Harry had never known just how fulfilling teaching could be. Minerva had introduced him to the first years and while they were all a bit star struck, Harry didn't feel as annoyed. In fact, his reputation helped him get through to some of the kids once they started their first Transfiguration assignment. Before he knew it, the class was over and Minerva was assigning the first essay on the laws of Transfiguration. She was about to dismiss them when Harry saw the horror-struck looks on many of the first years' faces and was struck with a sudden idea.
"Professor McGonagall, before you dismiss them, do you mind if I say something?" Minerva looked pleasantly surprised and nodded to him while the entire class turned their attention on him. "How many of you haven't written an essay before?" He asked. Nearly every hand went up and he suddenly felt even more certain of his impromptu plan. "Alright, well, my office is on the seventh floor, across from the tapestry showing a wizard trying to teach trolls ballet. If any of you need help, or want a quick lesson on how to write a proper essay, my office door will be open so long as I'm there, which will be most days after dinner. If you need help finding it, I'll try to be in the Great Hall for dinner, and I can lead you there myself."
His chest constricted as many of the first years broke out into grins, and thanked him profusely on their way out.
"I must say, Harry, you never cease to surprise," Minerva remarked as the door closed behind the last of the students. "What prompted you to make such an offer?"
Harry shrugged. "I wasn't allowed to succeed in Muggle primary school, and when I got here and was assigned that first essay, I was afraid that I would fail out because I hadn't been properly educated. Most muggle-born kids probably think that too, as they wouldn't have learned how to write a proper essay for another year or two depending on the school they attended. I figured a quick lecture on how to properly do your homework is probably going to go a long way for a lot of them."
"I wasn't aware that Muggle schooling didn't provide adequate preparation," Minerva muttered. "Thank you, Harry, for offering to make up for our school's failure."
"It's no problem," Harry replied easily. "It's not like I had to swear a magical vow or anything."
Minerva smiled and shook her head, glancing at the clock to see how much of their fifteen minute interlude between classes they had left. "I suppose you're right to be curious about that."
"That's one way of putting it."
"You see, Harry, your activities haven't been as covert as you might think. Dumbledore and I have been aware of your frequent trips into the Chamber of Secrets –though neither of us know what you do in there, as you have done quite an exemplary job warding it beyond the simple Parsletongue passwords. As time passed and Albus could not find some way to subtly keep watch over you, I started to question why he was so determined to be involved in your life. When we learned that the wards around your relatives' home had shut down, it became clear that you had not been there for some time. What truly made me question the actions of the man I have loyally followed for so long was when he explained that the wards were made using Blood Magic –an extremely dangerous and taboo magic –and that I caught Albus mumbling about you slipping his tracking charms, something that is also illegal to cast on a minor. Today, I saw something in you that inspired me. It was the same thing I once saw in Dumbledore. I knew from discussions with Severus that you had inherited the Potter Family's infamous love for discretion, so I swore that vow of silence and loyalty as a way to show you that I do truly desire to help you, even if you are no longer one of my lions."
"Thank you, Minerva," Harry said, after taking a minute to swallow down the lump in his throat. "It truly does mean a lot to me that you would do that, I promise to never willingly betray your trust and loyalty."
Minerva smiled as the clock chimed, and they turned to greet the next class. By the time the fourth year Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs arrived for the last class before lunch, word had already gotten around most of the school about Harry's new position. Harry had spent the fifteen minute interludes between classes filling Minerva in on the most relevant information, including his political and legal status, Sirius' secret exoneration, his animagus abilities and the werewolf attack, and introducing her to Zephyr while showing her a peak of Kyddris in his tattoo form. To her credit, Minerva had at least given him the chance to explain why he was technically smuggling a XXXXX-Class magical beast into the school, before exploding about the irresponsibility of his actions. She also conceded the point that the Acromantula colony living in the forest and the basilisk that had been terrorising the school were bigger threats than a friendly dragon who generally spent most of his time as either as a tattoo or hunting in the forest.
Once the door opened and the fourth years saw him sitting with Minerva, talking like colleagues, the cries of outrage Harry had been expecting all day finally started up.
"So he abandons his house and gets a shiny new bullshit position as teacher's pet?" Seamus yelled out. "How is that fair?!"
"Mister Finnegan!" Minerva thundered. "You and the rest of your classmates will sit down, and listen silently to what I have to say, or I will start having others join you in the detention you just earned yourself alongside the twenty points from Gryffindor for disrespecting a teacher."
"But, Professor, he's not a teacher," Hermione argued.
