The Story of Min chapter 3
The same night that Minerva and Remus were in the hospital wing, James and Sirius and lily were in the common room nearly all night, joined by a small, pudgy boy named peter that tagged along every so often.
"Where are they?"
" How am I supposed to know?"
"But you should know, as one of them happens to be your best friend!"
" So?"
"So, where are they?"
" How am I supposed to know?"
With this, an aggravated Sirius shouted, " THIS IS THE 7th TIME YOU'VE GONE THROUGH THIS CONVERSATION!!! STOP IT! IT DOESN'T HELP US FIGURE OUT WHERE THEY ARE!"
James and Lily turned around, shocked, to look at Sirius who sighed. In the end, they all fell asleep, still not knowing where their friends had gotten too.
~
In the morning there was a very awkward silence between Minerva and Remus. They left the hospital wing together, still not having said anything since the night before, and Minerva looked up at him.
" Would you like to take a walk?"
Remus nodded and they headed out onto the grounds in their cloaks. It was still silent.
"Remus, why didn't you tell me?"
"I just couldn't, I felt awful lying, and I still do, but if everyone were to know... well... I'd have to leave."
"I understand."
They walked in silence for a bit, watching the snow fall around them, collecting on everything. Minerva looked around and saw the shimmering white flakes landing in Remus' hair, making him look a good deal older, she pushed away the thought. This was not the time for such things.
"So how do you do it?" said Min, breaking the silence.
"mm? Do what?"
"Get away with the transformations? I mean, of course they can't go on in your dorm room. And if you're just outside, well, you could bite people. So how do you pull it off."
Remus looked up and pointed to the whomping willow.
"See that tree over there?"
Minerva nodded.
" if anything comes near it, it thrashes about and hits it all over. Very, very painful to be hit with one of those branches. Inside that tree is a tunnel, a tunnel to Hogsmeade and up to the shrieking shack. That's where I transform. Madam Pomfrey locks me in and I am unlocked by either her or Dumbledore near dawn," he said in a low voice.
Min looked up into his eyes, " Is it terrible? Er... Painful, I mean, to transform?"
Remus shuddered, "yes, very much so. And most of the time, they come to get me a bit late, and I have to sit there, all alone, cut all over, staring at the damage I've done to myself and the house, just feeling absolutely awful about what I am, and what I am able to do."
For a while, nothing was said. Then Minerva looked up suddenly and said, " you know what?"
Remus just looked at her inquisitively.
" I could come with you."
Remus' eyes widened.
"Are you mad?"
"No, but you couldn't hurt me," she said.
Remus rolled his eyes and gave her a skeptical look, " oh really, and why is that?"
Minerva smiled, " Haven't checked the records lately have you?"
"Records? Records of what?"
"Ministry's animagus records," she said, still smiling.
"You're an...." Said remus, looking shocked an impressed.
With a smile and a small POP, Minerva the tabby cat sat on the ground by Remus's feet, purring. With another POP, there she was again, full height grinning down at him.
"so, how about it, Remus?"
"er... Allright."
As they turned to walk back to the castle, remus looked over at Minerva, " min, please don't tell James and them about this. I'll find the right time to do it."
Minerva nodded and patted him on the back, " I understand."
~
When Remus and Minerva arrived in the common room, they found a rather amusing scene. James and Lily were sharing a chair, Lily rather sprawled across James, both of them asleep. Sirius was on the couch next to them, a book titled " Pranks and Curses for the Educated Wizard" upside down over his face. And Peter Pettigrew was on the floor, sleeping in a curled up ball.
" Do you have a camera?" whispered Minerva.
"Nope, too bad, though," replied Remus, chuckling to himself.
Min shrugged and went to the windows, opening the drapes, letting sunlight shine over the four sleeping Gryffindors.
"ACK!"
