The Story of Min, Chapter 2
Tick Tick Tick….
Before breakfast the minutes had gone so slowly, but now, ten minutes late for her own class, Minerva watched them race by.
She ran down the hall, nearly passing her own class, skidding in front of the door. She looked herself over, straightened her glasses, brushed off her robes, and made sure she had a stern, 'Professor-like' quality about her. And then, taking a deep breath, she strode into the classroom.
A loud whistle was heard from the back of the class, followed by a bunch of giggles.
"OY MIN!"
Minerva found herself glaring at the playful face of Sirius Black. She cleared her throat and gave him a death stare. He, not caring a bit, laughed good-naturedly. Getting the hint, Remus smacked him on the arm, caught Minerva's eye, and winked. She smiled back, glad for a bit of support.
She stood up to her full extent and pulled out a roll of parchment.
" Good Morning. My name is Professor McGonagall, and I will be teaching you Transfiguration this year," she looked down at the list and began calling off names, " Sirius Black."
Sirius jumped up, saluted, and shouted, " PRESENT!" sending the entire class into giggles again.
She moved down the list, " Lily Evans," which was met with a raised hand and a small 'here.'
Then, a few names later, " Remus Lupin."
Remus stood, looking as though he was going to pull a Sirius, but instead, nodded, smiled and sat back down.
When she reached James' name a large array of red sparks flew into the air and he yelled, "THE ONE AND ONLY!"
The class was roaring with laughter, and Minerva was trying to hide her sniggers with a stern face, but failing horribly at the task. When they finally calmed down, she made them take a large amount of notes, all through which Sirius was yelling, " AW COME ON NOW! DO WE REALLY NEED THIS STUFF?"
In the end, it seemed that if he hadn't been yelling so much, he could have used the notes to his advantage while he failed to turn his match into a needle. The only one who did well was James, who pulled it off first try.
~
That was pretty much the way it went in Transfiguration for a few months, Sirius, James and Remus making a scene, lily and the rest of the class laughing. By and by, Minerva hung out with the four of them so much, they might as well have been in the same year, but, unfortunately that wasn't the way of it.
One cold day in December, just a week of so before Christmas holidays, Minerva strode down to her herbology lesson, all the way out to greenhouse three in the snow. She despised having to attend lessons, as teaching them was ever so much easier. In this particular one, they were dealing with a rather dangerous Pugnagladius plant, the plant of the fighting swords. It had swallowed the knives on the battlefields of ancient days, and regurgitated them if you got too close to it. They were supposed to prune it, as this particularly vicious one was extremely long leafed. They, being Minerva and two of her wimpy classmates, did not even want to approach it. Her classmates, pretending to have forgotten something outside, left her alone to deal with the Pugnagladius.
"How generous of them," she thought in fear, armed with only her wand and a pair of pruning shears.
She took a deep breath and advanced on the plant, lunging as she snipped of the ends of a few leaves. Sighing with relief she dropped the sheared leaves into a scrap heap. She readied the shears in her hands and lunged once more, getting the leaves on the other side.
"This isn't so bad," she thought as she tipped the newly severed leaf tips into the pile, "all I've got left is those at the top."
Unfortunately, the top happens to be the most dangerous, and, steadying herself with a breath, Minerva lunged forward. The last thing she saw after the severed leaves and shears fell to the ground was a huge, shining sword emerging from the mouth of the plant, quick as lightning. And then there was blackness.
~
When she opened her eyes, she saw more blackness.
"oh my god," she thought, " I've died. It's all over. Done with. Way to go, Min, you really, really, really did it this time! What'll people say about me? And today we honor Minerva McGonagall, the girl severed by a shrubbery!"
then she heard a chuckling behind her. Whipping around she saw Madame Pomfrey, and felt a horrendously sharp pain in her shoulder.
"Silly girl you are," said the nurse, still laughing, " severed by a shrubbery!"
"er… I just said that out loud?"
Madame Pomfrey nodded.
"so, I'm not dead then?"
"No, of course not!"
Upon this, Minerva looked around her. She was in the hospital wing, and outside the window faint traces of light were mixing into the blackness above the snow.
Suddenly there was a knock on the door and Madame Pomfrey hastily pulled curtains around Minerva's bed and went to get the door. Min could still see a bit through the crack.
What she saw made her jaw drop. It was a boy, who looked extremely familiar, standing in the dark threshold of the door. He was covered in a spray of bruises and scratches, rips in his robes, his nose bleeding.
"come in, hurry," whispered Madame Pomfrey as she ushered him in and sat him on the bed next to Minerva. She could still see through the curtain. She couldn't make out his face, it was covered with his hair and Madame Pomfrey was leaning over him.
When she moved away, the boy looked perfectly normal and completely healed as he was handed a goblet of potion. He waited to drink it.
"Thank you, Madame Pomfrey," said the boy.
Minerva gasped, "Remus?"
He turned whiter than a ghost as his goblet clattered to the floor.
"M-m-min?"
Minerva stared at him, gaping. He looked so scared.
"what-what are you…. Why were you all…" minerva stuttered.
Madame Pomfrey rushed up, " In the morning you two!" she said as she pointed her wand at each one in turn and said, " Dormio!"
They fell asleep instantly.
~
The next morning Minerva awoke, and watched Remus until his eyes opened. He looked perfectly normal until he saw her, then he was back to the pale, frightened expression.
She got up, wincing from the pain in her shoulder, and sat on the end of Remus' bed.
He, if possible, turned whiter.
She stared him right in the eye.
"Remus, you're not telling me something. I promise I won't get you in trouble, and you can trust me, what is it? Why did you come back hurt like that, where did you go, why did you go there? Remus, why?" she whispered, concerned.
Remus looked down into his hands that were on his lap.
"If I tell you, you won't want to know me any longer," he whispered softly, looking afraid and almost near tears that someone had to find out whatever it was he was hiding.
" I promise, Remus, that I will always want to know you. Always. No matter what happens," whispered Min, looking concerned as to what could possibly be so bad. She placed her hand on top of his and looked into his eyes. " So what is it?"
Remus looked down, his light brown hair falling over his face, and said in the softest whisper imaginable, " I'm a werewolf."
Minerva stared for about a minute, saying nothing in the dark, listening to the silence cut into her, smashing through the calmness like a massive invisible hand, crushing whatever expectations she'd had. She swallowed and leaned over, brushing the hair out of Remus' face. He was crying, silvery tears in his downcast eyes. In a swift moment, he was engulfed in a hug. Then she got up and with only, " thanks so much, Remus," she hopped back into the bed.
There in the dark, face red as a tomato, Remus was alone and confused, rather unclear on what had just happened.