Chapter Twenty-Five

Telling Tales

The man who comes with a tale about others has himself an axe to grind

~Chinese Proverb

The four Gryffindor boys barrelled into Professor McGonagall's office. They didn't knock or wait to be invited in. They didn't even check to see if Professor McGonagall was even in her office. Instead they just barged through the door and began excitedly talking over each other, desperately trying to get their story out.

"We got into the classroom and-"

"The Slytherin's are definitely behind the broom-"

"Alectus Warrington is the ringleader of-"

"We have undeniable proof that the Slytherins were involved-"

"We've cleared our names! It wasn't us-"

"Professor McGonagall, you have to believe-"

"We have absolute proof-"

"It was not us that did-"

Their voices mixed together and blended into an almost unintelligible mess. As they tried to talk over each other, get their point across, they each began talking louder and louder, trying to be heard over the others. All in all, it was completely ineffective.

McGonagall, for her part, was sitting at her desk. Judging from the large stack of parchment on her desk, she had been in the midst of grading a paper she had set her students when the four barged in. Her initial reaction to them was surprise, obviously not expecting a sudden arrival of four excited first years. However, after processing what she could understand of what the four were saying, her expression hardened. Slowly, she lowered her quill, pursed her lips, and, after trying to listen to four young boys talk over each other for about thirty seconds, stood from the desk.

"Enough, boys," Professor McGonagall spoke, her voice not particularly loud but commanding enough that Sirius, Remus, James, and Peter all stopped talking at exactly the same moment. For the first time since entering her office, the four took a good, appraising look of Professor McGonagall. What they saw made them shrink back a little.

"Apparently," she continued, looking down at the boys through her glasses, "your parents did not bother to teach you any manners. When entering the space of another person, you should always knock and wait to be invited in." The four boys shrunk away from her gaze and words, turning to look at each other to see who the person would be to speak for them.

"I'm really sorry Professor, but we have something really important to talk to you about! The Slytherins are plotting to sabotage the final Quidditch match of the year! We-" James spoke, alone this time, trying to explain their situation. However, he was cut off by an increasingly stern look from McGonagall.

She let out an exasperated sigh before speaking again. "I've heard quite enough of this talk against the Slytherins. This inter-house competition has gone on for far too long and I will have no more of it!"

"But, Professor!" James tried protesting, but McGonagall held up a finger, keeping him from saying anything further. Remus interpreted the situation as one where McGonagall would hear absolutely nothing from them unless it involved solid evidence. He then carefully pulled out the recording orb, a little more hesitant than he had previously been.

It had only just occurred to him that presenting an illegally gotten, highly regulated item to the strict, rule-following Professor McGonagall might not have been the best idea. What if she confiscated it? Reported it to the Ministry? That would not only get him in trouble, but also his father. He'd just have to hope that the information recorded on the ill-begotten orb was of a high enough value that McGonagall was more focused on that than the sphere itself.

As soon as the sphere cleared Remus' bag, the glow from the information held within filled the room. McGonagall's eyes instantly focused on it and a suspicious scowl formed on her face. She obviously knew that Remus shouldn't have it but was giving him the benefit of the doubt of its providence. Not wanting to give her any more time to think about the whole thing, Remus quickly began playing the recording.

The conspiratorial voices of the Slytherins began playing throughout the office.

"Evening, gentlemen. First off, I'd like to start by saying this will probably be our last meeting of the year." A quiet fell over the assembled crowd as Warrington spoke as clearly as if he'd been standing in the room. Professor McGonagall's face looked a little sceptical at first, wondering what exactly the boys had managed to record.

"Now, onto the agenda for tonight. We are fast approaching the final Quidditch game of the year. Slytherin is in fairly good standing to win the cup, but it definitely isn't a sure thing. There are definitely some things that can be done to ensure victory."

Only a few minutes into the recording, Professor McGonagall began to open her mouth. From what she'd heard that far, there wasn't anything incriminating. Were the boys trying to pass an innocent Quidditch meeting off as something more sinister. However, each boy looked at her with such pleading eyes that she decided to at least let the recording play out and see how it ended. There was still time for admonitions and lectures about proper Gryffindor behaviour.

