The Meeting
The train arrived at Hogwarts Station at precisely 12:42 in the afternoon on the day before the start of term. A slender woman in form fitting robes was the only one on the platform when the steaming red engine came to a halt. The doors opened with a hiss and a girl with long wavy chestnut hair in a burgundy long sleeve shirt and jeans stepped out, looking lost and in awe of the place she found herself in.
Minerva had heard that Hogwarts was beautiful, but this was more than that, it was, for lack of a better term, magical. There was an actual castle, like one from a fairy tale, places atop a giant hill in the distance. Her father had shown her pictures before, but looking at it now, they never did it any justice. The rolling green hills and forest made everything the more beautiful. This, this was Hogwarts. This is where her new life would begin.
"Miss Caudwell? Over here please." Minerva heard a woman's voice call. Turning, she spotted the only other person on the platform.
Standing awkwardly, as if she had been caught doing something she shouldn't have been doing, she replied. "Um, yes?"
"Sasha Bloodburn, I'm the headmistress's assistant. If you'll just follow me, I will escort you to the headmistress's office. Oh, just leave your truck and things here, they'll be taken up to your room momentarily." The woman turned around and started walking off of the platform. Minerva stood there wordlessly, looking from her trunk and bags, everything that she now owned, and back to the woman. Could she trust her? "Come along, dear, we don't have all day!" The woman yelled from some distance.
Minerva grabbed one backpack off of the heap of things and ran to catch up with the woman. Once she had caught up, they walked up a stony pathway until they reached a carriage which was to be drawn by a nasty, skeletal creature. It had translucent black skin, and resembled a horse, if horses had wings. A gasp escaped Minerva's lips when she saw it.
A chuckle came from the assistant woman. "It's alright, it's a Thestral. It won't hurt you. Come." She walked over to a carriage but kept what seemed an odd amount of distance between here and the creature. Cautiously, Minerva got into the carriage as well, but not without getting a closer look at the Threstal. Once seated the Thestral began to pull the carriage up the long gravel road. The girl had never seen a creature like this before. It didn't seem dangerous. She had seen wilder horses when her parents had once tried to get her into horseback riding as a young girl. It was just different.
"…the school has undergone some major rebuilding in the last decade, but when renovating everything was build to look as it did before the castle was destroyed. Now, I understand that you come from a muggle based school? Miss Caudwell, are you listening?"
Pulled from her thoughts, Minerva looked at the woman next to her in confusion. "I'm sorry, I must have spaced out. Um, what were you saying?"
The woman let out an exasperated sigh. "Please be more attentive to the conversation, dear. I was asking about your previous school. From my understanding, it is a muggle based school, correct?"
"I-I don't understand. Muggle?" She shifted in her seat to look at the woman beside her.
"Yes, muggle as in non-magic people?"
"Oh, humans, but um, what do you mean by 'muggle based?"
"A muggle based school is one that operates in a muggle filled area."
"Well, in that case, I suppose Salem is a human based school. I guess so, anyways. I mean, well, it's, I don't know." The girl looked at her hands in embarrassment. She couldn't even form a proper sentence. Memory of what happened earlier on the train popped into her head and made her feel even more ashamed of herself for losing control like that.
The assistant woman chuckled to herself. "Well, it seems to me that the curriculum is quite different than here at Hogwarts. Here," She said, handing Minerva a parchment envelope with a wax seal. Minerva took it and opened it, breaking the wax seal that had the Hogwarts crest imprinted into it. She pulled out a folded sheet of parchment and looked upon it. As she skimmed the long list she realized just how unprepared she was for this change. "This is a list of everything that you will need before the start of classes."
Dear Miss Minerva B. Caudwell,
Before your start of classes at Hogwarts: School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, you will need the following items for the school year.
