Chapter 38 – Temporary teacher, Stubborn headmaster and shocking giant.

Dumbledore was in a horrible mood, he was absolutely furious and tired. He had just returned from court, with a heavy amount of negotiation and the last of Dumbledore's political resources, he along with Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger had barely managed to avoid Azkaban. And Harry Potter was smiling smugly at him the entire time as well.

To make matters worse, before he had left for court he was sent a letter from the board of governors. The current defence teacher, an auror from the ministry had decided to return to helping the ministry, and the board had sent a replacement without consulting him. Hopefully Dumbledore could control the replacement, and if he or she was useful then Dumbledore could try and get them to help him. But he had to be careful, the court and board have put him on probation and the slightest acting out could result in him being fired.

It was at that point when he returned to the great hall, he arrived just at dinner with Granger and Weasley right behind him. When he entered, he saw the entire student population, except a select few, looking extremely pleased and delighted. He looked to the staff table, and did a double take. Sitting at the table, and talking to Professor McGonagall, was Harry Potter. He sat there wearing muggle clothes, he wore white trainers along with blue jeans, a white shirt and a black leather jacket.

"What are you doing here?!" Ron shouted at the sight of Potter, the hall went quiet and everyone looked on with attentive eyes and ears.

"I'm sitting Mr Weasley" Harry calmly replied, before he sipped some juice from his goblet "you see, sitting is when you bend your legs and..."

"I know what sitting is!"

"Wow" Harry said loudly with mock surprise in his voice "and here I thought that you're proudest achievement was the ability to put your clothes on by yourself. You really have gotten smarter since I last saw you"

"Harry" Hermione took over "why are you in Hogwarts and why are you sitting at the head table? That table is only for teachers"

"I'm in Hogwarts because I want to be" Harry answered "also I'm allowed to sit here, since I work here. I am your new defence teacher"

"What?" Dumbledore breathed

"That's right" Harry smirked "I work here now, or at least until they find a replacement, which they'll do in about a week. You see the board was looking for a temporary teacher and I volunteered. Once I'm done here, I will get back to hunting death eaters."

Dumbledore turned a ghostly white and quickly left the hall, he couldn't do anything, especially in front of witnesses. And if he had stayed there any longer, he would have done something drastic. Unfortunately Hermione and Ron didn't have the same idea.

"How could you be a defence teacher? I'm older than you" Hermione argued

"Simple, I'm better" Harry shrugged

"Yeah right" Ron scoffed "what's so good about you?" Everyone in the hall looked at Ron as if he had grown a second head

"It may have escaped your memory" Harry replied in an amused voice "probably because your brain lacks the power to stop it from escaping, but let's ignore that for a second. I am the-boy-who-lived, youngest tri-wizard champion ever, was top of my class and year every year when I attended school, I have beaten Albus Dumbledore with a plate, I've broke examination records with my owls and newts, I've beaten Voldemort multiple times and I hunt death eaters as a hobby. Yet you're questioning my qualifications on a subject that I broke records in in exams and is essential in doing what I do?

I would like to call you stupid but that would be stating the obvious at this point and a waste of time. Instead, I will call you incredibly stupid."

"Don't insult him!" Hermione shouted

"Defending your boyfriend?" Harry asked

"Stop insulting us" Hermione ignored his question "you can't insult him or me. I'm a genius"

"Wow" Harry laughed "for you to be a genius tells me one of three things, the first is your lying while the second is the standards for the word have been set incredibly low, the third is your delusional and that's the one I'm leaning on."

"Harry" Astoria raised her hand

"Yes Mrs Greengrass"

"Where's Ginny?"

"Oh! Great news!" Harry shouted excitedly "Sadly I can't tell you yet but look at a copy of the prophet tomorrow and you'll see. How are classes going by the way?"

"Good, but I suspect they'll be great now that you're teaching"

"You always were such a charmer Tori"

"Would you stop ignoring me?!" Hermione shouted

"Ten points from Gryffindor for disturbing students"

"You can't do that! That's unfair!" Hermione objected

"Yes I can" Harry chuckled "I'm a teacher and shouting at a teacher in the great hall is great grounds for punishment, actually, have a detention with Filch while you're at it."

"Hey" Ron shouted

"The same to you" Harry interrupted before he could say anything "as for it being unfair, life is unfair, get over it. You could complain to Dumbledore but he didn't do anything back when Snape was being unfair so it'd be mighty hypocritical for him to do it now and if he does then I will tell the board about him having double standards. Now, sit down and eat quietly or leave the hall"

The pair glared at him before turning on their heels and storming out, the students cheered as the two left and clapped for their new teacher. Even the teachers clapped a little. Harry thanked everyone and a few minutes later everyone resumed their lunch.

