Contrary to the common student belief, the teachers of Hogwarts school did not sleep under their desks, nor did they magically (despite living in the Wizarding World) disappear after each year and reappear into being at the end of the summer holidays.
Minerva McGonagall, like any teacher in her opinion should, never allowed her decades worth of students to view more than a limited amount of her private side, the aspects of her character that existed beyond both her career as a teacher and member of the Order of the Phoenix.
Both were parts of her life, despite being the two most dominant, that she wished at the moment she could ignore for an indefinite period of time.
The one beacon of hope for the good side during her entire career was gone. Albus Dumbledore's life had been taken by the one he trusted arguably more than McGonagall herself.
She had never understood Dumbledore's sudden confidence in young Severus Snape, but Dumbledore was Dumbledore, and what he thought would work for the greater good usually worked in the best interest of all. So McGonagall had come to trust Snape like she did the other teachers who had committed to educating the future generations of magical society, and he had given little reason to doubt his loyalty to Dumbledore, despite his reputation and mostly negative interactions with the students.
Yet Minerva's worldview, as well as her personal shield from the horrific reality that Hogwarts had once been a shield from, was shattered. Even the great Dumbledore had been proven wrong, and it had not only cost him his own life, but it had sent a message that not even Hogwarts was safe anymore.
Death Eaters had stormed the protected grounds at the behest of one of the school's students, and the man who had been serving the Dark Side the entire time had shown his true colors.
Everything Potter had said about Snape had been correct, and worse, Minerva McGonagall reflected as she knitted a new bonnet for her tabby cat, it was the price she and Dumbledore both paid for not listening to someone so young. True, Potter was not exactly impartial, but she should have seen the suspicious signs in her longtime colleague sooner, Minerva now recognized.
McGonagall was well aware of the authoritative presence she radiated among her students, both in Gryffindor house and the other three, and it suited her just fine. She had no need to befriend the pupils of Hogwarts, just to educate them as much as was in her power and prepare them appropriately for the harsh world that awaited, now more so than ever.
Yet even she was capable of fear and vulnerability, that only could be sustained by the assurance and powerful presence of Dumbledore, one who inspired many like herself. Her whole life Minerva had looked up to the wise and eccentric wizard, going to him for guidance and relying on him like most of the Wizarding community to maintain security and peace throughout the civilized world.
She imagined it was much worse for the students who had endured the Death Eater Attack, but McGonagall had a difficult time escaping the images that haunted both her waking hours and her dreams.
The wall of the Astronomy Tower crumbling, the students fleeing from the attacking Death Eaters including the werewolf Greyback, Hagrid's hut on fire, the body in silk robes sprawled in the courtyard, broken and exhausted from the horrors and trauma it had lived through...
Her train of thought was interrupted by a loud, rather rude knocking on the door of McGonagall's simple wooden cottage on a hilltop, within a small, coniferous forest.
Minerva paused to assemble the facade of invulnerable authority that she projected while working at Hogwarts, and anytime in public for that matter, and put down her knitting. While her cat shyly slinked towards the back door, McGonagall strode to answer whoever had come knocking.
A unpleasant knot in her stomach was formed as she swung the creaking door open to reveal a certain Pius Thicknesse, who she recognized as an official of the Ministry.
"May I help you, Mr. Thicknesse?"
"Ah, you are Professor Minerva McGonagall of Hogwarts, I believe," the goateed man said with disgusting politeness.
"That would be me."
"I don't know if you've read the news in the Prophet yet, but I have just been appointed Minister of Magic in lieu of the recently departed Scrimgeour."
"Yes, I was well aware of your appointment," McGonagall replied, her cold stare and overall demeanor masking her deeply hidden fury bordering on psychotic rage, "It does seem suspicious however, how abruptly Scrimgeour resigned and disappeared, doesn't it?"
Thicknesse looked uncomfortable, gazing off into the trees surrounding them before turning back to reply. "Well, this is a trying time for many of us, Minerva..."
"Professor McGonagall, if you don't mind."
"Forgive me, Professor. As I said, perhaps Mr. Scrimgeour could simply not handle the pressures of the office at this time, and chose to take a...vacation to relieve himself of the burden."
"I don't believe Mr. Scrimgeour is the only one whose job has become difficult," McGonagall replied frostily, barely keeping from turning her wand on this imposter, "Many of us have suffered great losses in the past couple years."
