Disclaimer: JKR owns everything. I play with her characters for fun and I don't make any money from it.
Birthday for an Animagus
The morning air was warming slowly around Minerva as she turned circles and dived up and down the pitch on her new broomstick. The first Quidditch match of the season was today and there was no way that Gryffindor was going to lose to Slytherin. And it was her birthday, in the McGonagall clan nothing bad was allowed to happen on birthdays. They were wonderful celebrations of the person's life.
"Get down here!" Finally a loud cry broke through Minerva's concentration and she turned sharply toward the ground, dismounting next to her two best friends.
Rolanda was nervous. She bounced around on the balls of her feet and kept twitching in excitement and nervousness. "I'm so excited! This is going to be the best game ever!" She told her friend, pulling her into a fierce hug.
"Careful Rolanda!" Poppy warned, pulling on her enthusiastic friend's arm. "You need Minerva in one piece for the game later today." She reminded the girl.
Rolanda let go of Minerva instantly and pulled a napkin wrapped parcel out of her pocket. "Have some breakfast. You missed all the pancakes." She said with a smile. "There's a few in there." She exchanged the food for the broom and took to the air on Minerva's new broom. It had just arrived the night before, a birthday present from her family.
The girls are anxious to get the game played and over with. It was Minerva's first year playing Chaser and Rolanda was looking forward to competing against the Slytherin beaters again. They'd lost the cup the last three years, but everyone was convinced that this year would be their year.
As the rest of the school began to fill the stadium seats, the three girls shared a group hug.
"Remember to stay safe. I don't want to have to patch you up." Poppy told them sternly. Watching her friends take such life endangering risks terrified her. She gave Minerva's shoulder and extra squeeze. "You'll do great!" She reassured her.
Rolanda and Minerva fled to the changing rooms. They were the only female Quidditch players at Hogwarts. Before they'd started the teams had been all male and it wasn't a rule, but it wasn't considered acceptable for females to try out and play on the teams with all the men.
But they were both Quidditch crazy and since the Holyhead Harpies on the league, everyone was starting to accept that girls could play Quidditch too. Rolanda was the best beater in Gryffindor, and that requires amazing arm strength.
Minerva changed quickly into her red and gold uniform before knocking on the door of the Gryffindor changing room. "Are you decent?" She called in. The girls had to use the change room of whatever House wasn't playing at the time.
"Come in." Daniel Potter called. He was the Head of the team and one of the best keepers Gryffindor had ever had. If it wasn't for him, Gryffindor would always be last place.
The two girls hurried into the room and fastened the last of their protective gear, mostly arm and wrist guards, on to their bodies. Quidditch is a dangerous game and Minerva always felt the the Slytherins tended to play more roughly than usual against the Gryffindors. Especially the girls.
Potter paced around the front of the room. He wasn't the type of captain to give speeches or lecture them right before the game. He simply turned to face them and looked every single person in the eye. "Let's win this. For us and for Gryffindor." He shouldered his broom and headed out towards the centre of the field, the rest of the team hurrying behind him.
The flying coach, Professor Travis had the captains shake hands and then everyone mounted their brooms. He opened the box of balls. "Up and play!" He cried as the spells took effect.
Rolanda and her fellow beater, moved quickly among the other players. Her club moved faster than ever and she paid special attention to Minerva. She definitely didn't want her getting injured in her very first game.
But Minerva was having the time of her life. The quaffle always seemed to be in Gryffindor's possession and within twenty minutes she'd scored two goals, easily outsmarting the Slytherin keeper. "Yes!" Minerva pumped her arm in the air after her third successful goal.
It was during the split second that she took her attention off the game to celebrate, that the bluger hit her. Minerva felt herself fly forward as the hard ball collided with her upper back. Only the safety charms on her broom prevented her from a nasty fall to the ground of the Quidditch pitch.
"Are you all right?" Rolanda asked worriedly, taking a moment to hover next to her friend. She looked over her quickly. "No broken bones?"
Minerva gave her head a quick shake. "I'm fine. Let's get back to the game."
