Chapter 40: Talking About Stuff

The world had shifted from an empty classroom to an empty field in less time than it took to blink, which was quite dizzying, but Skelton landed neatly on the grass as if nothing had changed at all. Even the dog seemed unbothered by the abrupt scene change, his tail wagging with amusement and ears at an angle that was probably the canine equivalent of honest schadenfreude-based camaraderie.

Basically, the dog looked like it was appreciating how everything's funny as long as it's happening to someone else. Which seemed distinctly not-dog-like, but Cassius had other things to think about at the moment so he just set that oddness aside.

Standing up from the ungainly sprawl his unexpected trip had knocked him into and dusting himself off, Cassius attempted to recover whatever dignity he might have left.

"That's twice you've done that now," he groused, straightening his green tie and brushing his hair out of his eyes. Whatever 'that' even is: it couldn't have been a Portkey, and it certainly wasn't typical Apparition. That much was blatantly clear.

"you had a better landing this time, good on you."

"That is not the issue."

Unrepentant, Skelton stuffed his hands into the pockets of the blue muggle hoodie he was—for some reason—wearing under his school robe. "right, right, the issue is that we have a conversation to continue. whatcha' wanna talk about, anyway?"

The dog sat itself between them, ready to watch over whatever might happen next.

And Cassius paused. He had questions lined up—he'd planned for this, in as much as he could—but right now, the only thing he could think to say was, "…Why is your pet dog wearing a bowtie?"

He could smack himself for that, it was the most useless question he could have possibly asked. It didn't matter that the smug golden retriever did indeed have a small blue bowtie tied neatly around its furry neck, sitting just above its collar; that was still an inane thing to ask about.

"well first of all, he's more of a friend than a pet," he said with a shrug. "provides emotional support and all that garbage."

The dog gave a cheery bark, tail thumping once against the dirt in agreement.

Then Skelton got an odd gleam in his eye, as if some spectacular idea (read: crazy tomfoolery) had just struck. "and second of all, it just matches his hat so well!"

"His—?"

With a flourish, the first-year pulled out an absurdly large floppy hat from behind his back—it couldn't possibly have been there the whole time, what?—and dropped it right onto the dog's unsuspecting head. As all dogs do when suddenly robbed of sight, the golden retriever froze in place for nearly a full three seconds. But then, in a very un-canine move, it lifted a paw to push up the brim of the hat and gave Skelton an annoyed glare.

"yeah? what ya gonna do about it, paddy?"

A huff, and a petulant woof.

"that's why i got you the hat, obviously. i think it'd be fine."

The dog frowned thoughtfully—he hadn't know dogs could frown, let alone thoughtfully—then sent the stunned Slytherin a considering glance and another peevish bark.

"that's up to you, isn't it?" Skelton shrugged, grin unreadable. "but for what it's worth, i did CHECK him. he's clear."

Cassius glanced between the apparent conversation going on, becoming progressively more confused with every second. He was trying to appear impassive to the whole situation, but even with all his experience keeping his thoughts off his face, he wasn't sure how well he was managing it.

"What are you even talking about, Skelton?"

The white-haired boy blinked at him. "right, you called me that earlier too…" he mused, half to himself. "i'd rather you call me by my name, ki… cass."

He had almost said something else there, Cassius was sure of it, even if whatever he was going to say had been cut off so quickly that it was hard to guess what it could have been. So it became just another odd thing to file away for later.

"I am calling you by name."

There was no quick response to that, and Skelton simply grinned at him.

"…That is your name, isn't it?"

"in a manner of speaking." He tilted his head to one side, brow raised, and added, "i mean, it's the one on all the paperwork, so…"

With the one thing he had known about first-year thrown into question, his patience didn't so much run thin as run off. Cassius stuttered, "Then, so, wait— Who even are you?"

Apparently-not-Skelton feigned affront with a dramatic gasp. "we've already done introductions, didja forget my name already?"

"But you literally just said—"

"it's just sans," he cut in, and shrugged as if what he was saying wasn't unbelievable. "i didn't have a last name, so i made it up."

"You… don't have a family name?"

Skelton—or rather, 'just' Sans—looked oddly thoughtful, dark eyes focused on nothing in particular in a way that probably meant he was going through old memories. "eh, not really. i guess, technically speaking, i coulda used his last name…" He shook his head slightly, and his expression was hard to describe: like regret and relief and guilt and so much more rolled into one. "nah. just doesn't feel right."

