Padfoot's back, tell a friend ;)
For non-Brits the TV licence is a £145.50 fee you have to pay if you want to watch tv programmes at the same time that they're aired regardless of how you view them. It funds the BBC.
Information on McGonagall that's not from the books comes from the Harry Potter wiki site, I have no imagination. Latin not from Negima?! comes from using Google translate so I'm sorry for any errors.
Yawning Luka dragged herself across the threshold of the Hogwarts entrance hall. At this point she just wanted to collapse in bed and sleep for a week so it was with great exasperation that she acknowledged Professor Snape's presence.
"What happened this time?"
"Your demon, he decided to make a visit to the castle. I don't suppose you knew about this?" replied the professor.
Luka groaned, she should have expected this but her head was too muzzy for her to fully comprehend the situation.
"Can this wait until the morning?"
"It is the morning Reginold and the headmaster wishes to see you immediately," said Professor Snape, with Luka's sleep-goggles he seemed pretty smug.
"I hate you so much right now Severus," Luka groaned as she began to make her way to the stairs.
"Good,"
Was that a minute smile she saw? Nah, it must have been a trick of the light.
Thankfully the walk to Professor Dumbledore's office seemed mercifully short. Professor Lupin was already sat at the desk leaning on his cane, he seemed glad to see that she was alright. The headmaster on the other hand was watching Luka with a stern gaze.
"Do you know how your master managed to enter the castle?" asked the old wizard.
"Yes," relied Luka wearily as she sat down.
"How?" asked Professor Dumbledore, his voice taking on a steely edge.
"The pactio, it allows him through the wards. Why did you think we tried to do it before? The power I gift unto him as my minister is insignificant compared to his own reserves," said Luka with equal grit and her eyes narrowed as she felt the attempt to penetrate her mind.
"Any attempt at Legilemency will not end well," she growled as she called forth Shattered Soul although the blade remained sheathed.
"You dare to threaten me,"
"You dare to attempt to intrude on my mind?" growled Luka who was now standing, all thoughts of fatigue washed away by anger.
"Albus it's not right to badger her, she's only had a couple of hours sleep in days. Leave her be," said Professor Lupin, he didn't want to openly rebuke his headmaster but forcing mind magic on someone who had traumatic past experiences with it was just wrong.
Professor Snape cocked an eyebrow at the wolf's uncharacteristic show of backbone whilst Professor Dumbledore continued trying to stare the Dark witch down. He hadn't expected such an aggressive response from the nephilim and never had he thought that Remus would stand against him. He had thought that graciously granting him an education would be enough for the werewolf to happily follow his every word, apparently this was no longer the case.
"How do I strengthen the wards to stop the demon returning?"
"You can't, the pactio will circumvent all of your magics,"
"Then there is no way to protect the students against him," growled the headmaster.
"Sebastian has no interest in the school or students. If he was so indiscriminate in his taste he would have never bothered with using contracts in the first place and I wouldn't be here to discuss this with you," Luka spat in reply.
"If that is all you're willing to say you're dismissed, and tell your 'master' that I have no intention of letting him teach here either,"
As the three younger mages left Professor Dumbledore's office a confused and concerned Luka turned to Professor Lupin.
"Did Sebastian hurt you? And what the blazes did the old git mean about Sebastian teaching here?"
For once the werewolf did not admonish Luka for her insulting the headmaster, all things considered it was the least radical of her options.
"No he didn't hurt me, but he did lay down a set of 'ground rules' for us to obey. He also expressed an interest in the Defence Against the Dark Arts post should I end up vacating it,"
"What were the rules?"
"To hell with the rules, what else haven't you been telling me about the contract?!" hissed Professor Snape as the staircase began to descend.
Luka sighed, the Potions master was always so impatient, "Well, as well as the power exchange, item and telepathy we can get through wards to each other's dwellings and if either of us are in trouble we can get through wards to give assistance. Expanding on the last one we can summon one another. Happy now Sev-chan?"
"No I'm not, I want to know everything about this little agreement of ours that you trapped me into,"
"One; you trapped yourself and two; I'm going to bed. See you sometime in the near future," replied Luka as she picked up the pace, just a little further and she could collapse into her nice warm nest.
"No you don't Reginold, we are going to talk about, in detail, right now," snapped the professor.
"Perhaps we could discuss this in the sitting room," said Professor Lupin getting between the Slytherins as they approached his classroom.
Professor Snape huffed in relative agreement whilst Luka nodded with a yawn. Putting an arm around her Professor Lupin led the way into their shared quarters. Professor Snape pulled his armchair close to the coffee table whilst Luka and Professor Lupin leaned forwards on the settee opposite the Potions master.
