A/N: Hey :) Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed, I wasn't expecting that many reviews and each one made me really happy :D (I'm really, really sorry to anyone I told I would be updating a few days ago, but a lot of things got in the way. For one, my Godmother, who I haven't seen in four years, came to visit (: So I truly had other things)

Someone anonymous asked if Hermione remembers Minnie. She does remember her, but she doesn't recognise professor McGonagall as her. Not yet anyway…

Oh, and I was asked if there was maybe something romantic going on between the two, and just to clear it up: No. Never. Nada. Nuh-uh. I hope I don't offend anyone who enjoys that sort of thing, but Hermione is underage and Minerva is 60 years older than her :/

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter blah, blah, blah…

-Two and a half years later-

Minerva was looking forward to the sorting as well as the feast. She always looked forward to it to some extent, but this year was different. This year would bring Harry Potter to Hogwarts. It wasn't as if Minerva hero worshipped and revered him like the some of the wizarding world, she was just excited to meet the boy who she hadn't seen for so long. And she was quite eager to see what the child of Lily Evans and James Potter (two of her favourite students) would be like. She hoped that he would be as good at transfiguration as his father, and as smart as his mother. Mostly though, she hoped he was in Gryffindor just like both of them.

She exited the loud Great Hall full of students and chatter, and came out to the quiet Entrance Hall. The first years were looking as nervous as always, and they did not look any less scared when she began her usual speech.

'Welcome to Hogwarts,' she began impressively, 'the start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts,' she looked around at all the first years. Some, like a young Malfoy, were looking smug and haughty as if they already knew where they would be sorted.

She continued, looking around at all the other students, 'you will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room. The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule breaking will lose house points,' she glanced threateningly at the Weasley boy, younger sibling of the Weasley twins, but felt bad for doing so at once; his ears went bright red and he looked even more nervous than before. I shouldn't judge him by observing his brothers, she thought, angry at herself, he's his own man, and even if I did judge him from his brothers, he has Percy, Bill and Charlie- who were/are quite the students.

'The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school,' she continued, 'I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting.' This time she had a reason to look at the Weasley boy, for he had a dark smudge on his nose, and she also shot a look at the Longbottom boy, who had his cloak fastened over his ear. How that had happened she had no idea, but she guessed it had to do with Alice's genes, she had always been rather clumsy. She sighed rather sadly before saying, 'I shall return when we are ready for you, please wait quietly.'

As she left she noticed amusedly that Potter was attempting to flatten his jet-black hair. Well if it was anything like his father's, that was a lost battle. Again, her thoughts were sadly directed to another past student sentenced to a horrible fate, and had to stop herself from sighing.

When she came back a few minutes later, she found the first years conversing with the ghosts. A few of the children seemed quite scared, and she felt rather annoyed at the ghosts for frightening them on their first day, when they were going to be even more scared in a few minutes. 'Move along now,' she said in a sharp voice, 'the Sorting Ceremony's about to start.' The ghosts drifted away pleasantly, resuming their conversations, and Minerva turned to the wide-eyed students. 'Now, form a line,' Minerva told the first years, 'and follow me.'

As the students entered the magnificent room, they gasped like they always did, admiring the beauty of the great hall. She knew how they felt, when she had first entered it it seemed like the most wonderful and fascinating place on earth.

Then she heard a first year say to someone, 'Its bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read about it in Hogwarts, A History.' She was slightly impressed that a first year would read such a dull book, but there was something more to what the girl said; Minerva thought she knew the voice, it seemed oddly familiar.

However, she did not turn back to discover who the owner of the voice was, and instead went to retrieve the stool with the Sorting hat from the corner of the hall. She placed the hat in front of the group of first years, and then waited as the hat sung it's usually song, describing each house's requirement.

Finally, when the long song had ended, she conjured the parchment of first year names, and began the sorting. 'When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted,' she said, and then read the first name on the list, 'Abbott, Hannah!'

A pink-faced girl with blonde pigtails stumbled out of line, put on the hat, which fell right down over her eyes, and sat down. A moments pause —

"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat.

A few other students were sorted, along which was Amelia Bone's niece, Susan, who was sorted into Hufflepuff, and two who were sorted into Gryffindor: Lavender Brown and Seamus Finnigan. But after Finnigan had sat down with the cheering Gryffindor table Minerva stopped, the next name shocking her: Granger, Hermione.

She looked up at the first year students before reading out the name, and as her eyes searched through them she found the one she had been looking for.