"Forgive me for asking" McGonagall whispered "but why did you decide to work here?"

"A few reasons" Harry whispered back "firstly, I missed everyone. Despite Dumbledore and his dumb duo, I really loved this place. It was my first home, a lot of my family is here but I also get to help the students prepare and learn how to defend themselves. While I'm only here temporarily, it gives me a chance to help them learn a few things. I also needed a bit of experience, I've never really had a job, not a paying one at least.

Besides, in the future I could come back here if I enjoy teaching, hopefully Dumbledore and Voldemort would have been gone by that time."

"I must say, I'm looking forward to working with you. You were always my favourite student, what of Mrs Potter? Where is she?"

"I imagine at home about now" Harry smiled "probably resting. She had recently required a new job, and I promised her I wouldn't tell anybody about it until the news was released in the daily prophet. Needless to say, I believe you will be quite surprised, as will many here."

The two kept talking, soon the other teachers started to join in the conversation. They all began chatting happily, meanwhile the student population were chatting. Some were reminiscing about the days when Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley, now Potter, ruled over the school. Others were stunned at seeing the legendary vigilante Curse and boy-who-lived sitting as the new teacher. Some even realised that the older students knew him, and vowed to ask questions.

Meanwhile, Albus Dumbledore had just entered the hogshead bar, and took a seat. Fortunately the bar was empty, nobody was there, except the barmen. In front of him was Aberforth Dumbledore. Dumbledore's little brother.

"Good evening, Aberforth" Dumbledore greeted

"What happened to you?" Aberforth asked "you look like hell!"

"I've been having troubles with Mr Potter" Albus spat

"Oh" Aberforth said curiously "pray tell, what has Lord Potter done?"

"What hasn't he done?" Dumbledore sighed "I spent years, trying to mould him into the perfect warrior of the light. But instead, he chooses to disobey my every command and has cost me my reputation and fortune. Not to mention he keeps going out as the vigilante known as Curse"

"What's wrong with him being Curse?"

"What's wrong?!" Albus looked at his brother with disbelief "he's a murderer! A cold blooded killer! I've seen pensive memories his victims have left behind, he always leaves one person behind just long enough for the aurors to arrive but they die within minutes after they do. Sometimes he is quick and efficient but other times he plays with his victims like they were toys. Taking delight in slowly killing them, I've seen the memory of one particular incident involving a death eater he had a personal problem against, I trust you heard about him leaving a dead body in the great hall. The body belonged to a man called Warius.

Harry had attacked him and many other death eaters in a bar, he killed them all quickly and efficiently. Apart from Warius and one other, he hit the other death eater with a timed curse that activated about five minutes after his capture and soon his body had become unidentifiable"

"Really?" Aberforth raised an eyebrow

"Yes" Albus nodded "the only one left was Warius, Harry tortured him without a drop of mercy, he struck him with cutting curses and a reducto curse and even shot a metal spike at him. He fired some red spell into Warius's leg before he shoved his wand into the open wound left behind. Then, he used the cruciatus curse from inside Warius's own leg. But he didn't stop, when Warius passed out from pain, Harry revived him and did the same thing a few more times before he finally ended it." Albus sat in silence.

"Why?" Aberforth asked after a short silence

"Why? Why what?"

"Why Warius?" Aberforth expanded "All those death eaters there, so why was he focusing on Warius?"

"Why does it matter?"

"Just answer the question

"I'm not entirely sure about the details" Albus sighed "but I believe that Warius had attacked the former Miss Greengrass"

"Greengrass? As in Daphne Greengrass? I read in the papers that she became a member of the Potter family due to a blood ritual"

"The very same, she is now Daphne Potter. From what I've heard, the two had developed a sibling relationship before the attack."

"When you say Warius attacked her...attacked her how?"

"I'm not sure but he may have raped her"

"Well" Aberforth smiled "good on Potter"

"What?!" Dumbledore jumped in surprise "What do you mean?"

"Albus, look at it from Potters view. The man raped someone he considered family, I don't exactly blame him for what he did. I would've done the same if someone had tried that with our sister" Another awkward silence fell upon the two, after mentally agreeing to avoid that particular topic the two continued talking.

"Aberforth, no matter how right he may have felt, what he did was wrong. Yes, Warius did horrible things, evil things but he was killed as if he was nothing. Potter hadn't even given him a chance at redemption"

"I wish you could hear yourself" Aberforth shook his head "despite all the brain that you think you have, you're still an idiot. Albus, these people don't deserve second chances. Severus, yes he might have, so did those few death eaters that took the dark mark remover. But a lot of them probably did it out of fear of Potter and Severus was the exception, not the rule.