The game continued. It really did seem like Gryffindor's year, they scored plenty of goals and everything was looking good for the lions.
But then the Slytherins decided to play dirty. Malfoy, a seventh year, pulled out is wand and began to use non-verbal spells on his opponents. And he was a much better duller than he was a keeper.
With the quaffle gripped tightly under her arm, Minerva came in with a wide swoop. But her ploy to trick Malfoy failed and she ended up flying directly into his curse. The bright light hit her and everything seemed to change. The air was rushing around her and everything seemed larger, even the round that was rushing up to meet her was larger than life.
"Minerva!" Rolanda dropped her bat and started diving after her falling friend. She didn't know what Malfoy had cast on her, but it didn't look good. But as Minerva neared the ground she began to slow and change in mid-air, almost disappearing.
Poppy gasped from her place in the stands are her best friend seemed to disappear from the air. She was on her feet and rushing down to the pitch in an instant, running as fast as she could. But no broken human body lay on the pitch in need to mending.
"Is that her?" Rolanda asked, her voice sounded strange. As if she were fighting to speak at all. The rest of the Gryffindor players began to land around them.
Poppy knelt beside the pile of Quidditch robes. "Hello little one." She said, reaching out to the cute kitten with spectacle like markings around her eyes. "Are you Minerva?"
The two girls hadn't expected to find out that their room mate was an animagus. It was one of those things that only happens in books. Born animagi were rare and Minerva was young to have completed the transformation.
"Are you all right?" Rolanda asked the cat, trying to pick it up. But the kitten hissed angrily when touched and moved away from the reaching hands. "Did you get hurt in the fall?" She asked, not even wondering if the animal could understand her.
"Girls." Professor Dumbledore, the Head of Gryffindor house startled them. "Is this animal Miss McGonagall?" He asked them, peering down at the kitten.
Rolanda nodded. "I think so. But I don't know if Minerva's an animagus."
Dumbledore nodded gravely. "I will take her to the hospital wing. The fall cannot have been good for someone of her size." He used his wand to summon a tiny, cat-sized stretcher and levitated the kitten on to it.
The cat looked around itself for a few seconds before hissing at the man and curling up in a ball to go to sleep. Dumbledore chucked and made the stretcher begin moving towards the hospital wing, the rest of the Quidditch team following behind him.
The mediwitch, Madame Lisbeth transfered the kitten to a bed and performed a few quick diagnostic charms. She frowned over at the gathering crowd. "Can't the lot of you back off?" She growled, shooing them away from her tiny patient.
Poppy helped her set the curtains up around her friend's bed and then took a seat next to the napping kitten. Rolanda slumped down beside her, her sweating uniform's smell was even more offensive close up.
"You'll need to leave." The mediwitch told them. "I'll have to attempt a few spells to restore her human form." She pointed towards the door. "Good bye Ladies."
Rolanda crossed her arms. "No way. We're her best friends. There's no way we're leaving now." She glared at the woman and Poppy shrugged sympatheticly when the woman glared at her, but she made no move toward the door.
Lisbeth gave them a strange look. "I don't think that she'd want you to stay her. Forcibly changing someone back can be quite painful and it doesn't allow them to reform their clothes over themselves." She explained. "It would be better if you left."
Both girls shook their heads and remained where they were. "We shared a shower for five years." Poppy told her. "We just need to make sure she's all right."
The mediwitch sighed, realizing that she wasn't going to win this one. "Very well. But you'll need to get off the bed." She allowed herself a small smile at the girls' confused looks. "Miss McGonagall will get much bigger in human form. There wouldn't be any space for you."
Poppy and Rolanda nodded, getting off the bed and moving to either side of it, both watching the kitten nervously.
The spell was quick and a moment later the kitten was stretching and transforming back into their best friend. But she didn't look so good.
Madame Lisbeth spelled her into pyjamas quickly and ran a diagnostic charm over the girl. She'd woken up and was groaning slightly. "How do you feel?" She asked.
Minerva groaned. "Like a thousand blugers hit me." She whined, trying to rub at her head. There were several painful looking marks from where she'd hit the ground. Her fur had hidden them all.