"What do you want to know Severus?" asked Luka as she rubbed her eyes.
"Starting on the basics how does the power transfer work?"
"I'm not sure-,"
"What do you mean you're not sure?" hissed the Potions master, "You're a witch aren't you?"
"Severus," growled Professor Lupin in warning.
"As in I don't know, my guess is that it forms a connection between some parts of our souls. The magical core for the power transfer, ward breaching and summoning. As for the telepathy that would be a mental link. This magic is done by sheer will rather than the nuanced form you guys use Frankly I never used to care how something worked as long as it did its job," replied Luka as she moved closer to Lupin, "how are you getting on with your artefact?"
"Well enough, although I have yet to find use for the glass in the inside cover," said the professor as he summoned and held out his item.
"It looks like a scanner bed,"
"What?"
"I'd imagine you can copy books and stuff by putting them under the cover. Are we done now?" asked the nephilim impatiently.
"For now," hissed the professor rising to his feet.
"Good," replied Luka with a smirk as she telekinetically shot a small green ball into his mouth.
Sputtering the professor unwillingly swallowed and was then engulfed in a puff of smoke. When the smoke dissipated Professor Snape was now in the form of his five year old self who was pretty much drowning in a sea of black robes. Luka leaned backwards laughing whilst Professor Lupin stifled a smirk. The diminutive Potions master hissed in fury before rummaging for his wand.
"What have dwone to mwe Reginold?" he yelled in an oddly high pitched voice as he brandished his wand.
"Did you honestly think I was just going to let you keep me up this late without retribution? You've been chibified Sev-chan, it should wear off in about eight hours. Until then, get used to using a step ladder," replied Luka before relapsing back into peals of laughter.
Eight hours?! Did the little chit think she'd really get away with this? Narrowing his eyes the Potions master attempted to hex the insufferable wench. Alas, nought but pink bubbles came from his wand.
"You can't use proper magic in that shrimpy body," chuckled Luka as she pulled herself up and went over to the floo, "Professor Snape's office," she called as she tossed the unfortunate Potions master into the flames.
"You will regwet wissss..."
Luka's smile faded to seriousness as she sat back down.
"Are you alright?" asked Professor Lupin, Luka looked ready to drop any second.
"Yeah, I'm fine," smiled Luka weakly as she reached into her apron pocket.
As she pulled out her contract card the professor could see that there were now three figures for Sebastian stood on Luka's left holding what looked like two red intertwined blades that formed a sword. The inscription beneath him read 'Princeps Cantet' (prince of crows).
"We did the pactio when I went home during the Christmas holiday. However, it wasn't an ordinary pactio but a sacramentum pietatis,"
"An oath of loyalty?"
"Yes, ordinarily if more than one contract is executed the power of the magister is equally divided between the ministra but with the oath it takes precedence over all other contracts. It also means I can't form any other contracts," Luka finished apologetically.
"You wished to form a contract with me?"
"Yeah, I figured it could help with your tr-,"
Professor Lupin cut her off with a kiss, "You did enough yesterday so don't berate yourself,"
"Ok. What were the ground rules Sebastian set down?" asked Luka.
"I think we should save that for later, you look exhausted," replied the professor.
"I've been up for twenty one hours so I don't think a few more minutes will make much of a difference,"
Professor Lupin sighed, he knew he'd lost the argument, "He said I can't touch you on days you go to court to prevent 'detectable contamination' and in no way am I to interfere with your duties as his servant,"
Luka mulled over the information, Sebastian's rules had been quite reasonable.
"Did he mention any punishments should we disobey him?"
The professor contemplated the question a moment, "No, he didn't mention that. What do you think he'll do?" he asked in concern.
"I'm not sure and it's best we don't find out," said Luka as she stood up.
"Coming to bed?"
"Just got to feed the fish," she smiled and made her unsteady way to her room.
After five minutes and no Luka Lupin knocked on her door. No answer. Easing the door open he saw Luka knelt over by the fish tank fast asleep. The professor's eyes flicked momentarily to the owl who sat impassively on the window sill. Keeping one eye on the aggressive bird he walked over to Luka and pulled her over to the bed. Magically switching her maid outfit for pyjamas he put her to bed before divesting himself of his own clothes and lying down next to her. It was quite a squeeze given that the bed was smaller than his but it was cozy. Watching the gliding angel fish he drifted off to sleep.
Professor Lupin was woken by the sound of hissing. Eyes open he saw what he believed to be a very odd conversation between Luka's familiars who were now making themselves comfortable on the pillows. Apparently aware that he was awake Mel swung around so that he no more than an inch from the professor's face causing the werewolf to jerk back with a start. He knew what those fangs felt like.
