Revert To Type

Disclaimer: I own little to nothing of what it is named/referred to and am making even less from it.

A/N: Right – having a name issue lol. Seem to have been using both Rose and Georgina to refer to Prof. Sprout. Sorry. From now she will be Rose (primarily cause I like that better…) Again, apologies if this has confused you.

xLx

Chapter 22.

-

As Severus watched Arthur disappear out of the entrance hall at the front of the castle he felt another pair of eyes upon himself.

"Just when think I've figured out what's going on in that twisted mind of yours, you always do something that throws me completely for a loop." Moony said with a rye smile and a shake of his head.

"As if you would enjoy life half as much as if you could predict my actions entirely." Severus threw over his shoulder as he turned away from the door and Remus chuckled.

"I suppose not. In any case, what you did there was very mature."

"At our age, I would hope that at least one of us could be a little mature." He countered lightly without looking back. "Now who else do we need to speak to?"

"Well we probably ought to send of the owls to Alistor and Kingsley first, then speak to Rose and Fillius before we go see Poppy."

"That seems uncommonly logical for you." He said heading towards the stairs leading down to the dungeons. When they arrived he let Remus set about writing the correspondence knowing that though he himself was perfectly capable of writing an articulate letter and could even make his writing legible, he didn't have the natural style of the Werewolf. While Lupin settled himself at the desk in his study through into the workroom and relit the fire under the caldron hanging in the grate, stirring the wretched potion inside carefully. Remus voice echoed through the open door.

"Do you think it would make sense to ask them just to hand in their statements to Arthur at the Ministry tomorrow morning?"

"More sense than asking them to get them here only for us to take them back down to London. Might be sensible to include a copy of the guidelines Weasley brought with him though, hate for them to forget to get them witnessed by three separate individuals." He added leafing through the stack of paper that they had been handed earlier and finding the sheet he was looking for succinctly replicated it four times with a swish of his wand. He filled a goblet with the other man's potion before taking the copies through and putting them down on the desk.

"Joy." Was the only comment that Remus made before downing the wolfsbane and making a face.

"Right, well now that that's done, lets go find ourselves Shadowfax and Smeagol."

"I can't believe that I even associate with someone who has named his owls after a Horse Lord and a pathetic creature possessed by a ring of all things."

"Smeagol is a hobbit as well you know. And it isn't any old ring it's Thee Ring. Besides, I like Gollum, he reminds me of you."

"Yes and you remind me of a Warg."

"Huh, and here was I going to correct myself and say you were more of an Aragorn."

"And whom would that make you then? Legolas?"

"I always thought they would make a nice couple." Remus said with an impish grin.

"You thought everyone in the bloody book made a nice couple." Severus retorted rolling his eyes.

"Well I shall refrain from commenting on who it was that was drooling all the way through the films." As they reached the more populated corridors of the castle they lowered their voices even further.

"I was nothing of the kind, and besides if I remember correctly somebody wet the shoulder of my shirt rather spectacularly well."

"It was sad – they were all being split up." The throw away remark was poignant in it's relevance and sheer simplicity.

"Yes, I suppose it was." Severus replied quietly after a moment. The almost reverent silence that they slipped into was broken by the sound of raised voices from around the corner. Severus set off at a pace and soon found himself faced with a rather large collection of the student body, primarily the seventh years, seeming to square off against each other.

"…hardly a great loss. It's not as if she was ever married or had children or anything…" He made out Zambini hiss above the general arguments back and forth.

"That's total bullshit! Not everyone is as self-centred and heartless as you - lots of people care! We care!" Retorted Potter of all people. Realising that with the level of noise the group was creating that there was no point in shouting himself. Pulling out his wand he cast a silencing charm over them all and revelled in the immediate quiet.

"I don't know what to say to convey just how disappointed I am in you." He said looking particularly at his own students, his clipped tones barely above a whisper. "I really have no desire to know who started it. Who said what or why they said it. All I know is that you seem to have forgotten a fairly standard rule of public decency, which I know for a fact some of you are exceptionally keen on, never speak ill of the dead. And for all intents and purposes she is." He paused acknowledging to himself that there were a few exceptions to the previous rule. "If you can think of nothing pleasant to say then say nothing at all, and despite what some of your more dense class mates might think – you should have at the very least an unfailing respect for Professor McGonagall. You should also be aware that in this instance, what you said couldn't be further from the truth and if you can't see that then you need your eyes opened." By the time he stopped he realised that he needn't say anymore and if he did he was in danger of doing something quite out of character. "Five points a piece will be taken from each of your houses and all of you will report for detention with Mr Filch tomorrow night at seven, for fighting." He said before storming through the group, sensing Remus following him in his wake.

