The Marauders: Year Four

What's Mopsus Playing At

What's Mopsus Playing At

Argus Filch was about as happy as could be. He grinned, pulling the cards from his drawer and licking the tip of his quill before dipping it into the ink pot with relish. "Off- fen - ders..." Filch was writing as he spoke, "Sirius... Orion... Black..." he looked up over the quill at Sirius. "James... Charlus... Potter..." look over the quill. "Peter... Cecil... Pettigrew..." Look. "Remus... John... Lupin..." Look. "Lily... Jane... Evans." He cackled. "Five students - Five!" He looked at Mrs. Norris, who had climbed up on his lap and was clawing at his ratty robes with her claws, purring loudly. "Yes, my sweet, we've got the lot this time! Got the lot!!" He licked the quill again, turning back to his notes, "Fourth years..." He grinned, "Possibly a first in all of Hogwarts history -- an entire year of one of the houses given detention at once."

"Actually, in 1914, there there was an incident in Hufflepuff house involving a niffler set loose in the --..." Remus stopped when he felt Sirius kick him in the shin. He bit his lip.

Filch glared at him. "A little smarty pants, are we?"

Remus shook his head.

Filch turned back to his card. "Offense - out of bed after hours, breaking and entering into a classroom, disturbing the peace, in possession of dungbombs," he added, glaring at the little pile of bombs he'd taken out of Sirius's pocket. "And... this... Marauders' Map?" he turned the parchment over and Sirius tensed, wanting to leap forward and rip it out of Filch's fist.

James sat forward. "Sir, if you please, Evans, Lupin and Pettigrew weren't involved in the offenses. They were... they were trying to stop Sirius and I from doing it. We were going up to the Divination classroom - we thought it would be funny to leave dungbombs on Professor Mopsus's chair so that when he sat down they'd burst and --" James waved his hands to indicate the smell that would fill the room. "Thought it would be quite funny."

Filch glared at at James for a long moment, as though wanting to hit him for taking away some of his glee at capturing five offenders. "Still out of bed," he muttered and he turned back to his card.

Lily was staring at James in surprise. He'd just thrown himself (and Sirius) under the bus in an attempt to get her, Remus, and Peter out of trouble. Her breath came out a bit shaky and she looked down at her hands in her lap.

"Lucky I can't use the chains... so lucky... Dumbledore on the way... going to get you two expelled..." he pointed at James and Sirius.

Sirius, who was a worn veteran in the chair across from Filch by now, leaned back and tossed his feet up on the edge of the desk. "Ohh, Filch... Filch, Filch, Filch. Ol' Dumbley ain't gonna expel us! Blimey, when ya gonna learn, man? Dumbledore bloody adores us. We're ol' mates. Go way back, us and Dumbley."

"Git yer feet off my desk, you filthy little hoodlum!" Filch hopped up, disturbing Mrs. Norris, who shrieked, her claws ripping new tiny holes in the robes as she slid to the floor and bolted. She reached the door just as it opened and streaked into the hall. Filch was shoving Sirius's feet off the desk when the person who had opened the door cleared their throat.

Peter let out a squeak.

Remus looked over and there, framed in the doorway, was Professor Mopsus. He clutched his cane, his hands shaking. He inched into the room, and Peter began to whimper, his fingers wrapping around the hand rests of the chair he was in, his knuckles white. Remus looked to Sirius with wide eyes. Exactly what they'd been trying to avoid -- Mopsus was here.

Filch looked up from pushing away Sirius's feet and glowered at the professor. "Mopsus."

James kept his face turned carefully straight ahead. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Lily's eyes narrow as she looked past him at the Professor. He turned, but wasn't sure what it was that had concerned Lily. He glanced back at her with a questioning look and she wrinkled her face up in response. James looked back at Mopsus. At first he didn't know what had concerned her, but then he noticed it. The wrinkles on Mopsus's face were deeper than they'd seemed the last time they'd seen him, and there were dark shadows under his eyes, and in the hollows of his cheeks, where his jowls had seemed to sink even lower than usual... If it was possible, given how old the man looked already, it was as though Mopsus had aged another whole decade since they'd seen him just that evening at the staff table at dinner...