Disclaimer: unless J. K. Rowling took a polyjuice potion and it turned her into me, I don't own the characters or anything else you recognize. All I own is the plot and Cassie. This is the last disclaimer.
That day I couldn't help but have my mind flooded with worry. I had absolutely no idea what McGonagall wanted to talk to me about. Maybe she had found out that I was just a regular muggle and couldn't actually do magic. Fortunately, my head ruled that out immediately. I had already mastered many of my charms and a few of the transfiguration spells. Knowing that rumors spread like wildfire through Hogwarts, I stayed silent in my classes, not wanting to draw attention to myself if students had found out about my letter. That plan failed miserably because I was always the person who raised her hand to answer the questions asked by teachers. By the time that lunch had finally rolled around, I didn't feel hungry at all. In fact, I felt like I was going to throw up. The moment that people started to leave the Great Hall, I got up and made my way to the headmasters office. The walk to the entrance seemed to go on forever. When I did reach the entrance, I found that it was guarded by a fierce looking gargoyle. The fierce looking statue blocked my entrance to the stairs, leaving me in the cold hallway with no clue what to do next. Folding my arms to keep out the sudden cold, I looked around awkwardly, wondering what to do next.
A voice, seeming to come from the stone gargoyle, asked, "Do you need somthin'?" Looking closely at the gargoyle, I jumped back in surprise. The gargoyle, which I had assumed to be a sculpture, had actually moved! I stared wide eyed at it as the creature shifted into a different position. The wings that had been blocking the way to the stairs were now folded close to its body and it rested in a sitting position. The statue looked so much like a cat, especially with the barbed tail wrapped around its front claws, that I couldn't help but let out a little giggle. The creature looked at me, one eyebrow raised. I giggled again, my hand over my mouth. "Whas so funny?" it asked me, now confused. I shook my head, still giggling.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Gargoyle. It's just, you look so much like a cat, the way you're sitting. And when you raised your eyebrow, it made you look like even funnier," I said after catching my breath. He looked at me and smiled. I expected his teeth to be either long and pointed, or jagged and ugly. Instead, they looked like dog teeth. Shaking his head, he explained, "My name's Gregory. Me dad's Mr. Gargoyle." I nodded and stuck out my hand. "I'm Cassie. It's very nice to meet you, Gregory." He nodded with a smile and shook my hand in his own.
"So, you still hasn't answered me question. Whas you doin 'ere?" he asked me. I had actually forgotten about the meeting with McGonagall until now and felt the nervous butterflies return. I cleared my throat, and stood a little straighter. "I'm supposed to see Professor McGonagall about something. I received a letter earlier about meeting her in her office after lunch," I told him. Gregory nodded, then spread his wings again, effectively blocking the stairwell again. Giving him an odd look, I wondered why he wouldn't let me pass.
"You've gotta tells da password," he explained upon seeing my confused face. I nodded in understanding, and spoke the word that had been in the letter. After saying 'spearmint', Gregory folded his wings in again and moved to let me pass. "Good luck, Cassie," he called as I stepped onto the stairs. They began to spiral upwards and I watched as the door drew closer. The stairs stopped and I stepped off. Walking up to the door, I took a deep breath, hoping I wasn't here because of something bad that had happened. I stood in the doorway, nerves chased away by surprise. The other headmaster offices in my previous schools had been one room with a few chairs, a desk, and a computer. Most of them had been lit by flickering light bulbs. Those that weren't had grubby windows. This room looked more like a study and many of the walls were covered in pictures of old headmasters of Hogwarts. Looking closely, I watched as some of the old professors slept while others debated. Some of them were even empty. The most recent portraits were labeled Professor Albus Dumbledore and Professor Severus Snape. Those were also the only ones that I recognized, having read Lily's book. The two were talking to each other in quiet voices, their soft whispers barely heard over the sound of other professors. Stepping into the office, I closed the door quietly. Bookshelves were under the portraits, filled with books from different centuries, different colors, and even different languages. The soft click of a door closing made me look up from my examination of the room. On a ledge above the headmaster's desk stood Professor Mcgonagall. She smiled down at me, effectively calming my nerves. As she made her way down the stairs, I made my way closer to the desk.
McGonagall sat down in her armchair, folding her hands. I stood across from her, my hands behind my back, fidgeting with nerves. As I watched her, McGonagall smiled calmly up at me, helping to steady my hands and nerves. As I watched, a flash of pain flickered in her eyes, remembering back to a great loss she had experienced. It took me a moment to remember what it could be from. Even though I had only been here for a week or so, I had already heard thousands of stories of the Battle of Hogwarts. Lord Voldemort and his followers had attacked the school. The students and teachers had retaliated, but at a great cost. Hundreds of people had been killed, and thousands more injured. The stories were all told in hushed voices, but I had been able to catch bits and pieces of them. There hadn't even been one family that had escaped the battle who hadn't lost a loved one.
McGonagall's voice broke my train of thought, telling me I could take a seat. I nodded and sat in the chair across from her own. I set my hands in my lap, trying not to wring them. The headmistress spoke again and I turned my thoughts away from the butterflies in my stomach, tuning into her words. "Your friend tells me that you have been having nightmares as of late, and wake up screaming. She says you don't go back to bed and you leave the dorm very early in the morning. Lily is very worried for you. She said she spoke with you this morning and you told her about your dreams. Would you care to tell me about them?" she asked kindly, the soft smile still on her face. I hesitated, but not for more than a few seconds. For the second time that day, I felt that I had found someone that I could trust with my secret. I began my story with the first dream that I had had, the ones after, and the consequences that had occurred. When I came to the part of my dream that had been occurring, I choked on the words. My voice cracked and I closed my eyes, breathing deeply. For the rest of the story, my head was towards the floor, my eyes still closed, damp with tears. When I finished and looked up at her, she was nodding slowly and jer eyes seemed distant.. I waited for her to say something, but when she didn't move after a few minutes, I broke the silence.
"Professor McGonagall, what do you think it means?" I asked, almost afraid to hear the answer. She physically shook herself, and then looked at me. "It means that Lily's assumption is correct. You are indeed a descendant of one of the Foreseen,. Since my suspicions were confirmed, I'll make arrangements for you to have a class with Professor Trelawney. She's our Divination teacher here at Hogwarts. Her class will be added onto your schedule, even though you're not supposed to have Divination until your third year," Professor McGonagall told me, pulling out a sheet of parchment and jotting some some notes in green ink. I nodded, a bit dazed. This was definitely not what I had expected to happen. I had thought that I would be getting into trouble or something. After I told my McGonagall about my power of seeing the future, I expected her to call me insane and shipped off to a school for crazy people. That morning I was worrying about the fact that I might be expelled, and now I was worrying about how I would juggle all my classes. I had tuned out of what the headmistress was saying, so I turned my attention back to her.
"... access to a time turner. Only one other student was given one. Since you obviously have one of the Foreseen's gifts, we'll have to see if you have any of the others. In some cases, the Foreseen had more that one gift," she explained. "Well, I think I've kept you long enough. You need to return to your classes. I believe you have Herbology right now?" I nodded and stood up. After thanking the headmistress, I left the room, even more confused than before. I might have more than one Foreseen's gift? Shaking my head, I wondered when my life had taken a complicated turn. After waving goodbye to Gregory, I quickly made my way outside to the greenhouses, hoping I wouldn't be late. Thoughts clouded my head, one of which stood out more clearly than the others. How was I related to a group of witches that had died over a hundred years ago?
