Professor Burbage and the Great Do-Over

Quite The Stunner

For these first few weeks, Charity was close to declaring Hogwarts as the greatest letdown of her life. Classes would have been great, if it were not for snooty Ravenclaws constantly answering questions before anyone got the chance to; Gryffindors constantly disrupting class with loud laughter and chatter (except in Transfiguration apparently); and Slytherins constantly making snide comments about Hufflepuff… and about Charity in particular. She had already earned a weekend of detention and a loss of twenty points for decking that horrid Lestrange boy when the Hufflepuff and Slytherin first years found themselves walking to lunch together, even though he had started it by shoving Cresswell and calling him a mudblood. Whatever the reason however, the Hufflepuffs were annoyed with her for the points loss. Alice even had to take her aside and lecture her on the use of Muggle violence and turning the other cheek.

At least her detention (scrubbing cauldrons for Professor Slughorn while he was hosting a Slug Club gathering) was made bearable when Regulus snuck in and entertained with her lurid descriptions of the hexes a second year student he had "hired" had put on the Lestrange's bed. He could not make it for the rest of her detentions but while it was boring, at least she knew that Lestrange had been punished.

When the Friday before Halloween finally rolled around, Charity was beside herself with excitement. Finally, something good about this place! Fideline had told her so much about how Hogwarts went all out for the occasion with live bats and the ghosts' synchronized flying and huge pumpkins and the Feast. Charity was not ashamed to admit it, but the Feast is what she was looking forward to the most. Candy and food, all in one sitting! Who wouldn't be excited?

Regulus had been amused and joked that she came to Hogwarts to learn, not to eat. For once, she smiled and laughed along. Because nothing could take away her anticipation. Charity definitely was looking forward to the weekend.


For as long as Charity knew him, Severus Snape was a rather ugly man. He was not really bad-looking but whatever ugliness that festered on the inside of most people seemed to have had manifested in his appearance. The angry, stringy slip of a child arguing with the healthier group of boys was almost unrecognizable as the self-assured Potions Master if it were not for the familiar limp, greasy hair and the hooked nose that was too big for his face.

"Sirius!" Regulus suddenly said in a fearful voice. Charity glanced sharply at him and then back at the group. Now that she looked closely, she could make out the boy with a striking resemblance to Regulus. Sirius Black was smirking at something the boy next to him was saying (it took a couple of blinks to assure Charity she was not looking at Harry Potter but at the boy who'd eventually be his father). Snape seemed to be engrossed completely in arguing with Potter that he did not notice Sirius raising his wand until the boy began to say his spell. But Charity did, and then she did something incredibly stupid. Her wand was raised before she even realized she had it in her hand.

"STUPEFY!" she shouted, and a jet of red light shot out of her wand and hit its target. Sirius Black flew right over the boys' heads, and the remaining three Gryffindors swiveled around to gape at his landing. Severus on the other hand, started running towards her and waving frantically. He might have been shouting something too, but Charity was too stunned to hear it. I just Stunned Sirius Black, she thought, panic beginning to bubble up.

"Bloody hell, Charity!" Regulus shouted. "What have you done!?" Charity was vaguely aware that he was pulling at her sleeve but she was frozen in place. Just what had she done? I hexed Sirius Black, that's what I've done!

Potter seemed to snap out of his trance and with a shout he began throwing spells. Charity thought it was rather unsporting to shoot at someone's back, but then a bright steam of light flew right past her glasses. Potter wasn't flinging Stunners at Snape, he was aiming at her!

Suddenly Snape was stopping and then he turned around! Potter clearly was so surprised by Snape's sudden about face that he stopped his attack, giving Snape the chance to throw his spells.

Snape was firing curses, some Charity was certain a normal twelve year old should not know, at machine-gun speed, leaving Potter unable to fire back when he had to dodge them. The other two boys, obviously the pre-werewolf Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew, were edging away from the fight, dragging the unconscious Sirius Black with them. Charity and Regulus stood there staring at the two boys dueling, completely dumbfounded.

At last Snape hit Potter with a particularly nasty curse that made the boy scream and then bewilderingly start ripping his shoes off. Charity did not get to see what Snape's curse did as the boy himself grabbed her elbow, Regulus by the collar, and then dragged them off to some deeper part of the dungeons.


"What on earth were you thinking?!"

The three Slytherins sat with their heads bowed before Professor McGonagall's desk. After dragging Regulus and Charity to some deep part of the dungeons, Snape then seemed to change his mind and led them on a jaunt around the castle, which would have been fun if it had been their choice and had Snape not tersely informed them that Potter and company would retaliate if they ever caught up. They had all been exhausted from the continuous walking and paranoia when the future Mrs. Weasley, Molly Prewett, had found them skulking around the Charms corridor and marched them all straight to Professor McGonagall.

"Hexing two fellow students and skipping your classes… do you three realize what you've done?" McGonagall ranted.

