A First Day of Classes

A First Day of Classes

1 - Minerva's First Day of Classes

"Mistress Minerva, it's time to get up," her personal house elf Mona's voice penetrated Minerva's ears, causing her to groan in exasperation.

After the Welcoming feast the previous evening, Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter, two second years and archenemies, had obviously decided to meet on the Quidditch pitch for a nightly wizard's duel, which had only ended when Hermione Granger, the most reasonable of her second year lions, had fetched her to stop the two boys, who were accompanied by all of their second year housemates. She had taken both boys to the hospital wing, where she had assisted Poppy, who healed all of their injuries until three o'clock in the morning. Considering the lack of sleep for both Poppy and herself, Minerva had been so enraged that she had taken one hundred points of each Gryffindor and Slytherin and had assigned the two main actors a detention with their respective Head of House.

'Three and a half hours of sleep are definitely not enough,' Minerva mused as she slowly scrambled out of her comfortable bed with the warm burgundy coloured covers she had received from Albus for her birthday a few years ago. She tiredly dragged herself into the bathroom, hoping that a long hot shower would help her to warm up and to get rid of the splitting headache, which was suddenly bothering her, probably due to the lack of sleep. Unfortunately, the shower did not have the required effects, and Minerva put a warm turtleneck jumper on, before she threw her green robes over her casual attire and headed back to the bathroom, where she spent a few minutes unsuccessfully skimming her potions shelf for a headache potion.

'Oh no,' she groaned in annoyance. 'I hope it'll go away by itself, so I don't have to see Poppy about it, earning myself a lecture about the proper amount of sleep and so on. As much as I like her, and she'll always be my best friend, but she seems incapable of understanding the work load of a Deputy Headmistress.'

"It's time to head to the Great Hall for breakfast," the portrait of Godric Gryffindor that was guarding the entrance to her personal quarters spoke up, causing her to sigh.

"Yes, thank you, Godric, I know that, but I still have to fetch the time tables from my office. I need to give them out to the Gryffindors at breakfast," Minerva replied in a slightly annoyed voice, hurried through the connecting door into her office, grabbed a pile of parchments, and finally re-entered her living room when she heard a knock at her office door.

'What is it now?' she mused in exasperation, quickly returned to her office, and put her sternest expression on her face, before she opened the door and stopped dead in her tracks at the sight of Gilderoy Lockhart.

"Gilderoy," she acknowledged the man's presence, unwilling to move away from the door frame in order to keep her famous colleague from entering her office. "What's wrong?" she queried crisply.

"Ah Minerva, I'm sorry to bother you, but," the man began to speak slowly, causing Minerva to impatiently tap her right foot on the floor.

"I'm sorry, Gilderoy, but I have to attend breakfast in the Great Hall in ten minutes," she urgently told the man, who threw her a huge smile, obviously mistaking her for one of his fans.

"Don't worry, Minerva, I won't keep you for long. I just happened to miss my time table, I'm sure the pixies will have eaten it when I stored them in the classroom for my class with the second year Gryffindor and Slytherin students today. I need to teach them how I managed to..."

"I'm sorry, Professor, but I really don't have time," Minerva interrupted him in the voice she normally reserved for students, who came to serve detention with her. She turned around, pointed her wand to a parchment on her desk, and with a complicated wand movement took a copy of the parchment, which she summoned, handing it to her colleague. "If you would excuse me now," she said sharply, shutting the door into his face.

'Albus must slowly be losing it, inviting such a fraud to teach at Hogwarts,' she mused, before she left through the entrance door to her quarters, which was nearer to the Great Hall than her office door. On her way down to the Great Hall, she began to shiver in the cold air of the corridors and resolved to drink a cup of hot tea first. 'I can still give the timetables out in ten minutes,' she decided, heading straight to her usual seat next to the Headmaster.

"Minerva," the Slytherin Head of House addressed her, before she could even pour herself the much needed cup of tea, "could you please explain why Slytherin lost one hundred points during the night and is starting the school year with negative points?"

