Disclaimer:

I solemnly swear that the literature and works of the Harry Potter Verse belong to JK Rowling, Bloomberg and Warner Bros. The only thing I own are the one-shot ideas that popped into my head and whatever OCs I would create for them. This is a work of pure fiction made solely for fun, constructive reviews will be welcomed, flames will be ignored. Any references to characters in real-life or fiction are purely coincidental. If I could make money out of my ideas, it would be nice...

Mischief Managed Damn It!


Title: Responsible Professors / Chapter 3 (Working Title)

Posted Date: 31 May 2023

Tags: Proper Professors, Mentor Sinistra, Canon Snape, Manipulative Dumbledore, Worthless Main Heads of House

Possible Challenges: Stupid Man-Child Sirius Black, Stupid Lupin, Bad Hermione Granger, Good(?) Weasley adults, Cult of Dumbledore

Tropes not to be used: Harry going back to Dursleys, Political Harry, Multi-Lordship Potter (maybe allow two?)


"Finally, the champion for Hogwarts is... Cedric Diggory!" The Great Hall seemed to shake from the screams and cheers of the student population as the aforementioned young man rose from his place and made his way to the chambers where the selected champions for Durmstrang and Beauxbatons were waiting. Sinistra gave a polite clap, her eyes focusing on the goblet and Dumbledore as he turned to the students with the goblet giving off the flames from its last name drawing.

"Excellent! Now we have our three champions for the tournament. I am sure I can count on all of you, including those from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, to give your champions every ounce of support you can muster. By helping to cheer them on you will be able to contribute to the tournament and help to show what the students of your respective schools are capable of. Without further ado, I declare the Triwizard Tournament of 1994 to begin!" With that and the cheers of the students, the goblet extinguished the flames, thus marking the closure of the name drawing and the end of Sinistra's watch.

Along with most of her paranoia.

Shortly after the capture of the imposter, Sinistra and the others had to endure a rather insulting interrogation by Dumbledore who grilled them for information and to lecture them on approaching him first before going to Amelia. Sinistra and Babbling had choice words at that even if Minerva was acting her usual self of following Dumbledore's manner of doing things. Amelia was thankfully on the side of Sinistra and her fellow companions, and the woman had unloaded her wand and a good deal of vocabulary at the heads for not doing better at security. And then there was the real Alastor who had stomped his way into the office with a disapproving Poppy Pomfrey following him, stopped in front of Dumbledore, and delivered a straight right into the old wizard's nose when the man tried to greet him. The ex-Auror then proceeded to unload on Dumbledore one major bollocking with a few choice words that made all the women in the room blushing before the man left the office in a huff.

After that bit of excitement, the Aurors went to secure the goblet more along with physically guarding it around the clock. Babbling's ward system already made it hard for anyone above the age of seventeen to come towards the goblet, and with ill-intent wards to check the person, it was made doubly harder to try and hoodwink the goblet without getting stunned to the next century. The Aurors' additions made it a very tall order for anyone to attempt getting names past them as they would make sure to check all the students if they wished to enter their names into the tournament.

The morning after catching the Moody imposter was quite the show, what with the students wondering why there were Aurors moving about and the House Heads trying to one-up the other in scolding the students caught by Burbage in their attempts to add their names or others in the goblet. It got crazier when Amelia Bones arrived to give a speech for the necessity of the Aurors' presence, making it clear that someone had infiltrated the school with the intent to force someone into the tournament in order to harm them while ignoring Dumbledore's attempts to move her for a private meeting, likely to do damage control for his reputation. While Amelia did not name the targeted student, Sinistra noted some of Potter's friends looked at the boy who had a worried expression at the news. It was more evident when the boy went out of his way to be as far from the goblet as possible, and now with the goblet having spat out the last name and extinguishing the flames, he was just a breath away from slumping over the table with relief.

That sight was more than enough for the woman who had spent the day watching different students from the three schools enter their names after getting their ages and parchments checked by the Aurors before entering the general area of the goblet. There were a few who still tried their luck, only to get rebuffed by the Aurors or Babblings ward system. The least painful would be the spectacular beard a few would sprout if the students in questions were just entering themselves with no maliciousness, evidently Dumbledore's only addition to the age-line. For those intending to add the names of others for the sake of hurting them, that was when the punishments became rather creative, most of which came from Babbling's spells and runes.

Sinistra made a mental note to never get on Babbling's bad side given her rather creative approach to discouraging the students from entering the names of others. The Aurors themselves took notes on her system to use for their own while Amelia Bones was duly impressed by the combination.

"Well, that is that." Babbling remarked while stretching her arms as she waited for the staff to move on and watched the students getting up to leave the Great Hall. "At least none of us have classes tomorrow, and it is the weekend. I could sleep like a log tonight."

