Chapter 10
It was Harry's first day teaching class, and he was rather nervous. In fact, he was just nervous about being back at Hogwarts. The last time he had been at the castle was at the very end of his seventh year, right after the defeat of Voldemort. He remembered the feeling of loss when he thought that he would never return to Hogwarts. But now he was living there again.
Memories flooded back to Harry as soon as he stepped through the door and into the castle. So many of the defining moments of his life had happened right here at this school. Up to his sixth year he spent most of the year with Ron and Hermione, protecting the school, learning, and breaking a few rules on the way.
His seventh year, Harry didn't return to Hogwarts. He had a mission, and there was nothing anyone could do to stop his pursuit of Voldemort. However, while Harry, Ron, and Hermione were off looking for the Horcruxes, something terrible happened at Hogwarts. The Death Eaters broke in again, stealing Ginny Weasley. She was held hostage the whole year without anyone being able to locate her whereabouts. Finally, Harry was able to confront Voldemort, and he killed the Dark Lord once and for all. After the defeat of Voldemort, Ginny Weasley was found in one of Voldemort's secret dungeons.
Harry, feeling that it was safe to be back with Ginny, asked her if she would be his girlfriend again. Although Ginny was still traumatized from her time kept hostage, she consented; she said she would never be able to love anyone but Harry. Ginny never talked about what happened to her while she was a prisoner, and Harry never asked, wanting to give her privacy. However, he comforted her in her time of trouble, and eventually she was able to overcome whatever had happened to her.
Harry, after leaving Hogwarts behind him, became a professional Auror. He was able to put many of the Death Eaters back into Azkaban, which was now guarded with many protective spells, seeing as the Dementors were all destroyed in the war.
When Harry was 21 he proposed to Ginny, and they got married soon after that. After a few years of marriage, Harry and Ginny decided that they wanted to have a child. Wick was born at around the same time Ron and Hermione, who had been married one year longer than Harry and Ginny, had Mark.
Harry realized that he was tired of saving the world, which he had been doing since he was one year old. He had been retired for a year when he received the letter from McGonagall asking him to teach Defense. Who would have thought that Harry would return to Hogwarts as a teacher? Certainly not Harry. There was no arguing about Harry being qualified for the job, though.
Before Harry realized what time it was, his first class of the year began filing into the classroom, eager looks on all of their faces. The last students to walk into the classroom were Mark, Wick, and a pretty girl Harry didn't know.
Once the bell rang Harry decided that it would be a good idea to explain to the class how he was going to approach the year as their teacher. After all, as he learned in Hogwarts, each teacher has their own teaching style.
"Good morning everyone. I'm sure you've already heard, but I'm Professor Potter, and I am going to be your Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher for the rest of this year. I just want to let you know a little bit about my teaching methods. I like to take a more practical stance when it comes to fighting Dark Arts. Don't get me wrong, we will be using our books in this class. I just think that everyone will benefit from actually performing the spells. Does anyone have any questions?"
A dark haired boy sitting in the front of the room quickly shot his hand into the air and asked, "Will we be learning spells that you used to defeat Voldemort, Professor?"
"There are quite a few useful spells that I learned on my journey to defeat Voldemort. So, to answer your question, yes. I will be teaching the class some spells I used to defeat Voldemort. Any more questions?"
No one raised their hands. The class was now all ears.
"Okay, the first spell I want to teach you is quite complicated. You will need to concentrate fully in order to perform this spell correctly. I used this one a lot while looking for the Horcruxes. It is a spell that makes you invisible without an invisibility cloak. Sometimes you don't know when you are going to have to hide yourself, and concealment charms don't always work well.
"So the first thing you have to do is imagine yourself being invisible. Imagine people looking through you. Now, point your wand at yourself and say Oculus. You won't be able to get it the first few times you try, and even after that you might only look a little less solid. This spell takes a lot of practice and concentration. Okay, begin."
Around the room students stood up and began to cry Oculus. After about thirty minutes, the students were all at varying shades of visibility. Harry noticed that Wick was looking semi-transparent. Harry was going around the room, giving them hints when he heard someone gasp in surprise. It had been Mark.
"Look! Selenity Fangor did it! Now you can't even see her!"
Harry was very impressed. It had taken him only a little less time to learn this spell, and he had been a year older. "Well done, Miss Fangor. Ten points to Gryffindor."
After a few more minutes Harry called the class to attention and asked them all to return to their seats. "I hate to have to end the class early, but as the newly instated Gryffindor Head of House, I have an announcement to make. This year the teachers at Hogwarts decided that we needed to have some time to kick back and have fun. That is why we have decided to host the Eggnog Extravaganza. This is an inter-house dance that will take place on Christmas Eve. So make sure you go out and get some new dress robes, because you'll all want to look your finest for this dance."
A few minutes after the announcement about the Eggnog Extravaganza, a bell rang in the distance, and the students got up and left the classroom. A few of them called out, "Great class, Professor!" or "See you next time!" as they left the room.
Overall, Harry felt like his first class had been a success.
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Wick finally stopped giving Selenity the silent treatment a day after their confrontation. He felt really stupid now for making such a big deal out of Noah. Obviously she liked him better than she liked Noah. She wouldn't lie about that kind of thing.
At first Selenity had seemed a bit miffed, and Wick feared that she would do the unicorn horn thing again. After letting her cool off a bit, though, she seemed fine again.
After his dad's announcement, Wick could hardly stop thinking about was the Eggnog Extravaganza. He knew who he wanted to go with; now it was just a matter of plucking up the courage to ask her. Wick felt like he would rather fight a sea monster than face the possibility of rejection from Selenity at the moment.
However, the truth was that if Wick waited much longer to ask her, she would most likely already have a date. Every boy in the school wanted to go with her. One day, after Charms, Wick decided that he would suck it up and just ask her. He was walking down the hall with her (he had asked Mark to leave them alone so he could talk to Selenity alone), when he decided to see if he had any chance.
"So, the Eggnog Extravaganza sounds like it might be fun," Wick said abruptly. "Are you planning on going?"
"Of course! It would be a great chance to have fun and meet people from other houses. Plus, what kind of girl would I be if I missed a chance to dress up?" Selenity gave Wick a radiant smile.
"Has anyone asked you yet, or are you going by yourself?"
"A few people have asked me, but I turned them down. I—" Selenity broke off and her face began to turn a little pink. Wick mused that it was an attractive look for her. "Well, I just wanted to wait for the right person to ask I suppose."
"And who is that?"
Selenity studied him, and then smiled shyly. "I was hoping that you would already know that."
"Hm… I suppose I could try to guess." Wick looked down at his feet, as if he thought they might tell him what he should say next. He opened his mouth to speak and tried to say something, but it seemed like his throat had closed up. He gave a small cough and then tried again. "You could come with me. I mean, only if you want to. I know I can be a drag some of the time, but we're friends, right? So it wouldn't be a totally awful time for you, and…" He trailed off.
But Selenity didn't need Wick to finish his sentence. "I would like that very, very much." She squeezed his hand, and they walked the rest of the way to the Great Hall smiling.