Cassius would have tried to figure out what that was supposed to mean, but his mind had sort of stuttered to a halt and fixated on how apparently Sans had just given up his family name. He actually had to briefly turn away to catch a second to think because… well, family is important: through prestige, power, and bloodline, the family name ties people together with chains heavier than iron could ever be.

One does not simply give up their name.

If only it were that easy.

Because not having a name—or giving it up—meant having a family that no longer claimed you. It meant leaving family behind, even if they still cared. Even if he still cared.

It meant being left behind, and being the only one his little sister could go to for help.

It meant losing a brother, who had been the only person he could go to.

Cassius shook his head, trying to throw off thoughts of his older sibling and not quite being able to. Across from him, Sans was still lost in thought—still looking sad and guilty.

And something clicked.

He didn't know why he said it: "You left someone behind."

Sans immediately refocused on him, and for a split second it was as if his eyes had inverted: glowing white pupils in an expanse of black. Then he blinked, and it was gone.

But he was still glaring. "there was nothing i could do."

His hand instinctively twitched toward his wand, remembering flashes of spell fire and deadly green streaking away at an abrupt angle. The Imperio had left most of his memories of the attack on the Quidditch World Cup oddly washed out and distant, almost like watching one of those muggle films, but he knew what had happened that night.

Before he could say anything, the dog asserted itself between them. It was awkwardly waddling on its hind legs, which was already ridiculous enough to completely derail any budding argument, but the dog also had its front paws held up in a placating gesture.

Cassius was about to chastise himself again for projecting a human-like attitude on the admittedly not very dog-like golden retriever, when he noticed that the dog was… suddenly not a dog. Instead there was now a man standing there, curly brown hair poking out from under his huge floppy hat and overall dressed in outrageously clashing colorful robes.

And he still had on the blue bowtie he had been wearing as a dog.

Cassius all but felt his brain flatline.

"Let's calm down, everyone," the man said, hands raised just as the dog's paws had been. "Don't be hasty, you know what they say about assumptions: when you assume, you make an—"

"okay, yeah, i've heard that one," Sans said. Still looking a bit grouchy, but at least he wasn't glaring anymore. "don't make an 'assume' of yourself, pat."

"Excuse me," Cassius found his voice, "but what."

The overly colorful wizard turned to him with a grin and swept into a dramatic bow, though he kept his ridiculous hat on. "Name's Patrick Pawdy," he introduced himself. "You can call me Mr. Pawdy."

"…And you were the dog."

"I was the dog," he confirmed, sounding annoyingly pleased—amused at all the confusion he had just set loose, no doubt. His expression was easy to read.

Cassius took a deep breath, scrubbing a hand through his blond hair and not even caring if the action mussed it up entirely. Now was clearly not a time to worry about his appearance, and more a time to focus on retaining at least some semblance of understanding for the whole situation.

Honestly, going into this he had very little idea what to expect, and yet somehow his expectations had still been entirely flipped around and around in mere minutes.

"He was the dog," he repeated to himself quietly, thinking through the ramifications of the fact that there was an undercover canine at school. "Who else knows?"

The two shared a look, which clearly meant that more people were aware.

"I bet it's Potter," Cassius grumbled to himself, waiting for them to decide what to tell him. "He seems to be in the middle of every catastrophe on campus, and you two probably qualify."

"a cat-astrophe?" Sans gasped, and his earlier anger seemed to have been entirely set aside in favor of joking disbelief. "i'm shocked you'd say that, he's clearly a dog."

The no-longer-a-dog Mr. Pawdy shook his head. "No, no, he does have a point. We're—" The man paused, only just processing all of what had been said. Before he could think better of it he blurted out, "Wait a second, you know Harry?"

Which essentially confirmed his intended-to-be-sarcastic remark, and made Cassius just about throw his hands into the air in disbelief.

"I know of Harry," he answered. "Mostly through rumors and seeing him across the Quidditch pitch. It's not as though I'm in any kind of position that would enable us to have actually met, obviously."

The colorful wizard looked interested in spite of himself. "So you like Quidditch?"

"I play Quidditch. 'Like' has little to do with it."

"speaking of," Sans stepped in, "how's freedom been treatin' ya?"

