@jegulus-microfic October 8, Word count 360
Regulus glared across the great hall at McGonagall. He had no idea why his brother and his friends thought the sun shone out of her arse. She was bloody useless. Regulus seriously questioned her ability to educate her charges.
They had been back at Hogwarts for a week, and nothing had been done about finding Sirius. McGonagall had apparently sent an owl, but it had come back with the letter still attached to its leg. Regulus had sent out his own owl after that disappointment, but it hadn’t come back, and now he was known as the owl murderer to his friends, who reminded him loudly and often.
He was sitting with James at the Gryffindor table for breakfast when Barty came running into the room, a copy of the Daily Prophet in his hand, waving it madly above his head.
“REG, REG, REG!!!!” he shouted, causing all conversation to stop and the great hall to plunge into silence. “Reg. You. Need. To. See. This!” He gasped as he tried to catch his breath, tossing the paper onto the table in front of Regulus.
Regulus peered down at it and raised an eyebrow at Barty.
“That your dad is being awarded an Order of Merlin First Class for his work in tracking down those wizards that were torturing Muggles?”
“What? No! That fucker, he’s going to be lording that over us for the rest of our lives,” Barty spat. “No, this,” he flipped the paper over, and Regulus began to read.
“Durmstrang Institute was evacuated three days ago due to an infestation of giant snails. The snails proved too much for the professors and students alike, and the school's governors decided to set up temporary accommodation for all its students while the pests were dealt with.
This comes months after Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was plagued with a similar problem, though our professors banished the beasts far more easily than their Durmstrang counterparts.
Are giant snails soon to become a staple in our children’s schooling? Who will be next? Beauxbatons? Only time will tell.” Regulus finished reading and looked up at James, Remus and Peter. “We found Sirius.”
