Where Minerva McGonagall gives additional lessons.

McGONAGALL V

Minerva McGonagall was eating her breakfast at the staff table, watching the few students who went out of bed early. Most were still asleep at this hour. She noticed a few who went to eat at another house's table, where they could have friends. Minerva liked to see that kind of behavior. The four houses of Hogwarts were in constant rivalry, but they also coexisted. She appreciated to see students interact and create bonds over house loyalty. To her, this was a good exercise to appreciate the students of the other schools while still remaining competitors as part of the Triwizard Tournament.

Right now, she saw Cho Chang heading for the table of the Hufflepuffs, where Cedric Diggory was sitting. That brought a smile to her lips. She remembered what happened last year, when the Quidditch teams of Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Gryffindor started to train together, and resumed the practice in autumn. She never witnessed that kind of event, students from three houses, usually opponents on the Quidditch pitch, coming together to help each other. This kind of camaraderie was exactly what she loved to see.

"Let's hope the students show the same openness with those of Durmstrang and Beauxbatons as they show between houses," Pomona said next to her, indicating two Ravenclaws sitting with a group of Gryffindors.

"They seem to be getting along good enough," Minerva said. "We have had our obstacles earlier this year, but it seems that things are getting better."

"Magic be blessed," Pomona agreed, and she and Minerva shared an accomplice smile.

This conversation contrasted with the one they had about two months ago, when the champions of the Tournament were chosen and Harry's name was among them. Minerva and Pomona's friendship was temporarily strained for a short time following this day. The two had known each other since the time they were students at Hogwarts, and their friendship endured into adulthood. However, all friendships had their ups and downs, and after Halloween, they met a down period. Minerva wished Pomona had been more understanding, but at the same time she could understand her initial coldness when Harry's name came out of the Goblet of Fire. Pomona was in Hufflepuff as a student, and she was now Head of the House. She understood that she could be displeased. Minerva herself was displeased about the whole situation, but she didn't hold Harry responsible when he clearly wasn't.

Pomona had not been unfair to Harry. Not much, at least. Minerva only saw that she was more rude with him. It was a far cry from Snape's prejudiced behavior. After about a week of tension, Minerva and Pomona sat down to discuss things through, and Pomona came to admit that Harry could not have put his name into the Goblet of Fire, given it was Dumbledore who draw the Age Line. She even tried to protect him when necessary afterwards. But more important than anything, the two colleagues acknowledged that the most important thing to do now was to quiet down the tensions that emerged not only between the houses of Gryffindor and Hufflepuff, but also between all houses and the two other schools as well. The incidents and skirmishes were too many, and they were afraid that a student might seriously get injured. The classes shared between students of both Hufflepuff and Gryffindor were especially prone to that kind of events. They both did everything they could to ease the situation, although they couldn't prevent all clashes.

In the end, it wasn't them who solved the situation. The students did it themselves. To realize the futility of these tensions, they needed to see their comrades almost burned down and threatened to be killed by massive creatures breathing fire. This wasn't a method McGonagall approved, but she couldn't argue with the results. The day after, when the students of Hufflepuff lined up to throw their insulting badges into the fires of the Great Hall, Pomona said she had not been so proud of her house in a very long time. McGonagall wished the students did not use the opportunity to insult Draco Malfoy instead of Harry, but she guessed that they couldn't hope for things to be perfect, and they had to enjoy whatever small victory they could get.

"Everyone's spirits is quite high," Pomona said. "With the ball coming and everything. Too bad we have to work extra time for the students to enjoy it."

Indeed. The holidays were usually a time of year that teachers could use to rest. They still worked for a part of the holidays, but the nature of their work during that period was more relaxed, as they had more time to revise homework and exams, and also time to review their class plans. This year, however, most of the time would be dedicated to preparing the festivities around Christmas and the Yule Ball.

"If we do not give our time for those children, who will?" Minerva asked, resigned to her fate.

"Although some of them are beginning to be a little old to be called children," Pomona countered with a smile.

Yes, indeed. Minerva had students who were no taller than three apples when they came to Hogwarts and she placed the Sorting Hat on their heads, and now they were taller than her and about to enter the world. How would she feel at the Yule Ball with all those grown and growing children around her?

