A/N Sorry that I haven't updated sooner, my computer somehow got a virus on it and it completely screwed it up. Its all better now though so I'll be back to writing, hope I didn't keep you all waiting to long; thank you everybody who reviewed chapter nine, now, on with the story.
They were all sitting in Dumbledore's office; Dumbledore was behind his desk and had conjured two large, comfy chairs for Tonks and Harry. Tonks immediately took her seat, as did Harry, Dumbledore was starring at them over the top of his half moon spectacles, in a most scrutinizing fashion.
"Well?" Dumbledore asked to neither of them in particular, "Do you wish to explain yourselves or shall I draw my own conclusions?" Dumbledore's tone made Tonks feel guilty and she squirmed in her chair, but Harry was rather confused by it, he didn't think that had done anything wrong, they had even stopped a death eater attack.
"I don't see how we did anything wrong professor" Harry said carefully, he wasn't sure how Dumbledore would feel towards him after their little confrontation at Grimmauld place. Dumbledore however gave Harry a genuine smile, they very same he had shown him in the past five years at Hogwarts Tonks kept her eyes on her feet as she spoke, "I'm sorry professor, I didn't think he'd be using it like that so early, I had planned to teach him myself over the remainder of the summer."
Harry was thoroughly confused by all the fuss, he had used his staff, so what, how could it have killed him, 'Heh, even Voldemort as failed to do so thus far' Harry thought with a touch of humor. "How is a staff going to kill me" Harry asked with a hint of laughter in his voice, though he managed to stile seeing that neither Dumbledore nor Tonks were smiling.
"Staff's are quite tricky Harry, especially in your situation. You see, when a staff is used by one it isn't compatible with, it can have adverse effects on the user, evening to point of draining them of all their magical energy and killing them. That could very easily have happened tonight" Dumbledore seemed to be speaking in a careful, slow voice, one that Harry had grown to know; Dumbledore was keeping something from him.
"But how could it possibly be incompatible with me, it was made just for me, to match who I am, wasn't it?" Harry was sure that Dumbledore was keeping a secret, and his being upset with Tonks made it clear she knew the secret too. Tonks opened her mouth to speak but Dumbledore cut her off with a look.
"It's a somewhat odd situation Harry, the staff was made for you, just for you. But you have changed since the staff was created, changed from what the staff was willing to accept. Your constant encounters with Voldemort and his minions have changed you, given you a……darker side." Dumbledore paused for moment, choosing his words carefully. "This staff was made by someone who didn't know you as you are, and who didn't know you when you first arrived at Hogwarts. It was made to accept who the creator thought you would become; This staff was created by the combined efforts of Lily and James Potter."
Harry starred at Dumbledore, his emerald green eyes glaring almost angrily into those dull blue eyes of his headmaster. Harry jumped to his feet and immediately began pacing Dumbledore's office, thousands of thoughts rushing through his mind. Dumbledore and Tonks rose to from their seats as well, Tonks rushing to his side and softly laid a calming hand on his shoulder.
"Harry?" she asked in a quiet voice.
"I uh……I" Harry felt overwhelmed at this point, it seemed so odd, his parents were long since dead yet even now they were helping him. But it was more than the thought of his parents that was beginning to rattle him to his core, Dumbledore said the staff was meant for who his parents had wanted him to be, but Harry had changed, had become…..darker.
"I'm not what I should be then?" Harry asked quietly. Tonks had tears streaming down her face, she could see the pain in Harry's eyes, and it killed her to see him so sad; she wrapped her arms round him, holding him tightly.
"Never let anybody tell you that Harry" Dumbledore said softly as he slowly trudged around his desk toward them; laying a hand on Harry's shoulder and starring him in the eye with a firm yet sympathetic gaze. "You are what you are meant be Harry, your parents didn't know what you would become, but rest assured, you are not so different from what they wanted you to become. You are, in fact, better."
Harry felt like crying with Tonks, the thought that he had let done his parents was tearing him apart inside, but he felt an uplifting jolt as Dumbledores words, "What do you mean professor?"
"Harry, you recall that I told you the night Voldemort tried to kill you he accidentally put some of himself into you?" Harry nodded, wondering how this was relevant. "Voldemort is of the darkest evil, he is your dark side, your exact opposite, to use the lumos spell with your staff would destroy him because it is so incompatible; yet you did not die tonight, even with all the darkness, hatred, and malice that that Voldemort filled you with 15 years ago, you did not die." Harry looked up, beginning to understand what Dumbledore was saying to him.
