There were some things that McGonagall could no longer bear at her age. She was not an old woman, nor was she a common one too. She always boasted that at her not-that-old age she was a very strong woman, and especially a wonderful witch.

After all, no old lady had resisted four Stupefy all shot directly to her chest. Bah! No old woman would have endured three wars against the worst Dark wizards in history.

She did not much remember the war against Grindelwald, since it had not been so close to her country, but she was about 20 years when she offered her support to Professor Dumbledore (not to mention that Albus had been able to battle him on his own).

But Voldemort... well, a large part of the grey hair in her tight bun were due to the two wars in which she participated actively as a member of the Order of the Phoenix against him. So much work that it took it all had paid off at the end when she saw the Boy-Who-Lived-Twice defeating the evil in person.

In the end, she had always bluffed counting she had as many grey hairs as extreme experiences with Dark wizards, curses, tortures, friends' deaths, pain. And it was because McGonagall, although she would never admit it, was obsessed with her grey hair for it meant not years but experience.

And there was something else that Minerva would never admit: the real experiences that made her hair that grey. Dark wizards? Curses? Yeah, sure.

The real terrors according to Minerva were the TROUBLEMAKERS.

She never knew the reason why, but it always seemed the troublemakers were sorted in Gryffindor, and as a good Head of House, she was in charge of punishing them. It could be the bold and heroic nature of Lions or the little opportunity there was at Hogwarts to demonstrate such qualities (except maybe Quidditch), but she did not see the reason of this behavior.

You call her crazy, but she would swear that the harder her punishments were, the wilder and more undisciplined their behavior became. She'd also swear that if her students had put the same creativity and dedication to the study rather than their jokes, they would win the House Cup, the Quidditch Cup, the trophy for Special Services to the School and Gryffindor would have Head Boys and Girls all the years in a row. But there was no such luck.

As she thought about it, she would realize that in every generation she had to endure a group of unruly and especially undisciplined troublemakers. The first great imps were them.

The Marauders (and a shiver runs down the back of Minerva as she remembered that group).

James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew.

They were the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in adolescent stage; they walked all along the world leaving behind a trace of jokes, laughs and fun, although (even McGonagall had to recognize) it all was comforting and amusing in spite of the war.

However, sometimes they used to turn the world upside down, like that time when McGonagall entered the Common Room and fell... up. Many were roaring with laughter sprawled in the ceiling; others were supporting themselves by grabbing the columns to avoid falling upwards; some were trying to study sitting on the chairs that were also upside down but unsuccessfully since the scrolls, books and other school supplies weren't helping them by respecting the true law of gravity and falling down as it should be, which was funnier and more frustrating at the same time.

And in the middle of all the mayhem, there were them.

Floating on broomsticks the whole four, Sirius and James were laughing and juggling with the tools that they could catch at flight; Remus was laying on the broom with his usual expression divided between fun and reproach; and Peter was also showing an expression divided between fun... and terror, thus almost embracing his broom to avoid falling.

Lily Evans, herself, was wearing her usual face of disapproval at the Marauders' antics, but with a slight tinge which prevented her from stopping them: a twinkle in her eyes and a light blush when James passed near and winked at her smiling.

It was not pleasing what came after that; very shocked by the whole situation, McGonagall did not think it twice and said the counter-curse, but this made all her world to do some spins before she managed to land elegantly on her feet, thought not all the others who fell on their bottoms or their heads in the armchairs and cushions that moved at the very moment just to avoid injuries.

Those were guys who could rule the world if they wanted to and everyone were fond of them. Well, almost everyone. However, this was not what most irritated Minerva but the fact that it was her who had to be a good Deputy Headmistress by telling them off and punishing them, although she knew it was as successful as stopping the rain to fall.

Let anyone know this: McGonagall did not consider fun a strange topic.

She loved Quidditch as much as Christmas and New Year parties, and when she found out how to wake up the statues she was almost beside himself with desire to do it. I always wanted to do that spell, she said excitedly after doing it, in spite of the imminent battle.

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After Marauders' graduation, it was just fair for Minerva to find a bit of peace and order in Gryffindor... if it wasn't so much to ask.

Instead, it seemed that Merlin hated her because 11 years later (which appeared so short in retrospect) there were the others.

