Chapter 14: Muggle Studies a Threat to Your Children?

Due to the excitement of the day I decided to have supper in my room and was joined by Harry and Ron. Nonky brought up roast beef with all the trimmings so Ron conjured a decent table and chairs. It was while we were eating that I noticed Ron doing something under the table.

"Problem, Ron?"

He shook his head. "Um, no. Giving your cat a little bite. He likes roast beef."

I laughed. "I'm sure he does, Ron."

Obviously Virgil wasn't pleased with the rate of food delivery as he crawled up Ron's leg, moved to his lap and then jumped on the table and started gnawing on a piece of roast beef on Ron's plate. When Ron went to move him Virgil spread his legs and began growling possessively.

"Crookshanks and now Virgil, you have a way with cats, Ron." Harry shook his head and then looked at me intently. "So Hank, these books you brought back. Tell me more about them."

Great. A topic I was hoping to avoid. I took a deep breath. "Well, it's not really too weird for me to read about y'all, since you're in the history books, but this was weird. I have no real idea what your school days were like except what's in the official books and that one book that talks about untold stories, but the Adventure Series books are like reading comic books. There's no way that everything in there is true; shit, I bet only about ten percent of it is true. They got the names right, that's about it."

"What else is new?" Ron commented in the midst of chewing, something that Hermione would have hated.

I pushed my glasses to the top of my head. "What do you have planned for tonight? And how long are you staying? Not that I mind the company, it's just…well, it's different this time. The WLF hasn't done anything to me or tried to do anything to me, so I don't see it as a big threat like it's been before."

Harry adjusted his glasses. "Couple of days. The story will be out in The Prophet tomorrow, so we'll just kind of wait and see until then. What was that about tonight?"

I shrugged. "Just thought you might want to read the books. I can tell you what I think of them, what Muggle sources they've incorporated, stuff like that."

All of the sudden Ron's bemused laughter got Harry's attention as well as mine. When we looked at him he pointed to Harry, to me and then to himself. "Look at us crazy blokes, big plans for tonight. All three of us have pregnant wives at home. Wonder if they're going to get together and have a big pregnancy party while we're here reading. I thought I was done with homework at Hogwarts."

Obviously Lavender forgot to go see Melody, or couldn't go as Harry, Ron and I were interrupted from our reading by Melody's head in the green flames of the Floo in my fireplace. When she said my name very loudly everyone was startled, especially me.

"What is that thing in our driveaway? It looks like a box with windows."

"Hi love. Um, what are you talking about?" I looked at her for a minute before figuring it out. "Oh, Lavender said there was something from Nate." I reached into my pockets and brought out the keys. "No way. Does it have the letters V and W on it?"

Melody nodded. "Right on the front."

I laughed. "I'm pretty sure it's a VW van, not sure how old though."

"Wait a tic, Hank…Lavender was at Hogwarts?"

Even through the green flames of the Floo I could see she wasn't happy. "Uh, yeah." I looked at Harry and Ron. "Can I tell her?"

Harry shrugged and pointed to Ron; he thought about it for a minute and then nodded affirmatively.

"Mel, honey, it looks like all the stuff I've told you about the missing professors is going to be public now. Well, not all of it, but a lot of it. Things might get interesting around here so Ron and Harry are hanging out with me at Hogwarts. Lavender was over here because of the AAB, but she had to go back."

Harry stuck his head close to mine. "Hello, Melody. Um, would you mind contacting Ginny? I'm not due home until tomorrow from this shift, but she might as well know."

"Yeah, can you tell Hermione?" Ron appeared over my shoulder.

Melody's hand suddenly appeared and covered her face for a moment, but then she looked at all of us sternly. "What do you think I am, a bloody owl? Yes, I'll tell your wives. It's a wonder they put up with all your nonsense. If I had to do that as long as they have I'd be barmy. Hank, did you eat all the cheese and onion crisps?"

"I thought those made you ill?" Ron looked at her strangely.

"They used to." Melody made an exasperated sound. "Not any more."

"I don't think so. Did you look in the cupboard?" I tried to sound helpful, but it didn't work. "Behind the…"

"Of course I did!" Melody shook her head. "I've got to go; Spit is trying to eat a plant." With that she was gone from the Floo.

I looked over to Harry and Ron. "Were Ginny and Hermione…"

"Worse." Harry took off his glasses. "With Albus I couldn't do anything right."

Ron sat back and clasped his hands behind his head. "Tell me about it. The last month she was pregnant with Rosie it was like walking on eggshells next to a cranky dragon."