"…Freedom?"

Cassius frowned slightly, looking between the two in slight confusion that slowly turned to realization as Sans remained silent. "You… didn't tell him?"

He shrugged, unbothered even by his colorful companion's increasingly interested stare. "we made a deal, didn't we?"

"What didn't you tell me?"

The attack had only been a week ago, of course Cassius remembered the deal: mutual silence. He wasn't sure why, but he had just sort of automatically assumed that it had been an empty promise. After all, it's not as though being found out as the person who stopped a terrorist attack and saved dozens of lives would have the same level of repercussions as being outed as a Death Eater. Willing or not.

"What does he know?" Cassius asked.

Starting to sound a bit ticked, the man exclaimed, "What don't I know?!"

"he knows that i ran into you during the whole quidditch fiasco."

The colorful wizard was puffed up like some kind of affronted peacock, peeved at being ignored. "Sans, are you doing that thing where you pretend something isn't a big deal, but it really is?"

Hands still in his pockets, Sans hummed noncommittally.

"You are!" Mr. Pawdy smacked a hand to his forehead, sighed, then turned to Cassius. "What's Rattles not telling me?"

What an odd nickname.

But that's beside the point.

Glancing between the two very different looking people—short and pale, tall and too colorful—Cassius decided he might as well tell him. It was a risk, but at least he might gain a bit more control over the conversation by doing so.

He closed his eyes, careful not to look too closely at the memories of that dark night, and answered, "When he stopped them," he hesitated, bitter as gall, and corrected, "stopped us, he saved me."

"'Us'?" the man repeated, then his eyes went wide. "You're a Death Eater."

Cassius grimaced.

Sans, as glib as ever, just shrugged again. "conscripted, i'd say. and quite forcefully."

"Forcefully?"

A glance back at him to silently ask permission, and the Slytherin sighed. "He means that I had been under an Imperio."

"An Imperio?"

"geeze, pat, use your words," Sans snarked, grinning. "are you just gonna keep repeating what we say, or ask an actual question?"

Mr. Pawdy crossed his arms, regarding the two people before him with raised brows. "Okay then. I take it you broke him from the spell?"

"pulled out the puppet strings," he replied with a small nod.

"Good to know that's just something you can do," the colorful wizard remarked under his breath.

Apparently Cassius was the only one here who had been terribly surprised when he had figured out that the white-haired boy had indeed freed him from the supposedly unshakable Imperius Curse. Though startled to learn that the unbreakable spell had been broken, it seemed Mr. Pawdy was not at all shocked that it was Sans who had done it. Although given that this was the same person who had easily deflected the unstoppable Killing Curse, perhaps it was not truly so astonishing.

He must have said some part of that musing aloud, because Mr. Pawdy chuckled. "You get used to his oddness, since he doesn't really follow our common sense in most things."

"gotta take the path less traveled and all that."

"It's more like you blaze a new trail and ignore the path entirely."

Sans just grinned, amused at that description.

For some reason, that tweaked at one of the questions he had been stuck on about this whole situation. One he hadn't actually planned on asking, at least not directly, but it just slipped out: "Why did you save me, anyway?"

The white-haired student sobered, and didn't answer right away; he had to find the right words. "i… knew somebody who was in a similar sort of situation. harder to fix, though."

From his grim expression, Mr. Pawdy had at least some idea of who and what he was talking about. And from that last sentence, Cassius couldn't help but morbidly wonder just what control could be harder to break than that of an Unforgivable.

As if in response to that unspoken question, Sans continued.

"their SOUL was… possessed by another." The word had a hard twist in it, as if he was making some dark joke to himself, and Sans actually grimaced. "i don't know how much control they had over anything, there at the end. i'd guess none at all."

Cassius knew the horror of feeling trapped in his own body. If that loss of control had extended into his mind, or to his soul… he could barely imagine what that might be like. "Why are you telling me this?"

For another moment, Sans said nothing. One of his hands traced the edge of the zipper on his blue hoodie, stopping at a tear—a cut—were a few of the plastic teeth were missing.

"they're a determined person, so i'm sure they can recover," he said, by way of an answer.

Though unspoken, Cassius could tell what was meant by that.

He could recover, too. If he was determined to see it through.

"Well, at least you're no longer Imperiused," Mr. Pawdy interrupted, tone falsely bright. "It's a start, and a darn good one. What will you do now?"

