Adhara looked down at the book and cleared her throat. "The chapter is called The Boggart in the wardrobe."
"Wasn't a Boggart the thing we found in our basement a few years back?" Romulus asked Remus. "Mom found it and Pa ushered us away from that thing?"
"Yeah, I'm assuming the tittle refers to the lesson on Boggarts?" Remus asked, turning to the children and adults before relaxing when Lupin nodded.
"Let's start then." Remmy nodded to Adhara who smiled at the boy gently before starting to read.
Malfoy didn't reappear in classes until late on Thursday morning, when the Slytherins and Gryffindors were halfway through double Potions. He swaggered into the dungeon, his right arm covered in bandages and bound up in a sling, acting, in Harry's opinion, as though he was the heroic survivor of some dreadful battle.
"How is it, Draco?" simpered Pansy Parkinson. "Does it hurt much?"
"Yeah,' said Malfoy, putting on a brave sort of grimace. But Harry saw him wink at Crabbe and Goyle when Pansy had looked away.
"God I'm going to puke, I don't think I can read this." Adhara rolled her eyes, she remembered that git milking his 'injury' for all that was worth and the more he talked about it the more she had wanted to give him a reason to cry.
'Settle down, settle down,'said Professor Snape idly. Harry and Ron scowled at each other; Snape wouldn't have said 'settle down' if they'd walked in late, he'd have given them detention. But Malfoy had always been able to get away with anything in Snape's classes; Snape was Head of Slytherin house, and generally favoured his own students before all others.
"Of course he does, the horrendous little git." Sirius growled, not noticing Lily's sad expression as she looked towards the book in Adhara's hand. Severus had been a good friend of hers and it was painful to see what he would become.
They were making a new potion today, a Shrinking Solution. Malfoy set up his cauldron right next to Harry and Ron, so that they were preparing their ingredients on the same table.
"Sir,' Malfoy called, "sir, I'll need help cutting up these daisy roots, because of my arm-"
"Weasley, help Mr. Malfoy with his roots" Snape called before he had finished his excuse
Ron went brick red.
"There's nothing wrong with your arm," he hissed at Malfoy.
Malfoy smirked across the table. "Weasley, you heard Professor Snape; cut up these roots."
Ron seized his knife, pulled Malfoy's roots toward him, and began to chop them roughly, so that they were all different sizes.
"Professor," drawled Malfoy, "Weasley's mutilating my roots, sir."
"Oh Ron, you shouldn't have done that." Ginny sighed. "He's going to make you switch isn't he?"
Snape approached their table, stared down his hooked nose at the roots, and then gave Ron an unpleasant smile from beneath his long, greasy black hair.
"Change roots with Malfoy, Weasley."
"Knew it." She snorted, Ron simply crossing his arms and muttering over how unfair it was.
"But, sir —!" Ron had spent the last quarter of an hour carefully shredding his own roots into exactly equal pieces.
"Now," said Snape in his most dangerous voice. Ron shoved his own beautifully cut roots across the table at Malfoy, then took up the knife again.
"And, sir, I'll need this shrivelfig skinned," said Malfoy, his voice full of malicious laughter, Smirking at both Harry and Ron.
"Potter, you can skin Malfoy's shrivelfig," said Snape, giving Harry the look of loathing he always reserved just for him.
"I bet he's enjoying this, the bastard." Fred frowned, leaning back from where he was on the floor to try and read ahead, getting shoved away by Adhara.
"Who? Malfoy or Snape?" George asked.
"Both honestly, they're both royal assholes." Fred shrugged.
"He hates you because you're my son doesn't he?" James asked softly, frowning as Harry gave a careful nod. "Damn…I'm sorry son."
"Don't…Snape should know better than hating a child because of his parents." Lily said, her voice cold as ice.
Harry took Malfoy's shrivelfig as Ron began trying to repair the damage to the roots he now had to use. Harry skinned the shrivelfig as fast as he could and flung it back across the table at Malfoy without speaking. Malfoy was smirking more broadly than ever.
"Seen your pal Hagrid lately?" he asked them quietly.
"None of your business," said Ron jerkily, without looking up.
"I'm afraid he won't be a teacher much longer," said Malfoy in a tone of mock sorrow. "Father's not very happy about my injury —"
"Keep talking, Malfoy; I'll give you a real injury," snarled Ron.
"Oh please do it Ron, please." James groaned, leaning against Lily. "Punch him, hex him, anything to make his shut up."
"Don't worry, he gets punched eventually.
"– he's complained to the school governors. And to the Ministry of Magic. Father's got a lot of influence, you know. And a lasting injury like this" — he gave a huge, fake sigh — "who knows if my arm will ever be the same again?"
"So that's why you're putting it on," said Harry, accidentally beheading a dead caterpillar because his hand was shaking in anger, glaring a hole through the blonde's head "To try to get Hagrid fired."
"Well," said Malfoy, lowering his voice to a whisper, "partly, Potter. But there are other benefits too. Weasley, slice my caterpillars for me."
"What a…" Zania started, glaring at the book in her sister's hand.
"Let's just continue, the faster we move on the less we need to hear about him." Lupin said carefully, looking at all the glares across the room.
A few cauldrons away, Neville was in trouble. Neville regularly went to pieces in Potions lessons; it was his worst subject and his great fear of Professor Snape made things ten times worse.
Harry could see his potion was going really badly, and he had no doubt that Snape had seen it too
"Orange. Tell me, boy, does anything penetrate that thick skull of yours? Didn't you hear me say that only one cat spleen was needed? Didn't I state plainly that a dash of leech juice would suffice? What do I have to do to make you understand, Longbottom?"
Neville was pink and trembling. He looked as though he was on the verge of tears.
"Oh come on! He's never going to learn if you terrify him! Seriously Severus." Lily said angrily, taking James' hand and squeezing while the man tried to calm her down even if he looked pretty angry himself.
"Serves no purpose but make a student fear you." Lupin agreed, remembering poor Neville and the anger he felt towards Snape as he saw him bully a student more than half his age.
"Please, sir," said Hermione, "please, I could help Neville put it right —"
"I don't remember asking you to show off, Miss Granger," said Snape coldly, and Hermione went as pink as Neville. "Longbottom, at the end of this lesson we will feed a few drops of this potion to your toad and see what happens. Perhaps that will encourage you to do it properly."
"What!? How is trying to help showing off?" Percy asked outraged. "There are no rules against helping fellow students, specially to help them do better."
"Try telling that to Snape Perce, see if the git listens to you." George rolled his eyes, reaching over to pat his brother's leg since it was all he could really reach.
