"You called for me, sir?" Harry asked. It was a week after the final battle and his presence had been requested from Dumbledore's portrait.
"Ah. Yes Harry. How have you been?" The concerned man asked.
"Alright, I suppose. I am a bit tired from all of the attention I've been getting. I wish they would just leave me alone!"
"I know what you mean, dear boy. But I seem to have thought up a brilliant idea to help!"
"Really? What is it?" Harry asked eagerly.
"I seem to recall needing a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher many years ago, in the 1970s. Your parents were sixth-years at the time."
"What are you trying to say, sir?"
"I was wondering if you would like to teach!"
"Me? I'm seventeen, professor!" Harry exclaimed. Had Dumbledore finally lost it? It seemed so.
"Yes, but you unfortunately know a lot about the subject. Of course if you went, you would end up losing a few years…"
"What are you saying?"
"Well, if you were twenty perhaps you might be eighteen back then. However, a simple charm can be used to tell your exact age. You would still have all of your memories and experience though."
"Alright…"
"Well? Are you willing to go?" Dumbledore asked. Harry hesitated. It would be nice to get away from all this attention, but he would miss his friends. And did he know enough material to teach? Harry quickly decided.
"May I leave tomorrow? And can you tell everyone? I'd rather not."
"Of course! I'm simply delighted! This is wonderful!" Dumbledore exclaimed. Harry chuckled.
"Very well. I'll go pack my bags and such. Thank you, sir."
"No. Thank you," Dumbledore responded with a bright smile. Harry turned and left the castle quietly. As soon as he was out of the boundaries of the school, he disaparated. When he reached his small home, fifteen minutes walking distance from the Weasleys, he looked for useful things he might need. This search took the rest of the day and needed to be continued in the morning.
-
"Morning sir," Harry said at around noon the following day.
"Hello Harry. Do you have everything you need?" Harry reached into his pocket and pulled out a mini trunk.
"An unnoticeable enlargement charm for the inside and a shrinking charm on the out. Hermione's idea," Harry said.
"Excellent. If you would just step this way…" Dumbledore motioned for Harry to come closer. He did. "Remember that you can come to me for anything and don't be afraid to say anything at all."
"Of course."
"Good. Now reach into the top drawer in my old desk. Take that silver time-turner and turn it once while thinking about your destination." Harry did as he was told. "Now, I'll see you in a minute or two."
"Wha-?" Harry began but was quickly silenced. He was spun around and thrown into darkness. He shut it eyes tightly and when he stopped moving, he slowly opened them.
"Hello. Who might you be?" Dumbledore asked looking down at Harry, who lay sprawled on the floor.
"Good day sir. Pardon me for dropping in like this, but I would like to apply for the Defense Against the Dark Arts job." The headmaster looked surprised yet relived.
"Yes? How old are you, Mr. …"
"Potter. Harry Potter. I come from the future. Your future self told me to go back in time and apply for this job as you needed a teacher. I'll prove to you who I am in a minute. Now, Fidillmentisium," Harry said. Red smoke flew out of his wand and formed into the numbers 16.
"I'm sixteen sir. Just turned so in July. Now how should I prove myself to you?" Harry began passing the room in thought. Fawkes flew over to him and landed on his arm. "Hi Fawkes. How are you?" Harry asked stroking her head subconsciously.
"You know Fawkes?" Dumbledore asked confused.
"Of course. He's the best."
"That's proof in itself. Fawkes does not associate with strangers at all. In fact, she ignored me when I first got her."
"Really?" Harry asked. Dumbledore nodded his head.
"Now, how well do you know this subject?"
"Fairly well sir."
"Yes? Would you mind taking a little test of mine and then having a small duel?"
"Not at all."
"Excellent. This quiz should take no longer then an hour. Here it is." Harry took it and smiled. He began to scribble down answers and was done in twenty minutes. Dumbledore looked impressed as he checked Harry's responses. All were correct.
"Please rise. If you don't mind I'll be your dueler."
"Why not?" Harry asked with a smile as he too pulled out his wand. The two bowed and stepped back. Neither struck, they were looking for the other's weakness. At last Dumbledore began.
