A/N

Okay, okay…I know, I did say that I wouldn't be updating until next weekend…but wouldn't you know it, I just couldn't concentrate on what I was supposed to do – assignments – and instead had my mind full of…future ideas for this story?

Sigh. Bad timing on my imagination's part, I suppose!

Well, anyway, here's the second part to the previous scene!

Recap:

Oh Minerva, she thought, glumly, as she stared at the neatly wrapped package on the desk, he's right. Poppy was right. You have been acting like a coward. A Gryffindor, acting like a coward! That is just unheard of!

She forcefully put down thoughts of a certain Gryffindor student of hers, who had in the end, turned into a coward when he betrayed his friends to their deaths.

Damn that Severus; he is too smart for his own good!

Chapter Fourteen: Tales and Brownies

Molly stopped as she and McGonagall entered the well-lit and rather cheery living-room from where the loud noises seemed to be coming from.

They were immediately greeted by the laughter of – as a quick glance revealed – the Weasley children and Tonks.

"You better believe it, boys – oh, and girls – because it happened alright!" Surprised at the almost-cheery voice, McGonagall stared straight ahead and saw that it was Sirius, who was seated on one of the green-cushioned armchairs.

And looking better than the day she had seen him.

"You're serious?"

Lupin, who was sharing the couch with Bill and Tonks, groaned out loud.

"Oh no, Ron-"

"-Of course I'm Sirius. Who in Merlin's name did you think I was?" Even Arthur Weasley, who was seated on another one of the armchairs, was forced to shake his head in amusement.

"Don't worry about it Ron," said Remus, even though he was smiling, "We've had to put up with this torturous, lacking sense of humor for seven long years."

"I resent that!" said Sirius. He huffed. "You guys would have been lost without my abilities-"

"-What abilities? The ones that had you serving detention every other day?"

"No, I was talking about my abilities that-"

"-Made you the most hated person in Filch' life?"

"Excuse me, but I do believe that that was just an act. My dear buddy Argus was actually an admirer of my work – but he did have a reputation to uphold, you know, so he had to make it seem as though he hated me."

"Oh, I see. It was all an act…"

"Yup."

"I don't know what you're grinning about, Sirius. I for one would be horrified if I knew that Argus Filch was a secret admirer of mine…"

Ginny had practically shoved her fist in her mouth to prevent herself from laughing, although none of the others in the living room seemed to care about proper behavior, as they roared in laughter at the expression on Sirius' face.

Tonks was slumped down in the couch.

"I – c-can't – breathe –" she gasped, eyes watering. "P-please stop -!"

"Yeah, Remus, stop," agreed Sirius. "I don't want you killing off the few decent family members I have…"

Remus rolled his eyes at his friend, and Molly took the opportunity to make their presence known.

"Look who came to visit," she said, as she smiled brightly in the elder witch's direction – earning her a dark glare from said witch as all heads turned in her direction.

Is it just me, or did the atmosphere just…get slightly dampened?

"Good evening," she said, nodding her head in greeting to everyone. "I…trust everyone is well?" Oh, nice Minerva, very nice…can you get any more boring

"We are all very well, milady, but what of-"

"-yourself? 'Tis our sincerest wish that ye are-"

"-in good spirits. We would have ye know, that nothing-"

"-warms our heart more than seeing ye-"

"-happy and in good health!"

Molly Weasley shot her sons a dark glare as they stood from their places on the carpeted floor – beside the fireplace – and half-bowed in the dark-haired witch's direction.

Tonks, Billy, Ron, Remus, Ginny and Arthur were doing their very best to avoid laughing.

"Very good, Mr. Weasley and Mr. Weasley; it seems as though you have quite a good grasp of 17th century verbal communication," said McGonagall, as Sirius snickered. "Something wrong, Mr. Black?"

Sirius snickered again.

"You were the one who started it," he explained. "They were just following your example."

McGonagall raised her eyebrows.

"So if I were to throw myself off a cliff, they would follow my example and do the same?"

