Managing Mischief

Chapter 5: Howling Mysteries

          In the wee hours of September 2nd, the bright sun began to slither across the floor, dancing and swaying with the dust floating in the air. The slow descent across the floor started to climb up the beds, stirring awake a young man who had found himself up far too late the night before talking and strategizing , fine tuning, pranks with his mischievous counterpoints. 

Having always been a lighter sleeper, Leo, found himself awakened by the light first. A small, deep, and displeased groan slipped from him as he stretched in bed; willing the sun to go away. After tossing and turning, Leo, with a huff of frustration, finally decided it was time to admit defeat and wake to the new day and first full day back at Hogwarts.

Sitting up, Leo looked to his right where his twin's bed was, only to find he hadn't fallen asleep alone, but was in fact, spooning Lee. Chuckling softly to himself Leo got up to take advantage of his family sleeping and get ready for the day. 

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           Thirty minutes later Leo was dressed and ready to start his day, however, the same couldn't be said for the others who were still sleeping. Being a twin and so close with his twin cousins, Leo rarely ever had quiet time to himself, and so seeing an opportunity to read he took it wholeheartedly.

Grabbing his copy of Fahrenheit 451, he made his way down to the common room, taking the stairs two at a time. Being so early in the morning he expected the room to be empty, he never expected to find another person there already.

Smiling to himself he made his way around the couch and took the seat next to her:

"Morning!" he said warmly.

"AH! Leo! What are you doing up so early?" She shrieked, with a hand clutching her racing heart. She had been so engrossed in her book she hadn't heard him come into the room.

"I could ask you the same thing, Granger." He challenged, raising an eyebrow at her, trying and failing to hide amusement at startling her.

Holding up the book in her hand, "I've always been an early riser, and seeing we haven't been assigned any work yet, I thought I'd reread one of my favorite books. Now your turn."

Flashing her, what he thought was a charming smirk, "I obviously came to see my favorite Gryffindor!"

Hermione, keeping her face blank, lifted her eyebrow in challenge back at him; a look that told him she wasn't buying that for one minute.

With a sigh he conceded, "This stays our secret Granger! But I too came to read before the silence is shattered."

"Fahrenheit 451? That's a muggle book." she mused, her curiosity written all over her face.

"Ah, yes. I found it in my mum's library. She has a large selection of muggle books. According to her, they belonged to one of my fathers, and she's read every single one of them." noting her curious expression still firmly in place, he smiled softly as he continued, "I mean it Granger this stays our secret. My mom had two mates, I don't know much more besides that. It's a hard topic of conversation for her. But whether or not they knew about me and Aries, we've never met them. I honestly couldn't even tell you their first names."

Hermione's face no longer held curiosity, but empathy had taken its place, with her own soft smile, "It's a very good book. Well worth sneaking off to read."After a short pause she continued, "Have you ever checked the library for year books. Maybe you could find a clue or two about who your fathers are."

Leo opened his mouth to respond, but as he did students had begun filtering down the stairs for breakfast. With a sad smile, he stood up and replied "It was just another dead end. I better go wake up the boys or they'll end up missing breakfast."

He was gone before she could respond, but not before the gears in her brain started working. He may not have meant for it to happen, but he had presented Hermione with a mystery she wanted to solve.

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          Some time later the Wisp twins, the Weasley twins, and Lee finally found themselves at breakfast. The excitement of their first day had finally caught up to them and they were vibrating with energy and talking enthusiastically about all the possibilities this year held.

At the feast the night before, they had found out that the one and only Moony, was going to be their DADA professor. This revelation had sparked a debate within their group of the best way to befriend the new professor and learn everything they could about his time at Hogwarts.

"I'm telling you we should just be direct!"

"Are you insane?! We want to be his friend! If we were just like 'hey tell us about what you and the other Marauders got up to here' he'll never tell us. He's a teacher now he can't!"

"He does raise a good point. But will putting Leo up to being a model student be enough or will that be too obvious now too after our meeting at the platform?"

Remus couldn't help but chuckle at the conversation he found himself eavesdropping on. He hadn't meant to but when he deduced they were talking about him he couldn't help it. He noticed the conversation had stopped cold in its tracks and decided to look up to investigate the short stop in their conversation.

He found himself frightened for them. There on the table in front of the Wisp twins sat a red envelope, laying in wait to explode.

As others began to take notice of the howler, the room grew quiet. Gulping he heard Leo say " The longer we wait, the worse it's going to be."

With a nod Aries replied "You're right. It's best to rip it off like a band aid. On the count of three?"

"One.."

"Two.."

"Two and a half!..."

"MY LITTLE CONSTELLATIONS, YOU HAVE ONE RULE TO FOLLOW! STAY WITH YOUR AUNT! ONE RULE! I WILL BE PICKING YOU UP AT CHRISTMAS BUT YOU SO MUCH AS PUT ONE TOE OUT OF LINE AND I WILL COME AND DRAG YOU HOME BY YOUR EARS!..."

Remus froze, unable to concentrate on the rest of the howler. He knew that voice! He would know that voice anywhere. It had been years since he heard it but he would recognize Nikki's voice no matter what.

Was his mind playing tricks on him? Was he finally losing his mind? How was this possible?

A hand on his shoulder startled him from his thoughts.

"Remus, are you okay? You look like you've just seen a ghost." Minerva asked with a look of concern on her face.

"DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR!?" The howler finished.

"Yes. I'm alright." Remus responded, trying to shake his thoughts, he gave her the best reassuring smile he could.

Remus however was anything but okay. He may not have seen a ghost but he was sure he had heard one.