"...when a young lady professes to be of a different opinion from her friends, it is only a prelude to something worse. -- She begins by saying that she is determined to think for herself, and she is determined to act for herself -- and then it is all over with her"
-Maria Edgeworth's Belinda
Her name was Minerva McGonagall and presently she sat on top of her desk watching her students diligently take notes. Her legs were crossed in a neat fashion beneath her emerald green robes, which contained not a single wrinkle or spec of dirt. Her dark, slightly graying hair, was pulled back in a tight bun, so tight in fact, that it would give any normal person a headache, and not a hair was out of place. Her spectacles were perched on her nose and she looked quite severe. Her hands were folded in her lap and her right hand clutched her wand, which she was using to dictate notes onto the chalkboard. The chalk easily floated back and forth and it was the only sound to be heard throughout the classroom. Her students respected her. She was old, she was strict, and she was a good fair teacher.
She rarely smiled anymore, but that didn't' really mean anything except that she had nothing to smile about. She felt compassion for her students, but that didn't mean she understood them.
When had everything changed? Her jump, it seemed, from childhood to adulthood had been rather fast, but she could still remember when she was a child. She could still remember when she wasn't so perfect and distant, a time when she was young and happy. She used to smile, she used to love, the world was once full.
She grew up here in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It was ironic that she was forever stuck in a place that held her best memories, but she was forever unhappy. She looked around her Transfiguration classroom. It was her favorite classroom in the whole school for it had once belonged to her favorite teacher and contained a certain holiness about it for many reasons, one being that Transfiguration had always been her favorite form of magic. She used to go to this school and she clearly remembered wanting to stay here forever. That was, of course, before she was all alone. She still, however, loved its hallowed halls deeply and had an intense attachment to the memories that came with it. This was the classroom where so much had happened. Where she had first cried in Hogwarts, where she had first laughed, where she had her first crush, her first friends, her first kiss, all of it had been in this very classroom where she sat now, rather stiffly gazing at her sea of students. There was a restless atmosphere beginning to erupt around the classroom and she realized with a sigh that the period was about to end.
"Alright students," she stated regally as her students looked at her. "You may go, make sure you get the homework from the board." She paused. "And have a nice day." Her students departed, eager to leave the silence of her classroom where they would then spend the next 15 minutes in the hallway catching up on anything new that had happened since breakfast, or maybe play a prank on some innocent bystander, only to end up in detention with her that night. Strange, it used to be her in detention and now it was the other way around. Who would have ever thought Minerva McGonagall: Wild Child? Minerva McGonagall: Tom Boy? It was so. It had happened. She had had a life before teaching, an amazing life. She had had a family and friends, the most amazing friends. And love. She hadn't always been so lonely. Her loneliness showed her bravery, for she used to fear being alone more than anything else. Loneliness among many other things made her a Gryffindor.
Minerva McGonagall now had situated herself behind her desk slightly leaned back on her chair. Her eyes were closed as she let out a sigh. It was good to remember. A rare smile tugged at the corners of her lips and she slipped back into older times, times when she wasn't alone.
King's Cross Station was sunny on September 1st, 1937. It was the kind of sunny that was so bright that it just stayed in front of the eyes once they were inside. It made everything out of the sun have that eerie shade of green until the eyes could recover. The air was slightly chilly due to a breeze coming in and sweeping a few stray leaves across the platform and onto the tracks.
Minerva McGonagall stood on the platform with her hands in the pockets of her robes, which were already beginning to wrinkle, even though she had just put them on that morning. Her palms were a bit sweaty, she realized, as she wiped them on the inside of her pockets. She was just a tad bit nervous, but no one else would really know that.
Beside her, her mother was visibly fretting over Minerva's imminent departure and her less than acceptable appearance. McGonagall's were prim and proper, they were meant to be immaculate, and at the ripe old age of 11, Minerva didn't seem to fit the mold. On this particular day, her brown hair was mousy and straggly and, though not frizzy, seemed to surround her face. She had a little mud at the bottom of her robes and her shoes were impossibly scuffed.