Charity really wanted to answer, to tell McGonagall that the reason she hexed Sirius Black was to stop him from hexing Snape, but her former colleague did not seem to be in a listening state. Her mood was foul enough with Professor Slughorn being late.

At last there was a knock at the door and then Slughorn poked his head in. "Terribly sorry about being late," he declared jovially as he hefted his incredible bulk into the office. McGonagall was not impressed, her tone said as much as she explained the situation. Slughorn's cheery expression faded into a thoughtful one.

"That sounds quite serious Minerva," he said finally.

"Of course it is, Horace! Two of your students attacked two of mine with no provocation, and then they caused undue worrying for their professors when they failed to appear for their classes for the rest of the day! And Madam Pomfrey is still trying to restore Mr. Potter's toenails to a normal length."

"I'm sure they have good reason – "

"If they did, they have not volunteered it," the old woman growled.

Charity stared at her. "You didn't give us the chance – " she started to say but Slughorn spoke over her.

"And do you have a suitable punishment for them?" She had already taken thirty points each from Charity and Snape for the actual fighting and ten from Regulus for failing to prevent the whole thing. What more punishment does she want?!

McGonagall drummed her wand against her desk as she thought, her eyes flicking between Charity, Regulus and Snape. "Detention every day for one week, effective from Saturday. And you shall serve it during dinner time."

Charity could not help it. "What?!" she burst out after a quick calculation. "But we'll miss the Halloween Feast on Tuesday!"

"That's not fair!" Severus added, a little more quietly. "Potter was throwing hexes at us too. And they were going to come after us." Regulus looked faintly ill. Charity opened her mouth again but McGonagall shot her a stern look.

"One more outburst from you, Miss Burbage, and it'll be another week. Is that clear." It was not a question and Charity had no choice but to nod mutely.

McGonagall dismissed them with a disapproving sniff and Slughorn led them out. Charity followed numbly, unable to process the unfairness of it all. McGonagall had always seemed impartial in her judgments but she had not even allowed them a chance to explain. Charity was so far in her wallowing that she did not notice that Slughorn had already brought them to the common room entrance. Regulus had to pull her sleeve (and Snape yanked her collar) to stop her from walking straight into the wall. Rubbing her throat, she glared at Snape and he glared back so fiercely that she lowered her gaze first.

Meanwhile, Professor Slughorn was looking at the three of them with a thoughtful air. Appearing to come to some sort of decision, he turned to Snape and inquired, "So may I ask as to why you stunned Mr. Black the Gryffindor, Mr. Snape?" Was it her or did Slughorn seem to be trying to keep a smile at bay?

Snape frowned and jerked his head irritably at Charity. "She did it, sir. I was simply having a… disagreement with Potter. The next thing I knew, Black was knocked out."

"And why did you do it, Miss Burbage?" he asked, surprised. It was obvious the old professor was having trouble believing that such a harmless looking first year was capable of starting a fight and she really could not blame him. She could not believe she had done it too.

"He was going to hex Snape, sir," she explained. "I saw him pulling his wand out while Snape was distracted with arguing with Potter."

"It's true, sir," Regulus added. "My brother was about to say a spell while his friend kept Snape occupied." Slughorn's eyebrows rose high up to his hairline. Clearly the word of a pureblood from a well-known family was enough to convince him.

"And you got him with a Stunning spell, yes?" She admitted that she used a Stunning spell and to her surprise, the Potions Master smiled. "Well, Minerva's already taken points from you two, but take twenty points to Slytherin, Miss Burbage." At their disbelieving expressions, Slughorn clarified, "For demonstrating exceptional house solidarity. And another twenty points to Mr. Snape, for excellent dueling." And with that he waddled off.

"Well… that happened," Regulus remarked airily. He and Charity glanced at each other and then burst out laughing. Snape stared at them with bewildered disbelief.

"Charity," Regulus managed to say before dissolving into giggles.

"Ye- yes?"

"Wha- what in Merlin just happened?"

"I stunned your brother, lost us almost sixty points, and then impressed Slughorn so much he awarded us more points! In a nutshell, I guess." Charity turned to Snape with a grin. "Am I right, Snape?" But this was Severus Snape – for the moment, she forgot about the past (or is it future) and was ready to make a new friend.

Snape barked the password to the wall. He shot them a disgusted look before stalking off to his customary armchair.

Charity could feel her face get warm at the snub but Regulus merely shrugged and grinned at Charity. "Well, he was amazing. Listen, Sirius is my brother, but that was quite the Stunner."

Charity really should not have done, a grown woman hexing a child, but in the face of his smile she could not help it. "Yeah, it really was."


A/N In 1972, Halloween fell on a Tuesday. As to why Charity thinks young Lupin here is "pre-werewolf", she doesn't know he has been a werewolf since he was little, she just thought he was bitten as an adult – 1972 was the year the Marauders found out he was a werewolf anyway.

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