"Don't I know it?" Vector let out a tired sigh while resting her head on the table. "I need to go through a detoxifying ritual later to get rid of the excess Pepper-Up Potions in my system."

"And that is why I said to take regular coffee instead." Burbage remarked, something that the three younger women turned at once to face her.

"And look like you are ready to murder someone?" Sinistra raised an eyebrow. Burbage huffed and turned away to hide the fact that she was blushing and her blood-shot eyes that genuinely made her look a little psychotic.

"Ladies." The four turned to find one amused Amelia Bones standing in front of them with Harry Potter standing next to her with an uncertain expression. "I believe Mister Potter would like a few words with you." Amelia lightly guided Harry to stand in front of Sinistra. The boy fidgeted at the attention but stood his ground, and it was also clear to Sinistra that the boy was a lot smaller than most boys his age, but it was more evident standing next to Amelia Bones.

Sinistra had a bad feeling about something but decided to talk it over with the others when they have decent sleep.

"Madam Bones told me that you helped to guard the goblet and caught the fake Moody trying to add my name." Harry bowed his head deeply at them. "Thank you for doing that."

"It is not a problem, Mister Potter." Babbling waved her hand at him. "We were just worried that something like this would happen, and as Mad-Eye, or rather his imposter?" She shook her head and continued "he would scream Constant Vigilance at us. Guess our paranoia helped huh?"

"Good thing. I mean honestly an Age-Line?" Sinistra was still miffed at that. "That is hardly any security, so we just added our own to make sure no one's name gets thrown in without permission. Considering your past adventures, I think that is appropriate action though I wished we had done more." Harry shook his head at that.

"You professors have actually done a lot more for me compared to the other professors the past years I have been here." Harry could not help that comment coming out of his mouth before clamping up and looking at the Auror.

"Dare I ask the reason for that comment?" Amelia raised an eyebrow at him and their reactions. Sinistra opened her mouth before pausing for a moment and closing her mouth with a frown.

"This might be an odd question to ask, but what have you heard about Hogwarts over the past four years?" Amelia blinked at that.

"I am not sure what you mean. I know that Qurrinus Quirrel had some accident around June 1992, and I know that something had happened during 1992 and 1993 that Dumbledore and Fudge had blocked me from investigating." That got her lips thinning like McGonagall when she was about to launch her temper. "Then there was the stupidity of the Dementors from last year. While I know about the Dementors invading the Quidditch match, something tells me that is not the only issue."

"Wait, so Susan did not tell you anything about her second year?" Vector asked, leaning forward.

"No, was she supposed to?" The drawl was clearly filled with some annoyance that something had happened that she was not told. Sinistra saw Harry open his mouth to speak when an unwelcome voice interrupted them.

"Is there anything else you wish to talk about?" All turned to find Dumbledore standing a few feet away with his eyes over his spectacles. "If not, I think Mister Potter should go back to his dorms." Sinistra could tell that Harry wanted to say something but could not do so in front of Dumbledore, so the boy went on to do so after bowing to them and Amelia. Dumbledore waited for Harry to move away before turning his attention to Amelia. "Well, as you can see, nothing has happened, so you can take your Aurors away. Alastor should be able to handle security."

"After we dealt with your lack of security and the imposter, I think not." Amelia crossed her arms while looking at Dumbledore. "We are going to be dealing with the fallout with Crouch's son, and you know that Senior will likely see a jail cell in Azkaban by the end of the week. Cornelius is worried about the situation, and with the headmasters from the other schools expressing concerns, he has agreed that I am to station Aurors here until the end of the tournament."

"It is either them or the ICW Aurors." Amelia continued seeing Dumbledore wanting to interrupt. "Madam Maxime was really concerned about the number of attempts to go past your Age Line, and when you had a dead man try to enter the name of a child, she had thrown a big fit about the security. This was the compromise that was reached with Cornelius, with the knowledge if something happens again, the ICW will take notice." Dumbledore did not look happy about it, but decided to give ground on that. Amelia then turned back to the other professors.

"Your testimonies and Pensieve memories were a great help to determine the issue. Crouch Junior will be expecting the death sentence at this point since he had escaped Azkaban, while Crouch Senior will be in Azkaban at least." She spoke. "We will however need you to come in for a bit more questioning to make sure the stories are checked out."

"I don't suppose you can tell us why he wanted Mister Potter in the tournament?" Vector asked. Amelia hummed while looking up, while Dumbledore looked a little too uninterested to be genuine.

"I might tell you later once we confirm the details." Amelia said. It was her facing them that they could see that she did not want Dumbledore to hear anything. More so when she turned to face the headmaster with a frown, "Is there something I can help you with?"