1 set Dress Robes 1 Wand 1 Broom (if wanted) 1 Standard Book of Spells (Grade 5) by Miranda Goshawk Defensive Magical Theory by Wilburt Slinkhard The Monster Book of Monsters by Edwardus Lima Numerology by M. Wakefield Grammatica by M. Carniero Intermediate Transfiguration by Emeric Switch Robes: Three sets of plain work robes (black) One plain pointed hat for day wear One pair protective gloves One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings) 1 set of glass or crystal phials 1 telescope 1 set of brass scales & 1 cauldron Student may also bring an owl, cat, or toad as a pet. Looking forward to having you at school, Sasha C. Bloodburn Hogwarts Administrative OfficeMinerva looked up in shock. "But isn't the first day of school tomorrow?" She said in a panicked voice.
Ms. Bloodburn remained calm and unphased. "Yes it is. This is why after your meeting with the headmistress, we have arranged for someone to take you to where you may purchase these goods. We're trying to make sure that you will be able to graduate with the class you are being placed in. According to your transcripts, you were a sixth year at your old school, but seeing that you have not taken some required classes that are needed to be qualified as a sixth year here at Hogwarts, we are placing you in with the fifth years. It should not be a problem seeing as you are the same age as them."
"Wh-what? But, really? I have to take fifth year all over again?" The girl's face was a range of emotions. Angry, confused, frustrated, sad.
"I'm afraid so dear, but it is for your own educational good. These classes that the school is placing you in are essential to your education as a witch. It's not that often that we receive transfer students in the middle of their schooling, but we too have certain requirements towards the students' education, and we must fulfill them." The woman looked kindly at the young teenager next to her. "Something tells me you'll do just fine." She said smiling. "Oh look, we're here." The woman smiled as she looked up at the castle that came closer into view. Hogwarts really took her breath away. It filled the young woman with wonder and curiosity. Was this really going to be her home now?
"Follow me please." Ms. Bloodburn walked rather quickly for a woman in heels, Minerva thought to herself.
Without question Minerva followed. Her eyes couldn't stay still for more than a few seconds at a time. There were so many different things here than in Salem. Ghosts flew past, helping out witches and wizards as they prepared the school for the start of a new year. She saw men and women everywhere with their wands out without worry, doing magic in every room.
"Excuse me?" The girl asked, looking curiously into what looked like a dining hall of sorts at a few witches and wizards. "What's going on? Why are so many people using magic?" They started up the staircase when she noticed the portraits on the wall moving.
"Just some late minute spells to prepare for the upcoming school year. Mostly they're just protection wards."
"And people at Hogwarts are allowed to just do magic like that? In the open?"
Bloodburn cleared her throat loud enough for it to echo through the main hall from her spot at the base of the stairs. "Sorry! Coming." Minerva rushed to catch up with the assistant as they meandered up the never-ending staircase.
"Hello, miss." An elderly man who looked to be from the Middle Ages greeted Minerva by tipping his cap to her.
"Oh, hello." The girl said, smiling. She had never seen such magic as this. Portraits that moved and spoke! They wouldn't have dared to have these at Salem.
They continued up the stairs for quite a while before veering off down a hall before stopping in front of a giant eagle statue.
"Montrose Magpies." Ms. Bloodburn said very distinctly and began to walk to the statue which had begun to move, revealing a spiral staircase that led upward. "Come now, dear, before it goes back down."
Minerva quickly followed Ms. Bloodburn up the stairs to a room that was filled with more portraits. Chalkboards depicting various transfigurations, and spells filled the walls. A single desk sat on the far wall and behind it stood an elderly woman.
Professor McGonagall was almost breathless when she saw the girl walk in through her office door. She couldn't help but smile at how she reminded her of herself at that age. Her heart was beating out of her chest.
"Thank you Miss Bloodburn, you may go." The woman nodded in acknowledgment and left the two of them. Minerva stood shyly, as if she were trying to hide from the woman she knew to be her aunt's view. She held on tightly to the bookbag that hung from her right shoulder.
"Tea?" Professor McGonagall had some brought up for this meeting.
Minerva nodded and took a chair in front of her namesakes' desk.