Cassius almost replied immediately with a resounding 'I have no idea', but he stopped himself. This whole conversation had been wildly out of his control, but now a lifetime of experience dealing with pureblood aristocracy was telling him to consider what he said here carefully. It would matter.

That said, it hadn't been a loaded question. Or at least, he didn't think it was.

After a brief internal debate, he replied, "Whose side are you on?"

Mr. Pawdy look mildly amused. "That's not what I asked."

"not to sound cliché," Sans answered, unbothered by the switch-up. "but i'm on my own side."

Because of course he was. Honestly Cassius should have seen that coming; Sans had, after all, busted up the Death Eater attack and yet he seemingly did not want the Ministry to know about it. Plus he had apparently smuggled in a wizard disguised as a dog right under the Headmaster's nose, so there was that too.

Regardless, it didn't really answer the core of his question.

Cassius reconsidered his wording, and clarified, "I was wondering more about your views of the current sides, actually. Not just who you answer to."

"well in that case…" Tone frank, Sans stated, "dumbles seems like a good man but not somebody i'd want in charge, and voldie is just straight-up evil as far as i can tell."

Sweet Merlin, that was… That was one way to put it, he supposed.

The colorful wizard snorted in amusement, likely used to Sans's particular brand of either incredibly vague or directly-to-the-point explanations. "Also," the man added, "I should mention that Sans doesn't really answer to anyone. Our little group is, uh… little."

"as in, like, four people."

Cassius shook his head slowly, flabbergasted. "Is that why you're fine with trying to recruit… somebody like me? Desperate for more members?"

"We're not trying to recruit you," said Mr. Pawdy confidently. But then he frowned. "Are we?"

Sans looked thoughtful, which was a little worrying. "i suppose we kinda are." He winked at him. "and no judgement about your situation, by the way. my best friend here is an alleged criminal, too."

He must have misheard. "Sorry?" Unable to picture anyone seriously thinking that the fabulously colorful wizard walking with them was felonious, Cassius had to check. "Do you mean him?"

They both nodded.

"Also, he really does mean that 'alleged' bit," Mr. Pawdy provided, though somewhat reluctantly. "I was framed by my supposed victim, and it never went to trial. Just, BAM—convicted."

These two were really just one surprise after another.

And there was something about that brief description that niggled at the back of his mind, as if he had already been told of a case like his. He just couldn't recall where.

"You never got a trial?" he asked.

The man frowned: sullen and still a little angry, perhaps, but as though he'd long ago come to peace with what had happened. "It's been fourteen years."

Sans nudged him, giving him a meaningful look.

He blinked, briefly confused, then murmured, "Oh, right."

"eh, it's probably for the best."

"With no trial, I doubt they just let you go," Cassius mused to himself, still trying to put a finger on why it all sounded so familiar. "…Where were you imprisoned?"

"nice day," Sans suddenly commented, the non sequitur immediately knocking the conversation off track and pushing that sense of familiarity out of mind.

It would probably be best to just go with it.

"I suppose?" Cassius said, uncertain where this was headed now.

The boy's dark eyes settled on the Slytherin with a peculiar weight, and he seemed to consider something for just a moment longer. Then, apparently finding what he was looking for—whatever that might be—he nodded to himself. "i have some people i want you to meet."

Another unexpected change in subject, and immediately after the first at that: Sans really seems to suddenly be in a mood for jumping topics.

What was a bit odd, however, was that even Mr. Pawdy looked surprised by that news. "Who?"

"oh, just some friends." Sans pulled out a scrap of paper and a muggle pencil from his pockets, scrawled something down, and wrapped it up around a thin white stick that had just… appeared. Then the scroll of paper simply vanished from his hand.

Cassius turned to the older wizard. "You really don't know them?"

"Nope."

"he wouldn't have had a chance to," said Sans, matter-of-fact. "it was pretty busy that night."

Glancing around the field they were still standing in—the empty event ground—he could make a guess at just who Sans was talking about.

Apparently following that same train of thought, Mr. Pawdy said, "You wouldn't happen to mean—"

Sans held up a hand, looking distant in an oddly not thoughtful way: as if he was watching and listening to a scene the rest of them couldn't see. After a moment he smiled, fished around in his pocket for another slip of paper to jot something down on, and then he vanished that note too.

