Harry ignored the stitch in his side and his chest screaming for oxygen, but instead, continued to sprint through the blissfully empty Hogwarts corridors refusing to pause and catch his breath. Through short breaths, he heaved "Isla Haddow" to the griffin and sprinted up the steps two at a time. Finally, he hunched over with his hands on his knees, trying to breathe deeply; but, he caught sight of the time on his watch and after cursing under his breath, threw open the doors in front of him.

"I'm so sorry, Professor. I know I'm late." The door shut behind him with a satisfying thud and he made his way up to McGonagall's desk with an expression that he hoped was remorseful.

"Harry, so kind of you to join us," she said dryly, barely turning away from Bill who was already sitting in front of the desk in what was clearly one of his best sets of robes.

"I'll be better about watching the time, I promise," Harry said hastily as he approached the desk.

"Best not make promises you can't keep." Harry snorted and fell into the seat beside Bill. "Now that we are all here, I'll go get the papers." She disappeared into the back end of the office and faint rustles reached the ears of the two newest Hogwarts Professors.

"That's a very professional look you're going for," Bill remarked with a smirk, eyeing Harry's converse, jeans, and flannel over a plain t-shirt.

"Yeah, yeah. I see you took this to be a very formal meeting."

"It is basically the first day of the job, Harry."

"Not really. But you still didn't have to one-up me."

"What, by being on time?"

"Exactly." Bill didn't have time to retort because the Headmistress returned from her search in the back and promptly interrupted.

"Right. So as I mentioned earlier in summer, Bill wants to work for either three or four days every week. Harry, have you decided how often you want to teach?" Her hands rested on top of each other on the parchments that she refused to reveal and looked expectantly at him through her square rimmed glasses.

"Yes. I think I've decided on two days."

"Wonderful. Then Bill will work Mondays through Wednesdays and Harry, you will work Thursdays and Fridays. Now, do either of you have a preference for which years you teach? I already have Bill down for teaching the seventh years." Bill and Harry glanced at each other, equally apprehensive to share their opinions. "Speak now or forever hold your peace until next year," McGonagall said tartly, not missing their shared glance.

"Okay, well I don't particularly want to teach the really young kids," Harry admitted. Not only did he feel completely inadequate in his understanding of young children, although his ineptitude at taking care of Teddy was slowly improving, but he also reasoned that maybe kids would be less awkward around him if they were a bit older. Harry would have been a student at the same time as them, so they wouldn't act so completely awe-struck, right?

"I'll take the first and second years then," Bill said, leaning against the arm of his chair.

"Wonderful. I'm sure you've had practice with the little ones as the oldest in your family," McGonagall commented as she tapped the parchment in front of her with her wand. "So Bill will have the first, second, sixth, and seventh years then, and Harry will take the middle three. Good?" She looked up at them and they both nodded their agreement.

"Good," she confirmed to herself. "Next order of business is the expectations for all Professors at this school. First, I feel compelled to mention that punctuality is very important." She fixed a stern gaze on Harry who bit back a smirk. Bill, on the other hand, did not even attempt to hide a chuckle. "Also, since there are no other Gryffindor Professors yet, I will have to ask you to both be heads of the house for the days that you are here. I'll step in as needed over the weekends when neither of you are at the castle, but I will need you to be here on the Hogsmeade weekends." They both nodded to show that they were listening, and she pressed on.

"Bill, you were a prefect and head boy, so I assume you remember some of these next rules, but be aware that some may have changed. As Professors, you will both be able to assign detentions as well as award and deduct points from the houses. Here is a list of the appropriate scenarios for both." She removed two slips of parchment from her small stack and passed them over the desk.

"Hang on, I can take away points from any student, yeah?" Harry clarified, failing to hide his growing smile.

"Yes," McGonagall replied, drawing out the single syllable as she squinted slightly. "Any particular reason that you ask?"

"No, just wondering," Harry lied as he thought about how much fun he could have with his friends returning as students this year.

"You worry me, Potter," she commented and looked back down at her parchments. She adjusted her spectacles to cover her small smile.

"Here are your schedules." Harry took the next sheet of parchment. "And here are the requirements for what each year is expected to learn and know." Another sheet was passed out. "The teacher's copy of each grade's textbook is in your offices which I will show you after we are done here, and…" McGonagall listed all of the other expectations, new programs, rules, and where to find what (which Harry thought was hardly necessary, but kept quiet all the same) before standing from her desk and asking them to follow her to their new offices.

"Oh that reminds me," the headmistress commented suddenly as the griffin spun on its dias to let them pass. "A note will appear on each of your desks whenever I change the password for my office. If anyone else besides you reads it, it'll appear blank so be careful not to let anyone throw it away." Harry fell into step beside her, with Bill on his other side and they continued marching up to the third floor.

McGonagall opened the familiar door to room 3C and led them into the nostalgic space. The floor was paneled in wood and desks lined the room, all facing the curved staircase that led to the professor's office. High arching windows let the sun fall in strips onto the desks, but Minerva did not stop to appreciate it. She marched through the rows of desks, past the empty desk at the front, and led the way up the staircase at the far end of the room.

"Here we are." She stood against the railing of the staircase to create enough room for them both to stand on the small platform where two dark wooden doors stood. "As you can see, the castle has created a second office so that you can each have your own space." Bill opened the door on the left that had his name on the plaque.

