A professor at The start of my first year
Notice: This is very similar to "The start of my first year". I did that on purpose.
“Mr.Longbottom,” the deafening sound of her voice still haunts me. I turn to see Professor Minerva McGonagall, the person I’ve known since I was 11 years old.
“Yes, Professor?” I grin up from my work.
“Headmistress, Mr.Longbottom.”
I smile a bit. “Yes, Headmistress.” I still love getting on her nerves. “Did you need something?”
“You’re supposed to collect Miss McMaster today.” She narrowed her eyes at me.
“I am aware of that. Now if that’s all, I must return to my work before I have to leave.” I turn to look back down at my work and scribble a few more words before I hear her cough slightly.
“Now, Mr.Longbottom.” I sigh and gather my papers.
“Alright, but if my lesson plans have holes in them, I’m pinning it on you.”
“Blaming the Headmistress, how noble of you. Now get a move on.”
I nod and pack everything into my bag, the scent of ink still lingering in the air. The feeling of the leather in my hand has always comforted me. “Mr.Longbottom.” I look up and see McGonagall holding my wand.
“Old habits, die hard.” I chuckled out at the Professor. I grab my wand and walk out of the Great Hall, excitement bubbling up inside of me.
I walk to the edge of the castle boundaries, right outside the Forbidden Forest. I still get nervous around here. I know what creatures run around in here, most of them are worth being afraid of. The familiar smell of fir trees hits my nose like lightning. I grip ahold of my bag tighter and wand my wand. I feel an invisible hook pulling at my navel, sucking me in to get to my destination.
I stand alone in a dark alley, listening to the cars zooming by. I take a deep breath in, calming any nerves that might be lingering. I’ve never done this before, so I feel like I have every right to be nervous. I do have to have a brave face on in front of the Muggles, especially since I am a Professor.
I pull the small bit of parchment out of my pocket to check the address. I memorize it and make my way to the small blue house on the corner of the street.
The fresh scent of grass fills my nose as I pound my fist hard against the door and a minute later a small jingle of bells sounds as a woman is pulling open the door.
“Mum, who is that?” I step up to the doorway and see a young girl sitting on the couch and I smile at her.
“Yes, hello. You must be the McMaster’s.” My voice light, happiness. All the nerves have washed away. This is the first actual mission I’ve been sent on.
“Yes. Who are you?” The woman asks as she blocks my vision of the girl.
“No need to worry.” I chuckle. No one has ever been worried around me. This is a bit new and a bit funny too. “My name is Professor Longbottom. I teach at a very special school, for very special children like your daughter.”
“My daughters are perfectly normal, thank you very much,” she spats out, emphasizing that the girl on the couch wasn’t her only one.
“You may think so, but the one on the couch is a bit more special. See, if you let me come inside. I can explain it all to you and your husband,” I lightly spoke as my face split into a wide grin.
The woman groaned, but stepped aside. This is the moment I knew that it was going to a bit difficult. She called out for her husband to come in too.
I stepped in and heard the faint sounds of toys turning off, very soon a younger version of the girl and the woman came running in. “Mummy, who is that?” She asked gazing up at me.
“Jolene, go upstairs and play. Ok?” She spoke soft and sweet to the child. Then she nodded and ran up the stairs.
Just then a man came charging in, planting himself in front of me. “What is going on here?” From up-close I could smell a musty smell as if her was smothered in smoke. I back up slightly to clear my nose.
“Please, Mr.McMaster, sit down. I will explain the reason for my visit shortly.” I spoke softly to try to soothe the man.
Sadly, it didn’t work. “You don’t tell me what to do in my own house,” he growled back.
“My apologies, Mister.” I felt the fear rising in my chest, scared at how he’d respond to me. “I just think it’s best if this matter is good and solved so we can all return to our lives.”
