Disclaimer: Aidoneus Malfoy, Don Weasley, William Potter.all Dumbledore and
McGonagall's schoolmates and teachers, (except for young Madam Hooch, young
Professor Sprouts, Professor Dippet and young Madam Pomfrey) belongs to me.
The rest belongs to J.K Rowling.
Chapter 12: Back to Hogwarts
The summer passed by quickly, soon September the first arrived, and all the Hogwarts students needed to get to King's Cross Platform 9 ¾ to get the Hogwarts Express.
"ALBUS! ALBUS, HEY!"
Dumbledore turned around and grinned. All the Gryffindor boys waved at him eagerly. He walked to them, followed by a tall young man with auburn hair. "Hello boys, have a nice summer?"
"It's okay." William said.
"It's boring. I can't practice Quidditch at home, my place is just not suitable for it." Wood grumbled. "By the way, congratulations. I bet that you will be the best Head Boy in Hogwarts ever."
"Yeah, I am not surprise when you send me that owl post, I knew that you will become the Head Boy." Don said.
"If you didn't get to be the Head Boy, I think the Headmaster needs to have his head examined." Robert added.
"I am not that good." Dumbledore smiled.
"Of course you are! You are a good Prefect, I am sure that you can be a good Head Boy." Joe said.
"Good? You count fighting with the Slytherins as good?" Dumbledore asked.
"I thought you have already gotten over that stupid incident! Anyway, you do that for McGonagall, so we think that you are still a good Prefect. Why hello, Aberforth! How are you? How's your summer?" Wood smiled at the man behind Dumbledore.
Aberforth, Dumbledore's brother, grinned. "I'm fine. So is my summer. But it's a little frustrated too."
"Why?" Don asked.
"Albus is driving me nuts about this Minerva McGonagall person. Where is she anyway? I have been hearing about her throughout the whole summer from Albus and I am getting curious."
Dumbledore blushed while the Gryffindor boys laughed.
"And there's one thing..." Aberforth said and the boys gathered around to listen. "Albus have been writing letters almost everyday in summer! I saw our owl coming in and out of our house all the time! I bet he is writing to this Minerva."
The boys made the noise "Woohoo!!!" and looked at Dumbledore for his reaction. But Dumbledore didn't seem to be paying attention to them. He was looking around as if he was looking for someone.
"Looks like he is looking for Minerva." William said and the boys looked around the platform for Minerva too.
"Look, there's Madeline Hooch." Wood said.
"And there's Georgia Sprouts." Nicholas said.
"And there's Poppy Pomfrey." William said.
"But where the hell is Minerva?" Don asked. "Don't tell me that she is sick or something happened to her during the holidays..."
"DON!!!" The boys said.
Dumbledore looked at his pocket watch. 3 minutes to 11.00am, the time for the Hogwarts Express to leave King's Cross. And Minerva was still nowhere in sight.
"She's not going to make it." Dumbledore groaned in disappointment. "Come on boys, let's get a compartment..."
"ALBUS!" Someone yelled.
Dumbledore turned and saw Minerva running towards him and the boys. Before he knew what happened, Minerva flung her arms round him and hugged him. Dumbledore was surprised at first but then he recovered and hugged her back. The boys gaped at them while Aberforth looked amused.
"I thought you are not going to make it." Dumbledore smiled when Minerva released him.
"Me either." Minerva smiled back. "I miss you." She added.
"I miss you too. Wait a minute, something has changed." Dumbledore stood straight and stared at Minerva. Last time he saw her, her height was around his chest, now she has grown a few inches.
"You have grown taller."
Minerva just smiled.
"So this is Minerva McGonagall, right Albus?" Aberforth asked. Not waiting for Dumbledore to respond, he added, "You have a very good taste."
Minerva looked at Aberforth curiously.
"Are you Albus' classmate?" She asked.
"Oops, sorry. Let me introduce myself. I'm Aberforth Dumbledore, Albus' older brother." Aberforth smiled and reached out his hand.
Minerva shook it. "Hello." She smiled.
"Albus had been talking about you all summer." Aberforth grinned.
"Hey you two, hurry up! The train is leaving!" Wood yelled from a compartment.
"Coming!" Dumbledore yelled. "Well, goodbye, Aberforth, see you in Christmas." He smiled.
"See you, brother. Goodbye, Miss McGonagall, take care of this brother of mine, he can still gets himself into trouble even if he is the Head Boy now." Aberforth grinned and left.
Dumbledore and Minerva got on the Hogwarts Express just before the whistle blew. They sat down with Wood, Madeline and Nicholas.
