I met Tom Marvolo Riddle in my 7th year. I was the Head Girl, he was the Head Boy, and thus we were doomed to cooperate, though I remember very clearly I hated it. I, Minerva McGonagall, every inch a Gryffindor, with that sneaky Slytherin? Never, I said, but I had to. And I did.
Actually, I didn't even know him. He was just one-of-those Slytherins for me- I never wanted to know them. The rivalry of so long ago between Godric Gryffindor and Salazar Slytherin has never really parted. Even now, when I see Potter and Malfoy…
It will never go away. Godric and Salazar, Albus and Tom, Harry and Draco …
It is just history repeating itself.
~*~
Yet Tom was different. It's hard to believe, for he was the person who would once become the darkest Lord ever, but he was different. Or perhaps he wasn't. I don't know. Love had blinded me.
But it doesn't blind me anymore now. That blindness isn't permanent- it leaves, even though I desperately tried to keep it.
Yet, I looked up, lifted my head and saw. I have needed all that courage which had made me being sorted into Gryffindor instead of Ravenclaw. I still need it, everyday, when I remember and see all the damage, all the wounds, all the deaths.
~*~
But I started to believe Tom was something else- I saw him once punish a 6th year Slytherin boy who was taller than himself, because the guy was bullying one of the 1st year Gryffindors. The Slytherins despised him for weeks.
I have admired him ever since. He wasn't weak, he wasn't a follower, he didn't go with the flow. He was strong. He was independent.
He was like me.
I wasn't nice with him, actually, I was often just plain rude. Yet, he stayed friendly and always tried to talk to me, about… About the things a Head Girl and Head Boy need to talk about.
It went on for months, and then Christmas came.
And he kissed me.
~*~
Winte Break…
Always a merry period at Hogwarts, but not that particular year. For some reason, everybody was going home for Christmas. Well, not everybody. Rolanda Hooch went away, and Poppy and Sera Sinistra... My friends all went home, but I stayed. My father had died when I was twelve and I and my mum… I loved her because she was my mother, and one has to love one's mother, but I didn't love her as a person. She was so light-hearted, so young… I often had the feeling I was older than she was.
We were just too different.
So I stayed at Hogwarts, the one place I called and still call my one true home. I did like my mother's small cottage in Scotland, where she and my little sister lived, but Christmas at Hogwarts would be… special. It always was.
I did not at all realize how special it would be.
Actually, I didn't even know him. He was just one-of-those Slytherins for me- I never wanted to know them. The rivalry of so long ago between Godric Gryffindor and Salazar Slytherin has never really parted. Even now, when I see Potter and Malfoy…
It will never go away. Godric and Salazar, Albus and Tom, Harry and Draco …
It is just history repeating itself.
~*~
Yet Tom was different. It's hard to believe, for he was the person who would once become the darkest Lord ever, but he was different. Or perhaps he wasn't. I don't know. Love had blinded me.
But it doesn't blind me anymore now. That blindness isn't permanent- it leaves, even though I desperately tried to keep it.
Yet, I looked up, lifted my head and saw. I have needed all that courage which had made me being sorted into Gryffindor instead of Ravenclaw. I still need it, everyday, when I remember and see all the damage, all the wounds, all the deaths.
~*~
But I started to believe Tom was something else- I saw him once punish a 6th year Slytherin boy who was taller than himself, because the guy was bullying one of the 1st year Gryffindors. The Slytherins despised him for weeks.
I have admired him ever since. He wasn't weak, he wasn't a follower, he didn't go with the flow. He was strong. He was independent.
He was like me.
I wasn't nice with him, actually, I was often just plain rude. Yet, he stayed friendly and always tried to talk to me, about… About the things a Head Girl and Head Boy need to talk about.
It went on for months, and then Christmas came.
And he kissed me.
~*~
Winte Break…
Always a merry period at Hogwarts, but not that particular year. For some reason, everybody was going home for Christmas. Well, not everybody. Rolanda Hooch went away, and Poppy and Sera Sinistra... My friends all went home, but I stayed. My father had died when I was twelve and I and my mum… I loved her because she was my mother, and one has to love one's mother, but I didn't love her as a person. She was so light-hearted, so young… I often had the feeling I was older than she was.
We were just too different.
So I stayed at Hogwarts, the one place I called and still call my one true home. I did like my mother's small cottage in Scotland, where she and my little sister lived, but Christmas at Hogwarts would be… special. It always was.
I did not at all realize how special it would be.