June 1944

Without Quidditch, puffskeins or exams to take up their time, the last few weeks of term were blissfully quiet. Exam results were issued in the middle of June, and Minerva was delighted to see that she had passed every exam with flying colours (and some even higher than 100%, which she wasn't quite sure was possible). In what felt like no longer than the blink of an eye they were sat down in the Great Hall enjoying the End of Term Feast, their trunks packed and Gryffindor celebrating their first win of the House Cup in three years.

"Well I'm not sure this year was that much quieter than last year." Minerva laughed as she finished her meal. "Maybe we avoided getting petrified, but we've had puffskeins, Quidditch and dragon pox to keep us occupied instead!"

"Do you really think that any year here could be a quiet year?" Ro asked, looking around the hubbub of the Great Hall as if to prove her point. "Hearing stories from Kurtis, Erika and Tavin, I'd say it's pretty impossible."

Poppy nodded in agreement. "Are you going to see them all over the summer?" she asked Ro.

"Yeah, I'm staying with Mum and Tavin at Mum's house in Little Wakering. Kurtis has got some time off so he and his girlfriend will be there and I know Erika's planning on being there for a while too. Can you go back to London yet?"

Shaking her head, Poppy sighed quietly as she replied "I might have done but London's under attack again. It's worse than bombs this time, apparently they're rockets that fly themselves here before falling and exploding."

Minerva could tell from Ro's expression that she had no idea what a rocket was, so she gave her a quick explanation before turning back to Poppy. "So will you be with your Aunt again like last summer?"

"No." It was Ro's voice that answered, and Minerva and Poppy both gave her a look of surprise. "No, you're not going back there again. I already asked Mum; you're coming home with me."

Poppy's face broke into a hopeful smile. "Are- are you really sure?"

"Yes, you fruitcake. Do you really think I'd let you spend the summer with no one to talk to? And you're welcome to come and stay too Min, just give us an owl and turn up. Bring your brother too, I reckon Emery'd like to meet one of his classmates before they get to Hogwarts. The more the merrier."

Minerva remembered that Ro's cousin Emery was starting Hogwarts in September just like her younger brother Malcolm was. "I'll ask mother and father. Thank you, I'd really appreciate that."

Further arrangements were made between Minerva's parents and Ro's mother at Kings Cross Station, so in the second week of August Minerva and Malcolm were ready with their packed trunks. As the McGonagalls' home wasn't connected to the Floo network, it had been agreed that Mrs McGonagall would take them by Side-Along Apparation.

"Have you two both got everything you'll need for the year?" She asked Minerva and Malcolm in turn. "I've spoken to Mrs Abbott-Hooch, and she's said she'll take you both to Diagon Alley to buy all your school supplies for the year. There should be enough Galleons in your trunk to cover the costs, Minerva."

Minerva nodded. "Will Malcolm need a wand too?"

"No, we brought that for him on his birthday. Now, both of you, take hold of one of my arms each and keep a tight hold of both me and your belongings."

Clinging tightly to her mother's arm while gripping the handle of her trunk and Fergus' cage in her other, Minerva closed her eyes and braced herself. What happened next was a sensation quite unlike anything she had ever experienced before; it was like the air pressure had been increased to the point where she could hardly breathe for the pushing on her chest. They were twisting and turning through the air, and when she finally felt solid ground beneath her feet it took all of her Quidditch-honed control to stop her from collapsing to the floor. Malcolm wasn't so lucky, he took three steps before promptly vomiting into an unfortunately placed bush.

"I take it that was your first time Apparating, young man?" There was a man in his mid-twenties approaching them from the nearest house, and by the hawkish yellow eyes Minerva could tell instantly he had to be a relation of Ro's. He shook Mrs McGonagall's hand and said "Kurtis Hooch, ma'am, and welcome to Little Wakering."

"Isobel McGonagall." Minerva's mother smiled briefly at Kurtis, before pulling a handkerchief out of her pocket and wiping Malcolm's face.

A shout of her name caught Minerva's attention, and she looked over to see two people sprinting towards her at great speeds. She only realised it was Poppy and Ro seconds before they barrelled into her, nearly flattening her to the floor. "Good to know you're pleased to see me," she groaned, her stomach still not quite settled after the Apparation.

