Story Note: This is not a bashing story, however, not all the characters are going to get along. Albus, Severus, and Remus -though I like them, they are not going to have an easy time with Harry nor is Hermione and Ron going to like losing their best friend. Surnames vs. first names and nicknames flow in and out with how the characters think of each other. Know that there is a method to my madness. Please enjoy!

Chapter 2

Naturally, Harry's first class to teach at Hogwarts was his own. He had transfigured the robe he had been given by Ted to fit the more Asian influenced style that he'd grown accustomed to in Ilvermorny. The emerald lapels crossed each other and there was a wide band of fabric wrapping his torso. He entered the double doors taking long strides, a part of him glorying in the fact that he was taller than everyone in the room, including Ron. Harry had always been the shortest boy in their year. Ron would grow taller than him but that would be in a few years from now.

Harry had cleared the tables out early in the morning and placed non-visible cushioning charms and wards on every surface of the room. He'd set his notes on his desk along with the class roster. Standing behind his desk he watched his ex-classmates watch him, waiting, sneering, ready to pounce at the first sign of weakness. Harry sighed inwardly. This class was going to add decades to him, he just knew it.

"This is Defense Against the Dark Arts, a class I have been teaching for six years. I realize given the circumstances-"

"Do you still think the Dark Lord is coming back?" Seamus Finnigan asked.

"Fifteen points from Gryffindor," Harry said evenly.

The response among the Gryffindors and the Slytherins was a stunned silence. Harry spoke into the silence. "Given the circumstances of our shared history, you might find yourselves wanting to treat me as a fellow classmate. I would advise against that because I do not care about the house cup, or who wins the next Quidditch match, or who you dislike in your classes, or if you dislike your classmate's families, or if you dislike me, or the subject. There are three things that concern me, your safety, giving you the tools to pass your OWLs, and your ability to protect yourself from magic whether it be dark, light, or accidental."

They all watched him, still waiting.

"I will be grading you on your class participation. In-class assignments will be primarily practical."

Hermione's hand shot up in the air.

Harry sighed, "Ms. Granger I assume you are going to ask about the written portion of OWLs?"

She flushed, opened her mouth to speak but ended up just nodding.

"I will be assigning minor papers every week that will require you to research spells and the theory behind them. I will hand them back to you with written comments and suggestions. I don't really care how well written they are -though you should for your OWLs, I am more interested in seeing that you understood what you have researched. If you need help, you may speak to me after class. Before the exams we will have a few review classes where I will give an overview of the theory," Harry finished picking up his roaster sheet. "Now I am going to group you all up into pairs. The person you are with will only be your in-class partner and their success or failure will not reflect your grade. You don't need to talk to each other out of class so keep the complaining to a minimum."

"Ms. Greengrass and Mr. Longbottom. Ms. Bulstrode and Ms. Brown. Ms. Davis and Ms. Patil. Mr. Zabini and Mr. Thomas. Mr. Crabbe and Mr. Finnigan. Ms. Parkinson and Ms. Dunbar. Mr. Goyle and Ms. Smith." Harry sighed as the last four glared daggers at him. The rest of the class that had been evenly split between Slytherin and Gryffindor, who now looked on like spectators at an execution. Harry took a long breath, "If any you talk before you raise your hand and I call on you, it'll be twenty points. Mr. Weasley with Mr. Nott and Ms. Granger with Mr. Malfoy."

Nott looked at him with the sure promise of death. Hermione and Ron looked crushed. Malfoy looked outraged. Three hands shot up in the air. Harry held up a finger up to hold them off a moment longer, "Working in pairs, I'll be able to keep track of who is attacking who. I have paired you with either with people I think are either at the same skill level-"

If looks could kill Nott's would have struck Harry down.

"-or with people whose differences will help the other. Tensions between your two houses being as they are I doubt there will be any lack of competition." The three hands stayed up.

Harry sighed again and pointed at Draco. "Shoot Mr. Malfoy, but keep it succinct and if you mention heritage I will give you a month's detention."

"Why Granger?"

"Because last I checked Ms. Granger and yourself are the top of your year. Unless something changed overnight and you've stopped trying to live up to your father's impossible standards or Ms. Granger has decided that books just aren't for her."

There was a beat of silence. Hermione's hand fell to her lap. Ron's stayed raised. Harry waved him on.

"How could you pair me with Nott? We are friends, Harry." Ron's face was bright red with emotion.

