Sponsorship Challenge

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1973

There had been no noise made from pretty much any quarter about Harfang becoming Severus' magical guardian, so Septimus was thoroughly startled when his sponsorship of Remus was challenged. Startled, but really not all that surprised given the source of the challenge.

Dumbledore.

At least there was nothing too untoward in how Dumbledore found out about the sponsorship. Because the charges for Remus' tuition would be taken from a different account than previously, the school was notified so they sent the bill to the right account. Septimus figured that Dumbledore got curious as to why the change was being made, and poked his nose in where it didn't really belong. It would not have been hard, especially given Dumbledore's connections these days, to discover Remus was now being sponsored, and by whom.

Two days after the Yule vacation - and a mere four days after Septimus had registered his position as sponsor with Remus' parents' grateful approval and the resultant change of vaults for expenses, Septimus found himself being approached by Dumbledore moments after the Wizengamot broke for lunch.

"Septimus my dear boy ... " Dumbledore started.

Septimus gave him a flat glare. "Lord Weasley, if you please, Lord Dumbledore."

He got an unholy amount of glee out of that, to be honest. Dumbledore had a tendency of using first-name-basis. From most people, it wasn't a problem, but from Dumbledore ... well, he'd taught a lot of the younger generation that was coming into the Wizengamot. Septimus had a feeling Dumbledore was calling people by their first names less as an attempt at familiarity he hadn't earned and more as a subtle reminder that he HAD taught them, and that they were all ignorant children in his eyes. Ignorant children that needed to listen to their elders and betters and let said elders lead them.

By the same token, Septimus' insistence on 'Lord Dumbledore' made it clear that he was not a fan of the man's without going anywhere near actionable offense. Most people called the man 'Headmaster', which rather confirmed Septimus' suspicions about the man using peoples' first names. Dumbledore's closest 'advisors' and allies generally called him by his last name. The thing was, in the Wizengamot, titles other than 'Lord' really only mattered when things got entirely too heated. At that point, the Chief Warlock called the shots, and a wise Lord would use that title with all due respect when speaking to that official.

Dumbledore gave him a twinkly-eyed look of amused tolerance. "Ah, yes, of course. Forgive me, Lord Weasley. I sometimes forget myself."

Yeah, and Septimus was actually the son of a Cerberus and a centaur. Especially when Dumbledore had that 'humoring the immature child' tone to his voice when he said that.

"If I might speak with you privately on a matter regarding Hogwarts?" Dumbledore asked.

At that point, Septimus had a feeling he knew what this was about. What he couldn't figure was why Dumbledore cared. Maybe because Remus was a werewolf, and he didn't know that Septimus knew? Septimus was willing to give Dumbledore the benefit of the doubt at least that far.

"Of course, Lord Dumbledore. I believe there are conference rooms free." Septimus said, indicating one of the corridors off the courtroom where the Wizengamot met regularly. The conference rooms were used by the various committees that were charged with looking into and dealing with various things, but they'd be empty now.

Dumbledore looked like he kind of wanted to argue, but nodded and led the way to a nearby room. Septimus figured he had wanted an invite to the Den, something that had never happened and never would. Once they were in the conference room, Septimus leaned against one of the walls with a deliberate nonchalance.

"What's on your mind, Lord Dumbledore? Hogwarts needing better funding and not getting it?" Septimus asked.

Mentally, he snickered, because that was a more than slightly underhanded jab at the declining standards of education at Hogwarts in certain classes. Septimus had even heard rumors of a curse on the DADA position. He didn't know if that was true or not, but if it was, he didn't know why Dumbledore wasn't doing something about it. As it was, Septimus only barely managed to keep a comment about finding a competent cursebreaker in the Weasley family to take a look.

From tightening around Dumbledore's eyes and the reduction in that annoying twinkle, Septimus' strike hit home. "Thank you, but no. Hogwarts is doing better than ever in that regard." He said. "This rather has something to do with a student."

From the look on Dumbledore's face, he clearly expected Septimus to think his youngest boy, the only one still in school now, was in serious trouble. Except he knew better than that. While his younger two boys had Weasley-typical tempers compared to Arthur, they were neither of them stupid, or bullies, and they wouldn't have gone around hexing or beating people up. Nor would either of them have gotten caught pranking bullies. They'd been taught better than that. Besides, even if they had been troublemakers of the sort that got hauled into the Headmaster's office, Septimus wouldn't have given the man the pleasure of reacting to the insinuation.

"Really? Which one? Not another abuse case, I hope. I had a time of it keeping Charlus and Harfang from hexing Tobias Snape into oblivion." Septimus said.

Which had the benefit of being the brutal truth. Except where it had actually been their wives holding all three of them back. Septimus had wanted to beat the man black and blue, to hell with hexing him, once they'd realized just how bad the situation had been in that house. The worst part of it was that they had gotten there just barely in time. Eileen's condition had begun to degenerate a lot faster in the last couple months. The Healers had revised her expected lifespan to less than a year, at this rate.

Harfang was of the opinion that Eileen had previously been fighting her illness with everything she had because she didn't want to leave Severus alone with Tobias. Harfang thought that now that Severus had a safe place to live and people that cared about him, Eileen felt like she didn't have to fight so hard anymore - her son would be well taken care of once she was gone, now. Septimus thought that Harfang might well be right.

Septimus' comment had the benefit of being another attack at Dumbledore, because the mediwitch at the school ought to have caught the fact that Severus was being abused, and something should have been done without the Marauders interfering. The poor kid'd had bruises all over him at the start of his first year for sure, and Merlin alone knew what else he'd been hiding under the robes. The Marauders had later discovered that Tobias regularly beat Severus, which should have left lingering evidence to be found in a medical scan.

