"Hey Harry!" said Ron cheerfully as his best friend appeared in the fireplace, the still warm coals heating his feet through the soles of his shoes.
"Hi Ron!" smiled Harry and got out of the fireplace to sit by Ron on the couch right across from the fireplace.
Harry was still getting used to the whole "new apartment thing" of Ron and Hermione's. Moving out of the Burrow wasn't easy, but it was the only choice, seeing it was being too crowded. Even for the Burrow. Even though George was practically living in the store, his room was still out of question. Molly and Arthur would never move out. "And leave the house to Ron and Harry alone? Hermione dear, you know I love you, but I still can't trust him with this!" his mother-in-law would say and Arthur would nod in agreement with a slight smile carved on his thin lips.
"And what about me?" Ginny would protest,raising her head from her plate as these conversations were usually held during dinner.
"Oh Ginny, you can't tame them. You should know that by now." Molly would smile warmly and Ginny would let her head fall again in exhaustion.
"But Mum, wouldn't you and Dad be a bit... lonely here, in this house that was always filled with people..." Ron would try to lure his mother into convincing her that despite her protests, it was better if they all stayed.
"But Dad, there's barely enough room for my books now!" Rose would stop talking to whomever she was talking to in order to be heard once more. She never seemed to have enough space for anything. Her clothes were crammed in the same drawer as her brother's and she would often be found wearing his shirts because she couldn't find the one she was looking for. Her books were scattered on her and Hugo's bedroom floor not by choice. The poor girl just didn't have anywhere else to put them.
So it was decided. One of the Weasley siblings and their families would have to move out. After a while they all agreed that especially during the holidays it was too much for everyone. The one thing they couldn't agree was who would be moving out, so Harry and Ron -like the mature adults they are- played rock-paper-scisors and Harry won. A week later, when the kids were back at Hogwarts and the Burrow was at least a bit quieter, Ron and Hermione did a bit of a research and finally moved in a 3 bedroom apartment right in the suburbs of London.
It had been three months since, and Harry and Ginny were always around, but the Chosen One couldn't still quite get used to the strange feeling of a home other than the Burrow or Grimmauld Place.
"So, how's it going? Haven't seen you around lately..."
"You wouldn't know what's it's like being an Auror and getting stuck with paperwork. It's a nightmare, I'm telling ya!" Ron replied as he got up with a slight mixture of a sigh and a moan to get some coffee. "Want anything to drink?"
"Not if you've made it!" joked Harry and smirked while his eyes followed the movements of his best friend.
"Coffee or tea, jackass?"
"Way to treat your guests, Weasley"
"Oh blow me! Now d' y' want anything?"
"Coffee would be nice, thank you!" responded Harry smirking.
"How's that thing of yours, that speech you're preparing for Hogwarts?"
"Awful actually. I mean, what am I supposed to tell them? There's not an actual threat out there to prepare them for, we might as well stick to the textbooks Umbridge style and call it quits!"
"Oh come on now Harry! You're not gonna do that, just like you won't go there to play the bard and tell them stories from the War. You can go in there and Lupin the hell out of the kids. Rosie will be there too, she'll support you!"
"Elaborate." Harry's voice was flat and he rested his chin on his clentched fist as his other hand took a hold of the cup Ron handed him as he sat next to him.
"Bring a Boggart in or something. They'll love it!"
"But they've covered that chapter three years ago!" protested the raven-haired boy.
"Have they seen one? No. It'll be exciting for them! They know the spell, they'll feel empowered."
"No. What if one of them fears of a Dementor? We know how that'll turn out! No." he repeated, his voice still flat.
"Alright, how about... a lecture about... something. Anything. This is exactly why I became an Auror!"
"Oh 'cause you just love paperwork, don't you?"
"Not the point. And we can't ask Hermione, she's at work and you know how she gets when we bother her at work."
"Ginny's on tour with the team. By the time the owl reaches her I'll probably already be done with the whole thing."
The two men stayed silent for a few moments, occasionally sipping from their cups, trying to come up with something to fix Harry's problem.
"How about you tell them how useless textbooks are? I'm not entirely sure how these things work there now, but there's no way they have live demonstrations of all the things they've been taught at that class-"
"And there's no way I'm demonstrating every single creature they've learned to defend themselves against."
"Why can't you just let me finish for once?" Ron protested. "Anyway, we can always ask Rose. I mean, it's her year you'll be lecturing."
"Point." muttered Harry and gulped down a bit more of the coffee in his mug.
He was nervous. Harry had given lectures at Hogwarts before, but it had been a while since his last one and whatever he had prepared would always go down the drain because the kids wanted to know about the War. They were mature enough to ask the right questions and that made him happy as his answers could actually benefit them, but the subject was kind of old and that time he was determined to stick to the cards.
A few days later, Harry recieved an owl from Rose.
"Dear Uncle Harry,
Dad told me that you'd come to Hogwarts next month and you need ideas. I'll spare you the rest about how everyone is, they're just fine. It's not of importance at the moment. You could always go along with Muggle Studies. Most of us are taking it, and to be honest, Professor Mars isn't doing the best job she could. We lack equipment, demonstrations. We need to know the function of a rubber duck!