Take Bellatrix Lestrange for example, she kills and tortures for fun and openly admits to supporting Voldemort. She shows no remorse and you still think that she could be redeemed?"

"Aberforth" Dumbledore sighed "to kill makes us no better than those we are trying to stop"

"Bull" Aberforth spat "kill a death eater to save a family, that's what Potter is doing Albus. These people are unredeemable, no matter what you might think. I don't know who died and placed you as master of the universe but for the love of magic, please stop. Potter may be going against whatever grand plan you have but he is effective, soon there won't be any death eaters left and we can all return to peace. I don't know what Potter will do after they're gone, maybe he will join the ministry. Maybe he'll become an assassin, or maybe he'll go into hiding.

But he doesn't seem to be the type who would become the next dark lord. Stop it Albus, stop it before it's too late"

"I cannot do that" Albus stood up "I'm sorry we have to disagree but I will not stop. Both Harry and Tom are dangers and I have to be the one to deal with them."

"Bloody magical hangover cures!" Aberforth exclaimed "Fine, do what you want Albus. You always did, thinking you know best. I will attend your funeral, I'll attend it without the slightest bit of guilt because I know I tried to stop you. I'm not going to bother trying to convince you, we both know you're too stubborn to listen. The whole world could tell you that you're wrong and you wouldn't listen, goodbye brother."

Aberforth stormed off, Dumbledore sighed before he also walked off. He had decided to get some sleep, the next day he would visit one more person.

The next day, Harry entered the great hall at breakfast. He took his seat and ate breakfast while talking with some of the professors, not many students were present. Harry finished his breakfast, he took his goblet with him and was taking sips from it as he walked away.

"Sir" A voice called out, Harry turned to see two first year boys at the Gryffindor table waving at him. One spiky black hair and the other with short sandy hair. They waved him to come over, and Harry obliged.

"What can I do for you, gentlemen?" Harry asked

"My name is John Smith and that's Leo Harrison" The black haired boy introduced himself "We're both muggleborns, we asked some people about you yesterday and this guy called Neville said he was your mate, is that true?"

"Neville Longbottom?" Harry asked, the boys nodded "yeah, he was one of my friends when I came here. Great guy, if you need help win Herbology then you should ask him."

"We read the news today" Leo spoke "is your wife really playing for the harpies?"

"Yeah, she always loved quidditch. She was always good at it as well, well, clearly she's good as she's on the team but you know what I mean. Look, I have to go and prepare for lessons now. If you want to ask more questions I can make sometime for you after class or at the end of the day, how about that?"

"Cool" Leo said

"Brill" Harry smiled "oh, by the way, nice job."

"Nice job on what?" John asked

"Your prank" Harry clarified, and both boys paled slightly

"Don't know what you mean" John said innocently

"I mean how you distracted me and got your mate to discreetly slip something into my cup" Harry grinned "ok, what's in my drink? Answer honestly and you won't get in trouble."

"It's a farting pill" Leo lowered his head "we got them from that shop in Diagon alley"

"The prank shop? The one run by a pair of red headed twins?" Harry asked

"Yes" John confirmed "do you know them?"

"Yeah, me and them used to pull off tons of pranks when we were back at Hogwarts."

"Really?!"

"Yeah" Harry nodded "let me tell you a bit of history. My dad and his group of friends were the top pranksters when they were at school, they were called the marauders. They were brilliant at pranks, but they were also pretty smart.

By the time I came to Hogwarts, the twins were already known pranksters. I was pretty good so me and the twins worked together to prank nearly everyone. I've lost count of the amount of times we've pranked the entire school. They pranked everyone openly, me and wife did just as many pranks but we did it in a way that nobody could prove it was us and assumed that the twins did it."

"That's awesome" Leo breathed, at that moment Albus Dumbledore walked in and walked over to his seat. He sat and began eating.

"I know, now I don't want to get late but before I go I'll give you a good piece of advice. The best pranks are the ones that nobody can prove you did. Watch this"

Harry sat next to them and directed their gaze at Dumbledore, when Dumbledore was distracted by a nearby conversation. Harry stood up and grinned evilly.

"Well, my work here is done."

"But you didn't do anything" John pointed out

"No" Harry shook his head "I didn't do anything you could see or prove, just like how I advised you to prank in the future."

"What did you do?" Leo asked

"I used a switching spell to swap my goblet with the headmasters, congratulations boys, you just helped me prank the headmaster"

Harry walked off, smirking as he did, leaving two stunned first years. However they were quickly brought out of their thought by the echo of a fart that originated from the head table.

"Albus Dumbledore!" McGonagall shouted with disgust

"It wasn't my fault!" Dumbledore insisted

"Not your fault?" McGonagall repeated "Don't give me that rubbish!"

