A Cat's Tail: Minerva McGonagall Fan Fiction

Chapter 28

Minerva looked around the Great Hall in wonder, thinking about the fact that this time next year, she'd almost be in fifth year. Professor Dippet cleared his throat.

"Ahem, well, er, welcome to the last half term. Just one quick notice, second years must go to their head of houses to pick up the subject choice list. That's all, and may the feast begin!" Everyone collectively reached for the mountains of food. In all the commotion, Hagrid knocked a glass of orange juice over, and it spilt on Minerva.

"I'm so sorry! Yer robes! Sorry!" He scrambled for a tissue and started dabbing the front of her shirt.

"Hagrid, Hagrid, it's ok, look," She muttered a quick cleaning spell and the juice disappeared.

"Sorry," Hagrid grinned sheepishly. On the way back to the dorms, Tom Riddle walked past, tripping Minerva up.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't see you there," He said as he walked off. 

"'E's so 'ot!" Affrodille exclaimed.

"Psh, he's annoying though," Affrodille sighed.

"Just because 'e bumped into you once-"

"I've seen him with his friends," Affrodille grumbled.

"'Ow come you get all ze guys?" She threw her hands up in mock annoyance. They had a quick and polite conversation with the Fat Lady, before giving her the password and happily clambering into their beds. 

"What subjects are you going to take?" Minerva asked, wondering for herself.

"As well as the ones we 'ave to do, I kinda want to try Divination, maybe," Minerva almost laughed.

"Divination is a just bunch of phoneys making generalised statements to trick you into believing them!" 

"I just said I wanted to try it!" She laughed. 

"Now! Using the severing charm that we learnt previously...DEFEAT THE BOWTRUCKLES!" Minerva groaned at Professor Beery's theatrics. She took out her wand and one of the cutest animals (or plants?) she'd ever seen. 

"Sir, we don't have to kill them, do we?" Exclaimed a horrified Pomona. Professor Beery swished his electric blue cloak around.

"No...just...stun...them," He whispered dramatically. Minerva resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

"Sir, why aren't you a drama teacher at some wizarding drama school?" Minerva asked almost wearily. He opened his mouth, then closed it again. Open, close. Like a fish.

"That is a question that only my head should prevail to answer," Minerva had almost expected a straight answer out of him.

"Affie, I'm revising in the library with Pomona, coming?" She asked in the Great Hall the next day.

"Hey! What about me?" Ria moaned.

"You don't want to revise in the library though, do you," Ria smiled.

"You know me too well," Minerva ended up seeing a lot less of Hagrid because she spent much more time revising in the library with Pomona and Affie. However, he did ask for some help revising, which she happily gave, and she still sat next to him in a few classes.

"Oi! Oaf!" A Slytherin (most likely Malfoy or Black) lobbed a piece of paper at Hagrid. The moment he touched it, it burned his hand.

"Ow!" His finger was scarlet. Minerva tensed. She turned around and muttered something. Their potion exploded on a previously laughing Umbridge, Malfoy and Black. "Thanks," He muttered, blushing slightly.

"Exams are approaching! You should be able to make this potion with your eyes closed by now!" Slughorn marched over to the three Slytherins. "Detention," Minerva smiled sweetly at a scowling Dolores Umbridge. Her pink bow (which Slughorn reminded her wasn't correct uniform) was covered in the sticky black potion. Malfoy was frantically trying to clean his blond hair, and all the Gryffindors - and some Slytherins - laughed at his 'precious hair'. 

"I got you!" In the dorm, 11 pm on a Friday night, the girls were having a raging pillow fight. Minerva wacked Iris on the head, sending bursts of feathers up into the air like ticklish snow.

"Got you back!" Ivy got Ria, Ria got Affrodille, and then there were too many feathers to see who was hitting who. It then turned into a feather snowball fight. 

"Guys, it's midnight!" Affie whispered. They all crowded around the window and stared out at the full moon and the sprinkling of stars that dusted the inky blue sky. Suddenly, they could hear snoring.

"Ria's asleep," Iris laughed quietly. Minerva muttered "reparo" and the feathers flew back into the pillows, and they all fell asleep in a matter of minutes. 

She woke up in her bedroom. She looked around at the poisonous spiders crawling up to her one by one. On the floor surrounding her was her dead brothers, mother and father. They crawled up to her, and each one had a human face, the same one, the one that belonged to Tom Riddle. "I will break you," They whispered as they bit her.

Minerva woke up sweating. The occlumency wasn't working. She must be doing something wrong! She had a quick shower to clear her mind and grabbed Magic of the Mind. She flicked through the book and did some of the exercises. She walked to the library before any of her friends had even woke up.

"Miss McGonagall. I hear you would like some help with occlumency," He looked through his half-moon glasses at her. She - much to her later humour - still didn't consider the possibility that Dumbledore was a leglimens. 

"Yes please, Professor," Minerva felt a wave of relief pulse through her.

"Morning Professor, lit-Minerva," Tom smiled with his fake politeness.

"Now, Tom, what would you be doing up and about at this hour.

"Oh, I needed a walk to clear my head," None of them believed a word of it. "How did you sleep?"

"Great thank you. Are you looking forward to watching Gryffindor play instead of you?" Minerva asked sweetly. Tom's eyes hardened.

"May the best team win," Dumbledore's eyes were sparkling and Minerva could tell he was enjoying this.

"Well, that team won't be Slytherin, will it," Minerva cocked her head and smiled again, internally pretending she was Umbridge.

"Anyway, Mr Riddle, me and Miss McGonagall here have a private conversation to continue with," As Tom walked off, Dumbledore winked. "Anyway, Minerva, lessons begin now" He smiled and she walked to his office, relieved that salvation was near.