"Don't sneer at me, Severus, I'm not one of your students in detention," Minerva replied sternly, reaching out for the tea pot and throwing the Headmaster a grateful nod when he poured out the tea for her. "Gryffindor received a one hundred point loss as well, if that consoles you. Malfoy and Potter fought a wizard's duel on the Quidditch pitch during the night, accompanied not only by their seconds, but by all of the second year Slytherins and Gryffindors."

"Ah, and who won the duel? I'm sure it was our famous Harry Potter, wasn't it?" a voice cheered from the other end of the Head table.

Minerva sighed in exasperation. "How could you hire that fraud?" she whispered to the Headmaster, deciding to ignore the question.

"Let's say we had to work on both of them until three o'clock in the morning," Poppy was kind enough to reply in her place, causing Minerva to thankfully glance at her best friend.

She hurriedly gulped down the hot liquid, feeling how the warmth spread through her body, and sighed in relief as she excused herself and headed to the Gryffindor table to give out the timetables, noticing contentedly that the second years seemed as tired as herself. 'I hope that'll teach them a lesson,' she mused, resolving to have a small revenge by letting the second years take a pop quiz about the probably at least partly forgotten first year material.

"Professor, how are we supposed to find the Potions classroom?" Ginny Weasley, one of her new first years, queried, causing Minerva to frantically search her mind for her own timetable.

"Ms. Granger, you have Transfiguration in your first class, don't you?" she asked, relatively sure about the matter.

"Yes Professor," Hermione replied politely, looking at her Head of House questioningly. "Shall I take the first years to the Potions classroom?"

"Yes please, Ms. Granger," Minerva told her thoughtfully, pondering if she'd have enough time to take her pop quiz afterwards, which in fact didn't matter at all, since she could be sure that the girl would receive an O for her work anyway.

"Minerva, you must come and eat breakfast," all of a sudden Rolanda Hooch's voice penetrated her ears. "Poppy is already beginning to throw a temper tantrum about your recklessness."

Minerva sighed. "Yes Rolanda, I'm coming." She walked back in the direction of the Head table, becoming aware of the fact that she didn't have any appetite due to the annoying headache. Noticing that Severus Snape was just on his way to leave the Great Hall, she hurried after her colleague, catching up with him just outside the doors. "Severus, I'm sorry to bother you, but do you by chance have a headache potion with you?"

The Potions Master threw her a piercing look. "Are you feeling all right, Minerva?" he queried in obvious concern.

"Apart from a splitting headache, which is probably caused by the lack of sleep, yes," Minerva replied honestly, glad that she could always tell her younger colleague the truth without having to fear that he'd fuss over her like Poppy or Albus would do.

"I'm not sure if it's only due to the lack of sleep," Snape told her thoughtfully, noticing that dark rings were surrounding her eyes and her cheeks were slightly flushed. Seeing that they were completely alone, he quickly pointed his wand at her head, before he summoned two potions phials from his private lab. "You're also running a slight temperature," he informed his colleague in his soft silky voice. "If this doesn't clear up until tonight, you'll have to go and see Poppy or come to me, although I can't promise that I'll be able to help you."

"Thank you, Severus," Minerva replied, handing the empty phials back, before she quickly re-entered the Great Hall and took a few bits of a slice of toast accompanied by another hot cup of tea.

"Are you feeling all right?" Poppy asked in concern, causing Minerva to nod innocently.

"Yes, Poppy, but I have to go. I'll see you at lunchtime." With that, she swiftly left the Great Hall, stepped into a dark alcove, and transformed into her feline form, before she took a few secret passages up to her classroom, which she approached after changing back into her human form.

Two minutes later, the second year Gryffindor and Slytherin students filed into the classroom, and Minerva greeted them with the announcement, "Since all of you obviously remembered your feelings towards the other House last night, I'd like to know how much of your first year Transfiguration class you still remember. Therefore, we're going to do a pop quiz. Please take an empty parchment and a quill; you won't need anything else during this class."

"But that's completely unfair, Professor," Millicent Bulstrode spoke up, fidgeting with her quill. "Only Draco and Potter duelled."

"You were all standing by, watching how they injured each other," Minerva replied sternly. "You're as guilty as Mr. Potter and Mr. Malfoy. Now let's commence."