The rest of the evening went by in a pattern of reading, asking me questions and responding to the questions. Harry was initially angry about things, especially the completely romanticized and fictional version of the Dursleys, but once he got into the other books he began to laugh about how completely wrong the books were. When he got to the part about his "harem" he laughed for a good five minutes. Ron, however, kept getting angrier and angrier as the night went on, especially regarding his demotion to humorous sidekick. When he got to the part about how Hermione had a thing for Draco Malfoy he took the book and threw it across the room, got up and walked out into the dark hallways of Hogwarts without saying anything. I looked over to Harry and he winced.

"Wondered how he'd take things. It's taken a long time for me to convince him that he was just important as Hermione when we fought Tom Riddle." He held up a book. "Rot like this picks at old wounds. Give him some time, he'll be fine."

"Sorry, Harry. I should have realized." I took off my glasses and sat them on the nearby table. "Ok, topic change. What do you think's going to happen tomorrow when The Prophet comes out?"

"I have a feeling you're going to be deluged with owls. Look at it this way, your seventh year class will finally get to know some of the things they've been guessing at…not the entire story, of course."

"Right. I don't want Robards mad at me, I'm sure that's not a good thing. I've seen how he gives Ron a hard time."

Harry laughed. "Don't let that fool you; Robards thinks very highly of Ron, he just likes to take the mickey out of him."

When I woke up very early the next morning my head was in a fog, my tongue felt as if it was magically expanded to take over my whole mouth and I was hot. I half-stumbled into the bathroom and took a look at myself in the mirror and saw my sweaty reflection; there was no doubt about it, I was ill. Great. Perfect timing. I rummaged around to see if I had any of the Muggle cold medicine in my cabinet but all that was there were a few odds and ends, nothing that would help. I got a quick drink of water and headed back to my bed, only to be met by Harry's slight snoring. A quick look at my clock gave me the reason why Harry was snoring, as it was half four, an hour that normally everyone should be asleep. I climbed back into bed and pulled the covers up tightly. Maybe if I slept for a few more hours I'd feel better.

Of course I was wrong. I woke up to Harry shaking me slightly.

"Hank? Hank, are you ok?"

I rolled over and peered at Harry through my half-opened eyes. "Hmmm…think I have a cold."

"Wonderful timing." Harry ruffled his hair for a moment. "I'll stop by Madame Pomfrey's for you. Just rest."

I put my head against the pillow and closed my eyes; it only seemed a few seconds until I felt another shake on my shoulder. This time Poppy Pomfrey stood next to Harry. Before I could say anything she put her hand on my forehead, stood back and waved her wand over me.

"He's right, Harry. Bad cold, that's all it is." She handed him some potion vials and looked at me. "Hank, drink the vials as indicated, Harry will help you. You won't be at full strength today, so I suggest giving your students assignments they can complete out of class. You need to rest; even the greatest magical minds can't cure the common cold."

After she left I sat up in bed and looked over to Harry, but before I could say anything he stuck a vial of swirling orange liquid into my hand. I popped the cork off and drank it down and almost immediately felt a surge of energy. "Hey, whoa, that's pretty good."

"Don't overdo it, Hank. You'll need your energy after you see this."

I took the proffered paper from Harry and scanned the headline. It was as I had feared; The Daily Prophet was in full on sensational story mode.

MUGGLE STUDIES PROFESSORS MISSING! MUGGLE STUDIES A THREAT TO YOUR CHILDREN?

"Fucking hell." I sat the paper down on the bed and reached over for my glasses. Once I had them on I picked up the paper and began scanning the article. The main article was mostly news, relating the disappearances of the Muggle Studies professors in the UMS and Canada with some veiled accusations at the Ministry for covering up the issue. The editorial, though, that was the part that made me angry. The article was under the Editorial Staff byline, helpful to keep the writer's identity safe, and that was a good thing because afterwards I was ready to go after the bastard. The article said that I was a safety risk to the students at Hogwarts and went in depth on all of the "issues" that I'd had since I'd arrived at Hogwarts, the WLF, the incident at my brother's wedding, the attacks the night before Melody and I got married…the writer pretty much said that I was a large inviting target to all anti-Muggle groups. Since I was at Hogwarts, teaching children, parents should be worried that I would somehow involve the students in the damage. I looked up to Harry and it was obvious that he knew what my reaction would be as he shook his head.

