"In his last letter to me, he whinged about his twelve-year-old daughter bringing home fifteen-year-old boys." Lupin laughed.
"She was twelve, Moony. Twelve. Bringing home older boys. And boys reputed to be the current Hogwarts pranksters. Of course, I was whinging." Paddy mock-snarled at his friend.
"Oh, please." Snape shook his head. "Like the first thought in your head wasn't something to do with pranks." The look he sent the beleaguered father was full of fond exasperation.
"That's not the point!" Paddy squawked, indignantly.
"Never mind, Pads." Lupin snorted. "Shall we call the Hellions down for lunch, or do we have more to discuss?"
"Nope, that's it." Paddy shook his head. "Subject's closed."
"Good." Snape nodded. "Bring out the firewhiskey, I believe a drink is needed."
"Definitely." McGonagall agreed.
The start of year feast saw almost the same selection of students displaying the fact that they couldn't keep their mouths shut, all but Pucey and Warrington. They'd learnt their lesson well. Others, it seemed, hadn't.
"Oh, dear…" Flitwick sighed.
"Someone had fun." Snape said. "Or should that be someone-s?"
"How did they achieve this?" Dumbledore asked. "Any ideas?"
"It has to be on the Express." Flitwick said.
"No, not just the Express." Lupin corrected. "They'll have hit each of them with a targeting spell, but it wouldn't activate until they entered the castle."
"Really?" Dumbledore asked, intrigued by the hypothesis.
"Otherwise the 'victims' would see it early enough to be able to finite the hex, before entering the Great Hall." Snape explained.
"Ah, of course, of course." Dumbledore nodded to himself.
Titania and Luna received off looks from some of the Ravenclaws as they joined the fifth-year runes class.
"Welcome to the Study of Ancient Runes OWLs class." Professor Bubbling said, once the six students were seated. "And yes, Miss Grimmley and Miss Lovegood are supposed to be in this class. You will find them in most of the fifth-year classes, as they will be sitting their OWLs with you." She tapped her wand against the chalkboard and went on. "First, I'd like all of you to confirm that you all have Spellman's Syllabary and your Rune Dictionary. Please stand your books on your desk, facing the front of the room."
With that, the students attention went from Titania and Luna to Professor Babbling and the subject she taught.
Standing in the clearing that Hagrid used for most of his classes, the twelve fifth-year students faced the half-giant as he sat on a stump.
"Come on, come on. Gather round." The former groundskeeper called. "Right then. We've got a bit of a treat for ya. This be a one-off class. Normally, we don't go much fer guest Professors, but this one? Nah, we weren't gonna knock 'im back when 'e offered to share 'is time. I's expect you to pay attention and show some respect." He gestured to someone that the students couldn't see. "Master of Magizoology and Grandmaster of Care of Magical Creatures, Newt Scamander. Master Scamander this is me fifth-year class. They's'll be sitting their OWLs at the end of the school year."
There was a quiet gasp from Ron Weasley and Draco Malfoy, as a slender man entered the clearing.
"Good morning." The older man shed the traditional pea-coat that had become something of a trademark of his and laid it over an overhanging branch. The students answered him with a variety of greetings. "Ah, Miss Grimmley, Headmaster Dumbledore told me I could expect to see, today. How's that young Helios, of yours?"
"He's growing well, sir, not out of the gangly stage but at least he's learnt to fly. Now if we could just teach him to land…?" The blonde girl giggled as she replied.
"He'll get the hang of it, eventually." Scamander laughed back. "Griffins tend to muff thing up, until they're about five years old. I'm not too sure about your fellow, being a familiar can bring a magical beast's maturity forward."
"He's only got Da during the school year, though." Titania said.
"In that case, work on the basis of him not reaching full maturity until he's five. I'm going to be in the country for a week… if you like, I can check on him and give you a more accurate estimate." Scamander offered.
"That would be wonderful, sir. I know Da is worried that Helios will strain something trying to fly with Steelbeak and Persephone." Titania gave him a beaming smile.
"Which one's Persephone?" Scamander asked.
"The pony Pegasus." Titania answered.