Snape moved away, leaving Neville breathless with fear.
"Help me!" he moaned to Hermione, Leon looked as if he wanted to help, so he took over her potion and helped Hermione while she whispered some instructions to Neville.
"Good." Remus nodded approvingly, he would have done the same thing in their place.
"Hey, Harry," said Seamus Finnigan, leaning over to borrow Harry's brass scales, "have you heard? Daily Prophet this morning — they reckon Sirius Black's been sighted.
"Where?" said Harry and Ron quickly. On the other side of the table, Malfoy looked up, listening closely.
"Nosy too, seriously this guy deserves a good punching. See if that teaches him something." Sirius raised an eyebrow, looking at James who nodded in response.
"Not too far from here," said Seamus, who looked excited. "It was a Muggle who saw him. 'Course, she didn't really understand. The Muggles think he's just an ordinary criminal, don't they? So she phoned the telephone hot line. By the time the Ministry of Magic got there, he was gone."
"Not too far…" Ron looked at Harry before noticing Malfoy looking closely at them and snapped at him "what do you want Malfoy? Need something else skinned?"
"Your face maybe?" Fred asked with a raised brow. "Your knees?"
"We could definitely offer some assistance with that." George nodded, grinning as Zania tapped the top of his head in agreement.
But Malfoy was looking at Harry malevolently "trying to catch Black single-handed Potter?"
"Yes, of course Malfoy" Harry said not paying him any mind, turning to look at Leon and stopping him from putting too much leech juice to his potion, he smiled sheepishly at him and thanked him
"Of course, if it was me," Malfoy said quietly, "I'd have done something before now. I wouldn't be staying in school like a good boy; I'd be out there looking for him."
"What are you talking about, Malfoy?" said Ron roughly.
"Yeah, what's he on about?" Ginny asked with a frown, looking around the room before her eyes fell on Sirius, something like realization falling on her face.
"Don't you know, Potter?" breathed Malfoy, his pale eyes narrowed.
"Know what?"
Malfoy let out a low, sneering laugh.
"Maybe you'd rather not risk your neck," he said. "Want to leave it to the Dementors, do you? But if it was me, I'd want revenge. I'd hunt him down myself."
"He knows." Sirius said softly. "He knows I was your father's friend."
Harry frowned before nodding. "Probably."
But before he could continue questioning Malfoy, Snape called their attention, telling them to put their things away and letting their potions stew, poor Neville had only a few minutes before his own potion was tested on Trevor
"What did Malfoy mean?" Harry muttered to Ron as he stuck his hands under the icy jet that poured from the gargoyle's mouth "Why would I want revenge on Black? He hasn't done anything to me — yet."
"He's making it up," said Ron savagely. "He's trying to make you do something stupid…"
"Which is not really hard to be honest." Adhara teased, looking at Harry from over the top of the book, snickering as the boy glared at her.
The end of the lesson in sight, Snape strode over to Neville, who was cowering by his cauldron.
"Everyone gather 'round," said Snape, his black eyes glittering, "and watch what happens to Longbottom's toad. If he has managed to produce a Shrinking Solution, it will shrink to a tadpole. If, as I don't doubt, he has done it wrong, his toad is likely to be poisoned."
The Gryffindors watched fearfully. The Slytherins looked excited. Snape picked up Trevor the toad in his left hand and dipped a small spoon into Neville's potion, which was now green. He trickled a few drops down Trevor's throat.
There was a moment of hushed silence, in which Trevor gulped; then there was a small pop, and Trevor the tadpole was wriggling in Snape's palm.
The Marauders and twins cheered, though the golden quartet couldn't find it in themselves to join in.
The Gryffindors burst in applause; Snape looking sour changed Trevor back to normal before calling out "Five points from Gryffindor," which wiped the smiles from every face. "I told you not to help him, Miss Granger. Class dismissed."
"Oh come on!" Sirius and James chorused, looking incredulous.
"He took points off…god what the hell happened to you Severus." Lily frowned, crossing her arms unhappily.
The four friends left the potions classroom. Harry kept on thinking about what Malfoy had said, Leon looking unimpressed at Ron, who was seething about Snape
"Five points from Gryffindor because the potion was all right! Why didn't you lie, Hermione? You should've said Neville did it all by himself!"
"And lose more points for lying" Leon pointed out, but was ignored;
"Rude." Charlie snickered.
"You get used to it. Being underappreciated." Leon huffed, laughing at the punch from Harry.
Hermione didn't answer. Ron looked around.
"Where is she?" Leon turned around, looking for her with Ron, Harry turned too. They were at the top of the steps now, watching the rest of the class pass them, heading for the Great Hall and lunch.
"She was right behind us," said Ron, frowning.
Malfoy passed them, walking between Crabbe and Goyle. He smirked at Harry and disappeared.
"There she is," said Harry.
Hermione was panting slightly, hurrying up the stairs; one hand clutched her bag, the other seemed to be tucking something down the front of her robes. Leon raised an eyebrow at her
"That's around the time I started to suspect, just so you know." Leon pointed out with a smirk as Hermione looked a bit embarrassed.
"How did you do that?" said Ron.
"What?" said Hermione, joining them.
"One minute you were right behind us, the next moment, you were back at the bottom of the stairs again."
"What?" Hermione looked slightly confused. "Oh — I had to go back for something. Oh no —"
A seam had split on Hermione's bag. Harry wasn't surprised; he could see that it was crammed with at least a dozen large and heavy books.
"Oh god you're going to break your back." Mrs. Weasley looked at her worriedly. "That's not good for your health."
"I was fine Mrs. Weasley, thanks." She told her with a light smile.
"Why are you carrying all these around with you?" Ron asked her.
"You know how many subjects I'm taking," said Hermione breathlessly. "Couldn't hold these for me, could you?"
"But —" Ron was turning over the books she had handed him, looking at the covers. "You haven't got any of these subjects today. It's only Defence Against the Dark Arts this afternoon."
"Oh yes," said Hermione vaguely, but she packed all the books back into her bag just the same. Harry looked at Ron and Leon, Leon just shrugged at him and Ron continued looking at Hermione as though she was crazy "I hope there's something good for lunch, I'm starving," she added, and she marched off toward the Great Hall.
"For the record, from one scholar to the other," Lily said, "you really need to relax some more."
Hermione smiled at her, giving a light nod as she looked down. She had definitely learned her lesson this past year.
"And from another scholar to the other," Leon continued, "You're absolutely insane." Hermione glared at him then, receiving only a grin in response.
"D'you get the feeling Hermione's not telling us something?" Ron asked Harry and Leon.
