Talieson, William, Micheal, and Rose followed Professor McGonagall back to her office their heads hung low. As the relief of the battle being over began to wear off, Talieson kicked himself for getting his friends into such a mess in the first place. It has been his determination that got them all the way to California to free the moon dog. Now they might be expelled. Professor McGonagall had made a special exception to admit Talieson and some of his American friends since things were not going well at the American wizarding school Ilvernmorny. Now he would probably have to go there if he could even get in. And yet, as the moon dog trotted alongside him, tongue hanging out happily, he felt a surge of love and respect for the animal. He had destroyed a powerful evil witch that had threatened to kill them all. She had murdered and tortured who knows how many other people in her long lifetime. Perhaps Professor McGonagall would feel it counted for something.

Rose, on the other hand, walked with her head high and the goat tucked under her arm. She thought back over every decision she had made and decided she would not have chosen a different path. While it was horrible to watch the witch die, the world was a safer place. The moon dog had killed her to protect the world from her evil wrath. She thought about stories she had heard from her parents before Voldemort had died and even the near miss her cousin had experienced with a time turner. Evil lurked everywhere in the world and throughout time. She decided she would make a plea for the moon dog to stay and protect the students of Hogwarts. If she got expelled she could live with it. At least she knew the thrill of adventure. In fact, she might have had enough of it to not feel quite so bored studying anymore.  

Micheal could tell that Professor McGonagall intended to expel them all and had mixed feelings about it. Obviously, going to Hogwarts with Talieson, who he had grown up next door to, had been the best thing that had ever happened to him. But he did miss America, his parents, and his brother. They were no-maj's as the American muggles were called and they wouldn't be cross if he came back home to go to school. He knew they had done the right thing by freeing the moon dog and he could live with the consequences. 

William, on the other hand, was worried about how his parents might react if he were expelled. He came from an American purebred wizarding family which, though loving and kind, had high expectations of William. He was also a strong and motivated student receiving excellent grades throughout his first year at Hogwarts despite having started school a year early. He was certain he would score high enough on his NEWTS to qualify for a prestigious job such as an Auror. It seemed a pity that this adventure could end his academic career so soon. 

Professor Dunes, on the other hand, entertained much more sinister thoughts as he walked to the headmistress' office. He had not come to Hogwarts to teach young wizards. The professor was a quintessential scholar, a researcher whose primary subject was anything having to do with death, from causing it, to finding out how close you could come to it, to evading it completely. He was actually quite established in his field having published in renown muggle and wizarding journals alike. However, academic funding being as hard to come by as it was, many even well-known professors taught to afford themselves the opportunity to pursue their own research. He had also come to Hogwarts to study one young wizard in particular whose mother had unique abilities and ties to the school that predated the fall of Voldemort. He had offered his services to Professor McGonagall who, in desperation to fill yet another vacancy of the Defense Against the Dark Arts position, begrudgingly agreed for him to pursue his scholarly interests after hours in the Room of Requirement. Admittedly, he had not been forth wright about the topic or particular subject of his current research. Fascinated with Talieson's apparent immunity to magic, he had, like any disreputable muggle or wizard, hacked his muggle Smartphone. He was surprised when Talieson had convinced a small band of students to follow him to the West Coast of the United States. Professor Dunes shared the young wizard's interest in freeing the beast they referred to as the moon dog, though not his good intentions. They spend so much time texting each other about the details of the trip, he had no trouble following them to California and back. The witch had been an opportunistic whim. A foolish one that he had been unable to resist when she quite nearly landed in his lap. After she had incinerated the dragon and fallen back to the earth, he broke her fall, subdued the dazed witch, and apparated her to his laboratory in New York. But the walls were too thin. His neighbors were vocal about his 'new girl friend's' loud annoying wailing. Apparently, the screaming of an ancient evil witch did not register as odd, only a nuisance, in New York.  With his obligations back at Hogwarts he had transferred her there, but she oddly gained power as time passed or perhaps the further she got from the sleeping redwood giants. She really might have killed him if he had not been caught. The thought which of course deeply intrigued him. 