"Hi Minerva." Madeline smiled.
"Hi! Have a nice summer?" Minerva asked and both girls started chatting away.
"Looks like she had forgotten about you." Wood grinned to Dumbledore.
"So? I am not the only friend she has." Dumbledore said.
After the Sorting Ceremony, the Headmaster stood up. He cleared his throat and started: " Welcome to Hogwarts! Or, to the older students, welcome back. Before we started the Feast, I have something to say to you all. In this Christmas holidays, the school is holding a Christmas Ball this year."
"A Christmas Ball?!" Wood exclaimed while the rest of the students gave blank looks to the Headmaster.
"That's right, a Christmas Ball. You know, a large formal occasion at which people dance."
The students began to talk to each other excitedly.
"Settle down, settle down. Now, the ball will be open to all students. You may not have your formal costumes with you right now but not to worry, you can buy them at Gladrags Wizardwear during your visit to Hogsmeade. You must wear dress robes. The ball will start at 9 o'clock on Christmas Eve in the Great Hall. The boys have to ask the girls to be their dance partners; it is a ball after all. (Wood's mouth dropped open when he heard that) If you still have some questions, you may ask your teachers tomorrow. Now, let the feast begin."
The first years were all surprised to see food appearing on the tables so suddenly but then they recovered and started to get their food from the table and to their plates.
"A Christmas Ball? That's ridiculous. Now I have to worry about finding a girl for the ball!" Wood said as he took a chicken drumstick.
"You don't need to. Just grab a broomstick, put a long hair wig and a dress robe on it and you have your dance partner." William said.
"Just that your dance partner is a lot more skinny than the others." Don added.
The boys except Wood laughed.
"Ha ha, very funny. I prefer a human being for a dance partner." Wood snapped. He took a bite on his drumstick and swallowed. "At least Albus don't have to worry about that, he has McGonagall already."
Dumbledore and Minerva blushed and then busied themselves with their eating.
"Password?" The Fat Lady asked after the feast.
"Holyhead Harpies." Dumbledore said, naming one of the professional Quidditch teams.
"Cool password!" Wood said from behind.
The Fat Lady swung her portrait opened and the Gryffindors went in.
"Welcome to the Gryffindor common room. Boys' dormitories are upstairs to the right and the girls' to the left. You may find your belongings in your bedrooms. Now you must get to bed now, it's rather late and you need to get up early for your lessons tomorrow. Goodnight." Dumbledore said and all students went to the staircase that led to the dormitories.
"Not bad, Albus, you make a good Head Boy." Nicholas grinned and he went upstairs.
Dumbledore smiled and called, "Minerva, can I have a word with you?"
Minerva stopped at the staircase entrance. "Sure. I'll join you later, Madeline."
Dumbledore waited until all the students went upstairs and looked at Minerva.
"Yes?" Minerva asked, smiling.
"Listen," Dumbledore muttered, "I, uh, was wondering... uh, you know, talking about this ball and everything, um, well, I was wondering..." He swallowed nervously.
"Go on."
"I was wondering if you wanted to go with me. You know, be my date?"
Minerva's smile faded. Then her mouth fell open in surprise.
"I mean, if you don't want to, that's all right." Dumbledore mumbled, barely could keep the disappointment in his voice.
"No! I mean, yes! I would love to go with you!" Minerva answered.
"Really?" Dumbledore said, looking extremely relieved. "Great! So, uh, see you tomorrow, goodnight."
"Goodnight." Minerva smiled.
On the next visit to Hogsmeade, instead of going to the Three Broomsticks or Zonko's Joke Shop or Honeydukes, the Gryffindor girls went to the Gladrags Witchwear (next to Gladrags Wizardwear) to buy their dress robes.
"I just don't know why the hell everyone is so excited about a stupid ball." Madeline grumbled.
"You just say that because you don't have a date." Georgia grinned.
"Oh really? Who's your date?" Madeline challenged.
"Nicholas Longbottom of your house. I thought you already know that." Georgia said as she examined the price tag of moss-coloured dress robes.
"Oh yeah." Madeline said. "Great, everyone got a date! Minerva got Dumbledore, you got Nicholas, Poppy got William, Daisy got Don ..."
"How about Wood?" Minerva asked, looking at the pure white dress robes. It was all whit satin and lace, with delicate trimmings of velvet.
"Him? No way, I think he rather grabs a broomstick and let it to be his dance partner than asking a girl to be his date." Madeline said. "I think the dress robes suit you." She added.
