The history behind the ring |A/N: Ok, this is my version of what happened the night that Minerva | |McGonagall got her alleged belly Button ring! It's pretty funny so | |enjoy! Oh, and sorry that I don't know how to spell Kareoke! (At least, | |I think I don't.) For the record, it takes place when Minerva is about | |like, hmmm. let's say.thirty or so, which would make it around 1955-1960| |or so. Just for fun! ; ) | |DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the Harry Potter things! But I do own the| |Enchanted Cello, Macey, and the Pink Palominos! | |~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*| |~* | |"Minnie." | | | |"No, Mara." | | | |"Come on, only this one time! I promise! I won't ask you for anything | |else ever! I promise!" Xiomara wheedled. | | | |Minerva let out a long sigh. | | | |"What do you want me to do exactly?" She said, looking up from the | |papers stacked high on her desk. | | | |Xiomara brightened considerably. | | | |"Well.there's this pub in Hogsmead.it's called the Enchanted Cello." | | | |"The WHAT?" | | | |Xiomara sighed. | | | |"The Enchanted Cello, Min. It's a Kareoke place! You can win up to five | |hundred Galleons! Or you can just watch and have a pint! It's really." | | | |"Ridiculous. No, Mara." | | | |"Aw, Come on Min! You have got to let loose some time! Heaven only knows| |how much work you've been doing.please?" | | | |Xiomara gave her puppy dog eyes. | | | |Minerva sighed again. She had been doing a lot of work lately, | |Dumbledore had recently defeated that dark wizard Grindlewald, but there| |were a lot of things to do in the aftermath. But Lord knows how much she| |had to do, and she did need a break. | | | |"Alright. You win Mara. What time should we leave?" | | | |Xiomara began jumping up and down like an overly excited two-year-old. | | | |"Ok, tonight at.seven? Oh, and dress muggle! It's sort of a tradition." | | | |With that, she left Minerva's office, quite pleased with herself. | |Minerva groaned and checked her watch. Six O'clock. Beautiful. | | | |Better get ready. She thought. | | | |So, she reluctantly picked up her papers and walked out of her office, | |magically locking the door behind her. The corridors were silent, as | |almost everyone was down at dinner, so she didn't run into anyone, which| |suited her fine. When she reached the entrance to her chambers, -a | |portrait of an Egyptian scribe- she gave the password (evergreens) and | |entered her cozy common room. It almost exactly mirrored that of | |Gryffindor tower, with a few minor changes, such as a very large stuffed| |Gryffindor Lion in the corner, that actually moved about and roared. | |Placing the stack of papers rather heavily on the desk, she made her way| |to the large carved mahogany door on the right of the room. Pushing it | |open, she walked in and threw her heavy outer robe in the corner. With a| |sigh she turned to the large mahogany vanity on the opposite side of the| |room. Sitting down on the matching chair with a gold cushion, she looked| |in the mirror. | | | |"Dear, dear, what will we do with you?" The mirror said sleepily. | | | |"Oh hush, you." She said absently. | | | |She was busy rustling in one of the drawers for something, and she found| |it. | | | |"Here we are." She pulled out a small book entitled: Muggle Fashions For| |The Average Witch Or Wizard. | | | |"Yes, I knew I bought this for a reason, let's see, nineteen sixty | |five!" She tapped the cover with her wand and all of a sudden, the year | |was on the cover. | | | |She began to flip through it, looking at all the ridiculous outfits that| |muggles had dreamed up. | | | |"Ah! Here we go yes.let's see...Elyt Sehts Idom!" She muttered the | |incantation and immediately a short thigh-length dress was draped over | |her vanity chair, along with net looking stockings, and high boots, with| |a hat that looked like a rain hat. The colors were extremely bright | |shades of pink, blue and green. The dress had large colorful flowers on | |it, and the hat and boots were half pink half green. | | | |This should satisfy Xiomara! She thought. | | | |She rushed into the bathroom and dressed quickly. She looked in the | |mirror, not quit satisfied with her appearance. | | | |"Oh dear, I can't wear my hair up!" | | | |With a wave of her wand the pins holding her hair zoomed onto the | |vanity. Minerva ran a brush through her hair, and applied her makeup the| |way that the book told her. When she was finished she was thoroughly | |satisfied. A knock at the door told her that Xiomara was ready. Walking | |as fast as she could in her four-inch high heel boots, she rushed to the| |door and opened it. Mara's reaction was quite satisfactory. Her mouth | |dropped open and her eyes widened. Of course, Minerva wouldn't have | |noticed, as she was wearing about the same expression. Xiomara was | |wearing a really short neon pink skirt, a bright green tube top, net | |stockings and three inch heels in neon orange. Her normally short gray | |hair was sporting bright blue and green streaks and her make up was so | |alarmingly colorful that you'd mistake for an entrance sign to a Las | |Vegas casino. | | | |"Er, well. That's very.ahem. Well." | | | |"Well yourself, Mara. Are we going or what?" | | | |So the two witches walked out the large front doors, careful not to be | |seen, into the (luckily for them) warm night air. The sun was just | |beginning to set, and there was an air of summer night coming on. Once | |safely out of the gates, they apparated to Hogsmead, outside a rather | |large pub, with a sign hanging on a post labeled "The Enchanted Cello." | | | |Lights were flashing all different colors from inside, and loud muggle | |music was playing. | | | |"Isn't it great? I told you! Come on!" Xiomara grabbed Minerva's arm and| |rushed through the doors. | |She was right, everyone was dressed in muggle