"I hope your plants for the decorations of the Yule Ball are almost ready," Minerva said, not wishing for Pomona to have additional work to do.

"Oh, they're well underway. They will be ready in time," her friend assured her. "I just have to ensure…"

She went into a deep comment on her plants, followed by McGonagall's explanations of the various spells that would be required to ensure the good proceedings of the ball.

"Sometimes I wish I was to take care of your house, Pomona," she said. "The Gryffindors have a certain tendency to be turbulent and troublemaking."

"Mine are not that different, Minerva. They might look quieter, but they can cause as much trouble, if not more."

The Great Hall was filling quietly. She noticed Cho Chang and Cedric Diggory leaving together. Not long after, Harry, Ron and Hermione arrived in the Great Hall, still together as always. She thought about the moment when she announced to Harry that he would have to open the ball. Although she was very serious about this, Minerva didn't miss the expression of shock and terror on his face. She shook her head as she remembered how panicked he looked at the prospect of dancing. The boy was brave enough to face one of the most dangerous dragons in the world, and Minerva was proud of him for that, but he panicked at the idea of dancing. She wondered what Lily would think about this. Minerva had promised her to keep an eye on her son while she was away.

"How did Mr Diggory react when you told him he was going to open the ball?" She wondered why she didn't ask this to her friend before.

"He was… confused. I think this is the best word to describe it. He didn't expect it, that's all." Pomona looked at her more closely. "Must I understand that things went more poorly with Mr Potter?"

"If by poorly you mean a student who literally refuses to dance, then yes, your choice of words is appropriate."

"I don't believe he's got any choice."

"No, he doesn't," McGonagall stated.

She made it very clear with him when she told him, and he understood the message very well. Minerva emptied her glass of pumpkin juice. The Great Hall was not even half full despite the late hour now.

"I'm afraid I must leave you, Pomona. We both have work to do."

The Head of Hufflepuff nodded. The two women went their separate ways, Minerva keeping an eye on what was going on in the Great Hall as she progressed towards the heavy doors at the exit. She went through the Entrance Hall, and climbed the stairs leading to her office, where she hoped to complete some work related to her classes before moving to her responsibilities as to the organization of the Yule Ball. However, before she reached the second floor, a voice she knew only too well called her behind.

"Professor McGonagall."

She turned to face Harry who was heading in her direction. "Potter."

"Sorry, professor. It's about the Yule Ball."

She raised her fingers to stop him. "Potter, I warn you. You must open the ball. There is no way around it. This is your responsibility as a champion. No excuse. Even if you somehow still don't have a partner after all this time and even if you're on your deathbed, you must open it."

"The problem is… I don't know how to dance. And my partner doesn't know how either."

Well, at least Harry found himself a partner. That was something. However, it seemed like they had another problem facing them. And Minerva had no time for the embarrassed look of the boy, however fond she might be of him.

"Potter, you disappoint me. Very well. If the short dancing lesson I gave you and your comrades was not enough, I'll make sure you're presentable for this ball. I want to see you at my office at six o'clock this evening. And come at the exact hour, not a minute late. Punctuality will be required for the ball as well. And bring you partner with you. I'll make sure you both know how to dance for Christmas, even if I have to teach you the entire night. And no excuse. You both come."

"Eh… Okay."

"Good. Now, please forgive me. I must take my leave."

And she took it, leaving the student behind her, speechless.

Minerva had about an hour to revise her students' homework. She then spent the rest of the day working on the preparations for the ball, which proved to be quite extenuating. But she kept working, like all the other teachers and members of the staff. Peeves proved troublesome, like always. Students probably did not realize it, but their ball would take place thanks to the relentless and invisible efforts of their teachers.

Late in the afternoon, after a day spent preparing Christmas, Dumbledore summoned McGonagall to her office. When she arrived, the door was closed, and she heard voices on the other side. She knew better than to open it. The tradition was to let the Headmaster finish his conversation with whoever he was with before walking in, unless he invited you, which he didn't do yet. However, the tradition could not prevent Minerva from hearing the discussion between her headmaster, Igor Karkaroff and Madame Maxime.

"Are you sure we cannot arrange something, Albus?" Madame Maxime was saying with her strong accent. "We are only talking about having a representative of our respective governments present for the event."