"We knew it would be something like that, Hank. Ron's with Titus now, they're crafting a response to The Prophet."

Even in my non-healthy state that struck me as odd. "Wait, Ron's writing?"

That made Harry laugh, and it was good to see him do so. "Yeah, don't tell Hermione, but he does a lot of that lately. You should hear him go on about how much writing he does these days." Harry stood up from the chair next to my bed. "You should probably try and pull yourself together. It's going to be a long day."

The combination of Poppy's cold potion and a hot shower seemed to really help, and I was extremely grateful for my enchanted razor, as I conserved energy by just standing in front of the mirror while it did it's work. By the time I was finally dressed and ready for breakfast Ron had arrived back at my room and the three of us headed down to breakfast. I didn't sit in my usual place as I didn't want Cho or Neville to catch my cold, so Ron, Harry and I sat at the end of the Gryffindor table. Thankfully the combination of awe and suspicion having two famous Aurors at breakfast kept most of the curious students away, but Lavinia was a different story. Luckily Harry intercepted her and told her I wasn't feeling well, so she gave me a wan smile, waved and headed back to the Hufflepuff table. When my omelet arrived I dumped as much hot sauce on it as possible, causing even Ron to give me an odd look.

"Helps clear up my head. Pretty stuffy right now." I took a bite and felt the warmth seep through my mouth into what seemed like every pore in my body. After seeping into every pore the sauce then decided to set everything on fire. "Holy shit!"

Ron chuckled and looked over at Harry. "Never had Plimpkis Sauce, right?"

Harry took out his wand and siphoned almost all of the sauce off of my omelet. "Probably not."

I took Ron's glass of milk and drank it down as fast as possible and some of it spilled down my chin. It was in this wonderfully embarrassing pose that Headmaster Titus decided to join us. He took one look at me, looked to Ron and when Ron just pointed to the bottle of Plimpkis Sauce Titus laughed a bit.

"Ah, yes, I recall the first time I had too much Plimpkis Sauce. Ingested a rather large dose on a bet." He shook his head at me and took out his wand. "Open up, Professor."

My eyes were watering as I followed Titus' instructions, and soon I felt a soothing wave take over my mouth. A few moments later I could finally speak again. "Thanks, Gavin."

"No problem, my boy." Titus nodded. "Well, yes, then. I've agreed to a small press conference after today's classes, we'll have it in my office. Hank, Ron will brief you on what can be covered. I've already drafted a letter to all parents, letting them know that Muggle Studies is perfectly safe. Have you seen The Quibbler this morning?"

I shook my head. "The Quibbler? What would they write about? I'm not a crumbly horned whatever."

"I think you'll find it very refreshing." Titus stood up and glanced at the students, most of whom were looking at us. "As for your first class today, Hank, I understand from Poppy that you're under the weather. Don't push yourself too hard today, but be as honest as you can with your students. Remember there are some things that should not be put forward, agreed?"

I nodded and Titus clapped me on the shoulder and walked off. After he'd left I looked over to Ron. "What's in The Quibbler?"

"Take a look." Harry handed me the paper.

PROTECT YOUR RIGHTS! KEEP MUGGLE STUDIES SAFE FOR EVERYONE

Underneath was a rather impassioned plea to keep Muggle Studies going, mostly using MS as an argument to keep the wizarding world abreast with the Muggle world, saying that understanding and knowledge would keep people from fearing what they don't understand. The fear of Muggles was the reason for the problems currently affecting the wizarding world, the article said, causing divisions that threatened to return everyone to the time of Voldemort.

I looked up to Harry. "Wow, didn't expect that."

"Xenophilius gets off a good one every now and then." He looked at his watch. "We'll come get you after your classes, Hank. Best be off."

When I got to my classroom Virgil was sitting on my desk almost asleep. I sat down in my chair and petted him. "Don't want to miss anything, Virg?" He purred and stretched, and while I was petting him my students started to arrive. Since it was the fourth years I wasn't too worried; I figured a few statements would put things at ease, and luckily I was right. I answered some questions about my involvement with the Aurors, saying that I'd helped them some and then went into my disagreement with The Prophet's article. Lavinia looked a little worried, but after that we settled back into the normalcy of class. My cold was starting to come back to the forefront of my mind, as I was a little groggy, but after assigning them an out of class project they were quite happy to have only a half of the normal amount of class time. Lavinia, of course, stayed afterwards.

"Professor, are you ok?" She stood by my desk nervously. "Are you worried about what was in the paper? And Melody an' the baby?"