Fred and George looked horrified at the thought.

"But, Professor, of course!" exclaimed Fred.

"Yeah, of course we'd throw ourselves off the cliff as well – immediately after you, if it is possible," added George.

"Oh?"

"Of course, Professor. Someone's got to catch you after all. We wouldn't want our dear Head of House to end up with her guts splattered all over some uninhabited land now, would we?" asked Sirius, smirking when he saw the glare the dark-haired woman sent him.

Shaking her head, she turned her attention to Remus, who was looking amused.

"Albus wanted me to give this to you," she said, walking over towards him with the package held out.

Somewhat surprised, the brunet took the parcel and stared down at it for a moment, before shrugging. He most certainly didn't want to open it in front of everyone…did he?

"Er, thank you, Minerva," said Remus, smiling up at the elder witch, who just shrugged. "Oh, why don't you have a seat? We were just…entertaining the children-"

"-Hey! Who're you calling children?!"

"Yeah! We'll have you know that we are of age now!"

"Boys!" exclaimed Molly Weasley, "Is that how you speak to your elders?"

Ginny snickered at the expressions on her brothers' faces, even as Remus shook his head at Molly, indicating that they did nothing wrong.

As she watched the people gathered in the living room, McGonagall was…surprised to feel the pang in her heart when she realized that she was…not exactly welcome in the group.

These students – present and former – wouldn't want her company; she was a 'party-pooper' was she not?

I do not belong here; I should have known.

She sighed.

"Well, I should be heading back to the castle," she said, clearing her throat to catch everyone's attention again. "I hope…you have a good night. I will probably be seeing you at the next meeting." With a nod of the head, she turned on her heel. "Oh, Molly, there's no need to-"

"-Fred, George," started Sirius, "have you ever gone for the annual Halloween feast dressed up as Professor McGonagall?"

Remus, glancing at the woman, saw her back tense, and shot his friend a questioning glance – but of course, Sirius chose to ignore him.

"W-what?!" exclaimed Bill, his eyes wide, even as Arthur and Molly both stared at Sirius. Fred and George were staring at the man with their jaws dropped open.

"Okay, I'll take that as a no," he said, grinning. "Boys, your stifled imagination pains me. Honestly, why did you never think of that before?"

"You mean – you mean you did? Dress up as Mc – Professor McGonagall and all?" spluttered Fred.

"Yep; the emerald green robes, the pointy witch's hat, the boots, the glasses, the scowl – everything."

"Oh that's bloody bril---" Ron, seeing that McGonagall was still with them, although with her back turned to them, stopped abruptly.

It probably wasn't a good idea to aggravate his Head of House – especially when he had three more years of schooling left.

"Remus went as Flitwick, if I remember correctly…" Remus nodded, his lips turning upward in a – reluctant – smile.

"We also had a Slughorn and a Dumbledore too, I believe…" He tactfully, left out naming the other…two, not wanting to dampen the good mood his friend was in. It was rare enough as it was and he wanted that good mood to last, dammit!

"James went as Dumbledore," said Sirius, pointedly, raising his eyebrows at Remus as he mentioned the name.

"Slughorn…?" questioned Ginny.

"Our Potions' Professor at the time," clarified Remus. The dark-haired witch had started to move forward, heading away from them.

Sirius noticed this.

"A helpful hint, boys, when it comes to choosing 'thank you' presents for your Head of House before leaving Hogwarts," he said, fighting down the urge to laugh when McGonagall tensed again, before turning around slightly. "Give her a framed portrait. Of yourself."

"Don't give them-"

"-Well, don't hand it over to her. When I say 'give' I mean sneak into her office and stick it up there, right next to her desk."

McGonagall had whirled around, and was staring at her former student.

"Do you even know how long it took me to get that blasted thing off the wall?! It took a final combined effort from both Albus and Filius – three months after you graduated!" she exclaimed.

Sirius smirked.