"Really, I…" He was cut off by another fart

"Oh Merlin!" Sprout exclaimed as the smell finally reached her nose.

"I got this" Flitwick said as he shot various spells to get rid of the smell "There we go, now Albus, for the love of purified air, please leave"

Albus growled under his breath, but reluctantly stood up and went to his office. Leaving tons of gas behind him as he did, he cursed knowing exactly who did this and cursed louder knowing he had no proof.

Soon Harry had begun teaching, he taught before as the leader of the DA, so he was confident it wouldn't be too much of a challenge. First he had the first years, they all stared at him as if he was the heir of Merlin. He was but he wasn't going to tell them that, at the end of the first lesson the students walked out and couldn't stop talking about how great Harry was. The rest of the classes were like that, now Harry had to teach the current seventh years. The year he would be in, if he was still at school.

"Alright guys" Harry said as everyone sat down, Neville sat at the front besides Daphne and the pair gave him an encouraging smile.

Ron looked grumpy, he had wanted to sit as back as possible but Hermione sat at the front and he didn't want to be stuck with the Slytherin's. So he sat with her, Hermione had sat at the front because she wanted to know how Harry would teach and was prepared to go to Dumbledore the second she had a good reason to do so.

"Now" Harry continued "for those of you who don't know who I am, all I have to say is why? I am Harry Potter and I will teach you lot defence, for this week at least. Now, I have always preferred practical learning over theoretical learning. How about you guys, who prefers theory?" Hermione immidietley raised her hand, everyone else thought about it. Even those who usually preferred theory, didn't have the same thoughts when it came to magic. Nobody else raised their hand.

"What about practical?" Harry asked and nearly every hand went up, apart from Ron's of course. "Brilliant, well put those books away and follow me"

Soon they did, the class followed Harry out and to another classroom where a duelling platform was set up. Harry jumped on top of the platform and turned to address the crowd.

"Now, today we're going to have mock duels. The rules are simple, no unforgivables, obviously. No harmful curses that can do permeant damage, and at the of the duel me or my assistant will give you advice on how to improve." Hermione raised her hand

"Yes?" Harry nodded

"You're assistant?" She asked "Who is your assistant?"

"Didn't I say?" Harry said in mock surprise "I'm talking about her" Harry gestured to Ginny who just walked onto the platform and stood side by side with Harry.

"Ginny?!" Ron blurted out "What are you doing here?!"

"My husband invited me to help out, and see my friends" Ginny answered "really thoughtful of him, seeing as I don't have much free time to talk with them because I'm playing for the harpies"

It had become common knowledge by now that Ginny played for the Holyhead harpies, this annoyed Ron for multiple reasons. The first being she didn't join the cannons, the second being she was younger than him, the third was the fact that it meant that she was better at quidditch than him and the fourth was the fact that it meant Ginny had already showed him up and was more special than him. And Ginny knew that.

"By the way Daphne" Ginny continued "I've got you and Astoria some tickets to the next game"

"Awesome!" Daphne shouted

"Yes, yes, you can talk later" Harry interjected "now let's get on with it"

Soon the duels started, first Ron was paired up with Neville. Neville stood calmly, with his wand ready, Ron stood as arrogant and confident as possible. Harry saw Neville's stance and smiled, he saw Ron's stance and cringed. Ron's entire attitude when it came to duelling made Harry angry, it was as if Ron had personally insulted him. He was going to do something, but decided not to deprive Neville of the opportunity.

"Ok" Harry called out "three, two, one...go!"

Ron pulled his wand back and prepared to fire off a spell, but Neville was quicker and fired off a stunner. Ron instantly crumpled and fell to the floor.

"Neville wins" Harry said before he revived Ron "well done Neville, good stance and brilliant speed. A good amount of power as well, remember to keep practising."

"Thanks Professor" Neville blushed under the praise

"Come on Mr Weasley, off the platform"

"What? No way, I wasn't ready!"

"Yes you were" Harry responded "you were both given a good amount of time to prepare, Neville took up a duelling stance, a pretty good one, and prepared to fire. You stood with your feet wide and facing forwards, that left you more open to being hit. You should've copied Neville and stood sideways so to reduce your target area."

"He took me off guard! I didn't know we were supposed to start!" Ron argued

"The countdown didn't clue you in?" Harry raised an eyebrow

"I wasn't paying attention! I could beat anybody here if I was ready!"

"In a real fight, your enemies won't wait for you to be ready. But, being the nice soul I am, I'll give you another chance. If you can beat Ginny, then I'll let you advance to the next round."