"However, this time around, we need to be subtler. No more obvious broom tampering. Dumbledore can still call the whole thing and then all of our efforts will have been for naught. So, I open it up now to suggestions on how to subtly sabotage Gryffindor."

James studied Professor McGonagall's face. It went from stern, to suspicious, to concerned, and it finally settled on closed and unreadable; James had no idea what McGonagall was thinking as the recording came to an end and that fact unsettled him. The orb finally ended and all four boys turned their focus onto the professor. The room was silent, not a single one of them daring to say a word until McGonagall said something.

After the longest five minutes of James' life, Professor McGonagall moved from behind her desk and silently crossed the floor of her office. The four boys remained rooted in place, too afraid to even move lest it end up with the whole situation blowing up in their faces. For her part, McGonagall also didn't say a word as she moved across the room. It wasn't until she reached the door that she paused and finally looked at James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter.

"Follow, please," she commanded before leaving her office, the door left open to the foursome.

The walk through the hallways and corridors of Hogwarts was so silent that James swore he could hear the flapping of owl wings all the way up in the owlery. James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter were still far too on edge, worried about where they were going and what it would mean for them, for them to say a single word. The four of them even seemed to be holding their breath.

They remained completely silent, instead communicating through strained looks and anxious glances. Each was trying to ask the other if they knew, or had any guesses about, what was going to happen next. Were they in trouble? Were they going to be expelled for having a regulated, most likely illegal, magical object? None of them knew anything, and that only made the others more and more anxious.

Finally, they came to a stop in front of a large griffin statue.

The questioning glances continued. James and the others must have walked passed that very statue multiple times since arriving at Hogwarts. It was just a statue. So why had McGonagall brought them there? Was it a secret entrance, like the many the boys had previously discovered? Did it lead to a torture chamber, where the boys would be punished for using and possessing a restricted device? Panic struck James as one dark scenario after another played itself out in his head.

"Droobles," Professor McGonagall stated plainly, her face expressionless. James turned to Sirius and the two of them had to stifle the chuckles. What a strange thing to say in such an intense moment.

Suddenly, the statue sprung into motion and began twisting slowly upwards. As it moved, it revealed a winding staircase. Once the griffin statue was high enough that it cleared the heads of the awaiting five Gryffindors, Professor McGonagall stepped onto the staircase and motioned for the boys to follow her. Slightly hesitantly, the four of them stepped right behind her. The five of them then carefully climbed their way up to a small landing in front of a wooden door.

McGonagall knocked on the door and a muffled voice on the other side invited them in. The door opened, revealing an elegant office chock full of books. In the middle was a large, ornate desk, behind which sat Headmaster Dumbledore.

"Professor McGonagall, to what do I owe the honour? Your Gryffindors causing you undo trouble?" Dumbledore had a wry smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye as he silently greeted each of the four boys standing awkwardly behind McGonagall.

"They discovered something, Headmaster. Something extremely important, and I think you should hear about it," Professor McGonagall turned from Dumbledore to face the four first years. "Mr. Lupin?" Everyone turned to look at Remus. His face flushed red before he rather awkwardly dug through his bag in search of the orb. He'd deposited it there when Professor McGonagall had walked across her office and asked the others to join her on her trek through the hallways, and now he brought it out and played it for Professor Dumbledore.

Once again, the room quieted at the voices of the Slytherins' emanated from the glowing orb in Remus' hands. Like Professor McGonagall before him, once the recording ended, Professor Dumbledore was silent for a long while. He sat behind his desk, his fingers knitted together, and he stared out at the assembly before him through his half-moon glasses. After several long seconds, Dumbledore spoke. His words came out carefully, like he was weighing each one. James wondered if Dumbledore was trying to contain his emotions.

"Professor McGonagall, if you would please retrieve Professor Slughorn for me? There are definitely some things we need to discuss." Professor McGonagall nodded, and then headed out of the office in search of the head of Slytherin house. Remus, James, Sirius, and Peter were once again left without clear instructions and, as a result, they stood around awkwardly.