"I hope you like peppermint, I thought it'd be refreshing." She said as she poured up two cups. "How was the trip over? I trust you had no trouble finding King's Cross and the platform?"
Minerva took the cup and saucer offered to her. "No, I mean yes," She laughed nervously, "Everything was fine." She lied.
"Good I'm glad to hear." McGonagall knew what you were supposed to say to someone who had just lost a relative. You were supposed to comfort them, reassure them that they'll be fine, that their loved one is in a better place, but this girl – this teenage girl who looked so much like herself when she was her age that it threw her off. Unlike how McGonagall was when she was young, this girl was unsure of herself, she was scared of herself too. This much could be seen when she had set her teacup down on the desk and accidentally spilt some onto a piece of parchment. Though the professor assured the girl over and over again that it wasn't as bad as she had thought, and that it was alright, the girl proceeded to apologize multiple times.
It was after this that McGonagall started to chuckle, she didn't know why she had found it so funny, but something about the incident.
"What?" Minerva asked in confusion. "What? Did I do something wrong?" Panic filled her voice and she was scared. She didn't understand what was going on. Her aunt, who honestly looked like she could be her grandmother, had started laughing out of nowhere.
"You- You," Professor McGonagall could hardly catch her breath as she held her sides, they had hurt from laughing so much. "You look like a scared bunny rabbit, that's all dear." She took a deep breath and forced the laugher away but a smile still remained on her lips. "Oh, my. Ha. I haven't laughed that hard in years."
"I'm sorry." Minerva looked down at her lap, she was so lost and confused right now it wasn't funny, at least not to her.
"Oh don't be. It was nice." McGonagall took another sip from her tea. "You know, the last time we met, you were barely walking, I doubt you remember. Heh, you were so curious and stubborn headed."
"I remember." Minerva said quietly to herself.
"Hmm?"
"I remember that. It was right after mom and dad were married, I don't remember the wedding itself, I just remember learning to walk. Mom got so furious sometimes because I wouldn't stay out of the cabinets and dad would just sit there and laugh. I remember you, you had less gray hair then." She mused, cocking her head to the side as if comparing her memory to the present Minerva McGonagall. Realizing how strange she must have looked she looked down again to her lap and apologized.
"Don't be sorry. It's nice that I'm not the only one who remembers it. You know, it always was surprising that your father married your mother. Not many men would take a liking for a woman who had a child already, let alone a witch."
Minerva nodded. She knew her lineage was odd, especially how it connected her with her aunt. Not long before she was just born, her mother met Robert McGonagall Jr., the two fell madly in love even though there was quite an age difference between the two. Robert raised her as his own and even wanted to adopt Minerva, but her mother insisted that she keep her human father's name. In exchange for her daughter keeping her surname, Minerva's mother named her after Robert's sister. After that, life happened. They were a perfectly happy family, up until a couple days ago.
"I miss him too you know. Your father was brilliant, and so was your mother." McGonagall reached her hand over the desk and placed it on top of hers. Minerva looked at their hands and drew hers back. She appreciated the gesture, she just didn't want to be touched right now.
"Thank you." Once again they fell into silence, though this time the silence was less awkward and more somber.
"Minerva, you know if you ever need to talk to anyone while you're here, you can always come to me. From what I understand, we are we have left."
The girl looked up and nodded, faintly smiling. "How long will I be here?"
Clearing her throat, McGonagall welcomed the change in subject. "Since you will be starting your fifth year here, you will be here three years." A heavy sigh came from Minerva's lips. "Well now, come with me. I do believe we have some school shopping to do." McGonagall stood from her chair and went to grab her summer cloak.
Minerva was instantly confused."But- um, I thought that someone else was going to take me."
McGonagall looked at the girl smugly as she fastened her cloak around her. "My dear, I have not seen you for nearly fifteen years, I'm sure Hogwarts will survive one day without me before the start of term. Now if you will, I would like to be an aunt to my niece who has come a very long way to live with me."