Hermione Granger no longer looked as young as she had almost three years ago; she had a look of maturity even though she was merely eleven. She seemed to have grown somewhat, but she was still quite small, and her hair was even longer and bushier than it had been the last time. Yet aside from her confident and mature demeanour she seemed quite anxious and was looking around the hall nervously.

Minerva stared at the girl, memories of the one time they had met rushing to the surface of her mind. She remembered the kind, lonely child she had been saved by, and a strong sense of affection for Hermione gushed inside Minerva, one that she had long since let go.

She had never forgotten the encounter with the bushy haired witch, and she had hoped that she would appear at Hogwarts, but her expected arrival had been pushed out of Minerva's mind as the years had passed. Now, here she was: an eager eleven year old starting at Hogwarts. Minerva was really looking forward to teaching Hermione, and was wondering if she would be as clever as she hoped. It seemed that by recognising Minerva as an abnormal cat she had performed some very advanced accidental magic, and Minerva was hoping the girl was usually this advanced and intelligent.

Then she remembered what she had heard a student say a few minutes ago, 'Its bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read about it in Hogwarts, A History.' She recalled how the voice had seemed familiar, and realised happily it had been Hermione. Yes, she was the impressive student who was probably the only first year (ever) to have read the book.

'Granger, Hermione,' she read finally, after the few seconds of shock had passed. The girl half-ran to the hat eagerly and jammed it on her head. Minerva admired her enthusiasm and waited with anticipation to hear which house she would be sorted into. The hat deliberated for a couple of minutes, and eventually shouted, 'GRYFFINDOR!'

Minerva could not be more pleased. Of course she only clapped politely, like she would for any other Gryffindor, but inside she was grinning. She knew that teachers should not play favourites – and she was a very fair and strict teacher – but she also knew that Hermione Granger was bound to become hers.

Minerva had been right to think this of course. By the end of her first lesson, she was sure the girl was the cleverest witch in her year, and by the end of the first month she was sure Hermione was one of the smartest and most dedicated students she had ever met.

In her first transfiguration class, the eager first year had arrived quite early and had placed herself in the very front row, getting out her quill and parchment and holding it ready, waiting for Minerva to start talking. Of course, the moment Minerva had begun, the girl began scribbling on her parchment quickly, jotting down every single word that came out of the teacher's mouth.

'And we shall begin the year, therefore, by learning to transfigure a match into a needle,' finished Minerva, and walked down the desks handing out matches. She was weary to hand one to Weasley, remembering how his twin brothers had burnt down their desk using just their two matches, but the young boy seemed nothing like them. Hermione was so eager to start she nearly snatched the match out of Minerva's hand.

Halfway through the class Minerva already had many conclusions on the students: Longbottom had no confidence whatsoever in himself (Minerva blamed his grandmother for this, who was far too harsh on the boy), Potter had none of his father's talent in transfiguration (she hoped he had his talent on the quidditch pitch), Thomas seemed quite good at transfiguration (and he was definetaly determined), Brown and Patil were airheads (they tried for the first few minutes and then began to whisper to each other about the older boys in their common room), Weasley seemed to give up easily (nothing like any of his siblings, who all were very determined individuals), Finnigan tended to blow up stuff when left alone with a wand for more then a few minutes (he had blown up three matches by now), and Hermione Granger was clearly very talented and intelligent.

She wasn't the only one of course; Thomas seemed to be making progress and Patil would easily make some too if she concentrated for a few minutes. But Hermione persisted, and after twenty minutes, her match was halfway into a needle. Minerva showed the class how it had gone silver and pointy, awarded Hermione ten points, and smiled at her. Hermione smiled shyly back, and for a second, Minerva felt the need to tell the young girl that she was Minnie, but decided instantly against it.

Minerva felt quite proud of the girl, as she was clearly a natural at transfiguration. The only other student she had ever taught who was this able at it was James Potter, but he lacked the dedication Hermione applied to her schoolwork. Plus Minerva had heard from the other teachers that Hermione was the best at all their classes. Even Severus had declared the girl an insufferable know-it-all, which Minerva took as a good thing, as Severus would have much rather have pronounced her a dunderhead but clearly could not. Flitwick seemed perplexed as to why Hermione was not in his house, and Minerva smugly answered that she was clearly a Gryffindor.