"My dear Madame Maxime, I understand why you want that, but we are talking about inviting two Ministers of Magic or their representatives. This means they will come with their security service and potentially an assistant. This ball is for the students. The more people with official positions are present, the less they will enjoy their Christmas. And the fewer places we will have for them. Our own minister of Great Britain and Ireland is not coming."

"But you have two prominent members of your government to attend the ball," Karkaroff countered, with a voice that was not as accommodating as Madame Maxime's.

"Because they are judges. They are not here to represent the Ministry of Magic. Look, I get it. You would like more people to represent your respective countries, and this is totally understandable. But I don't want to turn this ball into a formal event for politicians to make speeches. This is supposed to be a moment to enjoy, and to favor the stronger links between our schools. Having the three of us present is more than enough. And I believe we all agree that we don't need politicians to hold the hands of our respective schools."

Minerva knew at this moment that Dumbledore had won. As much rivalry there could be between Hogwarts, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, the three schools shared a great value over their autonomy and independence from governments. Insisting on having politicians from all countries attend the ball would make no sense for schools who took pride in their privileged statute.

"Alright. I agree. We must put the students before everything else," Karkaroff said. "However, there is another matter I wished to discuss, Albus, and I believe Olympe will agree it must be discussed. It concerns the fourth champion. Maybe it would be better to keep him away from this event. I mean, he barely has the age to attend the ball already, and he shouldn't even be a champion to begin with, even though we accepted, for now, that he would compete in the Tournament, until a solution was not found."

"While speaking of this," Madame Maxime said, "have our ministries progressed in their investigation?"

"I'm afraid not," Albus answered. "The investigation co-led by the Ministries of Magic of Europe and the International Confederation of Wizards has not succeeded to discover why the Goblet of Fire produced Harry Potter's name, nor who put it in in the first place. And we still have no way to break the binding contract between our four champions."

"Well, that's regrettable," Karkaroff said. "Still, I feel we shouldn't place Harry Potter too much in evidence. Perhaps taking him out of the ball would be a good idea, only to remind students that this is actually a Triwizard Tournament, not Foolwizard Tournament."

Minerva wanted to walk in and take the defense of her student. This was unfair. Maybe Harry shouldn't be part of this Tournament. But Harry was a champion nonetheless. Excluding him from the Christmas festivities was totally out of place.

"Igor. After the champions were selected, peace in this school only held by a thread," Dumbledore explained calmly. "There were altercations and fights everywhere, not only between our schools, but also between the four houses of Hogwarts and within houses as well."

"Yes, it is regrettable that we got to see your students under such an unfavorable day."

Dumbledore ignored the comment of Karkaroff though, and he continued to speak. "And the reason for that was that everyone believed Harry didn't have his place in the Tournament. This is what caused all these accidents. But since the first task, most students have come to accept Harry as a champion, and the atmosphere of the Tournament improved significantly. If we are to try and set aside Harry once more, we will recreate the same conditions for this poor climate we endured during the month of November."

"Dumbledore is right," Madame Maxime said, to some surprise from McGonagall. "We cannot relive what happened after the champions were chosen. This was a nightmare. We brought our students to the same place so they could discover new horizons and broaden their perspectives, establish friendships and relations that would go over the frontiers. I am not happier today with the fact that Hogwarts has two champions than I was two months ago, but I'm afraid we must accept this situation for the time being. Let our governments try to find a way out of this. In the meantime, let's try to preserve the spirit of the Tournament. And I don't see putting Harry Potter aside achieving anything towards this goal."

Karkaroff was obviously in minority. Minerva could imagine him trying to find a better way to present things. However, it was obvious he chose it was better to retreat for now.

"As you wish. We will let the boy participate to the ball. After all, having Harry Potter to the table might prove entertaining. Who knows?"

Minerva heard footsteps. The door opened, and Karkaroff came out of it. He paused in front of Minerva, realizing her presence. His sour expression turned into a smile and he bowed towards her. She returned his salute coldly, since he just tried to remove one of her students from the Yule Ball. In the meantime, Albus and Madame Maxime were still talking with the door open.

"Thank you, Olympe."