The man nodded and sat next to me causing the girl to dip to her left. Then she pressed a button to turn off the TV. TVs have always fascinated me because it’s like Muggles put a bunch of magical pictures together. Then the mother sat down too, causing the girl to even out a bit.
“Alright,” I looked over my words carefully before continuing. “Might as well dive right in. Miss McMaster, you are a witch.”
The woman gasped and the man gave me a menacing look, making my skin crawl. “What did you just call her?” He growled.
I sighed slightly. “A witch, Mr.McMaster. Magic exists and it runs through your daughter’s genes. Now the thing is, you didn’t know because you’ve descended from a squib.”
“A what?” He asked, interrupting me again, causing me to get a bit more angry.
“Now, Mr.McMaster. If you keep interrupting me, I cannot tell you,” I tried to use my powerful voice to shut the man up. “A squib is when a child of Pureblood magic family that can’t perform magic. But because they are a descendant of magic, it still is in their genes. The squib is then exiled from the wizarding world and forced to live upon Muggles, like yourselves. Muggles,” I spoke to the man directly. “Are those who can’t perform magic and are not a descendant of magic family that they are aware of.” I turned my attention back to the young girl. “You can do magic and I’ve come to present you your invitation to the school I work at, Hogwarts. It’s a school for witches and wizards to learn magic.”
“Magic isn’t real,” the woman muttered loud enough for it to be a whisper, but I still heard her.
I pulled my wand out of my pocket. “Reparo,” I muttered softly towards a broken vase. “Now, Miss McMaster, do you accept my invitation?”
The dad stood up before she could respond. “How do we know she can do magic? How do we know you aren’t trying to induct her into a cult?”
I looked directly at the girl. “Have you ever done something unexplainable? Have your emotions ever gotten so built up that something strange happened?”
Her eyes widened in surprise. “Y...Yes,” she stuttered. “O...Once I was angry at Jolene, she was always barging into my room without knocking, and I yelled at her. All of her toys just f...floated. I got really scared and ran. I th...thought I was a f...freak.”
“You are no freak, Miss McMaster. Now, if you’ll follow me, we can get your belongings and get you set up for school in 2 days time.”
She stood up to start walking to me but was pulled back down. “We don’t have money for her to go to school,” she spoke fast.
I chuckled lightly. “Yes, I’m sure. There is a special vault at our bank for Muggleborns who can’t afford to go. See your daughter is special and we want to help her grow.”
The woman released the girl and pushed something into her hands and whispered something to her daughter. The girl nodded and followed out the door. Leaving behind a very cozy feeling house.
I brought her to Diagon Alley to get all of her supplies. It was quite interesting, she kept gaping at everything. I forgot what it was like to be near an inexperienced Muggleborn witch. Of course Hermione Granger was always so interested in everything that involved Hogwarts. After all the supplies were collected, we stayed at The Leaky Cauldron until it was time for school to start.
On the 1st of September I make sure all my things are together before meeting the girl downstairs. I hand her her train ticket. “This was a very different way of going about collecting you. The Headmistress wanted to try something different. Typically we just brought your letter, that usually would arrive by owl for Pureblood children. But we were losing so many children at the train station and we aren’t getting a whole lot of Muggleborns anymore, so I decided to just deliver you myself.” I like this way a bit more. It seems so much for personal.
We found a cab to drive us to the train station. As we get out of the car, a dirty scent fills my nose. I sigh lightly, i hate the Muggle world.
"Um, professor?" Her quiet voice barely makes it to my ears with all of he commotion going on.
"What is it?" I ask, taking in my surroundings, it is a bit difficult because it's chaos at the station.
“Well, it’s just that my ticket says Platform 9 ¾, but that platform doesn’t exist.”
I stopped looking around and smiled down at the girl. “Get your trunk and you’ll see.”
She pulled her trunk from the cab and hoisted it onto a cart. She pushed it through the crowd leading the girl to the entryway. i suddenly stopped in front of Platform 9 and Platform 10. I then turned around to face her. “Alright, this is where I leave you. You’re going to go straight through the wall between Platforms 9 and 10. Best to do it at a run if you’re nervous.”