"But Hermione isn't here yet, Professor," Ronald Weasley objected, while Harry obviously tried in vain to calm his friend.

"Ms. Granger will join us as soon as she arrives. I'm sure that she remembers everything anyway, apart from the fact that she doesn't have to take the test since she was reasonable enough to fetch me," Minerva returned briskly and began. "Question number one. State the incantation and the wand movement of the Switching Spell."

She dictated fifteen questions, pointing her wand at an empty parchment to record the questions for Hermione, who entered the classroom just as she was asking the fifth question, before she let herself sink onto her chair, noticing that the headache potion had only helped so much.

Her next students, the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw first years, entered the classroom ten minutes too early, totally out of breathe and vehemently complaining about Professor Snape.

"Professor, he took fifty House points from Gryffindor!"

"And he took thirty points from Ravenclaw without any reason," the upset students informed her.

"We didn't do anything!"

"Is it true that he hates everyone except for the Slytherins?"

"I only asked a question and he already took points!"

Minerva sighed in annoyance as she explained to the excited children, "Professor Snape is very strict and he loves to take points. Therefore, you have to be very careful in his presence not to give him a reason for taking points off you. If you feel completely unfairly treated, please come to me or go to the Headmaster and explain to us in detail what happened. However, in spite of behaving as if he hated everyone except for the members of his own House, he is a very good person and the best Potions Master of our country since Salazar Slytherin, and I expect you to behave well in his class and to try not to lose points." Knowing that her few minutes of free time were over anyway, she immediately began to hold her normal speech that all the Hogwarts students heard in their first Transfiguration class.

While Minerva watched the students try to transfigure a match into a needle, she noticed that her throat was getting sore and that she was feeling worse by the hour. She sighed in relief when she dismissed the students, resolving to return to her private quarters and lie down for a while instead of attending lunch. However, she had just entered her private quarters when a knock at her office door made her return to her office.

It was Neville Longbottom. "Professor, can you please come to the hospital wing? Malfoy threw something in Hermione's potion, and now she's sporting green boils all over her body," he told her in a very excited voice.

"All right, Mr. Longbottom, thanks for informing me," she replied firmly and stepped out into the corridor to follow the boy into the hospital wing, knowing that Poppy would be able to cure the girl within an hour, but that Hermione would surely be very upset about the matter.

Minerva spent most part of her lunch break at Hermione's side, before Poppy threw her out when Harry and Ron returned from lunch, insisting she should attend lunch in the Great Hall as well. Not daring to object to Poppy, Minerva obediently dragged herself to the Great Hall and ate a few bites of lunch, ignoring her younger colleague, who watched her in concern, raising an eyebrow at her. Only when he said casually, "I suspect I'll see you tonight after our detentions," she let out a small sigh and breathed, "I assume yes."

"Minerva, please note that we're going to have a staff meeting right after the last afternoon class," the Headmaster informed her gently, before he stood up and left the hall.

"Professor, when can we hold the Quidditch tryouts?" suddenly Oliver Wood approached the Head table, throwing her a questioning look.

Now completely abandoning her lunch, Minerva waved her wand and mumbled an incantation, causing a tiny schedule to emerge from the tip of her wand. "You may hold the tryouts on Saturday next week at eleven o'clock. Don't forget to notify Madam Hooch and book the Quidditch pitch," she informed the Gryffindor Quidditch captain, before she rose from her seat and swiftly left the Great Hall.

Minerva struggled through the first afternoon class, glad that she could remain at her seat letting the seventh years practise to transfigure a cat into a monkey. She was just about to dismiss the students, slightly disappointed because none of them had managed the Transfiguration, when Neville hesitantly entered her classroom.

"I'm sorry to bother you again, Professor, but Professor Lockhart let pixies lose and told us to get rid of them, while he just left the classroom. Harry, Hermione, and Ron are trying to catch and vanquish them, but they're just too many, and the professor didn't even teach us a proper spell. Could you please come and help?"

"Sure Mr. Longbottom," Minerva replied in a gentle voice, groaning inwardly as she dismissed the students, "Please write a three foot essay about the problems with the Transfiguration from one living object into another."