"Professor Potter," Harry corrected. By the class's expressions, his tone was clearly colder than any of them had been expecting. "And we are not friends. When I was younger perhaps, but friendships fail and people move on. As for why I paired you with Mr. Nott, he is better than you."

"Excuse me!" Ron all but yelled.

"He's better than you. I've seen him in duals and he is going to keep kicking your butt until you start taking this class seriously. Mr. Nott will be able to practice his aim and the force he can put into spells. And as an added bonus learning to overcome distractions."

Ron, the distraction in the equation looked mortified.

Theodore Nott finally raised his hand.

"Mr. Nott," Harry acknowledged.

"You're going to let me kick Weasley's butt, Sir?"

"You are skilled enough, Mr. Nott, that if he is sent to the hospital wing too often or gets maimed I will fail you, beyond that Mr. Weasley is just going to have to learn to defend himself."

Nott actually grinned at him.

"You're still going to rig it for the Gryffindors, your house," Draco said.

Harry shrugged, "'The Hat wanted to put me in Slytherin so I am not as 'golden' as you all believe. Aside from that Gryffindor is not my house. I graduated from the Pukwudgie house."

"What in Merlin's name is a Packwedgy?" Ron asked.

"Pukwudgie is a healing creature from North America. I dropped out of Hogwarts at the end of my sixth year. I finished my last year at Ilvermorny, Pukwudgie is one of their houses. Now enough distractions. Wands out, we are starting with the basics," Harry waved his wand at the board. The chalk wrote a neatly, "Expelliarmus."

"That's a useless spell," someone called out.

"It worked well enough when I used it against Tom Riddle. Often the most basic spells can be the most adaptive. They give you time to think of something more powerful or complex. It is imperative that you learn as many spells as you can that you don't need to think about to use. For those of you who are confident with the spell, practice your aim. Notice how much power you use, how much emotion, and the focus you expand." Harry motioned with his wand, "That is the motion. If you flick it too far you will either miss your target or throw your own wand."

And just like his first time teaching in the Room of Requirement wands went flying, spells went askew, and students landed on their butts.

Harry was closest to Millicent Bulstrode, whose androgynous features were not as distasteful as he had made himself believe when he was her age. He offered her a hand up. She took his hand, her cheeks coloring as he pulled her to her feet with ease. "You put cushioning charms on the floor," she said hesitantly.

Harry smiled at her, which made her cheeks brighten, "Well spotted. I'm glad they proved effective. You're not hurt, correct?"

"No, Professor," she answered.

"I got her good!" Lavender cheered.

Harry shook his head, "No, Ms. Bulstrode it appears to have used too much power for the spell and knocked herself back, however, she still has her wand and her aim was true. Where is your wand, Ms. Brown?"

Lavender looked around herself.

Harry raised his voice so the class would hear him, "Keep track of you wands whether it be in your opponent's hand, your pocket, or across the room."

The class fell into a rhythm and Harry found himself liking these people better as his students than he had as classmates. The Slytherins were wary of him and the Gryffindors kept waiting for him to be their shy and rash classmate. But as a professor, Harry had learned to put the personal aside, he praised and corrected everyone evenly, picked out the students who preferred eye contact and nod to being called out, or the students he had to push. By the end of class everyone, including Neville, Crabbe, Goyle, and Ron had a decent handle on the spell and nearly everyone appeared to have forgotten that their new DADA professor was the famous Boy-Who-Lived. They left, splitting back into their houses as left. Nearly every one of them was smiling. Magical students had one thing in common, magic. Harry had learned the more practical he made his students do in class the more they tried. Even the bookworms enjoyed using their wands. The trick came in making groups of people who would challenge and push one another without one student outshining the rest.

Hermione and Ron stayed behind to talk to him.

"Harry?" Hermione asked. As Harry jotted down notes about the class into a notebook.

"What is it, Ms. Granger?" Harry asked putting down his quill to look up at her.

"We are friends, Harry," she stated, clearly bothered by what he had said to Ron.

"Our friendship fell apart after the war, Ms. Granger."

"Don't Ms. Granger me, Harry. It's Hermione. We are your closest friends."

"You were my closest friends, past tense. And I must insist you call me Professor Potter."

"We know you, mate," Ron said.

Harry leaned back in his chair, "Doubtless you know things about me, but time and war do change people. If you have no questions about the class I must ask that you allow me to finish my grading. And before you ask you both passed for the day."

"You let Nott beat me up all class!" Ron exploded.