"Fine" Ron stood up, this time he actually did take up a stance. It was a horrible copy of Neville's but it was better than before. Ginny stood opposite him and also took up her stance.

"Ron" Harry said "this time, you can fire the first spell. The duel will start whenever you're ready"

Ron looked at his sister, if he couldn't beat her in quidditch then he would at least beat her in duelling. After all, he was a boy and she was a girl, no way would she win. Dumbledore himself, taught him so he could help in the order.

"Stupefy!" Ron bellowed and a beam shot at Ginny. Ginny was unfazed and non-verbally put up a shield to stop the stunner, she then quickly fired off a bat bogey hex followed by an Expelliarmus and a body bind. The result was Ron lying perfectly still on the floor while his own bogeys attacked his face.

"Ginny wins" Harry said as he stopped the spells, not because he wanted to do so but more because they had to get on with the lesson. But he and Ginny were definitely watching this again in their pensive. "Better this time Mr Weasley, but you were still overconfident. Every fight you must treat each and every opponent as if they were Voldemort himself, never underestimate anyone. Now off the platform, other people have to duel as well." Ron grumbled and stormed off the platform and out of the classroom.

"The next time you see him can someone please tell him that he has lost Gryffindor twenty points and has detention with Filch tonight."

The duels continued, Parvati beat Lavender, Seamus barley beat Dean, Nott just about beat Blaise. Each and every one received advice on how to improve from Harry and Ginny. Soon it was time for Daphne to battle Hermione.

"Okay, ready?" Harry asked Daphne, who nodded in confirmation "Ready?" He asked Hermione who did the same. "Okay, I want you to start in three, two, one!"

Hermione immediately fired a stunner, Daphne put up a shield. Hermione then fired a disarming curse which Daphne dodged, Daphne fired a leg locker curse which Hermione quickly countered. Harry had to admit that Hermione had at least a small amount of skill, she'd be destroyed in a real fight but she would probably last at least a few seconds longer than Weasley.

The duel continued for several minutes, Hermione kept trying as many spells as she could but they weren't working. Daphne always blocked or dodged or ducked the spells, it was clear that Daphne wasn't trying and that infuriated Hermione. Hermione was getting quite tired, as evident by the sweat pouring from her face.

Hermione shot a curse at Daphne that was designed to make your vision blurry, Daphne blocked it before aiming a reducto at Hermione's feet as she remembered Harry telling her that's what he did when he fought Voldemort. The ground below exploded and Hermione flew back and landed on her back, her wand flew out of her hand and she was hit by a body bind.

"The winner is Daphne". Harry announced as he freed Hermione "Now Daphne, well done and keep practising, your shields are brilliant"

"Of course they are" Daphne said, as if it was ridiculous to expect anything less.

"Hermione" Harry ignored her comment "I have to admit, that wasn't that bad but you definitely need to practise more. Your first problem is your stamina, I'd recommend physical exercise"

"Physical exercise?!" Hermione blurted out in surprise

"Yes, knowledge can only take you so far" Harry replied "and let's talk about your knowledge, it's clear that you know a lot of spells and that's good but at the moment it's slowing you down"

"What do you mean?!"

"When you're duelling, you're wasting time wondering what spells you can do. A simple spell that you've practised ten times is way better than a fancy spell that you've practised once. Those spells are good in a duel, if you can improve on them but in a real fight they won't be using any advanced spells, they'll be using cutting curses and bone breakers and the unforgivables.

Power is great but so is speed, you have to be quick and efficient. The same goes for you Daphne, finish your opponent off as fast as you can. Even if you think you're winning, don't get confident, they could turn the tables on you at any time"

"Yes, sorry Professor" Daphne smiled sheepishly before walking off. Harry extended his hand to help Hermione up but she ignored it and stood up before walking off the platform and re-joining her classmates. Ginny saw that and looked absolutely pissed, Harry didn't need a mental connection to tell she wanted to hex Hermione.

Soon the duels continued, and the final round consisted of Neville and Daphne. It was a gruelling duel, both were rapidly firing spells. Neither were giving an inch, everyone couldn't help but look impressed. It lasted a whole ten minutes, that was when Daphne had an idea.

She blasted a jet of water at Neville which Neville shielded against, when the water dropped to the floor she fired a freezing spell and the water turned into ice and Neville's feet were frozen in place. A disarming curse later and she had won.

"Well done!" Harry and Ginny clapped "Brilliant Daphne, well done, I'm so proud of you. Well done all of you, you all have room to improve but today was bloody fantastic. Forty points to Gryffindor for our runner up Neville and fifty points to our winner, Daphne Potter!"

The crowd clapped and cheered for the blushing Slytherin, who waved and she got off. The lesson then ended but many stayed back to talk with Harry and Ginny.