They followed her to the Great Hall and as soon as they crossed the door their hair turned a different colour; Ron now had purple hair, Harry an electric blue, and Leon, bright red, he could see Hermione had light green, and was glaring daggers at the Weasley twins-both with sky blue hair-who were smiling innocently from the Gryffindor table, beside them the Black twins-with pink hair- were looking at everyone laughing.
"Ooh are we seeing some pranking action?" James looked happy at the twins.
"Fred and George Weasley." Molly glared at the two boys, not fooled for a second by their innocent smiles.
They looked specially gleeful at the Slytherins who had the most ridiculous colours, he could see Malfoy who had lime green hair and neon orange polka dots, Crabbe and Goyle both had multi-coloured hair, almost like a clown, he could see some others who had grown very colourful afros
"So, I take it you had something to do with this" Leon said sitting in front of Zania
"Well, you could say that" Adhara said smiling at them "Red is your colour, my dear brother"
"You could almost pass for a Weasley" George laughed
"Well it's not that hard, any redhead can pass for a Weasley." Charlie snickered, picturing all the different looks in the Great Hall.
"Anyway, you could blame Angelina, if you really wanted a culprit" Fred continued
"How is Angelina responsible?" Harry asked, almost fearing the answer
"She said" Zania began explaining "that we couldn't prank the whole school…"
"She basically dared us to come up with a massive prank on the spot" Adhara continued
"She brought it upon herself" George finished
"She might have meant 'you shouldn't' when she said we 'can't' but those are technicalities." Fred grinned over at them.
"Sounds legit." Sirius nodded with a smirk, Remus looking like he wanted to agree next to him.
Harry turned around to look for Angelina, and when he saw that she now had bright pink hair Harry almost felt bad for her.
It was in that moment that Professor McGonagall came, her hair a bright shade of gold and her lips thin, she looked, all in all, rather unamused.
"Oh no, she definitely is amused." Remus said with a grin. "She just can't show it."
"You four," She started as she stood in front of them, "have detention for a month , and fifty points from Gryffindor"
"But professor, how could you know it was us" Zania said, "you have no proof"
"Sixty points, and of course I know it was you" she answered, "how long will this last?"
"Just who else would it be?" Lupin asked the girls with a smile.
"All through lunch, it's only supposed to last 20 minutes" George answered, McGonagall left and all four of them burst into hysterical laughter
"Well gee, some people don't have a sense of humour" Fred said shaking his head as he calmed down, seeing the glares the Slytherins were sending him. "Not bad for some improvising huh?"
"Definitely not bad, we should start working on something better." Adhara nodded, turning towards Zania.
"Don't worry, I got some ideas." Her sister responded, Harry and his friends looking at each other before deciding it was better not to ask and just finish their lunch in peace.
"Always a wise decision." George agreed with a laugh.
They left the Great Hall for their Defence class then, when they arrived Professor Lupin wasn't there yet. They all sat down, took out their books, quills, and parchment, and were talking when he finally entered the room. Lupin smiled vaguely and placed his tatty old briefcase on the teacher's desk. He was as shabby as ever but looked healthier than he had on the train, as though he had had a few square meals.
"I'm so sorry." Harry groaned, covering his face as he pointedly avoided looking at Lupin. He had never thought his thoughts would be published like this and the fact that the man in question was reading them was terrible.
"Harry, it's fine. I'm well aware of how I look." Lupin tried to console the boy, more amused than angry.
"You're still a rude arse though." Leon added as a joke, laughing as Harry groaned.
"Good afternoon," he said. "Would you please put all your books back in your bags. Today's will be a practical lesson. You will need only your wands."
"Ooh a practical lesson, that sounds like fun." Lily smiled as she leaned forward.
A few curious looks were exchanged as the class put away their books. They had never had a practical Defence against the Dark Arts class before, unless you counted the memorable class last year when their old teacher had brought a cage full of pixies to class and set them loose.
"He brought what and did what now?" Romulus asked incredulously.
"We'll explain later," Remus told his brother, "at least the bits we can explain."
"And we'll explain the rest." Hermione continued.
"Right then," said Professor Lupin, when everyone was ready. "If you'd follow me."
Puzzled but interested, the class got to its feet and followed Professor Lupin out of the classroom. He led them along the deserted corridor and around a corner, where the first thing they saw was Peeves the Poltergeist, who was floating upside down in mid-air and stuffing the nearest keyhole with chewing gum.
Peeves didn't look up until Professor Lupin was two feet away; then he wiggled his curly-toed feet and broke into a song Harry recognized, he sang It sometimes around Leon .
"Loony, loopy Lupin," Peeves sang. "Loony, loopy Lupin, loony, loopy Lupin —"
"Oh he sings it to you too?" Remus asked with a smile as Leon nodded.
Rude and unmanageable as he almost always was, Peeves usually showed some respect toward the teachers. Everyone looked quickly at Professor Lupin to see how he would take this; to their surprise, he was still smiling.
"I'd take that gum out of the keyhole if I were you, Peeves," he said pleasantly. "Mr. Filch won't be able to get in to his brooms."
Filch was the Hogwarts caretaker, a bad-tempered, failed wizard who waged a constant war against the students and, indeed, Peeves. However, Peeves paid no attention to Professor Lupin's words, except to blow a loud wet raspberry.
Professor Lupin gave a small sigh and took out his wand.
"This is a useful little spell," he told the class over his shoulder. "Please watch closely."
He raised the wand to shoulder height, said, "Waddiwasi!" and pointed it at Peeves.
"Badass." Remmy grinned towards the professor, seeing the man smirking lightly as he shrugged.
"Everything can be an opportunity to learn." He responded.
With the force of a bullet, the wad of chewing gum shot out of the keyhole and straight down Peeves's left nostril; he whirled upright and zoomed away, cursing, Leon and Harry laughed quietly and Ron snorted muttering 'he deserves it' under his breath.
"Cool, sir!" said Dean Thomas in amazement.
"Thank you, Dean," said Professor Lupin, putting his wand away again. "Shall we proceed?"
They set off again, the class looking at shabby Professor Lupin with increased respect. He led them down a second corridor and stopped, right outside the staffroom door.
"Inside, please," said Professor Lupin, opening it and standing back.
The staffroom, a long, panelled room full of old, mismatched chairs, was empty except for one teacher. Professor Snape was sitting in a low armchair, and he looked around as the class filed in. His eyes were glittering and there was a nasty sneer playing around his mouth. As Professor Lupin came in and made to close the door behind him, Snape said, "Leave it open, Lupin. I'd rather not witness this."
