For what had to be the hundredth time, Professor Minerva McGonagall sat in front of four smiling boys who looked as if they'd done something extremely clever. Which, she'd admit, they had.
"Why," she said, "Did Mr. Filch catch you in the halls, after curfew, on walking, silenced beds?"
"Well," said James Potter, "Making them walk turned out to be easier than making them float how we wanted, and we didn't want to wake anyone up."
She gave him a Look. She was rather good at those. "That is not what I was talking about. Why were you breaking curfew?"
Sirius Black took a turn, giving a frown. "Professor, we weren't breaking curfew. The rules clearly state that students must be in bed after 10:00 P.M., and as you said, we were certainly in bed. We were even under our covers and everything."
With a wave of her wand, McGonagall summoned her copy of the Student's Handbook, and read the rules of curfew. Sure enough, it said nothing about staying in their rooms after curfew. On a hunch, she checked another. After reading to her satisfaction, she put it down.
"You are indeed correct. According to the Student's Handbook, you were not breaking curfew with these antics." Their smiles grew brighter.
"However," their smiles dropped, "There is a section about removing school-owned materials without permission. I quote, 'Students may not remove school-owned materials of any sort from their established room or area without prior notice and permission from the professor in charge of said room or area. Students who do may be penalized with the removal of house points and, in repeated or extreme incidents, be given detention by the supervising professor for a maximum of seven days,'". She looked at the four, three of whom were now shooting dirty looks at Remus Lupin.
"I, as Head of House for Gryffindor, am responsible for all the goings-on in the common room and bedrooms. I was not given prior notice of the removal of these beds from the rooms, nor did I give permission for such. Nor would I. In addition, the removal of beds-which, if you forget, are largely considered to be stationary-constitutes an extreme violation of this rule. Eighty points from Gryffindor, twenty for each of you, and you all will have detention with me for the next six days."
Three of them slumped in their seats. The fourth, Peter Pettigrew, looked confused.
"Professor," he asked, "Why only six days, and not seven?" This instantly got three Glares from his friends, who were admittedly good studies in most topics, including meaningful Looks.
McGonagall allowed herself to smile. "Because although you did break the rules in a flagrant manner in an attempt to circumvent other rules, the beds in question were very finely enchanted. And I make a point of rewarding good spell
work. Now, I expect the four of you to get your beds, navigate them back into your room to stay, and go to bed."
As she walked through the common room after ensuring they did as she said, she heard Remus Lupin say loudly, "How was I supposed to know she'd check the whole book?"
"She's Professor bloody McGonagall you moron! You'd almost have better luck outwitting Dumbledore!"
She smiled softly to herself. Truth be told, they weren't bad kids, especially after they started hanging out with Miss Evans. They were just too clever for their own good. She only hoped their cleverness never got them into trouble they couldn't clever themselves out of again.
That's it for this story. I was inspired by a post I saw on Facebook by The Quibbler that mentioned this loophole. I saw the post and had to write this.