Her mother sighed and turned to look at her with a mixture of pride and embarrassment. Her father couldn't make it today; he had to work. Her sisters were off living their own lives, being quite a bit older than Minerva, and quite a bit more grown up, they always had been. Girls were supposed to be girly, and Beatrice and Clarisse were as lovely as anyone could get, it was Minerva that didn't seem to belong. They loved her still, that much she knew. They wished she belonged, but being girly was much too much work for Minerva. She preferred to climb trees and catch fireflies rather than look at her own reflection in some frilly dress, (probably partly because of the fact that she wasn't much to look at), or grow up to become just another boring girl like everyone else. She wasn't like everyone else, she knew. Would she ever be? It was a struggle she would always go through: to compromise herself for what she wanted, or to stick steadfast to her true self and leave everyone else apart.
She watched other people on the platform; boys with combed hair, still wet from the comb, already itching to get aboard the train. The girls with pretty curly hair, all neat and fantastic looking, their frilly dresses and high heels getting in the way of any fun they could have been having, in Minerva's eyes at least. She didn't have any friends yet, but soon she would.
Tucked behind her right ear lay her brand new wand, Ivy 9 inches with a phoenix feather core, which would soon become her life companion and would accompany her onto the train for her fist day at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and wizardry.
Two long horns signaled that it was almost time to leave. Her mother turned to her, holding out her arms. Minerva gave her mother a hug, taking a deep breath in, this is what mum smells like, she memorized, for she wouldn't see her mother again until at least Christmas. Her mother hugged her very tightly, too tightly, and as she pulled away she swiped at her eyes. "I'll miss you darling," she started to blubber.
Repulsed by the idea of a rather public display of emotion from her mother, Minerva took a step back. "Ugh Mum please, not now." She whined. And with that her mother straightened up, a slightly maddened look on her face.
"Behave." She warned, "Try to be a little bit calm please, Minerva, stay out of trouble…and make some friends!" she added as an afterthought. The kind of friend, she didn't really specify, however, Minerva knew her mother meant girls. Proper girls. Not girls like her.
Then she was on the train, swept up amongst the rushing of everyone else, just in time for the hasty departure of the Hogwarts Express. She had managed to procure her own lonely compartment somewhere in the middle of the train. The side of her face was pressed to the glass of the window as she watched all of the parents still standing on the platform. Her eyes sought out the solitary figure of her mother, and she knew she would be missed by the tears in her mother's eyes, but she was happy, happy for her little girl to go off to Hogwarts and enjoy the wizarding world. Minerva was happy too, she was not so nervous, not as nervous as the other eleven year olds she had seen milling about. Her life was changing, it was good, great even, but she would miss home, she would have to make her own way here, in a new school, look out for herself, it was hard to do when you were so different. But who wanted to be normal? Who wanted to be classic? That was all rather boring in her opinion.
There was a knock on the door of the compartment, and she turned her head away from the window just as the train began to move. "Come in," she replied.
The door slid open just wide enough for the head of a boy to pop in. "Hi, are there any seats I could possibly have? Everywhere else is full." He had light brown hair and a scant scattering of freckles across the bridge of his nose.
"Sure" she glanced back out the window, the scenery was beginning to rush by at a faster pace. She could use the company.
He slipped into the compartment, his trunk in tow with an owl cage strapped to the top, and she noted that he was tall and skinny, almost gangly as if he were a bit stretched out. "I'm Holt." He said, hefting his trunk into the rack above their heads and setting the owl cage down on the seat beside him. Minerva noted that he was probably stronger than her and that he was stronger than his thin arms looked. It was unusual for boys to be stronger than her when they were her own age, which she guessed Holt was by his scrawny appearance.
"Holt Harris," he continued, "First year, I'm new to all this magic hubbub, it all seems rather brilliant to me. Who are you?"
