Chapter 11 – Change.

Harry knew that when Hermione had something on her mind to do or find out, she was damn near impossible to stall or distract. Those she tried to rope in to her crusades often attempted to protest or to delay her, but it was always to no avail. Hermione always won. On many occasions, Harry and Ron had argued the virtues of having breakfast first before being forced into the library at some ridiculous hour of the morning, but rarely had they got their wish to be fed before Hermione got hers to get started. It seemed as though breakfast was simply an afterthought to her, much to the boys' chagrin.

Harry never thought he would see the day where he would have to argue this very point with Ron.

Having been harangued into getting dressed at light speed, and only allowed a cursory few moments in the bathroom, Ron had almost physically dragged Harry down the corridor after him, his enthusiasm becoming more and more like impatience with every passing moment. They had bypassed the Great Hall, with its usual tempting spread of breakfast foods, and Harry had gazed at it wistfully, as he remembered a time when Ron would have been on his side to eat first and investigate strange teachers second. But Ron was not to be put off, as he grabbed Harry's elbow and bodily pulled him in the right direction.

As he blearily followed his friend down the corridor, Harry found himself thinking about the classroom they were heading towards.

The Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom had seen more than its fair share of teachers over the years, and each one had brought something different to the room. At one point, the walls had hosted posters of the Unforgivable Curses being used in graphic detail, which had made the pupils cringe away whenever it caught their eye. It had held an array of strange beasts and animals, kept in tanks and cages around the perimeter, which watched the lessons with disdain, indifference and distaste and no doubt had dreamed of a freedom where they could cause mayhem and mischief in the large room.

Even though the room itself had remained the same, its contents and atmosphere had changed dramatically with each new professor, making it feel like a physically different space.

The lessons themselves had changed with every teacher, as well. Remus Lupin's lessons had always been primarily practical and invariable useful, whilst Moody's had left them feeling somewhat uneasy if well-informed. Umbridge had ensured her lessons were "Ministry-approved", which translated into mind-numbingly boring, as well as woefully inadequate (although, they HAD given birth to the D.A. – something that Harry would always be grateful for). In the previous year the lessons had been renamed as simply "Dark Arts" lessons under the malevolent Carrow, and Ginny's tales of what they had entailed had chilled Harry to his core.

So as he headed towards the class, trailing behind Ron who was positively bounding through the halls, Harry was not surprised to feel a combination of curiosity and apprehension bubbling within him. His mind ran through some of his more memorable Defense Against the Dark Arts lessons – trying to recapture Cornish Pixies for Lockhart, facing a Dementor-shaped Boggart with Remus, Umbridge declaring him a liar to the whole class… He couldn't imagine what or who he would find in the familiar yet ever-changing room, and he was unsure how keen he was to find out.

Particularly so early in the morning…

"Come on, Harry! Are you still half asleep or something?" called Ron over his shoulder.

"Er, yes, just a bit! What are you doing up so early, anyway? It's not like you."

Ron sounded a little sheepish when he answered. "I wanted to get down to breakfast. I was starving," he admitted.

"Of course you were…" Harry muttered. Well, at least that explained why Ron seemed to ignore the food in the Great Hall.

"Not that I've managed to eat much, mind you! The food had only just appeared when Ginny noticed a trunk levitating past the doorway and up the stairs. We knew it wasn't a student's trunk, and it wasn't heading for any of the dorms, so we put two and two together and decided it must belong to the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. Hermione decided it was her 'duty as Head Girl' to go and introduce herself, and made us go with her – wouldn't even let me finish my bacon sandwich! – But I've got to admit, I'm bloody glad I did! You should've seen their faces! I thought Ginny was going to fall over or something! In fact, I still can't believe it! I left them up there and came straight to get you."

"And you decided that as Hermione had deprived you of breakfast, I had to suffer too?" Harry joked.

Ron laughed. "Honestly, Harry – you are going to want to see this for yourself! Breakfast can wait!" He nodded to a room at the end of the corridor.

They had reached their destination at last, and Ron pushed open the heavy wooden door without hesitation.

He took a deep breath and stepped in.

The room looked emptier than he'd remembered, without all the various paraphernalia teachers brought with them to fill up wall space and bookcases, but other than that, it looked much the same as it had always done.

He saw the girls first. Hermione was leaning casually against the wall, whilst Ginny was perched on the desk, hair pulled into a messy bun, looking every inch as beautiful as she had when he'd finally kissed her goodnight outside her dorm last night. She was smiling at him excitedly, and Harry smiled back involuntarily. His pulse jumped and then struggled to get itself into some kind of rhythm as he took her in, and for a moment, he almost forgot why he was there at all. It was only when her eyes darted over to the corner of the room that he recalled the reason for this early morning jaunt.

