"Mr. Finnigan, if you do not be quiet and pay attention I shall have to give you detention," I snapped.

And then the most amazing thing happened, he shut up! Never in all the years I've taught him has that happened… really.

Normally he ignores me completely, has a sarcastic remark, or at least rolls his eyes. But today all he said was "Yes ma'am," and he paid attention for the rest of class (the only other student who paid that much attention was Ms. Granger).

As the bell rang I said, "Mr. Finnigan please come see me."

He approached my desk slowly, looking like a condemned man. "Please don't give me detention Professor, I'll never talk in class again, I promise."

"I'm not going to give you detention Finnigan, but I do want to know why the idea of it scares you."

"Oh, no reason"

"I have been teaching for over 40 years, I know when a student is lying to me, now really, what happens in detention?" I was surprising myself with my eagerness for an answer. I don't know why I needed to know; it just seemed so important.

"It's the Cruciatus Curse."

I don't remember exactly what I did next (I'm sure it involved some very inappropriate words), but very soon I found myself in Severus' office.

"How dare you use an Unforgivable on my students!"

"Your students? Who's the headmaster?"

"Some half-blood, half-wit, not even halfway decent man," I spat.

"A little bitter that I got the position and you didn't Minerva?" that bastard sneered.

"Don't you dare disrespect me like that Snape, I taught you and as such you will address me as Professor McGonagall," I'm sure my nostrils flared as they often do when I'm angry.

"Don't be foolish, I can and will fire you if necessary."

I breathed out and regained my calm before saying in my deadliest voice, "And risk me telling the world all your dirty little secrets? Ha, I think not. You don't want everyone to know about your anti-magic muggleborn father, how your patronus is a doe, that you're still in love with Lily Evans, and that you cried after you murdered Professor Dumbledore."

Yes, Dumbledore trusted me, he knew that someday I might need this information and as always, he was right.

"I didn't cry," he said quite indignantly.

"Well, that was just a guess, but if I share the rest you had better believe that my word will be trusted."

"I never thought I'd see the day where Minerva McGonagall resorted to blackmail."

"We Gryffindors are brave and very protective of our own, remember that."

"I don't really care… Minerva," he smirked.

He was testing me; he didn't think I had the guts to do anything. Fool. I, Minerva McGonagall, proud Gryffindor, slapped him. As I left I saw him rub his now red cheek in shock.

Hehehe

Several hours later I was still fuming. I've never been one to sit around and do nothing, and I won't do that now.

"Filius come with me please," I asked the ancient head of Ravenclaw.

"Certainly Minerva, where are we going?"

"To meet Pomona in the greenhouse"

"There you are," Pomona Sprout greeted us, "What's so important?"

"Mr. Finnigan paid rapt attention in class when threatened with detention and promised to never talk in my class again if I didn't give him detention. Apparently Snape has allowed the Carrows to use the Cruciatus Curse as punishment."

They gasped and Pomona started stroking her Venomous Tentacula. Honestly, I'll never understand what that woman sees in dangerous plants.

"Well, what can we do about it?" Filius asked.

"I don't really know," I admitted, "we can warn the students I suppose."

"And tell them to behave themselves," Pomona added.

I bit back a very unprofessional laugh, "That would be nice wouldn't it? But I highly doubt it will happen. Everybody's noticed the missing muggleborns and well, these are the people that killed Cedric and Dumbledore. The students won't behave themselves."

And I'd probably be a little disappointed if they did in all honesty. With what they did to Umbridge (that horrible cow), I know this'll be worse.

Snape was a jerk and killing the headmaster and torturing students was crossing the line between dislike and outright hatred. So the students are hurt and of course very angry.

For the Gryffindors at least, revenge is the first thing on their minds, either that or they all have a death wish (and that wouldn't surprise me). (She's saying that the Gryffindors will torture Snape and the Carrows either for revenge or just because they can and that neither of those would surprise her.)

We headed back up to the castle where we were confronted with Amycus Carrow. "Where have you been? You missed a staff meeting."

"They were helping me," Pomona answered.

"You can't handle your plants?" he sneered.

I glared, "You try handling a Venomous Tentacula by yourself." I hope he does… and that it kills him.

"Then why," he eyed us suspiciously, "aren't you covered in dirt?"

Ummm….

Filius came to the rescue with his quick thinking. "We're wizards, aren't we? Are you insinuating that we don't know how to use magic to clean ourselves?"

"Right then," I think the use of a big word like insinuating confused him. "Here," he handed us some papers, "These are for your students, also, you need to talk about them in your classes tomorrow."

Okay then, new rules… oh joy… not.

I entered the Gryffindor Common Room and everybody stopped talking.

"Is everybody here?" There were many nods.

Liars, Ginny Weasley is definitely not here. Oh well, I probably don't want to know where she is.

"I have a list of new rules that will be strictly enforced.

1- No clubs can be formed without the approval of the Headmaster." Right, if that didn't work for Umbridge, it won't work for him.

"2- Curfew is 8; all students must be in bed by 9

3- There is no talking in the hallways

4- No public displays of affection in the hallways or the Great Hall

5- No Weasleys Wizard Wheezes products allowed

6- No speaking of Undesirable Number 1 unless it was printed in the Prophet

7- All mail going in and out of the castle will be checked

8- The Inquisitorial Squad members are your superiors, obey them

9- No girls in the boy's dorms (or vice versa)

10-Always respect and obey Headmaster Snape and the Carrows"

Sigh

"And I'd also suggest you refrain from calling Alecto a really ugly man, it's probably not a good idea.

"Now, since you all plan on following all these rules I'm sure I don't have to warn you to be very careful and at least… don't get caught."

Right, sure, whatever…

"Now I'd like to speak to the 7th years alone. Don't whine, up to bed," and when they lingered, "Now."

It was just Neville Longbottom, Seamus Finnigan, Lavender Brown, and Parvati Patil. Only half the number that should be here.

"I'm not going to waste my breath telling you to keep out of trouble… but honestly, you have to be careful. I talked to Snape; he's not having a change of heart."

"We didn't expect him to," Lavender said.

"What did you tell him?" Seamus asked.

"Your name didn't come up, I mostly yelled at him, slapped him, and left." They stared at me.

I never claimed to think before I act…

"Either way, he's serious about this and I don't want anybody hurt. Promise me you'll look after yourselves and the younger students."

"We promise."

"Good, now go to bed and when Ms. Weasley returns from wherever she is, tell her about the rules." They looked shocked, how stupid do they think I am?

As I left I was surprised to find a couple tears in my eyes.

This year would be hard, but it's nothing they can't handle.

Yeah, I really like McGonagall so I figured hey why not write a fanfic about her? Yeah, I was stuck on an 8 hour car drive so... eh.

Like half of this chapter was written with help and ideas from my sister Kayla... you guys should feel pretty bad for her, I texted her like every 20 minutes for 8 hours with should McGonagall do this or this?

Anyways... I'll update this probably soo because I read Dumbledore's Army and the Year of Darkness by Thanfiction (it was amazing!) and now I'm stuck on that 7th year...