"A Pegasus pony?" Draco Malfoy asked, his disdain for the non-Slytherin houses forgotten in his curiosity. "Where did you get one of them? They're incredibly rare."
"I found it on our property." Titania replied. "It'd been hurt, something bigger had gouged marks down it's flanks. Professor Hagrid was called out, as an animal healer, by Mr Diggory from Registration and Control."
"That I was." Hagrid said. "Weren't expecting you to have a room full o' impossibilities, though."
"Hey!" She laughed. "You might consider them impossibilities, but they're my impossibilities."
"What else have you got?" Seamus Finnigan asked.
"Um…?" Titania looked to Hagrid and Scamander for permission, when they both nodded, she answered. "Steelbeak is a hippogriff, he was my Da's, but he likes me better. Then there's…"
Dumbledore looked at his staff and sighed. "Miss Grimmley and Miss Lovegood had sent another request." He said.
"They wish to sit their NEWTs, don't they?" Flitwick asked in response.
"They do." Dumbledore nodded.
"Thank heavens…" Professor Vector sighed.
"Septima?" McGonagall turned to the Arithmancy Professor.
"By the end of September both girls had caught up to their classmates and by Halloween both had finished the entirety of the fifth-year work. I've started them on the sixth-year course, just to keep them occupied." Vector replied.
"Much the same here, too." Professor Babbling added. "Miss Grimmley took one class and said, 'I can do this' and proceeded to race through three months work in less than an hour. And within a week, the two had finished the whole year's work." She sighed. "They're already well into sixth-year and if they weren't as young as they are, I'd be inclined to say, let them sit their NEWTs, this year, too."
"They might be ready for NEWTs in some classes," Snape said, "but they still need practical experience in others, potions is one."
"In charms, they could easily do the written test for their NEWTs, but again, the practical would hold them back a little." Flitwick joined in. "They'd pass but not with as high of a score as they could, given another year to practice."
"Minerva?" Dumbledore asked.
"Their essays are handed in the day after I give them out and are practically perfect. If it weren't for the fact that I've been giving them a different subject matter each time, I'd be concerned about copied work." McGonagall answered. "But, yes. Their practical could improve." She paused for a moment. "However, I did receive notice from the DMLE."
"The DMLE? Whyever for?" Professor Sprout asked.
"The two girls have taken a trip to the Ministry. Last weekend was a Hogsmeade weekend and the girls went to the Ministry to register as Animagi."
Most of the staff looked at McGonagall like she was speaking gobbledegook.
"Excuse me?" Madam Pince asked for them all. "Animagi? How did they do that? Neither of them have researched the subject, not here at school, anyway. Nor has anyone else requested information on the matter since Miss Granger was hunting for a way to track Mr Pettigrew."
"I don't know, Irma, I just don't know." McGonagall sighed. "But given that Mr Jordan and Mr's Fred and George Weasley registered as well? I can only assume that the boys already had plenty of study material."
"Yes and no." Lupin said.
"Pardon?" Dumbledore turned from McGonagall to Lupin.
"Yes, the boys had a couple of books, but it was the girls that were the catalyst." Lupin explained. "You recall that the boys and a few others were changed into animals, a couple of years back?"
"Yes…?" Dumbledore replied slowly.
"That was the girls." Lupin said. "They dosed the boys and a few others… and themselves… with the Animagus Identification potion, which is what got the boys thinking about animagi. Their books and information didn't come from Hogwarts, they owled their brother, Bill. I understand that he's an apprentice curse-breaker with Gringotts."
"Oh, hell." McGonagall muttered.
"Then the boys approached the girls and asked if either of their fathers were animagi and if so, would they be prepared to give lessons?" Lupin smiled. "That the summer after Harry… died. The boys spent most of the summer at the Grimmley's place and Paddy taught all of them how to shift."
"He's an Animagus?" McGonagall asked.
"Oh, yes." Snape answered. "He's a silver and grey Grimm. Startled the doxie dung out of Lupin, the first time he shifted."
"You weren't much better." Lupin snarked back at him.
"Maybe I wasn't, but I'm a Slytherin, we can control our reactions, certainly better than most Gryffindors, anyway." Snape smirked.