The Weasley twins (and a drop of cold sweat falls from her scalp by the nape of her neck as she remembered that group).

They were not the Horsemen of the Apocalypse: they were both faces of Janus; they were Pixie and Dixie (and she was Jinks the cat); they were Trunks and Goten; they were Phineas and Ferb (and she was Candace); they were the Slag Brothers.

They were Fred and George. George and Fred. Unique and unequaled.

It is incredible that a duo could become as dynamic as a quartet. They were the James and Sirius of the new generation.

She would never forget the last night of their first year at Hogwarts. She'd already had problems with them during the year, but that night... brrr...

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FLASHBACK

Students had gathered for their last feast after a long year of studies, as usual. Dumbledore said his farewell speech before the food appears normally. Everyone were eating and chatting happily, probably planning their vacation and telling jokes, as it was the ordinary thing to do. The House Cup had ended in Ravenclaw and Slytherin had won the Quidditch Cup, and this came as no surprise (unfortunately).

The Ravenclaw lot kept the same face as always despite victory: neither haughty nor proud, but they were not showing a falsely modest face. They won, they were the best and no one could say anything about that.

Slytherins, on the other hand, were not as haughty as anyone would have expected. Marcus Flint seemed nervous and most serious, Adrian Pucey was avoiding lifting his eyes from his plate, Miles Bletchley was trying hard not to took his hand out of his mouth and Terence Higgs had glued his lips with Spellotape; the rest of the Slytherin Quidditch team seemed in no better condition. In fact, nobody was saying anything all along that table but all of them seemed very uncomfortable.

At the Gryffindor table, however, Fred, George and Lee Jordan couldn't stop glancing occasionally at the Slytherin table and sniggering, as if waiting for something.

That was not good. She glanced at Professor Snape, looking for an answer, but he also looked uncomfortable: he wasn't speaking but answering by shaking his head for yes or no and he wouldn't stop glancing nervously at Dumbledore.

Suddenly, from the table closest to the Slytherins', there was loud howl of laughter that was carried away by all the Great Hall. Soon all the tables except the Slytherins' and the professors' were pointing at the Snakes and laughing out loud at them.

–What is the meaning of this? –McGonagall asked angrily standing and amplifying its voice to quell the tumult.

Snape stood up and spoke nervously.

–I think that I can respond to that, Professor McGonagall.

Immediately and in unison, all the Great Hall (even some Slytherins) burst into laughing. Many had tears in their eyes with so much mirth; even McGonagall had to contain herself from smirking. And that was because the one who spoke was indeed old greasy-haired Severus Snape, but there was also his voice... his new shrilly and chipmunk-ish voice.

–It's a kind of childish spell but with no apparently counter-course –said Snape (spitting cold fury with every word, as daring anyone else to go on laughing, but as he sounded so much like Alvin the chipmunk he did not have so much success). –Luckily, it will vanish in 24 hours. It seems that my entire House suffered this problem.

–It's true, Professor –a male Slytherin prefect said with a voice that reminded Dolores Umbridge's (which earned another wave of sniggers).

–But it had another effect to us girls! –a female Slytherin prefect shouted with the voice of Lee Marvin, and the Great Hall exploded again with laughter.

–This is humiliating! –a blond girl from Slytherin cried with the voice of Louis Armstrong.

It took some time to calm the entirely Great Hall (some were asking sarcastically for the blonde girl to sing What A Wonderful World), and finally Professor Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling, sent students into their bedrooms.

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The first six years that Minerva had to endure the Weasley twins had definitely hardened her. But the last year (which was actually half of it) she had incredibly ignored many of their jokes, since they were addressed to the new member of the teaching staff, Dolores Umbridge.

But hey... after so many years without troublemakers (except Peeves, who was handled more by Filch than by her), she was expecting this year at Hogwarts to be as quiet as those who followed the war. As she was Headmistress, Transfiguration teacher and Gryffindor Head of House, she was wishing to have such quiet years as the last ones.

On that happy thought, and as she watched the new students walking towards her, she took the list with their names and reviewed them: Aaron, John; Aberastury, Linda; Ball, Helga... James Sirius Potter... Weasley, Fred.

Well, she thought smiling, another funny year; definitely Merlin hated her.