"Really?" Minerva asked, took the dress robes and held it up to let Madeline to see.
"I bet Dumbledore will drop to his knees and propose when he see you in that dress robes." Madeline grinned.
"Oh come on Wood, what is so difficult about asking a girl for a ball?" Dumbledore asked as he examined the midnight blue dress robes at Gladrags Wizardwear.
"It is easy for you, but not for me." Wood snapped. "Why the hell the Headmaster said that we must have a date?"
"Oh look, the girls are in next door. You can ask one of them to be your date; it's your choice. Either you ask one of them or go to the ball without a date and get teased by Malfoy. It's up to you." Dumbledore said as he paid for his dress robes.
"WHAT? Teased by Malfoy?!" Wood exclaimed.
Dumbledore didn't say anything.
"No way!" Wood said and rushed out of Gladrags Wizardwear.
"Jonathan, hey! Where are you going?!" William yelled.
Wood marched to the Gladrags Witchwear and found Madeline with the girls outside the shop. "Madeline Hooch!"
"Yes?" Madeline asked and Wood marched to her. Madeline held up her hands. "Wait, did I do something wrong to your broomstick? Or did I say anything wrong about Quidditch?"
Wood stared at her. Madeline backed away a little. "No." Wood said finally.
The Gryffindor boys rushed out of the shop with their purchases and looked at the scene in front of them. Minerva caught Dumbledore's eye and mouthed, "What is going on?"
Dumbledore smiled and mouthed, "I think I know, just watch."
"Look, the ball is coming, every Gryffindor got a date, and we don't, Malfoy is going to tease the both of us when he finds out, so....to prevent that to happen, why don't we stick together during the dance?"
Madeline's mouth fell open.
"So what do you say? Want to go together?" Wood asked impatiently.
"If Wood doesn't change his attitude, I doubt that Madeline will agree." William said flatly.
Madeline shrugged. "Sure, why not? I don't want Malfoy to tease me either."
"Good, see you then." Wood said and walked back to the boys. Before the boys went back to the Gladrags Wizardwear, Dumbledore mouthed to Minerva, "See you later."
Minerva smiled and waved. After the boys left, Minerva turned to Madeline. "Isn't it great? Now every one got a date!"
"He is not my date, we're just going to the ball together." Madeline said, rolling her eyes.
"Whatever. Let's go back in and buy your dress robes." Minerva said and the girls went back into the shop.
Chapter 12: Back to Hogwarts
The summer passed by quickly, soon September the first arrived, and all the Hogwarts students needed to get to King's Cross Platform 9 ¾ to get the Hogwarts Express.
"ALBUS! ALBUS, HEY!"
Dumbledore turned around and grinned. All the Gryffindor boys waved at him eagerly. He walked to them, followed by a tall young man with auburn hair. "Hello boys, have a nice summer?"
"It's okay." William said.
"It's boring. I can't practice Quidditch at home, my place is just not suitable for it." Wood grumbled. "By the way, congratulations. I bet that you will be the best Head Boy in Hogwarts ever."
"Yeah, I am not surprise when you send me that owl post, I knew that you will become the Head Boy." Don said.
"If you didn't get to be the Head Boy, I think the Headmaster needs to have his head examined." Robert added.
"I am not that good." Dumbledore smiled.
"Of course you are! You are a good Prefect, I am sure that you can be a good Head Boy." Joe said.
"Good? You count fighting with the Slytherins as good?" Dumbledore asked.
"I thought you have already gotten over that stupid incident! Anyway, you do that for McGonagall, so we think that you are still a good Prefect. Why hello, Aberforth! How are you? How's your summer?" Wood smiled at the man behind Dumbledore.
Aberforth, Dumbledore's brother, grinned. "I'm fine. So is my summer. But it's a little frustrated too."
"Why?" Don asked.
"Albus is driving me nuts about this Minerva McGonagall person. Where is she anyway? I have been hearing about her throughout the whole summer from Albus and I am getting curious."
Dumbledore blushed while the Gryffindor boys laughed.
"And there's one thing..." Aberforth said and the boys gathered around to listen. "Albus have been writing letters almost everyday in summer! I saw our owl coming in and out of our house all the time! I bet he is writing to this Minerva."
The boys made the noise "Woohoo!!!" and looked at Dumbledore for his reaction. But Dumbledore didn't seem to be paying attention to them. He was looking around as if he was looking for someone.
"Looks like he is looking for Minerva." William said and the boys looked around the platform for Minerva too.