That got me out of my semi-haze. "Yes, Lavinia, I am worried. But Ron and Harry are here. I know they won't let anything happen, and I'm sure the Aurors are watching Melody to make sure she's ok. Don't worry; I'm sure everything will be fine. Now scoot, I need to take another potion for this stupid cold."

After Lavinia left I drank another of Poppy's potions, but before I could start gathering myself for my next class there was a knock at my door. It took almost all of my energy to look up, but when I did I was surprised. There in my doorway was Willy, holding a large amount of letters.

"Headmaster said I should bring you these. Sorry you're not feeling well, professor."

"Thanks, Willy. Come on in, but don't come too close. Don't want you to catch this."

He walked forward, put the stack of letters on my desk and stepped back. "Professor, is…" He stopped and looked at the ground for a moment.

"Is what, Willy? Come on, what is it?"

He snapped his head up quickly. "Is Lavinia at risk? You and Mrs. Boyd are her guardians while she's at Hogwarts and with the stuff in the paper…"

I closed my eyes and sighed happily. He's just looking out for Lavinia. After opening my eyes again I looked at him. "She's fine, Willy. I appreciate your concern, and I'm glad you're looking out for her, but she's fine. Ok, out of here with you, go do something, maybe your assignment?"

That got a smile out of him and he walked out of the room, leaving me with a half of a class period to look at the stack of letters that sat on my desk. The first few were requests for interviews, one from The Prophet, one from The Quibbler and one from some American newspaper. I sat those over to the side and opened the next batch which was from some concerned parents. Those would be harder to respond to, so I sat them on the other side of my desk next to Virgil; I'd need a clearer head to respond to those. The next letter, thought, that was quite different. I had opened it up without looking to see who it was from, and after the first few sentences I realized that it was from Draco Malfoy.

Draco's letter discussed the articles in the paper, how he thought that going public might actually be one of the better strategic moves on the part of the Ministry as well as other things. That was the first part, but when I got to the next paragraph that's when I was surprised. Draco had actually found the information on the land that Peter Sawgrass was trying to reclaim, and after some investigation and reviewing a lot of old documents had secured the land. The sticking point was that the claimant had to sign some paperwork, and that meant that either Peter or his father could legally acquire the land, but it would revert to whichever member of the Sawgrass family signed the document.

I sat down the letter and saw the dilemma immediately; if Peter's father signed for the land, more than likely it would be sold and Peter would be left with nothing. Peter couldn't leave Hogwarts, not without reason. I picked up the letter again, hoping there was something, a loophole that would allow him to prevail.

Draco's letter continued saying that an official notification would go out from the Ministry, but that he had pulled a few strings to delay the owls until late in the day. That gave Peter time, if only I could think of a way to get him out of Hogwarts officially.

It was while I was thinking of Peter's dilemma when the seventh years started filing into the room. I sat at my desk with Virgil on my lap as they arranged the chairs into their customary semi-circle, but instead of joining them I continued to stay at my desk.

"Don't know if you've heard or not but I have a cold; don't want y'all to catch it so I'm going to stay here today. Ok, I'm sure everyone saw the paper, so let's get started."

"How are the Muggle Interaction Procedures going, Professor?" Poesy smiled at me with what my brother calls a shit-eating grin.

"I think we all know better than that, now, Miss Phillips." I took off my glasses. "You realize there are some things that I can't tell you, correct?"

The rest of the class went as I expected, questions about my involvement, Harry and Ron's appearance at Hogwarts and the missing professors, but the bulk of the conversation was about the article in The Prophet. Questioning the validity of the class was something that as seventh years my students took personally. I sat back and listened as they raised points, deconstructed the article in and listed point after point on why Muggle Studies was important in the current day and age. As the discussion went on I noticed Peter writing something down, his quill moving rapidly across a piece of parchment.

"Mr. Sawgrass, working on an assignment for another class?" I cocked my head in his direction. "Or are we boring you?"

His head popped up quickly. "No, sorry, Professor Muggle. I'm taking notes. I'm writing The Prophet. All the things we're talking about now need to be known. Sure, we're just students, but nobody's heard our side of it."

At that point a light clicked on in my head. "Perfect idea. Why don't y'all work on that, send it as a class? If you'll excuse me, I'll be right back; I need to see Madame Pomfrey about my cold. When I return I'd like to see what you have."

All of my students nodded and gathered around Peter who took out a clean sheet of parchment. I picked up Virgil and put him on my shoulder and planned on heading towards my room when I bumped into something soft. I took a look around but didn't see anything, so I took out my wand.

