~O~
The halls of Hogwarts were dark and unlit as Harry, Hermione and Sirius...along with a floating Speakerphone, for the Speak Easy spell...went creeping along
the hallways as quietly as possible.
Or perhaps not quietly at all.
Hermione kept stepping on the back of his shoes and he could've sworn she was doing it on purpose.
"Are you trying to give me a flat tire?" he growled, when she did it a second time. "It's not a good idea to play with the devil."
Even in the dark, Hermione's face was visibly flushed. "I didn't do it on purpose," she whispered harshly. "I was trying to bend low so we aren't seen!"
"Would you both shut up," Harry whispered. "Before we're caught?"
"Where is Ron with that damn invisibility cloak," Sirius hissed.
"You are already invisible," Harry reminded him unhappily. "At least to me. Now be quiet before someone hears us!"
"Too late," Hermione suddenly gulped.
They all looked up at the same time as none other than Minerva McGonagall, in her billowing black robes and witch hat, spotted them.
She stormed towards them, holding her lit wand out to light the three of them...or rather the two of them. She couldn't see Sirius could she?
"Harry! Hermione!" McGonagall said authoritatively. "What are you doing out of bed after hours?"
"Well, uhm, we were," Harry began. "To be honest..."
"It was my idea!" a voice out of nowhere said. It sounded like Ron.
It made even Sirius jump. "Buggering hell, where did he come from?!"
McGonagall frowned.
Just at that moment, Ron suddenly appeared in the hallway alongside them. Ron stepped out of the shadows in time for Minerva to illuminate him with her wand. Sirius saw the redhead stuffing the cloak into his back pocket.
"Mr. Weasley!" she said. "I should've expected you'd be here too, if your friends are. What is your excuse then?"
"Professor, we were going for a midnight snack." He held out his pockets filled with snacks. "We felt peckish, you see."
"Oh. A midnight snack?" McGonagall asked completely disbelievingly.
"Well believe it or not," Ron said stuffily and began gnawing on a bagel.
Sirius snorted. He kind of liked Ron. He was a badass in a way.
"Fifty points from Gryffindor! I hope you four are satisfied with yourselves...and your midnight snack."
Wait 4? Had Minerva really said 4? Sirius tried to catch his batty old professor's eye but she didn't see him. Yet she had definitely said four, and surely old Minnie could count accurately, both backwards and forwards. She did teach transfiguration, after all.
McGonagall crossed her arms and scolded Harry, Ron and Hermione, but especially Hermione: "So disappointed in you." She tutted. "Especially you Hermione, you are my best student, I expected better from you."
Hermione hung her head. And Sirius had to resist laughing at how the goody-two-shoes was getting the brunt of the blame.
But then McGonagall turned even angrily to Sirius, or rather the speakerphones direction. "And you, we've still been mourning your death but learning you've become the devil is even more disappointing then when we thought you were a mass murderer! Look what's become of you Sirius!" the cranky professor scolded him and Sirius's jaw dropped.
"Wait why can you hear me, Minnie?" Sirius asked with a suggestive eyebrow that the old bat might've been naughty. Was she in the Book of Damnation too?
"You dullard," McGonagall replied reprehensibly. "I can't see or hear you at all, but that Hermione has you on damn speakerphone! Waking half the school I might add."
Harry chuckled and Hermione groaned a, "Sorry I told him to shut up!"
Ron kept eating his bagel, watching the whole fiasco.
But Sirius was suddenly feeling very nostalgic. It had been ages since he had last been caught wandering the corridors of Hogwarts at night. The Marauders usually were in and out of detention in his time, though sneaking around and causing chaos had been their bread and better. Especially right before full moons, when James and Remus and him were always sneaking out to the Shrieking Shack for the night, then creeping back in the dawn.
Sirius grinned at his old professor's face though she couldn't see him. "I've been very naughty then have I? Are you going to send me to detention?"
The old bat's face broke into a smile. "I wish I could. For old time's sake, we had some laughs."
"I knew you had a soft spot for me, Minnie."
Mcgonagall shook her head. "No, I should've put you in more detentions Sirius. Then you might not have turned out the way you did."
"Aww Minnie, it's so sweet you think you could've had an effect on my behaviour."
"No, you're right you've always been bad to the bone."
Harry was smiling and Ron was wiping the crumbs of his bagel from his mouth. Both boys seemed, rightfully, impressed on how well Sirius got along with McGonagall. No one in the current school would've been able to get away with addressing McGonagall as 'Minnie'. Yet Sirius had called her Minnie for seven straight years in Hogwarts...and she'd actually looked watery in the eyes when he finally graduated. It was no secret, despite his bad behaviour, that Sirius had been something of a pet to the Gryffindor head of house.
