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Below are the 12 most recent journal entries recorded in
mmcgonagall's InsaneJournal:
| Saturday, October 8th, 2011 | |
| 8:17 pm | OWL POST: Potions for Her, Diagon Alley, London Mrs. Fuddlepenny, I am returning the remainder of the hair-coloring potion you sold me last week. As your records should indicate, I had ordered my customary auburn potion. You may imagine my surprise when your potion left my hair glowing a bright, burnished bronze. Whatever changes you introduced into your potion are clearly not an improvement, and I request a full refund immediately. I also suggest that you revert to your original recipe, although I doubt I will be ordering it again. Yours sincerely, Minerva McGonagall |
| Friday, April 1st, 2011 | |
| 11:44 pm | From the diary of Minerva McGonagall It's a trick of the light today, I suppose, but for some reason my hair looks almost . . . blond, instead of red. Like mother's hair used to be. I wonder if that's how I'll go gray, finally: a sort of blond? There are worse ways to age, I suppose. Better than losing my hair entirely, like father. I don't much like myself blond, though. I might have to investigate hair-coluring potions after all these years of avoiding them. Something to sleep on. |
| Friday, October 8th, 2010 | |
| 6:00 pm | Owl Post: Pomona Sprout Pomona, I'm going to be a bit late meeting you for dinner, I'm afraid. The temperature dropped suddenly overnight, almost as if Someone had suddenly remembered that it's October, and the unseasonably warm weather must not be allowed to linger, naturally. I've spent the afternoon stripping off the Cooling Charms from the cottage, and making sure it's all snug: it's supposed to get quite chilly this evening. Although I hope my spellwork suffices. I dug out that nice wool scarf that Severus gave me for my birthday last year (although he would buy a green one, you know) and thought I'd celebrate the start of autumn by wearing it. After I fixed the color, of course; that shade of green makes me look bilious. But no matter how many times I tried the coloring charm, the scarf stayed green. Perverse little object---I've quite lost patience with it. The third time I tried it, it suddenly sprouted a silver fringe, too. I suppose Severus charmed it to resist me. That would be just like him. At any rate, I'll be there in about an hour, my dear. Minerva |
| Thursday, October 8th, 2009 | |
| 5:43 pm | Owl post: Albus Dumbledore Albus, I thought I'd send round an update on disbursals I've approved from the new scholarship fund set up by Draco Malfoy. To date, fifty-three families have applied for assistance, and I have approved forty-nine of those (four families' circumstances were known to me as being rather affluent, and I judged that they were simply trying to see what they could get out of it. I asked for further supporting documentation in such cases, which wasn't forthcoming from any of them). The forty-nine families who clearly did need some help have a total of 117 children between them. We have approved disburals for tuition assistance at Beauxbatons for 38 children, and almost all of the remainder are being tutored at home. The parents of five children, however, opted to enroll their children at the Salem Witches' Academy. I am sure they'd be better off being tutored at home, American educational standards being what they are, but I approved the tuition subsidies nonetheless. I also wanted to solicit your opinion on a small personal matter, as well. Like many of us, I left Hogwarts on short notice. I was able to secure all of my personal effects, but I realized later that I'd forgotten to take care of Walpurga (Peeve's older sister, you know), who is normally kept locked in a trunk in the Gryffindor HoH quarters. She's infinitely worse than her brother, and I liked to keep her close by, so as to keep an eye on the trunk. You'll recall how malignant her sense of humor is; a pity that she's so much brighter than her brother. At any rate, she's clever enough that magical wards alone won't do, for the long term (at least, I assume she could get round those, given enough time). So besides some heavy wards, there's the lock, a very heavy Muggle one, spelled to remain rusted shut all year round. The spell's a good one, if I do say so, except it's rather shaky on Halloween. I'd forgotten all about Walburga, as I said, and then when I did remember the matter, I was sure that Umbridge couldn't last a month. But now Halloween approaches. Do you think we ought to do anything about it? As ever, Minerva |
| Sunday, September 20th, 2009 | |
| 1:39 pm | OWL POST: Horace Slughorn, the Athenaeum, London Horace, I'm writing to ask whether you might still have the account book for the school scholarship fund in your possession, since it's possible that in the rush of recent events, you hadn't yet gotten around to returning it to the new administration. Albus has asked me to take charge of dispersing payments from a fund that he and Draco are setting up to assist families who might choose to withdraw their children from Hogwarts. Given the current circumstances, they anticipate that many might want to educate their children elsewhere, but also assume that quite a few might not be able to afford the expense of tutors or tuition at Beauxbatons (which, I've heard, doesn't have the endowment that Hogwarts does, and thus charges a higher tuition rate). The fund they're organizing will help make up the difference in expenses, for those families who need the help. I oversaw the school scholarship fund for many years back when I was deputy head, and I do have a good idea of which families are really in need of such support. But it would be helpful to have a recent set of accounts to consult, since no doubt there were some new students entering the school over the last few years whose family circumstances I am unfamiliar with. Certainly, it would give me a list of those who are probably most in need, and we could proceed from there. Perhaps you could make a copy of last year's accounts, and send it on? As ever, Minerva |
| Saturday, September 12th, 2009 | |
| 11:10 pm | Conversation at the Three Broomsticks *the clink of a glass set back down on a tabletop* Well, since you're offering, dear. I'll have another, certainly. |
| Thursday, August 27th, 2009 | |
