an: please excuse my lapses in writing, regular life us messing with my muse. please, review if you're inclined. I could use the feedback.

Chapter 34.

Sunday night, January 15, 2012

"Well, here it is," Ron said as he handed me the box containing my third years next lesson.

"Amazing how small the nasty little buggers really are," he observed. The box was wooden about a foot and a half square.

"They don't need to be that big to scare the crap out of you," I said as I felt the box buck in my hands. "Where did you find this beastie, anyway?" I asked as I dropped the box in the old wardrobe Remus had suggested I use as a temporary "home" for the creature. "I can't imagine they keep a cupboard of them at the ministry."

"Actually," Ron smiled a bit sheepishly, " Harry likes to keep a couple around, in an old filing cabinet. For training purposes, mind you. It keeps the trainees on their toes." He broke out into a rather evil looking grin, that reminded me quite a bit of Charlie. I'd never really noticed that all the Weasley brothers seemed to have the same killer smile.

"Boggarts aren't actually that dangerous, but I imagine that if you're not expecting it, it could scare the pants off of you. Care for a cup of hot chocolate?" I asked, as I headed back up to the loft over my classroom. It was decidedly frigid outside, "the house elves actually let me make some chocolate chip cookies a few days ago, I've got some in my office."

"Same ones as you had at Mum's at Christmas?"

"The very same."

Ron almost ran me over on his way to my office.

We sat at my desk drinking cocoa and sharing a plate of Toll House cookies. "These are bloody brilliant, any way you could give me the recipe?" I grabbed a slip of paper from my desk and wrote the instructions. "Tell Hermione that you want to use real butter in these, shortening just won't work."

Ron just nodded and said, "I'll remember that, but Mione doesn't cook much, I do all the cooking around the house. She's all thumbs in the kitchen."

"Really?"

"Yeah, when we first moved in together, I had Mum teach me a bunch of her recipes. My wife could burn boiling water." I just cringed I couldn't imagine not being able to cook, it was such a part of my life. Ron stood up and said "think I'll go say hello to Teddy and Victoire."

I looked at the clock on the wall, "They should be in bed right now," I said. "I can relay a message in the morning if you'd like."

Ron looked up at the clock, "is it really almost 11? didn't realize it was that late. Oh well, Mione knows I'm delivering the boggart tonight. She won't be too pissed at me, seeing as I'm just visiting with a future sister-in-law."

"What?!"

Ron shrugged sheepishly, "sorry," he said, Mione told me about the ring. I think it's bloody brilliant, the way you lot want to keep everyone in the dark. Mum drove Mione and me round the twist for months before we got married. She was even worse with Ginny and Harry. You want my advice, you and Charlie should just elope. It's quite a bother all that wedding rubbish."

"Ron," I interrupted him. "We're not actually engaged."

"Yeah, you are." He grinned again. "You just haven't figured it out. You two were engaged to you two minutes after you met. I could see it in your faces. So, what do you think of the new Potions' master? Heard McGonagall snatched him from St Mungo's."

I was more than happy to change the subject. "He's quite competent, and the students seem to really like him." I think if someone wanted to find the exact opposite of Theodore Nott, it would be Darius Alcroft. Dare (as he told his coworkers to call him when he arrived at Hogwarts on January second) had been the second supervising alchemist at St Mungo's Hospital. He's played Quidditch professionally before joining the staff at the hospital, when an injury cut his career short. As a student he'd been in Hufflepuff, he'd finished Hogwarts in 1985. At about 6'2", with light brown eyes, sandy brown hair and the athletic build of a Quidditch keeper, he made for quite a distraction for quite a few of the female students, and some of the staff, as I'd caught Terry eyeing him with speculation in her eyes.

"Dare Alcroft?" Ron asked. "Bloody hell, he was keeper for the Chudley Cannons when I was

a teenager. I got his autograph at the first Cannons match I ever went to. So he's a professor now? That's brilliant."

The conversation was interrupted by a knock on the exit door to my office. I waved my wand, and door opened. One of the newly assigned school aurors was standing in the doorway. "Sorry to interrupt Professor, oh hi Ron."

"Hello Violet," Ron returned the young woman's greeting.

"There's been some mischief in the Slytherin dorm. The prefect asked that I come get you."

"Sorry Ron, duty calls, I have to deal with this."

"All right, Glinda, you take care of yourself," he stood up and gave me a brotherly kiss on the cheek. I escorted him to the door then Violet and I headed to the Slytherin girls dorm.

"What's going on Vera?" I asked the Slytherin prefect. She had her wand pointed at two girls on the couch, one a rather tall brunette and somewhat dim looking older girl, I hadn't become acquainted with yet, and the other was Linda Skeeter.

"I caught Skeeter and Blakely with this," she handed me an unmarked potion bottle.

"I take it, that's not homework?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"It's Amortenia. Skeeter added her hair to it, when I came back from patrol, I overheard them talking about slipping it into professor Alcroft's morning coffee."

"And their reasoning for this would be?"

Miss Blakely decided to speak. "Linda is failing potions, she thinks if she can use the potion on the professor, shag him, then blackmail him into giving her better marks."

"Shut up, Orchid," Miss Skeeter cuffed her accomplice on the back of the head.

"All right, you two. I'm confiscating this," I put the offending potion in my pocket. "And," I added, I'm going to alert the head mistress and Mr Goyle. I'll let them decide the proper punishment for the two of you." I turned to Vera, "good night Miss Malone, I'll see you in class tomorrow afternoon."

"Good night professor."

"You need something, Glinda?" Darius asked me, after I'd knocked on the door to his quarters.

"Just bringing you a present," I dropped the potion bottle into his hand.

Dare opened the stopper and took a sniff. "You're kidding me, right?"

"I just confiscated it from Linda Skeeter. Apparently, she was planning to use it to seduce you, then blackmail you into giving her better grades." I had to laugh at the look on his face.

"That's absolutely ludicrous."

I just nodded, "G'night Dare!" I said as I headed back to my rooms.

Monday January 16, 2012

I met with Minerva, Gregory, and Darius in the morning to discuss Miss Skeeter. "How about a few months of pot scrubbing?" I suggested as a possible punishment.

Minerva jut shook her head, "the house elves don't want her."

"The Owlry needs cleaning," Gregory volunteered.

"Wouldn't trust her with the owls," I pointed out. Gregory just nodded in agreement.

Tonks appeared next to McGonagall's desk. "I have a suggestion," she said to me. I acknowledged her with nod. "Myrtle's been lonely lately, and the bathroom needs cleaning."

I just smiled evilly and said. "I think I know what to do."