"Yeah well no one wants you there in the first place." Zania frowned, leaning against her sister as she read along with her.
"Git." Bill nodded.
He got to his feet and strode past the class, his black robes billowing behind him. At the doorway he turned on his heel and said, "Possibly no one's warned you, Lupin, but this class contains Neville Longbottom. I would advise you not to entrust him with anything difficult. Not unless Miss Granger is hissing instructions in his ear."
"Why, just why would he say that? What could he possibly have to gain from saying something like that?" Mrs. Weasley huffed, shaking her head. "What a rotten man."
"Agreed." Lily sighed sadly, letting James pull her into a hug.
Neville went scarlet and Leon put a comforting hand on his shoulder. Harry glared at Snape; it was bad enough that he bullied Neville in his own classes, let alone doing it in front of other teachers.
Professor Lupin had raised his eyebrows.
"I was hoping that Neville would assist me with the first stage of the operation," he said, "and I am sure he will perform it admirably."
"Suck it Snape." Sirius smirked, nudging Remus and ignoring the rolling eyes from the boy.
Neville's face went, if possible, even redder. Snape's lip curled, but he left, shutting the door with a snap.
"Now, then," said Professor Lupin, beckoning the class toward the end of the room, where there was nothing but an old wardrobe where the teachers kept their spare robes. As Professor Lupin went to stand next to it, the wardrobe gave a sudden wobble, banging off the wall.
"Nothing to worry about," said Professor Lupin calmly because a few people had jumped backward in alarm. "There's a Boggart in there."
"Oh yeah, nothing to worry about only your deepest fear." James said amused.
"Wait what? What's a boggart?" Romulus asked bewildered.
"I explain in a few seconds." Lupin points out, seeing his brother shut up.
Most people seemed to feel that this was something to worry about. Neville gave Professor Lupin a look of pure terror, and Seamus Finnigan eyed the now rattling doorknob apprehensively.
"Boggarts like dark, enclosed spaces," said Professor Lupin. "Wardrobes, the gap beneath beds, the cupboards under sinks — I've even met one that had lodged itself in a grandfather clock. This one moved in yesterday afternoon, and I asked the headmaster if the staff would leave it to give my third years some practice.
"So, the first question we must ask ourselves is what is a Boggart?"
"Well I don't know I tried to ask and was shut down." Romulus jokes.
"The more you talk the more you delay it too." Remmy points out with a grin.
Hermione put up her hand and Harry saw Leon shake his head amused.
"It's a shape-shifter," she said. "It can take the shape of whatever it thinks will frighten us most."
"Couldn't have put it better myself," said Professor Lupin, and Hermione glowed. "So the Boggart sitting in the darkness within has not yet assumed a form. He does not yet know what will frighten the person on the other side of the door. Nobody knows what a Boggart looks like when he is alone, but when I let him out, he will immediately become whatever each of us most fears.
"This means," said Professor Lupin, choosing to ignore Neville's small sputter of terror, "that we have a huge advantage over the Boggart before we begin. Have you spotted it, Harry?"
"That's just lovely," Romulus frowned, "now I wish I still didn't know what it was."
Trying to answer a question with Hermione next to him, bobbing up and down on the balls of her feet with her hand in the air, was very off-putting, but Harry had a go.
"Well because there are so many of us, it won't know what shape it should be?" he said hesitantly
"Precisely," said Professor Lupin, and Hermione put her hand down, looking a little disappointed and Leon snorted while next to him Ron looked amused.
"No need to have all the answers." Leon pointed out with a grin.
"The best thing to do when you encounter a Boggart is to never do it alone, it gets confused. Which should he become, a headless corpse or a flesh-eating slug? I once saw a Boggart make that very mistake — tried to frighten two people at once and turned himself into half a slug. Not remotely frightening. Now, the charm that repels a Boggart is simple, yet it requires force of mind. You see, the thing that really finishes a Boggart is laughter. What you need to do is force it to assume a shape that you find amusing."
"Oh yeah I remember that." James nodded, shivering lightly. "It might not have been scary but god it was disgusting."
"We will practice the charm without wands first. After me, please… riddikulus!" Lupin said, the whole class repeated after him, some of them still looking apprehensive
"Very good. But that was the easy part I'm afraid" said Professor Lupin "just saying the word is not enough, and this is where you come in, Neville"
Neville was shaking like crazy, looking at the wardrobe, walking as though he were heading to the gallows
"Right then, Neville" Professor Lupin said cheerfully ""First things first: what would you say is the thing that frightens you most in the world?"
Neville's lips moved, but no noise came out.
"I didn't catch that, Neville, sorry," said Professor Lupin still cheerful.
"That's the tone of a man that knows exactly what's going to happen." Bill pointed out, turning to Lupin with a raised brow.
The man didn't even try to deny it, looking at Bill with a smirk. "Well I didn't know for sure, but I could make an educated guess."
Neville looked around rather wildly, as though begging someone to help him, then said, in barely more than a whisper, "Professor Snape."
Nearly everyone laughed. Even Neville grinned apologetically. Professor Lupin, however, looked thoughtful.
"Professor Snape… hmmm… Neville, I believe you live with your grandmother?"
"Moony you genious." James leaned forward, already knowing where this was going.
"Brilliant mate!" Sirius grinned as he reached over to give Lupin a high five, looking like he was going to vibrate out of his seat when the man actually high fived him back.
"Err — yes," said Neville nervously. "But — I don't want the Boggart to turn into her either."
"No, no, you misunderstand me," said Professor Lupin, now smiling. "I wonder, could you tell us what sort of clothes your grandmother usually wears?"
Neville looked startled, but said, "Well… always the same hat. A tall one with a stuffed vulture on top. And a long dress… green, normally… and sometimes a fox-fur scarf."
"And a handbag?" prompted Professor Lupin.
"Devious." Charlie grinned at the man.
"I am surprised by how unsurprised I am." Romulus snorted, "Once a prankster always a prankster huh?"
"A big red one," said Neville.
"Right then," said Professor Lupin. "Can you picture those clothes very clearly, Neville? Can you see them in your mind's eye?"
"Yes" Neville answered, still feeling uncertain, wondering what was coming next
"Good, now, when the boggart comes out, Neville, and sees you, it will take the form of Professor Snape" said Lupin, not paying any mind to Neville who had let out a little squeak "you will raise your wand and cry 'Riddikulus'; concentrate hard on your grandmother's clothes. If all goes well, Professor Boggart Snape will be forced into that vulture-topped hat, and that green dress, with that big red handbag."