"But you did learn how to disarm him -eventually."

"He could have hurt me!"

"He's not that dumb to do it in a professor's class. Mr. Malfoy was the only one ever bold enough to try that crap but he was too focused on trying to outshine Ms. Granger."

Hermione glared at him. He handed her a sheet. "Here is the list of assignments I can think off. No more than one standard page for each topic. If you can't put it in your own words and can't choose the most important facts from the description then you don't understand it enough to teach it. When you get into the real world people will stop listening to you if you can't preprocess information."

"Is that your advice from the future?" Hermione asked.

Harry was done with this conversation, these two could keep asking questions into the year. "You may leave, you'll be late to your next class."

They heard it for the dismissal it was, Hermione and Ron turned to leave but Hermione stopped to say, "I know you would be good at teaching, Professor Potter."

Harry gave her a sad smile, "One of the few things we got right. Have a good day, Ms. Granger, Mr. Weasley."


Teddy clung to Harry at lunch. Andromeda and Ted had gone early to Grimmauld Place to meet up with Nymphadora and explain that she was a mommy.

"How was your first morning of classes?" Minerva asked.

"Whose stupid idea was it to put all the Slytherins and Gryffindors into the same class?" Harry asked, turning to face her.

Snape smirked, "I've been asking the same question for years."

Harry met Snape's gaze, "It makes less sense for potions then defense. At least I can use their foolishness against them. But waiting for things to boil, sharp objects, and one wrong ingredient and suddenly there's a bomb in the class even with the simple recipes. Potions is the worst possible space to have warring students in."

Snape stared at him for a long moment before returning to his food.

"Albus is the headmaster," Minerva said.

"Albus isn't smart," Teddy said before taking a large bite out of an apple.

"Be kind young man," Minerva said glaring at Harry who had made no attempt to correct him.

"How are you liking Hogwarts, Teddy?" Pomona asked over Filious.

Teddy sat back further on Harry's lap, "I want to go home."

Harry hugged him, "We are going to be okay, Teddy."

"But you hate Hogwarts," he said shifting to look up at his godfather. "You said bad things happen here."

Harry fought not to frown, bad things had happened at Hogwarts, but he hadn't told Teddy about the Dark Lord. He had told his son in -watered-down terms, about his parents dying in a war, Slytherin's monster, the Triwizard tournament (without the last task), and breaking into Gringotts. He knew about Hagrid and his magical creatures like Buckbeak. But Teddy did not know that there was a prophecy or a Dark Lord out to get them. It was a burden he refused to tell the seven-year-old. Harry had planned to tell him the overall story when he was eleven and give more details as he asked for them. Harry kissed the top of Teddy's head, "In a few years we will go back to America, you will be attending Ilvermorny with the older students. You like Ms. Rome remember? She's your age now."

"Hogwarts is the safest place to be," Minerva said.

Harry couldn't help but laugh, he hugged Teddy tighter to him, "I am sorry to tell you this, Minerva, but the world is a bigger place than the United Kingdoms. In my day, half the would be Hogwarts students transferred to Beauxbaton, students of Pureblood and Muggle Born decent. There is maybe half the number of students in 2004 as there is now."

Minerva's lips thinned.

Filius jumped in then, "What is your favorite subject, Teddy?"

Teddy looked at Filius smiling, "Hi Mr. Flitwick, you know magical creatures is my favorite."

Filius blinked at Harry's son, "You know me?"

"You visited our home often, Professor Flitwick. You are always a welcome guest," Harry explained. In fact, it was Flitwick who had taught Harry wards and a few new tricks for dueling. They'd grown to be friends in the wake of the war. Filius had retired a year after the war unable as Harry was to keep reliving the past.

"Oh, I see, what's your favorite magical creature, Teddy?" Filius still trying to engage the depressed youth.

"Kitsunes and phoenixes but now I think phoenixes are evil. Fawkes is a monster."

Harry rubbed his son's back. "It's probably just being Albus's familiar," he said not entirely joking.

"I hate him," Teddy said.

Harry hoped he was talking about the bird, though, being wary of Albus Dumbledore was probably a good a thing. "Teddy, hate is a strong word. Grandmama, you, and I are all uninjured and you will get to meet your mom tonight."

"It a lot hurt though," Teddy said.

Harry's emerald eyes darkened, almost blackening.

"You've never met your mother?" Umbridge asked. "How did she die?"