She was not confused about the hat's choice. Hermione might have the brains for a Ravenclaw, but she clearly had the boldness of a Gryffindor, even if it wasn't obvious in her first few weeks. Hermione actually reminded Minerva of herself; everyone had said she should have been put in Ravenclaw, she had been top of the year in everything (except Herbology, which she was rubbish at) and had been very eager to learn and studious. But she had shown everyone eventually that Gryffindor was the place for her, and she was sure that Hermione would too.

However, she was worried about the girl, for she seemed to have no friends. She had found her alone, sitting by a tree and crying silently, on a Saturday a few weeks into the school year. It was a tree near the lake and quite far from where the other students usually ventured, and Hermione was hugging her knees, her bag and a few books spread out around her.

'Ms Granger? Are you alright?' She asked tentatively, approaching the girl. Hermione looked up with bloodshot eyes, and began wiping them hastily while nodding.

'You don't seem alright,' said Minerva gently. 'What's wrong?' She sat on the grass in front of her, even though she was bound to dirty her robes. Hermione looked at her suspiciously, as if seeing her strict teacher talking gently and sitting on grass was odd (which it was). 'N-nothing, professor, I'm f-fine,' she mumbled, looking down at her lap.

'Why are you crying?' Minerva asked softly, observing the girl wipe her eyes and bite her lower lip.

'I…I don't…' and then she spilled everything, 'I…I thought here at Hogwarts I'd have f-friends. I thought I would be like- like everyone else here,' more tears began to trail down her cheeks, 'back home I didn't h-have any friends because I was s-so different to everyone else, but I'm still different here! And I still don't have any f-friends!'

Minerva's heart broke as she watched the little girl sob, and before she could stop herself she had pulled her into a hug. She patted her back and lamely said, 'there, there' while Hermione sobbed silently. She could not help hugging the vulnerable, lost little girl. She seemed so alone and desperate, and she wanted to assure her that it would be okay. After a few minutes of holding the sobbing girl she held Hermione in front of her by her shoulders and looked her in the eyes. 'Hermione,' she said kindly, 'you are a very smart, kind, sweet girl, and anyone would be lucky to have you as their friend.'

Hermione smiled a watery smile as she looked up at her teacher. 'Now, maybe nobody has realised that yet,' continued Minerva with a smile, wiping Hermione's tears with a handkerchief, 'but you have to give them time. Be patient; nobody is as smart as you after all, it takes them a while to figure things out.'

She then pulled Hermione into another short hug, and after letting her go, she stood up to leave.

'Th-thanks, professor,' said Hermione while picking up her books.

'No problem,' answered Minerva with a warm smile, and turned on her heel to go.

Eventually Hermione did make friends, and for that Minerva was quite grateful. Although she would have appreciated if Harry, Ron and Hermione had become friends through the conventional way, instead of fighting a twelve foot troll together.

That year at Hogwarts went by slowly, many things happening throughout it. It turned out that Hermione was indeed a Gryffindor, and her two friends helped her realise that. Apart from the troll incident, they had had many other "adventures", such as smuggling a dragon out of the school.

Minerva had found the two of them and Longbottom and Malfoy out of bed. She had pretended she did not know about the dragon, saying they had fed Longbottom a cock-and-bull story about it to have fun.

But she had known because Madam Pomfrey had told her Weasley had a dragon bite, and because she knew neither Harry nor Hermione would be cruel enough to do that to Neville. She took 150 points from Gryffindor, which was pretty steep, but they had after all smuggled out an illegal dragon in the middle of the night. Later she regretted taking only taking 20 from Slytherin.

And on the last few days of term, the three friends came running to her, telling her someone was going to steal the philosopher's stone. Now, she would have believed them, as she had learnt that the children would not lie about such a thing, but it was so utterly absurd! They were surely misguided, so she sent them away. And that was one of her biggest mistakes to date. She felt so horrible and so guilty when she learnt that the children had gone through the trapdoor, and that Harry had almost died fighting Quirrell.

Overall, Hermione's first year had been a very strenuous one, but Minerva was quite glad by the end of it. She had enjoyed meeting the little girl who had saved her, and was happy that she was a Gryffindor. Mostly though, she was just really pleased Hermione had made friends, even if they were ones to lead her into a lot of danger.

A/N: phew! All done. Now, I won't hold the next chapter hostage like I did last time, because I'm so grateful to everyone who reviewed, but please review! :D The more reviews I get the more I feel compelled to write.

But I don't know when I will next update, because last time I said I would update the next day and then I didn't and then… yeah, once again, I'm sorry about that.

One more thing— The next chapter will be about Hermione's second year and third year, and she finally finds out about Minerva being Minnie! :D