Chapter 13: McGonagall's Misery


The next day was spent cleaning the Burrow. After Harry and Hermione completed the tedious task of dusting the front room and cleaning the furniture upholstery, the two plopped down next to each other on the squeaky old couch.

"How did this place get so dirty in just an hour or two?" Hermione wondered, looking about.

"Dunno, but I really wish Dobby was here," Harry said, massaging his wrist tenderly. It was sore from dusting for nearly two hours, and was turning bright red.

Feeling Hermione's angry brown eyes boring into him, Harry cringed.

"Flip. Shouldn't have said that," he muttered.

"You wish you had a house elf, aye?" Hermione snapped. "A servant of your own. To work for you. Wait on you hand and foot. Harry, you're despicable!" Hermione spat angrily.

Harry swore inwardly. Why had he chosen to say such an idiotic thing to Hermione of all people?

"Dobby is your friend Harry! He worships you because you treat him differently! I can't believe you just said that. I just can't believe it. That was so base, Harry. So base."

"What? I'd pay him! He just likes to clean, and so I said I wish he was here to help us out a bit."

Hermione glowered at him.

"Calm down, Hermione!" Harry groaned. "I was-- I was kidding. Can't you take a joke?" His eyes met her still-angry brown orbs. "Apparently not. I'm sorry," he said earnestly.

Before Hermione could chasten her friend further, there was a knock on the door.

Ron darted into the room, a broom in hand. Eager for an excuse not to clean, he jolted the door open excitedly. And then he stared.

"Pro- Professor?" he said, sounding stricken.

Harry and Hermione exchanged confused looks, and tried to see who was at the door. When they realized they couldn't see from the couch, the two grudgingly left the couch and joined Ron at the threshold.

"Professor McGonagall!" Hermione said. Harry looked at his teacher quizzically.

"Are you feeling alright today, Professor?" he asked, remembering the state they had found her in the previous day.

McGonagall nodded curtly at Ron and Hermione, and in reply to Harry, said, "Not entirely, but I've felt worse, Potter. I need to talk with you lot." Ron looked worriedly at his friends, and back at the stern teacher.

"Why? What did we do?" he asked defensively.

"I want to talk to Ginny as well," she added curtly, turning a deaf ear to Ron. "And Molly, actually. The anti-Apparation charm was never removed from the house. She may want to do that sometime."

Mrs. Weasley and Ginny walked in right then, and Professor McGonagall nodded politely to them from the door.

"For Merlin's sake, Ronald, invite her in!" Mrs. Weasley chided. The Hogwarts professor smiled a rare mile at Mrs. Weasley as Ron looked embarrassedly downward.

A few minutes later, McGonagall was seated in a stiff-looking chair in the living room, with Harry and Hermione sitting on either side of Ginny, and Ron nervously perched on the arm of the couch by Harry. Mrs.Weasley was currently talking to Dumbledore through the fireplace, trying to figure out how to lift the anti-Apparation charm from the house.

The four you glanced bewilderedly at their Tranfiguration teacher, and an uncomfortable silence followed.

Finally, McGonagall decided to break the silent bubble that seemed to be suffocating the room.

"Yesterday when Pettigrew was threatening to go upstairs, I turned into Mr. Weasley's bedroom to hear what was going on, to know if you were all prepared for a possible attack.

"I happened to hear you four discussing the death of a girl named Margaret McGonagall. My daughter," McGonagall said, her expression passive. "I heard you inquiring about her death, and then wondering about something concerning Lily Potter's eyes. And I have some information that could prove helpful if you're interested." Not waiting for any response from the students now gaping at McGonagall in shock, she continued.

"I believe that my daughter's death and Lily Evans Potter's eyes are most certainly connected. I don't quite understand how, but I can give you some background information. I myself have always wondered what changed Lily's eyes. It happened immediately after Margaret's death. But it wasn't only her eyes that were changed. Her performance in school sky-rocketed when Lily's eyes changed. And she passed on the green eye gene to Harry. So it was permanent."

Harry felt rather like a codfish, gaping at his teacher in awe and wonder. How did she know all of that?

"So you know?" he finally managed to ask. "You know about her eyes. How are her eyes connected to your daughter's death?" he asked cautiously, not wanting to seem insensitive, but aching to know the story. "What happened, Professor?"

McGonagall's face clouded over, and her eyes got a faraway gleam in them.