Meanwhile Dumbledore was sat opposite an old friend of his, he sat opposite Gellert Grindelwald. Dumbledore didn't visit his old friend very much, but he occasionally talked to him when he needed help.

"So...what can I do for you Albus?" Gellert asked "I doubt this is a social visit"

"As sharp as ever" Dumbledore sighed before rubbing his eyes

"Must be big if it can make you look like that" Grindelwald commented "you run out of lemon drops or something?"

"My problems are due to Mr Potter" Dumbledore explained

"Ah, Mr Potter" Gellert smiled "of course they do, you know one thing I like about this place, is the fact that I can still read the news here."

"So I take it you know all about his 'hobby'?"

"If you mean hunting death eaters then yes" Grindelwald nodded "I remember when you first came to talk to me about Mr Potter, years and years ago, you told me about how you thought he could become a perfect warrior of the light. I remember laughing on your face and telling you not to get your hopes up, once again, I was right."

"I don't know what to do" Albus admitted

"There's not much you can do" Grindelwald replied "I told you, you shouldn't have tried to make Potter something he wasn't. Perhaps if you left things to proceed naturally then everything would be fine but you interfered one too many times."

"But there must be a way! I need a way to bring Harry back in to the light!"

"The light?" Grindelwald scoffed "Give me a break Albus, this is not a playground where everything is divided in-between good and evil."

"Harry said the same thing"

"He has more sense than you! The boy is out there stopping death eaters and you're complaining about him not doing it your way!"

"Gellert, he's killing them! Killing them, denying them a chance to reform!"

"Reform?" Grindelwald laughed "You think those monsters are capable of reforming? Some of them have done stuff that I wouldn't dare do and you still think they can be redeemed!"

"Many would say the same about you" Dumbledore argued

"Look Albus" Grindelwald sighed "I admit that I've done things I'm not proud of, I don't necessarily agree that my reasons were wrong, but I will admit that my methods were. But like I said, those scum are worse than I ever was, fortunately they just aren't as good or they would have brought the country to its knees by now."

"So you think that Harry is right?"

"is there really a right when it comes to this type of situation?" Grindelwald countered "But the way I see it, you have to choose between trying to resolve this in a nice way or trying to resolve it in an effective way. You may not like his methods but Potter is effective and based off what I've heard and what you've told me, I doubt that he's going to take over as the dark lord once you and Voldy are gone.

If you want my advice, stay out of the way and let Potter end this. Retire Albus, enjoy whatever you have left of life and stop acting as protector of the universe. Nobody wants you to, if you keep this up then you will get hurt if your lucky but you will probably get killed"

"I can't do that" Albus shook his head "Harry might not become the next dark lord, but what if he does? I can't rest knowing I've let another potential dark lord free to terrorise the world"

"It's your funeral" Grindelwald sighed "you always were too stubborn for your own good, goodbye Albus. I likely won't see you again, so I just wanted to tell you that knowing you has been...an experience" A small smile made its way onto Dumbledore's face.

"Likewise" He stood and walked off.

"Bloody hell Albus" Grindelwald whispered to himself "You stubborn, stubborn man"

Soon Albus made his way back to Hogwarts, on his way to his office he met Professor McGonagall, who was looking undeniably pleased with something. Ever the curious being, Albus approached her and asked why she looked so happy.

"It's Mr Potter" McGonagall smiled "He's only been teaching here a day and everyone loves him"

"Are you sure?"

"Oh yes, well apart from Granger and Weasley but they're biased. The two of them have made complaints but I've looked into them and found that they were entirely untrue and Mr Potter had done nothing wrong. Everyone else loves him, I can pick out random students who have attended his class and they all love him"

"Are you sure you're not exaggerating?"

"Exaggerating?" McGonagall took Dumbledore's words like a challenge "Mr Smith, Mr Harrison" She called out to the first students who she saw. The two walked over, with innocent faces but were hoping that they hadn't got in trouble for their prank earlier.

"Yes Professor?" They both asked at the same time

"I'd like both of your opinions on Professor Potter" McGonagall spoke softly

"He's brilliant!" John exclaimed

"Yeah, he's awesome!" Leo added

"Really?" McGonagall glanced at Dumbledore before returning her attention to the two first years "May I ask why you think that?"

"Well he's a good teacher" Leo explained "he's fun and he explains everything in a way that's easy to understand. Plus he helps out in other subjects as well"

"What do you mean?" Dumbledore asked

"Well" John decided to answer "I was having trouble with charms, and he came up and gave me advice and now I'm like a hundred times better at it."