Harry restrained a sad sigh at the spectrum of negative emotions on his former housemates' faces while the Hufflepuffs didn't look particularly pleased either.
"Professor Potter –" Harry really liked the ring to that "–was given the position of Professor's Apprentice by Hogwarts herself. If the school has decided that he has earned his position, then who are you to argue? He has already proved to me over the course of the morning that he is more than capable of assisting me in teaching, and you'll swiftly find that you will learn quite a bit from him if you give him the chance."
"What could he have to teach us?" Ron demanded. "We're in the same bloody year!"
Something seemed to click in Harry at that moment. Ever since he woke up that morning, he had been more at ease and confident than ever, and now as he looked out across his former peers, that feeling strengthened. Ron and Hermione were supposed to be his friends. So why were Neville and Susan the only ones who looked remotely proud for him? This wasn't something he had done when he was a baby and couldn't remember. This was a privilege and responsibility bestowed upon him by the school his ancestors had helped build for the various trials he had overcome and magical prowess he had demonstrated.
He had earned this.
"Five points from Gryffindor for disrespectful language, Weasley," Harry said firmly as he stood to his feet. Ron looked like he was about to explode, and opened his mouth, but Harry cut him off. "I may be the same age as you all, but I have been given this position for my skills, among other things. But, seeing as those are what you're questioning," he turned to face Minerva with a mischievous smile on his face. "Professor McGonagall, as it is your subject, what will I have to do to prove I am proficient enough to assist in teaching fourth year Transfiguration?"
Minerva hummed in thought for a moment before getting a wicked idea of her own. "Perhaps some Human Transfiguration?"
Harry smirked and nodded while Hermione and a few others gasped as he tapped his head with his wand and transfigured himself into a perfect copy of McGonagall in her cat form and hopping up to sit on her desk. He had been tempted to use one of his own Animagus forms –as he had been practicing over the summer to transform into the two creatures that made up Nightfire –but figured it would be better to keep that to himself while still proving he could do both the Human, and Trans-Species Transfiguration.
"A very accurate impersonation, Professor Potter," Minerva said, tapping him on the head with her own wand. "Hopefully this is enough to prove to you all that Professor Potter has the skill to assist you in class?"
"Blimey, Harry, that was bloody brilliant!" Neville exclaimed, breaking the tense silence that had fallen over the classroom.
Harry grinned and nodded to his friend. "Thanks, but I'm afraid I gotta take another five points from Gryffindor for your language, Longbottom."
Neville blushed and bowed his head while Minerva looked quite proud beneath her stern visage. The rest of the class passed with little trouble, though many of the Gryffindors were still rather cool with Harry.
Harry helped Minerva clean up, and decided to head down to the kitchens to eat with Dobby, rather than deal with the riot that was awaiting him in the Great Hall. He smiled as he arrived at the picture of fruit at the same time Cedric exited the Hufflepuff common room.
"Hey there, Professor Potter," Cedric said with a teasing smile on his face. "I hear you've gone and gotten yourself quite the promotion."
"Would you believe me if I said that I did not ask for this?" Harry asked, a smile on his face.
"You know, in your case, I would," Cedric replied before waving and heading up to the Great Hall.
Harry smiled and entered the kitchen where he invited Dobby and any of his fellow elves who were not working at the moment to join him for a bite to eat. He was surprised by how fun the house elves could be, as they laughed and joked amongst each other like one great big family. Dobby even introduced Harry to several of the friends he had made while working there during the school year, and one of the older elves, Blanche, actually thanked him for volunteering Dobby's help to the school when not catering to Harry. Harry smiled and told her it was no problem before heading to the greenhouses where he would be spending his afternoon helping Professor Sprout. Time flew by as he helped with all sorts of manual labor between assisting the students and before Harry knew it, he had worked up quite a sweat and classes were finished for the day. Taking another glance at his schedule to make sure he had everything for his next day's classes, Harry noted that he had one more hour block each day after classes were over in the Hospital Wing. Figuring that he could definitely use some formal teaching in healing magic, and that he did genuinely enjoy Madam Pomfrey's company during his many visits, he shrugged his shoulders and made his way there.
Madam Pomfrey seemed to be expecting him, and greeted him with a smile before setting him to another hours grunt work while testing him to see where his level of knowledge was in her field. Once their hour was up, Harry made his way to his office on the seventh floor and quickly showered before opening his office door (after placing just about every non-lethal security ward he could think of) and sitting down at his desk to pen some letters. Half an hour later, he was stretched out on the couch while Zephyr perched himself on a stand not unlike Fawkes' that Harry swore hadn't been there earlier. Harry was reading from his grimoire, lightly skimming his copy of the fourth year Charms class so as to better prepare himself for tomorrow when he heard sniffling and a knock on his door. Sitting up he saw two second year girls standing outside his office. One was from Slytherin, and the other Hufflepuff, and Harry recognised them from his Transfiguration class that morning.
