May 9, 1993
Albus wasthis closeto whistling as he flooed back to Hogwarts. His meeting with Augusta had gone well, he thought, and she would make a formidable opponent again Peverell-Slytherin in the Wizengamot. She would also help sway other members of the Light and hopefully some neutrals as well, and with a bit of persuasion on both their parts they could put an end to the machinations of Peverell-Slytherin.
Meddlesome old coot.
Augusta was not impressed with Albus Dumbledore. Not impressed at all.
Who did he think he was, coming to her home and telling her what she ought to do. Oh, she knew exactly who he thought he was. He was Albus Dumbledore, with too many titles and not enough good sense. He was the one who always got his way, who convinced children barely out of school to fight a war that had been partially of his own making. He was the one who had convinced her only child and his darling wife to go into hiding without disclosing the reason, then had told them it was safe, only for them to be tortured to the point of insanity in their home a week later.
Oh yes, Augusta Longbottom knewexactlywho he thought he was.
So he views the new Lord Peverell-Slytherin as a threat, does he.
Augusta had been wary of the man herself, but she had never been one to rely on the assessment of others and she was not about to start with the vague warnings of listen-to-me-because-I-know-everything Dumbledore.
She possessed a brain, thank you very much. She was perfectly capable of forming her own opinions. She had decades of experience doing just that, after all.
May 11, 1993
"Harry, it's not that bad, it's just an invitation to tea."
"'Just an invitation to tea,' he says. Just an invitation to tea. No, Siri, this is an invitation to aninterrogationand visceral execution should things not go well. I am well within my rights to be appropriately terrified right now. And shut up Barty, you're not helping."
Sirius glanced at Barty, who was watching the scene with amusement, and not at all helping Sirius convince Harry that meeting Augusta Longbottom was not, in fact, a good enough reason to emigrate. "Barty, could you at least pretend to help?" he asked, not at all desperately.
Barty leveled him an unimpressed look. "Longbottoms, Black. Longbottoms."
Ah yes, maybe keeping Barty far, far away from any and all Longbottoms was a better idea.
"Harry," said Sirius, turning back to the man in question, "she's not going to eat you. Just go, be polite, enquire after the health of her grandson, be charming, tell her how wonderful it is that Neville is such a good friend of Ivy's, and bask in the genius that is my advice for dealing with grandmothers."
Harry looked mildly horrified. "Sirius, do you actuallyknowAugusta Longbottom?"
"Can't say that I do. I suppose I probably met her at some point or other, but if I have it's been. while. Knew Frank and Alice a lot better. Alice was one of your mum's friends, you know. The two of them could have taken over the world together if they wanted, and we would have all followed happily behind. But Frank's mum? Yeah, can't say I really remember her."
Harry let out a strangled sigh. "This is it. This is how I meet my end," he muttered.
"Come on," Sirius scoffed. "How bad could it possibly be? She's agrandmother."
"Sirius, this is the woman that threatened me over a first date with her grandson's girlfriend's best friend. A date thattheyset us up on in the first place, and only because they needed two more people for their trivia team."
By now Sirius was laughing. He couldn't help himself.
"This is serious, Padfoot."
"No I'm…" Sirius didn't finish the sentence before some unidentifiable object was thrown at his face. After a moment of throwing things back and forth in a very mature, adult-like fashion, Sirius finally said, "So you can defeat dark lords but you can't face down your friend's grandmother?"
Harry got an evil glint in his eye that suddenly did not bode well for Sirius's continued health. "You know what? You're right. There is no reason at all to worry. Let's just be off then, and you can be your ever charming self. I'm sure she'll justloveyou," Harry drawled.
Sirius had never expected to meet someone sterner looking than McGonagall, yet here he was. He still didn't understand Harry's frankly irrational terror, but he could admit that Augusta Longbottom was an imposing, impressive sort of woman. Also he would need to apologize to Harry for disputing his claim that this would be an interrogation, because it absolutely was. It was a nice sort of interrogation, if such a thing could be called that, but she had only raised an eyebrow once so Sirius thought they were doing rather well.
