Musings of the new Headmistress
Minerva McGonagall sat in the Headmaster's Office. She sat not in the chair, but on the desk in her animagus form, a striped tabby cat with dark markings around the eyes like glasses. She was sitting motionless pondering the mysteries held in portraits of the previous holders of the position. She stared at each and pondered the enormity of the job. She thought of the positive and negative things that each had done.
The thought about the two Slytherin Headmasters, Black and Snape, and the hard work they had done to save three Gryffindor students in the battle to rid the wizarding world of the darkest wizard there had ever been. Neither had wanted to be put into that position, but they had because it was the right thing to do and they needed them.
Headmaster Black had been held against all odds inside Hermione's beaded bag and the trio ran the length and breadth of Britain. She had gained his respect and he was sometimes in awe of her unique organizational and logical skills. During the war he acted a double agent as well letting Headmaster Snape know what was going on around the trio even though he could not see it all. He had let Headmaster Snape know almost immediately that they had taken his portrait down from 12 Grimald Place and placed it into a dark bag. Snape had been amused at the story about him being blindfolded so that he couldn't tell the whereabouts of the runaways, but they were unaware that he could hear everything. His first report was a list of the contents of the bag that he had been able to see when the light entered the bag when items were retrieved. Who would have thought that teenagers had the savvy to pack everything from a tent to medical supplies, from changes of clothing to a medium-sized library that was heavy on the dark arts, and yet forget to pack much food or the means to obtain it? A copy of "Edible Plants of the Forest and Glen" by Iris Plantz would have been helpful. The Headmasters would discuss at end what other books Hermione should have packed or left behind. Albus was proud of the originality of the skills of his lioness had shown in adapting spells and charms to suit the situation. The fact that she had been able to perform the spell that made the small beaded bag a virtual moving van with the undetectable extension charm was but one of his favorite.
Headmaster Snape had been an unsung hero until that foolish boy had blabbed what had been in the memories he had given in the end. He was not sad that he was gone. The only regret was that he had not been kinder to two of the three in that trio. He thought the Weasley kid still lacked the drive and skill his older brothers had. Ron had seemed rudderless when not around Harry and Hermione. Harry seemed to be a cat that landed on his feet when dropped and had lost two of his nine lives. Hermione was an insecure muggle who only wanted to be noticed. She really was the smartest-witch-of-her-generation. She alone would be Minister of Magic one day he was certain.
"Yes," thought Minerva, "these two Slytherins had been vital to the outcome of the war." Initially she was put out that Severus had been appointed Headmaster after he had killed Albus, but with the situation as it was she was certain it was the right choice in the end. She never would have been able to function as Headmaster and protect the children as he had done during the war. She would not have had the ability to protect from the shadows. She was certain that he like her had been aware of the students using the Room of Requirement as a hide-away and shelter when things got too bad.
Her gaze fell on Headmaster Dippett and was grateful that he had denied Tom Riddle's request to become the Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor. He had not been aware of Tom's darkness at first, but after Albus' refusal to believe that Hagrid had opened the Chamber of Secrets. He took another look, but only had circumstantial evidence and the fact that he had a giant spider down there would not get his sentence overturned. The denial had caused a curse to be cast upon the position and nobody knew why the Professors in that job never lasted more than a year. She smirked, "Thank Merlin for that because Hogwarts would never have survived more than one year of Dolores Umbridge!" She was certain that until Albus was certain that his end was near did he appoint Severus Snape to the position of his dreams.
Headmaster Albus Dumbledore! He had been her mentor and the love of her life and the reason that she had remained single. She was certain that he had been a seer. His correct vision of the future and the ability to plan certainly did not come from Sybil Trelawney. He seemed to be aware of everything going on in the castle before it happened. He seemed to have the knack of knowing what was needed by each student before they even knew it. The teaching staff also benefitted from his foresight. Certainly he had made mistakes, but there were lessons learned from those as well. Just look at Gildroy Lockhart, what a dolt! But because of him, Harry had been given access to the Chamber of Secrets and the basilisk fangs were available for destruction the horcruxes. A byproduct of that year had been the idiot had been rendered useless due to the backfiring of the same memory charm he had used cover up the fact that he had stolen so many witches and wizards glory. Putting Remus Lupin in as Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor had been a stroke of genius for all the students, first year through seventh, had learned more in the partial year he had been there than the rest of their schooling combined. It was too bad Severus' jealousy and anger harbored from the past had interfered.
"Well, Minerva," stated Albus Dumbledore's portrait, "do you prefer to sit on the desk or wouldn't you like to try your new chair. If you wish to look at us, you can always move your chair to the other side of your desk."
She laughed and said, "I just might do that otherwise I will have the lot of your looking over my shoulder."
Task: Write about someone pondering a mystery of the world.
Keywords: Unique, Originality, Mysteries