“Come again?”
“Go on, the train waits for no one.” With that said I turned around and walked right through the wall.
I made my way through the crowd of people at the station. I always hate how hard it is to move through the people. Eventually I made my way to the train. I got on and opened the special professor compartment and took a seat.
I could smell sweets the entire way to the castle. I never get any, because the taste nauseates me, but I love the smell of them.
We finally make it to the station and I run off the train, careful not to bump into any students along the way. I get into the carriage that is only for professors. I try not to look at the thestrals because they bring back all the memories from all those years ago. Memories I'd rather forget.
Once my carriage makes it to the castle, I head directly to the Great Hall to prepare myself to greet the first years.
Once the older students came inside I walked into the Entrance Hall, where all the first years were. I took a deep breath to calm all the butterflies in my stomach. I look for the McMaster child and give her a small smile, to show it is ok to be a bit nervous. “Welcome to Hogwarts. The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room. The four houses are called Gryffindor, GlossaryHufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin.” I paused a minute trying to remember everything I'm supposed to say.
“Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rulebreaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours. The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting.” I watched as a couple of students' hands fly to their hair and I chuckled slightly, remembering my first year when my hair was messy and how my uniform was untucked.
"I shall return when we are ready for you. Please wait quietly." I turned around and left back into the Great Hall.
I walked swiftly over to to the headmistress. "Are the first years ready, Mr.Longbottom?" She asked me.
"Yes," I responded swiftly, scanning over all the older students settling in. When the last student sat, I walked back into the entrance hall.
"Hope to see you in Hufflepuff!" Yelled the Friar. "My old house, you know."
"Move along," I sharply spoke out. "The Sorting Ceremony is about to start." The ghosts started floating back into the walls. "Now, form a line and follow me."
All the students gathered behind me and followed me into the Great Hall. I called out so many names, all which were drowned out by the applause erupting from the tables. All the students were evenly distributed through the houses.
This was going to be an interesting year.
“Yes, Professor?” I grin up from my work.
“Headmistress, Mr.Longbottom.”
I smile a bit. “Yes, Headmistress.” I still love getting on her nerves. “Did you need something?”
“You’re supposed to collect Miss McMaster today.” She narrowed her eyes at me.
“I am aware of that. Now if that’s all, I must return to my work before I have to leave.” I turn to look back down at my work and scribble a few more words before I hear her cough slightly.
“Now, Mr.Longbottom.” I sigh and gather my papers.
“Alright, but if my lesson plans have holes in them, I’m pinning it on you.”
“Blaming the Headmistress, how noble of you. Now get a move on.”
I nod and pack everything into my bag, the scent of ink still lingering in the air. The feeling of the leather in my hand has always comforted me. “Mr.Longbottom.” I look up and see McGonagall holding my wand.
“Old habits, die hard.” I chuckled out at the Professor. I grab my wand and walk out of the Great Hall, excitement bubbling up inside of me.
I walk to the edge of the castle boundaries, right outside the Forbidden Forest. I still get nervous around here. I know what creatures run around in here, most of them are worth being afraid of. The familiar smell of fir trees hits my nose like lightning. I grip ahold of my bag tighter and wand my wand. I feel an invisible hook pulling at my navel, sucking me in to get to my destination.
I stand alone in a dark alley, listening to the cars zooming by. I take a deep breath in, calming any nerves that might be lingering. I’ve never done this before, so I feel like I have every right to be nervous. I do have to have a brave face on in front of the Muggles, especially since I am a Professor.
I pull the small bit of parchment out of my pocket to check the address. I memorize it and make my way to the small blue house on the corner of the street.
The fresh scent of grass fills my nose as I pound my fist hard against the door and a minute later a small jingle of bells sounds as a woman is pulling open the door.