In the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, she ordered the Trio to step aside, before she waved her wand in a complicated movement, getting rid of all the pixies at once. "Where is Professor Lockhart?" she asked angrily, noticing terrified that her voice was beginning to fail.

"We don't know, Professor," Hermione informed her. "He told us to get rid of them and just left."

"Well, he's going to hear a mouthful later on in the staff meeting," Minerva mused aloud, causing her students to giggle.

"Pity that we can't listen in on the staff meeting; I'd love to hear Lockhart getting a dressing down by McGonagall," Minerva heard Harry say when she followed the students out of the Defence classroom, hurrying back to her own classroom, where the next students were already waiting for her.

Minerva held her normal speech about the NEWT Transfiguration class to her sixth year students, before she let them practise to transfigure a plush cat into a real cat. She leaned back in her seat, pondering if she would have time enough to floo to the Potions classroom between the class and the staff meeting in order to get a Pepper Up potion from Severus. Unfortunately, the Headmaster upset her plans by sending her house elf Mona to her ten minutes before the end of the class, asking her to come to his office for a small talk as soon as possible.

Minerva sighed in annoyance as she dismissed the students and stepped into the fireplace, musing, 'I hope it'll be important.'

"Ah Minerva, how good of you to join me," the Headmaster greeted her, offering her a lemon drop, which she for once took, hoping that it might soothe her sore throat, unaware of the surprised look her friend gave her. "I feel honoured, Minnie. This is the first lemon drop you took in at least ten years," he commentated, causing Minerva to glare at his twinkling eyes.

"I hope it's something important," she told her friend, intensifying her glare.

"Yes Minerva," Dumbledore replied, sighing. "This afternoon, I received several Howlers from concerned parents because of engaging Professor Lockhart as Defence teacher. I wish to hear your opinion."

Minerva let out a snort. "My opinion? Isn't that a bit late to ask for, Albus? Lockhart is a fraud, and you know it as well as I do. I already suggested weeks ago to invite Remus Lupin. He'd be a much better teacher." She told him what had happened in the Defence classroom in the afternoon, throwing the Headmaster a desperate look. "Albus, I won't do this again. The next time, I'm going to advise the students to leave the classroom and close the door behind them."

"I fully agree, my dear," Dumbledore replied, sighing. "All right, let's head to the staff meeting."

"Can you please keep me from losing my patience with that fraud?" Minerva asked, hating how hoarse her voice sounded.

"Well, it's no problem to tell the truth, Minnie. Maybe I really made a mistake."

Minerva wearily followed the man to the staffroom, letting her sink in one of the comfortable chairs in relief, and grateful nodded as Albus offered to pour her a cup of her favourite tea, glad that nobody else was in the staffroom yet. She held the cup with both hands, craving the warmth, as she leaned back, and closed her eyes to rest for a minute, unaware of the piercing look her old friend gave her.

"Minerva, are you getting ill?" he queried in a soft voice, just when Snape entered the room, smirking at her sight.

"I hope not," Minerva replied terrified, quickly moving her aching body into an upright sitting position, and took a sip of her tea, just when a knock at the door could be heard.

"Come in," Dumbledore shouted, and the Weasley twins appeared in the open door frame, causing Minerva to groan inwardly.

"The Slytherins are on the Quidditch pitch, although we booked it straight after the Welcoming feast last night," the twins complained, causing Minerva to set her cup down on the table and leave the comforting warmth of her chair, unobtrusively holding on to the table for a few seconds until a small bout of dizziness passed.

"Minerva, it's all right; I'll go," Snape offered, eyeing her in concern.

"You're not willing to decide a fight between our Houses fairly," Minerva snorted, hurrying to keep up with the man, who had obviously decided to join her.

"They want to show off their new brooms and to train their new Seeker. Unfortunately, both Seekers are in detention tonight, so that we can't ask one of the teams to train tonight," the younger colleague told her as he stopped walking in front of the stairs. "I'll advise them to fly together today, Minerva. Please go back. You look awful, and you won't make it through the rest of the day if you don't take it easy. I promise not to do anything to your little lions."