Minerva sat up in her seat. "Minerva McGonagall," she supplied. So making friends couldn't be that hard. "First year, yea magic's really neat, my grandmum is a muggle," his curious look told her to explain, "that's non-magic folk. She's married to a pureblood wizard, but to this day she still gets a thrill out of all the magic stuff. Hogwarts is pretty amazing, so I hear. My mum told me all about it, and both my sisters went here as well as all the magical folk in my family." She proclaimed proudly.
He was wearing, she noticed, muggle clothing which looked a lot more fun compared with her stiff new black robes, which were not so new since she was wrecking them with her mere presence. He looked very neat, very clean and compared to him she was a right mess. "Have you met anyone yet?" he asked her. She hadn't met anyone.
"No, just you." She answered with a small smile. "I'm sure I know some of them through my parents." No one she really liked.
"So tell me what you know about Hogwarts." Something that could only be described as glee filled his eyes as she began to fill him in on everything she knew about the school of witchcraft and wizardry.
That was how the rest of the train ride passed. The two of them chatted on about magic and soon about everything else, forming an amiable friendship. Holt Harris was Minerva McGonagall's first friend at Hogwarts, but he certainly wouldn't be her best.
"You'd best be changing into your robes." Minerva advised hours later. He got up to stretch and retrieved his trunk from over their heads, rifling through it for his robes. "I'll be right back," he left for the loo and she was alone again. No one came to bother her; she was just a lowly first year.
She heard some sort of commotion outside in the corridor and peaked her head out hesitantly for a better look. Two groups of students stood facing each other, one group; she noticed sported red ties, the other, green. Gryffindor and Slytherin. Then hexes were flying as a small scuffle broke out. They were all boys who looked to be about seventh year and what they were fighting about she had no idea, but she pried her eyes away from the scuffle long enough to see Holt making his way back towards her, now in wizarding robes. "Holt, look out!" she warned as a hex hit the wall not even 30 cm away from him, where he would have been next had he not stopped short and heeded her warning. He ran into the compartment and they shut the door, both just giving each other a look for a minute or so.
"What were they on about?" Holt questioned. Minerva didn't know, she offered him a shrug and then they both turned to look out the window. The noise outside began to die down; surely some prefect had diffused the fight. The castle suddenly loomed before them and she had to suck in a sharp breath. Across from her she heard Holt gasp in surprise. This was Hogwarts and she was going to live there, in that castle. Excitement coursed through her as the train slowed to a stop and the two of them gathered their things.
"First years! First years this way!" A rather rotund man by the name of Ogg waddled toward them, his deep voice booming over the noise of the other students.
"That's Ogg, the gamekeeper." Minerva whispered. The first years all cued up in front of Ogg.
"It's four people to a boat, pile in" Ogg shouted as he got into the first boat.
"Over here yea?" Holt motioned towards a boat already holding two boys. There seemed to be only one boat left besides that one, and the boys in it didn't look very welcoming. So they piled into the boat Holt had motioned to and the boats started to float towards the castle. The sun was setting and the water was reflecting strange light onto people's' faces.
Minerva glanced at the other two boys on the boat one looked to be enjoying himself his dirty blond hair flopping into his eyes the other stared straight back at her, a kind of smirk lacing his face. "You're lucky we even let you in our boat you know?" The boy stated brushing his chestnut hair away from his hazel eyes.
"Yea why's that?" she asked, what had she done now?
"Well you're a girl that's all, and normally with us blokes it's no girls allowed. In fact this is supposed to be a blokes' boat. Isn't that right Sandy?"
"Yeah yeah sure Danny, a blokes' boat." And with that the floppy haired boy by the name of Sandy turned his head back towards the castle to watch its imminent approach, his face tinged shades of pink and orange as the light was changing on the water's surface.
"Hey man, come off it." Holt suggested when he saw the look on Minerva's face.
