It was unpleasantly easy to be dragged back to one’s school days. Standing in the office of your former headmaster after having been summoned was a drastic reminder of being a spotty fifteen year old in trouble for setting fire to the Gryffindor Quidditch team’s robes so that the players ended up in their underwear. He remembered being stood in this office clad in muddy robes, sweaty blond hair plastered to his forehead as he awaited the entrance of the Headmaster, Gryffindor’s head of house and his own.

This time Eddie was awaiting one of these people but now she was the headmistress and his son had done something instead of him. What he’d done, Pratt didn’t yet know, but he was eager to find out. Either way Noah would doubtless be in a great deal of trouble with his parents. The boy’s mum Quincy would have been here if it weren’t for her work. Eddie himself had left the office, abandoning a pile of paperwork for Roh to complete alone while he attended the meeting with his former Transfiguration professor, Noah’s new headmistress.

The sleeves of his black robes were rolled up to his elbows along with his shirt which fell undone at the collar. This wasn’t an official visit so the auror robes had been left in the wizard’s cubicle. Today he was here as a dad that was going to be supportive and was not going to get stuck in a staircase. McGonagall hadn’t yet arrived therefore Eddie was being a curious (some might say nosy) auror as he wandered around the large office. He’d never done so before and it seemed to have barely changed since its previous occupants and the battle.

A thing of great interest sat on a shelf snoozing. Eddie’s brow quirked and he reached up, removing the sorting hat from its perch. It twitched, fabricated lips grumbling and eyes forming through creases in the material. The auror had been about to speak to it when the large wooden doors started opening and he turned to face them, the hat automatically floating in the air behind him, concealed from Minerva’s view by his body.

“Headmistress!” He offered the witch the trademark Pratt grin in an attempt to set this meeting off on a better foot than their last had ended. “I hope yer quite well. No more aurors found in staircases?”

It wasn’t often Minerva was late to anything – especially a meeting with a parent. It honestly wasn’t often she took the time to meet with parents anyway. It just so happened that little Noah Pratt had managed to fail practically every class offered during the last term. Had Quincy been able to attend, Minerva would surely have been early; arriving well before the entrance of the Pratt family, but instead she was dreading the meeting – almost literally dragging her feet. She’d thought about skivving off the meeting and giving it to Deaglan, the boy’s head of house, but ended up biting down and pushing through.

As the spiral staircase ascended to the solid wooden doors, Minerva couldn’t help but remember the last time she’d seen Auror Pratt and the thought of that alone put a tight-lipped smile on her face. The thought of another meeting alone with him, however, erased that smile completely. He was a hard potion to swallow, that much was obvious, and thinking about him being alone in her office had the elderly witch wishing the staircase could move a bit more speedily. As an auror, he was doubtless pilfering through her things, and there were certainly things in her office that no one, save the headmistress, should see.

At the top of the stair, she pushed upon the great wooden doors and saw the elder Pratt, looking rather guilty… then again; Minerva would have thought he looked guilty even if he wasn’t. “Pratt, welcome back,” She hitched a small smile on her face, and walked around to sit at the ancient desk, waving a hand for Pratt to follow. “I’m quite well, thank you and our staircases are clear of all Ministry personnel; at least they were the last time I checked,”

“Could I interest you in a cup of tea?” She asked, pulling her wand from beneath her tartan robes.

“Horrible stuff.” Pratt muttered in response to an offer of tea. Tea was the crap his boss drank. It was the swill his ex-wife used to drink. It wasn’t something an auror classed as a sensible drink. It didn’t have enough caffeine in it to sustain him. Last time he’d been here he’d been completely professional until the staircase incident. He’d taken the tea, had a few sips and charmed it away with a twist of his wand within the pocket of his red aurors robes. This time he wasn’t much fancying the social graces.

McGonagall moved to sit behind her desk and Eddie’s hand slowly opened, allowing the hat to carefully hover and levitate itself back to its home, hopefully out of the eagle eyes of his former professor. Keeping his smile, Pratt joined the headmistress at the desk and sat down, spreading his legs out comfortably.

“So what’s he done?” If Noah was anything like his Dad he’d been getting himself into a fiar bit of trouble. That would be the only reason Ed would have been called, surely. But to have a meeting with the headmistress? This was something more serious and Eddie wasn’t so sure he wanted to hear what was coming next. But Ed’s parents had never been brought in. He’d always been troublesome but top grades had made up for that. Noah’s grades certainly didn’t as Ed remembered in November.

“Ye better not be expelling ‘im. He’s a good kid.” The auror frowned. “Just a bit…distracted.”