"Look, there's Madeline Hooch." Wood said.
"And there's Georgia Sprouts." Nicholas said.
"And there's Poppy Pomfrey." William said.
"But where the hell is Minerva?" Don asked. "Don't tell me that she is sick or something happened to her during the holidays..."
"DON!!!" The boys said.
Dumbledore looked at his pocket watch. 3 minutes to 11.00am, the time for the Hogwarts Express to leave King's Cross. And Minerva was still nowhere in sight.
"She's not going to make it." Dumbledore groaned in disappointment. "Come on boys, let's get a compartment..."
"ALBUS!" Someone yelled.
Dumbledore turned and saw Minerva running towards him and the boys. Before he knew what happened, Minerva flung her arms round him and hugged him. Dumbledore was surprised at first but then he recovered and hugged her back. The boys gaped at them while Aberforth looked amused.
"I thought you are not going to make it." Dumbledore smiled when Minerva released him.
"Me either." Minerva smiled back. "I miss you." She added.
"I miss you too. Wait a minute, something has changed." Dumbledore stood straight and stared at Minerva. Last time he saw her, her height was around his chest, now she has grown a few inches.
"You have grown taller."
Minerva just smiled.
"So this is Minerva McGonagall, right Albus?" Aberforth asked. Not waiting for Dumbledore to respond, he added, "You have a very good taste."
Minerva looked at Aberforth curiously.
"Are you Albus' classmate?" She asked.
"Oops, sorry. Let me introduce myself. I'm Aberforth Dumbledore, Albus' older brother." Aberforth smiled and reached out his hand.
Minerva shook it. "Hello." She smiled.
"Albus had been talking about you all summer." Aberforth grinned.
"Hey you two, hurry up! The train is leaving!" Wood yelled from a compartment.
"Coming!" Dumbledore yelled. "Well, goodbye, Aberforth, see you in Christmas." He smiled.
"See you, brother. Goodbye, Miss McGonagall, take care of this brother of mine, he can still gets himself into trouble even if he is the Head Boy now." Aberforth grinned and left.
Dumbledore and Minerva got on the Hogwarts Express just before the whistle blew. They sat down with Wood, Madeline and Nicholas.
"Hi Minerva." Madeline smiled.
"Hi! Have a nice summer?" Minerva asked and both girls started chatting away.
"Looks like she had forgotten about you." Wood grinned to Dumbledore.
"So? I am not the only friend she has." Dumbledore said.
After the Sorting Ceremony, the Headmaster stood up. He cleared his throat and started: " Welcome to Hogwarts! Or, to the older students, welcome back. Before we started the Feast, I have something to say to you all. In this Christmas holidays, the school is holding a Christmas Ball this year."
"A Christmas Ball?!" Wood exclaimed while the rest of the students gave blank looks to the Headmaster.
"That's right, a Christmas Ball. You know, a large formal occasion at which people dance."
The students began to talk to each other excitedly.
"Settle down, settle down. Now, the ball will be open to all students. You may not have your formal costumes with you right now but not to worry, you can buy them at Gladrags Wizardwear during your visit to Hogsmeade. You must wear dress robes. The ball will start at 9 o'clock on Christmas Eve in the Great Hall. The boys have to ask the girls to be their dance partners; it is a ball after all. (Wood's mouth dropped open when he heard that) If you still have some questions, you may ask your teachers tomorrow. Now, let the feast begin."
The first years were all surprised to see food appearing on the tables so suddenly but then they recovered and started to get their food from the table and to their plates.
"A Christmas Ball? That's ridiculous. Now I have to worry about finding a girl for the ball!" Wood said as he took a chicken drumstick.
"You don't need to. Just grab a broomstick, put a long hair wig and a dress robe on it and you have your dance partner." William said.
"Just that your dance partner is a lot more skinny than the others." Don added.
The boys except Wood laughed.
"Ha ha, very funny. I prefer a human being for a dance partner." Wood snapped. He took a bite on his drumstick and swallowed. "At least Albus don't have to worry about that, he has McGonagall already."
Dumbledore and Minerva blushed and then busied themselves with their eating.
"Password?" The Fat Lady asked after the feast.
"Holyhead Harpies." Dumbledore said, naming one of the professional Quidditch teams.
"Cool password!" Wood said from behind.
The Fat Lady swung her portrait opened and the Gryffindors went in.
"Welcome to the Gryffindor common room. Boys' dormitories are upstairs to the right and the girls' to the left. You may find your belongings in your bedrooms. Now you must get to bed now, it's rather late and you need to get up early for your lessons tomorrow. Goodnight." Dumbledore said and all students went to the staircase that led to the dormitories.
