The Rat
"HAHAHAHAHA"
Harry stood there, looking tired, watching his new Headmaster laugh like an idiot as he poked a rat with his wand. The poor creature was standing on top of the office desk, completely unable to flee.
With every poke, the rat let out a sharp, piercing squeal. It could not move; it was trapped under a spell that prevented it from escaping and made sure it would be easy to find later.
The former Headmasters, portrayed in the paintings covering the walls of the office, watched the scene with varied expressions. Some looked at the Headmaster with clear disapproval, others with open amusement, and a few simply shook their heads. Sharing that critical gaze was someone standing right beside Harry, watching the Headmaster with evident severity. Professor McGonagall.
"Headmaster Black, I believe it is important to send young Carrow to St. Mungo's so the spell can be broken and he can recover his form," she said in a serious tone, speaking quickly, clearly trying to get Sirius to stop mocking the rat.
Because, yes, that rat was a student. One who had been transformed that way thanks to a small, though explosive, outburst of anger from Harry.
"Hahaha. Sorry, sorry. This is just too funny. Seeing someone in the same state I was in before," Sirius said, pretending to wipe away imaginary tears brought on by laughter. Then he looked at Harry with a crooked smile. "Didn't you say you could control your emotions better now so they would not affect your magic?" he added, his tone teasing but clearly amused.
Harry did not like his godfather's smug expression at all. He looked away before answering.
"He attacked Daphne and Hermione. And he almost hurt Draco," he said in a restrained but irritated tone.
"Oh. Did he, now?" Sirius replied, poking the rat again with his wand, this time a bit harder than before. The pitiful squeal that followed was immediate, and the rat began to tremble under Sirius's gaze, which for a moment looked like that of a predator watching its prey.
"Headmaster Black!" McGonagall exclaimed again, raising her voice. Her expression was truly serious, even worried. As a Transfiguration professor and an Animagus, she had not been able to break the spell on her own.
"All right, Professor. Do not be impatient. The person who can solve your student's problem is already here," Sirius said calmly, waving his hand as if everything were perfectly under control.
At that exact moment, the office door opened.
Wanda stepped in with calm strides, her shoes softly echoing against the floor. Each of those steps, as she approached Harry, caused a slight jolt in him, mixed with embarrassment. He could feel his mother's presence drawing closer.
"Ah…" Wanda sighed, giving Harry a brief glance before lightly snapping her fingers.
And with that, even though she did not need the gesture to channel her magic, a red aura wrapped around Carrow the rat. The energy began to warp his form, slowly returning it to normal.
Louis Carrow regained his shape almost immediately, appearing seated on the Headmaster's desk, his face pale and his expression completely terrified.
"I… I… I will tell my father," he said at once, almost on reflex.
"Oh, yes. You can do that. I would love to have a chat with your father. I am always waiting for the perfect excuse for him to show up in front of me," Sirius replied in a calm tone, interlacing his fingers. The smile on his face did not reach his eyes, which only made Carrow shiver even more.
Meanwhile, Harry looked toward his godfather, rolling his eyes at the blatant threat he was directing at a student.
"I would prefer it if you did not threaten my students," a voice suddenly said from the office entrance, cold but firm.
Sirius recognized the voice instantly and looked toward the door with a dangerous smile. Harry, on the other hand, seemed unwilling to look that way, or rather, at the person who had just entered. Severus Snape, the Potions professor of Hogwarts.
He walked in with his usual expression, severe and heavy with disapproval. Seeing Sirius sitting in the Headmaster's chair, he could not help but show his irritation for a brief moment. Then he shifted his gaze toward Wanda, meeting those green eyes that, for a moment, seemed to freeze him before he quickly regained his composure.
"I see that my student is already well," he said at last. "I suppose that, as Headmaster, it is your duty to handle what comes next. So I will take him with me," he added, directing a hard look at Sirius, making it clear that he did not wish to be there a second longer. Then he cast a quick glance at Harry before turning to Carrow.
"Move," he ordered, turning around.
"But, Professor, he…" Carrow tried to protest quickly, pointing at Harry.
Snape turned slowly and stared at him.
"Move," he repeated, in a tone that allowed no argument.