"Stupefy!" Harry jumped out of the way of the red beam and sent a stinging jinx back. Silently it was reflected and Harry conjured a shield in which to absorb the hex. Banishing it, he called out,
"Petrificus Totalus!" and sent a silent stunner right after. The rest of the duel was silent. Both ducked and reflected jinxes, curses, and hexes. Dumbledore was amazed. Never had he such a hard opponent to beat.
"Stupefy. Confundo. Impediamenta. Locomotor Mortis. Petrificus Totalus. Expelliarmus!" Harry said all in a row. Dumbledore had been startled at first but had managed to block most of the spells. All except for the last.
"Well done indeed! I most say, I have never been beaten in a duel!"
"Don't worry. You never will be," Harry said with a grin. His previous headmaster laughed.
"You definitely get the job! I'll see you down in the Great Hall in time for dinner. Here's a map to show you the way down to your chambers."
"Thanks," Harry said. With that he walked out with a huge smile on his face.
-Meanwhile-
"So, who do you think is the new Defense teacher?" Sirius asked as he lounged in a seat in a compartment with his friends.
"No idea. Hopefully someone sane," James said thinking of their last teacher. Remus and Peter shuddered.
"He was pretty crazy," Remus agreed. Peter simply nodded.
"Now what do we do?" Sirius asked after a minute of silence. Peter squirmed in his seat causing everyone to look at the small boy.
"Well, I didn't understand the Transfiguration homework…" Remus rolled his eyes.
"Any of it?" he asked. Peter squirmed some more. "All right, it's like this…"
"We should change," James said to Sirius.
"Yeah." They rummaged through their trunks and pulled out their Hogwarts uniform. Sirius smiled. How he missed Hogwarts! Although he wasn't going to admit it.
"What are you guys doing?" Remus asked as he looked up from Peter's parchment.
"Changing. We're going to be there in about ten minutes."
"Oh. Peter, I'll help you with this later, okay?"
"But-"
"Great," Remus said leaving Peter to put his parchment slowly away.
"Here we are!" James said about eight minutes later.
""It's great to be back, isn't it?" Remus said almost dreamily. The others nodded happily as they climbed into carriages.
"Look at the castle. It's really glowing tonight," James said as he admired his 'home.'
"That's true. I wonder why. It's cool though," Sirius said as he shifted in his seat, trying to get a better view of Hogwarts.
"Sirius. You're blocking the door," Remus said.
"What? We're here already? Sorry," the boy replied hastily as he jumped down. The Marauders made their way into the Great Hall and looked around at their school.
"There's nobody new here," Remus said as he scanned the Head Table. "Did they not find someone to take the Defense position?"
"What? No! They couldn't find anyone?!" James said angrily. Just then, Dumbledore strode into the hall with a teen following behind him.
"Bloody hell! I didn't know you had a twin, Prongs!" Sirius said.
"I don't."
"Then why does he look almost exactly like you?" came Remus's question.
"I don't know. Who is he?"
"Probably a new student. Although I never heard of a transfer student before," Remus said thoughtfully as he watched the boy. The others looked as well and snickered when he took a seat at the Head Table.
"Does he think that's his seat or something?" Sirius said.
"Yeah. He's too good to sit with us. Dumbledore will tell him off though." But to their surprise, Dumbledore simply smiled and invited the first years to come and be sorted. The smiles on the Marauder's faces fell instantly and they wondered who that boy was.
After the sorting, the feast began. Remus still looked at the boy curiously but the others stopped to eat. When they had finished, the four had the eyes glued back on the new kid, who was still sitting at the Head Table. In fact, he was talking to McGonagall and she was…
"Is McGonagall actually smiling?!" James asked. Remus nodded shakily.
"She is. I didn't think that was possible," Sirius said as he clutched the table for support.
"I know. Wow. I wonder what they're talking about?"
"We can only guess, Moony. I wish I had the cloak, but it's in my trunk still."
"That's a shame, but maybe we'll find out later," Remus said as Dumbledore stood.
"Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Just a few announcements I need to make. The first is that the Forbidden Forest is indeed forbidden. Also, we have a new Defense professor. I hope that you will all make Professor Potter feel welcome here at Hogwarts." Whispers of 'Potter?' rang throughout the hall.
"You're sure you don't have a twin?" Remus asked.
"No. I'm positive," James said as he stood up to leave. "I can't. It's not possible."