| 9:44 am | Owl Post to the Hogwarts Board of Governors To the Board of Governors: I am writing in order to submit my resignation, effective immediately. I have served on the Hogwarts faculty since 1955 (with one hiatus) and I had hoped to celebrate a centenary of teaching there: it would have given me greater pleasure than I can express to have a plaque in the "Hall of Hundred Year Faculty" (as that part of the castle is informally known, among staff). But the appointment of Dolores Umbridge has forced me to cut my career at Hogwarts short. Dolores Umbridge almost destroyed Hogwarts during the few months that she ruled there, last time. She orchestrated physical and magical attacks on faculty and staff, including myself. I was hospitalized for some weeks after the attack on me that she oversaw, and she never sent so much as a note of apology. And her actions during the war were such that she was fortunate to escape Azkatraz. I am stunned that the Board would consider letting her even enter the castle again, let alone appoint her as Headmistress. I have removed my effects from the castle already. Since I qualified for a fifty years' service pension some time ago, please arrange for this to be paid into my Gringotts' account. I trust that payment can begin on Sept. 1st. Yours sincerely, Minerva McGonagall |
| Friday, February 27th, 2009 | |
| 9:30 pm | Conversation in Pomona Sprout's Quarters *a knock and the sound of a door opening* Ah, there you are! Oh, come in, come in. I've got a good fire going. |
| Wednesday, February 25th, 2009 | |
| 10:15 pm | Owl Post:: Molly Weasley Molly, If you and Arthur don't already have plans for tomorrow evening, you're very welcome to drop by for a drink after dinner. It will do me good to see you both again, and I'd very much like to catch up on your news. I'm sorry to say that Ronald hasn't contacted me since our last exchange. You did talk to him, I hope? I hope he's dropped this odd notion. If you think it might help to reassure him about my identity, you're welcome to bring him along tomorrow. Til then, Minerva |
| Sunday, February 22nd, 2009 | |
| 9:01 pm | Owl Post: Arthur and Molly Weasley Arthur and Molly, I need to open with an apology for not writing or flooing sooner, I think. As Pomona told you, I think, it's taken a couple of weeks for me to recover and get used to being . . . not in my cat self. I do feel much more like myself now, however, and hope that you'll stop by and see me when you have a chance. Or perhaps we could meet for a drink at Rosmerta's, when you've got a free evening. How have you both been keeping? Are you both well? I'm writing today for a less happy reason than to arrange a reunion, however. Your son Ron came to see me today. After thinking it over, I thought you should know about the visit. Ron was not himself. Not well at all, I would judge. He refused to believe that I was myself, and insisted that I was some sort of impostor, there for nefarious purposes. I did humour him to the extent of allowing him to pose a question that only I could answer (AND answered it), but he was still not satisfied. He came very close to threatening me, and I had to leave the room and ward my door. What happened to Ron while I was gone? This was not the young man I taught and worked with, and I was sorry to see him in such a state. He looked exhausted, and was At any rate, I wanted to let you know about it. If there's anything I can do to help, please let me know. And for the love of God, can you please reassure him that I am who I say I am? God knows what he'd do if he met me on the street in Hogsmeade. Take care, and let me know when you want to go out for that drink, Minerva |
| Saturday, February 21st, 2009 | |
| 8:45 pm | Private Post Ah. It's hard to get the knack of using this keyboard again. Just another step in re-starting my life again, I suppose. Back in my seventh year when I was first learning to transform (odd how I can recall that so clearly, when what happened just two years ago, before I was injured, is still . . . hard to pin down), Prof. Dunwiddy once warned me against staying in my other self too long. "The longer you stay, the harder it can be to come back," she said. Dunwiddy's Animagus form was . . . . a goose, I think it was. Yes, a Canada goose. Looking back, I can imagine that she must have found it quite difficult to stop flying, gliding high above the hills . . . and come back down to grade another stack of essays. When she could have been migrating south for the winter. At any rate, the day I finally managed to transform into my cat self for the first time, Dunwiddy presented me with a copy of Simon Peasegood's On the Origins and Nature of the Animagus Transformation. Peasegood had a notation that some wizards simply disappeared and weren't heard of again. He speculated that perhaps they became so absorbed by their other selves that they forgot how to transform back. I suspect it was a good deal simpler than that. Perhaps they just didn't want to return. After a certain period of time, it's just so much work to come back again, you know. I'll ask Sirius if he has a copy of Peasegood's book that he could let me have for a bit. It would be well to read it again, I think. It's extraordinary how much more complicated it is to be human again. Pomona's been wonderful to me, allowing me to stay in her quarters with my kittens, and come and go as I like. And Horace was kind enough to file the forms for me to file with the Ministry to prove that I wasn't dead, after all. Sophia Lupin apparently lied, and said she'd seen my body, so that was a little complicated but Horace managed it all for me but the signing of the forms. Of course, that's one one part of it. I still can't quite face trying to unravel what's happened to all my property in probate. I suppose I'll just ask Robert and William to simply return my jewelry, books, china and such. Of course, there's still the cottage. We'll need to get my name put back on the deed. Eh. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Perhaps I'll take that up next week. This week, I'm trying to think about teaching again. I did it for decades, and I don't know why it feels so odd to think about taking that on again. I look at some of my old lesson plans, and even though it's my handwriting, it feels like reading something written by someone else. It was much easier being a cat. Ah, but I find that I can't quite let this life go, though. Not now that I've got it back. And not after Pomona's gone to such efforts. The typing has come back to me quite well, it seems. And now, I want to find out where my kittens have got to. |
| Saturday, January 31st, 2009 | |
| 8:37 pm | Pomona Sprout's Hogwarts quarters monitoring charm *sound of kittens meowing, and the rustle of fabric* *coughs* "Oh, my head." *a pause* "Where? . . . This is . . . Pomona's bed?" *bed creaks* "Pomona?" *sound of kittens meowing* "I'm coming . . , Mama's here . . . " *purring* |