Everyone laughed imagining it,
As were the people in the room, even Mr and Mrs Weasley seemed amused at the image.
the wardrobe shook even more violently "If Neville is successful, the Boggart is likely to shift his attention to each of us in turn," said Professor Lupin. "I would like all of you to take a moment now to think of the thing that scares you most, and imagine how you might force it to look comical…"
The room went quiet. Harry thought… What scared him most in the world?
His first thought was Lord Voldemort — a Voldemort returned to full strength. But before he had even started to plan a possible counterattack on a Boggart-Voldemort, a horrible image came floating to the surface of his mind…
A rotting, glistening hand, slithering back beneath a black cloak… a long, rattling breath from an unseen mouth… then a cold so penetrating it felt like drowning…
"Please tell me you won't make a Dementor appear in the room." Lily said softly.
"There's no way to make something like that funny." Percy said lightly, looking at Harry with a frown.
"No, there isn't." Harry agreed softly.
Harry shivered and looked around, everyone was concentrating, Ron was muttering under his breath, 'Take its legs off' and Harry knew he was thinking of a way to make spiders-his worst fear-less frightening, Hermione was shaking her head also muttering under her breath but unlike Ron, Harry couldn't make out the words, Leon seemed to be lost in thought, he had a blank face and was looking at some spot in the wall, Harry wondered what he or Hermione would be afraid of.
"Everyone ready?" said Professor Lupin.
Harry felt a lurch of fear. He wasn't ready. How could you make a Dementor less frightening? But he didn't want to ask for more time; everyone else was nodding and rolling up their sleeves.
"Just go near the back, that'll give you more time to think." Bill said thoughtfully, looking around as he heard the snickering next to him.
"Bit of a late advice don't you think?" Charlie teased his brother.
"Neville, we're going to back away," said Professor Lupin. "Let you have a clear field, all right? I'll call the next person forward… Everyone back, now, so Neville can get a clear shot —"
They all retreated, backed against the walls, leaving Neville alone beside the wardrobe. He looked pale and frightened, but he had pushed up the sleeves of his robes and was holding his wand ready.
"Ok, ready Neville? At the count of three" said Professor Lupin, pointing his wand at the handle of the wardrobe "one—two—three—now!"
A jet of sparks shot from the end of Professor Lupin's wand and hit the doorknob. The wardrobe burst open. Hook-nosed and menacing, Professor Snape stepped out, his eyes flashing at Neville.
Neville backed away, his wand up, mouthing wordlessly. Snape was bearing down upon him, reaching inside his robes.
"R — r — riddikulus!" squeaked Neville.
The marauders in the room leaned forward, waiting with bated breath to hear the description of Snape in Mrs Longbottom's clothes. Adhara's voice was coloured with amusement as she fought back the laughs while reading as well, holding on to the book with an almost manic grin.
There was a noise like a whip crack. Snape stumbled; he was wearing a long, lace-trimmed dress and a towering hat topped with a moth-eaten vulture, and he was swinging a huge crimson handbag.
There was a roar of laughter, the boggart turned confused, looking at the class, who was still laughing.
The same happened in the room, everyone laughing with the exception of Mrs Weasley though even she had a small smile as she turned to look to a very unapologetic Lupin.
"Way to go Moony!" James laughed, wiping a tear from his eyes before waving to Adhara.
"Good! Now, Parvati, forward" called Professor Lupin
Parvati walked forward, her face set. Snape rounded on her. There was another crack, and where he had stood was a blood stained, bandaged mummy; its sightless face was turned to Parvati and it began to walk toward her very slowly, dragging its feet, its stiff arms rising —
"Riddikulus!" Cried Parvati.
A bandage unravelled at the mummy's feet; it became entangled, fell face forward, and its head rolled off.
"That's not funny that's still awful." Lily wrinkled her nose.
"Different people have different senses of humour I suppose." Teddy pointed out with a smile.
"Seamus!" roared Professor Lupin.
Seamus darted past Parvati.
Crack! Where the mummy had been was a woman with floor-length black hair and a skeletal, green-tinged face — a banshee. She opened her mouth wide and an unearthly sound filled the room, a long, wailing shriek that made the hair on Harry's head stand on end — "Riddikulus!" shouted Seamus.
The banshee made a rasping noise and clutched her throat; her voice was gone.
"I'd like to do that to you sometimes." Remus whispered to Sirius, not looking away from Adhara and only smirking at the outraged cry from next to him.
Crack! The banshee turned into a rat, which chased its tail in a circle, then —crack! - became a rattlesnake, which slithered and writhed before —crack! — becoming a single, bloody eyeball.
"It's confused!" shouted Lupin. "We're getting there! Dean!"
Dean hurried forward.
Crack! The eyeball became a severed hand, which flipped over and began to creep along the floor like a crab.
"Riddikulus!" yelled Dean.
There was a snap, and the hand was trapped in a mousetrap.
"Excellent! Ron, you next!"
Ron leapt forward.
Crack!
Quite a few people screamed. A giant spider, six feet tall and covered in hair, was advancing on Ron, clicking its pincers menacingly. For a moment, Harry thought Ron had frozen. Then —
"Cheers mate, your faith in me is very touching." Ron scoffed, crossing his arms when Harry simply gave him an apologetic look.
"I thought you were thinking of Aragog, I would have frozen too." He lied, relieved when Ron nodded at that.
"Riddikulus!" bellowed Ron, and the spider's legs vanished; it rolled over and over; it came to Leon's feet who had his wand ready as the spider suddenly turned into a big brown wolf, baring his bloodied teeth at a frozen Leon.
"Yeah I did freeze, I didn't expect it to turn into that." Leon confessed, rubbing his arms self-consciously while avoiding the eyes that fell on him.
"I'm sorry, I meant to keep you from the Boggart too." Lupin sighed, looking like he might stand up to grab Leon before thinking better of it when the boy didn't look up.
Romulus stared at the scene thoughtfully, his eyes glued on the boy for a moment longer, even after Adhara continued with the reading.
Just as the wolf seemed to get ready to jump and attack, Leon raised his wand at it and cried "Riddikulus!"
The wolf became a pink stuffed animal, though since it had already leaped Leon had to stumble backwards to avoid getting hit, the boggart now lay at Lavender's feet, but she got out of the way, leaving it in front of Harry. He raised his wand, ready, but —
"Here!" shouted Professor Lupin suddenly, hurrying forward. Crack! The pink animal had banished everyone looked around, trying to find it. Then they saw a silvery-white orb hanging in the air in front of Lupin, who said, "Riddikulus!" almost lazily.