"Put your wand away, Hank, it's me." Harry's voice came from in front of me, and shortly thereafter the invisibility cloak slid from his body. "Sorry, precautions. Where are you going? Your students are still in there, aren't they?"

"Yeah, they're working on something." I took a deep breath. "Harry, I need to get a message to Edith. Can you help me with that?"

Harry's face changed to his Auror face. "Why do you need to contact Edith? What's going on, Hank?"

I quickly explained the situation and Harry's face returned to its normal composure. "Hmm…I suppose I might be able to help. If I may ask, why is this so important to you?"

I ran a hand through my hair. "Hard to explain, and I made a promise I wouldn't say anything. He's a good kid, Harry. One of the few Slytherins to take my class. I appreciate that. He's done a lot to make things easier for me here, but I doubt he knows that."

Harry nodded. "I think I understand. You need to get Sawgrass out of Hogwarts officially, right? I do need to head in and talk to Robards, maybe I could take him with me. I'll send Edith a message."

"Thanks, Harry. If I know Edith she'll have everything sorted by the time you get there, probably have a cup of tea waiting as well." I shook my head. "Damn, I wish I could have an assistant at Hogwarts."

"I'm sure Melody would love that." Harry looked at his watch. "Ok, get back in there. When class is almost done I'll stop in, got it?"

I nodded and Harry walked away, invisibility cloak draped over his arm. I walked back into the classroom and found everyone crowded around Sawgrass, sat down and told them that I decided to wait to see Madame Pomfrey. At that point I actually was feeling somewhat worse, as my energy was coming and going in waves, so I simply sat there and let them continue discussing things and writing. I could feel my energy slipping away when I heard a knock on the door, and when I looked up Harry stood in the doorway.

"Sorry to disturb you, Professor. Headmaster Titus said you wanted to see me."

I glanced briefly at my students' faces and nodded at Harry. "Thank you, Auror Potter. Yes, I believe I do. Can you tell me what the Headmaster has decided?"

"Headmaster Titus believes it would be best if one of your students accompanies me. The press won't be here until later, so we'll be able to get this in before their press conference."

I nodded. "Sounds good. Mr. Sawgrass?"

Peter looked at me oddly. "Yes, Professor Muggle?"

"I hope your letter is finished. Please go with Auror Potter." I watched him gather his things and Peter had almost reached Harry when I snapped my fingers. "Almost forgot, if it isn't too much trouble could you stop by my office at the Ministry? Left a couple of things there, Edith will know what I'm looking for."

Harry nodded without giving anything away. "Not a problem, Professor." He looked over his shoulder to Peter. "Let's go then."

I managed to make it through the rest of my classes with a combination of tea and Poppy's potions, but when the day was finished I was exhausted. It was a taxing day, both mentally and physically as I'd tried to craft age-appropriate answers to the questions as well as try to get some of my lesson plans completed. When I arrived at my room I immediately went over to my bed and fell into it, grateful for some rest.

"Not even a hello, then?"

With my face buried in my pillow I laughed and rolled over. "Hello Mel, when'd you get here?"

My wife sat in my big green chair wearing one of my Molly Weasley sweaters. "About an hour ago. Got the strangest letter from Edith. Makes me wonder about you two." She smiled and then walked over and put her hand on my head. "You're burning up. Idiot, you should have been in bed today!"

"I know, but I needed to talk to my classes after what was in the paper. You saw it, didn't you?"

She sad on the bed next to me. "Of course, giant load of dragon droppings. At least The Quibbler was decent."

"Yeah." I sat up and leaned against the cool wood of the headboard. "Wait, you got a letter from Edith? What'd she say?"

Melody gave me a smirk and put her hand on her stomach. "Well, she said that you were one of the nicest men she's known and that I was quite lucky to have you. Besides that she didn't say much except she asked how Spit was doing. What are you up to, Henry?"

"You first, why are you here?"

"Neville sent me a note telling me that you were ill. Add into that a note from Hermione about the things in the papers and I decided I needed to come take care of you. You're horrible when you're ill, can't have you be that way towards everyone. I'm used to it."

"So you're protecting everyone from me while I'm sick, nice." I leaned back and took a deep breath. "You don't care that the father of your child is at death's door, you just want to keep up appearances. Lovely."

She stood up and motioned for me to get out of bed. "That's exactly it. You got me. Now get up and put on some pajamas and get into bed properly if you want me to take care of you."