The man had his back to Harry as he bent over an open trunk. He was taller than Harry, and broader, dressed in a pair of scruffy jeans and a faded black t-shirt. Despite the poor light in the room, he could see livid red scars snaking across the man's bare arms and creeping under the neck of his shirt. They were raised and jagged, and although they were healed, they looked violent and angry against his lightly golden skin. The man had made no attempt to hide them, wearing them as proud battle scars.

Harry instantly remembered seeing the scars on they day they'd been inflicted, and realization dawned. He knew who the man was even before he saw the shock of red shoulder length hair tied back in a ponytail, and his name had escaped his mouth almost before his brain had registered it.

"BILL!"

The figure turned round, flashing Harry a crooked grin. "Alright, Harry?"

"What…? How –" he stuttered, shaking his head and laughing in disbelief as Bill pulled him into a hug.

"See?" Ron grinned. "Told you you wouldn't believe me!"

Bill feigned a look of hurt. "You're not casting aspersions on my ability to teach, are you, Ron?"

Everyone laughed, except Hermione. A shadow of doubt crossed her face and she asked hesitantly, "ARE you qualified to teach us?"

Bill barked a laugh. "Hmm, let's see… I've spent years as a curse breaker for Gringotts, travelling the world dealing with all manner of dark enchantments, I was a senior member of the Order of the Phoenix, active participant in the Final Battle, I've survived maiming by a werewolf, Charlie's penchant for lethal and exotic pets AND the wrath of my darling mother..! What do you think? Qualified?"

Hermione laughed at herself, good-naturedly. "Yes, I suppose when you put it like that!"

"Don't worry, Hermione, the school governors have been over my whole career with a fine tooth comb and were perfectly happy to offer me the post! Admittedly, they didn't have a great deal of choice in the matter, but still…"

"What do you mean?" Harry asked, walking over to Ginny and hopping up onto the desk next to her, relishing the chance to be in such close proximity to her again.

Bill sighed and closed the lid of his trunk. "They didn't exactly have a lot of applicants for the job." He sat on the lid and turned to face them. "Professor McGonagall approached me with the idea of me doing it a couple of months back when they hadn't found anyone suitable, but I wasn't all that keen. I'd been stuck behind a desk at Gringotts for ages, which suited me at the time, as it meant I could be around for the Order – but I was kind of looking forward to getting back into it all again – the travelling, the excitement… Then she came to see me again last week and she sounded pretty desperate. So I talked it over with Fleur, we worked out some of the details… and here I am."

Ginny frowned. "What about your job at Gringotts? I mean, this is a pretty big career shift…"

Bill shook his head. "This is just temporary, to begin with. I've said I'll do it for a year and then talk to Gringotts about my options. A lot can change in a year, you know…" He smiled to himself. "This is just the best option for Fleur and I, at the moment."

Ginny didn't look convinced. "I take it she played a big part in this decision?"

"Of course she did. There's not just me to consider any more, Gin."

Her frown got deeper at that comment. "I'm not sure I like this, Bill. You've always been so focused on your career, and you loved your job! You've never wanted to do anything else! Now all of a sudden you're jacking it all in to be a teacher?! I mean, come on! Is this really what you want to do, or is it what Fleur wants you to do?"

"Ginny, I really don't think this is any of your business…" he began.

"Well, I think someone should say it! You agree with me, don't you Ron? Isn't this all a bit sudden? Do you think he would've done this if it wasn't for Fleur?"

Ron shrugged, but his eyes showed that deep down, he agreed with her.

"What about Mum and Dad?" she continued. "What did they say about you giving up your career because of what your wife says?"

"Ginny, it's not just because of what Fleur says – we made a joint decision! I have to think about what's best for my family now."

"We're you're family!" she cried. "Don't you want to know what WE think?!"

"That's not what I meant…" he said softly. He looked down for a second, before peering up from under his lashes, grinning impishly. "I wasn't planning on telling you just yet, but seeing as Ginny's up on her high Hippogriff, I suppose I'd better do it sooner rather than later…Fleur and I are having a baby."

All at once, Ginny's frown evaporated. "What?!"

"She's due around the end of April…" His grin turned into a face-splitting smile, and for a moment, it was as if his scars disappeared, and he was the carefree, handsome young man Harry had met all those years ago, made new in the face of so much happiness.

"Bloody hell!" cried Ron. "Congratulations, Bill! That's great!"

They was a mass convergence of hugging and hand-shaking at this, with a good deal of laughing and smiling thrown on top.

"Oh, Bill, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to be such a cow!" Ginny said. "It's just… Oh, never mind! A baby! I'm going to be an aunty!" She threw herself into his arms for another hug, simultaneously hiding the moisture in her eyes.

"Don't worry about it! If it makes you feel any better, it was like a word-for-word replay of when I told Mum! She said the exact same things, but she wasn't quite as diplomatic!"

She giggled, and wiped her face.