Hermione cleared her throat. "Uhm Professor how did you know Sirius was the devil? I mean besides from hearing him speak how, he didn't actually say what he was...did he?"
McGonagall rolled her eyes. "Nearly Headless Nic. I believe you spoke to him last week Sirius?"
Sirius nodded.
"He can't exactly keep a secret...Ghosts are completely transparent." McGonagall smirked. "He's been telling the whole school about Sirius's return. Though most don't believe him."
"Great!" Sirius knew he shouldn't have trusted that ghost to keep his gob shut.
"So, tell me," McGonagall said at least, with a stony expression though with a hint of mirth in her eyes. "Which one of you wants to tell me what's really going on and why you are wandering my school at night?"
Hermione immediately came forward first. "I'm sorry professor, I wanted to tell you, but I wasn't sure where to begin, or if you would believe us..."
"Goody-goody!" Sirius stuck out his tongue at her which was now covered in flames. No one else saw him though.
Hermione ignored him.
"Professor now that you know about Sirius's situation," Hermione continued. "We needed to speak to Professor Dumbledore. Sirius knows something about Voldemort...that could prove...well highly valuable."
McGonagall crossed her arms. "Couldn't it have waited til tomorrow?"
Sirius shook his head, then remembered no one, minus Hermione, could see him. "No it can't." He cleared his throat. "I'm not on some redemptive path, Minnie. But I just want to make sure Harry is safe. I may no longer be in the Order, but I am still his godfather."
McGonagall stared in the direction of the Speakerphone for a moment but was unable to see him. If Sirius didn't know better, he thought he might've seen a sad glimmer in her eye.
"Of course, right this way." She turned on her heel and led them down a corridor. "You're in luck because Albus is a night owl."
"Ain't that a hoot," Ron said.
All four of them glared at the redhead and his bad pun.
"Really Ron?" Hermione asked in disgust.
"What? Minnie made a pun too!"
The Professor narrowed her eyes. "That is Professor McGonagall to you, Weasley. If you insist on calling me Minnie again, you will have detentions til the end of the school semester."
"That's a whole month," Ron pouted and Sirius laughed that no one got the same privileges he had as a student...although Harry was obviously a second close favourite to McGonagall. Still, Harry had never got to call his professor Minnie or secretly play poker with her during their detentions while chattering about all kinds of things.
"Hey anymore bad puns Ron?" Sirius asked with a grin as they walked along the corridors.
"Shut up," Ron said stiffly.
Harry thought of one. "How about Sirius is now in the 'Order of the Flames!'"
Sirius put a hand on his godson's shoulder though it went straight through like ghost. He shook his head. "Remind me, to tell you Harry, never to try to start a career as a comedian."
They all sighed in relief as they arrived at the entrance to Dumbledore's office.
"Bubblegum Plum Drops!" McGonagall spoke to the wall and the secret staircase unwound. "Go," she said. "I still have to patrol the halls, unfortunately."
"Bye Minnie!"
"Stay out of trouble, Sirius!" McGonagall quipped over her shoulder as she trotted imperiously away.
"She loves me," Sirius said.
Hermione glared at him. "Whatever. It's totally unfair that she let's you call her Minnie. Merlin's sake."
Sirius laughed at how obviously jealous the bookworm was. "Oh yes, not everything about being a teacher's favourite is about getting the best marks..sorry to inform you!"
Hermione punched his arm.
"C'mon!" Harry said who already was at the top of the staircase.
Sirius's eyes widened as he looked around the headmaster's office...for the first time in nearly twenty years. It was much changed since his Hogwarts days when Professor Wicket was headmaster and Dumbledore was still Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.
"Professor Dumbledore," Harry began and they all stared at the headmaster. "We needed to speak to you urgently. Min—er, Professor McGonagall gave us permission sir."
The white-haired long bearded wizard appeared startled by them...and then Sirius noticed that Albus had most certainly met his eyes for a split second. Before the headmaster nervously pretended to not see Sirius standing there. Had the headmaster really seen him? Maybe Sirius had imagined it he met his eye.
"Do tell me more, Harry," Dumbledore coughed and shoved a lemon drop into his mouth nervously. "What brings you to my office?"
~O~
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a/n: Hmm is Dumbledore hiding something? Did he see sirius? but why would he be avoiding the Devil?
