Author's note: Thank you so much for your reveiws. I really apreciate feedback.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything. J.K. Rowling does.
September 2, 1936
Minerva woke up early. The sun had just risen and the view from the tower was amazing. She stood looking across the grounds. The soft morning light made the world look surreal like a watercolor painting. It was as if the trees could ooze their green paint, and everything seemed to run together blended.
Minerva thought that it suited that day. Life at Hogwarts hadn't sunken in and it didn't feel quite real yet. With that thought, Minerva went down for breakfast.
Professor Dumbledore watched her as she entered. It was early and not many students were in there yet. He came over to her and handed her a slip of paper.
"First year right? I thought you might want your schedule ahead of time, being so early to breakfast," said Professor Dumbledore with a smile.
"Thank you," said Minerva brightly. She looked down at her schedule. Transfiguration, then history of magic. She smiled. Transfiguration sounded like the most interesting of all subjects. Of course, that was just from reading the book. She frowned. What if she wasn't good at it?
She hurried upstairs to her dorm and grabbed out the books she needed for the day. She frowned as she looked at the transfiguration book.
She could do all of the simple spells in chapter one flawlessly, but what if she needed to demonstrate further? Suppose they covered all of chapter one today and went on to chapter two? It was after all, a very long book, much longer than could be covered in one year, if they didn't finish several chapters in one week.
Minerva went to chapter two. She could do a few flawlessly, and could do all to some degree. She vowed she'd practice until time for class.
After turning several bugs into misshapen buttons, Minerva decided she'd just have to try her best. She grabbed up her books and hurried to the classroom.
She was quite surprised to find it completely empty and wondered for a moment if she had somehow gotten lost. She looked at her schedule and frowned. She started back to the door.
Professor Dumbledore was standing there smiling. "Don't worry, you got the right room. I just didn't expect any students to be early on the first day. Take a seat."
Minerva smiled and sat down in the middle of the front row. She got her book out. She sat patiently as Professor Dumbledore looked at some books on his desk at the front of the room. Slowly the students began to file in.
Finally, Professor Dumbledore looked up from what he was doing. "Everyone is here. Let's start the lesson."
Minerva sat up expectantly.
He began the lecture. Minerva frowned. He was saying things from the very first page of the book. Surely, he expected someone would have read ahead. She sighed and relaxed. Things would go well, if not very slow, this year.
"I've given you all a match. If you would, try to turn it into a needle," said Professor Dumbledore.
Minerva sat stubbornly still. He was so incredibly condescending. If he thought anyone would struggle then he was a silly fool. She would refuse to turn it into a needle until he asked her properly. Then she noticed other students were having no effect on the needle. She thought that odd. On her first try ages ago, she had turned it silver, hard, and somewhat pointed.
"Miss McGonagall, I'm going to have to ask you to at least try to turn it into a needle," said Professor Dumbledore gently.
Minerva stared at him. "I won't," she replied simply.
Everyone stared at her shocked someone would talk to a teacher like that.
Professor Dumbledore blinked and pondered her answer. "Why not?"
"Because I don't try at anything," said Minerva.
"All right. Then please turn the match into a needle," said Professor Dumbledore with a smile.
Minerva pointed her wand at the match, muttered the incantation, and then held up the needle for Professor Dumbledore's inspection.
"Well done, ten points for Gryffindor I think," said Professor Dumbledore loudly.
After everyone else was busy trying hard to complete the task, Professor Dumbledore came back over to Minerva.
"How advanced are you?" asked Professor Dumbledore quietly.
"Well, I can do up through chapter two flawlessly now," said Minerva truthfully.
"Interesting. I don't expect you to do this perfectly, but could you try turning this tortoise into a teapot?" asked Professor Dumbledore.
After learning the wand motions and the spell, Minerva tried it. The tortoise became a teapot with tortoise shell markings and was slightly greenish in color. Minerva frowned.
"Excellent. I want to speak with you after class," said Professor Dumbledore with a twinkle in his eyes.
Minerva waited out the rest of the class period. By the end only a few other students had made any progress at all. Minerva hesitantly went up to Professor Dumbledore's desk. After a few moments, he looked up.
"What did you want to speak to me about, Professor?" asked Minerva hesitantly.
"You did third year magic today better than a lot of third years do on their first try. Now we have to decide what to do about this."
"Do?" asked Minerva frowning.
"Yes, we can't let such talent go to waste, and it would be wasted with you sitting here bored all of the time. So now we have to decide what to do," said Professor Dumbledore.
"I see. So what are we going to do then?" asked Minerva curiously.
"Well, you could be switched immediately to having classes with third years, but I don't think that would go over well with the administration. We could switch you into a second year class, which would become dull after a short while," said Professor Dumbldore.
"Does that mean I'm stuck in this level?" asked Minerva.
"Yes it does, but it's not a bad thing. It will give you time to adjust to life at Hogwarts. You can always use this period to catch up on homework, light reading, and whatever else you wish," said Professor Dumbledore with a smile.
"Really?" asked Minerva.
"As long as you can demonstrate you can do the lesson flawlessly. And you'll still have to do essays and such."
"Thank you, Professor," said Minerva leaving.
She carried her history of magic textbook to lunch and sat down. She began reading and stuffed bites of food down her throat when she thought about it.
"Can you believe that McGonagall? She's such a stuck up suck up," said a girl from the Slytherin table.
"Olive, don't say such things! She's just a little first year, what harm is she?" asked another girl.
"If you don't remember I'm just a first year as well. She's got Professor Dumbledore wrapped around her finger. Now she's over there reading a textbook. I bet she sucks up to all the teachers. I'm just glad I haven't had a class with her yet," said Olive.
Minerva scowled a flustered blush creeping onto her cheeks. She nervously closed the book and hurried to the Gryffindor tower.
She didn't understand how this girl called Olive knew anything about her. She definitely wasn't in the classroom. She sighed. She didn't think gossip spread so quickly. Nothing in any book had prepared her for this, and she'd read several on adolescents.
"Oh well," she sighed. This would not interfere in any of her plans. She would be the cleverest witch in her year… Or look like she was at any rate.