14th September 1971

It was finally the weekend, however, despite this fact, Minerva's arms were laden with books and parchment as she walked to the staff room where she expected to spend the remainder of the afternoon.

Rounding the corner sharply, she nearly walked straight into Hagrid, which would have been disastrous, as she had just spent the whole morning organising her books and files.

'Sorry, Professor McGonagall,' apologised Hagrid, stepping to one side to allow Minerva to pass.

'No, I am sorry Hagrid, I wasn't looking where I was going,' said Minerva, 'I heard you went to help Pomona in the greenhouse yesterday?' she asked. Despite Hagrid's big physic and loud voice, Minerva had always found him a kind person and enjoyed talking to him when she could.

'I did, and I'm goin' there jus' now. Professor Sprout needs help with the mandrakes,' he answered, and Minerva noticed that he looked very proud of himself.

'She really appreciates you helping her,' said Minerva, smiling, 'Well, I best be off, Hagrid but have a nice day and good luck with the mandrakes.'

'O' course, Professor and thank you. Have a good day,' he said, waving Minerva goodbye before continuing his way to the greenhouses.

Returning the wave, Minerva started walking to the staff room again, feeling a little more cheerful despite the huge amount of work she still had to get done before Monday morning. Hoisting up her papers a little farther up her arm, she pushed the staff room door open and entered. The room was nearly empty apart from Albus who seemed to be drinking some hot chocolate, and Professor Flitwick who was talking to Dumbledore. When they saw her enter they both nodded in her direction to which she answered with her own brief nod before taking up a seat next to the window where she could clearly see the Quidditch pitch.

Not wanting to be disturbed, Minerva immediately began marking essays allowing neither Dumbledore nor Flitwick the time to start a conversation with her. She knew that if she joined in their conversation they would most likely continue on talking for a long time, which would put her behind in her marking. Removing her red pot of ink from the window-sill – she always kept at least one pot of ink there just in case she forgot to bring her second one from her office, Minerva dipped her quill in it and began ticking and crossing things out.

Overall she was quite pleased with her first year students who had nearly all managed to provide an essay with sufficient knowledge of the spell they had practised in lesson and a deep understanding of how it worked. Mr Pettigrew was the only one who had failed to provide the key factors of the spell rendering his explanation of it useless, as he had not properly grasped what the spell could do and how it was performed. Thinking for a moment or two, Minerva debated on whether she should give him the grade he deserved or let him redo it for next lesson. Finally settling on an answer, she wrote at the top of the page: Come and see me after class, only feeling a little guilty that her comment may make Pettigrew feel bad. She knew with whom he spent his free time with and it was clear that Potter and Black were not embarrassed of showing off whenever they could.

Sighing, Minerva moved her first year essays aside and started on her second year ones and then promptly her third year essays. However, it was only when she had started the fourth year essays that her concentration started to ebb away despite her determination to finish all her marking that day.

Her eyes drifted around the staff room, which was now empty, until they settled on the window. The Quidditch pitch looked grander than ever in the evening sun. The hoops stood majestically in the field and the stands towered above everything else creating big patches of shade on the grass, which many students now occupied.

Suddenly a loud bang echoed from outside and several shrieks sounded from the pitch below. Standing up, Minerva craned her neck until she could see a large group of students huddled round in a circle on the grass outside. Making an irritated, impatient sound through her lips, Minerva made her way quickly to the Quidditch pitch. One day, she thought angrily, I will have a peaceful Saturday afternoon.

Rushing out onto the grounds, the shouting became louder and the words more distinct.

'Leave him alone, James!'

'Aw, but where just having fun with Snivellus.'

'What is going on here?' boomed Minerva, nostrils flared and shaking with anger.

Twenty pairs of eyes goggled up at her, shock and fear etched on their faces. Marching her way through the small crowd, which parted to leave her a passage, Minerva asked her question again, 'Will somebody kindly explain to me the meaning of this racket!'

Finally reaching the middle of the circle Minerva came face to face with Potter his wand in his hand, and Black sneering at Snape who had his wand out too. The crowd of students was slowly dispersing – none of them wanting to get into trouble.

'Put your wands away at once!' she snapped, furious that she had been disrupted by a group of first years trying to duel.

'He insulted Lily!' burst out Snape who was shaking with fury.

'And I suppose shooting a few sparks at him would make things better,' snapped Minerva, 'You are a first year Mr Snape and a very new one at that. Just because you have a wand does not mean you can threaten people whenever you wish! And the same goes for you, Mr Potter!' she added angrily when James Potter smirked.

'We were just joking around, Professor,' replied James casually, trying to give her one of his winning smiles which she did not return. His smile faltered however, he still seemed confident enough not to look scared.

'We honestly meant no harm,' chimed in Sirius Black.

The Slytherin was about to retort but Minerva cut him off, 'I will be the judge of that, Mr Black. I expected better of you three after our talk on Wednesday,' she said, remembering the similar incident which had taken place earlier on that week, '10 points will be taken from Gryffindor and 5 from Slytherin. I hope I will not catch you doing this again lest you want me to give you a detention. Now if neither of you three is hurt then off to your dormitories at once. If I hear word of you trying to fight again then you will be losing more than five points. Is that clear?'

'Yes ma'am,' answered the three boys dully.

'Good. Now off you go!'

Shooing them into the castle Minerva rubbed her eyes, which were prickling from tiredness. Deciding that she would finish her marking the next day, she made a quick plan to pop in and see Dumbledore and then go to the library to return a few books.

Marching through the almost empty corridors, Minerva went to the staff room to collect all of her books and work. Deciding she would return the books whilst on her way to Dumbledore's office she quickly went to the library and placed her books back on the shelves. Once doing so she continued her way up to the Headmaster's office.

'Glumbumble,' she said to the gargoyle who immediately granted her entry. Hurrying up the stairs she knocked on his door and entered.

'Ah, Minerva,' he said looking up, 'just the person I wanted to see. Take a seat.'

'I am not staying for long Albus,' she said apologetically and remained in her current standing position, 'I just wanted to ask about the meeting next week. I'm afraid I was a bit quick on answering yesterday – I have not changed my mind,' she added quickly, noticing Albus' change in expression, 'I just want to know more about what I am getting into…'

'What is it you want to know my dear?'

'I want to know how big of a threat this Voldemort is and how much danger we will be in if we try to stop him. I know that's what you are aiming to do – create a group who will stand up against him. But Albus,' Minerva took a few steps forward and looked deeply into his eyes, 'People, as I am sure many people will be at this meeting, have families, friends, loved ones… If what we are going to do is going to be dangerous then shouldn't we be asking the Ministry for help?'

Minerva's question hung in the air for a while. Albus looked carefully at Minerva who could tell that he was weighing up the possibility of either telling her the whole truth or just not answering at all. Finally, he took a deep breath, thought for a moment or two before saying, 'The Ministry does not want to help. Eugenia Jenkins does not want to believe that Voldemort is slowly gaining power and yes, he is gaining a lot of power. He is slowly moving across Europe and it will not be long until he reaches us here in England, as I am sure you know. I know Grindelwald was before your time –'

'Surely this isn't going to be as bad?' blurted out Minerva.

Dumbledore paused. 'Not if we intervene quickly,' he said eventually, however, the look in his eyes told Minerva otherwise.