She had gotten straight to the point when they arrived, making them suffer through only the barest of formalities and pointless small talk, which was definitely something in her favor from Sirius's standpoint. But then the interrogation had begun. Again, it was nice enough in its own way, but Sirius decided then and there that Augusta Longbottom was not a woman to be crossed. Or at least crossed at your own suicidal peril.
After muddling their way through an explanation of their political views, aims, designs, and current plans (and Merlin she was an effective interrogator), she had stared them down for a minute before declaring them to be satisfactory and announcing that she would be assisting them from here on out, to which they both replied with a quick "yes ma'am."
In a moment of pure Gryffindor rashness that filled Sirius's heart to overflowing, Harry blurted out, "Why are you helping us?"
The resulting explanation made Sirius want to cry happy tears and give her a hug. So he did. The hug, not the tears. He had to maintain his dignity after all. So he gave her a hug, much to Harry's horror, and the Dowager Lady Longbottom's long-suffering amusement. He didn't understand why Harry looked so taken aback. Her son had been a Gryffindor, surely she was accustomed to this sort of thing. A quick glance and the roll of her eyes showed that he was correct. Also Harry's face was hilarious and he was definitely sharing this with Barty and Remus later.
By the end of their teatime interview Sirius had gathered that Augusta Longbottom was not one of Dumbledore's sycophants, nor was she entirely impressed with the man at the moment. Sirius wasn't entirely sure whether that was because she didn't trust the man or because she just really didn't like people telling her what to do, but whatever the reason, she was apparently on their side now (or they were on hers?), and Sirius knew better than to look a gift hippogriff in the mouth. They were easily offended like that.
May 14, 1993
Remus was having a very good day. Why? Because nearly everyone in the school was plotting against Ivy and she had absolutely no idea. It was hilarious, and it was for academic greatness which made it even better. When the Weasley twins had approached him at the beginning of the month with their proposition he had been skeptical that it would work like they hoped, but today was the day and Ivy still seemed to have no idea about what they were trying to accomplish. Or that they had enlisted the help of everyone in the school to do so.
They had even gottenthe quidditch fanaticsWood and Flint on board, which was a level of achievement that Remus couldn't help but respect.
So today Ivy would choose her electives for next year, along with all the other second years. But Remus sincerely doubted whether the other second years had the majority of the rest of the students plotting their academic futures.
Remus cast a quicktempus. They should be arriving any minute now, straight from Ivy's meeting with Severus…
Ah. The sounds of future academic achievement. Go time.
"I can't believe you two."
Twin grins were her only response.
"You went to Professor Snape behind my back."
The grins grew wider.
"And what made you think I wouldn't have chosen those anyway?"
"Would you've?" George asked.
"No, but that's not the point. Why do I have to take these anyway?"
"If we had to suffer through Arithmancy and Runes for three years, then you can too."
"Only two and a half," Ivy muttered. Ah. Remus's office. Perfect. She needed allies. Opening the door she got straight to the point. "Fred and George plotted against me and signed me up for electives."
"Oh," said her honorary godfather, "which ones?"
"Arithmancy, Runes, and Care."
Remus looked pleased by this. "Good, good. Those are all good choices, and I'm sure you'll do well."
Wait, he was supposed to be on her side. "But I didn't want to take those."
"I see. Well which ones did you want to take?"
"Well Care, and… well I hadn't decided yet, but I'm sure I would have figured it out."
"Well then it sounds like you don't need to worry about it," came the traitorous response. "I'm so proud of you for taking on three electives. I'm sure you'll do well at all of them, and if you need help I'm certain these two would be more than happy to assist."
Mild vindication.
"I believe Draco is taking the same ones. Have you spoken with him yet?"
Ivy had not. But now it was on.
"In fact, I believe quite a few of your friends are taking those same classes, or at least one or two of them. I'm sure they will appreciate having you in there as well, for study sessions and the like."
Well Remus had a point…
"So that went well," said Remus, taking in the satisfied looks on the twins' faces.
"Told you. Mutual suffering and potential competition are necessary for any Ivy-centered plot," the one who Remus thought might be Fred said. Despite Ivy's assurances that it was easy to tell them apart, he still had trouble sometimes.