"Oh no, I was wondering if I could have a chat while I escort you out of the school." Dumbledore spoke with that grandfatherly tone he was known for.

"You will have to wait a while, because I am going to have a word with my niece and then check with the other Aurors. Don't bother waiting for me." Amelia waved him off. The wizard looked disgruntled but proceeded to move on when Igor and Maxime called out to him wanting to confirm some details. Amelia waited to watch the headmaster leave out the entrance hall, then raised a hand to stop the other four from talking while she pulled out her wand to call up a silencing ward and test for listening charms. Much to their displeasure, two appeared on Amelia and a few on the professors or their side of the table.

"Clearly, the man is very liberal with his spells when he wants to get his information." Amelia waved her wand to dispel the charms and check again deeply before lowering the wand. "I will need to be quick before the old meddler decides to come back knowing his charms are removed." Sinistra had to suppress a smirk at the woman's moniker for Dumbledore. "As it is, I need to talk with Mister Potter regarding this incident and a couple of others that I had heard rumours about. Given what was commented earlier, I definitely need his input, without any interference from Dumbledore."

"That will be a tall order of sorts." Burbage remarked as she leaned in her chair. "The man has had his eyes on the boy since his return to the Wizarding World four years ago. He won't let him out of his sight or to have people talking without him or his group of friends. And I don't think Minerva is going to let Mister Potter meet you without listening in on Albus's behalf." Amelia frowned at that.

"She has changed a lot over the years, and not for the better from what I am hearing." Amelia shook her head. "In any case, I can try to ask for a meeting with Mister Potter, the problem is likely the headmaster is going to block me again with some excuse. I was wondering if you could pass a message for me to him?" Sinistra hummed at that.

"There should be a Hogsmede weekend coming up next week or the next, and depending on when we can talk to him, we can try to arrange a quick meeting there." Sinistra looked to the others, "Ultimately I am the only one of the group who has actual lessons with him, the others don't."

"Pity really, from what little I gathered, Mister Potter wanted to change his electives from Divination midway last year but Minerva told him he couldn't." Babbling snorted. "Balderdash if you asked me, they let others change their electives later, not to mention letting Miss Granger attend all her five electives last year before she quitted Muggle Studies and Divination. None of the other classes were clashing as much as hers"

"How could she do that?" Amelia asked curiously. "If I recall from my days, the schedule would be insane."

"She was granted a Time-Turner to do it." Babbling's reply prompted Amelia to blink before raising a finger to her ear to wiggle inside.

"I think my ears are blocked, because I think you just said a third year student was granted an artefact handling time to go for more lessons?" The disbelief was evident in her query along with the mounting anger at that knowledge.

"Wait, you were not told?" Vector leaned forward with a frown. "When the others asked him, Dumbledore claimed he got permission to allow Miss Granger the use of the Time-Turner."

"I certainly did not allow such a thing, and I know that the Unspeakables would laugh at Dumbledore for even suggesting such a thing." Amelia took a deep breath to control herself and let it out. "I would need to check with them to make sure, but I would like to think they are more responsible when it comes to devices able to control time. In any case, if you can get Mister Potter to approach me, that would be helpful."

"I think we can help you with that, Madam Bones." Sinistra spoke to let the director know her requests would be passed on. With that, the professors and Amelia left the Great Hall, only separating once she got to the doorway. The four immediately went to a staircase hidden behind one of the portraits to get to their rooms quicker, partly to avoid the old wizard wanting to ask them what they talked with Amelia. At least in the privacy of their rooms, they are somewhat safe.

"Why do I get the feeling Albus is going to get ripped into by Amelia in the near future?" Burbage's query drew a snort from Babbling while they walked up the hidden stairway.

"Because the guy could not bother alerting the proper authority for the usage of a Time Turner?" She answered with a sarcastic tone.

"How do you plan to talk Mister Potter into meeting with Madam Bones?" Vector turned to ask Sinistra.

"He has a lesson with me in two day's time, I could try my luck with that." Sinistra replied.

"Need our help to ask Miss Granger if that does not work?" Vector's question got Sinistra shaking her head in negative.

"Something from Madam Bones's tone tells me she would rather keep this private. Miss Granger for all her work ethics has a tendency to listen to any authority regardless of whether they are good for her. And I get the feeling she would only tell Mister Potter after checking with Minerva and Dumbledore." The others nodded at that. Miss Granger did have the habit of always telling professors anything and everything, thus making a lot of people call her the teacher's pet, not helped when her words would get others in trouble. And if Sinistra heard correctly, she got into some trouble last year due to her reporting Mister Potter's Firebolt to Minerva without letting him know about it, thus resulting in a few months of them not talking. The young girl really needed to know space and proper communication.

For now though, Sinistra should get to bed.