"Teddy," Harry said, tone light, "Ms. Umbridge is giving us all an example of how she is one of the rudest and most distasteful people anyone has ever had the misfortune of meeting."

Teddy tried not to smile at his father, but couldn't help but giggle when Umbridge threatened to take house points from Harry.

"You can't take house points from a professor," Minerva said. Giving Harry a wink, impressed with his ability to redirect a volatile conversation. It astonished her a little, Harry had been angry and volatile himself this year. Yet as an adult he seemed to be managing them all. She was both proud and worried. Harry Potter was a man who had never had a real childhood. It prompted her to ask, "How old were you, Harry, when Teddy was born?"

"Seventeen," Harry answered.

Minerva's jade green eyes widened, "You were very young to become a father."

Harry smiled, bending to put a cheek on Teddy's head, "My son is the very best thing to ever happen to me."

Teddy turned around to give his dad a hug. His small arms wrapping around the older wizard's neck. There was a collective sigh from the house tables. Harry looked out at their audience. The girls looked away giggling as the boys frowned at their feminine classmates, Harry frowned right along with them.

Harry looked to Minerva beside him, "They do it too? I thought it was only the girls at Ilvermorny."

Minerva rolled her eyes at him, Filius on the other side of him coughing. "You're an attractive professor in your early twenties. Many of the students will react to you," Minerva explained.

"Yeah, but it is always when Teddy visits me at work I get the 'reactions.'"

Filius grinned, "He's a mini you, Harry. If you don't mind me saying, Teddy, you are quite adorable."

Teddy sat back on Harry's lap, and turned, directing a fake pout at Filius, "You always call me adorable."

"And he gets away with nearly everything because of it," Harry said, smile returning.

"Not everything," Teddy said before popping a pastry into his mouth.

Harry ruffled his hair, "You're a good boy most of the time."

"Spoiled," Snape muttered.

"Not everyone is allergic to human affection, Snape," Harry said not looking up as he pulled a few more vegetables onto Teddy's plate. Teddy dropped them into his bottomless pit of a stomach without question.

Minerva had to hide a smile.

"How did you handle your class, Potter?" Snape asked. "Despite the glares Weasley sent at Mr. Nott, they weren't at each other's throats today."

"I split them into prearranged pairs of Slytherin and Gryffindor."

"Fool."

"I found it to be highly amusing. Your Slytherin students are quite talented, excluding Mr. Crabbe they all perfected the spell by the end of class," Harry said.

"They have training outside of school," Minerva said defensively as Snape smirked.

Harry shrugged, "They were about even at the start of class with the Gryffindors. I think they just know more theory and are better at applying it, aside from Ms. Granger, of course."

"Who did you pair Ms. Granger with?" Filous asked.

Harry grinned, "Mr. Malfoy. And I paired Mr. Weasley with Mr. Nott."

"You are an idiot," Snape said firmly. "They will kill each other

"It worked quite splendidly, actually," Harry said, stealing one of the little pastries off Teddy's plate.

"Daddy!" Teddy protested.

"And I told them if they killed or maimed each other I would fail them," Harry said before eating the little cake. It was raspberry, Teddy's favorite.

His son pouted at him and Harry handed him another piece of fruit. Typically, Harry and Dromeda only gave his son sweets at tea time or after dinner. Only on holiday's did he get them at lunch.

"Students shouldn't be using magic in classrooms, it's dangerous for the children's safety," Umbridge shot in.

"You're dangerous to the children's safety," Harry said. "It may surprise you, Umbridge, but this is a magical school where the students use magic so they don't get themselves killed when they are using magic without supervision."

"And what about the students falling? Or accidents?" Umbridge asked.

"I'd rather they make mistakes were I and Poppy could get them help them. In their dorms, their classmates might or might not do what's needed in time. As for falling, that's what cushioning charms were created for."

"You charmed your classroom?" Filous asked.

Harry nodded, "Yes and you are welcome to check them over."

Filous clapped his hands as if he had just been given the grandest gift.

"You have the afternoon off, Harry," Minerva said. "You have no afternoon classes scheduled."

Harry hummed, "I suppose it is a good time as any to go to the bank and get some shopping done."

Teddy's head shot up, "We are going to Gringotts? Can we go see the dragon?"

Harry gave his son a look, which even the seven-year-old could interrupt as don't say anything about me robbing the bank.

Teddy giggled, enjoying knowing a secret none of the other adults knew.