"Hello, ladies," he said softly, noting the tear marks and puffy eyes on the Hufflepuff girl's face, and the black eye and limp that the Slytherin was sporting as she held her friend around the shoulders. "Please, come in and sit down."
As they came in, Harry couldn't help but think that the Slytherin girl looked strangely familiar. "Now, can I ask what happened here?"
"Tori and me were going to come and see if you would help us with our Transfiguration homework," The Hufflepuff girl sniffed. "But then some older students started calling me names, and-and when Tori told them to stop, they-they-they…"
"Didn't do anything," Tori interrupted. "I told you Emily, I just tripped on my way back to you after I told them off."
Harry frowned at the look in Tori's eyes. Clearly she was lying. But why? Then he remembered what Daphne had told him nearly a year ago, and a burning rage filled him. He was halfway decided to go and hunt the ones who did this down, when his more rational side kicked in and he questioned what good it would do. Tori would still be hurt, and if Daphne's stories were true, then there was a chance that he would just make things worse.
"Emily, the names they called you, was one of them Mudblood?" Harry asked quietly. Emily nodded sadly and studied her swinging feet. "Do you have any magical parents, Emily?"
"M-My parents are both magical," Emily whispered. "But my mum is a muggle-born."
"Really?" Harry asked, playing up his interest in that fact just a bit. "So was mine!"
"Really?" Emily asked disbelievingly. Tori also looked extremely interested to learn this fact.
"Absolutely. She was a muggle-born and she was considered one of the brightest witches of her generation. Plus, there are tons of famous witches and wizards who are half-bloods, just like us."
"There are?"
Harry nodded. "Yup. In fact, Professor Dumbledore and all of the Heads of House are half-bloods."
"Really?" Tori asked disbelievingly.
"Definitely," Harry replied. "Granted, Professor Flitwick is half goblin, but the fact still remains. And you know who else is a half-blood?"
"Who?" Emily asked, her earlier sadness almost completely forgotten.
"The git who gave me this," Harry said pointing to his forehead. Both Tori and Emily gasped before Tori suddenly went on the defensive.
"There's no way!"
"He even went here," Harry continued. "You can see his name in the Trophy Hall on an award he got fifty years ago. Back then, though, his name was just Tom. He didn't like how normal it was, though, so he changed it."
"But all the people who follow him are…"
"That's right," Harry said, nodding. "That's why he keeps it a secret. So that the people who actually do believe what he says will follow him."
"Wow…" Emily muttered.
"Now, why don't I walk you girls back to your common rooms and you can come see me after dinner for help with your Transfiguration."
Both girls nodded and Harry led them out of his office, closing the door behind him and listened to them tell him about their first day. They mostly stuck to the less populated halls and went to the Hufflepuff common room first where Harry flagged down a prefect and told them to bring her inside. Once Emily was gone, Harry turned to Tori and drew his wand, healing her eye and leg with a few muttered spells.
"Tori, I'm going to give you three options," Harry said firmly once he was sure they were out of earshot. "You can either tell me what really happened and who did that to you, we can go to Professor Snape and you'll tell him, or you can serve detention for lying to me."
"But that's not fair!" Tori protested. "We have to-"
"Present a united front," Harry finished for her. "I'm aware. I'm best friends with a Slytherin. That being said, assaulting a student is beyond wrong, and by not telling someone, you're just endangering yourself and your friends."
"I'm endangering them if I do tell them!"
"Maybe," Harry conceded. "But by not telling anyone, you're guaranteeing that they'll hurt people again. If you do, though, we can take steps to make sure it doesn't happen again."
"Why are you even doing all this?" Tori asked bitterly. "Weren't you a Gryffindor before the school chose to put you in this position?"
"I don't care about House rivalries," Harry stated firmly. "I was bullied as a kid as well, and I couldn't do anything about it. Now I'm in a position to make sure the same doesn't happen to others, and I will."
Tori stood silently for a couple moments considering his words, weighing her options, and examining him with a familiar look in her eye. She was trying to figure out whether he could be trusted or not. Finally she seemed to make up her mind, and the confidant front she had been putting on since escorting her friend to his office fell and she seemed to shrink in on herself.
"Can you take me to see Professor Snape, please?" She asked quietly.