"You're probably right, Severus. Thank you," Minerva replied gratefully as she hesitantly turned back to the staff room.

She had just taken a step in the direction of the staff room, an image of her hot cup of tea in the front of her mind, when Pomona's voice penetrated her ears. "Minerva, you must help me. Lockhart came to the green houses and tried to teach me how to do my job, ruining a few of my Mandrake babies on his way. Can you please tell him or ask Albus to instruct him not to ever set a foot into my green houses again?"

Minerva let out a sigh that quickly turned into a harsh cough. "I'll tell Lockhart," she promised, slowly stepping back into the staff room. She took a large sip from her cup of tea, while she unobtrusively put her right hand under the table and pointed her wand at the other end of the room, silently casting a spell, before she turned to her newest colleague, who had arrived in the meantime.

"Gilderoy, I'm sorry, but there seem to be pixies over there. Could you please vanish them, before they disturb our meeting?" she croaked.

"Of course, pixies are my speciality," her younger colleague cheered, rising from his chair. He turned to the far corner of the room and waved his wand, causing the pixies to spread all over the room. "Ah, I believe my wand has to be replaced," Lockhart offered, still wearing the same smile, which Minerva was sure not to be able to stand any longer. "Severus, could you please help with these pixies," he turned to his colleague, who just re-entered the room.

Severus glanced at Minerva, who unobtrusively shook her head, before he replied, "I'm sorry, but I don't know what to do with pixies. I thought that was in the second year's curriculum of the Defence Against the Dark Arts class though."

"Yes it is, but my wand is obviously malfunctioning," the Defence teacher cheered.

Snape frowned, raising his own wand against his colleague, and muttered, "Expelliarmus," catching the Defence teacher's wand in his left hand. "Excuse me, Professor," he sneered as he pocketed his own wand and took the other man's wand in his right hand, waving it at the pixies with a simple incantation on his lips. A mere second later, he handed the wand back, glancing around the pixie free room, and sneered, "Your wand works perfectly."

"I had to help my students get rid of the pixies in the Defence classroom," Minerva spoke up weakly, not finding the energy to give the man the dressing down Harry had expected her to.

Seeing that all the Heads of House had arrived in the meantime, Dumbledore officially began with the small staff meeting. "This is exactly what this staff meeting is about. Gilderoy, after receiving a bunch of Howlers from concerned parents, I feel the urge to let you show me a few of the spells, of which you claim to be capable. Since your wand is obviously working well, this shouldn't be a problem for you." Ignoring Minerva's snort, he began to test his newest teacher.

During the following thirty minutes, Dumbledore let Lockhart perform several spells, most of which the man wasn't capable of performing. "I believe I made a grave mistake this time," he finally concluded the test, conjuring parchment and a quill on the table. "Lockhart, I suggest you write your resignation immediately, otherwise I might feel inclined to report you to the Ministry of Magic."

While Lockhart obeyed, Dumbledore queried the four Heads of House if they could suggest someone adequate for the position. "Minerva already suggested Remus Lupin, and if none of you has a better idea, I'd like to invite the werewolf, provided that you'd be willing to brew the Wolfsbane potion every month, Severus?"

Seeing his colleagues nod, Dumbledore sighed. "Minerva, would you please write a letter to Mr. Lupin, inviting him to urgently contact me," he asked his Deputy Headmistress.

"Of course, Albus," Minerva sighed, not unhappy to have an excuse to miss dinner, considering that she was feeling horrible and not in the least hungry. She slowly returned to her office and wrote the letter to her former student Remus, hoping that he would agree to teach. 'Maybe we can somehow manage to break the charm that's on the position,' she mused as she dragged herself to the owlery to send her letter, using one of the fastest school owls.

'Only Potter's detention, and then I can go to bed,' she thought in relief as she returned to her office just when the first students began to leave the Great Hall. Minerva poured herself a hot cup of tea, making herself as comfortable in her chair as possible, when Harry arrived. She offered the boy a cup of tea and a biscuit, before she handed him a few parchments and instructed him to write one hundred times, 'I must not participate in a wizard's duel without a teacher's supervision.'

