Minerva McGonagall liked to think of herself as a patient, understanding woman. Though some of her colleagues and many of the student body might disagree with this, she knew deep down that she was fair and reasonable. She would after all at least listen to her students' various stories, excuses and downright lies before giving them detention or taking house points anyway.
She'd been teaching at Hogwarts for fifteen years now, and was promoted to deputy head when Dumbledore became headmaster.
Minerva loved her job. There was something incredibly satisfying about being such an integral part of the order and discipline of the school. She was a firm believer in rules, and she was never afraid to enforce them when necessary. She knew that if her father could see her now he would be proud. As a Presbyterian minister, he had been a man of strong principle too.
Yes, things at Hogwarts had run generally smoothly for its deputy head throughout her time at the helm. She would sort out any issues that her fellow teachers escalated to her quickly, and worked diligently on her own lesson plans, ensuring a high pass rate for her OWL and NEWT transfiguration students. Life was orderly and any trouble was dealt with briskly and efficiently. That was until September 1971…
Minerva McGonagall had known James Potter and Sirius Black would be trouble right from their very first day at school. They had chatted incessantly throughout her welcome speech, picked a fight with Peeves, whom the majority of the student body generally had the good sense to avoid, and had been brought to see her by Filch on the very first night for being out of bounds.
"We were just exploring, Professor." She remembered young James Potter explaining. That was it, explaining. Not excusing, not apologising, but telling her how it was. Here was a boy so used to getting his way and with so much self-confidence, it didn't even register to him that he could possibly be in the wrong.
Things had only gone downhill from there. The two boys, now nearing the end of their first term, surely had more house points taken and detentions given than their entire year put together. But nothing she or her colleagues did seemed to make any difference. James would laugh, Sirius would shrug, or worse, they would answer back, debating with whichever poor professor had called them out on their behaviour why, in fact, they were wrong to do so. McGonagall knew a number of her fellow educators would simply let their rule breaking slide, so reluctant were they to take on these two impossible troublemakers.
But Minerva McGonagall would not be cowed. She wasn't afraid of a couple of naughty schoolchildren. After yet another colleague reported them to her, almost in tears with exasperation, she vowed that next time the two boys misbehaved in front of her there would be dire consequences for them both.
Of course it wasn't too long before this happened.
"Silence please everyone, and take out your textbooks." She told her class of first years as she entered the room one Tuesday morning. "We will be looking at switching spells today. I will write the spell on the board, and if you would be so kind as to turn to page 84, you will find the theory written there to follow."
She turned to the chalkboard and began to write the necessary incantation. She turned back to find the students with their textbooks open and wands on their desks. So far so good. She was in her flow. This was what she had been born to do.
"Right." She continued, beginning to pace up and down the aisles as she spoke. "As you will read, switching spells are simple in application, but more complicated in theory. In order to successfully switch an object…"
A murmur of disturbance reached her from the back of the room. She whipped her head around to see, as she knew she would, two dark heads bent together, clearly engrossed in conversation.
"Black. Potter." She barked, causing both boys to look up with falsely innocent expressions that didn't fool her for a second. "What did I just say?"
"You said our names, Professor." James quipped, looking at her askance as if concerned for her sanity. "Anything else you need help remembering?"
Honestly, the cheek of him. "Five points from Gryffindor." She snapped, delivering the line as if by rote and hearing, as usual, the groan that came from every Gryffindor student except the ones she was actually intending to punish. "You know full well what I meant. What was I saying about switching spells?"
"Switching spells are simple in application but more complicated in theory." Black supplied and, in spite of herself, McGonagall couldn't help but feel a little impressed.
"You are right." She conceded. "But a good memory doesn't excuse you from paying attention in my classroom. Enough talking."
Confident that everyone was paying attention again, she continued, and when she was finished explaining, set the students up practicing. They were to attempt to switch a muggle pencil for a quill.
There was something deeply satisfying, that even after all her years of teaching never quite left her, about seeing her students master a challenge she had set them. True, the quality of the results were varied, but the effort was there for the most part. Lily Evans had successfully switched her pencil for a quill on the second attempt, and so Minerva had brought her a snuffbox with which to practice next. The results so far were very encouraging.
Over on the other side of the room, the Slytherins were practicing with varied enthusiasm. Avery and Mulciber were taking more of a half-hearted approach, as if it was of no great significance to them whether they succeeded in the task (a sure way to ensure they never felt stupid, Minerva thought ruefully). Severus Snape however had his head bent low and was eyeing his pencil with so much concentration it was as if he'd been bound to memorise it.
McGonagall stopped her pacing to watch her promising young student. That's it, she thought encouragingly. Clear focus, set your intention, and now…
She smiled as Severus successfully performed his switching spell. "Five points to Slytherin, Mr Snape." She said, hoping the house points would act as an encouragement and also show his classmates it did pay to make an effort.
She'd just left the Slytherin boy's table when there came a loud yelp from behind her. She spun back to see him clutching his left ear in alarm.
"Mr Snape!" She cried, moving towards him. "Whatever's the matter?"