"Morning," Luka said sleepily as she looked at Lupin, apparently his violent start had woken her up, "why are half hanging out of the bed?"
"Morning... err," he replied nodding towards Mel.
Luka turned to Mel who was happily slithering towards her hissing in greeting. That explained it, once bitten twice shy.
"It's ok Remus, that was a onetime deal. Elise knows not to attack again and Mel's really quite harmless," said Luka cheerily as the serpent coiled on her lap firmly intent on nicking her body heat.
The professor pulled himself back into bed before gravity could do its dastardly work.
"Is he really harmless? My nose wouldn't stop bleeding and I can't tell his mood, he has no facial expression," he said looking unsurely at the snake who was tongue flicking in his direction.
"Tongue flicking just indicates interest, python vision is awful so they need their Jacobson's organ and heat detection to make up for it. Hissing, unless in Parseltongue indicates annoyance and when he's about to strike he'll bunch into the typical zig-zag form. Your bleeding was due to the fact that Mel, like other pythons, has about two hundred teeth so he scored a hit on quite a few blood vessels. Although on the bright side he isn't an emerald tree boa, they have the largest fangs for a non-venomous snake of their size," replied Luka chirpily.
"Emerald tree boa?"
"A very pretty snake and in tandem with the green tree boa a very good example of parallel evolution..."
Hours later Professor Lupin was sure he could happily write a dissertation on the snakes of the world and their evolution.
XXX
January faded into February and apart from being summoned to play her violin as court entertainment as well as combat life went on as normal for Luka. The documentary night was uninterrupted by hijinks and as she could work whilst the programmes were on her workload remained fairly stable. Now the Gryffindor vs Ravenclaw Quidditch match was here and Luka watched with apathy as a horde of students descended upon the Gryffindor table to take a look at the curse-free Firebolt. To her right Professor Snape was muttering, the dour man was still sulking with her over the chibifying. Trying to tell him that she had needed a test subject for the unperfected potion was no use. That said if she did manage to make a potion that turned people into chibis the effects of the odd proportions could be quite creepy. Perhaps she should just call them Shrimp Drops and leave the formula as it was. Withdrawing from her joke related musings Luka returned to reality. Ordinarily she would dwell in the library during the matches but she had been persuaded to attend by Professor Lupin. As they made their way to the pitch Luka followed the werewolf to the staff stand, thankfully the weather looked like it was going to behave so hopefully the umbrella she'd brought wouldn't be needed. As everyone took their seats the professor offered her some chocolate from his seemingly inexhaustible supply. Luka sincerely hoped werewolves couldn't get diabetes.
The match progresses quickly and Luka laughed at the commentator's continuous tangents and Professor McGonagall's rebukes which were also carried with perfect clarity by the magical megaphone. With Ravenclaw edging back up the scoreboard it appeared that Potter had seen the snitch. As Luka watched the boy she noticed some Dementors, wait , no they were just punks in cloaks. Apparently Potter had seen them too and putting his classes with Professor Lupin to good use blasted a corporeal Patronus in their direction. The nephilim watched with amusement as the stag charged the idiots, they collapsed in fear before it had even reached them. Luka turned to see Lupin's reaction, to her surprise he seemed shocked and a little shaken.
"Remus, what's wrong. Didn't you think he could do it?"
The werewolf shook himself before replying with a smile that Luka knew was fake.
"No, it's just a surprise to see such a well developed Patronus from one so young,"
Luka cocked an eyebrow, her work at the bar was rapidly honing her ability to sense untruths but now was not the time to press the issue. Like a heat seeking missile Professor McGonagall was moving towards the miscreants. She was followed by Professor Snape but the Transfiguration mistress had a head start.
"Shall we go down to watch the fireworks?" asked Luka pointing at Professor McGonagall but she was talking to empty air, Lupin had already taken his leave.
Later when questioned further the professor apologised for the rudeness and explained that he had just wanted to congratulate the team before the crowd grew too dense. When Luka asked again on his apparent shock Lupin gave the answer that the stag Patronus had been used by Harry's father James Potter. One question, two answers, a mistake so elementary that even petty criminals took pains to avoid it. Hiding her disquiet over the lie Luka took to the dungeons to continue her third year potions. Mel had just shed so he was eager to be out of his enclosure and Elise enjoyed looking for mice in the bowels of the castle. If she got too melancholy she would probably end up ringing one of the weres for advice although it would hardly be scintillating. Most of Jim's 'relationships' had been train wrecks.
XXX
Luka was woken from her lone slumber by an irate squawk, rising from beneath her duvet she looked down her bed to see a cat Patronus.