"Leave her be Rolanda, she'll have had quite a ride coming all the way from Scotland." A gentle reprimanding voice make Ro roll her eyes and reluctantly release Minerva from her crushing hug. Behind them was a woman in her mid forties, carrying a small jar and a spoon which she handed to Mrs McGonagall. "I saw you all Apparate in from the kitchen window, and thought one of you two may need a spoonful of this."

Ro rolled her eyes. "She's a Quidditch player Mum, she doesn't get motion sick!"

"Well it's better to be safe than sorry, and the same can't be said for poor Malcolm here. It's wonderful to finally meet you at last, Minerva, Rolanda and Poppy have spoken of you so much this holiday."

"Thank you for having me here, Mrs Abbott-Hooch," Minerva said, catching her mother's pointed look.

Mrs Abbott-Hooch shook her head before she could continue. "You must call me Aunt Felicity, both of you," she insisted, "We don't have many formalities in this House. Kurtis, dear, could you take Minerva and Malcolm's belongings up to their bedrooms? The girls are all in Rolanda's attic and Malcolm will be sharing with Emery."

Minerva, Ro and Poppy followed Kurtis into the Hooch's house, walking through the kitchen before going up two sets of twisting stairs. "Mum's room is on the first floor, so is Kurtis' room and Tavin's. On the second floor is Mallory's room where Emery and Malcolm are sleeping, and Erika's room with Heidi and Anja in. Emery's sisters, remember?" Minerva nodded as Ro explained, leading them up to the attic room door. "And this is our room." she announced as she pushed it open, revealing a small but cosy room with the three beds taking up most of the floor space. The walls were plastered with a mix of photographs and Quidditch posters, and the desk was buried under the same sort of clutter that always covered Ro's area of their Hogwarts dormitory. A massive window overlooked the house's large garden and the village of Little Wakering beyond.

Kurtis put Minerva's trunk down in front of the beds. "I'll leave you three to get Minerva settled," he said as he left the room, closing the door behind him.

"How's your summer been, Min?" Ro asked, sitting down on the end of one of the beds. "Oh, this one is yours by the way."

Minerva opened her trunk as she considered. "It was nice to see mother and father again, but to be honest it was terribly dull. I've been looking forward to coming here since we left Kings Cross. How are things here?"

"Pretty good I'd say," Ro nodded, "Godric's been reintroduced to his old friends from Gryffindor Tower - Erika gave Mum all the non-fanged puffs and just sent the fanged ones to the Marizoologists. They're living in a pen in the garden, remind me and we'll go see them later. Oh and a word of advice, don't play Exploding Snap with Pops. Kurtis taught her how to play, and she's scarily good at it?"

As Minerva laughed, Poppy pretended to look upset. "You're no fun Ro, I was looking forward to beating her."

"Min's probably never played Exploding Snap before, it wouldn't exactly be very fair!" Ro exclaimed exasperatedly. "I'll let you thrash Septima and Millicent on the Hogwarts Express though, I've seen them play and they're good but nowhere near you."

"I just can't wait to get back to Hogwarts." Poppy sighed. "Not that I don't love it here though, but being not being able to use magic is getting near the point of torturous!"

Ro laughed at her dramatic tone. "How did you cope before you got your Hogwarts letter, you didn't even know magic existed then!"

"Well I kind of did." Poppy shrugged, sitting down on the floor beside Minerva. "I did a lot of accidental magic, though by the time I was nearly eleven I could do it intentionally. If someone scraped their knee I could make it stop bleeding if I concentrated hard enough, and there was one time when I knocked something off a shelf but it fell so slowly I could just pick it out of the air."

"A healer from the start!" Ro laughed, though Minerva could tell she was heavily impressed.

Poppy giggled, blushing slightly from the praise. "I suppose so, yes. But when I healed my cousin's split lip last summer, I got a letter from the Ministry of Magic with a warning for using Underage Magic!"

"I guess that counts as deliberately using magic outside of school." Minerva said. "I don't see the point of that rule, surely we'd learn magic faster if we were allowed to practice magic outside of school?"