Snape yelped again and leapt to his feet. And now Minerva could clearly see what was troubling him so much. Where his left ear had been was, quite unmistakeably (and quite bizarrely), a ripe banana.
The sight was so strange she could do little but stare at him.
There was a gale of laughter from the back of the classroom. Snape and Minvera both whipped around. There, lying innocuously on the desk in front of Peter Pettigrew was the unmistakable sight of a human ear.
Oh those wretched pests!
Incensed, she stormed over to the boys.
"It wasn't me, Professor!" Pettigrew stammered as his irate head of house descended on the group. "They just used my banana!"
Professor McGonagall picked up the unattached ear, waved her wand, and restored both objects to their original positions. Pettigrew hastily stashed the banana back in his school bag. Snape clutched his left ear to his head as if afraid it would fall off.
"Who is responsible for this?" Minerva demanded, glaring at all four boys in a way that made Lupin and Pettigrew at least avert their eyes.
She refocused her attention to the two she had seen whispering together earlier. "Black? Potter?" She prompted.
Neither boy answered her. She saw Potter look over to where Snape was, still clutching his ear to his head, and grin. Yes, clearly he had found the whole thing highly amusing.
Right. That was it. "My office. Now." She snapped, glowering at them as they sighed, reluctantly stashed their books in their bags and got to their feet. She watched them all the way out of the classroom. She really wasn't in the mood to have to deal with them today, but she'd promised herself she would, and this was her job after all. But not without finishing her lesson first.
Without the two of them, there was no more trouble, and the rest of the time passed without incident. Wouldn't it be nice if things were always this peaceful? She found herself thinking rather wistfully.
At the end of the lesson, the bell rang and the rest of her students collected their books and bags and made for the door. She saw Pettigrew and Lupin look at her a little warily, either because they feared punishment themselves or they feared for their friends she didn't know, but she said nothing to them. The sooner she dealt with James and Sirius the sooner they could join them for lunch after all.
She made her brisk way down the corridor to her office, outside which the two boys were sitting on the floor, their legs stretched out in front of them, appearing completely at their ease
They both got quickly to their feet when they saw her approach. Well, that was something at least.
"In." She said, waving her wand so the door to her office opened and pointing the two of them inside.
She waved her wand again so that two chairs appeared in front of her desk. "Sit." She said.
She took a seat opposite them.
"Explain." She said, not fooled for one second by their twin expressions of polite puzzlement.
Potter looked at Black and Black looked at Potter. It was such a familiar routine she almost rolled her eyes in exasperation. It was as if the two of them had some secret language only they were privy to. It really was incredibly annoying.
"Now, please." She snapped. Her tolerance was fading very rapidly.
"If you're referring to the incident with Snape and the banana, Professor, it was really just a laugh." Black said, looking back at her with a casual ease no one that young ever showed around her. "We meant nothing by it."
"Though you have to admit it was an impressive switching spell." Potter said, again, looking at her with no trace of fear or remorse.
"And what's more, the banana and Snape were perfectly fine." Black added. "We should be praised really. But I don't suppose that's why you called us in here." He frowned up at her as if she was the one being unreasonable.
Minerva pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes. "A laugh? A good spell?" She said, looking back at them in total exasperation. "Is that what you think?"
"Certainly." Potter said, crossing his legs and smiling sunnily back at her. "We were doing the task assigned, we simply used some… ahem, creative license."
Minerva shook her head in quiet disbelief. "You claim this was a justified use of the lesson time?" She demanded, certain her composure was going to crack at any second.
"Well, we certainly learned a great deal from the experience." Black said.
"We did indeed." Potter nodded in agreement. "There's really no need to teach us anything else today."
"Yes, we've learned our lesson." Black said, smiling brightly.
"So I suppose you'd like me to just let the matter drop?" McGonagall snapped, glowering at the pair of them.
"Yes please."
"Sounds good."
"Well I'm very sorry to have to disappoint you gentlemen, but I am most certainly not finished with you." Minerva said, getting to her feet and glaring down at them.
"I don't care what pathetic excuses you give me for why you think your behaviour was justified, it wasn't. Your trick was cruel and thoughtless and could have caused Mr Snape serious injury." She didn't suppose this last point would have much of an impact on the boys. Their rivalry with the Slytherin had been going on since their very first day.
"I've had just about enough of the two of you thinking you can behave how you want in my classroom without consequence. It ends right here."
She looked up to see what effect, if any, her words were having on the boys. They were looking mildly more contrite now. Some of the defiance had faded from Black's eyes at least.
She cast her mind to think what she could possibly say or do that might have more of an impact on them than detention or taking house points.
"You are banned from sitting together in lessons."
"What?!" Came the twin protests, but she ignored them.
"I will be writing home to your parents."
Another gasp of horror and protest.
"And you will both receive detention."
No strong reaction to this one. Clearly it had already been accepted as inevitable.
She wasn't sure if it was the separation in her classes or the writing home to their parents, but one of these punishments certainly seemed to have done the trick. Both boys were now staring at her in horror. Black even looked a little sick.
"Any questions?" She asked briskly. She was satisfied she seemed to have at last got through to the boys and was keen to leave the matter firmly behind them now.
