Minerva McGonagall

A/N – Last chapter!

It was rather sad, looking around my Head of Gryffindor office at Hogwarts on my last day. I had heard that Professor Longbottom was planning some kind of surprise to wish me on my way, so I had been avoiding him like the plague, hoping to postpone it until I was at a state of mind steady enough that I wouldn't cry like a baby and embarrass myself.

Still, standing in the office I would always consider mine alone, looking around and remembering everything that had happened and all the students I had had wasn't really helping matters. There were just so many memories of this office – and my last office – and my office after this… And, of course, from when I had been at Hogwarts myself in my youth.

Thinking of that made me smile, as I suddenly remembered the very first time I had been in this office, at the age of 15.

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As I stood outside the door of Professor Dumbledore's office, I was shaking a little. I didn't know why I had been summoned here, and, as far as I knew, I was the only Fourth Year being summoned to his office. Certainly, I had been out of bed the previous night, but I was pretty sure that we had gotten away with that, and so I didn't know what it could be about. I had to admit, I was still a little scared of Dumbledore, though I had talked to him about Transfiguration before– being so tall and powerful, I always worried that he could suddenly become scary if I did something wrong.

And now I had to go to his office! It took a good few minutes for me to pluck up my courage to quietly knock on the door, and another few seconds when I heard Professor Dumbledore's mild voice saying "Come in!"

I was concentrating very hard on not falling over as I opened the door. As always, my hair was only in a loose plait which reached down to my waist, and I suddenly began to wish that I had put it up properly just in case I annoyed Dumbledore.

Dumbledore was sitting, smiling slightly to himself, at his desk when I reached him, and I hovered uncomfortably there until he gestured for me to come and sit down, which I did, feeling suddenly self-conscious. He continued to look at me for a second, as if waiting for me to speak, and then when I didn't, he opened his mouth.

"Well, Minerva," he said. "I'm sure you're aware why you're up here."

That was more than a little puzzling, so I stayed quiet and waited for Dumbledore to continue, hoping I could pick up a few clues.

"Professor Merrythought tells me that you were up after hours last night, with your friend Rubeus Hagrid, I believe-" he began, looking just a little disappointed, and it was at that point that I suddenly understood.

Panicking slightly, I quickly blurted out the first thing that popper into my head. "We weren't going to have sex, Professor!"

It took a second for the both of us to realise what had just happened, and by the time we did, we were both a deep shade of scarlet, and Dumbledore looked just a little bit alarmed.

"Right," he said, seemingly a little disconcerted, as I thought to myself that I was very close to actually dying. "Well. That's good, Minerva, I'm glad to hear that –what I was going to say was that you shouldn't have been up after hours." He paused, looking uncomfortable. "But maybe you need to go and have a chat with Madame Fischer…"

I shook my head furiously, my face burning with embarrassment.

"Alright then," Dumbledore said quickly, seeming glad to be off the topic. "I'm going to take 20 points off of Gryffindor, I'm afraid, and you'll be receiving a detention. I'll talk to Rubeus as well, of course."

I wasn't exactly happy to have gotten a detention, but really I just wanted to leave the office now and never speak of it again. Why? Why on earth would I have said "sex" in front of Dumbledore? What on earth had possessed me to say that? It was obvious that all he had known was that Hagrid and I had been out of bed. He couldn't have and wouldn't have known that we were kissing.

I actually had been telling the truth. Though Hagrid and I had been interrupted in our kissing by the sound of someone coming, we had never intended to go any further. Of course, upon hearing the teacher, we had ran, and I had thought that we had gotten away with it until Professor Dumbledore had told me just then.

And yet, for some reason, I had decided to blurt that out! If I was honest, it was quite possibly the stupidest thing I had ever said in front of anyone, let alone Dumbledore.

"You can go," was the next thing Dumbledore said, to my intense relief, and I only uttered a quick "Sorry, Professor," before getting up to leave as fast as possible.

I was nearly at the door when Dumbledore spoke again. "Oh, and Minerva," he said peacefully. "Good luck to you and Hagrid."

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Looking back on that with hindsight, it made me laugh, though at the time I had nearly killed myself with embarrassment about it. I could still see why I had been embarrassed about it though. If any of my students had said "sex" in front of me, I think they would have died just as much.

Thinking about it, though, had made me a little more willing to venture down to the Great Hall, where Professor Longbottom had clumsily hinted that I should go. Apart from my desire to see all my students one last time while I was headteacher, I had a small hope that a certain Care of Magical Creatures teacher would be there.

A/N – I like to think that after the battle of Hogwarts, McGonagall and Hagrid get together. I don't even care what JK Rowling says, Hagrid and McGonagall forever.