Carrow shut his mouth at once and followed his professor without another word. Before leaving, he barely turned to shoot a hatred-filled glance at Harry.
Harry, for his part, did not react, showing complete indifference toward Carrow. Without any emotion, without saying a single word, he remained still until the door closed.
McGonagall said nothing. She simply frowned before looking back at Harry. However, since she was not his Head of House, and with both the Headmaster and the boy's mother present, she did not have much to add at that moment.
"All right, Professor McGonagall. Now that Wanda is here, we can leave the punishment in her hands, don't you think?" Sirius said calmly, as if the whole matter had been completely settled.
"Very well," the professor replied before leaving. Even so, her expression made it clear that she was not entirely satisfied with how things had ended.
Sirius let out a sigh, as if he had done a great job, which earned him a cold look from both Harry and Wanda. Two looks so similar that no explanation was needed to see that they were mother and son.
"Let's go," Wanda said, taking Harry with her and leaving the idiot alone inside his office, who from start to finish had not actually done anything.
"Are you mad?" Harry asked quietly.
"No. Not at all," she replied calmly, offering him a serene smile. "But I think you already know what I am going to tell you," she added.
"I know. But it is hard to control my emotions, especially when my friends are in danger," Harry said, looking down like a scolded child.
"I never told you to control your emotions. Only not to let them control you," Wanda said gently, watching him as if she were remembering when he had been much smaller.
"I know," Harry murmured, his voice lower.
Wanda watched him for a moment before smiling. Suddenly, she gave him a small tap on the forehead, making Harry bring a hand up to the spot with an exaggerated grimace and a forced smile.
"Haha, you caught me," he said, already more relaxed.
As Wanda shook her head, knowing that this was his way of slipping out of a punishment, she smiled with resignation.
"You had better leave before the idiot of a godfather of yours realizes he can punish you and make you spend the entire day with him using his power as Headmaster," Wanda said, with a strange smile, as if she were listening to something Harry could not hear.
Harry's eyes widened immediately and, without wasting a second, he turned into a red mist that flew out through one of the nearby windows.
Wanda kept smiling as she watched the mist fade into the distance.
Sirius appeared just after that, with hurried steps, looking around.
"Where is Harry?" he asked at once.
Wanda did not answer him. She only looked at him for a moment, like someone watching a particularly annoying fly, before disappearing.
Seeing that, Sirius could not help putting on a tragic expression, as if he had just realized something important.
"Damn it, he escaped," he muttered before turning around and heading back the way he had come from, clearly annoyed.
…
When Harry regained his normal form, he was already in the castle's inner courtyard. He was still somewhat upset about what had happened earlier with Carrow, but thanks to his mother he also felt much calmer. With an amused smile, he touched his forehead, remembering Wanda's tap.
"Harry, I found you," a familiar voice suddenly said behind him.
Harry turned around and there he saw Luna, who for some reason seemed to have crawled into the bushes and climbed a tree. In fact, it was pretty obvious that that was exactly what she had done. She was standing next to the large tree in the courtyard, her hair completely messy, a few leaves caught in the strands and her clothes somewhat disheveled.
She was not alone.
Astoria and Ginny were with her, just as messy. Harry had many questions he wanted to ask right then, but instead he looked toward the tree for a few seconds. Then he noticed it.
There were some little friends there who had not been there before. A family of bowtruckles. One of them felt strangely familiar to him, and now it seemed to have become a father.
Harry could not help but smile as he imagined the whole scene. Maybe Luna and Astoria had dragged Ginny there to introduce her to the little baby bowtruckles, and that was why all three of them had ended up in that state.
With a calm smile, Harry fixed Luna's hair, carefully removing the leaves stuck to it. Then he straightened her clothes a bit, gently tugging at her shoulders. He did the same with Astoria, even wiping away a small smudge of dirt from her forehead with his finger. And while he was at it, he pulled out a small twig that had gotten tangled in Ginny's red hair, making her turn almost as red as her hair right away.
"Harry, do not use your playboy powers on us!" Astoria suddenly shouted, making Ginny flinch for a moment.
"Playboy?" Luna repeated, staring at him while pointing at him with absolute seriousness.
Harry rolled his eyes before giving each of them a light tap on the forehead. Then he turned around and walked away with an amused smile, leaving them there.