"So does that explain things for you? I wanted to be around for the pregnancy, not Apparating all over the world for the bank, breaking curses. It's still kind of dangerous out there, you know – lots of Death Eaters have gone into hiding and are doing their best to get hold of their assets from Gringotts using any means possible. I didn't really fancy putting myself between them and their money and risk being in danger, knowing that Fleur and the baby were at home, waiting for me… And I couldn't face another year behind a desk! I'd have gone mad! So, when McGonagall asked me again, it seemed like the perfect option. I'll be going home to Shell Cottage at weekends and whenever else I can manage it, and then next year, we'll reassess our options and see where we go from there…"

"A baby… I can't believe it!" Ron breathed. "I bet Mum's beside herself!"

"Yeah, she is! She started knitting the day we told her and hasn't stopped since!"

"I hate to be the spoilsport here, but…" Hermione said, looking awkward and sounding concerned, "What about the whole werewolf thing? Will the baby be affected, do you think?"

For a moment, Bill's face dropped, but he quickly recovered his composure. "We don't know for sure, of course, but if Teddy is anything to go by, we think any effects will be minimal…I won't lie to you, we are a little concerned, but Teddy seems to have escaped all traces of the werewolf gene so far and we're looking at that as a positive sign. After all, apart from liking my steaks a bit rarer these days, I've suffered no ill-effects! There's no reason to think the baby will be any different."

Hermione looked visibly relieved, and nodded.

"Speaking of which, Harry, I've got some photographs from Andromeda – she asked me to pass them along to you." Bill passed an envelope to Harry, who began poring over the photos without hesitation.

"He seems to change so quickly… Do all babies do that?" he asked, amazed, staring at one picture of the blue-haired boy covered in porridge. "I know he's a Metamorphmagus but still…"

"So I've been told," Bill smiled. "Ron was actually a very pretty baby, would you believe? And look what happened to him!"

Ron aimed an obscene hand gesture at his brother whilst smiling sweetly. "Right, I'm off to get some proper breakfast before you insult me any more!" As if on cue, his stomach gave a loud growl. "You coming?" he asked them.

Hermione nodded and Ginny slid off the table she'd been seated on.

"I'll be there in a bit," Harry said, distracted, flipping through the photographs a second time.

Ginny gave him a quick peck on the cheek before heading for the door. "Don't be too long – if Ron gets his way, there'll be no food left for anyone else!"

"Why don't you come back after lunch?" Bill suggested. "I should be all unpacked by then and I can tell you all the goings on form the Order."

The three agreed, and called their goodbyes as they headed down to the Great Hall.

Bill stood and leaned against the spot Ginny had occupied. "You alright, Harry?"

He nodded. Despite the pulling deep in his stomach at the sight of his little godson's photographs, he was fine.

"Yeah, I'm alright. Just thinking about how much I'm missing by being so far away from Teddy. He'll be so different by the time I see him at Christmas. I doubt he'll even remember me." He realized his voice sounded sad, and tried to smile. "I know he's okay with Mrs. Tonks, and she'll do a better job of looking after him than I ever could, but… I can't help but feel like I should be there, you know?"

Bill smiled ruefully. "Yeah, I know. Believe me. But you made the right choice coming back, Harry. You deserve the chance to be a kid again, and you stand a better chance of that here than you do out there in the real world."

"That's what they tell me," he sighed.

"Besides, I'm sure McGonagall will let you nip out to visit them now and then. There's got to be some perks to being Head Boy, eh?" He nudged him playfully.

"So you know about that, as well?" Harry said, raising an eyebrow.

"I may have added my vote to your nomination, yes!"

He groaned, but allowed a small smile, and they sat in companiable silence for a while.

"It's been quite an eventful few days for you, hasn't it?" Bill said. "Coming back to Hogwarts, the Head Boy thing, the Memorial… And getting it together with my little sister, of course."

Harry's head snapped up. He'd forgotten that Bill hadn't known about Ginny and him.

"Don't look so panicked!" Bill laughed. "I'm not going to give you the whole big brother speech! At least not yet… I'm just glad the two of you have stopped messing around and sorted it out. I had a bet with Charlie, you know, about how long it would take you to get your acts together? I believe he owes me five Galleons! He said it would take until Christmas, at least!"

Harry managed to give a strangulated smile in response, whilst Bill launched into another hearty laugh at his expression.

Eventually, when he was calm enough to speak again, he looked Harry in the eye and said, "Just… take care of her, okay? I know you will, but I'm obligated to say it anyway. Look after our girl for us."

His face looked so kind and gentle; Harry couldn't contemplate being annoyed at his over protectiveness. "Of course I will."

"I know. And if you ever need anything… If you ever need to talk… You know where I am, okay?"

He nodded. "Thanks, Bill. It means a lot."

"Now go and get some breakfast before my brother scoffs the lot! I'll see you later." He clapped Harry on the back and turned back to his trunk.

Harry got up and headed for the door, and faced the new day with a smile and a light heart.

Another member of his family had arrived at Hogwarts. It was going to be an interesting year.