never neglect any of her children, but all the same, it could never be easy growing up in the shadows of so many people around you. The only way to set his name apart from his brothers would be if he performed some sort of heroic act to save Hogwarts and that was unlikely, seeing as how the school was perfectly safe. While Minerva was sure her three children did not know it, deep within the grounds of Hogwarts she and the other professors had set up spells and enchantments to protect the Sorcerer's stone. Albus had just recently finished his enchantment and assured the staff that it was one of his more brilliant creations, though nobody actually knew what it was. Thinking about Albus again made her sigh internally. That blasted man was stuck in her head.

"What about you…Minerva?," Ron asked, drawing her out of her thoughts. "Where did you learn to play chess?"

Minerva smiled. He was finally feeling comfortable enough to start calling her Minerva.

"For me, it was my father who taught me. I grew up in the highlands, in a small town called Caithness. He was the minister of a small Presbyterian church there."

"Wait," Ron interrupted. "You're muggle born?! I had no idea." Minerva smiled. "Actually, I'm a half blood. My mother was a witch, but she gave up her magic to be with my father. That's a different story for a different time though," she winked. "Going back to my chess story. I grew up with 2 younger brothers. My father was a wonderful man, but I knew he struggled to accept the magic that surrounded the three of us. In an effort to bond with him, I began learning how to play chess. It was something that we could do together, just the two of us. Neither of my brothers had enough patience. In a way, I guess, it is similar to your story."

"Yea," Ron smiled. "I guess so. And who knows….maybe one day I'll be good enough to beat you."

"Perhaps," Minerva smiled back. "But today is not that day. Checkmate." Ron stopped. He hadn't even seen that coming. Minerva glanced at the clock and realized that it was already after eleven. Where were Harry and Hermione? They should have been back an hour ago.

Before she could say or do anything, the portrait door swung open and Harry and Hermione came in panting.

"Where on earth have you been?" Minerva asked, panic rising in her chest upon seeing their pale faces. Hermione began. "We've been in the forest. You'll never believe it…"

"Draco tricked Neville and then Fang ran off so we had to go search for him before Hagrid could bring us back. We're sorry it took so long." Harry finished. Hermione, frowned, simply nodding. Ron could tell that this wasn't actually the case, but apparently whatever had happened, they did not want Minerva to know about it.

Fortunately, Minerva believed them and gave them a small smile. "I'm just glad that you're both safe. It's late and even though tomorrow is Saturday, we'd all best get to bed now."

The trio exchanged glances, an unspoken agreement passed amongst them, and then nodded to Minerva. It was Harry who first initiated it. He engulfed Minerva in a giant hug and told her good night. Hermione did the same, followed by Ron, who felt much closer to Minerva after their chess game that evening.

Hermione beat Minerva to the bathroom and took a quick shower. Afterwards, when she heard Minerva in the bathroom getting ready for bed, Hermione tiptoed across the hall to the boys room and closed the door behind her. Ron and Harry were waiting for her. "Alright," Harry began. "There's no way to hide it. Snape is helping Voldermort go after the sorcerer's stone. That was definitely him we saw in the forest. It's time we come up with a plan."