"All right, Professor," Harry said, beginning to write at once.

Minerva tried to focus on the grading of the second year's pop quiz, but she couldn't concentrate, and her eyes kept wandering to the child opposite her, noticing that he looked worse for the wear and kept rubbing his forehead just like herself.

"Mr. Potter, are you feeling all right?" she queried in concern.

"I'm fine," the boy replied. "I just have a bad headache ever since the duel."

'He doesn't only have a headache. His eyes are glazed over as if he was having a fever,' she mused and, probably because of feeling sick herself, took pity on the child.

"Mr. Potter, you may stop writing now. It's already near curfew anyway, but I want you to remain for a moment so that Madam Pomfrey can quickly check on you, before you return to your common room. Let's see if she has time to come over." She stepped in front of the fireplace and called her friend, before she returned to her seat, throwing Harry a comforting smile.

Seconds later, the Mediwitch stood next to Minerva's desk, waved her wand several times and clucked disapprovingly, muttering to herself, "40 (104) degrees, that's unbelievable."

"Why don't you tell anyone if you feel sick, Harry? You can't run around the castle with 40 (104) degrees of fever," Minerva spoke up in a soft voice.

"No Minerva; that was your own temperature. Mr. Potter also has a fever along with a slight concussion, but it's two degrees lower. However, you have the wizard's flu, and you're both going to come with me to the hospital wing."

"I'm fine," Minerva and Harry protested simultaneously, causing the Mediwitch to snort, looking at the two Gryffindors' flushed faces.

Pomfrey threw both of them a menacing glare that made them grudgingly follow her in the direction of the hospital wing. They had just passed the entrance hall when Hermione stormed into the castle, running after them.

"Professor McGonagall," she panted. "They're doing it again. Crabbe and Nott are fighting against Ron and Seamus."

Minerva sighed in exasperation and turned around, completely ignoring Poppy's threat to kill her as she followed the girl out onto the grounds. Not noticing that Hermione returned into the castle as soon as she stepped outside, Minerva dragged herself to the Quidditch pitch, where the four boys were indeed fighting under the watchful eyes of their classmates.

"What do you think you're doing?" she shouted, noticing in horror that her voice failed completely and only came out as a croak. Sighing in exasperation, she turned to the spectators first, ordering them to go back to their Houses instantly, glad when the students complied without as much as a word in spite of the fact that she could only whisper her instructions.

Unfortunately, the fighting students were so engrossed in their duel that they didn't realize their lack of spectators and couldn't hear Minerva, who sighed in desperation and just resolved to raise her wand at the students when a tall black figure stepped next to her, comfortingly laying a hand on her shoulder.

"Easy, Minerva," Snape said in his soft silky voice, gently steadying her, before he shouted, "Crabbe, Nott, Weasley, Finnegan, stop this immediately." Seeing that the four students interrupted their fight, looking at him in horror, he ordered them to return to their common rooms immediately. "We're going to speak about this tomorrow. Detention in my office right after dinner," he bellowed, before he turned back to his older colleague.

"Minerva, you're ill, and I'm going to take you to the hospital wing," he announced softly, observing her in concern when she agreed and heavily leaned onto his arm as they slowly made their way to the hospital wing, where Madam Pomfrey was already waiting for Minerva, pointing to the bed next to Harry's.

"I'm fine; I'm just a bit tired because of the lack of sleep," Minerva protested hoarsely, causing Poppy and Severus to snort. "Oh no," Minerva groaned as she let herself sink on the bed. "Look, Severus, there are more pixies. Could you get rid of them please?"

"Yes Minerva, I'll do that," Snape promised softly, throwing the Mediwitch an alarmed glance.

"Don't worry, Minnie, everything is all right, you're just a bit delirious," Pomfrey said in a gentle voice, spelling several potions into her friend's system, causing Minerva to become incredibly tired.

"That was a long first day of classes," Minerva croaked, while she slowly drifted off into a blissful healing sleep as the huge clock on the clock tower stroke midnight.

tbc...

I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes.

All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.