"You did not die, because the purity of your heart so greatly outweighs the darkness of Voldemort. You are so much more than your parents could have ever wished for Harry, never forget that." Dumbledore remained still for a moment, letting these comforting word time to sink in before he got back to business, as was his peculiar way.
"Now then!" Dumbledore said in a rather loud voice, "The death eaters know that you are somewhere in the London area, even though Grimmauld Place is greatly protected, I'd rather not have you staying there for the remainder of the summer, I'm sure it will get most annoying having the Order members running in and out everyday."
Dumbledore walked back behind his desk and tapped the desk with his wand, a sheet of parchment and a quill appeared on the desk, the quill stood up and began writing.
"Since you are going to be a professor here at the start of term Harry, I'd like for you to remain at Hogwarts for the remainder of the summer." Harry's heart skipped a beat. "I will not take no for an answer, I've already prepared a special room for you within Gryffindor tower, the new portrait hanging in the common room is guarding your room, you may choose a password of your own liking."
The quill on Dumbledore's desk stopped writing and Dumbledore took the parchment and read it briefly, giving a soft chuckle at the contents of the page before rolling it up and tucking it away in his robe pocket.
"One more thing, the assistant I mentioned in the letter about your new teaching position will be here tomorrow, the two of you should get started on lesson plans, get a good head start on before term begins. You may use magic here as you see fit, no more student restriction are placed upon you; though I would prefer is you didn't use your staff, you need to be trained to handle more advanced wand magic before reaching the next plateau. All you need to do is transform your staff back to wand form to use it as you always have, its true power cant be used unless it is in staff form."
Dumbledore gave Harry a warm smile and headed for the door, motioning for them to follow as he swiftly stepped from the room. Harry and Tonks followed closely behind as Dumbledore led the way to Gryffindor tower, still talking and explaining a few things about Harry's new privileges as a professor.
"As I mentioned in the letter you will be able to give detentions, dock and give points as you see fit. I'd prefer you to sit with myself and the other professors at meal times but if you wish to sit with your friends you may do so. You will be paid 87 galleons at the end of each week for working as a professor; and please no favoritism in class Harry, it's unprofessional."
They stopped as the reached the portrait of the fat lady, who seemed surprised somewhat surprised to see Harry.
"Jelly Slugs" Dumbledore said to the portrait of the fat lady, she gave the headmaster a nod and the portrait swung forward to allow them to enter the Gryffindor common room. Harry followed Dumbledore inside and smiled, he always felt the most at home when he was here in Gryffindor tower. Since it was summer there was no fire burning, but all the windows were wide open, letting the cool night's breeze into the common room to cool them off.
Harry looked around and quickly noticed the new portrait, he grinned broadly as he strode over to the portrait of the Gryffindor Quidditch team from his third year, when they had posed for their picture just after winning the school cup. Harry looked back at Dumbledore and Tonks, they were both smiling as well at the large portrait that commemorated the victory.
"You'll need to pick a password for your new room Harry" Dumbledore reminded him in a soft voice. Harry turned back to the portrait and stood there thinking for several moments, the perfect password suddenly came to him.
"Snuffles" Harry said in a quiet voice; the Harry in the portrait gave him a wink and the portrait swung forward to reveal a short hallway leading to a new room.
Harry eagerly stepped forward to see his new home, Tonks practically bouncing with excitement as she rushed past Harry to look around, Dumbledore walking into the room as his usual slow but certain pace.
"Wow" Harry breathed as he looked around; the room was incredible, it wasn't just a singular room, it was like a small house just for him. Harry stood in a common room about half the size of the Gryffindor's common room; there were a few doorways lining the walls on either side of the room. Harry looked back at Dumbledore once more, as if wondering if this was all really his, Dumbledore gave him an incurring nod and chuckled softly as Tonks came bursting out the second door on the left.
Harry headed for the door Tonks had just come from and stepped inside the next room. It was incredible, a large four-poster bed that looked as though it could have comfortably fit 10 people on it. There was nightstand on either side of the bed and a large closet on the right wall. Harry smiled and head for the door on the left wall that connected with the next room, Harry opened the door and starred; his own private bathroom, which was basically a smaller version of the prefects bathroom.