clothes, not only that, | |but the same style of muggle clothes that they were wearing. On a large | |stage at the front of the pub, a group of four who called themselves | |'The Pink Palominos" was singing a muggle song called Uptown Girl. | |Minerva had to hand it to muggles, they had great music. | | | |"Let's go get a drink!" Xiomara shouted over the music. | | | |Minerva complied and walked over to the bar, where a blonde waitress | |(dressed a lot more scantily than anyone, if truth be told) with a name | |tag that read MACEY asked them what they would have. | | | |"Uh, we'll have two Frozen Hangmans, please." | | | |The waitress nodded and went to the tap to fix them their drinks. | | | |"What's a Frozen Hangman?" Minerva whispered. | | | |"You'll like it." | | | |They paid for their drinks and headed to a table in the corner. | | | |"So, what is this exactly?" | | | |"Not telling! Just drink it, it's good!" | | | |Minerva looked skeptically at her drink. It was in a tall frosted glass,| |with a lemon wedge on one side, and a pink umbrella. It was smoking | |slightly and a green mist was rising from it. Thinking she would regret | |this later, she tentatively took a sip. Xiomara was right! It was good! | |It was hot, but at the same time cold, and it was sweet, but sour. She | |took another sip, and then another, eventually draining her glass, and | |ordering another one. | | | |"Ooh! Come on Minnie! I love this song!" Mara giggled. | | | |She had already had three Frozen Hangmans and was more than a little | |tipsy. Minerva, who had had two, was also feeling lightheaded. Those | |drinks had a higher alcohol content than Xiomara had chosen to admit. | |Minerva giggled as well and stood up. The two of them walked up to the | |stage and told the wizard working the music which song, and immediately | |the music began to play. Dancing wildly the crowd began to cheer as | |Minerva and Xiomara danced on stage and sang together. | | | |"Ooh.tell him, tell him, tell him, tell him right now!" | | | |When the song ended, giggling, the two joined hands and bowed. | | | |"Thank you Hogsmead! Yeah!" | | | |"Hey, you know what I've always wanted to do?" Minerva said, her words | |slightly slurred. | | | |"What?" Xiomara giggled. | | | |"I've always wanted to get my navel pierced!" Xiomara gasped. | | | |"Oh! Me too! Let's do it!" | | | |So the two walked (Stumbled, would be a better word) from the pub and | |down the narrow street to another shop, called Hogsmead Body Art. An | |hour later, the two walked out, still giggling, with a fresh silver ring| |in their navel. Minerva had also gotten a tattoo of a lion on her | |shoulder, and Xiomara had gotten a Golden Snitch. | |The next morning, Minerva woke up feeling as if a hurricane was raging | |in her head, and a sharp pain on her lower abdomen. With a groan she sat| |up and looked at the clock. It was ten thirty. She stood up reluctantly | |and walked groggily to the bathroom. Without looking in the mirror, she | |undressed and ran a hot shower. She looked in the mirror and nearly | |screamed. On her shoulder was a tattoo! Not only that but a tattoo of a | |lion, and she had a silver ring through the skin on her navel. Sighing | |she hoped into the shower and vowed to kill Xiomara when she went to | |lunch, being too late for breakfast. Getting dressed hastily and | |throwing her hair into a tight bun, she rushed out the door of her rooms| |and down to the great hall. Being Sunday, she didn't need to teach, so | |she wore a white tank top, a knee length burgundy skirt and a matching | |burgundy jacket. Dressing muggle wasn't uncommon on the weekends at | |Hogwarts. All the teachers, save, one particular flying instructor, were| |at the head table. She walked up to her usual seat beside Professor | |Dumbledore and apologized for being late. Shrugging off her jacket, she | |began to eat, unaware of many pairs of eyes following her. She looked up| |to meet the gazes of students and teachers alike, who looked as if they | |were holding back laughter. They were staring at her shoulder, where the| |Gryffindor lion was tattooed. Staring straight at everyone, she said: | | | |"Drop it." In her most deadly voice. | | | |No one pressed the matter further, but many students were whispering | |amongst each other and laughter broke out more than once the following | |Monday in her transfigurations class. Later, at dinner, who should sit | |beside her, but Xiomara Hooch. | | | |"Hey Minnie! Great time last night, hey?" | | | |She shot her a death glare and said in her most sarcastically-sweet | |voice: | |"Oh it was great, Mara! Which did you like best? The Tattoo? The | |Piercing? Or the Hangover? Oh, and do me a favor. Next time you want to | |ask me to go with you to the dance club, Don't." | | | |Nothing was ever said about that, but it still travels among the | |student. Just a rumor, right? | |I think not! | | | | |

I'm going out tonight -- I'm feeling alright

Gonna let it all hang out

Want to make some noise -- really raise my voice

Yeah, I want to scream and shout

No inhibitions -- make no conditions

Get a little out of line I ain't gonna act politically correct

I only want to have a good time

The best thing about being a woman
Is the prerogative to have a little fun and...

Oh, oh, oh, go totally crazy -- forget I'm a lady

Men's shirts -- short skirts

Oh, oh, oh, really go wild -- yeah, doing it in style

Oh, Oh, Oh, get in the action -- feel the attraction

Color my hair -- do what I dare

Oh, oh, oh, I want to be free -- yeah, to feel the way I feel

Man! I feel like a woman! The girls need a break -- tonight we're gonna take

The chance to get out on the town

We don't need romance -- we only want dance

We're gonna let our hair hang down (Bridge)

(Chorus)

(Bridge)

(Chorus) I get totally crazy

Can you feel it

Come, come, come on baby

I feel like a woman