"that was quick," Sans remarked. "looks like it's all clear to go, guys."

And with that, he turned and headed off across the field. To be perfectly honest, Cassius had half expected to just be dropped through another not-Apparition.

After a few minutes of walking in silence, they crested a low hill and spotted a quaint stone cottage in the distance. A young boy was running their way, waving, though he stopped that to focus on not tripping over himself when he stumbled over something.

When he reached them, he had to pause and catch his breath.

"Hey, Sans!"

"'hey' to you too, will!" Sans greeted. "how's miles?"

"He's fine," Will replied, still breathing a bit heavily from his run. "But Mom's still a bit worried, so we didn't go to school yesterday. He's a lot steadier now though!"

Cassius felt guilt curl in his stomach. He hadn't been in control—he'd been nothing more than a bystander within his own mind—but he had still just stood idly by while the Death Eaters had tortured a family of innocent people. Even if they were just muggles, that didn't matter.

He felt like he should have done something, even if he literally could have done nothing.

The boy fell into step with them, and though he was clearly curious about both Cassius and the colorful wizard beside him, he didn't ask. Instead, he stuck close to Sans and—after it happened to be mentioned in passing—pestered him about magic school.

Cassius nearly protested the nonchalant disregard for the Statute of Secrecy. Nearly… but he didn't. The family deserved to know what had happened to them, even if those memories were terrible. It was better than being left in the dark with nightmares they couldn't explain.

They made quick time to the house.

An older boy, probably the aforementioned Miles, was standing in the doorway. He waved too, and called something into the house before walking over to meet them. But, while Miles was standing and walking and generally acting as though everything was just fine, Cassius noticed a slight tremor in his shoulders that belied the effort those simple actions took.

Apparently Sans noticed that, too.

"hey, do ya think your mom'd mind if i borrowed your kitchen chairs for a minute?"

Miles blinked, then shrugged. "Don't think so. Why?"

"well, what do you usually use them for?" he asked, taking a seat on the chair that had suddenly appeared behind him. It was one of four, all sitting on the front lawn as if they'd been there all along.

"That is so wicked," Will declared, plopping down cross-legged on one of the other chairs, and his older brother followed suit.

"So, uh…" Miles scratched the back of his head. "Sans, who are these guys?"

Mr. Pawdy took that as his cue to step forward and bow, though once again he kept his floppy hat firmly on his head. A bit odd that, given dramatically sweeping off his hat seemed like it would have fit right in with the man's personality.

"Patrick Pawdy, at your service," he said grandly, and he set a hand on the back of Sans's chair. "I'm this one's minder, so to speak."

"i'd say it's the other way around," he shrugged, "but whatever you say, pat."

Then the two boys looked to him, and Cassius wondered what he'd tell them. If he should apologize, or simply say nothing.

"My name is Cassius Warrington," he introduced himself, and though he still felt he should say more, the words didn't come.

Nobody said anything for a moment.

"and," Sans filled in before the conversational gap could become awkward, "as you likely guessed, they're both wizards."

At that, Will looked about ready to launch into a flurry of questions. Miles, however, was watching them with an almost wary expression. Wise of him, Cassius thought, given what had happened during the boy's last interaction with wizardkind.

"So you're wizards," began Will, more cautiously than his eagerness had seemed to indicate, "but you're with Sans… That means you're not gonna mess with our heads, right?"

Miles not-so-subtly shifted in the chair so he was closer to his sibling, and Cassius tried to ignore how that protectiveness hit too near to old memories of his own older brother.

"yeah, they're cool," Sans reassured. "in fact, the system kinda screwed them over too."

The boy looked skeptical, but he did relax slightly. "Really?"

"Mind controlled and wrongfully imprisoned," Mr. Pawdy replied, pointing out who was which between the two of them.

Though technically the mind control had very little to do with 'the system', Cassius thought to himself, and everything to do with his insane parents assuring their control over him.

But then again, he highly suspected that he wasn't the only child in a pureblood family held under an Imperius chain. Though technically declared an Unforgivable, its use was almost an unspoken expectation among the upper echelon of their society; used to keep quiet those who might challenge the status quo, taking the voices of anyone who might protest.

That was one of the major reasons why supporters of the Dark Lord had been able to so effectively use the Imperius as an excuse after the end of the war; the claim had a basis in truth, after all, though they were not the true victims.