"Not bad, Albus, you make a good Head Boy." Nicholas grinned and he went upstairs.
Dumbledore smiled and called, "Minerva, can I have a word with you?"
Minerva stopped at the staircase entrance. "Sure. I'll join you later, Madeline."
Dumbledore waited until all the students went upstairs and looked at Minerva.
"Yes?" Minerva asked, smiling.
"Listen," Dumbledore muttered, "I, uh, was wondering... uh, you know, talking about this ball and everything, um, well, I was wondering..." He swallowed nervously.
"Go on."
"I was wondering if you wanted to go with me. You know, be my date?"
Minerva's smile faded. Then her mouth fell open in surprise.
"I mean, if you don't want to, that's all right." Dumbledore mumbled, barely could keep the disappointment in his voice.
"No! I mean, yes! I would love to go with you!" Minerva answered.
"Really?" Dumbledore said, looking extremely relieved. "Great! So, uh, see you tomorrow, goodnight."
"Goodnight." Minerva smiled.
On the next visit to Hogsmeade, instead of going to the Three Broomsticks or Zonko's Joke Shop or Honeydukes, the Gryffindor girls went to the Gladrags Witchwear (next to Gladrags Wizardwear) to buy their dress robes.
"I just don't know why the hell everyone is so excited about a stupid ball." Madeline grumbled.
"You just say that because you don't have a date." Georgia grinned.
"Oh really? Who's your date?" Madeline challenged.
"Nicholas Longbottom of your house. I thought you already know that." Georgia said as she examined the price tag of moss-coloured dress robes.
"Oh yeah." Madeline said. "Great, everyone got a date! Minerva got Dumbledore, you got Nicholas, Poppy got William, Daisy got Don ..."
"How about Wood?" Minerva asked, looking at the pure white dress robes. It was all whit satin and lace, with delicate trimmings of velvet.
"Him? No way, I think he rather grabs a broomstick and let it to be his dance partner than asking a girl to be his date." Madeline said. "I think the dress robes suit you." She added.
"Really?" Minerva asked, took the dress robes and held it up to let Madeline to see.
"I bet Dumbledore will drop to his knees and propose when he see you in that dress robes." Madeline grinned.
"Oh come on Wood, what is so difficult about asking a girl for a ball?" Dumbledore asked as he examined the midnight blue dress robes at Gladrags Wizardwear.
"It is easy for you, but not for me." Wood snapped. "Why the hell the Headmaster said that we must have a date?"
"Oh look, the girls are in next door. You can ask one of them to be your date; it's your choice. Either you ask one of them or go to the ball without a date and get teased by Malfoy. It's up to you." Dumbledore said as he paid for his dress robes.
"WHAT? Teased by Malfoy?!" Wood exclaimed.
Dumbledore didn't say anything.
"No way!" Wood said and rushed out of Gladrags Wizardwear.
"Jonathan, hey! Where are you going?!" William yelled.
Wood marched to the Gladrags Witchwear and found Madeline with the girls outside the shop. "Madeline Hooch!"
"Yes?" Madeline asked and Wood marched to her. Madeline held up her hands. "Wait, did I do something wrong to your broomstick? Or did I say anything wrong about Quidditch?"
Wood stared at her. Madeline backed away a little. "No." Wood said finally.
The Gryffindor boys rushed out of the shop with their purchases and looked at the scene in front of them. Minerva caught Dumbledore's eye and mouthed, "What is going on?"
Dumbledore smiled and mouthed, "I think I know, just watch."
"Look, the ball is coming, every Gryffindor got a date, and we don't, Malfoy is going to tease the both of us when he finds out, so....to prevent that to happen, why don't we stick together during the dance?"
Madeline's mouth fell open.
"So what do you say? Want to go together?" Wood asked impatiently.
"If Wood doesn't change his attitude, I doubt that Madeline will agree." William said flatly.
Madeline shrugged. "Sure, why not? I don't want Malfoy to tease me either."
"Good, see you then." Wood said and walked back to the boys. Before the boys went back to the Gladrags Wizardwear, Dumbledore mouthed to Minerva, "See you later."
Minerva smiled and waved. After the boys left, Minerva turned to Madeline. "Isn't it great? Now every one got a date!"
"He is not my date, we're just going to the ball together." Madeline said, rolling her eyes.
"Whatever. Let's go back in and buy your dress robes." Minerva said and the girls went back into the shop.