-

Neither of them said anything as they continued on their way but Remus' gentle hand on his arm reassured him no end. The two owls they were looking for, Shadowfax who was the colour of the driven snow and Smeagol the colour of coal, swooped down towards them upon their entrance. Soon the notes were on their way and the pair of them headed first to see the Head of Ravenclaw and then to see Rose down in the warren. Both of them agreed immediately and set about studying the parchment that Severus handed over. They spoke to Poppy for longer after she had agreed but even still and hour or so later they returned back to his rooms. Remus entered the living room first, and stepped over the envelope that was lying just past the threshold but Severus spotted it straight off. Picking it up he only took a cursory glance at his name scribed on the front before going to the desk and picking up a long letter opener. Years of experience had taught him that the further away from an envelope he could be while opening it was often the better. He sliced it open and when nothing untoward happened pulled out the single note-sized card. There were only two words written on the front shining proudly in the standard Gryffindor ink, a deep scarlet that seemed to turn gold when it caught the light.

Thank You.

He turned it over, but found nothing. There was no name, no explanation. Nothing. If he had been expecting to receive anything from the Gryffindors then it was a formal complaint that they were being punished alongside his own students whom he had no doubt were the genuine antagonists in this case. But instead… instead he had arrived back to find this.

He felt Remus watching him from the other side of the desk.

"Severus? Is everything alright?"

"Of course not." He replied without looking up. " Many things are far from alright but I just received a rather pleasant surprise." He turned the card over to him and watched his face as he read the simple statement.

"They're growing up." He said quietly a gentle pride shining from his face.

-

Each of them went their own separate ways for a time after this, Severus felt he was due to visit the dormitories, suspecting that he would have little or no time over the weekend, while Remus paid a visit to Gryffindor where, though he had not taken over the Head's duties, he had spent a considerable time with the students. He supposed that the students of Minerva's house were perhaps still in shock a little about what had happened, after all they had lost their Head of House in rather unusual circumstances that were hardly designed for resolution. If Albus was struggling as much as it seemed he was to come to terms with what had happened then he supposed that these children, to whom he had always suspected their Head of House had been a mix of a role model and mother figure, would surely be in the same boat. Over the last year or so his own students had surprised him more than he could ever have expected though. He had half expected to be drummed out of the common room the morning after the truth about his role in the war had entered the public domain but the way things had happened he had been called to see to a sick student in the second year dormitories and had been welcome with as much aplomb as ever. So many students had lost one parent or both, had had to make impossible decisions about their future at a despicably young age or simply had to live with their fellow students prejudices. But he had always made it clear that they could always come to him and in the few months following the end of the war many of them had done. The dynamic in his house had changed now, as if for the first time in his lifetime it seemed possible that there might just be a future for some of these students that didn't seem quite so bleak. He wouldn't pretend that it was all rosy times ahead for them but he had hope and would do everything he could to insure that they held onto their hope and did everything that they could to make the best of the chances afforded them.

-

Remus had first period off the following morning, so when at breakfast they were handed both Fillius and Rose'ssealed references he offered to take them, and their official application form, into London and hand them to Arthur personally. It wasn't until lunch that he saw his partner again though and when they sat down to eat Remus leaned over to talk to him quietly.

"Arthur is going to come over this evening so we can discuss some preliminary's. We need to write a joint statement and have it ready so it can be given to panel first thing on Monday before the hearing begins." He nodded taking it all in while serving grilled chicken and salad onto the other man's plate. Baring a fairly minor incident in his third year Hufflepuff/Ravenclaw class the afternoon went without any great disruption and he managed to mark the fifth year potions before dinner began. As he was entering the Great Hall Serena Sinistra approached him and asked if he was still working from the lesson plan that had been posted in Staff room when he went away to conference.

"I'm covering the sixth year class first thing on Monday." She offered by way of explanation.

"Oh. Right, thank you." He added as an after thought.

"Yes we're still on schedule, just take the next theory topic and let them take notes from the textbooks. If they finish that they have a research essay due in before Christmas so get them to do some work on that."

"Sure." She replied flashing him a smile. "Good luck by the way." She said before turning to leave, presumably for the weekend. Severus stood for a moment before shaking his head and heading in to dinner.

A/N: hello again!!

Lol

Hope you're still enjoying this. I'm sitting exams at the mo so hence the rather sporadic updating but hoping to up the pace sortly.

Let me know what you think of this (good or bad)

Thanks for reading

xLx