"Wicked" Harry whispered, he could hear Dumbledore laughing behind him.
Harry headed back to his common room and walked across the room to the door on the right side of the room. The it led to the Defense Professor's office, which he had only visited a few times before; the office still held a few items left behind by the other professors, fortunately Harry could find nothing belonging to his latest Defense Professor. Harry looked around his new office and thought of what he would need in it for the school term, after a few minutes he decided to worry about it later, there was plenty of time.
"So this is really all mine?" Harry asked as the three of them sat in a circle of large squashy chairs in Harry's common room; they were sitting and drinking tea that Dobby had brought up for them. Dumbledore nodded as he took a sip of his tea, Harry could barely contain his excitement, this opened up a whole new world for him, assuming he did well as a professor of course. If Harry were to ever decide he didn't want to become an Auror he could simply remain at Hogwarts as the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.
"If you require anymore room don't hesitate to ask me directly Harry, I had debated whether or not to place a second room of requirement here for you, so you would have somewhere to practice and train using advanced wand magic." Harry just blinked at this, the thought of having his own personal room of requirement was a little shocking.
"Er….no thanks professor, I think one of those is enough for the school" Dumbledore just smiled.
"Well I best be off, still have lots to do" Dumbledore said as he finished the last of his tea and rose to his feet once more and headed for the door. "Feel free to roam the halls at your leisure Harry, no one will stop you anymore. Don't worry about getting your things from Grimmauld Place, I'll send someone to retrieve them for you." Dumbledore nodded to Harry and Tonks and headed for the portrait hole.
"Professor!" Harry suddenly exclaimed with alarm as he jumped to his feet.
Dumbledore stopped and looked back, "Please Harry, we are colleagues now, I insist that you call me Albus." Harry nodded but still looked anxious.
"Profes…..er, Albus……..I got a letter the other day along with yours, it was from the ministry. I'm supposed to be present for the reading of my parents will tomorrow." Harry glanced down at his watch, seeing it was nearly 1:00 in the morning, "Er, I mean later today actually."
Dumbledore stood there for a moment, thinking. "Not to worry Harry, I will have Minister Fudge and his associates come here to Hogwarts for the reading of the will." Harry smiled with relief. "Now I suggest the two of you get some sleep, it's been a long night and you don't want to be tired when Cornelius Fudge arrives." Dumbledore left them standing there in the small common room; Harry hadn't realized until then how tired he really felt. The events of the night hadn't completely pushed the thought of a 'special present' from Harry's mind, but he was still exhausted from the blast from his staff that all he wanted to do was sleep.
"File number 114562, the last will and testament of Lily and James Potter; hereby to be read to one Cornelius Fudge, Minister of Magic, and witnessed on this day by………..Well you get the picture I'm sure" Fudge said as he set the scroll down on the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall. Harry, Tonks, and Dumbledore were all sitting on one side of the table, Fudge and several ministry officials were sitting opposite them.
Harry's hand was clenched tightly to Tonks's as Fudge help up a second scroll of parchment, Fudge starred at the parchment for a moment then set it back down on the table, pulling his wand from within his robes and tapping the will once.
Two tiny figures popped out of the parchment, standing only a few inches tall and not quite transparent, they had a dull glow to them as if they were a hologram. It took Harry a moment to realize what, and who he was seeing, when he did he gasped.
"Hello son" the first figure said directly to Harry, Harry starred back down at the miniature version of his father, his mother standing there next to him.
"Your mother and I created this will when you just a baby, we've just put you to sleep in fact" the two of them laughed softly, the little laugh that came with the joy of new life. "I hope you don't ever have to see this Harry, I hope you never go through the pain of loosing us, but Voldemort is after us, and I have no choice but to leave this……..just in case." Lily and James shared a look of fear with one another before James continued speaking.
"This will be simple enough Harry, We're leaving everything to you." Harry felt Tonks's grip on his hand tighten slightly, Harry closed his eyes and fought back the tears that were so desperately trying to escape.