“Mum, who is that?” I step up to the doorway and see a young girl sitting on the couch and I smile at her.
“Yes, hello. You must be the McMaster’s.” My voice light, happiness. All the nerves have washed away. This is the first actual mission I’ve been sent on.
“Yes. Who are you?” The woman asks as she blocks my vision of the girl.
“No need to worry.” I chuckle. No one has ever been worried around me. This is a bit new and a bit funny too. “My name is Professor Longbottom. I teach at a very special school, for very special children like your daughter.”
“My daughters are perfectly normal, thank you very much,” she spats out, emphasizing that the girl on the couch wasn’t her only one.
“You may think so, but the one on the couch is a bit more special. See, if you let me come inside. I can explain it all to you and your husband,” I lightly spoke as my face split into a wide grin.
The woman groaned, but stepped aside. This is the moment I knew that it was going to a bit difficult. She called out for her husband to come in too.
I stepped in and heard the faint sounds of toys turning off, very soon a younger version of the girl and the woman came running in. “Mummy, who is that?” She asked gazing up at me.
“Jolene, go upstairs and play. Ok?” She spoke soft and sweet to the child. Then she nodded and ran up the stairs.
Just then a man came charging in, planting himself in front of me. “What is going on here?” From up-close I could smell a musty smell as if her was smothered in smoke. I back up slightly to clear my nose.
“Please, Mr.McMaster, sit down. I will explain the reason for my visit shortly.” I spoke softly to try to soothe the man.
Sadly, it didn’t work. “You don’t tell me what to do in my own house,” he growled back.
“My apologies, Mister.” I felt the fear rising in my chest, scared at how he’d respond to me. “I just think it’s best if this matter is good and solved so we can all return to our lives.”
The man nodded and sat next to me causing the girl to dip to her left. Then she pressed a button to turn off the TV. TVs have always fascinated me because it’s like Muggles put a bunch of magical pictures together. Then the mother sat down too, causing the girl to even out a bit.
“Alright,” I looked over my words carefully before continuing. “Might as well dive right in. Miss McMaster, you are a witch.”
The woman gasped and the man gave me a menacing look, making my skin crawl. “What did you just call her?” He growled.
I sighed slightly. “A witch, Mr.McMaster. Magic exists and it runs through your daughter’s genes. Now the thing is, you didn’t know because you’ve descended from a squib.”
“A what?” He asked, interrupting me again, causing me to get a bit more angry.
“Now, Mr.McMaster. If you keep interrupting me, I cannot tell you,” I tried to use my powerful voice to shut the man up. “A squib is when a child of Pureblood magic family that can’t perform magic. But because they are a descendant of magic, it still is in their genes. The squib is then exiled from the wizarding world and forced to live upon Muggles, like yourselves. Muggles,” I spoke to the man directly. “Are those who can’t perform magic and are not a descendant of magic family that they are aware of.” I turned my attention back to the young girl. “You can do magic and I’ve come to present you your invitation to the school I work at, Hogwarts. It’s a school for witches and wizards to learn magic.”
“Magic isn’t real,” the woman muttered loud enough for it to be a whisper, but I still heard her.
I pulled my wand out of my pocket. “Reparo,” I muttered softly towards a broken vase. “Now, Miss McMaster, do you accept my invitation?”
The dad stood up before she could respond. “How do we know she can do magic? How do we know you aren’t trying to induct her into a cult?”
I looked directly at the girl. “Have you ever done something unexplainable? Have your emotions ever gotten so built up that something strange happened?”
Her eyes widened in surprise. “Y...Yes,” she stuttered. “O...Once I was angry at Jolene, she was always barging into my room without knocking, and I yelled at her. All of her toys just f...floated. I got really scared and ran. I th...thought I was a f...freak.”
“You are no freak, Miss McMaster. Now, if you’ll follow me, we can get your belongings and get you set up for school in 2 days time.”