"Margaret was always a gifted witch. She had a thirst to become better, though. She was never quite happy with herself, feeling like she wasn't at her fullest potential yet, and unhappy to be anything less than her best. Of course, such drive to succeed is good, but I suppose she took things a little too seriously. I wasn't much help. Margaret's father died before she was born, and I think my expectations of her may have been a little high. She was a brilliant girl.

"Capable of accomplishing anything and everything that she desired, Margaret was on the road to a successful life long before she even came to Hogwarts. I knew she over-stressed frequently over trite matters, but I never thought it to be a problem. Striving for perfection-- how could aiming for the stars be a bad thing? And so I continued to pressure her to do well. She was greater at Transfiguration at the start of her first year than even I was at the end of my seventh year, and I received numerous honors and exceptional scores on my NEWTs. So anyone can see that she was very talented.

"When she came to Hogwarts, I encouraged Margaret to continue to succeed. One night one of her roommates was awakened by her sometime past midnight. The girl came and summoned me to their dormitory, not saying why but clearly concerned. When I arrived, I found Margaret in the queerest state. She was doing some late-night cramming for an exam, studying more feverishly than I ever thought possible. And then, when I asked her what she was doing, she jumped up and began running about the room, screaming a the top of her lungs and throwing everything in sight as hard as she could, yelling at me for disturbing her while she studied.

"Naturally, I was very concerned. The next morning, she didn't recollect the event at all, and said she had slept soundly the previous night.

"Worried about my daughter's health, I sent her to Madam Pomfrey, but Poppy said that Margaret never did come to see her.

"I heard nothing more about my daughter's anxiety and stress. There were no more strange hyperactive outbursts. Her grades continued to be excellent. I had no reason to worry.

"And then one day she didn't show up for my class. I was worried, so I sent a couple of her roommates to see if she was ill in her dormitory or if she had slept late.

"The roommates returned to say that Margaret was no where to be found. Later, she was found unconscious. She was taken to the hospital. For once, Poppy had not idea what had happened. She tried numerous potions and other spells to awaken her, but Margaret never woke-up. She died three weeks later." McGonagall was now getting teary-eyed, dabbing her face with a hanky she'd conjured up. "She died, leaving me alone."

Hermione, Ron and Harry exchanged stunned looks.

Unsure of what to say, they sat in a sad, uneasy silence, until Ginny stood and hugged the older woman. McGonagall looked abashed over Ginny's shoulder, but she returned the hug, patting the young woman's back.

"Thank you, Miss Weasley," she said croakily. Ginny smiled at her teacher warmly.

"Thanks for coming over and telling us," she said. "I'm sure it isn't easy to talk about Margaret's death. We really appreciate it."

McGonagall regained her composure, looking embarrassed over her little break down. She stood, and everyone else followed suite.

"Well of course it was no problem," she said briskly. "I want to know about Lily Potter's eyes very much as well, so you lot had better figure it out and give me a full report when you come back to school."

Ron groaned.

"An actual report?" he asked weakly.

"12 inches of parchment, in black ink, neatly written in legible cursive," she said routinely.

Ron's jaw dropped.

"What?"

"She's joking, Ron," Hermione said, rolling her eyes.

"Is she?" Harry was feeling just as worried as Ron now.

"Of course she is."

"Actually," Professor McGonagall said, causing the youth to look up (or down, in Ron and Harry's cases) at her anxiously. "Actually, I think I'll give five points of extra credit for each report I receive. But I suppose I can't give actual homework over the break." She looked rather saddened by this reality.

"Thank Merlin," Ron muttered.

Just then Mrs. Weasley bustled back into the room.

"Minerva! Glad I caught you before my children scared you out of the house." Ron and Ginny looked indignantly at their mother, who ignored them and continued. "I was wondering if I could ask you about that anti-Apparation charm."

"Certainly." McGonagall seemed to have recuperated entirely to her usual stern, non-emotional, rarely smiling self.

"Come on," Ginny hissed, and she beckoned for her brother, Hermione and Harry to follow her upstairs.

Ron hurtled the feather duster he'd been holding throughout their teacher's visit into a corner and the three followed his little sister up to his bedroom.

"What, Gin?" Ron asked. "Why are you always inviting yourself into my room these days? I know you fancy Harry, but for Merlin's sake--"

"What?" Ginny looked stunned. "Fancy Harry?" And then she laughed heartily, as if that was the funniest thing ever to escape her brother's mouth. "Whatever, Ronny. We're in your room because all of the stuff Harry inherited from Sirius is in here. Come on. You're not that thick, are you?"

"R-R-RONNY? Never call me that again! Or I'll call you Ginevra!" Ron's face was purple with rage. Hermione and Harry exchanged raised-eyebrow looks.