"He helped me with transfigurations" Leo smiled

"Really?" Professor McGonagall asked

"Yes, now I can transform my match stick into a needle with barley any effort. He's my favourite teacher, no offense Professor"

"None taken" McGonagall replied

"Miss" John spoke "Do you think you could convince him to stay for longer than a week?" He asked with pleading eyes

"Absolutely not" Dumbledore walked off

"I apologise" McGonagall...apologised "the headmaster and Mr Potter..." She paused, trying to find the right way to explain it.

"They don't like each other" Leo said

"They hare each other." She confirmed "Unfortunately, Mr Potter will be leaving at the end of the week and he is very stubborn so don't bother trying to change his mind. But if we're lucky then he may return later this year, or perhaps next year."

"That's a shame" John sighed "it's awesome having a teacher who is a vigilante and has a celebrity wife."

"Yes, I can see the appeal" McGonagall replied "now off to your lessons"

"Yes Professor" The two smiled before turning and leaving

"And no detours" She called out, and the two boys groaned before walking off.

A week passed and Dumbledore sat in his office, thinking, as he usually did. He was incredibly worried, the horcrux at the shack wasn't there. He had Mr Weasley and Miss Granger accompany him to the cave and the one there was a fake, he still didn't know where the rest of Tom's horcruxes were or what they are.

But someone did, was it Harry? Did he discover the horcruxes? Did he know that he was one? He wasn't sure what to do anymore, everyone kept telling him he was wrong. The staff, his brother, Grindelwald and nearly everyone else, not counting a few diehard supporters.

Today was Harry's last day of teaching, Dumbledore was a bit annoyed at how depressed everyone looked about the fact that he was leaving. He couldn't believe how the boy he tried to make humble and weak was in fact so strong and powerful. Not to mention an arrogant brat, oh Merlin, he's turning into Severus.

He was brought out of his thought by a knock on his door, Hagrid entered. Dumbledore smiled, Hagrid, kind and caring Hagrid was the one person he could always trust.

"You wanted to see me Professor?" Hagrid asked

"Yes Hagrid, I was wondering what you think of Harry?"

"Harry Potter? He's bloody brilliant! Never met a nicer boy, his parents would be proud. Ah, James and Lily, miss the pair greatly. They'd be so proud of young Harry, I would be, in fact I am. He gets along so well with all the animals, and I've heard from a few of the students that he's a good teacher. Shame he isn't working here permanently"

"Really?" Dumbledore asked, internally he was seething at the amount of popularity Harry has. "Hagrid, I wanted to ask you a question. You are aware about the disagreement between me and Mr Potter?"

"He did mention it a few times" Hagrid admitted

"I was wondering, I know you are fond of the boy but if you had to choose between me and him then who would you side with?"

"Well, the answer's obvious, ain't it?" Hagrid replied

"Of course" Dumbledore smiled, of course it was obvious "I..."

"Harry" Hagrid said

"What?" Dumbledore frowned

"I'd side with Harry" Hagrid answered "Never met a person I'd trust more"

"But...But...You...Hagrid...You...But...I...Dumbledore...Lemon drop...Hagrid...But...You...But...WHAT?!" Dumbledore was pretty sure that reality just broke "You'd side with him against me?!"

"I'd side with Harry against anybody" Hagrid replied

"But...I'm Dumbledore!"

"I know sir, I've been working for you all my life"

"I gave you a job! I defended you! You owe me!" Dumbledore raged once he took several moments to get over his shock.

"That's your argument is it?" Hagrid asked with amusement "You might have given me a job but don't think I haven't noticed you paying me less than the minimum wage"

"You...noticed that?" Dumbledore managed to keep a calm face

"Not at first, but Harry pointed it out then I asked the other professor and they confirmed it." Hagrid admitted "It must have been nice giving me a job and keeping me in your debt while saving money at the same time"

"I still defended you in the chamber incident" Dumbledore argued, ignoring Hagrids comment

"Yes you did" Hagrid agreed "but you never worked out what the monster was, someone as smart as you didn't work out what the monster was."

"Please Hagrid, only Harry knows and that's because he's the only one who can get into the chamber"

"I know" Hagrid replied "Harry showed me what it was one day, took me down to meet it. I can't tell you what or where it is, Harry put me under an unbreakable vow so don't bother trying to read my mind" Dumbledore paled

"Yes I know all about that" Hagrid continued "And I know that my old man paid you to help me, you didn't defend me because it was the right thing to do. All of these years I had supported you, I would've gave my life for you but then I find out that you dropped poor Harry with those muggles.

Me and McGonagall trusted you, ya said Harry would be looked after. You know how guilty I felt when I heard that Harry tried to kill himself? All because I trusted you and brought him so you could give him to those bloody muggles."