Ro nodded with a frown. "We should talk to Tavin about it, he worked for the Ministry so I bet he'll know why. We don't get to use wands here even though we're in a wizarding village, but the great thing is we can use our broomsticks!"

Minerva's mouth dropped open. "Are you serious?"

"Yep!" Ro grinned, "Mum's brother Uncle Raymond used to be a Professional Quidditch coach, but when he inherited Abbott Hall Farm he retired from Quidditch to run the farm. He's cast anti-Muggle charms all around the edge so we can fly all we like."

"Just like around Hogwarts Castle." Poppy put in.

Ro nodded "Don't suppose you're up for going down there after lunch? Kurtis and his girlfriend always play with us and I bet it won't be too hard to persuade Heidi and Anja to join in. Emery won't play, he hates flying, so he can stay with Malcolm on the ground."

"I can't believe you even need to ask that question!" Minerva gasped, frantically digging through her trunk until she pulled out her Comet 180. "I have been so desparate to get back into the sky all summer, and I've used up all my wood polish simply because I needed to do something with this!"

"Well hurry up and unpack then, the sooner you're done the sooner we go!" Ro laughed, and the speed at which Minerva started unpacking her trunk had Poppy groaning in mock despair.

In the remaining weeks of their summer holiday, Minerva spent enough time in the air to make up for the weeks she's spent confined to the ground. Soaring high above Abbott Hall Farm was almost as exhilarating as it was flying over the Hogwarts grounds; seeing Little Wakering a hundred feet below and the nearby city of Southend in the distance was an experience that couldn't be rivalled by much. They also recieved a great deal of Quidditch tips from Ro's Uncle Raymond, who Kurtis had persuaded to overlook his Hufflepuff roots to give the Gryffindors some helpful advice.

Uncle Raymond had refereed a makeshift Quidditch match between the Hoochs, Minerva and Poppy nearly every day since Minerva's arrival. Poppy hadn't been on a broom since the end of their first year Flying lessons, but with a great deal of patience and encouragement they were able to get her airborne again. Kurtis and his girlfriend Carrie were both incredibly skilled players, as Kurtis had played Gryffindor Chaser for six of his Hogwarts years and Carrie had been the Ravenclaw Quidditch Captain for two of hers. Heidi and Anja played with them occasionally, and although they were both young Minerva couldn't help but note the obvious Quidditch potential they both had. Their games became even more fun whenever Erika and Johnnie visited, as they too were experienced Quidditch players who had flown for the Gryffindor Team.

The excitement of going back to Hogwarts began when their booklists arrived by owl a week before they were due to go back to school. With the extra subjects they were taking there were a lot more books to get than there had been in previous years, especially Minerva with her five additional subjects. As Aunt Felicity has wanted to get their shopping done and out of the way, early the next morning found Minerva, Ro, Poppy, Emery and Malcolm Flooing into the Leaky Cauldrom behind Aunt Felicity before making their way through the pub and into Diagon Alley. Aunt Felicity took Malcolm and Emery to Madame Malkins to get their robes fitted, so Minerva, Ro and Poppy were left along in Flourish and Botts. They were in the Care of Magical Creatures section of the bookshop with a familiar shout made them all turn around; a surprised smile appeared on Minerva's face when they saw Septima tearing down the aisle towards them.

"I can't believe you're all here!" Septima grinned as she skidded to a halt. "We knew we'd probably see some people from Hogwarts - Wilhelmina and her sisters were paying for their books just as we arrived - but I thought it would be too much to ask to see all three of you!"

"How has your summer been?" Poppy asked as she pulled three copies of 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them' from the shelf.

Septima sighed, her joyful attitude vanishing instantly. "Not good at all. Mother and Father had a lot of rows, more than usual, and Irma was completely caught in the middle of it all."

Ro's eyes widened. "Is she alright?"

"I'm not sure, she seemed teary at the time but hasn't wanted to talk about -" at the sound of approaching footsteps, Septima looked around and hissed "She's coming!"

Sure enough, Irma appeared around the corner with her arms laden with books. "Hello," she said stiffly, her dark brown eyes cold.

