Ever wondered why Dumbledore lets Filch remain as Hogwarts’ Caretaker? Well, so do I! Anyway…

A fanfic by A. Leon using the works of J.K. Rowling.

Table of Contents

This is my second story about Harry Potter but my first inside the actual Harry Potter universe.
The timeline would be after Harry’s third year but before his sixth.
I feel compelled to tell you not to expect Harry in this story, though.

Chapter One: Summer at Hogwarts

She stood on the landing for a very long time, as the last of the students had left, then she turn her back to the lake and went back into the castle. The large oak doors closed behind her.

Professor McGonagall wondered why she had the habit of doing that every year. It wasn’t like Hagrid was going to let anybody fall off into the lake. Perhaps she was starting to get old, she told herself.

Nonsense! She was a young seventy-year old witch. Still, she always found her motherly instincts, carefully tucked away all year, betrayed her as the year came at an end.

The Entrance Hall was deserted and somewhat messy. The house-elves would probably start cleaning the owlery and work its way downwards. Minerva crossed the hall and started up the marble staircase. As she reached the first floor, she found a book carelessly abandoned. It was ‘A History of Magic’ by Bathilda Bagshott. Judging by its appearance, it was still new and probably left behind by a first-year happily leaving Professor Binn’s classroom. She passed by her office and left it there.

As she walked towards the stairs, she was joined by Madam Pomfrey.

“Ready, Minerva?”

“No, not yet, Poppy. I still have to check Gryffindor’s dormitories.”

“Went to see them off again?”

“Every year, Poppy”

“Hagrid’s the same. He will probably be waving them off at the train station until he can’t see the train anymore.”

“He should be starting back in around ten minutes.”

“I’ll better check the Hospital Wing again, make sure nobody forgot a limb.”

They reached the third floor together. Madam Pomfrey departed for the Hospital Wing.

“Don’t forget we have staff meeting.”

“Every year, Minerva.”

McGonagall kept going up for another flight of stairs. She could hear muttering as she reached the next floor. She passed a large mirror and checked her reflection. Perhaps she was getting old.

“Foul, miscreant…”

“Hello Irma. I think all the students are gone already.”

Madame Pince, the eternally testy librarian, stopped in her tracks to stare at McGonagall.

“Not those miscreants! That accursed poltergeist got into the library’s restricted section and…”

She stiffled a sob. Books were everything to Madame Pince, so much so she dreaded anybody messing around with them.

“Really Irma, it’s just Peeves. You know how he starts picking up on us when the students leave for summer.”

“Nobody understands, nobody cares… Did you know five books are missing? I have a good mind to tell Dumbledore to jinx them!”

“Five books doesn’t seem like much-”

Madame Pince shot her an icy glare.

“I do hope you’ve returned each of those YOU took out.”

“Er- I’m sure I did, but I will check again…”

“So will I, Minerva. So will I.”

The librarian turned away fiercely.

“Remember the staff meeting!” called McGonagall as she walked away, scowling.

“Oho! I wouldn’t want to face that one in battle!” said a knight from a landscape painting nearby. He seemed completely out of place in it.

“Sir Cadogan, go back to your own painting!”

“First you must best me!”

“Go back to the South Tower!” called McGonagall over her shoulder, as she climbed another flight of stairs. She could still hear him calling taunts.

As she went by the statue of a wizard with his gloves on the wrong hands, she heard an evil cackle.

“Peeves, whatever you’re thinking, don’t! I’m already on my way to see the Headmaster about your little library visit!” she shouted over shoulder.

She only heard a dissapointed moan, but Peeves chose not to appear.

After two more flights of stairs, she finally reached the seventh floor.

She stopped right at the portrait of the Fat Lady.

“Hello Professor McGonagall. Password?”

“PiÒa colada. Also, password change for the summer.”

“Very well, new password?”

“Veraniega”

The portrait swung open, revealing the entrance to the Gryffindor Tower.

The common room was deserted. Here and there, she found some forgotten items. A couple of quills, spare parchments, some very suspicious-looking toffees, a pack of self-shuffling cards and lots of litter. She collected the toffees and the cards to hand over to Filch later and left the rest for the house-elves to collect.

The girls’ dormitory was clean as a whistle. They would usually let their beds made up now. Professor McGonegall knew this had something to do with Hermione Granger and smiled.

The boys had not been nearly as tidy. The rooms were a complete mess. She found yet more banned items carelessly left behind. Finally she found a box where to put them all, added the ones she had found in the common room, and marked it FILCH so that the house-elves knew what to do with it. She scanned the beds and found a Remembrall left right on top of a pillow.

“Neville Longbottom, honestly!”

She put it on her pocket and left the room.

As she hurried down the stairs, she stopped by her office on the first floor. She locked the Remembrall in her desk drawer and left.

Professor Snape was emerging from the dungeons as McGonagall reached the Entrance Hall. Madame Pomfrey called to both of them from the door to the Staff Room.

“Minerva, Severus, we’re about to start…”

Severus Snape gave McGonagall a sideways glance.

“The Quidditch Cup needed extra dusting, Minerva?”

“Yes, Severus. It gets very dusty around… Oh I’m sorry, you wouldn’t know, you haven’t seen it for so long!”

“How amusing. Get inside.”

***
Harry Potter(tm) and all associated materials are property of J.K. Rowling
My thanks go to the Harry Potter Lexicon at http://www.hp-lexicon.org