"Well, Dumbledore, I'm still not happy with this situation, but I recognize that you didn't want this. And after facing a Hungarian Horntail, I think this boy deserved as much a good time as Mademoiselle Delacour did. And I wouldn't want to deprive a small boy from the chance to participate to his first ball. It is an experience that he cannot miss."

Minerva thought she heard the two headmasters laugh a little together.

"By the way, Albus, will do me the honor of the first dance at the ball?"

"It will be my pleasure, my dear Madame Maxime."

"You are too kind."

The woman left Dumbledore's office, politely saluting Minerva on her way out. Then Minerva came in.

"Sorry to have made you wait, Minerva," he said apologetically. "You may close the door behind you."

"I'm sorry that this Tournament causes you so many problems, Albus," she sincerely said.

"Oh. How boring life would be without those inconveniences." Minerva wouldn't call them inconveniences, but she knew Albus had his own way of presenting things. "But I will not keep you for very long. I only need to broach a subject of the highest importance for the hardest working people Hogwarts has. The menu for the champions."

Minerva didn't understand for a time, but the understanding came to her very quickly. These hardworking people could only be the elves in the kitchens, and only they could give so much importance to a menu.

"The house-elves want to serve our champions with the best food they can prepare. But they also want to serve the best food to the table the champions will share with their partners and the judges. They know the tastes of all judges and the champions, but they need to know the identity of their partners. Would you happen to know whether Harry managed to invite some girl to the ball?"

Minerva was surprised that Dumbledore asked her to come only for this. "Well, he has one. I'm afraid though he didn't tell me who it was, and I didn't try to know who she was."

Minerva had a strict policy of remaining outside the private life of her students, unless this put their lives or their studies seriously in danger. Which was definitely not the case for Harry.

"I know you don't want to pry into his life, Minerva, but the elves are very insistent. They don't want to offend us, but they keep begging to know the names of everyone at the main table to better serve them."

"Well, I must see Potter at six." She looked at her watch. It would be in thirty minutes. She would probably dine later, alone, in her office. "His partner must come with him. They need dancing lessons."

She didn't hide her reprobation at this lack of social skills, but Albus seemed to find the situation funny. "It seems that our dear Lily didn't think it was useful to teach Harry the art of dancing. Though she herself never really learned to dance."

No, indeed. Minerva had to acknowledge it. Lily never knew how to dance properly. She couldn't really blame her for failing to teach her son. After all, there were far more important things to teach him as he grew up. Well, Minerva would have to make up for this lacking instruction.

"I'll transmit the information to the elves once I see Potter and his partner," she said.

"I wonder who he will come with," Albus asked aloud, but McGonagall would not venture on this inappropriate terrain. "I'm surprised this rumor has not come to our ears already. We heard of Miss Chang and Mr Diggory very early. I didn't even need Professor Sprout to tell me." Minerva rolled her eyes. Students really didn't put their priorities in the right place. "By the way, I think you will find interesting to know that I will be dining at the same table as Miss Granger that evening."

On that, Minerva's attention was attracted. "How come?"

"Miss Granger is accompanying Mr Krum to the ball." Minerva was very surprised by this news. Very surprised. Though, at the same time, she could say that the young Quidditch Seeker got higher in her esteem with this. "As for Miss Delacour, she will come with Mr Davies. We only need to know who the young Harry is coming with, and the elves will stop panicking."

"I'll tell them," Minerva assured once more. She stood up, as she needed to leave now. "I must admit I envy you, Albus. With so many Quidditch players around the table, your conversations will certainly be very interesting."

Dumbledore laughed cheerfully as she walked away, hiding her smile from him.

A little while later, Minerva was waiting in her office, correcting a few more copies of her sixth year students while waiting for Harry and his partner. She was searching a pile of parchment, her back turned to the door, when it knocked. They were six past three.

"Come in," she said, still searching.

"Hi, professor," Harry's voice said behind her.

"I said six o'clock precisely, Potter," she said as she put back into place the parchments she searched in.

"Sorry, professor," a girl's voice said. "It's my fault. I took a little more time than planned for dinner."

"Anyway, let's start our lesson," Minerva said, turning to face them. "You both need to know how to dance before Christmas."

And now, seeing who Harry's partner was, she had an answer to give to the house-elves, once she taught these two how to dance, however long it would take.

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Next chapter: Hermione