"Interesting Boggart, both of you." Romulus said lightly, Harry thought that his tone really did resemble Lupin's in that moment, lazy but somehow purposeful.
"Can't really control what you're afraid of, now can you?" Remus said instead, though he was looking at his older self as well.
Crack!
"Forward, Neville, and finish him off!" said Lupin as the Boggart landed on the floor as a cockroach. Crack! Snape was back. This time Neville charged forward looking determined.
"Riddikulus!" he shouted, and they had a split second's view of Snape in his lacy dress before Neville let out a great "Ha!" of laughter, and the Boggart exploded, burst into a thousand tiny wisps of smoke, and was gone.
"Excellent!" cried Professor Lupin as the class broke into applause. "Excellent, Neville. Well done, everyone… Let me see… five points to Gryffindor for every person to tackle the Boggart — ten for Neville because he did it twice… and five each to Hermione and Harry."
"He didn't do anything though?" Bill frowned, looking at the Professor.
"He answered the question at the start." Percy pointed out with a shrug.
"But I didn't do anything" Harry said confused
"Yes you did, you and Hermione answered my questions at the beginning of the class" said Professor Lupin kindly "Very well, everyone, an excellent lesson. Homework, kindly read the chapter on Boggarts and summarize it for me… to be handed in on Monday. That will be all."
"Why didn't you let my son have a go Moony?" James said with a frown.
"Maybe he thought Harry would be afraid of Voldemort." Lily points out, unlike James she simply looked thankful at their old friend who gave a small nod.
"I was wrong, but I preferred not to risk it." He said kindly, glancing at Harry who gave a nod.
Talking excitedly, the class left the staffroom. Harry, however, wasn't feeling cheerful.
Professor Lupin had deliberately stopped him from tackling the Boggart. Why? Was it because he'd seen Harry collapse on the train, and thought he wasn't up to much? Had he thought Harry would pass out again? But no one else seemed to have noticed anything.
"I'm sorry, it was never my intention to make you feel inadequate or like I didn't believe you could hold your own." Lupin apologized, glancing at Harry who shook his head.
"I know that now, it's okay Professor." Harry reassured him quickly.
"Did you see me take that banshee?" shouted Seamus.
"And the hand!" said Dean, waving his own around.
"And Snape in that hat!"
"And my mummy!"
"I wonder why Professor Lupin's frightened of crystal balls?" said Lavender thoughtfully, Leon snorted at that and shook his head.
"That was the best Defence against the Dark Arts lesson we've ever had, wasn't it?" said Ron excitedly as they made their way back to the classroom to get their bags.
"He seems like a very good teacher," said Hermione approvingly. "But I wish I could have had a turn with the Boggart –"
"What would it have been for you?' said Ron, sniggering. 'A piece of homework that only got nine out of ten?"
"Great to know that my uncle had your approval 'Mione" Leon said jokingly, hoping to avoid another fight.
"It's definitely hard to earn." The Leon in the room agreed with his past self, snorting as after being hit by a pillow thrown by Hermione.
They headed to the common room after class, sitting near the fire to do their homework or simply relax, Leon alone on a single couch, Ron and Hermione on a loveseat in front of the fire and Harry on a chair nearest to the fire.
"Hey Leon, I wanted to ask" Ron started and Leon put aside the book he had been reading with a sigh, since Ron hated speaking to Leon and the boy kept looking at his book instead.
More than once a simple conversation would become an argument where Ron would take Leon's book and hide it until he was done talking with him.
"Ronald, that's not a nice thing to do." Mrs Weasley berated
"Nah that's just what is like to befriend a bookworm." Sirius grinned at their own resident bookwork, who simply gave a huff and pushed him away.
"Yes? What is it?" Leon said
"How come you're afraid of dogs?" Ron said, smirking "I mean, not even gigantic, three-headed dogs, but a 'normal' one at that"
"Ron" Hermione tried to stop him, seeing Leon's face, he was looking blankly at Ron, almost glaring at him.
"King of tact right here." Fred snorted, looking at their brother who looked very red right then.
"I mean, you weren't even scared of the gigantic spiders" Ron continued oblivious to anything but his rant "so really…"
"It wasn't a dog," Leon said; voice completely devoid of emotion "it was a wolf"
"So…you're afraid of wolfs then?" Ron said amused "I thought you loved all kind of dangerous animals, so 'fess up, why so afraid of wolfs?"
"RONALD!" Mrs Weasley gasped, looking at her son who was now doing his best to hide.
"It's okay Mrs Weasley, really. He didn't know and we give each other shit all the time." Leon defended quickly, looking over at Ron for a moment and reaching out to tap his shoulder with a tentative smile.
Ron answered back with a nod. "I'm still sorry though, for what it's worth." He said lightly.
"It's fine, really, you've apologized plenty."
Adhara continued to read very quickly, wanting to get through the next part quickly.
"A wolf killed my father," Leon said, face blank, looking at Ron and almost daring him to say anything "when I was a kid, a wolf killed my dad in front of me."
He left towards their dorm then, taking his book with him, the three of them looked at him go; Hermione hit Ron with one of her books.
"No." Remus shakes his head, leaning back and reaching towards Romulus. "No, that can't be…why would…"
"Rem, calm down bud." Romulus said lightly, changing seats with Sirius and patting his brother's back. "We don't know all the fact, or what really happened or when."
"But what if I…"
"You didn't." Lupin interrupts quickly, looking at the two of them. "That's…a story I can tell you both later, if you really want to know."
There was a moment of silence before Adhara spoke up again, looking down with a frown.
"Ouch! Hey!" Ron exclaimed
"You are so inconsiderate!" Hermione said glaring at him "you just had to keep going right?"
"How was I supposed to know? He never tells us anything about himself." Ron said, trying to excuse himself
"Would you?" Harry said looking at him "if your dad had died, would you tell anyone? Just like that?"
"Well, maybe not anyone, but I would have told you guys" Ron said, looking sheepish
"Leon is different, he's more private about his life," Harry sighed "just…apologize to him, first thing tomorrow."
"Yeah, yeah I will" Ron said
Except that Leon didn't come down for dinner that night, not Harry really expect him to do so but that didn't help the worry pooling in his stomach.
"Good to know you care." Leon said, trying to defuse the tension.
"Hiya kiddos" Zania said sitting down in front of Harry "where's Leo?"
"He wasn't feeling well" Harry said, somehow he didn't think he would have appreciated him telling the twins what had happened.
"Well that's just hurtful." Zania said with a grin.
