House: Ravenclaw

Year: Year 3 Stand-in

Category: Drabble

Prompt: Professor Sprout

WC: 500

Notes: Potentially AU - text discounts Umbridge as a legitimate Headmistress.


I touch the ivy winding up the staircase in Minerva's new office. This had once belonged to Albus Dumbledore, but it doesn't look it anymore. Everything is organized with precision, and there are warm decorations littered throughout to make it clear that this is a place to work and to live. Minerva has always lived through her, work, and I quite love that about her. I do too.

"Are you ready for biscuits, Minnie?" I call down the hallway. She invited me this morning. Well, she sent an owl without a message. Usually that means she's had nightmares and doesn't wish to be alone. We used to do this when were young, widowed women beginning our careers at Hogwarts. Many of our nights were spent grading papers through bleary eyes, sipping tea and snacking when we should've been sleeping.

That routine hasn't changed much since losing students in the war, only now she's the Headmistress, which means she's been interviewing candidates for open teaching positions and reviewing policies for the school. I, however, have still been preparing lessons. Minerva emerges from the hallway in her nightgown, light red in color to commemorate her place as Head of House for Gryffindor. I smile at her, warmth sinking into my very bones just by being in her presence. She is like a sister to me.

"Do you ever think about our friendship?" Minerva asks, whirling down the stairs to her desk. There's a very large envelope sitting right in the middle that is being held down by a bottom of ink and a fresh quill. Her question doesn't say in what context exactly but I feel as if I know what she intends to ask.

So I shake my head. "Sybil said our destinies were tied together, like roots winding and wrapping around each other inside of a small pot." Divinations is taken less seriously now than it used to be when I was young, and though I don't believe everything, I am inclined to believe some. After all, it was once a wild notion that plants could heal the ailments of people.

A hand gestures for my to hobble back down, her voice following in a bright tone.

"Did you know that there's never been two proper mistresses running Hogwarts?"

I suppose I might've have realized that once, but I'd long ago stopped cared for History facts about Hogwarts. My passion in teaching and Herbology took all of my time, all of my thoughts. So I tell her frankly, "No, I hadn't."

"Don't you think it's about time, 'Mona?" As she speaks, she flicks her wand and sets everything flying towards me at the base of the staircase. The paper in front of me is a formal invitation to be named the Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts, second in command to my best friend.

"Too right you are, Minnie," I whisper as I sign to accept my new title.