"Can't, Mel. There's a press conference later tonight in Titus' room about the Muggle Studies stuff. If I don't go it'll look bad."

She stood and put her hand on her hip for a moment and then sat back down. "Ok, you're right on that one, it would look bad."

A knock at the door interrupted our conversation, and when I went to sit up and go towards the door Melody put her hand on my shoulder. "You stay there, I'll get it."

When Melody opened the door I heard her talking in a low voice to someone but I couldn't make out who it was. I swung my legs over the side of the bed and headed towards the door, and when I heard the voices I knew exactly who it was. "Let them in, Mel, I have a cold not the plague."

After Melody opened the door Franny Ellsworth half ran towards me and gave me a giant hug. I patted her on the back and looked over to see Peter Sawgrass shaking Melody's hand. After prying Franny away I held her at arm's length. "It's just a cold, Franny. I'll be fine."

Melody closed the door and Peter walked over and stuck out his hand. "We know it's more than that, Professor."

I shook his hand. "Everything work out, Sawgrass?" I released his hand and pointed towards the small table. "Why don't you tell us all about it? Mel, can you make us some more chairs?"

Melody took out her wand and conjured two more chairs at my little table and the four of us sat down, Peter and Franny close together. I noticed that they were holding hands but didn't say anything. At first nobody said a word but finally Franny bumped her shoulder into Sawgrass. "Tell them, Petey."

Sawgrass looked at Franny briefly before turning to me and Melody. "At first it was like you said, I went with Auror Potter to The Daily Prophet office. You should have seen their faces when he walked in the door, they were all falling over themselves trying to talk to him, it was crazy. After he got them all to calm down the editor came out, some big bloke with a beard…"

"Quiltfern." We all looked at Melody. "Andrew Quiltfern, that's his name."

"Well, whatever his name is he tried to get Harry, er, Auror Potter to give him a quote on the missing Muggle Studies professors. He didn't get it, though, as Auror Potter…"

"Just call him Harry, Peter, it'll save us time." I adjusted my glasses and held back a smile.

Peter nodded. "Right. Harry told him he'd have to wait until the press conference, but that I had something for him. I gave him our letter and explained that as seventh year Muggle Studies students we were offended that he put that stuff in the paper that Muggle Studies was dangerous. He didn't like that, but Harry made him promise to publish the letter. After that we left and Harry said we needed to stop by your office. When I got there Edith, your assistant, was waiting for us. She took us down to this office that was full of parchment and an old wizard met us and started complaining about how we were disrupting his orderly processes or something and how one of his workers was an idiot because the notices hadn't gone out as scheduled, they'd just been sent off about an hour before that. That's when Edith told him it was why I was there, the notice. Of course I had no idea what she was talking about but she winked at me so I knew something was up. The old wizard came back a few minutes later and put a whole bunch of parchment in front of me, telling me to sign here, initial here, stuff like that. I read the first part of the parchment and that's when I realized what it was, so I signed it all and initialed and all the things they asked as quickly as possible. When it was done he handed me a rolled up piece of parchment tied in a green ribbon. I wanted to unroll it right there but Edith and Harry wouldn't let me until we were in the lift, and when I did I saw the official Ministry seal. I can't thank you…we can't thank you enough, Professor!"

He took out the parchment and laid it on the table, and after unrolling it I saw the seal he'd mentioned. There, in black and white, official, was the deed to a parcel of land with Peter Alexander Sawgrass' name as owner. I handed it over to Melody and she smiled.

"Well, Peter, it looks like things are looking up for you." Melody handed him back the parchment. "Do you know where this is located?"

"Auror…Harry knew where it was, it's not too far from Satterbourne. He took me there on the way back to Hogwarts. There's a little house there, it's empty and kind of overgrown, but it's just right." He looked over to Franny, who was almost crying. "As soon as I got back here I knew what I had to do. That's why we came to see you."

"Me? Why me, Peter?" I felt Melody take my hand under the table. "Ok, I might have helped some. But you did most of the work, that's what Draco Malfoy told me. If you hadn't paid attention in my class you'd have never known about it."

Peter laughed. "Oh, I paid attention to a lot of things in your class, Professor." He looked over to Franny, and she nodded. "Found a lot of things in your class. Including the best thing to ever happen to me."

At that Franny leaned over and kissed him. After finishing she looked over to Melody and I and then rapidly stuck out her left hand. "We're engaged!"