"Oh, shame," Adhara said, sitting down next to his sister, Fred and George following close behind though they didn't take a seat they just whispered something to Adhara and Zania and left "how was your day then?"
"Good, after my hair turned back to its original colour" Harry joked, Adhara laughed
"Oh I don't know I liked it better before," Zania winked "anyway, Harry, when you have some free time, come look for us yeah? We need to talk to you about something."
After saying that they left, leaving the trio confused.
As were most of the people in the room, the Marauders looked more suspicious than anything though and after a moment Lupin's head just snapped up.
"It was you!" He pointed at the two girls who blinked up at him with a smile.
"It was us that what?" They asked innocently in a chorus, which didn't seem to fool anyone even as Adhara continued to read to avoid more questions.
"What was that?" Ron asked
"No idea," Harry said "but I think it's best if we leave it at that" they both agreed.
They finished their dinner mostly in silence and left for the dorms, Harry and Ron bid Hermione a good night before going up.
Once they got to their own dorm Leon's bed had the curtains closed, Ron sighed and Harry knew that he had the hope that he could just apologize to Leon but it seemed that he would have to wait until the next day.
"Uh-oh, he closed the blinds that means he was really pissed." Zania hummed.
"Not angry, I just wasn't feeling well." He responded with a soft voice, looking over at the twins before leaning back on the couch, making himself as small as possible.
They both got ready to sleep without a word, Ron was asleep the moment his head touched the pillow, Harry following soon after, the sound of raindrops on the window lulling him to sleep, thinking about everything that had happened that day.
Unbeknown to them Leon wasn't laying in his bed; he was outside as he had gone out after Harry, Ron and Hermione had gone down for dinner, unable to stand the closed spaces of the dorm and feeling the need of some fresh air. He stayed there sitting under a tree as it started to rain, staring at the water dripping down with a vacant expression he knew he should go back to the tower before he caught a cold or was discovered, but he really couldn't be bothered.
He liked the rain too, the feel of it and the peace that came along had always relaxed him. The only reason he stayed indoors most of the time when it was raining was because he knew Remus didn't like it, but right now he really didn't care about anything.
"Leo." Lupin started carefully, staying quiet when the boy shook his head quickly.
He knew that tomorrow Remus would call him; he would want to talk, to know how he was, and Leon wouldn't be able to lie, not to Remus, never to Remus. He closed his eyes, feeling the raindrops fall on his face and realizing he was beginning to feel sleepy.
"Oh darling you shouldn't fall asleep outside." Mrs Weasley fretted, placing a hand to her mouth.
"I didn't." He answered with a light smile as he knew what happened next.
He was about to fall asleep when he heard a growl to his left, he turned quickly but he didn't see anything
"Lumos" he looked around trying to find who-or what-had growled. For a moment he saw nothing, though he could feel eyes on him. A moment later he heard a bark, and turned towards it quickly.
There in front of Leon was a big black dog "Oh hello there buddy"
The Marauders shared a look between them, Sirius and Remus feeling rather nervous while James looked excited.
The dog looked at him and tilted its head, almost as if he were confused and puzzled by Leon's existence.
"Which is very rude by the way." Leon huffed with a smile, raising his legs and hugging them close to himself.
Leon approached it carefully kneeling in front of it.
The dog didn't move, it just continued watching him as Leon reached forward so the dog could sniff at his hand before attempting to pet him. When the dog simply whined and leaned into the touch Leon smiled "What a handsome boy, I've never seen you around the castle before," he said, he looked at the dog better, noticing how thin and dirty he looked "but you look like you could use a meal or two. And a good bath."
"So that's how you met Snuffles." Fred hummed thoughtfully.
"It's not safe to go around walking through Hogwarts grounds on your own, and approaching strange dogs." Mr Weasley points out, glancing at Leon.
The dog barked, wagging his tail and looking excited now, Leon laughed and then checked his neck "Well it looks like you don't have an owner, mind you, you look just like the Grim so no surprise there" he said sarcastically, rolling his eyes "honestly, wizards are so stupid sometimes, don't you think so boy?"
The dog seemed to agree-much to Leon's amusement-he barked and sat down next to Leon "well I can't let you here in the rain, but I can't get you to my dorm, one of my roommates is one of those stupid paranoiac wizards" the dog whined, and for a second Leon wondered if it could actually understand him.
"You didn't." Lupin whispered, shaking his head in disbelief.
"But I can get you somewhere to sleep and something to eat, what do you say boy?" Leon smiled petting the dog, he barked and stood up impatiently waiting on Leon. "Alright then, but first things first; I should probably name you something, can't just call you 'boy' now, can I?"
The dog seemed to agree and sat back down in front of Leon, who sat down instead of kneeling, and began to think "you know, I have no idea on what to call you…Coal already taken…how about midnight?" the dog shook his head and Leon raised an eyebrow at him. Unexpectedly the dog whined and put its head on Leon's shoulders.
"I bet you look just like Remus when you do that." Sirius said suddenly, turning to the boy who raised an eyebrow in demonstration before grinning as the man laughed. "Oh yeah, you're identical."
Leon got worried "what's wrong boy? Are you hurt?" the dog whined again but it seemed to Leon as though he had shook his head, Leon smiled "you're really smart, aren't you? It's okay, you don't have to stay out here."
He put his arms around the enormous dog and hugged him, it was oddly comforting and warm even though both of them were soaking wet. The dog whined once more before wagging his tail and attempting to get away, biting on Leon's clothes. "What about Snuffles then?"
The dog let go of his sleeve and it seemed as though he were considering it before he gave a bark of approval.
"Good, then Snuffles it is! I'm Leon, Leon Lupin, and don't worry, I'll take care of you now boy" he looked up, noticing the rain was getting stronger "We better get inside now before we're trapped out."
Both boy and dog ran up to the castle, Snuffles shook, trying to get dry, but only getting Leon even wetter
"I've told you a thousand times not to do that." Remus whispered, making sure no one but Sirius could hear the two of them.
"Oi!" he whispered, glaring down at the dog for a moment before patting his own leg, "Come on follow me, let's go to the kitchen to get you some food."
They went very quietly, both Leon and Snuffles being very careful in case they saw a professor, especially if they saw Remus since he had a feeling the man wouldn't like to see Leon all wet and out of bed at this time.
"You're not wrong there." Lupin agreed amused.
Finally they arrived at the kitchen's portrait where Leon had to stop and think for a moment to remember how to enter. Zania had told him before, more than once he was sure but with the amount of secret passages the twins talked about it was hard to remember what each thing did, it wasn't until the dog put its paw on the painting that Leon remembered lightening up and tickling the pear. As the portrait swung open and Leon beamed at his new companion, in front of him there were a hundred of house elves, he stood in the doorway watching until a house elf came over to him
"Good evening young Master, what can Mandy do for yous?"