"Besides, I promised Draco I'd get Ivy to take Runes with him so failure wasn't an option." Never mind. That one was Fred.
"Hermione is thrilled, of course." George. Context was key. Mentions of Draco, Blaise, Pansy, Parvati, Luna, and Dean were more likely to be Fred. Mentions of Theo, Tracey, Neville, Hermione, Seamus, Terry, and Justin were more likely to be George. Everyone else was a toss up. Don't ask how Remus knew this, because it would take far too long for him to explain. It was just one of those things, he supposed.
"She's taking all of the electives, of course she's thrilled," Fred replied.
"Wait, all of them?" asked Remus. That… couldn't be healthy. Or at least that's what Remus and Lily had both been told when they tried to do the same. Of course it was James who said it, so who knows how much that was actually worth.
May 16, 1993
"Well, it's been a good year," Oliver mused.
Marcus just grunted his response. Oliver patted his back in sympathy. The year would be significantly better when exams were finished.
"Now I'm not saying that Ivy didn't do well, because obviously she did," Oliver continued with only theslightestamount of bitterness in his voice. Ivy was good, yes, but she unfortunately played for Slytherin. And Slytherin had won. Really the whole thing was a lose-lose situation for him, but he was choosing to focus on the positive, which meant that he currently had fourteen different plans of how to get Ivy to come play professionally with him once she graduated, and only two of them involved kidnapping. "But there is always room for improvement."
"Oliver, you know, as invested as I am in this, can't this wait until exams are over?"
"But…"
"Three weeks. That's all I'm asking."
"…Fine."
"But in terms of improvement I really think we ought to work on the sharp turns. You know what I mean. Once she gets going the turns just aren't as sharp as they could be."
"True," Oliver agreed. "So how do we fix it?"
Well, everyone needed a break from studying now and again.
May 20, 1993
Severus looked more pained than normal. The I'm-surrounded-by-idiots sort of pained, not an actual, physical sort of pain, although Remus supposed that for Severus the two might not be altogether separate at this point.
The reason for Severus's greater than average levels of irritation was soon apparent. Four aurors were gathered at one end of the staff table, deep in conversation with Trelawney. Or at least, one of them was conversing with the divination professor. One of them that Remus recognized as Alastor Moody looked rather pained by the situation, and the other two looked amused, though whether at the professor or at their fellow auror Remus could not be certain.
As he took a seat by Severus he gave him a look indicating his own ignorance of the situation.
"Investigating Lockhart's disappearance," the unhappy man gave by way of explanation.
Remus raised an eyebrow at that. "The aurors are herenow?"
"I believe that's what I said," Severus said in his deep, grumbly, don't-be-stupid voice. Under his breath he added, "And I thought wolves had excellent hearing."
Remus snorted softly at that. He did, and Severus knew it.
"Professor Lupin?" one of the aurors asked a few minutes later.
"That's me," Remus replied. "What can I do for you?"
"We just have a few questions we would like to ask you. Perhaps once you're finished?"
Remus nodded his assent and once the auror was out of earshot leaned over to Severus once more. "Which one are we going with?" he whispered softly.
"Well you know those adventurous types. Always rushing off to face the largest monster, confront the greatest danger, find new ways to get themselves killed… All quite Gryffindorish if you ask me."
"Lockhart was a Ravenclaw," Remus said, only just managing to not roll his eyes.
Severus didn't reply, but Remus caught a small smirk in the corner of the other teacher's mouth. It was gone as soon as it had come, but it had most certainly been there.
Well, Slytherin's monster. An unfortunate end, and not actually a lie if you were vague enough about it, even if there wasn't proof and the who was chasing who was not quite what they were happy to let everyone assume. Minor details, really.
"So tell us about Lockhart."
"Well I never actually met the man," Remus began carefully.
"Wait really? But you're a professor and…" The auror was cut off by a smack to the back of the head courtesy of Moody.
"He's Lockhart's replacement, lad. Keep up, would you."
"Right, sorry. So, um, let's see. Was there any, er, indication when you arrived of… Bollocks, I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be getting at here," the auror said, shooting a pleading look to an unsympathetic Moody.