I was in shock. Melody congratulated them, and when I finally found the ability to speak in my cold-addled brain I congratulated them as well.

"I remember our talk, Professor." Peter nodded at me. "We're going to wait until school is finished before we get married."

"Your talk?" I felt Melody squeeze my hand. "Henry?"

That made Peter and Franny laugh, hearing Melody call me by my given name. "I found the two of them on rounds discussing things. I asked Peter to think about things and make sure that they finished school before they did anything."

Melody shook her head. "You didn't tell me about that."

I shrugged slightly. "I promised Peter I wouldn't say anything. I'm his professor, not his father. He's of age and it's his decision."

"Thanks, Professor Muggle." Peter nodded, glanced over to Franny briefly and she smiled at him. "That's something else we wanted to talk to you about. I'm glad Mrs. Boyd is here, too. Franny said we'd have to talk to her about it as well."

Melody looked at me and I had no clue. "Yes, what is it?"

Peter began to say something, but stopped suddenly. Franny put her hand on his arm and looked at Melody and me. "You know some things about Petey's father, what he thinks of Muggleborns like me. My parents weren't too happy when they met Petey, because of his father, his, um…"

Peter looked at Melody. "Dad's a drunk." He looked at Franny. "Sorry, there's really no way to sugarcoat it. Mum's dead and Dad's a drunk."

"One of the reasons my parents were not thrilled when I told them about Petey." Franny looked pained. "When I told them how he was different, how he wasn't like his dad they softened some. Dad said he'd let Petey come visit but he'd rather kiss a dragon than let any other Sawgrass onto the property." Franny looked over to Peter for a second and he simply nodded. "So we were talking about a place to get married and thought about the places important to us. Besides Hogwarts there's only one other place."

"You're getting married in Hogsmeade?" I scratched my goatee. "Where?"

Franny laughed. "No Professor, Colony House."

That's when it hit me. The two of them got to know each other in my Muggle Studies class, in Muggle Club and at the Muggle Club party. "Holy shit."

"Henry!" Mel smacked me on my arm.

"Sorry, love." I took a look at Peter and Franny. "I get it. The Muggle Club parties, right?"

Franny nodded. "Um, that's why, um…do you think we could get married in your garden?"

"After we've finished school, of course." Peter put his arm around Franny. "We'll pay for everything."

Melody put out her hands and took Franny's. "Of course you can."

After Peter and Franny left I flopped down on the bed and Melody crawled in next to me. "Mel, are we doing too much? It's not normal for professors to do this for students, is it?"

"When have you ever been a normal professor?" She snuggled in next to me. "Can you tell me that, Hank?"

"Good point. I'm glad it all worked out. I have to do something to thank Draco and Edith. Harry, too."

"Draco?" Melody propped herself up on an elbow. "What do you mean?"

That led to my telling her about Draco's involvement, the little time delay and all of the machinations that got Peter his land. After being satisfied she laid back down again and put my hand over her stomach and I felt a couple of good kicks.

"Well, Hank, it looks like I'll get a dry run for planning the bump's wedding. You, Draco and Edith did a very good thing. I'm proud of you." She was silent for a while. "What are they going to do after they leave Hogwarts?" She poked me. "Hank?"

"Sorry, drifted off there for a moment. Um, Franny wants to work at the Ministry with the records. Librarian researcher kind of thing, don't know for sure. I think Peter wants to work in the Ministry as well. He wasn't sure the last time I spoke to him, something about land records. I think getting the property back has given him a direction. He mentioned going to work for someone else, a private business, but he didn't go into details. They've both got good heads on their shoulders; I'm not too worried about them."

Mel leaned up and put her hand on my head. "You don't feel as warm; your fever must have gone away."

"Aren't you afraid of you and the bump catching my cold?"

"With all the prenatal potions I'm on? I doubt it."

When Ron came into my room both Melody and I were napping, so it was somewhat of a shock to see him next to my bed.

"Glad you're both decent, that would have been embarrassing." He stood at the foot of the bed. "Time for the press conference, buck up."

Melody and I got out of my bed and I half-stumbled towards the bathroom. After taking the last of the potions from Madame Pomfrey I began to feel somewhat altogether. "Please tell me I don't have to dress up for this."

Ron shrugged. "Dunno, just wear what you always wear. I'm sure Melody will get you right."