"What are they?" Hagrid asked. "The children? What did they register as?"
"Oh, yes." McGonagall forced her focus back to the subject at hand. "Mr Jordan is a type of domestic feline, an exotic breed called the Havanna Cat." She flicked her wand and conjured an image of a long-legged chocolate coloured cat with large ears and a triangular wedge-shaped head. "Mr's Weasley are both Red Magma Kites and given the birds' preference for living around active volcanos, it seems apt that our resident prankster have that form. Miss Lovegood is a Honey Dove, again, apt given her liking for sweets. And Miss Grimmley is the standout."
"Oh…?" Dumbledore asked.
"She's a Gryfflix." McGonagall replied bluntly.
"Oh, my…" The gasps came from a few people.
"To get back to the initial subject. I'd say that yes, both girls will be fine to sit their NEWTs next year." Snape cut in before anyone could comment.
"Yes, it would appear so." Dumbledore nodded his head slowly. "Does anyone disagree?"
The twins and Lee dragged themselves from the Great Hall and up a few flights of stairs, until they reached the room that Titania and Luna had commandeered as their study room. They stumbled through the door and fell into the armchairs. that Titania had asked the house-elves to provide from the lost property room. Their arms hung down and their fingers barely held onto their wands, they were that tired.
"Finished…" Fred whispered, he had no strength to speak louder.
"Excellent, guys." Titania beamed at them. "Here you go, I asked Madam Pomfrey if you could have these, as you would be tutoring us for our last exam. We brewed them last week and Snape okayed them." She held out phials full of bright golden yellow liquid. "Invigorating Draughts. Drink up."
"Best sister-in-law-to-be, ever." George gave her a tired smile but reached out a trembling hand for a phial, Fred and Lee copying his action.
"What's your exam?" Lee asked as he lifted the phial to his lips.
"History of Magic." Luna answered.
"Ugh…" George grunted. "I take it back, worst sister-in-law-to-be, ever."
"Alright guys, tomorrow is Titania's fifteenth birthday." Paddy said as he sat at the breakfast table with the five teens, Snape and Lupin. "I know I said that I'd sign a betrothal contract on her birthday, but there's something you need to know first."
"Oh, gods…" Fred groaned.
"What now…?" George closed his eyed.
"It's not that bad." Paddy objected.
"Yes, it is." Snape argued.
"Cast away." Lee took a deep breath in preparation.
"I told you that I was once Sirius Black, what I didn't tell you or Remus, was that I wasn't the Sirius Black that was born on this world." He paused to slap Remus on the back as he nearly choked on his tea. "Sorry, thought you'd already swallowed that." He gave a shamefaced grimace.
"Oh, for heaven's sake, Grimmley get on with it." Snape shook his head.
Paddy nodded. "Right. So, you know the story of Sirius Black. In the world I came from it was much the same. It was only after Harry and Hermione rescued me that things changed…" He told them all, the history of how he came to be in the Ministry that fateful night. "Bellatrix's spell hit me and I hit the veil, it pulled me in and spat me out, what seemed like seconds later. I was sitting in that little cell on the top of the Dark Tower with Hermione blasting the door open. I had a few minutes with Harry and it was time to get out of there, I had plans to make and what I thought was… I had a chance to change the future."
The boys and Remus nodded as they thought about that.
"Then things changed, again." Paddy grinned. "About an hour later, I was only a few miles away, Buckbeak was tired and wanted to roost for the night so we'd landed near a tiny little loch, partway between the castle and Loch Awe. I'd made a nest out of some gorse and a few broken branches and the hippogriff had settled down, when a Patronus appeared. It was Harry's, his stag. He must have assumed that we were still flying as he told me, and I quote, 'Land the hippogriff, we have a problem."
From there Paddy told his enraptured audience how he and Harry had talked and planned. What they'd decided on and how they enacted those plans. How Dobby the elf had validated all their plans with a simple question about a picture. How they'd taken that validation as the comfort that they sorely needed, that they would succeed. How Paddy had stressed and feared for his daughter when she'd began to collect animals and then went on to collect children.