"There's house elves in the kitchen?" Hermione asked in shock.
"Of course there are, how did you think food got made?" Ron said, turning to the girl.
"Oh, ehm, hello Mandy, I was wondering if you could give me something for my…err…well for my dog" he pointed to Snuffles who was moving his tail
"Of course young master, can Mandy give something else to you?" the house elf-Mandy-bowed to him
"Could you just…just call me Leon, and maybe some chocolate treacle? Please?" Leon said uncertainly.
"Of course master Leon, Mandy is bringing yous food right away" the house elf said cheerfully "Would master like a towel too?"
"Oh that would be great actually! Thank you!" Leon said sitting down on a chair looking at Snuffles
"Did you just…forget you were soaking wet?" Harry asked amused, turning to his friend who was blushing bright.
"No?" He said hesitantly, hiding his face when the people around him laughed.
"Now, what do I do with you? I can't take you up to the tower, Ron would have a heart attack and Harry would definitely panic."
Snuffles whined putting his head on Leon's lap who simply smiled and began petting him absentmindedly.
"I could get you to the Shrieking Shack for the day and then I could bring you up I guess" he sighed, he really didn't know what to do with the dog and should have probably thought thinks through before bringing him to the castle but it wasn't like he could just leave him, the poor thing looked like he hadn't eaten in years or had a good night sleep.
"That's not good." James said worriedly, looking at his best friend, there was little doubt that the black dog was Sirius, and the way he acted around Leon told him that he was definitely not as insane as people thought. But the more he thought about it the more he wondered what had happened.
He was wondering what to do when he heard the portrait door open; he turned around to see Fred and George coming in.
"Leon! What are you doing here?" Fred said taking a seat in front of him "you should be in bed young man" he teased.
"Couldn't sleep, realized I hadn't had dinner so I came down here. What are you two doing here?" He asked suspiciously.
"Couldn't sleep either, what a happy coincidence huh?" George answered without missing a beat, "nice dog by the way, where did you find him"
"Near the forest, named him Snuffles" Leon answered, the dog
"Very cute, a Grim? Most people run from them not try to adopt one." George teased, looking down at the dog and though he looked pretty at ease Leon couldn't help but notice how he didn't try to reach out to pet him, "anyway, you realize you're out after curfew right?"
"As are you, young misters." Mrs Weasley turned to them and crossed her arms, Adhara quickly picking up the reading.
"So are you" Leon muttered taking a bite of the treacle the House Elf Mandy had brought him while Snuffles began eating from the bowl she had left for him, Leon wondered how long ago he had last eaten.
"Yes, but we are always out after curfew" Fred smirked at him "you know, you looked better with red hair."
"No I don't, so don't you dare change it" Leon warned him, glaring at him and the other three who had started laughing "What did Angelina said anyway? To the prank?"
"Come on you'd make a great Weasley!" Charlie snickered, ruffling the boy's hair.
"She didn't like it, and when we pointed out it was her fault she almost hexed us" George sighed, shaking his head
"Just out of curiosity, what exactly did she say?" Leon said cautiously
"We told you!" Fred exclaimed "she said, and I quote: 'you can't just prank the whole school out of the blue!'"
"And I'm sure she didn't mean it like that" Leon sighed but laughed a little, he was still getting used to the twins after all this years
"Well what else could she have possibly meant?" George asked with a grin.
"So what are you going to do with your furry friend?" Fred asked pointing to Snuffles who had finished the meat the house elf had given him.
"I don't know really, I mean, I am keeping him but I don't know where he can stay for the night," Leon sighed "can't exactly turn up just like that, Ron would panic and alert the whole school"
"And when are you telling Lupin?" George asked getting a cup of hot chocolate from one of the elves.
"Somewhere between never and when I figure out how to tell him without admitting I was out after curfew in the rain," Leon mumbled, taking another bite of his tart.
"You're going to have to tell him if you want to keep him" Fred pointed out "you can just ask for forgiveness instead of permission later.
"For now why not leave him here for the night, tomorrow morning you can tell your friends and figure out something else." George offers, handing the cup to Fred so he could have a sip.
"But what about the elves?" Leon asked
"They probably won't mind, they've gotten weirder requests." Sirius shrugs nonchalantly.
"They don't mind" George said "look…Mandy, do you think we could leave our furry friend here for the night?"
"Of course masters, Mandy is glad to take care of yours pets," squealed the house elf
"Thank you Mandy, you're a dear," Fred smiled down at the elf and then turned to Leon "there you go, problem solved."
Percy looked at his twin brothers in shock. "I've never seen you being helpful, ever."
"Hey! We can be helpful, plus we like Leon! Of course we'd help out." George protested.
"And for some mischief? We are very helpful."
"Thank you guys" Leon smiled and the turned to look at Snuffled "and you better behave, alright boy?"
George seemed to notice that Leon looked awfully tired reaching over to put a hand on his shoulder and smiling kindly "You should get to bed, you look dead on your feet and clearly you're not used to being up this late."
"Yeah, I guess you're right," Leon yawned and kneeled in front of the dog "you better behave, I'll come and get you in the morning, alright boy?"
The dog barked and licked his face, making Leon laugh as he hugged him before leaving Fred and George to stare at the dog.
"You think it's creepy that the kid has a Grim too right?" Fred broke the silence first.
"Oh absolutely." George agreed readily as he finished his chocolate. "But who are we to judge?"
"Such great Gryffindors you are." Zania snorted and shook her head, running her hands through George's hair absently.
"Hey, we didn't run away, I'd say that was pretty brave." Fred answered with a grin.
The dog seemed to ignore the two now that Leon was gone, instead heading to the corner where a House Elf had made him a bed, sleeping through the whole night for the first time in months.
"That's it for the chapter." Adhara said, handing the book over to Fred so he could read next.
"I got a few questions I would like answered if that's alright." Romulus spoke up carefully.
"We could discuss that during our lunch break, we should get another couple of chapters done before taking a break." Remmy spoke up, looking around the room and seeing the faces around him before continuing. "The sooner we get through that the sooner we can clarify doubts."
The room fell quiet at the boy's declaration, it was clear that Romulus wasn't the only one that needed to ask questions but no one dared say anything for a while.
"We'll make time during or after lunch," Mr Weasley finally spoke up, "Fred, son, please read."
The teen nodded and cleared his throat, leaning back against the couch and turned the page to start.