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Last time on: Black and White
"What about Buckbeak?" Andrew asked, his stomach dropping.
"Well, it would seem, that some of the students wrote their parents about the incident that happened in the beginning of this year, with ol' Beaky."
"Oh no... you aren't fired, are you?" Ron asked sadly.
"No, no I'm not fired." Sniff. "Dear Lucius Malfoy called Buckbeak a threat to the students, and since he had already attacked a student, it wouldn't be long before he did it again."
"That twat, he didn't." Andrew stated.
"Andrew! Oh my God!" Hermione cried out in exasperation.
Hagrid simply chuckled. "Well, Buckbeak's been sentenced to death." the large man said before he broke down in loud sobs.
Andrew turned to Hermione, his face serious. "See, he's a twat."
Book 3 – Chapter 11: Accusations and Assumptions
The Gryffindor four had been so angered with the news Hagrid had shared with them that they entered the castle and headed straight for the Library.
"There has to be some bylaw we can use to get Buckbeak out of this." Hermione had said as she walked up to Madam Prince.
"Afternoon Madam Prince. Could you point me to the section with magical bylaws?" the third year witch asked with a small smile.
The librarian regarded the girl for a moment before looking over her three male friends and her eyes narrowed slightly at Andrew who looked back innocently... a little too innocently in Harry's opinion. With a small huff she pointed to a corner section of the room. With a quick "Thank you." the four students headed off in that direction.
"Why does she not like you?" Harry asked his brother.
"I may have accidentally screamed in anger while reading a book in here once." Andrew said with a small shrug. "It wasn't on purpose I just... I was angry."
"What were you reading?" Ron asked with a small frown.
"A book on old wizarding customs... I'm... busy with a personal project." he replied cryptically.
The other three shook their heads, more than sure it revolved around a prank and moved on to look for a way to save BuckBeak.
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When the bell announced their next class the four Gryffindor's left the library more than a little frazzled.
"Thirty minutes, 48 tomes and not a single damn thing that could help us!" Andrew muttered in an annoyed manner.
"Not only that...!" Hermione started in her offended tone. "There wasn't a single law in the books about protecting magical creatures! No Centaurs, Mermaids, House Elves, nothing!"
"Old customs, they usually see themselves as the tops of the food chain even though any of those creatures could easily overpower us." Ron said with a small yawn.
"Well, be that as it may, maybe we should talk to Professor Dumbledore about this." Harry suggested.
"He would know more about the law than those books, maybe he can find us a loophole. Oh I've got to get to class. See you later!" Hermione called as she rushed away.
"Where she off to now?" Ron asked.
"Transfiguration. Oh and Arithmancy... wonder which one she'll pick." Andrew replied with a shrug. She looked better than the beginning of the year so he had laid off telling her to take less classes, for now.
"So what do we have now?" Harry asked.
"Same as her, Transfiguration." Andrew replied.
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When they entered the classroom they were met with a sight made Andrew narrow his eyes.
"I thought you said she had Arithmancy?" Ron asked turning to look at Andrew.
"She does." he answered. "But she also has this class, so..."
As they took their seats Andrew shot the girl a look and she simply smiled back.
"Everything okay?"
Turning, he came face to face with Su who looked worried for a moment, she hadn't really had a chance to speak with Andrew after the whole... Infirmary situation.
"Oh hey, yeah. All good. Listen, I never really had a chance to thank you, you know for getting my broom." he said with a smile.
"I-It's okay... I mean it wasn't anything too strenuous." she said with a small shrug.
"Good Morning class!" Professor McGonagall had entered the room and they fell silent, they had gotten in enough trouble in her class by not paying attention.
As the class let out, Andrew and Harry received a summons to Professor Flitwick's office. Saying they'll catch up with their friends in the Great Hall they rushed to the tiny Professor's office and knocked.
"Good Morning boys, or rather afternoon." They greeted back and sat in the chairs opposite their instructor.
"Now boys I need to talk to you regarding your lessons. Unfortunately I will not be able to continue the lessons for a while as such, I have asked Professor Lupin to handle the first couple of lessons. Do you have any objections?" he asked the two boys.
"No sir." Harry responded with a shrug while Andrew mimicked him.
"Excellent. Now I would recommend you boys go off to lunch." he told them with a small smile.
When they arrived back in the Great Hall they told their friends that Professor Lupin would be handling their Patronus Lessons as Flitwick wouldn't be able to.
They commenced with their lunches until a familiar voice made them all groan tiredly.
"So Potter, I heard your favourite beast is being put down and I'm not talking about your little mudblood there." Malfoy said as he approached the table his little group chuckled at his joke.
Andrew turned to respond when he caught their eyes. He paused for a moment, narrowing his eyes at them, they had the decency to look somewhat ashamed before he turned his attention back to Malfoy.
"Shut up, Malfoy." Ron said with a scowl.
"Brilliant response Weasley, I honestly can't understand why you're not top of the year." Draco replied sarcastically.
"You know Malfoy, I learned something really interesting lately." Andrew said calmly. He looked up at and found Tonks and Su approaching the table and waved them over happily, leaving Malfoy and his little band in suspense.