Harry grinned and nodded as he placed a hand on her shoulder and gave it a comforting squeeze.
Once he had escorted her to Snape's office, and waved off both of their thanks, he made his way back to his office, merrily ignoring the looks the other students were giving him.
Once dinner rolled around he headed down to the Great Hall and was struck by the question of where he would sit. He technically didn't have a house to sit with anymore, and he doubted that they would make him sit up at the professors' table. Of course, Neville at least would welcome him back at Gryffindor table, even if most others didn't, but the part of Harry that seemed to have really come forward since waking up this morning said that it might be more fun to make a statement. Mind made up, he strolled into the Great Hall and quickly scanned it before making a beeline for the Ravenclaw table, where he noticed a blonde girl, around his age sitting next to Parvati Patil. By the time the entire Great Hall had stopped to stare at him, he was already seated and filling his plate with food.
"Evening, Parvati," he said casually. "How's your first day been?"
Parvati seemed to catch on and quickly recomposed herself as she smiled at him. "It's been good, Harry, thank you. What's it been like helping Professor McGonagall?"
"Pretty scary at first," Harry admitted. "But as soon as the first years started working, I kinda just clicked, you know? By the end of it, I was actually having quite a bit of fun."
"That's good to hear," Parvati replied. "My sister said you were quite the showman during her Transfiguration course."
"It wasn't that impressive," Harry replied modestly. "I just quickly turned myself into a cat to show that I know what I'm talking about. It's a good thing Professor McGonagall was there to turn me back, else it would've been a pretty embarrassing demonstration."
By now the students all around them were slowly getting back to their meals and the buzz of conversation filled the Great Hall once more as they saw that Harry wasn't about to even acknowledge their singling him out in any way. Dinner passed rather pleasantly, with Harry feeling especially good when a shot of happiness and pride filled him from where Daphne was sitting at the Slytherin table. Harry smiled and winked at her, ignoring the glares he was still getting from many inside the houses of snakes and lions. The blonde girl who had been sitting next to Parvati had turned out to be a fourth year named Luna Lovegood. She was a tad quirky, but Harry genuinely enjoyed hearing about the strange creatures she and her father tracked down, and the convoluted theories that her father's magazine The Quibbler published. Before long, several first years had come up to him and Harry turned to address them, a warm smile on his face at the many expressions of shyness he saw.
"I suppose you all want me to show you where my office is?" He asked. He didn't receive much more than a few mumbled affirmatives and some nods, but he grinned regardless and stood up, grabbing his bag. "It's been great speaking to you both. I'll see you in class." With that he called for the first years to follow him and led them up to his office, showing them around a few other useful places in the school along the way. When they arrived, there was already a gaggle of students hanging around Harry's office, and he was worried about their not being enough room. His worries were abated though, when he opened his door and saw that his office had somehow transformed into a classroom, complete with desks and chalkboard. The first years all quickly sat down, but Harry made them stand up and rearrange themselves so that there were at least one person from two different houses at each three-person desk.
When they finally all left, thanking him on the way, Harry walked over to one of the couches, which he hadn't even noticed during his little tutoring session, and flopped himself down on it with a sigh. He spent another hour and a half working on his own studies, before retreating to his new room and getting ready for bed. As he lay down to sleep, he felt a surge of affection come from Daphne and pondered what must have happened before shrugging and sending her back a feeling that he was happy for her and closing his eyes.
*(OoO)*
The rest of the month passed with talk around the school either centered around Harry and his new position, or the apparent tournament between Hogwarts and two other schools that would be arriving on Halloween. Harry generally ignored it and quickly fell into a routine where he would wake up, exercise, and eat an early breakfast before heading to whichever class he was assisting in to help however he could while usually discussing his personal studies with the professor in question. Then he would help out with demonstrations and the like when the classes arrived, before circulating the class to help out wherever he could with individual work. After that, he would spend some time helping the professor clean up before heading to either his office or the kitchens for lunch. After lunch he would repeat the morning's activities with his second professor of the day, before heading down to help Madam Pomfrey. The final two hours of the day were spent training, then at dinner he would alternate which table he sat with, and hanging out with his friends before retiring to his office, making sure to leave his door open for anyone that wanted to join him for some studying. Normally Daphne would join him, and sometimes assist with some of the younger years that came for homework help. For some reason, she had become much more affectionate with him, and though Harry had asked, she would simply shrug and say she had no idea what he was talking about. Harry didn't complain, though, as he was always happy to spend time with his best friend, either alone, or in the company of their other friends and the younger years. After two hours of providing a sort of homework help center, Harry would evict the younger years and close his door to everyone but his close friends or a professor who wanted to ask something of him for their lesson.