Danny stood up in the boat, which didn't do much since it was being pushed along and balanced by magic. "Well it's true. Girls are no fun, they can't keep secrets, they're hopeless at pranks, and what good's a girl when they don't even like Quidditch." He reasoned.
Minerva too stood up and noticed Danny was a good 8cm taller than her. "Oh yea?" she stepped closer to him. "Who's to say a girl can't keep secrets just as well as a boy?" Another step closer, "I love pranks." Another step "I play beater and plan to play for my house team." Step. "And" step. She was now just about 5 cm from his face, her voice lowered. "Mr. High and Mighty, why settle for a blokes' boat," She paused to look around, and settled back on his face, he looked angry and a bit scared. "When you can have the whole lake!" And with that she gave him a hard shove to the chest and he fell into the lake with a splash. He came up spluttering in surprise a second later. She smiled evilly, "enjoy!" she said sweetly and batted her eyelashes, which she imagined must have made her look even uglier, if that was possible. She sat back down on the boat to the impressed look of Holt and the mirthful look of Sandy.
"I reckon you've got enough nerve yea?" Sandy stated through laughter. "Alright then, what's your name?"
"Minerva McGonagall." She answered with a big smile.
"Is that right?" Sandy asked. "Well then, Minerva, looks like you've earned yourself a new nickname, Nerve." If it was possible her smile grew even wider.
"Oy you, girl" Danny called from the water. "Let me in?" She shrugged to Holt and pulled Danny back into the boat, he dripped all over the wooden bottom and got her robes all wet. "Thanks."
"Girls are worthless are they?" she asked raising an eyebrow.
"All right, they're not complete rubbish." This Danny kid was very arrogant; she looked forward to knocking him down a peg or two.
Holt started to go through introductions. "I'm Holt Harris, and this here is Minerva McGonagall, newly christened Nerve, and you are?"
"Danny Preston, and this here is Sandy—"
The boy with the dirty blond floppy hair stood up and offered a hand to Minerva. He was shorter than her by quite a bit. "Sanderson Farthing the III" he stated with a cheeky grin, "but you can call me Sandy." Minerva recognized his surname probably from some newspaper, or sometime her parents had talked about wizarding society.
"Well, Sandy, it's nice to meet you" she shook his hand. The boat they were on gently bumped into the shore and some of the other first years had already begun to get out. "Looks as if it's time to be sorted."
The four of them filed out of the boat and onto the shore where they were led to the entrance hall of Hogwarts. They formed a line and were brought into what Minerva knew to be the Great Hall. Clarisse had once told her that the Great Hall of Hogwarts was one of her favorite places, because of the magic inside of it, the good food, and most of all, the enchanted ceiling, which Minerva could only look up at in wonder. Behind her Holt let off an exclamation at the sight of the sun setting through the ceiling. "Bloody hell!"
"It's charmed to show the sky," Minerva whispered.
The line of first years was led to the front of the room, most of the others were looking quite nervous. Sandy in front of her was fidgeting as he glanced around the hall. In fact, Minerva observed, the only other two people who didn't seem nervous were Danny Preston, always confident, and a boy who she hadn't yet met, but had been on the other boat where she seemed unwanted. That other boy, she noticed was very handsome, even at the age of eleven, and Minerva had to hold herself back from a blush. She rolled her eyes at her own thoughts.
One of the professors strode up to a stool at the front of the room and placed an old patched up hat on it. The rip at the brim suddenly opened up taking the first years by surprise as the hat began to sing.