"Shut up," Ginny said, sounding bored. "I was just playing. Anyway, I want to see if there's anything else up here that can help us."

"It's not like we learned anything revolutionary about Harry's mum's eyes from McGonagall," Ron said. "We learned about her daughter's death, and that Lily's eyes changed right after she died, and that McGonagall is indeed capable of crying."

"Of course she is," Hemione said, rolling her eyes at Ron. "And we learned more than that." As Hermione began to rattle off the revelations McGonagall's visit presented, Ginny began to go through the contents recklessly jammed into Harry's trunk.

"Okay, Hermione, we get it," Ron said through gritted teeth. "Fine. It's good she came, and it's nice that she told us about her daughter dying. But I'm getting tired of trying to figure out what happened to Harry's mum's eyes over twenty years ago. It's impossible. We won't figure it out. Not even you and your freakishly sharp mind can solve this stupid mystery of the past. I'm going to get a sandwich. Anyone else hungry?" Harry looked at his best friend carefully.

"I'll have one," he finally said. "Can you bring it up?" Ron nodded, and left the room.

"He's such a dolt sometimes!" Hermione huffed. "A complete potser. Of course we can solve it. RON! GET BACK HERE!"

And then Hermione darted after Ron, leaving Harry and Ginny alone. (A/N: Surprise?)

"What's this?" Ginny was holding up a jar. The jar was filled with a strange, silvery liquid-like substance. The substance was swirling around, and strange images were visible inside. A piece of aged and yellowing masking tape labeled the rusty lid of the jar. "It says James's Pensieve…" Ginny looked up at Harry, confused. "Aren't Pensieves those big bowls where older witches and wizards store their memories?" Harry nodded.

"Although I reckon they're not just for older wizards," he added. "I mean, my dad had this, and he wasn't very old." Ginny nodded.

"Can we see what's inside?" she asked. Harry shrugged.

"I've been inside Pensieves before. Not really sure how to get out--I've always kind of been forced out, but I'm sure it's not hard." Ginny looked excited.

"I've hard about these. It's supposed to be really rad-- you can basically go back in time and just watch things invisibly. Whose Pensieve have you been in?" Harry grinned sheepishly.

"Dumbledore's….and Snape's…" Ginny looked surprised. "I'll tell you about it later," he said quickly. "Here, let's see what's in here." And he took the jar from Ginny's small hands and pried the lid off. Ginny leaned over the jar, and Harry did likewise.

"So…we're going to go inside? Is it the same as going in a normal Pensieve? I mean…this is a jar," Ginny said slowly.

Harry shrugged. "I dunno, but usually I just lean over and get-- Ginny?"

She was gone! Harry looked around, wondering what had happened to her. And then he caught a glimpse of red in the Pensieve.

"Ah-ha," he muttered.

And then, hoping for the best, he leaned over the jar and felt himself get sucked into the swiveling, silvery contents of his father's memory…


Ah, yes. A short chapter. Don't hate me! Next one will be long, I promise! And sorry about the long wait.

So, now to last chapter's reviewers:

hppigeonluv: I couldn't really answer that now, could I? ;) Thanks!

kitty: Wow, thanks! Also thanks for reviewing every flippin chapter of my story!

i lurve ron: Thanks

Annmarie Aspasia: That will be discovered in due time...Thank you!

ObsessivePerfectionist: Hey, thanks! I feel honored to receive such praise from an obsessive perfectionist! :)

The Wolf's Pen: Why thank you!

fire-icecat: Alas, while Janna may be a total witch, I will say that she is not a murderer. Thanks for reading!

Author of the Mark: Thank you! :)

KMK: Of course we'll find out about Lily's eyes! But alas, it will be a few chapters...And thanks for the review!

Ron's Only Girl: Thanks a bunch! I love reviews, no matter how long, how deep, how snide...Hmmm, maybe I'll write a song...

HecateDeMort: Thanks!

emikae: You were late for church because you read my story?!? Awww! I feel uber special! Well, this chapter's short enough, it shouldn't make you late for anything...

tina7610813: Hey, thank you much! And my lips are sealed about the spiders! :)

Thank you SO MUCH everyone who has reviewed! And everyone reading. You're all fabulous! If I could, I'd buy chocolate for you all! I really am sorry this chapter is rather short, and that it took so long to post. Maybe a big cluster of reviews from all my lovely readers will motivate me to post a longer chapter sooner...No pressure or anything. ;) I love ya guys! Thanks for reading, and Happy New Year!