"Then my Sticking Charms were better than I had originally thought," he said, calmly. "Even the semi-permanent ones."

McGonagall glared at him.

"Did you even realize the amount of trouble that – that thing was?"

"Thing? Professor, you wound me; it was a portrait of me – not a thing." Sirius grinned suddenly. "I did hear about the sudden increase in female portraits in your office, though…"

"Yes," snapped McGonagall, crossing her arms over her chest. "Your apparently dashing portrait-self found that he was bored one day, while I was out teaching, and decided to use his charm on the portraits already in my room."

Apart from Remus, the rest of the room's occupants were gaping at the elder witch. "And naturally the female portraits just had to spread the word of this lovely portrait." She shook her head. "And when I returned to my office later in the evening, I was confronted with over twenty females, each vying to get your portrait-self's attention…"

"Oh, there was no need for you to get so jealous, you know," said Sirius, "I did tell them that I was already accounted for. I mean, I already had you didn't I? Like I told them, why would I want anyone else when I had you?"

McGonagall just stared as he winked at her.

"So that was why the Fat Lady refused to allow me to enter Gryffindor tower when I wanted to force you to take the…portrait down…?"

Sirius shrugged.

"I did have many admirers…"

"Hang on," said Ginny, frowning, "I thought portraits were made only for…well, dead people?"

Sirius nodded.

"Well, yeah, mostly," he said. "But if you get yours done, and…if you know the appropriate charm to…give the portrait life, as it were…" he grinned. "You're all set!" He turned to McGonagall. "I hope you didn't just throw the portrait away, Professor. It did cost me 10 Galleons to get the guy from the studio to paint me…"

McGonagall raised a thin eyebrow.

"Oh, no, Sirius, I didn't just throw it away," she said.

"Good, that's-"

"-I had it burnt."

"You what?! You – you evil-"

A loud laugh from Tonks made everyone turn to the pink-haired woman. She was staring at Remus while she laughed. "What in the – Remus…?"

The brunet tore his eyes away from the unwrapped package that he had opened, while everyone else had been enthralled with the interaction between the Deputy Headmistress and her former student.

"It's…from Dumbledore…" he said, as he held up the note that he – and Tonks – had been reading.

"What does it say?" questioned Sirius.

Remus toned down his smile.

"Oh, I don't think – no, I don't think that I should-" Sirius leaned over from his armchair and plucked the note from his friend's hand. "Hey!"

"Let's see…'Dear Remus, I hope you are well. If you are reading this, I do hope that this package has been delivered to you by a rather high-strung colleague of mine who does need to get away from her work from time to time, if only to amuse herself. In light of this, kindly inform her that she is not to return to Hogwarts until lunchtime tomorrow. I will know if she tries to sneak in, regardless. Please give her my kindest, warmest and most sincere regards. And do encourage her to hold off all plans of hexing me to Scandinavia and back until we have resolved this minor problem concerning the Dark Lord. Albus Dumbledore.'…"

Sirius raised his eyebrows. "Oh, hang on, there's more…'PS. I do hope you all enjoy the brownies; I picked them up from a delightful little café in Muggle London.'…"

Remus gestured at the opened package that sat in his lap, and sure enough, there were about a dozen – or more – squares of chocolate brownies amidst the paper.

McGonagall stood in place as she watched the younger children scramble to their feet as they rushed towards Remus and the brownies.

How did he-? He couldn't have know that Severus…she paused, unless he gave the task to Severus knowing that he would do his best to pass it on to someone else…?

Her eyes narrowed.

Albus Dumbledore, you manipulative little – oh, I am going to –

"Have a brownie, Professor. You look like you could use it."

She glared at the dark-haired man, before stomping over to an unoccupied armchair and slumping into it.

A/N

Hope that was alright! Now I've really got to stop updating this story until I get my assignments done! So, if everything goes well, this will be it until next weekend!

I had to include a bit of Dumbledore somewhere; I sort of missed him.

Anyway, that's it for now.

Till next time,

Siriusgirl1