The First Order

Rated T for mild cursing. Harry Pooter and all references belong to Jk Rowling.

Chapter One

August 1957

Minerva sighed as she looked over her small, downtrodden flat that had been her home for the past 2 years. She could hardly believe that today was the day she would finally leave London to go back to Hogwarts to teach. Her appointment to Transfiguration professor had been in unfortunate circumstances she admitted to herself and she recalled the headline of the Daily Prophet 2 months earlier.

'Headmaster Armando Dippet dies after a long illness with Dragon Pox'

"The much-loved headmaster of Hogwarts Armando Dippet has passed away after a lengthy illness of Dragon Pox. Upon his death, Albus Dumbledore, former Transfiguration professor was named as his successor as Headmaster of Hogwarts. Professor Dippet is succeeded by his grandchildren Anne, Ros and Ailsa and his great-grandchildren Poppy Pomfrey and Colin Spikler."

Of course, Minerva had immediately wrote a note to Poppy expressing her sympathies and sent it off with Darian, her loyal Screech owl. It was only after she had returned from her work in the Auror's office did she remember that now Dumbledore was headmaster there was a vacancy in the Transfiguration post. She eagerly wrote an application letter to Dumbledore that also expressed her sympathies as she knew that the former headmaster and Dumbledore were quite close as colleagues go. It was hours later that received an official letter from Hogwarts saying she was accepted in the post as Transfiguration professor.

And now it was finally time. Minerva gave the room the once over once again, it would not do to leave anything behind. She checked her watch, made sure she had a firm hold on her carpetbag and disapparated to the edges of Hogsmeade.

Minerva looked up after the tight, twisting feeling finally went away and smiled slightly. She could hardly believe that she would be teaching in Hogwarts in just under a month. The thought of the mountain of work to do set her off on a brisk walk up the long winding lane to the Hogwarts gates.

She was lucky she was so fit she thought to herself as she climbed the final steep hill of the lane. All the auror training had clearly paid off. As she approached the gates, she remembered her school days spent with her best friends, Poppy and Eveline. She reached her had out a touched the cold iron slightly before withdrawing.' That had ought to do it' she thought. She had only been waiting a few minutes when she could see the faint outline of a figure walking towards her. She smiled, already knowing who it was. Albus Dumbledore always had had such a distinctive walk, even when she a student. She remembered how close they were, after all he had taught her how to become an Animagus. With a slight wave of his hand, Albus opened the gates and strode out to embrace Minerva in a hug.

"It's been a while hasn't it Minerva? Or I suppose I should call you Professor McGonagall."

"Honestly Albus, you think 2 days is a while" she said, grinning at his mock-hurt expression.

"Shall we?" he gestured towards the castle. With a flick of her hand Minerva enchanted her carpet bag to levitate behind her as she and Albus chatted about times gone by and new beginnings on the walk up to the castle.

"Now, I trust you are glad to be back?" Albus asked.

"Very much so, I did enjoy the ministry work but I have always wanted to teach so here I am" said Minerva.

"Hmm, I vaguely remember a young Miss McGonagall teaching a rather large group of students after curfew a month before the OWLs because their new defence teacher was and I quote "incapable of teaching a class"."

Minerva blushed bright red on hearing this and said in a low but dangerously clear voice, "Mention that to anyone and I'll hex you into next week".

Albus physically backed away at this he knew for certain he didn't want to be on the receiving end of one of Minerva McGonagall's hexes. He quickly decided in his mind to change the subject and led her up the marble staircase to the Transfiguration classroom.

"Here we are." He said standing in her office. "Now if you say your password to this portrait, it will open up into your private quarters. For now, I Chose your password to be "Tabby"".

Minerva scowled inwardly at the return of her much-hated nickname and followed Dumbledore as he led her into her sitting room. Once inside she flicked her wand in the general direction of her carpetbag and heard it drop to the floor. Looking around, she was satisfied to see it was decorated in red and gold, her house colours.

"I will leave you now to unpack and relax, I suppose I will see you at dinner in the staff room?" Albus asked softly. He was satisfied that his choice of colour scheme had been the right one judging by the look on Minerva's face.

"Yes, thank you Albus", Minerva answered with a small smile. As Albus left she quickly walked over to each of the doors and looked into each of her new rooms. Her bedroom was decorated in a beautiful deep maroon colour. She sighed as she took off her boots and lay on the soft bed.

The next thing she remembered was opening her eyes. She sat up in confusion before she remembered where she was. "Shit! I must've fallen asleep!" she cursed inwardly as she jumped out of bed summoned her boots and did a quick charm n her hair to make it look like she had not just rolled out of bed. She cast a quick 'Tempus' and cursed again as she realised just how late she was. She was 25 minutes late for dinner. Minerva McGonagall was not known for her tardiness an she couldn't have picked a worse day to go for a nap. She pulled her office door open and raced towards the staffroom before stopping and opening the door softly. She groaned inwardly when she saw the entire Hogwarts staff that was present currently in the castle turn to look at her from their meal.

"So sorry I'm late everyone" she muttered. She honestly wished the ground would swallow her up.

"Malcolm, I'd like to introduce Minerva McGonagall, the newest Transfiguration professor. Minerva, this is Malcolm Ottoburn, our astronomy professor."

Minerva gave him a curt nod before taking the only available chair. She looked up and was surprised to see so many familiar faces, Professors Slughorn, Merrythought and Otwick were present. Osburn Otwick taught charms and had only begun teaching the year after she had left but they were friends through Albus.

She made small conservation with Osburn throughout dinner as she never held Slughorn and his "Slug Club" in high regard after her tried to recruit her to it 5 years ago.

As Minerva stood up to leave, Osburn stood with her and insisted on walking her back to her rooms.

"You look exhausted Minerva" he said to her softly as they walked. "What happened?".

"Thank you very much for your compliment Osburn and nothing has happened." She snapped back. She immediately regretted it when she saw the look of hurt on Filius' face. "Oh, I'm sorry Osburn. I'm just tired, I'll see you in the morning."

"Goodnight Minerva" he said softly before pulling her into a hug. "Look after yourself".

And with the thought of looking after herself she went straight to bed and slept straight until morning.

Please leave reviews. I plan to make this a multi-chapter story.