James took the opportunity to further observe Dumbledore's office. Most of the walls were covered with bookshelves. Nearly every square inch of bookshelf was covered with colourful spines denoting countless volumes. James was almost certain it would take him several lifetimes to read all the books in Dumbledore's office.

Other surfaces in the office were covered with strange magical objects that James had never seen before. He would have loved to examine them closer but stood rooted in place. Now was not the time to see the kinds of magic that Dumbledore surrounded himself with. On one shelf though, James could easily see the Sorting Hat. It was quiet, as if sleeping, and James wondered if the Hat was only ever animated when it was performing its assigned duty. Finally, the last object James registered was a perch for some sort of fairly large bird, though the bird was elsewhere.

On the wall space above the bookshelves hung portraits of men and women. The small plaques attached to each portrait informed James that they were all ex-Headmasters and Headmistresses of Hogwarts. Each individual moved throughout their portrait, completely oblivious to the goings-on below them. Some of the portraits were even empty.

Finally, after what felt like half an hour, but was probably only ten minutes, Professor McGonagall returned, a chipper Professor Slughorn in tow. He smiled first at Professor Dumbledore, who was still sitting behind his desk, before turning to James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter.

"You wanted to see me, Headmaster?" he spoke, his cheery demeanour slipping slightly to confusion and concern. The sight of the four Gryffindors had obviously surprised the potions professor.

"Mr. Lupin, Mr. Black, Mr. Pettigrew, and Mr. Potter discovered something about your Slytherins that I am certain you will want to hear about. Mr. Lupin, if you would be so kind as to indulge us one more time." This time, Professor Dumbledore stood and walked around to the front of his desk. Remus once again activated the orb and allowed it to play out. As Professor Slughorn listened, his face became more and more concerned and his brow became more and more furrowed. Remus took that as a good sign.

When the recording finished, Slughorn all but collapsed into an awaiting chair placed in front of Dumbledore's desk. He dragged his hand through his hair and looked expectantly at the other adults. Instead of discussing things, Dumbledore turned towards the four boys.

"Thank you so much for bringing this matter to our attention, boys. If you don't mind me asking, how did you go about getting this information?" Dumbledore didn't look accusatory, or like he was upset at them for having discovered what they did. If anything, it looked like he was curious. James guessed he was just trying to get the whole picture of the events of that evening.

"Well, it's a bit of a long story," James spoke, his usual confidant tone replaced with a slightly hesitant one. James shot each of the others a look, obviously making sure that he had their approval to share most of their story with the professors. Remus, Peter, and Sirius all nodded in turn.

"Back at the last Quidditch game, I spotted something suspicious with Alectus Warrington, the Slytherin Quidditch captain. We thought he might have something to do with the broom tamperings. So, we decided to conduct our own investigation of sorts and see if there was any proof to support our suspicions."

"We followed the Slytherins, trying to see if they were meeting and planning," Sirius jumped in, "It took us a while, but tonight we were able to sneak into a meeting without any of the Slytherins seeing us. We then recorded the information on the orb and brought it straight here." James noticed that Sirius sidestepped the invisibility cloak, and internally cheered his friend. They'd already shown the staff of Hogwarts that they were in possession of one illicit magical object. They didn't need to go advertising a second.

Luckily, Dumbledore didn't question how they went unseen. Instead, he simply nodded at what the pair had said before speaking again, "The heads and I will discuss what we are going to do with this information. If you would please leave the orb for us to evaluate." Dumbledore motioned to the recording orb still clutched in Remus' hands. Slightly reluctant, Remus set it down on Dumbledore's desk.

"Now," Dumbledore continued, "you best be heading off to bed. Curfew is only a few minutes from now and we wouldn't want you getting into any undo trouble. Thank you," Professor Dumbledore made it clear that the boys were being dismissed back to their dorm rooms. James wanted to say something else, but Professor McGonagall gave him a look that told him he shouldn't push his luck at the moment. Realising that there was nothing more for them to do, the four quietly exited the office.

Not one of them said a word until they were in the hallway. Then, as soon as their feet touched the ground, James and Sirius both let out whoops of pure glee. Finally, after all their hard work, they'd accomplished exactly what they wanted to. Now, they just had to wait and see how everything would shake out.