2nd September 1961
For the second time in the past few minutes, a loud bang echoed off the walls of the corridor. Whilst still making sure that she didn't trip over the hem of her robes, Minerva ran a little faster trying to follow the sound of the shouting and clapping coming from somewhere ahead of her.
After turning a sharp corner on the third floor she knew she had come to the right place. A large group of students were all standing in a circle some clapping, others shouting and some even laughing watching something Minerva couldn't quite see.
"What's going on?" she shouted, moving students aside with a small whack of the newspaper in her hand.
Happy that her voice had the desired effect, Minerva continued to make her way through the crowd, who, now realising a teacher was in their midst, had become deadly silent and proceeded to move aside creating a passageway for her.
Dressing herself up to her full height, Minerva straightened her hat and walked through the gap, promptly reaching the centre of the circle were two boys were lying on the floor arms still wrapped around each other, bloody lipped and bruised.
"Mr Lestrange and Mr Weasley, I will not have you acting like barbarians in the school! 20 points from Slytherin and Gryffindor for your brutish behaviour," she scolded, looking down at the two First Years one of them looking extremely ashamed and the other, to her surprise and slight disgust, a little pleased with himself.
"Professor, it was my fault," started another First Year whom Minerva recalled being a new Hufflepuff student.
The young boy walked bravely into the middle of the circle and stopped when he was standing right between her and the other two boys. A defiant expression on his face despite the small twitch in his right hand proving that he was scared, the boy continued, "It wasn't Arthur's fault, Professor. If you have to punish somebody punish me not him."
"That is very kind of you Mr Tonks, however, you are not the one lying on the floor wand out and fighting," Minerva admonished. Sidestepping Ted Tonks she barked at the other two, "Now, up both of you. Mr Lestrange go to the Hospital Wing immediately," turning sharply she pointed at another First year standing in front of her, "Mr Parkinson you will accompany him," she said, nodding in the direction of a young boy whose name happened to be the first one that popped into her mind. "Professor Slughorn will meet you there to discuss your actions," Minerva added, failing to hide the disgust in her voice.
Rodolphus Lestrange got up from the floor and walked away, however, Minerva did not fail to notice him smirk at Arthur Weasley and Ted Tonks before her left. When the boy disappeared around the corner, Minerva then rounded on the Gryffindor and the Hufflepuff.
"Mr Tonks you may leave and Mr Weasley you will come with me unless you are hurt," she raised her eyebrow at him but the First Year only shook his head from side to side. Satisfied, Minerva turned abruptly on her heel and started to make her way to her office.
It was clear that the Gryffindor was scared. He walked in hunched position and kept on looking up at her every now and then, something which Minerva tried to ignore. Perhaps she was being a little mean: his face was very pale and his eyes wide with fright, however, Minerva wanted him to learn that she was not a teacher he could mess with. This was the first incident in the year involving a Gryffindor and Minerva wanted to act appropriately to ensure that all of the other Gryffindors – whom she was now in charge of – knew what the consequences of their actions would be if ever they became involved in something like this.
Finally reaching her office, she unlocked the door and kept it open for the First Year to walk through. Once he had done so albeit hesitantly, she closed the door with a bang making the students jump. Striding to her desk she gestured at the seat in front of it for the boy to sit down on. Once he had done so Minerva pushed a pile of paper work to the furthest corner of her desk, so as to better see the boy, and she too sat down hands on her desk fingertips pressed together.
"Now, Mr Weasley," she started, "Would you kindly explain to me what on earth possessed you to behave like an animal in the corridors?"
Weasley gulped and Minerva felt a small twinge of regret at having been so harsh with him. However, the emotion was gone in an instant as she reminded herself that the boy had got into a fight on his second day at school.
"Hum, well, ah – hum," he started, and Minerva used all of her willpower not to tut impatiently, "I – well – Rodolphus, hum… Look, I don't want to go pointing fingers," he started, raising his hands as though surrendering, "but, Rodolphus insulted my friend and, well, it wasn't right."
Minerva stared at him for a while, trying to think of an appropriate thing to say. Finally, she spoke, less harshly yet still firmly.
"Your friend I'm guessing, being Mr Tonks?" she asked. Weasley nodded
Sighing, Minerva reached into her desk drawer retrieving a large tartan tin, given to her by Elphinstone, from within.