"No dragons. But we can go to Diagon Alley, all the shops are standing," Harry said. Teddy had never been to Diagon Alley. Harry had thought about bringing him to George's joke shop but- but like so much else it depressed Harry too much to see the scars and destruction of their society. His fame had only gotten worse and the wizarding community was mistrustful to the point of hostility. It really wasn't a place for young children whose godfather was a savior. In 1995, their appearance would make a stir but nothing like it would have in their own timeline.

"Yes!" Teddy cheered, "Can I meet the Wandmaker with the weird eyes and can we go to the bookshop? I lost all my magical creature books."

"I am sure Mr. Ollivander would love to meet you and a collection of Newt's books is never a bad investment," Harry said. "The bank first though. You have to be extra polite to the goblins."

"Are they going to threaten to eat me again?" Teddy asked.

"Why would they threaten to eat you?" Pomona asked.

Because I robbed them and rode off on their dragon in the process breaking the roof and used an unforgivable on a goblin, Harry thought. Aloud he said, "There was a disagreement about the Sword of Gryffindor." And there had been, but that wasn't really why.

"Tedd, are you done? We can grab something to eat in London later," Harry said.

Teddy nodded sliding off Harry's lap as the chair edged back. "Bye Mr. Snape, bye Ms. Minerva, bye Mr. Flitwick, bye Ms. Pomona." Harry held Teddy's hand as the left the great hall.


"He grew into quite the wizard," Filius remarked.

"His son is a heartbreaker," Pomona said.

"I can't believe he held his class together, pairing them as he did," Severus said.

"I will have him out of job soon," Dolores muttered.

Minerva had to take a breath before saying, "Fudge and Albus hired him. You aren't getting rid of him."


"He is so handsome!" Millie said to Pansy, who nodded her head in agreement.

"Who knew such a scrawny guy would be such a hunk? Even with the glasses, he's remarkable," Tracy said.

"His son is adorable," Daphne said.

"Who do you think the mother is?" Pansy wondered.

"Harry Potter is not attractive," Draco said, poking at his food.

"Dude," Theo said, "The man is hot. Everyone can see that."

"He's weirdly good at teaching," Blais said. "I wasn't expecting him to be too quiet, or a snob or hand the class to the Gryffindors. But I honestly learned things."

"I'm glad we are using magic in class again," Daphne said.

"It's fun beating up Gryffindors without getting lectured for it," Theo said.

"They nearly lost a hundred points for complaining and cheating," Blais said. "Excluding potions, we are always the ones to get in trouble even if we weren't the ones cheating."

"Why cheat? It was just one spell and target practice," Theo said.

"Did you see him throw that shield around Goyle when Finnigan tried using a stinging hex on him?" Tracy asked.

Blais nodded, "He cast it from across the room and his back was turned to them. He must have heard Finnigan shout the spell."

"Even so that was a quick reaction time, I don't think I'd want to face Professor Potter in a one on one duel," Theo said.

"I hope he shows us how to use that shield charm. I couldn't hear what spell he used," Blais added.

"He silently casted," Draco said darkly.

"Maybe he would let us request it or show it to us after class," Theo said.

"He is the coolest professor we have ever had," Millie said.

Draco threw up his hands, "We've only had one class with him. He isn't that great."

"He's pretty cool," Vincent mumbled, eyes focusing on his plate.


"Can you believe him!?" Seamus exploded, "We lost ninety points!"

"At least we are using magic again," Dean said.

"He's kinda awesome," Parvati said.

"You're just saying that because he's hot," Lavender said.

"He taught us all something. That used to be my worst subject. Today was fun," Parvati argued.

"What did he say to you two after class?" Lavender asked at to the now golden duo.

Hermione was lost in thought and Ron glared at everyone, "He said we weren't friends in the future and to get lost."

Hermione looked up, "He said it nicer than that, Ron. He was really professional."

"After all we've been through, professional, Hermione? Professional?" Ron simmered. "Professional is all we get for the last five years."

"He said our friendship didn't survive the war," Hermione said softly.

"So he does think You-Know-Who is back," Seamus said, crossing his arms.

"If he does, I don't think he is going to involve us," Ron said, angrily.

"Isn't that the adult thing to do?" Parvati asked.

They all stared at her and it was Neville who asked, voice quiet yet steady, "When have the adults in our lives ever put our well being first?"

AN: Thank you, reviewers! You are the kindest most wonderful people! You made my day! I am trying to get these chapters out as quickly at the best quality I can :D