McGonagall, a highly logical and composed woman, cursed herself under her breath for not listing to her instincts last summer which had told her not to hire a professor who expertise lay in strangulation and asphyxiation despite his many academic achievements. He had allowed a dangerous witch into Hogwarts, which would have to be reported to the Minister of Magic, along of course with the fact that the Minister's daughter had been involved with the matter. She thought back to the time when the Minister, Hermione Granger, had been a student. As such a highly accomplished student, the headmistress remembered being unable to understand why she allowed herself to get caught up in the shenanigans of the Weasley and Potter boy, who seemed unable to not break school rules. She chuckled remembering a time when Hermione had been heard saying that she was more worried about getting expelled than getting killed on one of their numerous and dangerous adventures. Well, 'like mother like daughter,' thought the professor. Only Rose seemed less apologetic for her actions than her mother had. The headmistress also suspected that Hermione, as a mother, would be rather unforgiving. 'That should go well,' she thought. 'What an unappealing conversation that would be. Well, one step at a time.' With that thought, she opened the door to her office and everyone filed in.

____________________________________________________

The silence seemed to stretch ad infinitum. A large magical grandfather clock ticked away the seconds of tension, seemingly as unamused as the headmistress. 

"Professor Dunes," she began. The rotund Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher straightened up considerably in his chair and loosened his collar. Though rarely flustered, the mounting anxiety in the room had caused even the asphyxiation expert to feel a lack of air flow. Seven more seconds ticked by meticulously. "I cannot think of any reason you could possibly give me for why that abominable which was in this castle that would not lead to your immediate termination." She paused again for dramatic effect. "Well is there?" she finally asked.

"No."

Professor McGonagall straightened even more properly in her chair and peered over her square glasses at Professor Dunes. She waited for him to continue with an explanation but instead he just began to sweat profusely. 

"We will not speak of this again," she said much more quietly and began to move papers around on her desk. "I anticipate you will be gone before lunch today," she said curtly without looking up at the portly professor again.

Professor Dunes rose from his chair and with a sideline glance at Talieson, Rose, William, and Micheal slowly sauntered to the large wooden door and left. Four nervous heads watched him leave and then turned back to an irate appearing headmistress.

"I suspect this won't be a short story, so who would like to begin?" she asked with a crispness in her voice that did nothing to ease anyone's stress. 

Talieson looked down at the moon dog lying by his feet. He knew he needed to own up to his role in the whole debacle. "Where should I start?" he asked.

"Well, I suggest starting where any sensible confession should start. At the beginning!" 

Talieson explained how he and his mother had found the creatures in the Redwood Forest three years earlier. He relayed the history of the Native Americans in the region, the California Gold Rush, and the moon dog. 

Professor McGonagall appeared interested in all Talieson had to say but finally interrupted him. "How, may I ask, did you get all the way to California?" Talieson went on to explain about the two Portkeys his father had given him and how Rose had apparated them from Lopez Island to the Redwood Forest.

When Talieson revealed this last piece of information, the headmistress sat back in her chair and turned to look at Rose, who looked guilty and slunk lower in her chair.  "You are aware, Ms. Granger-Weasley, that the legal age for apparition is 17."

"Yes, ma'am," Rose uttered softly. 

"Your birthday is not for another week and a half. You have not completed your apparition test. Apparating hundreds of miles with three first-year boys may have ended with body parts everywhere. Did you consider that?" asked the headmistress in an accusatory voice.

"I learned how to apparate last summer," said Rose meekly.

"And WHO, may I asked taught you?" replied Professor McGonagall.

"My mum," she answered even more quietly.

"You mean the Minister of Magic?" Minerva leaned back in her chair, took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes. Rose looked down at her lap nervously.

"Well we were traveling in South America last summer and they don't really monitor that kind of thing down there and my mom thought it would be good for me to know how to do it..." Rose trailed off.

Professor McGonagall forced a weak smile on her face and put her glasses back on. "Ever since she met Weasley and Potter, your mother has always pushed the limits of the law. Like mother like daughter. The apparition age in the States is sixteen, just like the driving age for muggles, " she sighed and looked away. After a few seconds ticked by, she turned again to Talieson. "And why did you take the goat home with you too?" she asked with more softness and curiosity than anger.

"Well, they all came with us when we took the Portkey back," piped up Micheal.

"All? How many animals did you drag back to Hogwarts with you?" The headmistress turned pale when they relayed the story of the bear, the alligator and the snakes wreaking havoc in the Griffyndor common room. Finally, they got to the point of the conversation they had all been dreading. 

"Professor McGonagall," asked William bravely, "are you going to expells us?" 

"You know that Headmistress Zineb at Ilvernmorney would not only expel you, but she would also suggest the American Congress send you to the hidden wizard prison in  Alcatraz," she said primly. All four students sank in their chairs. Minerva looked at each of the young hopeful faces. She reluctantly realized that her soft spot for student hero-renegades had not diminished in the last two decades.