"so don't worry. if you end up in trouble, they'd be trying to help."

The Slytherin blinked, and turned incredulously to see if Sans was actually serious about that. He couldn't possibly be, they'd only met three times so far, and the first impression Cassius had likely given him couldn't have been helpful or kind… yet from that expression, Sans had meant every word.

Why?

It must have been written on his face, because the white-haired boy grinned and leaned over to him conspiratorially.

"you do know i've seen your SOUL, right?" he whispered. "and besides, i'm a pretty good judge about this sort of thing."

Cassius didn't know what he was going to say, but he felt like he should say something.

"So this is where the chairs went," called a new voice, cutting him off before he could figure out where to start. A woman—certainly the boys' mother—leaned against the porch railing and smiled at them. "I was wondering."

"hello, mrs. roberts," Sans said with a small wave. After another round of introductions, he tapped his chair and added, "i'll have these back where they belong soon, 'fraid we can't stick around too long."

Which was certainly true: the more time they spent here, the more likely it was that their absence would be noticed. That little fact had somewhat skipped his mind, given everything else.

Plainly disappointed, Will asked, "You can't?"

"nope, don't want them to know we were sneaking out."

Mrs. Roberts shook her head, but she was smiling. "You're really not a very good influence on my boys, are you Sans?"

"Au contraire, he's a great influence," Mr. Pawdy interjected. "Just not not in a conventional sense."

"that reminds me…" Sans held up one empty hand, and a moment later an arch of bone was floating gently over his palm.

He handed it to her, and the mother gave it a curious look. "A wishbone?"

"if you need help of a magical sort, break it." He grinned, standing up from his chair. "i'll know."

"What if we just want to visit?" Miles asked cheekily.

"do you call the police just to hang out?"

"No," he conceded with a sigh. "Still, can we write you letters or something?"

"letters? why wouldn't you just—" He made as if to take something from his pocket, then stopped. Under his breath, Sans muttered, "oh right, i don't have my cell." Shook his head ruefully, apparently recalling another sticking point. "actually, they might not even exist yet. probably still at the old brick ones."

Cassius, puzzled, quietly echoed, "Doesn't exist yet?"

"I've an idea!" interrupted the colorful wizard, clapping his hands for attention. "You can send mail to Moony's place, and then I—" he frowned suddenly, tone shifting from excited to discouraged in the span of a single syllable, "—have no idea what his address is. Drat."

Stepping over to him, Sans clapped him on the shoulder: more like the elbow, really, given the height difference. "we can just write him later, since we'd need to ask if we can use his house like that anyway."

Mrs. Roberts looked intrigued. "How would you send him a letter if you don't know where he lives?"

Miles shifted to look at his mother over the back of his chair. "Probably just make it appear out of nowhere, like Sans did with his note."

"Oh, no. Not at all," Mr. Pawdy said, hat flopping as he shook his head. "You really can't judge wizards by what Sans does. We, of course, use owls."

"Owls?" Will sounded positively delighted.

Taking his chance when the colorful wizard went into greater detail—too much, really—on how the owl post worked, Cassius moved closer to Sans and asked, "What did you mean by that?"

"about what?"

"Your 'cell' not existing yet." He waved a hand, as if gesturing to the strangeness of that comment. "And something about bricks. Whatever any of that means."

If he hadn't been keeping a close eye on Sans, he would have missed that split-second reaction; a slight widening of the eyes, just for a brief moment, that meant he hadn't expected those offhand remarks to have been overheard.

"it's nothing."

Cassius gave him a deadpan look, not believing that for a second.

"well, it is," Sans defended, grinning like he knew some secret nobody else did. "for the moment, anyway, but give if half a decade and they'll start to get popular."

They way he said that—so certain of the future—made him wonder if perhaps Sans was some kind of seer. It would explain why the white-haired boy acted so much older than he looked (sometimes, at least).

Cassius sighed, and slowly shook his head. "Honestly, what even are you?"

His grin looked more like a smirk now, and semi-pleasantly surprised. "you catch on quick."

That was not a response he had expected.

But before he could even think about asking what that latest odd remark was supposed to mean, Sans had already moved on and was saying his goodbyes to the muggle family. The brothers stood up—Miles needed a little help from his mother to stay steady—and with a gesture Sans returned the four chairs to whence they came.

