Albus Dumbledore, Transfiguration Professor and Head of Gryffindor, considered himself a man not easily intimidated. A year earlier he defeated Grindelwald, so making him feel unsettled was quite a feat. It wasn't usual, nor was it easy. It was something often attempted and always failed.

Yet this tiny, Scottish girl with sharp eyes, thin lips and black hair pulled back into a severe bun was giving him a serious case of the heebie-jeebies. Every time she looked his way, wand held elegantly in her hand, the incantation of the lesson spilling flawlessly from her lips, he couldn't help but feel...intimidated. It was impossible to pinpoint what it was about her.

Was it her gaze, so intense and thirsty for knowledge? Her unbidden curiosity for the unknown? The verbal smackdown of the Pureblood boy sitting across the room who 'dared to scorn my family and heritage?' So far, she'd only been to two lessons and already she was pulling far ahead of her peers.

He glanced up from his marking, eyes landing on the small girl in question. She was like a hurricane, whirling around the room of her own will and helping out other students, even those that offended her. Perhaps someday in the future, she could be a teacher. Judging by the way she was helping, it was as natural to her as breathing. Add in that she was correcting them, well...correctly, and he felt slightly proud.

Not that he wasn't still slightly unsettled by her.

"Professor, is she allowed to be helping?" Dumbledore turned to his left. A tiny Gryffindor, Delbert Lamont, stood by his desk. "Aren't you the teacher?"

"Why yes, I am, Mr Lamont. There's something I would like to tell you, though." He stood, moving around his desk. "I like to encourage independence and initiative in my students. If she was teaching the wrong way, I would stop her. But do you see any problem with what she is doing, how she is teaching?"

"I suppose not, Professor." Lamont looked thoughtful. "Do you think I could ask her to help me?"

"I don't see why not." With those words, the boy scampered over to Minerva, butting straight into the middle of her helping another student. The glare she gave Lamont...oh, that was the look of a teacher alright. As he watched her make Lamont wait his turn, he couldn't help the chuckle that bubbled within his throat. There was just something about this girl.

The rest of the lesson went off without a hitch. Dumbledore made his way into the fray when he deemed that Minerva had done enough, gently telling her to go back to her seat.

"There are still people that I want to help, Professor." She crossed her arms, eyes narrowed, lips pursed, up at Dumbledore.

"I know that, but there are some things that you have to leave to the teacher. If you want to help people even more, outside of class, why don't you consider starting your own transfiguration study group for first years? I'm sure that there would be many who would appreciate your help."

Disgruntled murmurs sounded around the room. Minerva frowned. "I don't think that would come to that. They don't really like me teaching them. They're already calling me a teacher's pet." Dumbledore couldn't help but notice the slight hunching over of her body language, eyes downcast.

"You of all people should know that you're not a teacher's pet, Miss McGonagall. I wouldn't let you be. What I think you're doing is magnificent work, actually. You're helping them marvellously."

"I suppose I am, aren't I?" She straightened back up, smiling brightly. She then turned to him and looked him dead in the eye. "Thank you, Albus."

"That's Professor to you, Miss McGonagall."

She shook her head. "No, you're Albus now." Dumbledore took a step back at how sharp her voice became. How could one eleven year old be so lovely, yet so scary? Well, Dumbledore supposed, to her, he was now Albus.

He shook his head as she returned to her desk, her perfectly transfigured needle gleaming on her desk. One day, she would do great things, he was sure of it.

Bit of a shorter piece here. The image of eleven-year-old McGonagall doing this is simply too powerful.

My answer to the last chapters question: My favourite HP book is the Prisoner of Azkaban. I'm a time travel addict (my top three films are Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Back to the Future and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) so of course it was going to be my favourite.

Question of the Day: If you could have any superpower, what would it be and why?

See you tomorrow,
Mariadoria

:)