She still felt that Dumbledore's plan was all kinds of stupid, but now a surprising alternative had opened up. None of them had ever wondered what else there was to the Evans family, so the fact that Lily did have a cousin - namely Thomas Evans - came a bit out of nowhere. This relation was more distant than Petunia, but the magic would still accept it. From what little she had seen, this couple looked very promising.
She would not make the same error that Dumbledore made, however. These people did need a personal visit to see if they could be entrusted with such an important task. This also would put Sirius at ease, the man having been very vocal about Dumbledore's plans ever since the Headmaster had explained them. Hopefully, this could defuse the whole situation that was brewing.
Checking again if she was alone, she apparated away to Hogsmeade - familiarity making it easy for her to bridge such a long distance.
o
I never noticed how eerie the castle appears when no one is around, McGonagall thought while walking through the empty halls of Hogwarts towards the medical wing.
With the students restricted to their house dormitories and lessons being suspended for the time being, the castle appeared virtually lifeless. The only sound she did hear were her steps on the stone floor. Granted, it also was like that during summer, but the knowledge that hundreds of students were only a short distance away, yet were unseen, made this so weird.
Finally reaching her destination, she entered and saw Madame Pomfrey watching a young Harry, who was sitting on a blanket, being busy with stacking brightly colored wooden blocks. The young boy completely ignored the new person in the room, being fully occupied with his - to him - fascinating task.
"Well, Poppy, how is your young patient doing?" she asked Pomfrey, relieved at seeing Harry being so active after the boy had slept for over a day.
"Oh, he is very well-behaved. I wish some of my normal patients would have such good behavior. You wouldn't even know that a madman tried to murder him mere two days ago," Pomfrey said in astonishment.
"And what about...?" McGonagall didn't have to finish that sentence.
"As you can see, nothing helped to make that scar on his forehead go away. I know it was done by the darkest magic imaginable, but there is no frame of reference I could work with, since no one ever before survived the Killing Curse. It's an enigma," Pomfrey admitted.
That lightning bolt-shaped scar on Harry's forehead had become quite the concern when it turned out that even the Headmaster was utterly unable to determine what kind of dark magic could have caused it. Sirius especially worried what it could mean. Thankfully, at least whatever that scar was, it didn't seemed to bother Harry in the slightest.
"At least young Harry otherwise seems to be in good health." She then looked around. "Where is Sirius?" The man after all had watched over Harry like a hawk in the previous two days.
"Oh, he left almost half an hour ago. His friend Mr. Lupin told him something that made him want to have some choice words with the Headmaster," Pomfrey said, clearly not wanting to be anywhere near the Headmaster's office at the moment.
"I see." She hoped that Sirius' reaction to Dumbledore's plan didn't turn violent.
Leaving the medical wing, it didn't take long for her to reach the gargoyle that guarded the moving stairs up to the Headmaster's office. Surprisingly, she saw someone, although that particular person was no longer alive.
"Sir Nicholas, has something interesting happened that you are standing here?" she asked, noting how the gargoyle was not currently in its place, the path to the stairs being free.
"Ah, Professor," the ghost of Gryffindor house greeted her. "Well, it was mainly for the entertainment value. Young Mr. Black proved to be quite vocal with the Headmaster and I'm impressed at the sheer creativity he showed with his words."
McGonagall hoped that Sirius hadn't gone too far. "Anything I should be aware of?"
"Oh, Black implied that Aberforth's fascination with goats must have rubbed off, otherwise he couldn't explain the Headmaster's ideas. Sadly, that also was when Mr. Lupin arrived and managed to make his friend become more civil." If anything, Nick looked disappointed that his free entertainment was over.
She silently thanked Remus Lupin for being able to calm down Sirius. "Well, let's see if Albus is still in one piece. You make sure that no one leaves Gryffindor Tower; I know my lions."
"Yes, I know all too well that they would see it as a challenge." Sir Nicholas sounded a little resigned while floating away.
Entering the Headmaster's office, McGonagall was greeted with an uneasy peace.
Dumbledore tried to look unfazed while sitting behind his desk, but it was pretty obvious that Sirius' vicious verbal attacks had taken their toll on him. Sirius looked like he had to fight to stay civil, the mere idea of sending his beloved godson to Petunia clearly having upset him. Remus Lupin looked tired, clearly getting worn down from having to force Sirius to keep the peace.
From the perch beside the Headmaster's desk, his bonded phoenix, Fawkes, was following everything with a keen eye. McGonagall had known the bird for many years, but still was unsure of the exact connection between Albus and Fawkes. The bird did show a keen intelligence at times.
The portraits of Headmasters past tried not to look like they were paying attention, with one execption.
The portrait of Phineas Nigellus Black - the most-loathed headmaster in the long history of Hogwarts and Sirius' ancestor - looked highly offended. While she knew the man's portrait, like the living Phineas, found it easy to dislike people, it must have found Sirius' presence to be especially unbearable, considering how much he rejected everything the House of Black stood for.