"Sirius Black has infiltrated the Gryffindor tower, he attempted to stab Ron Weasley but has now fled," said the cat in Professor McGonagall's voice.
Jumping out of bed Luka hastily pulled on her leather jacket and boots before summoning Shattered Soul. Heading straight through a shadow gate she emerged in front of the Sir Cadogan, since the portrait hole was open the nephilim strode straight into the Gryffindor common room. The Gryffindor students looked at her in surprise as she moved towards Professor McGonagall who was wearing a tartan dressing-gown and, to Luka's amusement, a hair-net.
"Where's Remus?" asked the Transfiguration mistress.
"On his way I'd imagine, what happened?" replied Luka.
"It was Black! He was standing over my bed with a knife!" shouted the youngest Weasley boy.
"There is no need to shout Mr Weasley," hissed Professor McGonagall.
"I can track him then, the trail's still fresh. I'll head off now, if you'll excuse me," interjected Luka as the headmaster entered followed by the other Heads of Houses.
"Get to it," nodded Professor McGonagall before turning to explain the situation to the other staff members.
Starting at the portrait hole Luka let herself shift a little to aid her tracking. She was lucky that Black evidently didn't value hygiene, his pungent stink cut through the mix of Gryffindor students and general corridor traffic. Moving quickly she followed the trail until it terminated at an open ground floor window. Luka frowned in confusion, the scent had changed to that of a dog but how was that possible? Sending her Patronus off to inform the staff that she had tracked the trail as far as she could she wracked her brain but unfortunately her Transfiguration knowledge was still that of a second year. Her call was soon answered by a silver phoenix telling her to report to the headmaster's office. Stepping through a shadow gate she found all staff members in various states of dress huddled around the headmaster's desk deep in discussion.
"What did you find Luka?" asked the headmaster as he looked up from the discussion.
"I tracked Black to a ground floor window but the scent changed to that of a dog, I was unsure whether to continue my pursuit so I returned for further orders,"
"A dog?" repeated Professor Dumbledore.
"Yes I wasn't sure if he was laying down a false scent or whether he could have turned himself into a dog,"
"Black is not an Animagus, you must have been mistaken," said Professor McGonagall sad that the trail had gone cold so quickly.
"Animagus or not I know what I smelt," retorted Luka rather sharply as she drew herself up to her full height.
Professor Lupin watched the exchange with a sinking heart. He had known Luka doubted him since the Quidditch match and it had been surprising how lonely he had felt having to sleep alone. If she figured that he was withholding information about Sirius she would likely never forgive him now that a student's life had been threatened.
"Sirius is an Animagus, they all were," said the werewolf quietly, his eyes firmly fixed on his shoes.
"Then that's how he escaped Azkaban in the first place, Dementors can't sense animal souls that well," Luka said.
Professor Lupin felt sick, as all eyes turned to him Professor McGonagall spoke coldly, "And when did they gain this ability?"
"In their fifth year, they'd been trying for three years after they discovered I was a werewolf. They thought it would be a good way to keep me company on the full moon so I would stop hurting myself. James was a stag, Peter a rat and Sirius was a large black dog," Professor Lupin replied.
"Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs. I never knew why you all insisted on call each other by such ridiculous nicknames but now it makes sense," hissed Professor Snape.
"Why haven't you mentioned this until now?" asked Professor Dumbledore in a grave voice.
"I had convinced myself that he had been getting in using Dark Arts he had learned as a Death Eater. I didn't want to admit that I had led my friends into becoming Animagi illegally," replied the werewolf, disgust evident in his voice.
Professor Snape snorted, "Don't flatter yourself Lupin, you could have never led those yobs into anything. Even as a prefect you never had any power over them,"
"Regardless of that minor detail now that we know Black is an Animagus I will resume the search. However given my current form I request back up, if I have to attack him I can't guarantee that I'll bring back a complete corpse," interjected Luka as she sat on her now lupine haunches.
The staff looked at her in shock causing Luka to curl her lips in what only vaguely resembled a smile. Their reaction to her adult form was quite comical, they'd never expected her change whilst they were watching Lupin.
"Preferably whoever comes with should be on brooms, on foot you'll be far too slow," she added.
"In that case I'll go," barked Madam Hooch taking a step forward.
"And I as well. I wasn't on the Gryffindor Quidditch team for nothing, besides it was my House that was invaded," added Professor McGonagall as she and Madam Hooch summoned their brooms, their transports zooming in through the window.
"In that case you three will go, the rest of us will put together a new patrol schedule," said Professor Dumbledore.
