FIFTY FOUR – Owl Post Again

"Professor McGonagall," said Lupin, strolling into the woman's classroom in the morning, looking absolutely terrible.

"Remus!" McGonagall gasped. "Heaven's sake, you look awful!"

"I'm sure Ron looks worse. You should have seen all he managed to do with that broken leg. Have you been to see him yet?"

"Yes, of course! I saw them all last night. They were asleep, but I saw them. They'll all be just fine. When did you get back in?"

"Sunrise," Lupin said simply. "A little after, actually. I had to find my way back out of the forest."

"Well," McGonagall said matter of factly after clearing her throat, "Albus has convinced Fudge that you've done nothing wrong, and no one's seriously hurt, so all will go back to normal."

"You haven't heard yet," Lupin said, and hung his head with a sigh.

"Heard what, Remus?" McGonagall asked with a quirked eyebrow.

"Word's gotten out that I'm a werewolf," said Lupin. He picked up his head and looked McGonagall in the eye sadly. "Last night was just too close a call. I've resigned."

"You're leaving?" McGonagall asked, clearly shocked.

Remus nodded. "I thought I'd come say good bye and thank you. Dumbledore told me it was your idea to look to hire me in the first place. I also wanted to give you this back." He pulled a plain black notebook out of his pocket with a torn cover. "I won't have use for it anymore."

McGonagall thought for a moment of fighting Lupin and trying to get him to stay, but knew that odds were against him and that, no matter what she might try, he would not return for another year. "You're going to keep in touch this time," McGonagall stated as she took the notebook and put it in her desk.

"I'll most certainly try," Lupin said with a half-hearted smile. He held out his hand. "It was a great pleasure to work with you this year, Professor McGonagall."

McGonagall got up, walked around her desk, and hugged Lupin. "I'm glad you were able to join us." The hug broke and Lupin looked rather awkward.

"I should go pack," he said. "I'm sure we'll meet again at some point."

"I am too," McGonagall said. After Lupin left her classroom, she went back to her desk and flipped open her original notebook.


Dumbledore

McGonagall

Sprout

Flitwick

Snape


Remus resigned!

After breakfast I'm not surprised…

What happened at breakfast?

Severus?

Yes?

Would you care to –

No.

Very well. I will. Severus took the liberty of informing the Slytherins this morning that Remus is a werewolf.

YOU DIDN'T!

Parents have a right –

This has nothing to do with parents! You told them all as revenge!

Prove it.

I don't have to prove it! I know it and so do you.

What's done is done. We are not going to argue over it. It will accomplish nothing.

All I can say is thank Merlin that term's almost over! I can't wait to get out of this castle and –

Come back within a week.

Shut up, Pomona.


House Cup, third year running. Do you feel like you're about to explode yet, Severus?

I am not going to dignify your question with an answer.

Would you stop being so sour? It's been a week. Remus isn't coming back next year, Sirius isn't going to bother you. You've won. Let it go!

They're all like boomerangs. They always come back, no matter how much you want them to go away.

Then you'd best make peace with them. I promise you your life will be more enjoyable without putting so much effort into hating them.

My life would be much more enjoyable if they would stay out of it.

Fine. I give up!


McGonagall sifted through the desk drawers in her office, trying to figure out what would be worth bringing with her over the summer holidays, when someone knocked on her door.

"Come in," she called.

Hermione Granger walked in and sat down without an invitation to do so.

"Shouldn't you be packing, Miss Granger?" McGonagall asked somewhat absentmindedly as she pulled out a long forgotten stack of papers.

"I'm already packed, Professor," Hermione responded. She took the Time-Turner from around her neck and placed it on McGonagall's desk. "I've decided to drop Muggle Studies."

McGonagall picked up the Time-Turner and let it dangle off her hand. "You're sure?"

"Yes," Hermione said without hesitation. "I don't like having to keep secrets from my friends, I don't like having to sneak around, and I don't like being so stressed all the time about getting so much work done. I'd like to have a normal schedule."

"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't relieved," McGonagall said, putting the Time-Turner in the top drawer of her desk. "I'm glad you've trimmed down your schedule."

"Thank you, Professor," Hermione said, starting to get up. "I'll just – "

"How is Mr. Weasley holding up with the loss of his rat for a second time?" McGonagall asked with a raised eyebrow.