Sirius seemed to be able to sense light through his book and rolled off the couch landing on poor Peter who squeaked and jumped up. Peter's squeak roused James, who, upon seeing Lily, lying on top of him, turned beet red and looked shocked. Sirius laughed at James, waking Lily. Lily, still not awake, looked at James and toppled off the chair with a bit of an " EEP!" as she blushed scarlet on the floor.
Within seconds Remus and Minerva were having trouble standing up, they were laughing so hard. Lily and James were too busy blushing and grinning sheepishly to notice that Remus and Min had even arrived.
It took about 10 minutes even for Sirius to see them.
"oy, Remus? Where've you been?"
Remus didn't even look like he'd thought before saying , " felt a bit ill last night, went to the hospital wing."
James shrugged, " and you?" he addressed towards Minerva.
"Herbology accident," she replied, rolling up her sleeve to the cut on her shoulder.
They all nodded and went down to breakfast.
~
It were excuses like these that held out for the rest of Remus, James, Sirius, Lily, and Peter's first year. They never even seemed to wonder. It was an odd thing. But it seemed to work.
Over the summer Minerva was homesick. How odd, she thought, to be homesick while at home. She got frequent letters from Sirius and Remus, a few from Lily, several from James, but being apart from her friends made her feel a bit like herself before she had any - alone, and rather bored and sad. That feeling left for a brief period of time every time she received a letter, but was very strong in between them.
One morning in late august, while Minerva was eating breakfast, two large tawny owls flew straight through the window of her kitchen and onto the counter. She opened the bigger letter first.
Dear Miss McGonagall,
We would like to congratulate you on becoming head girl,
enclosed is your badge, and it is to be worn at all times during your
stay at Hogwarts. Thank you, and we expect to see you September the
first.
Professor Dumbledore
Out of the envelope fell a shiny silver badge with the words Head Girl engraved upon the top. Behind that there was the usual list of books.
Ecstatic with the news, Minerva ran upstairs told her parents (That are my girl, Minnie! You show 'em!) and ran back down, crashing into things like a maniac. Then the caught herself.
"do stop it!" she thought to her self, "you're being ridiculous! Running around like that, absolutely unacceptable."
Then, remembering she had another letter she headed back for the kitchen. Sitting at the counter, she tore open the letter. It turned out to be from Remus.
Dear Min,
How've you been? Well, I hope. On Saturday we (Sirius, James, Lily, Peter and I) are going to Diagon Alley to buy school stuff. Send your response back as soon as possible!
See you soon,
Remus J. Lupin
Minerva smiled and ran up to ask her parents. With their approval she scribbled, " yes, please, thanks remus!" and sent it off with the owl.
~
Come Saturday morning, min was running through her house looking for her wallet, when a large thumping noise and some squabbling came from her living room. Sirius, James and Remus were on the floor of her living room, covered in soot and coughing. When she walked into the room, and saw them, she had to lean against the wall she was laughing so hard.
"You really should clean that fireplace Min," coughed James.
She just laughed more. Finally, she tried to calm down and gasped, " well, I'm not the one covered in soot, am I James?"
He just stared at her. Then she used a spell to remove the soot from them, and decided to get going. After stopping by at Lily's and peter's they were off to diagon alley.
It seemed that today was just the day for everyone to do their school shopping. They met a few older kids in Flourish and Blotts and had lunch in the Leakey Cauldron with Arthur Weasley and his girlfriend Molly. Everything seemed to be perfect.
When they tapped the bricks to enter diagon alley again, a horrid scene met their eyes. There were people lying on the ground, still as the cobblestone they were on top of, surrounded by crying, shocked or nervous bystanders. The sky, gray with rain clouds, had 4 glittering smoke signals, or so they looked, floating above the alleyway. They were a bright, acid green color and shaped into the form of an evil skull, a snake protruding from the mouth.
Minerva looked around, dumbfounded at the scene before her. What had happened to these people? Where was the skull coming from? Who had made it? What was the purpose?
Panic stricken and worried, Minerva, Remus, Sirius, Lily, Peter, and James had turned around and quickly used floo powder to return to their houses. No one had any reason to stay there longer.