I don't have time to write more, I have to finish an essay for Potions (how did you get by in this class, it's boring!) so I really need to get going. Looking forward to see you!
Rose"
Ah that girl! The man with the raven hair sat on his desk for a little while longer, writing a short reply thanking his niece for her help. He knew exactly what he was going to do now.
Wizards often tried to mingle with the Muggle world even for a short period of time, just to see how it would be. All of them who had relied soley on their Muggle Studies knowledge didn't really make it for more than a month. So Harry would prepare them for that. He'd show them how to talk on the phone, how to use a computer and a few other modern-day devices that they would deffinetly need.
The outcome of the lecture could either be great or awful. Time could only show. And the kids. But mostly time.
~
Harry walked out of the Hogwarts auditorium still shaking a bit, a goofy and proud smile on his face and his briefcase in hand. He thought he did pretty good. He explained the kids why computers and phones were important and he also made them understand why and how they worked without making them feel stupid, which was his greatest fear. But when he saw the happy and concentrated and full of thirst for knowledge looks on the students' faces he wondered why he hadn't become a teacher. But then he remembered: he was average at almost everything and to be a professor at Hogwarts one needed straight O's.
The man was so lost in his thoughts of success that he almost didn't hear the running footsteps and the heavy breathing of someone who got a hold of his shoulder, taking him away from his daydreaming.
"Uncle Harry, that was amazing!" he heard Rose's excited voice. She would be the hardest judge in there, if he could impress his niece who already knew that stuff, then Harry had succeeded.
"You think?" was his astonished respose while coming to a halt.
"Yes!" Rose's face was flushed and her bright blue eyes burning with passion, her red hair gatting into them.
"So, it was good?"
"It was bloody brilliant! I bet you even amazed Scorpius Malfoy!" she playfully punched his arm with a little laugh.
"Do you reckon he will be more tolerant than his father now?"
"Malfoy was always better than his father. Well, from what you and Dad have told me. I think that he's a bit more familiar than a Malfoy should be with the Muggle world. But even so, I bet that he'll be asking Daddy Draco for a laptop and a phone the moment he steps through the doors of the Manor! Gotta go now though, Professor Mars will want a full review of your presentation and I really can't afford to be late. Nor do I fancy having her yelling at me for being late. Ugh, life's hard!" Rosie joked and with a wink she left her uncle find his way towards the oh-so-familiar Headmaster's office to discuss a few matters he was told his opinion was needed.
With thoughts of 5th years running home for their summer holidays and pleading for an internet connection and a laptop filling his head instead of business, Harry came and went from the office with Dumbledore, Snape and McGonagall's portraits framed on the walls side by side and while he was there, he made an agreement he never considered even possible: let Scorpius Malfoy observe the life of Rose Weasley. The Slytherin wasn't in the best terms with the idea but he would do it. The purpose was simple: the ministry had suspected a great deal of ignorace from the members of the Wizardring society that didn't come from Muggle families and wanted to change that. A lot of kids from various years would be sent to a family accustomed to Muggle technology and lifestyle without their awareness or the child's family and all they would have to do was to observe. Their memories would be taken later and put together in some sort of a film to be shown at each family through the Pensieve at the Hogwarts grounds.
Harry would only have to give the boy his invisibility cloak and make sure the boy got food somehow, without the presence of Scorpius being unrevealed. And the man after taking a couple of minutes to imagine Ron and Hermione's reactions if they ever found out about a boy practically living for two months in their daughter's room smiling to himself, trying his best to supress his laughter.
"What if Rose finds out?" Harry asked finally.
"Nothing. The project in the Weasley household will simply end and we'll see if the material we have is enough to go on. If not, we have one house less." replied the Headmaster with a cold voice.
"Will the same happen if Ron and Hermione or Hugo find out?"
"No, no." the man smiled and to Harry's surprise it was a warm smile, relaxing him. "If Mr. or Mrs. Weasley find out, or even Hugo, all they have to do is agree to let Mr. Malfoy stay for as long as he's needed. And provide him with food and water of course, taking that burden off you, Mr. Potter."
"Oh. I see. And when am I to give Scorpius my..." at that point Harry cleared his throat. "cloak?" he pronnounced weakly. The idea of letting a Malfoy touching his most prized posession was repulsive and to be honest, he couldn't trust a Malfoy with something that needed such delicate care. But at that point, he decided to let aside his prejudices and do it. He was a Gryffindor after all, he was meant to be brave, even if at that moment his bravery was being greatly tested.
"As soon as school ends. Mr. Malfoy's parents will be informed that he will be staying over at a friend's house for the majority of summer, so they won't be expecting him at Kings Cross. Then you shall find him and give him your cloak. And from then on, he's on his own."
"Isn't that just a tad harsh?"
"I think, and the Hogwarts staff agrees, that the students we have picked will be just fine, Mr. Potter. Especially Mr. Malfoy. He's like his father." the Headmaster said as if that last little clue would make everything clear to Harry, and it did.
"Well then... I'm sure he'll be just fine." he got up, pursing his lips tightly. Harry shook the Headmaster's hand and started heading towards the fireplace. If Ron found out, all hell would break loose, he was sure of that. But it would be hilarious as well. And with those thoughts Harry Potter left Hogwarts.