Professor Minerva McGonagall sat on a chintz armchair in her humble abode. Her lined face had wrinkled even more, due to the stress she was enduring as the newly appointed Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Her small yet ostentatious home was occupied by another person, someone whom she had not told the world about. This particular young woman who lived in McGonagall's house was pretty, carefree, and led an ordinary wizarding life just like her peers, yet had not let off that she was the secret daughter of the newly appointed Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
She lightly stepped into the room, wearing a long leather jacket, her black hair cascading down her back. She leapt onto the chaise longue, much to the annoyance of Minerva.
"Feet off!" barked the professor, glaring at her daughter, "he's a bad influence, you know that? You never acted like this when you were courting…" she sniffed sadly, "Diggory."
The nineteen year old sat up straight and put her boot-clad feet on the mauve carpet. She was irritated that her mother had yet again mentioned her first love. She looked at McGonagall fiercely, "Yes. And then he dumped me for that Chang girl, the stud."
Minerva gasped in shock, "You don't speak of the deceased with that attitude!"
The girl stared at her mother anxiously. Didn't she understand the mental pain he'd put her through? "I loved him! I actually loved him! Don't you see? He put me through misery, through –"
"No he didn't!" McGonagall stood up, "Just because he was attractive doesn't mean you loved him!"
The girl stood up as well, "Attractive? He was kind, loving, and more to the point, he wasn't just attractive, he was bleeding gorgeous!"
"Stop!" shouted McGonagall, "We're not having this fight yet again!"
Mother and daughter sat down. There was silence for a few seconds, and then the girl spoke up, "What's wrong with Frederick?"
Minerva laughed. "What's wrong with Frederick? I'll tell you what's wrong with Frederick! He's irresponsible, immature, impudent, all the 'i's!"
"What? Like intelligent, independent,"
"Insecure, indifferent,"
"Interesting, erm… um…oh, let's stop that now. I'm going there to stay in half an hour and that's that."
There was almost a minute's silence, when the girl spoke up again, "How's the management going?"
"Frightfully," Minerva sighed, "I need somebody to replace me as a Transfiguration teacher. I've got Defence Against the Dark Arts sorted, but-"
"Who?"
"A middle-aged woman called Linda Updike. Medium height, stick skinny, and a seemingly ghastly personality! She doesn't seem too special, but as Remus refused, I had no choice. Oh, and darling? Do you, by chance, happen to know anybody who's interested in the job?"
"Well give me details, and I'll think of somebody who fits the bill. Hey, you never know, Frederick might be interested!" she laughed at her mother's flinch, "I'm only joking!"
"Well," Minerva McGonagall thought about it, "they need to be quite responsible (that rules your dear boyfriend out of the picture!), they need to be exceptionally good at magic, and they need to be ready to lead, as it is usually the Transfiguration teacher who obtains headship after the Headmaster or Mistress steps down."
The girl smiled triumphantly. "Guess who!" she grinned.
McGonagall frowned, and then her face dawned with realisation.
"I'm so stupid! I've been racking my brains out thinking of someone, and they're standing, well, actually sitting in front of me the whole time!" she smiled, her wrinkles multiplying as she did so, "Daughter of mine, will you follow me in my footsteps and become Transfiguration teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry?"
The young woman pretended to think about it. "I would be honoured to!"
The two women embraced, their moment defeated by the head of Rubeus Hagrid appearing in the fireplace. He frowned for a second and then said, "Professor McGonagall! Remus 'as just apparated in. Harry's on the move!"
Hagrid disappeared, and Minerva let go of her daughter's long, slender body. She stood on her toes and kissed her on the forehead.
"I've got to go. I'll see you at the wedding!"
And with a small pop! she apparated away.
The girl sighed and trudged up to her room. She had to pack for her visit to her boyfriend's busy family home.
Her bedroom was simple, tidy and clean, with the walls and ceiling covered in posters. Names popped out, like headlines in a cluttered newspaper: The Weird Sisters, Viktor Krum, Chudley Cannons and Zsa Zsa Simone.
She opened her wardrobe and started a mass exodus of gothic attire from their previous home, to a purple suede travelling case. She then fetched a toiletry bag, some money, seventeen books, a pile of parchment, three fresh quills, a pot of red ink, and then looked over to a framed photograph on her bedside table.
She sniffed wretchedly as she looked at the moving picture of Cedric Diggory, taken when they were together. She then glanced at the case, then back at Cedric, and blew out her cheeks. She zipped her case and looked across at Diggory.
"You've put me through enough trauma. Farewell. I love you."
And with that, she picked up her travelling case and a silver-grey cauldron full of scales and potion ingredients.
She jumped up, and before she landed on the fluffy carpet again, she had disapparated to a house brimming with lots of people with ginger hair, and one with silvery blonde.