"Ahhh... yes, Professor, that's really what I'm here about. You'll be pleased to know that the Ministry has selected an appropriate replacement for the sadly departed Dumbledore, one who knows the students and school well and who is fully dedicated to serving the youth as well as the larger community."
"I would be most curious to know who you selected, Minister," Minerva glared at him as she crossed her arms sternly, as if he was a student whom she had caught sneaking out in the corridors late at night.
"Fortunately, I have brought him here to meet you," Thicknesse replies, gesturing to someone just out of McGonagall's eyesight, "Headmaster, if you will."
McGonagall's rage multiplied tenfold as she took in the appearance of Severus Snape, his facial features and black robes exactly the same, yet his person entirely different now that Minerva knew exactly where his loyalty lay and how little had had held for the side he'd sworn to have embraced.
"Professor McGonagall, I trust that the summer holidays are keeping you well," Snape said in his usual cold, bitter tone that now made Minerva's ears ring as if they would explode. How she wanted to hex that awful traitor, curse him into dust and ashes right here on her front porch.
"I'm sure you won't mind inviting us in for a chat," Thicknesse chimed in, possibly sensing the tension between the two teachers. He stepped up and before McGonagall could reach for her wand, walked into her sitting room.
Snape did not make eye contact as he followed suit.
"I'm sure you must also be aware of the resignation of your Muggle Studies Professor, Charity Burbage," Thicknesse stated as he sat down on the couch. Snape on the other hand, remained standing, staring with a stony face at the ancient wooden floor.
"I did hear of it," Minerva replied fiercely, "strange that her resignation coincided so closely with that of Scrimgeour, but I'm sure she left for her own health as well."
She looked very doggedly at Snape, who now turned his head to conceal his face entirely from Minerva. What was going through that man's disloyal head, Minerva did not know and was now beyond caring. He'd made his choice young, and she was a fool like Albus for thinking a follower of such extreme evil could be brought back.
It seemed that Thicknesse did not notice the shift if mood as he spoke, "Fortunately, Headmaster Snape had found a replacement on such short notice, if you are familiar with the likes of Miss Alecto Carrow."
McGonagall knew very well who Alecto Carrow was, she had fought the woman during the raid of the Astronomy Tower, as the Potter and his friends took it upon themselves to try and take down the monster who stood in her own home now, unable to look at her.
"I trust she'll do her best to uphold the values of the school and the subject she teaches," McGonagall replied with as much venom as she could, her words not at all matching her body language.
"Along with her brother Amycus, who has been selected to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts. The Headmaster and I trust the new additions to the staff will only serve as an improvement in the lives of those youngsters," Thicknesse said with a false tone of cheer.
"That remains to be seen," McGonagall replied, staring pointedly at the back of Snape's head as he deliberately faced away from her.
"I'm sorry, Minerva, but I really must be going now," Thicknesse said, standing and beginning to stride towards the doorway, "I trust you'll be coming along soon, Severus?"
Without waiting for his fellow thug of Voldemort, Thicknesse grabbed the door handle and swung it open obnoxiously, stepping out and drawing his wand to Disapparate.
Snape had begun to exit as well, then turned with a start as he realized that he was alone in Minerva's house with her given the intentional abruptness of Thicknesse's departure.
"Well, Minerva, I must head out now," he said as if things were perfectly normal between them, "I hope you find peace during the holidays and heal properly from the... trauma we all have faced. I shall see you back at school."
At last, McGonagall found it within herself to speak directly to Snape. "Listen to me, Severus Snape. You and I both know what happened on the Astronomy Tower, whatever delusions anyone else carries. Dumbledore paid with his life trusting you, and risked us all so you had a place to stay after the first war! I will do whatever I can to protect the students from your evil Death Eater ways! You may threaten, you may try to send me to Azkaban, but I will fight with my last breath for their safety, and I promise you that the good will triumph in the end and you and your master will FALL AGAIN!"
At last Minerva had an outlet for the hatred that she had carried, even if she could not express it with her wand. It was Potter who she had to put her faith in now, it was the Boy Who Lived who now carried the torch of hope as he continued Dumbledore's mission, while she remained at Hogwarts to do whatever she could for the youngsters who now lived in a world of terror and fear.
Snape gave the elder professor a bow after a long, excruciating pause and said, "We shall see. Until then, good day, Minerva."
And with a flash of his wand, he too had disappeared.
Before she could control herself, Minerva was beside herself, collapsing in intense sobs on the carpet, completely alone and lost, for the first time without the guidance she'd depended on as long as she could remember. Even teachers needed support, she knew, and hers had gone forever.
