The Teacher's Son

Chapter 29

"Filius, I don't care how long it takes. I want that broom fully examined in every way you can." Minerva snapped sternly.

"May I ask why, Minerva?" The tiny Charms professor asked patiently.

"It was anonymously delivered to Mr. Potter and he has a rather bad track record with brooms. I want to make sure it hasn't been sent by someone who wishes ill towards him."

"Like Black?" Remus asked. Minerva had asked him to help Filius with the stripping down of the broom because she hoped he would be able to identify Black's magic style, should it be there.

"Yes."

"Black is a wanted fugitive, Minerva, he would hardly be able to walk into a wizarding shop and buy a Firebolt." Filius said.

"Oh he could." Remus spoke sadly, like he was reliving some memory from his school days. "Sirius is quite adept at wandless magic of certain kinds. Disguising himself would be particularly easy."

Minerva nodded. "Exactly my thoughts. He was an extremely smart student, if disinclined to work in class."

Flitwick sighed. "Fine. I'll strip it down."

"Thank you." Minerva left the room, knowing her coworker would do justice to the job. He was a dedicated worker.

She remembered the horrible feeling in her stomach during Harry's first year, when the broom she had brought him began to malfunction during the game. She had been terrified that she bought a defective broom, or had somehow broken it while she was handling it. Harry had explained later that Professor Quirrel had been cursing it while he was playing, but it didn't help the guilt.

No, Minerva decided, Harry would not be put in danger over a broomstick again.

Heading back to her classroom, she crossed paths with Dumbledore.

"Have you sorted things out with the dementors?" She asked.

"Yes." He sighed, rubbing his forehead. "Stubborn creatures, but they're not allowed on campus anymore and I have made it clear there will be severe repercussions if this is ignored."

Minerva nodded. "Good."

---------------------------

Remus was bone tired. He and Filius had been working with the Firebolt Minerva gave them for hours, trying to find enchantments. None had appeared so far, but they hadn't even scratched the surface when it came to possible spells. There were a million things that could have been done to this broom and they were going to make sure none of them were actually put to use.

He stepped into Minerva's classroom and pulled his wand out, whispering, "Homenum Revelio." 

The marker showed up and he cursed under his breath before leaving quickly and directing his footsteps towards his own classroom.

He was just quick enough, turning the corner as he heard Minerva's door open. He prayed the Deputy Headmistress wouldn't follow him, and kept walking, trying to listen for footsteps behind him.

None came and Remus breathed a sigh of relief. He had planned on another prank in her office, having successfully pulled off three already, but with the witch herself being inside, it would have been impossible to do anything.

If only I had James' old cloak, Remus thought, his heart panging at the thought of seeing his old friend again and having some fun. He missed James horribly, the ache hadn't gone away at all over the twelve years.

"Curse you, Sirius." He whispered out loud. "Curse you to the depths of Hell."

Shaking his head, he continued on towards his classroom and his personal office.

The candles were out, as he'd left them, but Remus frowned, sniffing the air. The full moon was approaching, and his senses of smell heightened as the transformation got nearer.

His classroom smelled like smoke.

He'd blown out the candles hours ago, the smell shouldn't have been as prominent as it was.

Remus' frown deepened and he stepped into the room slowly, pulling his wand out again.

"Homenum Revelio." He whispered.

No one was in the room or in his office. 

"Specialis Revelio." He whispered, scanning the room slowly with his wand.

There were no spells in his classroom, but something was spread across the ceiling of his office. The spell wasn't harmful, otherwise his spell would have revealed it as so.

Pocketing his wand, Remus strode across the room and padded up the stairs to see what was going on in his office.

He opened the door and looked up, then stopped in surprise.

At first, all he could do was stare.

Then, he began to chuckle.

The chuckles slowly developed into full blown laughter, which escalated until Remus was leaning against the wall, gasping for air.

"Oh, Minerva," He finally wheezed. "This one wins."

He went back into his classroom and picked up the camera that Lily had enchanted for him years ago so he wouldn't have to develop his photos in a potion to make them move.

Positioning the camera on the floor, he leaned over it so he would appear in part of the photo, with his ceiling appearing in the rest.

Laughing again, he took the photo and turned to look at the ceiling again. It felt good to have something to genuinely laugh about.

"How did she do that?" He wondered out loud, inspecting all his furniture, which had been magicked to the ceiling. 

"And how am I going to get it down?"

[A/N So McGonagall and Lupin are getting into a bit of a prank war]