"I blame you for this," Theo muttered as he and Harry trailed after the short-furred tabby cat.

The other boy sighed. "That's fair."

Eventually, they were led into Professor McGonagall's office, where the woman finally shifted out of her Animagus form and pointedly shut the door. "Now then. I am quite certain you lads were not so turned around as to have no idea of where you were, which then begs the question, what did you think you were doing?"

"It's my fault, Auntie," Harry said. "I, well, I got curious, and I dragged Theo along with me."

"And the Headmaster's warning at the beginning of this year wasn't enough to stop you?"

"Honestly, I figured he was exaggerating. Who puts a deadly threat in a school full of curious students, after all?"

McGonagall stared them down. "Who indeed." After another tense moment, she sighed, and moved to sit behind her desk. "You know I have to assign a punishment for this blatant rule-breaking, Harry."

"Yes, Auntie Min." Tugging the pale Theo after him, Harry went to stand just in front of their professor.

"...you will both be assigned detentions this weekend with Argus Filch, as I believe he could make use of quiet hands to assist in his caretaker tasks."

Confused, the boys glanced up at her, and then at each other. "Erm... beg pardon?" Harry asked. The corners of McGonagall's lips briefly twitched upwards, before she smoothed them back into a neutral expression.

"You heard me, Mister Potter. Two thirty sharp at Filch's workroom, next door down from his office on the left. Saturday and Sunday, until either the assignments he gives you are complete or a period of three hours is up, whichever comes first. In the meantime, you may return to Ravenclaw Tower - and kindly keep out of the third floor corridor from now on, understand?"

"Yes, Professor," Theo and Harry said in sync. Still baffled, the pair made their escape, and headed off for their dormitory. Only once they'd arrived, slipped in without anybody questioning where they'd been, and were in the process of preparing for bed did Theo speak.

"Do you know what just happened? Because I don't."

"She's plotting something," Harry muttered, tugging on his pajama pants. "I'm not sure what, precisely, but she seemed far too pleased at the idea of handing us off to Filch."

Theo's frown deepened. "I got the distinct impression we won't just be scrubbing floors and the like."

"Same here." Pausing as he clambered up into bed, Harry blinked. "Did you know Filch had a workroom beside his office?"

"No."

"Me neither."

"...twins?"

"Twins.

-N5WW-

"Filch's workroom?" Fred's eyebrows rose in surprise. "Yeah, he spends his weekend afternoons in there. Just a bunch of things from around the castle in it, though - paintings, armor suits, and whatnot."

"What's he do with them?" Harry asked. He and Theo had gotten up earlier than usual to catch the pair of Gryffindors on their way to the breakfast, and inquire if they knew anything about the second room Filch worked in.

"Dunno," George said with a shrug. "Fixes 'em, we suppose."

And that gave Harry pause.

Theo only had to take one look at his face to realize what was going on in the other Ravenclaw's head. "Harry, please tell me you aren't suddenly excited over detention."

"Hold on, what did you sprogs do to get detention with Filch of all people?"

"Professor McGonagall caught us poking around the east wing third floor corridor."

Both Weasley twins grinned. "The one that's been absolutely, officially marked as off limits to any and all members of the student body?"

Theo rolled his eyes. "You've both already been up there, haven't you."

"But of course! Snuck up there before the end of the first week of classes. Bit of a nasty temper on that Cerberus, eh?"

"That's one way to put it..."

-N5WW-

By early afternoon, Harry's eyes were still gleaming, though Theo had yet to figure out why. They reported to Filch's workroom a few minutes early, and were waiting by the door as the man himself stomped down the hall towards them, Mrs. Norris on his heels.

"Wipe your shoes on the mat," the man grunted as he unlocked the door and led the way inside. "And don't touch anything unless I tell you."

As the twins had said, the workroom was filled with various paintings, statuary, armor suits, and other decorative items from around the castle. Most had at least some visible wear and tear on them, though others were more drastically damaged, and at least one suit of armor was coated with green slime.

