Author's Note: Thank you, as always, to my supportive team. :)

Written for...

Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition. Team/Position: Holyhead Harpies, Seeker Task: Write about the McGonagall family

The Vicar's Daughter

1,035 words

Minerva sighed to herself, scrubbing at the stain of spilled juice on the floor. Her father couldn't know what happened. Not again.

"I said I was sorry, Minnie," Robert said, close to tears as he watched his older sister work. Minerva softened her gaze as she looked at his pitiful face.

"Just be more careful next time," she chastised. "If Da had been here, he wouldn't have been happy."

"I don't understand why he doesn't like magic," the young boy muttered, staring at the broken glass. "Ma says it's amazing, and you like school."

Minerva didn't know what to say. How did she explain the family's divide to an eight-year-old who couldn't truly help the magic he produced. She loved her Da dearly, but she wished he were more open to knowing about the power she and her brothers possessed. It was so hard to know that he didn't approve of that side of her.

"You'll understand soon enough," she said instead, sweeping up the glass and ridding the kitchen of any evidence of the accident. Da would never miss a glass.

:-:

She heard the people whispering at church that Sunday.

"The vicar's girl is home," said one old lady.

"I wonder if they'll be sending off the boy, too," said another.

"I suppose our schools aren't good enough for their precious children."

Minerva kept her head down and said nothing to the old gossips, just as her mother had taught her to do. It wouldn't look good for the family if she got into an argument right there in church.

She felt a hand on her back, gently pushing her toward the front of the church. "Ignore them," Ma whispered in her ear. "They don't understand us."

Minerva nodded and sat perfectly still as her brothers wriggled in their seats. Even if she couldn't be home all the time, as least she could make her Da proud and be the polite vicar's daughter she'd been raised to be.

:-:

Malcolm got his letter the very next day. There wasn't any doubt that he would, of course. She'd been cleaning up his messes the same as Robert's for as long as she could remember. Ma hid the letter in the cookie jar as soon as they heard Da's footsteps on the stairs.

Minerva knew he suspected something was going on; she could read him so well. And yet he said nothing over breakfast as the boys rattled on about the games they played with their friends in the marsh. Ma couldn't keep the smile from her face for the whole meal.

:-:

Ma took them shopping a few weeks later.

They'd left little Robert behind with Da, and by now Minerva figured her parents had talked about where Malcolm would be going come September. Da hadn't said much over the past few days and she couldn't bare to talk to him about it.

She led Malcolm through the tight shops, helping him collect their textbooks while Ma got him robes and a potion's set. Minerva had never seen her brother so happy, and she wondered if she'd had the same silly grin on her face the first time Ma had taken her to Edinburgh to buy her school things.

She stood at the back of the wandmaker's shop with Ma, watching with bated breath as Malcolm tried wand after wand. Minerva had left her own wand at home, locked away in the trunk in her closet with all of her other magical things. She didn't know where Ma's was. She didn't even know if she still had it.

:-:

Ma saw them off at the station alone, of course. Da had said his goodbyes at home - a quick hug for both children. Minerva had thought he'd looked sad but she wasn't sure why: because they wouldn't see him until Christmas, or because they were off to learn things he disapproved of.

She put on a brave smile for her Ma, who was already in tears. Minerva took her brother's hand and tugged him onto the train and along the aisle until they found a compartment. They waved goodbye to their Ma from the window and it pained Minerva to see how sad her mother looked, sobbing all alone on the platform.

:-:

"I've made the Quidditch team!" Minerva announced the moment her brother stepped into the common room.

Malcolm celebrated with her for a short time before heading up to his dorm to study, leaving her alone by the fireplace. Professor Dumbledore had been assigning essays to the lower years recently and the common room was uncharacteristically empty.

Minerva dug through her school bag for parchment and a quill, deciding to write her Ma a letter. Her homework had been done since supper and she couldn't be bothered to study any more. She needed to share her good news with someone, and she knew how much Ma would love to know she had made the team.

:-:

'My dear Minerva,

As always, I am thrilled to hear of how well you're doing at Hogwarts. Malcolm has neglected to write even once this month, so I do appreciate your updates on his wellbeing as well.

I'm so happy for you. I know Gryffindor will have a long and successful winning streak now that you're on the team. Congratulations, darling.

Robert told me to ask if you'll bring him back those mint sweets he likes. I do ask that you don't buy too many. Your Da gives him far too many sweets as it is.

We're all well here, but we miss you both so much. Take care of yourselves.

With love,

Ma'

Minerva grinned, reading the letter a second time. She would really need to have a word with Malcolm about writing more often.

She folded the letter neatly and tried stuffing it back into the envelope, to be put in the shoebox of letters under her bed, but she found a second slip of paper inside.

The note was much smaller than her ma's letter, but it meant so much more.

'My Minnie,

Your mother's told me that you're excelling at school. I am, as always, proud of you.

Be safe.

Your Da'