She stood up to start walking to me but was pulled back down. “We don’t have money for her to go to school,” she spoke fast.
I chuckled lightly. “Yes, I’m sure. There is a special vault at our bank for Muggleborns who can’t afford to go. See your daughter is special and we want to help her grow.”
The woman released the girl and pushed something into her hands and whispered something to her daughter. The girl nodded and followed out the door. Leaving behind a very cozy feeling house.
I brought her to Diagon Alley to get all of her supplies. It was quite interesting, she kept gaping at everything. I forgot what it was like to be near an inexperienced Muggleborn witch. Of course Hermione Granger was always so interested in everything that involved Hogwarts. After all the supplies were collected, we stayed at The Leaky Cauldron until it was time for school to start.
On the 1st of September I make sure all my things are together before meeting the girl downstairs. I hand her her train ticket. “This was a very different way of going about collecting you. The Headmistress wanted to try something different. Typically we just brought your letter, that usually would arrive by owl for Pureblood children. But we were losing so many children at the train station and we aren’t getting a whole lot of Muggleborns anymore, so I decided to just deliver you myself.” I like this way a bit more. It seems so much for personal.
We found a cab to drive us to the train station. As we get out of the car, a dirty scent fills my nose. I sigh lightly, i hate the Muggle world.
"Um, professor?" Her quiet voice barely makes it to my ears with all of he commotion going on.
"What is it?" I ask, taking in my surroundings, it is a bit difficult because it's chaos at the station.
“Well, it’s just that my ticket says Platform 9 ¾, but that platform doesn’t exist.”
I stopped looking around and smiled down at the girl. “Get your trunk and you’ll see.”
She pulled her trunk from the cab and hoisted it onto a cart. She pushed it through the crowd leading the girl to the entryway. i suddenly stopped in front of Platform 9 and Platform 10. I then turned around to face her. “Alright, this is where I leave you. You’re going to go straight through the wall between Platforms 9 and 10. Best to do it at a run if you’re nervous.”
“Come again?”
“Go on, the train waits for no one.” With that said I turned around and walked right through the wall.
I made my way through the crowd of people at the station. I always hate how hard it is to move through the people. Eventually I made my way to the train. I got on and opened the special professor compartment and took a seat.
I could smell sweets the entire way to the castle. I never get any, because the taste nauseates me, but I love the smell of them.
We finally make it to the station and I run off the train, careful not to bump into any students along the way. I get into the carriage that is only for professors. I try not to look at the thestrals because they bring back all the memories from all those years ago. Memories I'd rather forget.
Once my carriage makes it to the castle, I head directly to the Great Hall to prepare myself to greet the first years.
Once the older students came inside I walked into the Entrance Hall, where all the first years were. I took a deep breath to calm all the butterflies in my stomach. I look for the McMaster child and give her a small smile, to show it is ok to be a bit nervous. “Welcome to Hogwarts. The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room. The four houses are called Gryffindor, GlossaryHufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin.” I paused a minute trying to remember everything I'm supposed to say.
“Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rulebreaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours. The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting.” I watched as a couple of students' hands fly to their hair and I chuckled slightly, remembering my first year when my hair was messy and how my uniform was untucked.
"I shall return when we are ready for you. Please wait quietly." I turned around and left back into the Great Hall.
I walked swiftly over to to the headmistress. "Are the first years ready, Mr.Longbottom?" She asked me.
"Yes," I responded swiftly, scanning over all the older students settling in. When the last student sat, I walked back into the entrance hall.
"Hope to see you in Hufflepuff!" Yelled the Friar. "My old house, you know."
"Move along," I sharply spoke out. "The Sorting Ceremony is about to start." The ghosts started floating back into the walls. "Now, form a line and follow me."
All the students gathered behind me and followed me into the Great Hall. I called out so many names, all which were drowned out by the applause erupting from the tables. All the students were evenly distributed through the houses.
This was going to be an interesting year.