Finally getting to show that this is in fact a Harry Potter fic.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter
She was there when Emmie came home that evening. It was a school day but Emmie was getting home late due to a study (*cough prank planning cough*) session with Hadyn. Hadyn's mother had dropped her off at the beginning of her driveway so it was fairly late by the time she actually made it into the house and she decided that instead of heading straight for her room, as she w
ould any other day, to make her way to the kitchen.
This route took her past one of the manor's many sitting rooms and Emmie was surprised to see her parents occupying the room but not working. Her surprise quickly dissipated when she caught sight of the stranger in the room and figured that this was a representative from the museum and hence her parents actually were working. Her surprise then returned full force as her mom actually spotted her and called out her name; her parents rarely acknowledged her existence and NEVER when there was work to be done.
It was a very suspicious Emmie that walked into the sitting room.
"Now, Moreen, dear, this is Minerva McGonagall. She is actually a distant relative of ours, in fact your great-great-great grandmother was her great aunt. She says that she even has some of her great aunt's things. Isn't that amazing!? To be able to study those in a historic aspect while knowing that it is a part of this family, why, that would be simply divine!"
Ah, relative, Emmie's world made sense again. She continued to watch her mother gush over the strange women as her father nodded along, obviously just as excited if not as vocal.
Emmie made to interrupt them, "If that's all, I'm going to leave now."
"Actually," the still unknown women's voice stopped Emmie before she could even take a step, "Finding relatives was only a bonus of this visit. My true purpose for being here, as I have told your parents, is because I am the Headmistress of a prestigious boarding school in Scotland and am here to offer you an education."
Boarding school, that sounded…amazing! Away from her parents (okay that wouldn't be too different), not having to live in an empty castle, meals cooked for her, and an entirely new batch of people to prank. But… this town was her home, she grew up here, Hadyn was HERE.
"I decline."
To say that the day was not going the way McGonagall had planned would be a huge understatement. The day started out with McGonagall finding out that not only were they behind in meeting with the incoming muggleborns but also that the professor scheduled to meet with the one today was currently residing in Hogwarts's hospital and while not severly sick or injured Poppy wouldn't be letting them out any time that day which only promised to put them even farther behind schedule.
The job was one that McGonagall used to do before the war and becoming Headmistress and frankly, it was one that she quite enjoyed and missed doing. It wasn't much of a surprise to anyone, then, when she volunteered to meet with the next muggleborn, one Moreen Elsdon Summers.
McGonagall waited until she knew that the primary schools had let out for the day (as quite a few were still in session) until heading over, so it was well into the afternoon but not quite evening when McGonagall, via magical transportation charmed to appear as a taxi, arrived at the address she had been given. The "house" certainly wasn't what she had been expecting, in fact it wasn't much of a house, more of a large manor, and from the looks of it at least a couple hundred years old. Though, it did seem to have either been kept well over the years or recently renovated while keeping the original aspects so that it still looked fairly new.
One such aspect was the large double doors that looked to serve as the front entrance and, while newly lacquered, the dark wood of the doors did look old under the shine. Each door sported its own elaborate and curly bronze handle but McGonagall paid them no mind as she sharply rapped on the right door.
It was a few moments before the door opened. In fact it was so long that McGonagall whether to knock again and if doing so would change anything as she was also contemplating whether anyone was home or, if someone was, if they were in an area of the manor where they could not hear the knocking. The door did, however, open before her contemplations could come to fruition and revealed a rather plain woman. With what McGonagall could see of her she appeared to be the mother of the household, dressed in comfortable yet professional clothing, and holding a book open and at face height, as if she had just had her nose buried in it.
"Yes?"
"Mrs. Summers, I presume?"
"Yes, are you from the museum?"
"No, I'm not. My name is Minerva McGonagall and I'm actually here to discuss an educational opportunity for your daughter."
"Oh. Okay then. Why don't you come in, I'll show you to a sitting room and then go see if Moreen is home."
As they were walking through the "house" the conversation kept going, "Shouldn't she be home by now?" McGonagall hoped she was and that she wouldn't have to wait for the child to return.
"Oh, I don't know. She's a quiet child; mostly takes care of herself. It allows my husband and I to work without interruptions." McGonagall rather didn't like the sound of that or the realization that at least one of Moreen's parents valued her work above her child but only expressed her displeasure with a frown; she hadn't really met the family yet and it wasn't her place to come in with no information and start telling a mother how to be a mother.
They eventually came upon a rather quaint sitting room that was already occupied by a male who had his features hidden by a thick tome. The man's identity soon became clear as Mrs. Summers began speaking again.
"Dear, this is Mrs. McGonagall, she's here for Moreen. You wouldn't happen to know if she's home?"
"This morning I heard her shout that she would be spending time after school with that friend of hers. Did you say McGonagall?"
"It's actually Professor, not Mrs., but yes, my name is Minerva McGonagall."
"Do you have any relation to a Moreen McGonagall?"
"I had a great aunt by that name but she left the family at a young age so I don't know what happened to her."
"It's highly likely from your similarities to what photos I have of her that she is my great great grandmother."
From there the conversation seemed to revolve around the common ancestor and said ancestor's time period until the return of the child when the mother caught her up to speed on McGonagall's relationship to her and McGonagall informed her of her purpose for being in the manor.
So yes many unexpected things had happened to Hogwarts's Headmistress that day. From having to fill in a job she hadn't gotten to do for years, to finding family and what was probably the thing that just set her day over the top, the child's refusal of her offer.