Despite the increased workload, responsibilities, and scrutiny from those around him, Harry couldn't help but think that life at Hogwarts had never been better. Even the full moon couldn't put a damper on his mood as it now meant that Daphne and he were going to spend the night camped out in his office. He was impressed with his progress gaining control of his monthly transformation, as when he fell asleep against Daphne on the ground in front of his fireplace, he was still human. It wasn't until he woke up the next morning curled up around her, with her face buried in his mane that he noticed that he must have transformed sometime during the night.
By the time Halloween came, the school had finally gotten used to Harry's place as a Professor's Apprentice (with the exception of a handful of people from his year), and Harry himself was outside helping Hagrid and Willhelmina teach a class of fourth years about unicorns, having thrown himself into everything he was doing so as to not have think about the events that had happened thirteen years before.
"Finally, a real magical creature instead of all those ghastly monsters that oaf makes us study," someone muttered amongst the group of Gryffindors.
Harry narrowed his eyes as he saw Hagrid sigh while Willhelmina patted his arm.
"Professor Hagrid," Harry called from his position next to the unicorn who was munching on the corner of his robes.
"Yes Ha –er, Professor Potter?" Hagrid replied.
"Between a unicorn and, say, a hippogriff, which would be more dangerous for Miss Patil to approach without the proper precautions?"
"Well, a hippogriff, I s'pose," Hagrid replied uncertainly.
"And between an acromantula and a pixie, which would be better if Miss Patil needed to harvest potions ingredients?"
"An interesting question, Professor Potter," Willhelmina answered, catching on to where Harry was going with this line of questioning. "The obvious answer is the acromantula. Pixie wings are useful in some weaker joy potions, but you only get one pair of wings per pixie, whereas acromantula venom is exceedingly rare due to the dangers involved with harvesting it, but is used in all sorts of powerful potions. Plus the creature does not necessarily need to be killed in order to harvest its venom, meaning you could theoretically harvest multiple samples."
"I see," Harry replied. "And if Miss Patil were to come across say, a harpy without having studied giant chameleons?"
"I daresay that Miss Patil would fall for the harpy's enchantment, having not learned the basics behind it."
At this point, Padma was standing with bright red cheeks as she stared at her feet in shame.
"I didn't mean anything by it," she muttered petulantly. "I just meant that I was happy to finally get to learn about something like a unicorn."
"By something like a unicorn, you wouldn't happen to mean something you found visually appealing, would you, Miss Patil?" Harry asked, not needing an answer. "Here's the thing about that. The world is filled with all sorts of things that aren't what you would classify as 'pretty'. And even many of the ones that are, are just as dangerous. We've been blessed with being part of a huge world filled with fantastical creatures, and Professor Hagrid goes to rather extreme lengths to give you glimpses of them. Not just for your safety should you run across one, but so that you can appreciate the majesty of creatures that have a closer connection with the magic all around us. So, the next time you feel like insulting one of your professors, and the subject he teaches, I recommend either doing it outside of earshot, or stopping and thinking about what you're going to say first. Otherwise, next time, I'll do more than take fifteen points from Gryffindor." Hagrid quickly dismissed the class after that and Harry decided to stay with him rather than head up for lunch.
Plus the unicorn had eaten a hole through his robes.
"Blimey, 'Arry, I appreciate what ye did there, but do ye really think it was necessary?" Hagrid asked.
"Hagrid, you're not just my friend, but you're also our professor. If any other professor had been here, they'd have done the same," Harry replied.
"Harry's right, Professor," Parvati said, having hung back while her sister stormed back to the castle. "The only way to get through to my sister is to not put up with her. There are many of us that think your classes, while a little on the dangerous side, are really quite interesting. There aren't many places where you can see so many rare and exotic creatures together. Let alone get a chance to study them."
"Thank ye, Miss Patil," Hagrid said gratefully. "It means a lot that ye enjoy me classes. I'll be sure to try and take better care to make sure the critters don't hurt any o' ye in the future too."
Parvati smiled and waved to Harry before running back to the school. Harry helped Hagrid clean up and gave the unicorn one last pet before retiring to his office, which he had figured out changed according to whatever he needed, providing a rather good training ground to practice hone his skills. He spent the rest of the day in his office, for once leaving his door closed after dinner as he, Zephyr, and Kyddris sat quietly in front of a roaring fire.
Tomorrow he would greet the students from the other schools, but just for this one night, he would relish in his newfound solitude.