Minerva made her way up the large, marble staircase towards the great hall. Standing in front of the closed entrance was a man with grey hair that fell to his shoulders. He had a beard that clung to his face that fell to just beneath his chin. He wore blue robes and held a white wand in his hand. Whilst all the students piled in, he remained silent. Once he finally spoke, he did so with a huge smile that filled up his face and eyes that were filled with joy; his voice was musky and warm, "Welcome students to your first year at Hogwarts. My name is Professor Albus Dumbledore and I am the head of Gryffindor house. Now you will all enter the great hall and proceed down to the end of the large tables. There, you will be sorted into your houses by the sorting hat. I will call out your name, you will sit on the stool and I will place the hat on your head. Do you all understand?" There was a slight murmur signifying that they did. "Right! Then follow me!"

The tall doors opened for him and the students were lead into the Great Hall. It was everything Isobel had told Minerva and more. The candles were there, the rows of smiling students each wearing a pointed hat. She craned her neck up to see the ceiling which had been enchanted to look like night sky. There were four sets of long tables, each for the different houses. At the end of the hall was another long table where all the teachers of the school were situated. In the middle sat a pale man with a thick grey beard who seemed to be balding. He was looking at them all, smiling as he did so.

In front of the teachers sat a stool. On top of the stool was an old tattered hat. The way it was folded, it almost looked as though it had a face. Professor Dumbledore stood next the brown hat and reached into his robes. He pulled out a piece of parchment from which he started reading off their names. "Moody, Alastor," his loud voice filling up the entire room. Alastor ran forward and sat on the stool, his feet just touching the floor. Dumbledore placed the hat atop his head and it spoke out in a booming, devilish voice.

"Hmmm, brave and loyal. Must be GRYFFINDOR!" A loud applause erupted from the table to Minerva's right. Moody ran down and sat himself at the closest free seat, introducing himself to his fellow housemates.

"Malfoy, Abraxas," the professor said. A young boy with platinum blonde hair came up and sat on the stool. The whole trip there he had worn a devilish grin. He seemed to be studying the faces around him, stopping for a second once reaching McGonagall, his piercing blues eyes looking straight at her. Dumbledore placed the hat on his head and the Hat instantly placed him in Slytherin, it had not even been on his head for a second.

Minerva sat there waiting for her turn. "Longbottom, Augusta" went and was put into Gryffindor whereas "Crouch, Barty" was put into Ravenclaw, much to his demise. Finally she heard Dumbledore call her name. "McGonagall, Minerva." She slowly walked forward, turned and sat on the stool. Dumbledore placed the hat on her head, the tattered straps falling all the way to her legs.

"Very interesting," the hat said. "Very interesting. This one is brave and loyal but smart and logical. Decisions, decisions. Ravenclaw or Gryffindor..."

"Yes," Minerva muttered under her breath. The whole room was silent for five and a half minutes, Minerva had counted. She looked up at Professor Dumbledore who had been standing next to her the whole time. He gave her a warm smile then looked up at the pale man sitting in the middle of the teachers. Once the sorting hat finally spoke, Minerva heard the answer she had been hoping for all along

"Gryffindor!" the Sorting Hat boomed. Dumbledore reached down and removed the hat from her head. Minerva shot up and ran down to a seat that had been saved to her by Augusta, sitting across from Moody. She peered over Moody's head to Barty who was sandwiched between a first year and what looked like a sixth year, his head hanging low. She focused herself back to her table where she was getting a roar of congratulations from fellow Gryffindor students. Once that had finished, she sat waiting for the feast to start.

After watching what seemed like thousands of students but must have only been a handful of students being sorted into the various houses, the man sitting in the centre of the teachers table rose. He spoke out to the students in an elderly, high pitch voice, "For those of you, who do not know me, my name is Professor Dippet and I am the Head Master here. I do not wish to dilly dally on speeches but I do wish that you all have a fantastic year. A few announcements, Professor Slughorn would like me to remind you students whom it may concern that the Slug Club will be accepting first years this year. Professor Bray also would like me to tell you all to steer clear of any unknown plants since she seems to be having some problem taming some of those Paralyzing Ivy's of hers. May the feast commence." And with those final words he lifted his hands and food appeared on the table.

Minerva mouth started watering. Everything she could wish for was on the table. She scanned through the food. There was mashed potato, roast chicken, onion soup, fried chicken. Everything she was already missing from the human world. She looked over to pot which was just far enough that she was unable to see what filled it. "What's that?" she asked a ginger haired boy who sat next Alastor. He looked up at her, his mouth filled with beef stew. He looked at the pot and then back at her, swallowed his food and spoke out with a smile.

"Frogs legs," he responded with a mischievous voice. "They're delicious. Would you like to try some?"

Minerva looked at the pot and then back to the red-haired young man. She nodded and held out her plate for him to dump the frog legs on. He poured them on her play then smiled back at her.

"My name is Septimus Weasley by the way. I'm in my third year." He stated, holding out his hand. Minerva grabbed his hand and shook it.

"Minerva McGonnall. Pleasure to meet you." Minerva looked down at her frog legs yet again. She nervously stabbed her fork into one of them, held it up to her eye level and warily looked at it. "Are they safe?"

"Don't worry, I'm 50% sure they're dead. " Minerva looked up at Septimus, disgust on her face.

"50%?" she whispered, staring cross-eyed at the frog legs.

"Yes. Just watch because sometimes they jump." At that precise moment, Septimus hit the table and the frog legs shot into the air and then landed back on her plate. Septimus and a previously silent Alastor burst out laughing, tears dripping down their faces. Minerva heard a small giggle from next to her and saw Augusta with her hands in her face laughing as well. Minerva glared down at her frog legs, took at bit of one and, finding she liked them, carried on eating. She spent the rest of the night chatting with her fellow Gryffindor students.

A/N: Thinking of doing a 2 or 3 year jump. What do you think?