Meow!

“Tonks, sit down or I will use your first name.” What Rolanda Hooch really wanted was the girl’s attention, and threatening use of the Dreaded Name was a sure way to get it. And if the kid would stop cursing, that’d be nice.

“But you don’t get it, Madam Hooch! I wasn’t impersonating Professor McGonagall to steal test answers! We haven’t even got a written exam in Transfiguration this year! Sixth years never do! I was impersonating her to see if I could become an animal by mimicking an Animagus, and then Charlie thought it was funny when my voice came out of her mouth, so we thought it would be funny if I walked down the hall and spoke only in ‘meows’! I WASN’T CHEATING ON ANYTHING!!” Tonks had stopped pacing for this outburst; she now returned to wearing a hole into the rug with a vengeance. Rolanda conjured chai tea, a new favorite of hers. She sipped until Tonks finally sat down.

“Thank you, Tonks. You are here for impersonating a teacher, yes. I know you were not cheating, but Professor Snape needs more convincing than I do. While you live as a Ravenclaw, your punishment is solely the discretion of Professor Sprout, and she has kicked you back to me because of the nature of the offense. Are we clear on why we are here?” Rolanda pushed an empty mug towards the still-seething girl. Tonks was angry enough to have lost control of her abilities, which meant that her hair was a very tangled mousy brown, hacked at random lengths. But she still took a mug and filled it from the teapot, gripping it hard enough to almost shatter it. “I want you to take pause and think about how Professor McGonagall might feel about being impersonated and then mewled. Yes, everyone knows she is an Animagi after his or her third year here, but I am certain that she has never conversed only in ‘meows’ when in her human form. If I were to disguise myself as you and attend your classes and break up with Charlie by announcing that I had just snogged Professor Snape in the bathroom, would you be upset?”

Tonks lost all color in her face. Her hair remained mousy brown, but her anger had obviously dissipated. “You wouldn’t… Gross!” she breathed.

Rolanda smiled warmly. “Now take those feelings and step into Professor McGonagall’s shoes.” Rolanda stood up and came around to the other side of the desk. “Minerva needs to feel respected in her workplace. You know as well as I do that she never allows herself to be seen as anything but her best, even by her own house. You have shamed and embarrassed her. This has nothing to do with cheating. It is about being a good person and using your abilities responsibly.”

Tonks set down her mug, having never even sipped at it. “What should I do? I didn’t even think that the professor would care. Half the time I forget that the professors care what we do.” Rolanda smacked the table with her hand, making a cracking noise.

“Tonks, don’t be stupid. Of course the teachers care about their students, or we wouldn’t be here. Most of us don’t care if you mock us. But Professor McGonagall does, and I leave it up to you to decide reparations. How should you correct your error in how you treated Professor McGonagall?”

Tonks sighed, knowing exactly what she had to do. “I need to apologize to Professor McGonagall. I need to ask her for my detentions, as she would be the person most able to decide what I deserve. I need to serve the detention with no complaints or wallowing. And I need to tell the people who saw me meowing that it was me and not the professor.” She hung her head, shamed and corrected. She stood up and recited a Metamorphagi rule. “I know better than to steal the faces of others.”