Again, it seemed to be a telling hit, as the corner of Dumbledore's eye twitched again. "No, no abuse cases." Dumbledore assured him. "I merely wished to ask if you were certain about your decision to sponsor young Remus Lupin. I do know your family's funds are limited."

Oh, so Dumbledore was going to play that game, was he? Septimus gave a mental snort. "I assure you, Lord Dumbledore, that my family's finances are quite a bit less limited than they once were." He said.

"Ahhh, Charlus and Harfang were good enough to loan you start-up capital?" Dumbledore asked, twinkling brightly.

"Lord Potter and Lord Longbottom." Septimus said pointedly. "Have never loaned me so much as a knut. They've had no need to." And even as he said it, he could tell that Dumbledore didn't believe it.

That was fine with him. Let the bastard underestimate him. He'd find out he was mistaken sooner or later. Hopefully in a very painful and public manner. "Let us cut to the chase, Lord Dumbledore. This is not about my family's finances. Or it should not be. Even if we were in so dire a case as we once were, it would be none of your affair if we decided to sponsor someone. This is about the fact that Remus is a werewolf, and you think me, my children, my friends' children and their kids' friends to be criminally stupid. It took me less than six months to work out that Remus was a werewolf from secondhand reports, and the children figured it out not much later." Septimus told him. "And when the time comes, it will be simple enough to find him a job in the employ of someone in the family, so that he need not fear being fired for missing several days a month, or because he is a werewolf."

If it came to it, Septimus would strongly recommend that Remus relocate to the United States. That country actually had anti-discrimination laws on the books, aimed at preventing people from being fired for being a sapient magical being, so long as they didn't hunt or hurt humans. As a result, America had become something of a mecca for werewolves, vampires, and veelas alike. Septimus had even heard rumor of Acromantula colonies. Depending on the state of affairs in the UK when Remus graduated, the Americas would be a far better place for Remus to make a place for himself. If, that is, Remus could bring himself to separate from his pack. Which Septimus had to admit he had his doubts when it came to that.

Dumbledore looked somewhat taken aback, which made Septimus laugh.

"Really, Lord Dumbledore? You thought that boy could share a room with four or so other boys and not be discovered pretty darn quickly? Speaking of his condition, I want to examine the Shrieking Shack for myself. Remus says it's secure enough, but he's also only a boy."

"I assure you ... " Dumbledore said.

Septimus had no idea what he wanted to assure Septimus of, but he interrupted anyway. "Assure all you want, Lord Dumbledore. I still want to get a good look at his hidey-hole for transformations myself. I would be remiss in my duties as his sponsor if I didn't." Such a thing was, after all, within his duties to take care of.

Dumbledore didn't look too happy about it. "I do not know that you can." He said. "The route to it is designed for teens, not a fully grown adult."

Septimus shrugged offhandedly. "So I use a temporary expansion charm to fit. No big deal."

Dumbledore sighed. "Very well then, I shall show you, say, this Saturday?"

"I'll head over yet today." Septimus said. No way was he giving Dumbledore a couple days to (temporarily, he'd bet) improve the place.

"If you insist. I was just returning there myself." Dumbledore said.

Septimus let the man think he was escorting Septimus. It would just be easier that way. Once they were through the floo, Septimus didn't let Dumbledore delay his investigation.

"The route to the Shack, if you please." He requested.

Dumbledore reluctantly led the way to a spot out on the grounds. Septimus recognized the Whomping Willow, fairly small but still capable of protecting the entrance to the tunnel, from Remus' descriptions.

Remus had told Septimus how one got the Willow to quit thrashing. Septimus had held out hope that there were more protections than that on the tunnel entrance, but that hope proved to be in vain.

"Lord Dumbledore, do you mean to tell me that the only means of protection for the tunnel entrance is this tree? What if someone figures out how to get past it?" Septimus demanded. It wasn't beyond the realm of possibility by any means.

"I assure you, Lord Weasley, that the childen have been warned away from the Willow." Dumbledore claimed.

Yeah, right. Like that was going to work. Septimus frowned, froze the tree, expanded the hole (it was definitely too small for him to fit into) and slid into the tunnel. He immediately turned around and began to inscribe runes on the rock floor and into the tree roots to put a ward in place. The ward would act as a secondary safety measure - you would have to know the runes were there and how to deactivate them in order to get into - or out of - the tunnel. Septimus added two more such wards at intervals along the tunnel, using different rune sets each time. This way, it would take quite some time for a curious student to get to the Shack, and make it utterly impossible for Remus in wolf form to escape via this route.

Thankfully, Dumbledore had elected not to follow Septimus into the tunnel, allowing him to do as he pleased without having to deal with snarky comments.

The Shack itself was, thankfully, soundly and heavily warded. The walls, floors, ceilings and roof had been reinforced to withstand a rampaging werewolf, and Septimus was glad to see that a good number of pieces of furniture were scattered around for the werewolf to maul. That taken care of, Septimus crawled back out and gave Dumbledore a nod.

"Sufficient, once the tunnel was warded." Septimus allowed.

He then left via apparating. But he didn't apparate home. Instead, he apparated to the exterior of the shack to check the external wards. To his horror, he found none - someone could walk right up to the house and force their way in.

Shaking his head, Septimus set to work putting up strong, rune-based wards. The wards actively repelled both muggles and wizards from the Shack, keeping them well back. That accomplished, Septimus nodded to himself and headed home. Once there, he immediately wrote Remus about the changes, and how to deactivate the wards in the tunnel. He got a reply a few days later thanking him profusely for the added security.