With a few quick waves of her wand, Madame Lisbeth summoned a few potions and various bottles and clothes to the table along side the bed. "Don't worry dear. You'll be fine." She said, picking out the blue pain killer potion.
"It's a pain killer Min." Poppy explained, using an old nickname for her friend. "I'll help you up." She slipped her hand behind her friend's shoulder and lifted her slightly so the mediwitch could tip the bitter potions down her throat.
"Good job." Rolanda told her friend. She always hated taking potions, her mother had to fight her in order to get her to take the simplest potions. Sometimes she'd rather have the cough than take Decongestant syrup, the stuff was so awful.
The mediwitch quickly explained to Poppy how to heal her friend. She knew the girl wanted to be a healer and she had other problems to deal with. Mostly minor injures from the Quidditch match and the audience stampeding down to the pitch.
It took Poppy and Rolanda half an hour to clean and seal most of the cuts and give Minerva the potions. Even after they were finished, she didn't look her best. Her face was pale and under all the blankets she seemed to be shivering slightly.
Poppy felt her face anxiously. "How do you feel Minerva?" She asked the girl. "Cold? Warm?"
"Cold." Minerva whispered. "Get in." She lifted the blankets. "You're nice and warm."
The two girls exchanged looks and shrugged, both taking a place on either side of their friend.
The natural light had gone when Madame Lisbeth woke them. There were torches burning on the walls and the hospital wing was quiet and still. "Wake up girls." She murmured, gently shaking their shoulders.
Rolanda muttered something and opened her eyes. "Yeah?"
"It's almost curfew. You need to be leaving." She told the two girls.
Poppy and Rolanda groaned. It was warm and neither of them wanted to leave their best friend. They had quite a few questions to ask when she awoke, including when she'd learned about her animagus form. It was too pressing to wait.
"Can't they stay here?" Minerva asked, her voice sounding stronger than it had earlier.
Madame Lisbeth sighed. "No, but I am planning on releasing you."
Immediacy the three's expressions brightened and they exchanged smiles.
"Great!" Rolanda bounded off the bed. "Let's get out of here!"
Poppy smiled and made sure that Minerva was fine before climbing off the bed herself. Her back was rather sore from trying to squeeze three people into a bed barely big enough for one. "Should we do anything for her?" She asked the mediwitch.
"Here are some instructions. And potions." Madame Lisbeth handed the girl a small parcel. "I'm certain you know how to use everything." She pulled out her wand and ran one more diagnostic charm on her patient. "You'll stop by after breakfast tomorrow Miss McGonagall. I'll need to make sure that you've healed all right."
Minerva nodded and got slowly off the bed. She felt much better, if quite sore from the fall and transformations.
The three girls walked back to Gryffindor tower. There was a Quidditch party in full swing, but they proceed into the girls dorms, ignoring the catcalls and butterbeer offers from the boys. Poppy smiled at a few of the comments made about her friend's cat form. It seemed very popular among their peers.
"I just want to sleep." Minerva groaned at the sight of her bed.
Rolanda giggled and dug a pair of pyjamas out of Minerva's trunk. They were pink, with little kittens on them. "Rather fitting. Don't you think?" She asked, showing them to Poppy who nodded in agreement.
Minerva struggled into the cloth and slipped in between the flannel sheets of her bed. "Night."
But Poppy was shaking her. "Not yet. We've got to do a few things first." She had the pack the mediwitch had given her open and was consulting the instructions. "I've got to take you temperature." She told her friend.
Rolanda watched while Minerva clamped her lips around the glass and shivered from the cold.
"It looks all right. Slightly elevated." Poppy told her once the reading was finished. "There's just a couple potions."
Five minutes later all three girls were tucked into one large bed. Minerva had woken up enough to transfigure all three beds into one large one, then she changed into a cat.
Peacefully the two humans slept, not noticing the cat between them give a contented sigh.
It's not an ideal ending to my birthday. Minerva thought as she drifted off. But I'm with my friends and everything is working out. She yawned and cuddled into Rolanda's curly hair. I couldn't be happier.