Remus stifled a grin.
"Right, well, just tell us what you know then."
"Tell us about Slytherin," Moody interrupted, much to the other auror's apparent relief.
"Sorry?"
"Lord Slytherin. You know him, don't you?" Moody asked, a challenging look on his face.
Well, Remus had been able to stick to the story at least.
And by that he meant he hadn't corrected any assumptions about Lockhart's rumored desire to hunt down Slytherin's famed monster, though Moody clearly had his own opinions about the matter and was not so easily swayed, for all that he kept his mouth shut. Remus gave some hints as to therealreason that Lockhart might have, erm, gone "missing," and Moody seemed to take the thing with a nod and acceptance, not even prodding further.
Then one of the aurors had a "brilliant idea" and cast some sort of magical creature detecting spell that Remus had never heard of, since "hey, maybewecan find Slytherin's monster." Remus wondered how much of Moody's "mad" reputation came from him having to put up with all the auror recruits.
To exactly no one except the caster of the spell's surprise, no Slytherin monster came up. Unfortunately for Remus, he did, though to his surprise, the reactions were not ones of fear like he rather expected. Instead, there was an exasperated sigh from Moody, who looked like a parent witnessing the destruction of a toddler, twin looks of mild curiosity from two of the aurors, and a look that bordered on awe from the sole female auror of the group, which was something Remus frankly had no idea what to do with.
"You're a…werewolf?"
Remus cringed, despite the lack of fear or disgust in the question. "Yes?"
"Could have told you that at the start, Mulligan," Moody grumbled. "Just like I could have told you that Slytherin's monster isn't likely to be found by a spell learned by every first year auror. You think you're the first one to try that here?"
"That's so cool," the female auror muttered, her hair changing color suddenly, startling Remus.
"Alright, let's get a move on," Moody barked out.
As they began filing out Remus recovered from his shock and asked the old auror, "So why come now?"
"We need to investigate mysterious disappearances, boy."
"Yes but it'sMay."
"So it is. Glad they still teach the calendar."
"Sorry, but what took you so long?"
"Paperwork," Moody deadpanned, a sharp twinkle in his eye making Remus decide that this could possibly be one of his new favorite people in the world.
May 21, 1993
"ButHarry," Sirius whined, "I'm beingreplaced."
"You are not. Moony simply said Moodymightpossibly becomeoneof his favorite people. Not that he is, or that you're not."
"Like you were even the first to begin with," Barty muttered, only yelping slightly when Harry shot him with a small stinging hex without even turning around.
Sirius glared at Barty, Barty mouthed "seventh" to Sirius, Sirius drew his wand, Barty did the same, and Harry disarmed them both before shooting a pleading glance at Luna who looked quite content to just observe the entire scene.
"You are no help whatsoever," Harry accused, without any heat in his tone.
"Do you need any?" Luna asked, smiling.
"No," Harry grumbled. Didn't mean it wouldn't be nice though. They were both older than him. He was not supposed to be the parent in this situation. He turned to Barty suddenly. "And no kidnapping Moody," he said threateningly. Barty just raised his hands in mock surrender.
May 30, 1993
"Well on the bright side, Remus is coming home."
"And on the bad side everyone knows he's a werewolf."
"At least we got those laws taken care of already?"
"True. Still, what about next year?"
"We'll figure something out."
"Maybe get rid of the curse?"
"Yeah, maybe we should look into that."
"You mean,youshould look into that."
"Why me?" Harry groaned.
"Because you're you." Sirius's entirely unhelpful response earned him a breadstick to the face.
"Popcorn?" Barty asked Luna, holding out a container that Harry was positive had not been there a moment before.
"Where did that even come from?" Harry asked. "And how come you always have popcorn when I'm talking?"
"I enjoy watching your disaster of a life unfold."
Harry chucked two breadsticks at Barty. "Bad minion," he said.
"Hey, I'm the perfect minion."
"You're a terrible minion," Harry countered.
"Does that mean I can go commit undiscoverable crimes now?"
The third breadstick had a bit of sauce on it and Harry didn't even feel bad.