Hermione fumbled over the beginnings of a sentence. "You – you know about that?"

"Bits and pieces," McGonagall said.

"Er – well, he's doing fine," Hermione said uncertainly, suddenly looking very nervous. "He thinks he's got a chance of getting an owl now."

McGonagall nodded. "And Mr. Potter?"

Hermione looked even more nervous than before and began wringing her hands. "Harry's fine," she half-squeaked. "Disappointed that he got away, you know."

McGonagall's lips twitched upward ever so slightly as Hermione avoided specifying whether Black or Pettigrew was guilty.

"And you?"

"I'm just happy that things are all back to normal, Professor," Hermione said.

McGonagall nodded. "You should go on down to breakfast, Miss Granger."

Hermione smiled and got up from her chair. "Have a good summer, Professor!" she called over her shoulder as she left.

Hours later, after all the students had gone, McGonagall went up to Dumbledore's office with a few important documents she'd found while clearing out her desk.

"Ah, Minerva," Dumbledore said as his deputy entered. "I was hoping you'd come by."

Sighing, McGonagall set the papers she'd found aside on one of the bookshelves and sat down. "Has something else happened now?"

"Not yet," Dumbledore said. He plowed on before his deputy had the opportunity to ask what he meant by "yet". "I'm afraid I skipped out on a few of the details when I was speaking with you, Pomona, and Filius the other day."

McGonagall's brow furrowed. "About Black's escape?"

"Yes. I was still trying to work out a few things myself. I'd like to tell you the whole story, if you're willing to listen."

McGonagall's lips thinned as she considered. Half the time Dumbledore told her things, she found that she would prefer not to know. "Why have you suddenly deemed it necessary for me to know the whole story?"

"I believe events will soon transpire that require the whole story be known to more than just myself," Dumbledore said. "And, after all, good strategies are often developed during discussion with another."

McGonagall closed her eyes tightly for a moment, then rather unwillingly said, "Alright, I'm listening."

Dumbledore began the tale, starting with how Sirius discovered Pettigrew when he read the article in The Prophet about the Weasleys winning a drawing that gave them enough money to go visit Bill in Egypt. Scabbers the rat had been sitting on Ron's shoulder, and Sirius had recognized him. Dumbledore then proceeded to explain that Sirius had escaped Azkaban because he, as well as Pettigrew, had become an Animagus in his school days.

McGonagall cut Dumbledore off with a wave of her hand and pinched the bridge of her nose for a moment, processing. "Alright, go on."

Dumbledore obliged. He went on to explain how Sirius had gotten inside the castle, how he had gotten the passwords to the common room, and how he finally managed to get his target to come to him. He talked about the Shrieking Shack, how Snape had interrupted, how Pettigrew had been forced to turn back into himself, and how the whole group went back out onto the Hogwarts grounds. He talked about how Lupin had transformed, how the dementors had come, how they had almost kissed Harry, and that they were driven off.

"I could have gone the rest of my life without knowing that, Albus," McGonagall said, shuddering slightly as she thought about how Harry very nearly had his soul sucked out of him.

"I've only told half the story, Minerva," Dumbledore said with an air of mild interest.

"Merlin's beard," McGonagall moaned.

Much to the dismay of McGonagall, Dumbledore then launched into the part of the story where he told Hermione to use her Time-Turner to go back and save Buckbeak and Sirius, and that Harry had driven off at least a hundred dementors by himself.

"You told Hermione Granger to go against Time-Turning law with the Time-Turner that I spent weeks getting her?" McGonagall hissed dangerously. It was the only thought she felt able to verbalize.

"Yes," Dumbledore said. "If it's of any consolation, it wasn't discovered and Miss Granger and Mr. Potter saved two innocent lives, as well as their own souls, because they went back."

McGonagall seemed to have lost her voice as she moved her mouth but no sound came out. Finally, she stood up and made to leave, still without saying a word, though her hands were in fists and she had a slightly nauseous expression on her face.

"Have a happy summer, Minerva!" Dumbledore called cheerily as his deputy shut his office door.


Author's Note

Oh, Dumbledore. How you amuse me!

Alright, readers (but reviewers are way cooler ;) ), wave good bye to third year!