It was time for them to be off.

Mr. Pawdy did his silly bow thing again. "It was a pleasure meeting you."

"Same!" Will replied, smiling.

"i'll send a note about the whole letter thing," said Sans, waving. "later, roberts-es!"

Purely for show, the white-haired boy snapped. It made an unnaturally sharp click.

The world blinked around them.

And they were back in the abandoned classroom.

Cassius didn't stumble this time, as he'd braced himself for an abrupt change in scenery ever since Sans had mentioned leaving. Him actually taking the time to say goodbye just before vanishing was actually more warning than he had been expecting.

"You know," Mr. Pawdy remarked, dusting non-existent dust from his colorful robes, "I think I might finally be getting used to those shortcuts of yours."

"is that a challenge?"

With a very unconvincing tone of voice, he corrected, "Stop with the teleporting me randomly, Rattles, it's too disorienting…?"

Sans snorted, amused. "shortcuts aren't that bad."

"I mean, that's true, but—" Mr. Pawdy rounded on Cassius. "You agree with me, right? He dropped you through the floor earlier and, while hilarious, I know from experience that it can be a bit dizzying."

"It wasn't the first time he did that," he replied with a shrug. Then a thought struck, and he frowned at the colorful wizard. "Actually, is it fine for you to be… you, right now?"

"You have a point," the man agreed.

So without further ado, he promptly dropped to all fours as he returned to being a golden retriever. Blue bowtie and all.

If it hadn't been for that ridiculous floppy hat, the transformation would have been graceful and impressively quick. As it was, however, the first thing the newly-changed dog did was trip over it and faceplant into one of the dustier old desks.

He sneezed, then sneezed again.

Chuckling a bit at his friend's expense, Sans shook his head. "what happens in this classroom, stays in this classroom. i've made sure of it," he reassured, resting one hand on the stone wall and causing a hint of blue light to shine from around his fingers. The glow vanished when he stepped back. "i wouldn't have ever set foot in here with intent to scheme if it wasn't."

Mr. Pawdy—or Paddy, since he was once more a golden retriever—cocked his head to the side and gave an inquisitive bark.

"well duh, of course i checked it before breaking you out."

Cassius, for one, decided not to even bother wondering how or why Sans could apparently still understand him even as a dog. Their interactions flowed to well to just be one-sided.

The dog looked somewhere between impressed and doubtful, which is not really an expression suited for canine features.

"what, you really think i'd be that careless?"

A grudging grumbly huff.

"I think," Cassius found himself saying, deadpan but internally amused, "that it's more that he hadn't considered the risk himself. Dogs are not known for forethought, after all."

Sans seemed momentarily startled by the remark, and then he burst out laughing. There was a peculiar quality to the sound, like branches hitting together in a breeze.

"cass the sass master," he quipped, amused.

The golden retriever turned his nose up at them with another huff, and turned to excuse himself from their company. Though he didn't get very far, seeing as he was a dog and the door was currently shut. One paw scratched at the wood, defeated.

Sans nodded. "yeah, we should get going." He walked to the door and pulled it open, before briefly looking back with a grin. "talk to ya later."

Just like that, the door swung shut and they were gone.

Cassius stood there for a moment longer, taking the time to sort out some things now that he was alone with only his thoughts for company. And though he had quite a lot to think about, he found himself turning back to one question. It had been nagging at him ever since he'd thoughtlessly blurted it out.

Perhaps it wasn't the most pressing point, but he couldn't help but wonder…

Who had Sans left behind?

Author's Note:

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Undertale.

I am not dead, and neither is this story!

So this chapter is both the May and June updates (ludicrously late, of course), which was surprisingly difficult to write and just didn't want to stop or break into a smaller chapter. Plus sickness and finals and graduating university… well, that's why it's so late, anyway.

Still, better late than never, right?

Anyway, can you believe these guys actually had a decent clear-the-air conversation?
And not, like, super cryptically! Kinda!

Generally updates on the first of the month, and will return to that from hence forth. Sorry for dropping the ball like that.
Thanks for the favorites, follows, and reviews, and special thanks for the messages I got after missing that May update. I didn't want to reply until I had the chapter out, in an attempt to guilt the writers block (with some success, actually). So yeah, thanks!

See ya on the flipside, everyone!