Luka nodded as she turned tail and headed down the stairs with the witches at her heels. As she reached the window she realised that her comrades' night vision was woefully inadequate compared to her own.
"Do you two know any charms to enhance your night visions?" she asked.
"I thought we would use lumos," replied Madam Hooch.
That would never do.
"If you use illumination we'll be seen for literally miles," replied Luka as she swiftly opened a small gate into her store cupboards and picked out two sets of goggles which she tossed in the witches' direction, "these are night vision goggles. With the lever on the side in its top position it changes nothing, pull it half way it becomes alight amplifier so everything shows up in green and if you pull it all the way down it shows things in infrared. With the last one not even a Disillusionment charm will hide Black,"
The witches put the goggles on uncertainly before mounting their brooms and following Luka through the window. Once outside Luka took off at full speed, the canine scent stood out amongst all the others. In unwise self-congratulation she let off a blood curdling howl.
Now curled up in the safety of the Shrieking Shack Sirius Black contemplated his latest failure. He had been so close to catching that blasted rat but unfortunately the boy had woken and alerted the whole dormitory. He would have to wait a while before he tried again, the Hogwarts staff was bound to increase security after this latest incursion. Just as he was about to bed down for the night he heard a howl. The school had hounds? It didn't matter if they couldn't come straight to the Shack they would only have to bay by the Whomping Willow and Dumbledore or another member of staff would come to freeze the tree thus letting in the Aurors. He couldn't allow that, moving quickly to the window with the loose boards he slipped out. Running through the weed ridden garden he turned into Padfoot and squeezed through the fence. The Forbidden Forrest was his only hope.
With a growl of impatience Luka skidded to a halt. The Whomping Willow, even with telekinesis it would be difficult to control all the branches.
"His scent is coming from that hole," said the wolf as she pointed to the base of the trunk.
"That's the tunnel to the Shrieking Shack, I'll send word for someone to wait for him here so when we flush him out he'll run straight into their arms," said Professor McGonagall as she sent off her Patronus.
"Which way's the Shack?" asked Luka.
"This way, follow me," replied the Transfiguration mistress as she streaked off on her broom.
Following the old witch Luka was caught between surprise and vicarious pride, she would have never guessed the old witch could move so fast. Under her direction the three mages swiftly came upon the dilapidated building. Getting closer Luka caught the scent once more.
"We'll have to blast our way in. Albus designed this place to be werewolf proof so it'll take the both of us Rolanda," said Professor McGonagall.
"Wait! I'm picking something up," interrupted Luka as she bounded off following the scent to its source.
As she reached a patch of the fence with a missing board she noted that the scent was human on the inside of the boundary but canine on the outside. It was also the freshest trail she'd found since she'd started her hunt at the portrait hole.
"The bugger got out! He's heading to the forest by the smell of it," Luka shouted to the witches who had remained in blasting position.
The chase resumed and the three were soon in the Forbidden Forest. For Luka it was easy to avoid the obstacles in the undergrowth but she heard the odd muttered curse from the broom riders. However she wasn't to be lucky forever and before long she was standing at the beginning of an incredibly rank swamp.
"This is going to suck so much ass," she sighed as she slowly waded in.
Almost immediately she felt a nip at her dew claw. Growling she slashed at the offender.
"Luka get out of there before you become dugbog fodder," called Madam Hooch.
Only half reluctant Luka turned and hopped out onto dry land.
"Can you still track him?" asked Professore McGongagall.
"I think so but his scent is definitely getting weaker. The stench of the swamp is blocking quite a bit of it," replied Luka.
"Well we'll have to find another way of getting you to track him, it isn't as if we can solidify the swamp into land," said Madam Hooch briskly.
"Not land, but I can cool it to ice," replied Luka with renewed perkiness, perhaps she would have a way of coming out of this not reeking of stagnant water.
Slowly moving back towards the water's edge Luka reached out with her magic. The water instantly froze forming a path that extended just beyond her reach. Once satisfied the ice was thick enough Luka stepped onto it. Picking up the trail once more Luka worked as quickly as she could; sniffing, freezing, moving on and then repeating. However the further she went the weaker the scent became as the swamp overpowered it. Less than two hundred yards in she lost it completely.
"That's it I can't track him anymore," said Luka dejectedly.
"It's alright Luka, you did your best," replied Professor McGonagall, she'd been eager to catch her former pupil but it was now clear that he had eluded them once again.
Turning around the three witches headed back to the castle not realising that a thoroughly nibbled Black lay resting underneath some tree roots not another hundred yards ahead.
SPOILER ALERT: Sebastian will be teaching at Hogwarts later in the story but I won't say when or in which magic branch, although you can probably guess.