Sirius Black had happily supplied David with the appropriate cursed item. They had decided on a friendship band since it would make sense for Sirius to give him something symbolic in thanks for his help with the trial. It helped that it would be extremely impolite for David to check said gift for curses since it would imply mistrust in the motives of the giver. Of course anyone who actually knew Sirius Black would have checked over the gift anyway since they were accustomed to his sense of humour, but there was no way David could be expected to know that. Instead David set the plan in action by making sure to mention over breakfast that he was off to procure a grindylow and would probably drop in on Sirius while he was out.
The next day Sirius received a howler. It arrived while he was eating breakfast with the twins; howlers never arrived while the recipient was alone if they could help it. The twins were grinning widely when they recognised the voice as that of Minerva McGonagall.
"Sirius Black what on earth did you think you were doing?" yelled the envelope. "Scrap that it is pretty obvious you weren't thinking at all. You owe David a lot for effectively saving your life and you repay him by half scaring him to death. The man was petrified - and I don't mean the bodybind curse. That young man has serious trust issues with the Wizarding World and you really haven't helped matters.
"Not to mention poor Albus. What would have happened if the students had witnessed your prank? If you were still my student I would have you cleaning the common room with a toothbrush. I suggest you don't show your face around here any time soon or I might just do that.
"You will apologise to Albus and David if you know what's good for you. While I may not believe in casting the first spell next time I see you I don't think Severus has the same reservations. You'd better not be laughing right now."
"Oh wow Sirius," said Fred.
"What exactly did you do?" asked George.
"Professor McGonagall only once threatened us with the toothbrushes…"
"And that was when she caught us covering her desk with catnip."
"I was trying to help Remus," said Sirius defensively. "He was having trouble getting David to admit that he was attracted to him, despite the fact that he obviously was, so I tried to help things along a bit. I gave David a friendship band on which I had cast a version of the revealo charm which I perfected in the carefree days of my youth. It was meant to work on Remus and David, not David and Albus."
"But what did it do to them," asked Fred impatiently.
"I'll tell you when you're older," said Sirius tapping his nose. Fred exchanged a knowing glance with George; there was no way Sirius would get away with that.
Five minutes and many colourful hexes later Sirius gave in and explained the use of the revealo charm in amorous encounters. The twins were left with a disturbing image of the headmaster doing a striptease and wondering whether knowledge was always the best way to go. It did give them an idea for a new range of products though. It was three months to Valentine's Day so they should be able to get them manufactured in time. They also applauded Sirius for his audacity and started planning their own way of getting a howler from McGonagall - the new top honours in pranking.
Albus was sitting by himself in his office with his pensive out on his desk in front of him. He was reviewing the meeting he had had with Kingsley earlier in the day. Kingsley had contacted his friend in the Department of Mysteries about the Wilfred's Choice. Such events were quite rare, happening only once or twice a century in any one country.
"I almost lost my job," the bald figure above his pensive was saying. "There's a clamp down on information about the latest choice. Due to the secrecy of their work the unspeakables are sticklers for the law to ensure that their doings do not get out of hand. The clampdown must have been done legally. I didn't think that even the Minister had that much power."
Albus agreed. The Minister would not have ordered such a clampdown. Even if he had had the power Fudge did not have the backbone for such a decision. Also he would have wanted the publicity that went along with a Wilfred's Choice. There was only one person who had the power and she had never exercised it before. Somehow the queen had been persuaded to involve herself. It appeared that David had a very influential protector. Maybe he should take the advice of those who knew David and try to gain his trust rather than sneak around looking for his secrets. It would not do to have him as an opponent if it could be helped. Yet there was still his nagging doubt that David had the best interests of the Wizarding World at heart. Tom Riddle had also been highly intelligent and highly secretive. Severus had been lured into giving his loyalty to a dark lord in the past, what if history was repeating itself?
David readily agreed to help sort out the boggart in Minerva's office when she asked him over breakfast since after all one of the basics for dealing with a boggart was to have company. Instead of giving in to the apprehension of facing his worst fear and all the memories it entailed David smiled inwardly in anticipation of the look on Minerva's face when she saw it. Perhaps Sirius would get another howler.
David invited Remus along to help with the boggart and so the three teachers walked together to Minerva's office. As predicted Minerva gestured for David to open the suspect cupboard while she and Remus remained as backup. Remembering that he was supposed to be surprised by the 'changed' appearance of his boggart David allowed himself a few moments to stand still in 'shock.' This gave Minerva plenty of time to recognise the figure of Albus leave the cupboard and start to undo his robes while leering. She was rather enthralled by the image before remembering exactly what was in front of her when David cried 'ridickulus' and the Albus-boggart was forced into a pirouette whilst wearing a pink tutu, pale tights, ballet slippers and matching ribbons in his beard.
"All sorted Minerva," said David once he had finished the boggart off with his laughter. "Remus, I think I'd better not do any of the boggart lessons, don't you agree?" As soon as the two DADA teachers had left their speechless colleague behind in her office they started to chuckle.