They'd break soon.
Once the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw were seated he continued.
"Where was I?" he asked them.
"You'd learned something." Harry answered, enjoying his lunch and ignoring the group.
"Right, you know the old laws of magic are interesting aren't they? I mean debts handled by magic itself is quite a fascinating concept." he stated, looking directly at the blond who seemed to have an idea of what he was talking about.
"I mean, how much is ones life worth, I wonder? Also how would pureblood Lords feel about their spawn owing their lives to those who are... 'beneath them'?"
Draco's face paled at that and he quickly turned and walked away, Andrew looked over at the Slytherin table and winked at Blaise who smirked back.
"What was all that about?" Tonks asked the dark skinned boy.
Andrew turned to the others, he had told Harry but not the others so with a nod he told them everything he knew about life-debts.
"Why didn't you use it to save BuckBeak?" Hermione asked with a frown.
"Cause eventually another pureblood twat would use the same methods to get him chopped. No, I'm gonna save this, never know when it'll be more useful." Andrew answered bluntly.
"He has a point." Su responded, to which the group turned to regard her. "I- I just mean..." she broke off and looked down at the sudden attention.
"Hey c'mon, no one here is gonna judge you." Tonks told the girl with a soft smile.
With a small nod, Su continued. "I j- just mean that Andrew has a point. Lord M- Malfoy could just r- request someone else make the- the call to put down B- BuckBeak. But if he holds on to the debt, he basically has a f- foot on Malfoy's throat for... for as l- long as he wants. And Malfoy now knows it."
"Exactly!" Andrew chimed in happily pointing a fork at the girl.
Su smiled at the boy's enthusiasm and continued to eat her lunch with the others. Harry, Hermione and Ron had Divinations next (their bushy haired companion decided to give the class one more go) while Andrew and Su headed up to Ancient Runes and Tonks went off to her defense class with Lupin "Who's actually quite fit." she commented unknowingly leaving a sour taste in Harry's mouth.
Andrew smirked when he felt a spike in his brother's emotions but decided to keep his mouth close and headed off to class.
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"Looks like it's starting to affect you again." Andrew commented to Hermione.
"It is not." she commented offhandedly while she had what looked like a tomb of pages sitting in front of her.
"Hermione, according to Harry and Ron, you not only openly argued with a teacher, you called her and her class a, and I quote '… momentous waste of time only worthy for incompetent buffoons.' you were saying?"
"Well, she told me that I was inadequate!"
"Yes! For that class! Hermione, that class is literally useless unless you have some sort of Seer abilities!" Andrew replied desperately.
"..."
"Mione."
"What happened to 'Mio'?"
"It sounded too damn masculine. Now, will you please tell me why you're punishing yourself?"
"I'm not! I just want to get as much out of this as I can." she replied shortly.
Andrew recognized that she was getting frustrated, but to be honest; he didn't care, she was quickly approaching a burnout and needed help.
"Hermione! This is ridiculous! You're going to pass out in Potions and cause a Neville level explosion!"
"Hey!"
It was at that moment, Andrew remembered that they were in the common room and Neville had been in the vicinity.
"No offense, Nev!"
"Andrew please just let me do this."
"No, you're going to drop some classes or I swear to God, I'm going straight to McGonagall and getting her to talk to you." He stated finally while he stood to leave. "You misspelled dinosaur, by the way." he added pointing to her Muggle Studies essay about fossil fuels.
Hermione watched him go before she felt two people sit down on either side of her. After a second she knew immediately who they were and let out a frustrated sigh.
"That didn't look pretty." Parvati stated simply.
"Leave me alone."
"What was all that about?" Lavender asked this time.
"None ya."
"None ya?"
"None ya business." she finished straight faced.
"That was good, really Weasley Twins level jokes right there." the Indian girl replied sarcastically.
"Guys please." Hermione pleaded, feeling exhaustion taking over.
"No, we aren't leaving until you spill the beans." Lavender said stubbornly as she crossed her arms.
Hermione placed her face in her hands and groaned.
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Andrew and Harry made their way to the Defense classroom and knocked. Once they were granted permission to enter they saw Professor Lupin standing his desk smiling at the two boys gently.
"Ah, Misters Potter, I understand that Professor Flitwick has asked me to continue your remedial lessons. Now I believe that you two have already been taught the Glacious charm, and the Argumenti spell. I trust you're still practicing your Patronus charms, in your spare time?"
At their nods he continued.
"Right, well, it seems to me that Fillius has been teaching you boys by element spells. Hmm, well I think a spell used in battle might be more useful, as such I'm teaching you boys two spells; the Expelliarmus and Protego spells."
"Disarming and Shielding. We learned this last year." Andrew said with a nod.
"Correct Andrew, if we were in class I'd give you a few points." Lupin said with a smile. "Now I'm going to explain the spells to you boys and how to properly execute them."
After a brief twenty minute lesson which included the pronunciation, intent needed, and uses of the spell he had the two boys practice the spells, staring with the shield charm.