"Have a biscuit Weasley," she said, repressing a smile at the shocked expression he gave her. "Quite opposed to the rumours you may have heard, I do not breathe fire and give detention to anyone and everyone whenever they have done something wrong," she added and was pleased to notice that her student looked much calmer and perhaps even just a little amused. However, she did not want him to get too comfortable so, she straightened herself up in her chair and clasped her hands together on her desk.
"Nevertheless, Mr Weasley, I do want to express my feeling towards the matter. I want to make it clear that we do not tolerate fighting here at Hogwarts. If someone has offended you or a friend you need to make sure that you do not rise to it and instead report whoever it may be to a prefect, the Head Girl, Head Boy or a teacher. Do you understand?"
The Gryffindor nodded vigorously and Minerva continued, "Good. Now, is it possible for you to tell me what Mr Lestrange said to Mr Tonks which led to your quarrel?"
"He called Ted an unfriendly name which I do not want to repeat," he answered in a very strong voice despite him being the one who was in trouble.
Minerva sighed but did not press the matter. "Very well, Mr Weasley. You may go and please do not stop for anything on your way to class. Next time it will be more than just points from your house," Minerva informed him, raising her eyebrows and looking pointedly at him from across the table.
"Yes ma'am," answered Weasley seriously, however, Minerva didn't fail to notice the small twitch of his lips as he left the room.
As the door closed with a loud bang, Minerva sagged in her chair and sighed. It had been a very long morning and if she were to be perfectly honest with herself, despite loving her job as a teacher she had to admit that she was glad that she had an afternoon off every Wednesday.
Opening the tin of cookies again, she picked a circular shortbread and popped it into her mouth savouring the taste whilst also making a mental note to buy more or persuade Elphinstone to buy some for her: the ones from Diagon Alley were much better than the ones in Hogsmeade.
Getting up from her chair, Minerva walked to the window of her office, which overlooked the Quidditch pitch. Thinking vaguely about biscuits Minerva almost forgot about the Slytherin she had sent to the Hospital Wing. Jumping up suddenly, she looked away from the pitch and hurried over to the door of her office which she ripped open and slammed shut all the while muttering darkly to herself about only being twenty-six years old and already forgetting things like an old lady.
"Goodness knows what you will be like at eighty," muttered Minerva, still trying to decide whether she ought to send a patronus to Slughorn instead of wasting her time looking for him.
Reaching the Staff Room Minerva opened the door and was relieved to see Slughorn sitting by the fire, a book in hand and a large bowl of sweets in another.
"Horace?" she called, walking up to where he was sitting. "Horace?" she repeated when she had reached him.
"Ah, Minerva how are you?" he said warmly, setting his book down and popping a final piece of crystallised pineapple in his mouth.
"Very well, thank you," answered Minerva quickly, brushing aside the question. Not bothering to exchange pleasantries she continued, "I'm sorry to disturb your free period, Horace however, there has been a disagreement between two students and Mr Lestrange is waiting for you in the Hospital Wing. The damage done was very minor; nothing Madame Lynch would not be able to heal. I will explain what happened in more detail when you return but I think it should wait as Mr Lestrange has already been waiting for you for some time now. I'll either be in my office or in the Staff Room when you are finished," concluded Minerva, ignoring Slughorn's confused expression.
It took a few moments for Horace to process what Minerva had said, however, for Minerva it felt like hours. Already she was irritated at having a Gryffindor get involved in a fight on his second day at Hogwarts, moreover, she was annoyed at having wasted an hour of her precious free time and finally, she was in no mood to have a discussion with Horace whether it be now, tomorrow or the day after.
She had never quite liked Slughorn, especially after he had tried to 'recruit' her during her time at Hogwarts. If she could and if it were possible, she preferred not to have long conversations with him as he always seemed to find things exceedingly humorous and always ended up talking about the achievements made by people from his 'club' or his house, much to Minerva's irritation.
Slughorn looked up at Minerva, set down his book and bowl of crystallised pineapples before heaving himself out of his chair. "Of course, Minerva. I'll talk to you later."
Minerva gave a tight, thin-lipped smile before walking away abruptly leaving him no chance to dilly-dally. Deciding that she might as well finish some work since she was already in the staff room, she walked to her locker and retrieved a stack of unmarked essays.