Chapter Text
They say that even a broken clock is right twice a day, and Minerva McGonagall liked to think this saying applied rather aptly to one Theodore Nott. While he commonly came out with absurdities, he had been correct about two things. For one, the exercise she concocted was absolutely designed to be much like dating. She had been so saddened watching the heartbreak and trauma her students had endured the previous years and she liked to think that nothing could mend that quite like young love. Secondly, Theo Nott was her favorite student, though she’d never tell Hermione Granger that. In fact, he was quite possibly her favorite student of all her years teaching. Other than Sirius Black, perhaps. Though, she’d never tell Harry Potter that for, well, multiple reasons now.
As the NEWT students filed back into the Great Hall to await the arrival of the rest of the school, she was happy to see that old prejudices had been forgotten and new bonds had formed. She was especially pleased to see Draco Malfoy covertly steal a kiss from Hermione Granger. Minerva never claimed to have the Sight, and in fact thought most of Divination to be absolute bicorn shit, but she had always sensed a spark between the two. Over the years, she had definitely caught Mr. Malfoy’s forlorn looks at Ms. Granger when he suspected the witch wasn’t looking.
The bar was incredibly low, but she felt certain she was going to give her students their best year at Hogwarts. Perhaps they could create enough happy moments during their final year so that they could one day look back on their alma mater with fond memories at last.