"Protego!" Harry shouted and a shimmering, curved, clear shield appeared before the boy. He turned to his brother and smirked.
Andrew stuck his tongue out and the boy and took his turn. He received the same result and shot his brother a smirk of his own.
"This is... easy." Andrew said turning to give their instructor a look of suspicion.
"I'm glad you think that, Andrew. Please continue." Professor Lupin replied with a look of innocence.
Frowning the two boys tried the spell another ten times and were successful all ten of them. They shared a look and turned to look at their teacher.
"Sir..." Harry said with a small frown.
"Hmm, you both seem to think you've got it down, yeah?" he asked the two third years who nodded.
"Okay, now I'm going to cast the disarming spell at you and you are to shield against it. Deal?"
They nodded again and stood ready to block his attack.
"Wands at the ready!" he called out. Immediately the two boys cast their shields and their Professor cast his spell.
"Expelliarmus!"
The red light approached Andrew at an impressive speed before it collided with his shield and completely shattered it, the boy didn't even have enough time to blink before the spell hit him and sent his wand soaring towards Lupin who caught it lazily. He tossed it back and turned to Harry.
"Ready?" he asked. At the boys determined nod he cast again and got the same result.
He looked at the boys smugly.
"What happened?" he asked with a raised brow.
"Our shields were too weak." Harry replied.
"Or your spell was overpowered." Andrew added.
"Correct. Both of you. When you're going up against someone in a duel you have to assume that they'll put all of their strength into a spell and that you'll have to overpower the hell out of your own shield to block their attack." he told them with a small nod.
"Now, would you like to try again?" he asked them. When they nodded he smiled and reminded them to pour more power into their shield.
He turned to Harry first and nodded his head.
"Protego!"
"Expelliarmus!"
The spell splashed against the shield for longer than it had before but the end result was still the same for both boys. He commended them for their efforts before telling them to continue practicing on their own for a moment. After another hour both boys were panting and had sweat pouring from their faces.
"Okay. That's enough for today." he told them.
The two boys collapsed on the ground from exhaustion.
"How about some refreshments, huh?" Lupin asked with a small smile.
"Yes, please."
"That sounds nice."
When the two boys sat down they were delighted to see pumpkin juice and chocolate chip cookies awaiting them. They instantly gulped down their juices and were happy to note that they refilled themselves.
"I must admit, I am thoroughly impressed with your control boys. Professor Flitwick told me you were quite disciplined but I had my doubts, seeing is believing after all." he said as the boys enjoyed their refreshments.
"Thank you, sir." Harry said with a small smile.
"I apologize you must hear this all the time, but you look so much like your father, Harry except your eyes, you have your mother; Lily's eyes. And you Andrew, an almost exact copy, though I must admit, you do have your mothers softer features." he commented looked over boy the boys who ducked their heads in embarrassment.
"You knew our parents?" Andrew asked with a small raise of his brows.
"Oh yes, I met Harry's father here at Hogwarts and his mother as well and I met your father through James. Each as troublesome as the next, honestly their love for trouble was legendary; a love I hear, you two inherited." he finished with a small grin at the boys.
"Well, when you're dealt a bad hand..." Andrew remarked with a small shrug.
"There's Lisa's sarcasm." Lupin laughed.
It was a sweet moment that was halted by a knock on the door and set of midnight black robes swept into the office.
"Ah, good evening, Severus." Lupin greeted happily.
"Lupin." he sneered before placing a mug of steaming... something in front of the man. "I have brewed an entire months supply, should you require more; you know where to find me." he stated simply before he turned and shot the two boys a glare - which they happily returned and left.
"Git." Andrew muttered softly.
"Oh he isn't that bad." Professor Lupin said with a small smile. He picked up the small goblet and began drinking from it.
The two boys stared on in undisguised horror as the man continued to drink from his goblet. When he finished he wiped his mouth and gave a small shudder.
"Absolutely foul." he commented offhandedly before he check the time. "Oh is that the time already. I suggest you boys go to your common room and take a shower; supper is in an hour.
At their nod the two boys stood and waved goodbye at their professor before leaving the room.
Remus Lupin watched the two boys leave with a smile on his face and couldn't help but imagine how proud their fathers would be at their not so little anymore troublemakers.
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As they approached the Gryffindor tower Andrew paused and let out a violent shudder.
"What's wrong?" Harry asked with a frown.
"I have a feeling we're not going to like what's happening in there." he said pointing to the painting of Sir Cadogan – who still managed to irritated the living hell out of Andrew.
Once they gave the Painting another code, they headed in the common room and were met by loud yells and accusations.
"Your bloody cat did this!"
"You have no proof Crookshanks is the culprit! For all we know it was a damn owl!"
Andrew had to admit that he was slightly happy that he influenced Hermione enough to have her cursing when she was in high emotion moments.
"What's going on?!" Harry asked as he stepped forward.
"Her cat ate Scabbers!" he said pointing a finger at Hermione and showing the boys an empty cage with a blood splattered on the bottom.
Chapter complete!
Have fun reading the next one!
Peace, Love and Respect
Zak