I threw on a different tie and put on the robe Melody gave me, and soon we were walking towards Titus' room. The whole time we were walking Melody complained that she had no idea that she'd be attending a press conference and she looked horrible, her hair was mussed, she didn't have on any makeup…the usual. Ron gave me a sideways look and it made me laugh, the worst thing I could have done. I listened to her give me a hard time all the way up to the door to Titus' office, and after she semi-stormed past me Ron clapped me on the back and apologized.

Everything changed the moment I walked into Titus' office as flashbulbs went off, almost blinding me, and I stumbled into Ron, causing him to curse briefly under his breath. We made our way over to Titus, who stood next to Kingsley Shacklebolt and Harry. Once we'd nodded at Titus he held up his hand, silencing the crowd.

"As Headmaster I'd like to thank everyone for coming this evening. As we know several Muggle Studies professors are missing from magical learning institutions in the UMS and Canada. Professor Boyd, Muggle Studies professor here at Hogwarts has been assisting the Ministry and the Auror department with the full cooperation of Hogwarts. Recent articles in the press have indicated that Muggle Studies is a potentially dangerous topic for our students; as the Headmaster at Hogwarts let me unequivocally state for the record that not only is Muggle Studies not dangerous, it is essential to prepare the future leaders of the wizarding world for the challenges that they will face in the future. It is the lack of understanding by those ill-informed individuals that make up Anti-Muggle elements that have caused the current situation. Both the Ministry and Hogwarts believe that education would prevent issues such as the missing professors. Furthermore Professor Boyd is a valuable asset to Hogwarts, not a detriment, and any statement on that topic is truly misguided."

A photographer stepped forward and took a picture of Titus, momentarily blinding him. After blinking for a moment he resumed speaking to the media.

"In cooperation with the Auror department additional security measures have been taken to ensure the safety of all at Hogwarts. We will continue to work with the Aurors until the matter is resolved. At this time I'll open the floor to questions."

Almost immediately all of the press assembled began to shout for Titus' attention which caused him to take a step back in shock. I wasn't sure what to do as half of the people were shouting my name while the other's called out for Kingsley or Titus to answer their questions. I felt Melody move beside me and before I knew it she was at the head of the table.

"One at a time, please." She pointed to a large wizard. "Philomeus?"

"Glad to see old habits never die, Melody. Professor Muggle, can you confirm that you have gone over to the UMS to assist in locating the missing professors?"

I looked over to Kingsley, who nodded. "Yes, I have visited New Orleans and worked with the staff of Laveau and the AAB."

After that it became a blur. Melody fell into her old press secretary habits, accepting and rejecting some questions, directing some towards Kingsley who gave out the official Ministry statement, and eventually after about a half hour she decided that the press had received enough information.

"Mrs. Boyd, with your presence here today, aren't you worried about the safety of your unborn child?" The reporter wore a bright green robe and had on a pair of yellow spectacles. "Aren't you too close to this story to be able to objectively report about it in Witch Weekly?"

Oh shit. Melody's face turned slightly red and I saw her grip the back of the chair.

Melody looked over at me quickly and then to the witch. "Ann Wistoe, I should have known. I would have you know that in regards to this story and any other regarding my husband I have always given my reporters free reign. Juniper, in the back there has treated this as any other press conference. And for the record I am NOT worried about the safety of my baby, unless it will be scarred by hearing stupid comments like that. This press conference is over."

That was the sign for Harry and Ron as they began moving the reporters and photographers out of Titus' office, and soon it was just Kingsley, Melody, Gavin, Titus and me left. Kingsley put his hand on Melody's shoulder.

"Well done, Mrs. Boyd. If you ever want to give up working at Witch Weekly we could use someone with your skills at the Ministry."

Melody glanced over at me and smiled. "Would that mean I would have an assistant?"

Kingsley laughed. "I'm sure that could be arranged."

"I'll keep that in mind. Thank you, Minister."

After Kingsley left Gavin took a deep breath. "Well, that went better than I had hoped. Thank you, Mrs. Boyd. Now, um, I have only one more request, if I may. It seems our Muggle Studies professor is under the weather; perhaps you might be convinced to stay and help restore him to health? Yes, I think that would be best. Now if you'll excuse me I have some letters to write."

As Melody and I walked out of Titus' office I shook my head. "Did he just…"

Melody nodded. "Yes, he did. He's quite good at that, you know. Ok, I plan on following orders, let's go see Madame Pomfrey and get you into bed."

"It's just a cold. No big deal, love."

"Hmmm-hmmm." She nodded. "Right. And you haven't complained at all, have you? Not one teensy bit? That's what I thought. Come on."