"Here, take these." Filch tossed some aprons and gloves in their direction, and after a few moments the boys sorted the protective garments out and pulled them on. "Over here now, and mind where you step, I don't want anything ruined by gettin' knocked over."

Theo pointedly pressed a hand down against Harry's shoulder, as the other boy had practically begun to vibrate with his contained excitement. They wound up standing beside the old caretaker as he unwrapped a frame as tall as they were, holding a rather grimy canvas with only faint impressions of color left to be seen.

"One of you is goin' t'hold this," Filch stated, pointing to a divided tray with clear and amber colored substances in each respective compartment. "And the other's going to use a pair of brushes on the painting. First the cleaning agent to clear off as much muck as y'can, then wipe it off with a rag. After that's the restorative, only where you've already used the cleaning agent, understand? Little sections at a time, don't rush it, and don't pester the characters as they start t'come back in. Got that?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Yes, Mister Filch."

With another grunt, the man left them to it, traipsing off to another corner of the workshop. Gingerly, Theo picked up the tray, grimacing at how every minor shift caused the goop held within to ripple and threaten to spill. Harry didn't seem at all concerned, already selecting a couple of brushes from the nearby glass jar. "Aren't you excited, Theo? We're helping fix a portrait!"

"Oh, yes, very excited."

Even so, Theo couldn't help but watch with awe as the alternated substances truly did bring the weathered painting back to life. Harry only worked on a palm-sized spot at a time, applying brushstrokes and rag wipes over and over, slowly revealing a scene of rippling grass beneath a cloud-spotted sky, cottages with smoking chimneys just barely visible in the distance. About halfway through the endeavor, a crowd of sheep eerily similar to the fluffy clouds wandered into the frame, followed shortly by a shepherd who jumped for joy at the sight of his restored pasture.

Filch came back when they were down to the final corner and a bit of the bottom, grumbling about the time.

"We're almost done," Harry pleaded, still pain-stakingly brushing the runny restorative over a cleaned spot. "Can't we stay just a bit longer to finish?"

The caretaker raised an eyebrow at Theo, who couldn't help but want to see their project completed as well. "If we get it done now, you won't have to deal with it later."

"Ha!" Filch sneered. "Done, he says. I'll still have the color touch-ups t'do, and the lacquer finish, and polishing the frame-"

"We can help with that tomorrow, can't we?" Harry turned his best pleading expression up at Filch, even as his hands smoothly swapped brush for rag. "I'll even come early!"

The old man blinked. "Hrpm. Two-thirty's when I start, brat, you can't be earlier than that. But... I suppose another pair of hands would be useful again, next weekend."

-N5WW-

"I can't believe it," Theo grumbled as they walked back to Ravenclaw tower, divested of gloves and aprons but still smelling like the oily substances used on the painting. "You managed to make friends with Filch of all people."

"He's a cat person," was all Harry said, smiling. "And cat people understand each other."

A/N: I know, I know, I haven't updated any of my HP fics in ages, and now I show up out of the blue with only this odd tidbit. But! With any luck, my inclination to work on Hogwarts stuff will remain, and we'll see some more content in the coming weeks.

And on a personal note, GUESS WHO RECENTLY BECAME A SELF-PUBLISHED AUTHOR!

Granted, it's only the one dinky little short story prequel to my big high fantasy trilogy so far, but it shows up in amazon's e-book listings SO IT COUNTS! HA! LOOKS LIKE MY WRITING IS GOOD FOR SOMETHING AFTER ALL, HUH DAD!

Ahem. Anywho. Just thought I'd share that, 'cause it's literally the only good thing I've got going for me right now and the longer I can stay excited about it the better.

Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, and as always, thanks for reading!

-Tri

A/N 2: I didn't realize there was a coding issue earlier, hopefully uploading a second time makes this more legible.