"Hagrid, you cannot talk to me like that!"

"Oh yeah, what are you going to do?" Hagrid spoke defiantly

"You are fired!" Dumbledore screamed

"Fine by me" Hagrid shrugged "I've had a backup job ready for years, a good friend of mine said I could work for him whenever I wanted"

"What job?! Who?!"

"That would be me" A voice called out, Dumbledore looked right and found Harry Potter calmly eating an apple and leaning against the wall "nice to know you replaced this wall after I blasted it, I felt very bad about that. Well, I actually didn't, it was fun"

"What are you doing here?!" Dumbledore demanded

"Eating an apple" Harry shrugged "alright Hagrid?"

"Alright Harry" Hagrid smiled "I'm ready to take you up on that job offer"

"About time mate" Harry vanished the apple "I was wondering if you'd ever accept"

"What job?!" Dumbledore repeated his one of his previous questions.

"Hagrid works for me now" Harry smiled "you see, at my home I have a large variety of creatures. Unicorns, thestrals, Runespoors, tigers, lions, Hippogriffs and dragons. I'm hiring Hagrid to help out, I'm providing him with the ground keepers hut at my house and that hut is roughly three times as big as Hagrids current one."

"Can I bring Fluffy? And Buckbeak?" Hagrid asked hopefully

"Course you can, you can bring any animal not owned by the school. I'll give you a portkey, and I'll have the elves bring your stuff home. Tomorrow I'll come and show you around" Harry conjured up a piece of rope and turned it into a portkey, he tossed it to Hagrid who disappeared as soon as it came into contact.

"Well Dumbledore" Harry said with amusement "life is funny isn't it? You've lost your most loyal supporter when you tried to make me your most loyal supporter, and dumb old Hagrid was smart enough to work out that you weren't exactly perfect. It's a crying shame."

"What do you want?" Dumbledore spoke as calmly as he could, which was incredibly hard to do so.

"Not much" Harry shrugged "food, sex and live in a world without Voldemort or his death eaters. I'm incredibly close to achieving the last one, I've nearly singlehandedly killed all the death eaters. By my rough estimate, there are only about a fifty or so left. Plus Voldemort, soon it'll all come to an end."

"It's pointless arguing with you isn't it?" Dumbledore sighed

"Yes" Harry chuckled "It's a shame it took you all of your money, fame and friends to make you see that."

"You still cannot convince me that I'm wrong" Dumbledore replied "I don't agree with your methods at all"

"Why is that? Can you give me a reason? An actual reason besides 'you are going dark' or 'this is not the way'?" Dumbledore didn't answer "I thought not, Albus I am so close to ending this war. Do not let your pride and ego and your code get in the way of me doing what needs to be done"

"And what exactly 'needs to be done'?" Dumbledore spat

"Me stopping these people so I can save everyone else" Harry answered "a few for many, all for the 'greater good' as you like to call it. You're no stranger to the idea, in fact I know you favour it"

"And what is that supposed to mean?!"

"Nothing" Harry calmly walked to the open door, he stopped just before he went through it and smiled at Dumbledore "just that you had no problems with sacrificing me, that was your plan wasn't it?"

"You...you knew?" Dumbledore couldn't believe it

"If you're referring to the fact that you wanted Voldemort to kill me at the right moment so the horcrux in my head would be destroyed then yes, I do." Harry replied "I don't know what you were planning to do after all of his horcruxes were destroyed, maybe you were going to kill him. Perhaps that's why you don't want me to do it, you don't want me to steal your glory. Or maybe you wanted to capture him or 'reform and redeem' him. Either way, your plan won't work, I've got all of his horcruxes and I've nearly destroyed them all. Yes, even the locket and ring. The real locket, not the fake one that was left in the cave"

"That was you?!" Dumbledore shouted accusingly

"No, Sirius Black's younger brother actually. Turned on Voldemort and gave the locket to Kreatcher to try and destroy, Kreatcher gave it to me and I destroyed it before giving it back to Voldemort. I've destroyed all of his horcruxes, except the ring but I'm going to do that soon. The rest of them are all destroyed, even the one in my scar"

"Impossible!"

"We live in a world of magic, the only limits are the ones we make"

Harry walked out, leaving a seething and rage induced Dumbledore. Dumbledore was furious, at least one of his concerns was answered but how did Harry know about the horcruxes? How did Harry get it out of his scar? Was Harry lying?

No, the only thing Dumbledore knew was the fact that Harry had outsmarted him. Harry had cost him his fame, his reputation, his money, his political power and ruined his plans. Dumbledore had to stop him, he had to stop him, no matter what and he had to do it soon. If Harry could turn Hagrid of all people against him then he could do anything.