Minerva looked down her glasses at the auror before her and saw only his son. Likewise, when watching the Gryffindor boy running rampant through the castle, she saw only his father, not softened by any of his mother’s interference. Thankfully both boys shared the same last name, so Minerva never had to worry if she were being sentimental or senile; it obviously didn’t matter either way.  Both had a tendency to touch things, things they had no business touching, but felt the need to do so anyway. Both had a tendency to talk and talk and talk about everything at all, mainly to delay any information they don’t want to hear.

As the sorting hat floated aimlessly back toward its holding spot, Minerva simply rolled her eyes. Did the auror really think that after a half a century working with adolescents that she didn’t know everything that went on around her? She also chose to ignore Pratt’s snide comments about her beverage offer, and instead took her time making a cup for herself. After adding a couple lumps of sugar to the cup, she took a sip and once she was satisfied, placed her cup back upon the desk. Making aurors wait was something of a game for the catty witch; after all, one must find fun where one can.

“Actually, Mr. Pratt, it’s quite the opposite that I’ve summoned you here. Noah is a very intelligent individual. I’ve personally witnessed his spellwork, and he has natural talent few possess. I’m sure he’s gotten it, at least in part, from you. The issue is that he’s also got your arrogance and lackluster attitude for authority. I need you, Auror Pratt, to work with Noah. Did you know that he’s lost more house points in his short term here at Hogwarts than his entire fellow first years combined? I’m not sure the boy even knows what time classes start, and I’ve never seen so many ‘D’s on one status report. Our professors can only do so much, if he’s not getting the support he needs from you,”

Just like disciplining a naughty student, Minerva let her last statement hang in the air, a stern look plastered upon her face. 

"There's no doubting that you're an amazing parent, but I feel as if you aren't setting a decent example as to what's acceptable and what isn't," Granted, she hadn't seen much of Edward Pratt to know how true that was. She was basing her assumptions simply off his school days and his more recent colorful visit to the school.

Back in this room, sat on this side of the desk once more while not here officially for work made Eddie feel very much like that spotty, scruffy blond haired teenage boy that had caused a bit too much trouble during his years at Hogwarts. The younger brother of the perfect, sickeningly well behaved prefect Daniel Pratt. Yet apparently now he was an adult dealing with his own mischievous son. He shouldn’t have been feeling quite like he did but with the former Professor McGonagall’s eyes regarding him sternly over the glasses she’d worn all those years ago, Eddie felt like sinking sulkily into his seat.

What the headmistress said and the subject surprised Eddie and caused him to sit up that bit straighter, green eyes watching her with interest. The poker faced auror façade was gone, replacing it, a caring father intrigued into the newest problem his offspring had caused. Part of what she said complimented him, his son. But a frown creased his brow when he was accused of being arrogant and disrespectful to authority. Both were true facts but Ed wasn’t willing to admit that. He lived in arrogant ignorance.

And now Auror Pratt was in trouble for not showing his son enough support and motivating him accordingly? He definitely didn’t like that. His mouth opened for a moment before he closed it. Never the auror leaned forwards, his face revealing him trying to get his head around a concept.

“Are you telling me, Headmistress, that as a law enforcement official, an auror, I’m not setting a satisfactory example for my son?” His elbows leaned on his thighs as he decided to explain his stance on the situation. “I’ve had this with your defence against the dark arts professor. My son ‘ent arrogant. He lacks a decent attention span. He’s curious. He can’t sit and read a book when he needs to be doin’ it instead. It just seems like you don’t have the staff enabled to deal with that.”

Minerva let out a sigh and had to work very hard not to roll her eyes. It was typical, a parent not hearing what they wanted, so they became defensive. Not only that, but the simple arrogance of the Auror Corps, the ‘we watch your back so we’re more awesome than a dragon in a tutu’ mentality was so typical that Minerva could have almost quoted Edward’s spill before it even tumbled from his lips. Eddie wasn’t the type of person that took well to criticism, Minerva had learned, but at times it was necessary and Minerva knew that few were equipped to handle it.

“Mr. Pratt, no one is assuming that you aren’t an amazing law enforcement officer. As an auror, I’d say you’re setting a fine example of what hard work can get you. On the other hand, perhaps your time away from the office could be spent explaining that you didn’t get in the field you’re in by blowing up your pet frog or stomping into class halfway through,” Minerva tried to lighten the mood a bit by offering a short smile, though it was probably obvious to both of them that the smile was more for Eddie’s benefit than anything.

“Excuses help no one, and working against the professors who teach your children is counterproductive. I can assure you that Noah, as well as the rest of the many students here at Hogwarts receive more hands-on training than is required. Without the lecture side of things, Noah will never hope to pass his OWLs, as I’m afraid there’s still a written portion as well as the practical one,” The headmistress took a sip of her own tea and looked out toward Eddie, unsure of what to say next. Perhaps it was a good time to let the other man speak.