Long ago the founders four
Began this school anew
To shelter students from the bad
And to teach them what they knew
Ravenclaw was smart and sharp
She taught her pupils well
She took only those smart like her
To teach them all her spells
Brave Gryffindor accepted those
Who were courageous just like him
Those chivalrous and full of nerve
Filled his house to the brim
Cunning Slytherin with all his plans
Took only those who plotted
Those pure of blood and ambitious
So his purity and gains never rotted
Sweet Hufflepuff the fourth of them
Who was everybody's friend
Took every kind of student left
And worked hard till the end
These founders four knew someday
They would not carry on
So they picked me to continue
The sorting of the throng
Please take your time and pick me up
To try me on
I'll only peak inside your mind
To tell you where you belong
Then the hat was silent and the teacher pulled out a scroll of parchment and began to read names off of a list.
"Adam Abbot!" The boy looked quite pale beneath his dark hair.
The hat took a few seconds before it proclaimed "Ravenclaw!" for the entire hall to hear. Adam hopped nimbly off of the stool and walked towards the Ravenclaw table, which was cheering proudly for its first new member.
This was how the sorting progressed and for the most part Minerva tuned it out until the first Gryffindor was sorted. Mitchell Davies stepped forward to the stool when his name was called, his hair was combed neatly in a side part and he was kind of squat looking, but not in a bad way. Once he was sorted the entire Gryffindor table cheered loudly, but this table was by far the most raucous of all the tables. Minerva hoped to go to this table. Hufflepuff was for duffers in her opinion, and Slytherin was way too much drama, with all of the backstabbing, and ambition, it was just too mean for her. Ravenclaw would be alright, but they were so serious, yes she would like Gryffindor, they looked like a group who knew how to have fun.
A few more were sorted. Both Holt and Sandy into Gryffindor, Emily Kensington went to Hufflepuff as well as Andrew Lewis. Then they got to the M's and she was expecting to go next, but no, they called up "Colby Malaga!" It took five whole minutes of deliberation with this one before he was put into Gryffindor.
"Minerva McGonagall!" This was it, her turn. She walked up to the stool and placed the hat over her head and it fell past her eyes.
Suddenly she heard a voice. "Hmmm you seem to have intelligence in spades, a knack for organization and planning, you could belong is Ravenclaw, or maybe Slytherin, you certainly don't lack ambition to find your own place in this world." She just kept listening. "Ahh here it is though, you're different, and not afraid. So brave, very brave, well you belong in GRYFFINDOR!" The Gryffindor table erupted into cheers as she took her seat in between Colby and Mitchell and Diagonal from Holt and Sandy, who had an empty seat between them which, to her dismay was next filled by Danny Preston. The handsome boy who she had noticed earlier was called up soon afterwards.
"Tom Riddle!" And the hat had barely touched his head before it proclaimed "Slytherin!"
"He's a mite bit scary, that one." Mitchell muttered to the rest of them. "He was doing magic on the train as a first year!"
Soon the sorting came to a close and the person who Minerva assumed to be the headmaster, Armando Dippet stood up. "Who's that?" Holt whispered.
"Armando Dippet." Replied the voices of Minerva and Danny at the same time. They glared at each other and then both turned back to Holt. "The headmaster" they both said. Holt merely raised his eyebrows at them, while Sandy stifled a laugh.
"Welcome to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." For those of you who are returning welcome back to a new year. We have some rules to follow, first no magic in the corridors, our caretaker Apollyn Pringle has a more detailed list of rules hanging on his office door for student perusal. Second, no students are allowed in the Forbidden Forest and students must be in their common rooms by their designated curfew. Now that that's all settled, schedules will be given out tomorrow morning and classes will begin promptly thereafter. You may begin eating." He seemed kind of serious, with his small body all wrapped up in jet black wizards robes and his slightly balding head of gray hair. Yet Minerva knew him to be a pushover from what she had heard.
Everyone around her began to dig in; this was her first Hogwarts feast. She had two friends so far, but she hadn't met any girls, she soon would that night since she would be rooming with the Gryffindor girls for the rest of her Hogwarts education. She sighed as she wondered what they were going to be like. "Oy Minerva" Danny interrupted her thoughts, "Are you going to eat that piece of pie?" She glared once more at him as she shoved her pie onto his plate. It was going to be a long year.