"Hi Irma," Poppy said with a soft smile, "Are you alright?"

Irma nodded curtly, refusing to meet their gazes. Minerva got the impression that she was fighting between needing to tell them the truth and wanting to keep her feelings to herself as usual.

"Anybody else need a Magical Creatures book?" Ro asked to break the tense atmosphere, taking two from Poppy and practically throwing one at Minerva. "Irma, you need one don't you? Septima?"

"Yes, thank you." Irma smiled this time as she took the book from Ro, but her face still looked emotionless.

Septima shook her head. "No, I just need to find the Divination section before I'm onto core subjects."

"So do I." Poppy said, looking down at her pile. "We've already picked up the Runes Dictionary and the Muggle Studies book, we just needed to find Arithmancy and Divination."

"It's just down there," Septima pointed to behind Minerva, "Turn right at the window and go straight on, you can't miss it."

"Hey Min, we'll grab Unfogging the Future for you while you go find the Arithmancy section." Ro suggested. "Mum's given me money for ice-cream when we're finished so if we club together we'll get done sooner."

Minerva nodded her thanks before turning down the aisle in the direction Septima had pointed her in. When she reached the Arithmancy bookshelf with its bottom shelf overflowing with piles of number charts, she put her existing book pile down on the floor and was surprised to see Irma still standing beside her. "I thought you weren't going to take Arithmancy?" Minerva asked.

"I wasn't." Irma spat bitterly, putting her books beside Minerva's. "My father had other ideas. He said he wouldn't accept any child of his not taking the subject he is so famed for." She broke off with a short laugh before continuing, her voice wobbling dangerously. "It's ironic really, the first time he cares about me is to tell me I have to do what he says or else."

Sympathy flood though Minerva as Irma broke down into tears, something that the stoic girl had only come close to doing once in the time Minerva had known her. As Irma buried her face in her hands, Minerva wrapped her arms around Irma's shoulders in an attempt to calm the sobs shaking her frame.

"Mother was really angry I'd chosen to do Muggle Studies too," she managed to say between sniffs, "said I was a disgrace to her family, I know other people think it already but I'd never heard her say it before."

"It's alright," Minerva said soothingly, rubbing Irma's back comfortingly. "You're here with us now, and we'd never think of you like that. You're our friend Irma and you always will be, no matter what anyone else thinks of you."

Irma sniffed into Minerva's shoulder, before drawing back to rub her eyes with her sleeve. "I know," she said, offering her a watery smile, "I know. Thanks, Minerva."

Minerva smiled, pulling Irma back into a hug. "It's what friends are for."

Author's Note:
A nice relaxing chapter in contrast to the crazy stuff that's filled second year. Minerva's mother makes an appearance- I pictured her as a subdued woman though reasonably strict and fiercely protective over her children. We've also got a lot of Ro's family members making their debuts. Felicity Abbott-Hooch is in my mind a gentler version of Molly Weasley, always willing to welcome anyone into her home. Kurtis is based on my older brother, someone really cool who you can't help look up to. His girlfriend Carrie MacDougal will get properly introduced later- her surname is taken from a canon character in Ravenclaw hence her own House. Malcolm and Emery will become more central from next chapter onwards as they'll be in Hogwarts with the girls, and the same applies to Wilhelmina's sisters (both canon characters who you'll recognise instantly).

Little Wakering is a real place, a tiny village not far from the city of Southend which is situated where the River Thames meets the sea. I've known for ages that the Hoochs would live in Southend (not sure why), but while looking around on Google Images for nearby village I came across Abbott Hall Farm which is also a real place. I had already decided that Ro's mother's family would be the Abbotts, and when I found Abbott Hall Farm it was the freakiest coincidence ever. So as a result, Felicity's brother Raymond Abbott is the owner of Abbott Hall Farm.

Irma has definitely risen through the ranks to become one of my favourite characters in this story. She's most certainly not your stereotypical Slytherin, something I really wanted to portray. I'm sorry for making her so tragic, but it makes for nice character development moments so I can excuse myself.

Next week, third year starts with a bang! And I mean that very literally ;)