Then Titania and Myah went on to explain what had happened to Harry in the two years after Sirius had entered the veil. From Dumbledore's death and the Great Horcrux Hunt to the Battle of Hogwarts and Harry's trial under Mordred's Law. How he was given the chance to choose his sentence and what he chose.
"So…?" Fred studied Titania as though she were a puzzle that he needed to solve. "You were Harry, you were entered in the Triwizard and watched snakeface get a body." It wasn't a question and neither were any of the comments to come.
"Yes." Titania and Paddy both answered.
"Paddy was Sirius Black and a member of the Order of the Phoenix." George said.
"Yes." Titania was only one to answer, now.
"You ran an illegal, underground DADA bootcamp and got a Professor kidnapped by centaurs." Snape said.
"Yes."
"Snakeface, great nickname by the way… Snakeface tricked you with a vision, via a horcrux that you didn't know was in your scar, a vision of Sirius being tortured in the Ministry." Lee said.
"Yes."
"You rode thestrals from Hogwarts to London and fought a dozen or so DeathEaters." Remus said with his eyes closed.
"Yes."
"But you'd already told Snape, who had alerted the Order and they turned up to save your skinny butts." Fred said.
"Yes."
"And that's when Sirius was hit by Bellatrix's spell and fell into the veil." Lee said.
"Yes."
"And you duelled snakeface in the atrium, until Dumbledore turned up, then he duelled snakeface until the Minister arrived." Remus said.
"Yes."
"Less than an hour later, Dumbledore told you about the prophecy." Remus said, his voice blank. "Without your wounds being treated."
"Yes."
"You were still sent back to the muggles." Snape's voice was just as blank as Lupin's.
"Yes."
"During the school year Dumbledore took you from the school to locate horcruxes." Lee shuddered.
"Yes."
"You watched as Snape killed Dumbledore." Remus said his voice almost silent.
"Yes."
"You… and Ron and Hermione… gave up your families, educations and probably any chance at a career, to go hunting horcruxes." Fred said.
"Yes."
"When you didn't even know what the horcruxes were." George said.
"Yes."
"You broke into the Ministry and out of Malfoy manor." Lee said.
"Yes."
"Before breaking into Gringotts and out again, stealing a dragon along the way." Fred said.
"Yes."
"You broke into Hogwarts and challenged Snape for control of the school and won." Lee said.
"Yes."
"You watched as snakeface turned on Snape and had him killed." George said.
"Yes."
"You were with him when he died." Paddy whispered, his hands reaching, one for Titania's and the other for Snape's.
"Yes."
"I gave you memories." Snape whispered clutching at Paddy's hand.
"Yes."
"Memories that showed you what Dumbledore had planned for you." Remus said.
"Yes."
"He planned for you to sacrifice yourself for your friends." Snape growled.
"Yes."
"And he'd been planning that for years." Fred's growl echoed Snape's.
"Yes."
"Do we get to kill him?" Fred asked. It was the first thing phrased as a question since Titania had finished her explanation.
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because this Dumbledore isn't the same. This Dumbledore is similar but he's not done most of the things that, that Dumbledore had done. He can't do anything to Harry. And I'm not Harry, not anymore. Harry's dead." Titania explained. "Plus, Harry's already taken care of snakeface and his DeathEaters are still locked up, they aren't going to cause the same sort of problems for the muggleborns."
"Dumbledore has approved us sitting our NEWTs." Luna added. "So, by this time next year, we'll be completely free of him."
"He won't be able to do anything to us." Titania assured them.
"As long as no-one here, let's anything slip, we'll be fine." Luna added.
Fred's eyes went wide as something occurred to him.
"Holy crap…" He whispered.
"What, Freddie?" George asked.
"Titania used to be Harry Potter."
"Yes…" George frowned at his twin.
"I'm supposed to marry the girl who used to be Harry Potter…?" Fred whispered.
"And that' why we told you today." Paddy said. "Just in case you want to change your mind."
"NO!" Fred squawked. "Mine! No take-backs."
"Looks like you're marrying the girl who used to be Harry Potter." George snickered.