The Crazy Adventures of Minerva McGonagall
Chapter 1-On the Train
An eagle was flying away-from something, with a badger close behind. Both turned back periodically, seemingly worried about something. Often, they seemed undecided, almost as if they were thinking, Should we have stayed? Can we go back? Or should we just…run? Now, it was behind them, the lion standing his ground as a gigantic snake hissed. They were too far away to go back, they had run at first and that would be their final decision. Why are they running? I should be back with the lion. That's my place, with the lion. She recalled herself thinking. But the lion was being forced back, the snake coming closer-
"Minerva! Come on! We're here!"
Her father. He always had to be so loud and boisterous. But he was right! How could she have forgotten in the midst of some strange dream that today was the day, they were here at the station, she was finally going to Hogwarts!
"Yes Dad, of course! I just had this dream, it was quite strange, really-"
" Honey, I'm just surprised that you could fall asleep in the car when you were so excited earlier" Her mother, Patricia, said. She was a practical woman, Patricia, and to others she might seem cold and uncaring. But Minerva knew her too well to be fooled by her outward show. She was just worried about Minnie.
"Don't worry mom, I do want to go to Hogwarts," She said, knowing that er mother's next words would ask her if she would.
"Oh, you know me too well. But come on! And don't talk about your new school with all these muggles around," Her mother replied. Barely suppressing the urge to roll her eyes, Minerva walked out of the car, looking for the barrier between platforms nine and ten. As she was waiting for her poor parents to find her and the platform out of the hustling mass of people from all over, she thought that she couldn't really blame her parents for taking so long. There were odd people of all varieties, and she could distinctly recall a strange, crazy, dumb, and…sinister looking people. The strange person, the crazy person kept yelling, "Onomonopia! Colloquialisms! !" After she passed this lady, she wondered what those words meant. The one classified as 'dumb' may have been crazy, but he was dressed in a bathing suit top, flowery capris, a bright orange cape, and black business shoes. Minerva assumed that he was a wizard trying to dress like a muggle, and failing. Lastly, she had passed a boy not much older than herself. But he, well he had this aura around him, this sinister feeling. The sense that he was so much more dangerous than he appeared, the sense that he could hurt you, if he
wanted to. She shuddered at this last memory, and hoped he wouldn't be going to Hogwarts.
"Minerva! Don't run off like that! I know you're excited, but we could have lost you! And anyways, all of those odd people…" Minnie's mother trailed off. She could never stay angry at Minerva for long. "Well, let's go through the gate," She finished, resigned. Minerva, not able to conceal her excitement any longer, immediately ran through the barrier the second her mother stopped talking.
"Wow," Minnie breathed in amazement when she came out and saw the huge, gleaming red Hogwarts Express. "I wish Katie wasn't sick. She'd have loved to see this." Minerva's seven-year old sister, Katie McGonagall, was staying at their aunt's house, because she had a bad cold. When Minnie finally recovered from her amazement, she repeated what she had said about her sister to her parents, and then started to observe the people on the platform. Might as well get to know the people you were going to school with for 7 years, right? There was a family of redheads, over their…and look at them, white blond hair and sneers on all 3 nearly identical faces. Probably Malfoy's. A four-people group with untidy black hair and glasses. And… Oh no. The strange, cruel-seeming boy she had seen earlier in the station. He had raven black hair, too pale skin, and harsh black eyes that seemed like bottomless pits. But she must have been imagining the red flash in them. Minerva decided that she would ignore this boy. Definitely. The sound of the train whistle startled her out of her thoughts.
"Mom! Dad! I have to go! I'll write home, and see you at Christmas!" Minnie cried out as she ran to the train hauling her trunk along with her. The train would be moving in only a few minutes, so many of the compartments were already full. Minnie walked up and down the train, and found one empty compartment for her efforts. A few minutes later as she was pulling out her textbook to find out what they would be doing in school, an average-height, brown haired girl with glasses walked in, completely absorbed in a book titled Mistborn.
"Oh, can I sit here? I'm sorry, I didn't see you." The mysterious girl asked.
"Certainly, there's plenty of space. What's your name? I'm Minerva, Minerva McGonagall." Minnie replied.
"Oh, sorry! My name is Oceana Trelawney. I'm a half-blood, but I grew up mostly on the muggle side of things. What house do you want to be in?" Oceana started rambling. She seemed rather shy, and definitely bookish.
"Well, I am almost pureblood, but I'm not prejudiced or anything. I don't know what house I'll be in, but I think Ravenclaw and Gryffindor are the best choices. You?"