"Everything Harry; the gold in both mine and Lily's private Gringotts vault, all of my old possession, though I'm sure my dear friend Albus has given you one or two of them by now" the little James turned his gaze toward Dumbledore and gave him a wink, Dumbledore winked right back. The little James turned back to Harry, tears in his eyes and unable to speak, Lily took over.
"It's all yours Harry" Harry could no longer hold back the tears as he heard his mothers voice, he had heard it once before when the dementors had drawn to near, but what he had heard did not have nearly the same effect as her voice was having now.
"Along with the contents of our vaults at Gringotts we're leaving you all of our possessions and we'd like Albus to go with you when you retrieve them. There's quite a bit you see, everything from my old school books right down to James's snitch that he stole from Hogwarts." Lily giggled at this, she had always loved to watch him sitting with baby Harry and catching the snitch for his enjoyment.
"And last but not least…………we leave you the deed to Godrics Hollow" Harry heard several of the ministry witnesses murmur to each other at this. "Godrics Hollow is where we live Harry, or rather, where we lived" Lily and James looked at each other sadly. "If the house is still there it's all yours, if it isn't, there's plenty of lovely, empty homes there that I'm sure you'd simply love" Lily smiled up at Harry and he felt his heart break in two.
"We've got to go now Harry, I think you've woken up and your starting to cry" Lily smiled slightly, "We love you son" they said in unison as they dropped back into the parchment and were gone.
"I love you to" Harry whispered as he wiped the tears from his eyes with his sleeve. There was a long pause after the will was finished, no one wanted to say anything to disturb Harry, but they had to get on with it; Fudge cleared his throat to get Harry's attention.
"I have the key's to both your parents vaults here for you, the key to the vault where all their possessions are being held, and of course, the deed to Godrics Hollow. Here you are Harry." Fudge said in the friendly tone he used to use before Harry's fourth year. Harry took the keys and the deed and just starred at them for a while.
"Are we done here?" Harry asked in a solemn tone; Fudge nodded and Harry rose from the table attempting a smile for the ministry officials before he headed for the door.
The ministry officials all rose as well, headed for the entrance hall to leave and head back to the ministry, Fudge hung back to speak with Dumbledore and Tonks.
"I really must apologize again Dumbledore, you and Harry were both telling the truth all along about You-Know-Who; you and your order won't face anymore opposition from the ministry Dumbledore." Dumbledore nodded with something of grim satisfaction; " Also I'm officially backing your decision to make Potter a professor at this school, I think it would be healthy for the boy to have a new challenge such as this. Help to draw his attention away from some of the more recent……………loses in his life"
Fudge glanced past Dumbledore's shoulder at Tonks, he easily recognized her as the young metamorphmagus auror from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.
"As for the other situation…………well. I have no strong objections to it I suppose." Tonks smiled brightly and decided to leave before she got dragged into the conversation, she headed off to go find Harry and see what condition he was in.
"I thank you, Cornelius. Harry will be going through the most trying times his life this year, I am sure of that, it is important we allow him certain personal freedoms that should be given to an adult." Dumbledore said in a low tone.
"Yes, and I certainly consider Potter a fine adult wizard, he's done some rather remarkable things since his return to the wizarding world; I'm sure he'll dazzle us once again this year……yes indeed." Fudge fixed his hat and shook Dumbledore's hand before heading off to the entrance hall to go back to the ministry with the others.
Dumbledore stood alone in the great hall, he felt strange after both James and Lily's will and his short conversation with minister Fudge, 'I do sincerely hope that Harry only dazzles us with his abilities as a professor, he's faced enough hardships' Dumbledore thought to himself. The aging headmaster starred at the far end of the great hall where Harry and Tonks had left, 'They go well together, Harry's actually the mature one' Dumbledore began chuckling heartedly at this thought as he swiftly made his way back to his office, it was only mid-day and he still had an immense amount to do.
A/N Well, sorry it took so long, summertime and all now, vacations, getting dragged away from my computer. For those of you expecting a lemon chapter, maybe later, the new post on the home page of has be a little worried, I don't wanna get kicked off. As for the wages Harry is getting, I had no idea what a good number would be, I guessed, sorry if it seems to low or to high. Well, that's it for chapter 10, by the way, thank you to everybody who reviewed, my review count is over the 200marker now, sorry again you guys had to wait so long. Hope you enjoyed and if not, there's always next chapter. Ha ha ha………..REVIEW NOW, thank you