The Witch's Mates (on pause)

Minerva McGonagall

Minerva McGonagall had spent many of her years in the comfort of Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry, it was the place she heard stories about from her parents as a child and she found herself counting down the years until her eleventh birthday for then she would receive her letter of acceptance into the prestigious school. When the day came for her to leave her manor and start her new journey at Hogwarts, she was excited but extremely nervous because despite all the stories she had been told, she knew her parents only told her the positives and not the bad things that may occur at the castle. Unfortunately, it wasn't long until she had witnessed the first signs of house rivalry and what was worse, it was between her house, Gryffindor and the Slytherins, who has had an on going feud for centuries. However, she made it clear to anyone who questioned her, that house rivalries weren't important in her eyes and it was quite frankly, ridiculous. Her morals were well respected between most students in all years but, of course, there were a few that thought her unloyal to her house because she refused to fight but she simply ignored them and kept her focus on her education, which was the most important thing to her.

As the years went on, her magic increased along with her intelligence, she made friends in all four houses and became a quidditch star, taking the win for her house in most matches, though she did receive quite a few injuries. In her last year at Hogwarts, she became head girl which, according to the professors, was an easy decision along with completing her animagus training, becoming a cat which heightened her senses as human also. After she graduated, she took up a job at the ministry but found after two years, it wasn't the place for her and returned to Hogwarts where she was appointed the head of Gryffindor house and the transfiguration professor. During the first wizarding war, she was not part of the order of the phoenix but did help the ministry of magic resistance through spying on the death eaters and bringing crucial information on their activities. Eventually, she became the deputy headmistress along with keeping her other two roles.

Throughout her time as a professor at Hogwarts, she wasn't ashamed to admit she had her favourites but not once did she allow that to cloud her judgement or stop her from dishing out punishments if necessary. James Fleamont Potter was her prodigy when it came to transfiguration and despite being a complete trouble maker with his group of friends, who called themselves the marauders, she had a soft spot for him and watched as he grew up from being a somewhat spoilt bully to a well respected head boy who cared about and guided the younger years. Truth be told, she had a soft spot for the whole group of marauders, some more than others but nonetheless, they were her lion cubs and she tried to give them as much guidance as you can to growing lads who's minds tend to wander. Lily Evans was another that she adored, from her amazing intelligence to her fiery personality and from her first year, she somehow knew she would end up with James Potter, despite the many times she rejected the poor boy, who thought up many dramatic ways to gain the red-heads attention.

Their deaths were incredibly difficult for her as it felt she lost two children, along with Sirius Black being deemed a traitor to the order and the reason the Potters had been killed, leaving their then one year old daughter, orphaned and alone. Remus Lupin, who was a brilliant boy with such a soft but protective soul was unfortunately not able to take guardianship of little Raven Potter because of the laws against magical creatures, which meant as a werewolf, he had limited to no rights at all. She had always thought the circumstances between Sirius' capture and the death of Peter Pettigrew was odd but Albus Dumbledore had reassured her that there was a great deal of evidence against him. She was mature enough to admit that when word got out many years later that in fact, Sirius was innocent, she broke down crying in shame for ever thinking that someone as loyal to his friends as he was, would ever betray them to the dark lord.

When September 1st 1991 came about, she was nervous but excited. She had always regretted allowing Albus to leave Raven Potter with her mothers muggle sister but at the time, things were chaotic and according to Albus, the only way for the poor girl to be safe was to be in a home where someone shared the same blood as Lily Potter nee Evans. Albus was a smart and powerful man, and she found herself not really questioning his motives until a few years later. When her eyes first fell on Raven, she was in shock at how similar she looked to her father, except for her eyes which glowed emerald, much more bright than her mothers and yet, Raven's held pain that no child at the age of eleven should have.