"Professor…" Black said, his voice barely more than a whisper as he stared beseechingly at her. "Please don't write to my parents."
Minerva frowned at him. This was certainly very out of character behaviour for her usually cheerful, bold student. Now he looked scared, terrified even as he looked back at her like she'd just sentenced him to the gallows. What could possibly have upset him this much?
She sat back down. "Is there any particular reason you ask this?" She asked him, not unkindly.
Sirius flushed a little. She saw him glance briefly at Potter and then look at the floor, mumbling something incoherent.
Minerva understood. "Potter, please leave us." Whatever Black wanted to say he clearly didn't want James to hear it. This must be serious, she thought. Black and Potter shared everything with one another.
With Potter gone, she turned back to Black.
"What's this all about?" She asked quite gently.
Of course nothing he said was going to make her change her mind about punishing him. Once she decided to do something she always did it. But she couldn't have him leaving her office in such a state of distress.
She knew no one particularly enjoyed having letters sent home. More often than not the student would receive a howler back over breakfast which was embarrassing and unpleasant to everyone within about a fifty foot radius, but to show this level of fear at the prospect surely wasn't normal.
"Sirius?" She prompted, wondering if perhaps the use of his first name might encourage her very closed-in student to open up a little.
He glanced at her then looked quickly back at the floor. "I'd just… rather you didn't." He muttered.
Minerva frowned. "How do you suppose your parents will react when I write to them?" She asked instead.
He turned back to her and there was real fear in his eyes now. He shook his head a little panickedly.
Minerva sighed. So this was it. Of course it wasn't really a surprise. She knew of Sirius' family by reputation. They were an old wizarding family who were very proud and, she could quite suspect, rather cruel.
She recalled the howler her young student had received after his controversial sorting into Gryffindor. It had certainly been up there with the most vicious of screamed reprimands over breakfast and, as she recalled, full of unpleasant threats too.
She looked sadly at the boy in front of her. No one was this scared of their parents without there being a good reason behind it.
He looked anxiously at her as if waiting for her to speak. But, eventually seeing she wasn't going to make this any easier for him, he sighed and looked at the floor again. "They just don't like me very much." He said quietly.
Minerva wanted nothing more than to put her arms around him. She wanted to tell him it would be OK, that she'd protect him and that no harm would ever come to him. But of course she could say or do none of these things.
"What makes you say that?" She asked gently instead.
Sirius shrugged. "I dunno. Just the stuff they do." He said, again so quietly she had to strain to hear him.
He looked tearfully at her. "It doesn't matter." He said, wiping his eyes on the back of his sleeve hastily. He tried to smile at her but she wished he wouldn't.
"It's OK." She said quietly. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, but you know you can, don't you?"
She met his eyes and kept her gaze steady. Here was a boy who clearly had very little experience in being able to trust adults. It would take some time, but she was determined to help him see he was safe with her.
He nodded. Though he was looking at the ground again.
"Sirius?"
He looked back at the second use of his first name.
Minerva considered him. It was true that he and James Potter were quite possibly the worst behaved students in the school. Rules meant absolutely nothing to him and he seemed to go out of his way to annoy her and her colleagues.
She supposed it wasn't really any of her concern how his parents would react to hearing the news of his rule breaking. Everyone's families were different and some were simply more strict than others, but as she looked at him, so unlike himself and so young looking all of a sudden, she knew she couldn't do it.
"I will not write to your parents." She said, though every fibre and principle she possessed was screaming at her. She'd promised herself and she'd promised him that she would. If she broke this one rule, who's to say they wouldn't descend into anarchy?!
She smiled at him as he sagged with relief and gave her a look of deep and sincerest gratitude.
"Thank you." He breathed.
She nodded. Seeing this latest reaction from him just confirmed her action was correct. He wasn't faking this. He wasn't just trying to avoid legitimate consequences. He had been genuinely terrified, and now his relief was palpable.
"I will not be so lenient next time." She told him sternly. She wanted there to be no mistake about that. She couldn't keep on playing favourites like this.
He shook his head. "I know. I understand." He was shaking a little and Minerva had to fight a second urge to hug him.
"Alright. You may go. And we'll say no more about it."
"Yes, Professor." He said, getting to his feet. She was glad to see some of the colour had returned to his cheeks.
He made to leave the office but paused on the threshold. He looked back at her and there was a strange mix of confusion and gratitude in his grey eyes.
"Yes?" She prompted.
But he just shook his head. "Nothing." He said quietly, and left.
But Minerva smiled to herself once he'd gone. It was moments like these that she knew she was in the right job.
It was rare that she broke the rules she set for herself. Like her father, she had very strong principles and once she told her students she would do something, she would do it without fail. But there was something about Sirius Black that had made her see there were occasions where they could be… flexed.
She knew Dumbledore often said that he was taught by the students almost as much as he taught them. Minerva had never understood this. It was her job to set the lessons and her job to maintain the rules and order. The students had no influence on any of that.
But evidently that was something else Black had called into question. She smiled. She meant what she'd said, this was a one off, but she had to admit, it did feel good to break the rules.