"I really want to be in Gryffindor, I just don't know if I'm brave enough. I hope I am, though. Do you like to read? If you do, I recommend this one, It's the first of my favorite series!" Oceana said excitedly, waving her copy of Mistborn around. Their conversation was interrupted by a girl dressed in bright red who
yelled, "Aloha in here!" then, more subdued, she added, "I mean, can I sit here?"
"Sure, we were just talking about houses. So, which one do you want to be in? I'm Minerva McGonagall, by the way, and this is Oceana."
"I know you; you were in Flourish and Blots! Remember? We were talking about this earlier! We both wanted to be in Gryffindor, Oceana. I think that's your name…" The girl in red trailed of. She was rambling, like Oceana was, but to Minerva, it seemed she was rambling not because she was nervous, but simply excited. "I'm Anita, by the way, Anita Skeeter," Soon enough, the three were chatting like old friends. But less than ten minutes later, they were interrupted yet again. Oh, no. Not him! What's he doing here? Minerva thought, feeling scared. Anita had no problems voicing Minnie's thoughts though, as she asked indignantly, "What are you doing here? We were here first!"
"This is my compartment, or did you not notice my trunk?" He said coldly. The girls glanced around, and noticing the trunk, flushed slightly. But Anita wouldn't give up so easily, "You haven't been in this compartment for at least twenty minutes! And as there is no where else to sit, I'm sure you wouldn't mind us being here? After all, you wouldn't need a whole compartment to your self, would you?" she asked, a challenging note in her voice. Minerva nodded in agreement, along with Oceana, and couldn't help admiring Anita's quick thinking.
"What is your name, by the way?" Minerva inquired. She may have been scared of him, but he didn't have to know that.
"Riddle," he replied, narrowing his eyes, "Tom Riddle"
After this, the atmosphere in the compartment was less open, less friendly. Sensing this, the three girls began to read, Minerva her textbooks, Oceana her novel, and Anita read both. Riddle immediately put up a ward so that they couldn't tell what he was doing, and apart from the side comment from Oceana ("wow, that's really advanced magic"), and the trolley, ("are you sure you don't need anything else, dears?") The train ride was uneventful, until the end, when Oceana had gone to change her robes. It had already been ten minutes since she had gone, and Minnie and Anita were starting to worry.
"I know she's no vanity queen," Anita commented, "She should be back by now" It turned out that Oceana was wandering the train, having completely forgotten where their compartment was, a side effect of Riddle's ward. So the girls were already nervous when it was time to get off and the door wouldn't open. It wasn't locked, so alohomora didn't make a difference (Anita had been taught at home). Riddle didn't seem to notice. It was almost as if he couldn't see past that ward of his. Finally, Anita approached Riddle. "I know we can't see you," she called, "But you can probably see us. Could you please help us open this stupid door?" With that, the ward disappeared. "I was wondering how long it would take you to ask" said Riddle, smirking, "It seems you will be Gryffindors after all. You have a silly sense of pride," And with that, he wordlessly unstuck the door and strode out. Oceana, now that the ward was down, ran to the compartment saying, "I hate
arrogant Slytherins like Riddle" Oceana was clearly upset about the whole ward business. "I'm glad we'll be inside soon." On the happy prospect of getting away from Riddle, the three Gryffindor-wannabees ran over to the boats where an elderly man was shouting, "First years in the boats! Come on, don't you want to get to the feast?" Minerva climbed in to a boat with Anita, Oceana, and a girl who seemed like the kind of person that they'd like who was named Scheherazade. But she was reading the whole way there, and ignored any attempts of conversation thrown at her. When they got within sights of Hogwarts, an audible gasp could be heard. It was amazing, astounding, and awesome, for lack of better words to describe it.
"Can you believe that this is where we will be going to school for the next seven years?" Oceana asked Anita, clearly full of awe. Anita didn't respond, just staring at the gigantic, beautiful castle before them. As they climbed out of the boat and up the path, they saw huge bronze doors, opening seemingly of their own accord, and heard a stern voice introducing itself, "I am Professor Merrythought. Welcome to Hogwarts"
A/N: I am not sure how this is going, so tell me how it is so far. Any suggestions for plot or chapter improvement are welcome. BTW, this is Oceana and Scheherazade's version of chapter 1. *IF YOU DON'T REVIEW ANITA WILL COME AND GET YOU WITH STRAWBERRY MOUSSE FLAVORED SPRAY PAINT!* This message is brought to you by the Severus Snape Fan Club.