Sleepless Nights and Lonely Days
Disclaimer: Harry Potter may have been my first love but unfortunately he belongs to the lovely J.K Rowling.
Chapter Four
As the sun rose over Hogwarts castle Professor McGonagall paced her office, contemplating over the decisions she had made at the start of this summer. Professor McGonagall had always considered herself to be a fair and reasonable person who never showed favouritism toward any of her students, however as the Hogwarts Head Mistress awaited her newly appointed Head Boy and Girl she questioned her reasoning for appointing either of the two students.
The Head Boy had been easy; there had never been any doubt that Scorpius Malfoy would be an excellent choice; he was charismatic, a great student, involved in several clubs and all together a kind and caring boy. Some may have believed that Albus Potter or Louis Weasley, both sons of war heroes should have rightly been this years' Head Boy. Both boys had excelled on their Quidditch teams and were reasonably popular. Some were foolish enough to suggest that because both boys had War Heroes for parents they were sure to be great leaders. Minerva McGonagall strongly disagreed; who your parents were or what their talents may have been did not decide upon your personality. Therefore the fact that Scorpius Malfoy was the son of a former Death Eater had not dissuaded her from selecting him as Head Boy. It was in fact Albus and Louis lack of care towards students like Scorpius Malfoy that took both boys out of the race for Head Boy.
No, it was her choice of Head Girl that bothered McGonagall all though she knew that would come as a surprise to almost everyone; including her chosen Head Girl's parents. Rose Weasley had never been in the running for Head Girl, while a lovely person, the Headmistress did not believe she possessed all the required skills one would look for in a leader. Tiara Wood from Ravenclaw was more empathetic and sensitive to the needs of others, Kiera Davies from Gryffindor was able to command attention better, Ebony McArthur from Slytherin had more backbone and Amelie McMillan was the most modest girl McGonagall had ever met. These were the girls who should have been considered for Head Girl before Rose Weasley. For while Rose was intelligent and caring she lacked the confidence, independence and drive to become a respected and remembered Head Girl.
Professor McGonagall had realised from the beginning of Rose's academic career that Rose Weasley was not going to follow in the footsteps of her famous parents. Rose simply lacked the passion and conviction her parents had shown, each in their own ways, to be anything but a dutiful prefect and a well thought of individual. She was competitive but not for the right reasons; while her mother had strived to be the best for the sake of being the best, Rose instead needed to be the best in order to compare herself to her numerous relations. A Head Girl who was too indulgent of her own success and feelings based on the accomplishments of others would not be able to influence and rule successfully, so when other teachers suggested Rose's name along with Tiara, Kiera, Ebony and Amelie's Rose was the Headmistresses last choice.
The decision should have been easy; Amelie was ruled out of the race due to the fact that her modesty, although her most positive trait, would not give her the confidence or the authority to led the students, Kiera wanted to dedicate her time to playing Quidditch and as Scorpius had already been selected as Head Boy it was unlikely that Ravenclaw should have two representatives, therefore the choice had to have been Ebony and yet it was Rose who was sent the Head Girl badge during the course of the summer.
The reason was simple; the Headmistresses had shown favouritism. Yet it wasn't her liking of Rose that had been the influencing factor but instead her admiration of Rose's mother. McGonagall thought back to three days before the decision for Head Girl was made.
It was common place for Minerva McGonagall to meet with the parents of the students chosen to be Prefects at least once a year. While the Heads of House met with all parents of OWL and NEWT students, the Headmistress took a special interest in those students who were prefects. It was her meeting with one of Ravenclaw's prefects that had affected the Headmistress's decision.
Sitting before her, sipping a cup of tea, Headmistress McGonagall was reminded that it would have been Hermione Granger, now Weasley's, crowning glory to have been Head Girl during her seventh year at Hogwarts and therefore understood her longing when she heard her former student utter her longing that her daughter would be chosen.
"I must admit that I long to live vicariously through Rose, knowing all about what it's like to be Head Girl! She reminds me so much of myself at her age – always striving to do well and being the best in the class!" Hermione laughed, "Being Head Girl was always my greatest ambition growing up at Hogwarts"
"You would have made an excellent Head Girl, it's a pity you never had the chance." the Headmistress smiled, but Hermione was not done,
"We at least I now have the opportunity to watch Rose achieve the things I could not, after as top of her class there can be no doubt she would be a remarkable Head Girl!"
And there it was, the seed planted that had made the formerly fair and reasonable Headmistress choose a Head Girl who was not deserving of the title. She had always known that it was Hermione's dream to be Head Girl and seeing her former student's longing for her daughter's success had opened a sealed door of hatred for the way and those who caused it. Hermione Granger had sacrificed everything for the benefit of wizarding world, she was a War Hero who had worked hard for everything she had achieved; the only thing ever denied of her was a title that bridged the gap of her magical and muggle world. So the Headmistress chose to honour her former student by giving that student's daughter the badge her mother never got to wear.
In her mind the Headmistresses justified her reasoning by claiming that allowing Rose to be Head Girl would give the Ravenclaw confidence in her abilities and allow her to develop into her own person and would thereby allow her to go on to great success in later life. That Scorpius would be a more than ample Head Boy and would therefore assist Rose with the duties and more importantly perhaps this union of a Malfoy and a Weasley would finally erase all vestiges of hate left over from the war.
Therefore when the newly appointed Head Boy and Girl entered her office on that Saturday morning without any feelings of animosity towards each other and with some keen ideas for the future the Headmistress's mind was put to some ease that perhaps her decision of favouritism was not so bad after all.
Author's Note:
I apologise for the very overdue chapter – there was some personal problems in my life that simply did not want to let me think about this story. Hopefully now that some of those are overcome I will be able to continue and complete this story.
This chapter was very short and I apologise for there being no mention of Rose and Scorpius' relationship but I wanted to give some short background on why Rose is Head Girl and who the other candidates were.