Harry Potter's Pen Pal

Chapter Twenty-Three

(The next morning)

Harry was seated with Neville, Fred, George, and Draco at the Slytherin table when the doors burst open and a group of Aurors appeared, followed by Sirius and Remus.

"Gilderoy Lockhart!" the head Auror barked, and the Defense teacher jumped, startled. "You are under arrest!"

"What!" squawked Lockhart as the rest of the Aurors swarmed up to the staff table.

"Under what charges?" Dumbledore asked cautiously.

"One, performing magic on minors without their permission," the Auror replied, "two, performing the Memory Charm without permission, three, manhandling minors-"

"I really must protest!" Lockhart sputtered, struggling against his captors.

"You have the right to remain silent, Lockhart," the Auror said coldly. "Albus Percival Wolfric ⎯ oh for Merlin's sake, just Albus Dumbledore, you are under arrest for hiring unsafe teachers for children, including but not limited to: a child predator, a vampire..."

Harry smirked as the Aurors dragged a loudly protesting Lockhart and a furious but silent Dumbledore away from the Great Hall.

"Minerva," the head Auror said as he turned to McGonagall, "you will be temporary Headmistress until we are sure you won't hire teachers like Nautilus Abbot."

McGonagall shuddered. "I was furious with Albus when I saw who he'd hired, but he refused to hear anything about it." She smiled tiredly at Harry's godfathers as the Auror left. "I assume you're here for the Defense position, Sirius?"

"We're actually tag-teaming," Sirius explained. "Remus is going to teach most of the time, but for a week during his time of the month-" He broke off with a yelp when Remus swatted him. The Hall burst into laughter.

"I will be teaching three weeks out of every month," Remus said stiffly, "and Sirius will teach the rest of the time."

"That's acceptable," McGonagall replied, faintly amused. "May I introduce Professors Remus and Sirius Lupin-Black?"

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"Why is Professor Lupin-Black only teaching three weeks out of every month?" Draco asked as Harry led the other second-year Slytherins to the Defense classroom. It was the start of Remus' "man-period," as Sirius called it, or, if you wanted to be technical, it was the week of full-moon, when werewolves became snarky and irritable.

"I will tell you later, Draco," Harry replied as they arrived at the door, where a familiar black dog was waiting for them, allowing the second-year Gryffindors and Slytherins to pet him as they passed.

"Aw, what a cute dog," Parvati Patil cooed as she rubbed Sirius' head. "Is this your godfathers' dog, Harry?"

Harry chuckled. "In a way, yes." Sirius yapped in agreement.

Blaise gave Sirius a faintly nervous look.

"What's wrong, Blaise?" Harry asked curiously while Draco patted the dog, hiding a smirk.

"I ⎯ er ⎯ don't really like big dogs," Blaise said nervously.

"Padfoot is a very well-behaved dog," Harry promised. "He won't hurt you, unless you plan on hurting me." Sirius growled quietly, causing most of the students to back away.

"I'm not going to hurt you, Harry," Blaise grumbled. "I'd have to be incredibly stupid to do that."

Sirius padded over to Blaise, who froze, sat down, and leaned his head against Blaise's side. His dog form was so large that he almost reached the boy's shoulder. Hesitantly, Blaise patted Sirius, then relaxed, running his fingers through the dog's thick black fur.