"Brilliant," he said as he began to examine the room. Harry, however, stood outside the door on the right, staring avidly at the plaque that read 'Professor Potter.'

"That one's yours, Potter," McGonagall said softly. Harry started and turned to see her watching him carefully.

"Er… right. It just sounds weird," he muttered and pushed the door open to reveal his office. His office. It still didn't sound quite right. The walls formed a near perfect circle with the left side forming a straight wall against Bill's office next door. Dark wooden shelves lined the front half of the room along with a fireplace, and an empty desk stood before him with a matching chair behind it. An iron chandelier sent light into the room along with the two windows behind the desk. Beside that, the room was rather empty. There were no dark detectors, nor pink lace or cat china, and no photographs of any kind.

"You're each allowed to decorate them however you would like, of course," McGonagall answered his unspoken question from just outside the door. "And your textbooks are on the front desk in the classroom." Harry made his way back to the small platform outside his office to see Bill already leaning against the doorframe of his. "Any questions?

"Just one," Bill said rather quickly. "Is there any way to securely lock this door? I don't feel comfortable knowing a bored Harry might be just on the other side." McGonagall opened her mouth, but was promptly cut off.

"I think I should be more worried. You're the one related to Fred and George, after all," Harry snapped without thinking. Suddenly, the reality of the war came crashing over them all in a collective wave. Harry's stomach sank and Bill's smile fell far too easily.

"Well…," McGonagall said after a minute of silence. "You can use any spell that you'd like to lock your office." Bill nodded and quickly grasped onto their old conversation.

"Right, thanks."

"And I will see you both on September first!" Her voice was forcefully cheerful and her smile failed to reach her eyes. "Yes, I know it's not your day to teach, Harry, but I would like you both to be at the Welcome Feast to introduce you to the students."

"I rather doubt he needs an introduction, being the Chosen One and all that," Bill said while eyeing Harry to gauge his reaction.

"Seeing as that's what he's most known for, maybe that's how I should introduce him," Professor McGonagall mused thoughtfully.

"Oh, shove off," Harry said reproachfully, his cheeks already blushing.

"That's a rather rude way to speak to your boss." She raised one eyebrow and cocked her head at Harry.

"Sorry, Minnie. Force of habit, I'm afraid." He grinned shamefully. She shook her head and raised a hand in farewell before making her way out of the classroom and onto her next meeting.

"Guess it's official now," Bill commented as he shut the office door behind him so the golden letters reading 'Professor Weasley' could be seen.

"Guess so. Are you coming to the Burrow for lunch?"

"I think so. This didn't take as long as I expected so I might as well." Bill started down the staircase.

"Hang on." Bill paused and turned on the step with his hand still on the railing. "Don't we have fireplaces in here we can use?"

"Oh yeah. Blimey, I already forgot." He made his way back up the stairs. "We can use my fireplace so we don't arrive at the same time." Harry closed his own office door, followed Bill into his nearly identical office, and stepped into the fireplace with a handful of floo powder.

"HARRY!" The screech reached his ears before the green flames died down. Instinctively, he reached for his wand as soon as he stepped out of the fireplace, and quickly scanned the room.

"Harry! Look!" Hermione screeched again with a letter in her hand. Mrs. Weasley was in the background squeezing her daughter as tightly as she could and Ron was leaning against the wall next to George.
"What are you doing here?" he asked tentatively, just as Bill stepped out behind him. Hermione had moved back into her childhood home for the rest of summer to spend much-needed time with her parents.

"I'M HEAD GIRL!" she bounced up and down, still gripping the letter.

"Wow! Congratulations!"

"Thanks!" She said as Harry hugged her. They pulled apart and Harry looked at Ginny with his brows furrowed in confusion, who was still being held tightly by her mum.

"Ginny is Head Girl too," she explained. "And so is Luna. Some hufflepuff named Thomas Murphy is the Head Boy. I never-"

"Wait, there's three Head Girls this year?" Harry interrupted.

"Yes. Professor McGonagall said in the letter that she couldn't choose between us and she wanted the extra help with the new programs that she's starting to create inter-house unity and help the muggle-borns feel more at home. She hasn't said what exactly she's thinking of, but I'm sure they'll be great and I have a few ideas that I'll talk to her about, too."

"Brilliant. That's brilliant, Hermione," Harry said, stemming her non-stop flow of excitement for a moment. Ginny had finally escaped her teary-eyed mother who left the room mumbling about messaging Arthur and she approached Harry and Hermione.

"Congrats on being Head Girl, Ginny! That's great news," Harry said and he gave her a quick hug.

"Thanks, Harry! And I'm the Gryffindor Quidditch captain, too." She beamed at him in pride, clearly more excited at the prospect of her Quidditch duties.

"I knew it! Congrats!"

"But, I'm not sure how good the team will be this year. Basically everyone from the old team graduated and chances are, the rest will be out of practice too."

"That's true. But, I remember there were a few from your year that tried out for the team and were all right…" They began a lengthy and in depth conversation about Quidditch and essentially began debating the potential of random students. Sometime in the beginning of the strategy session, Hermione slipped away from the conversation and began talking to Bill off to the side. After Mrs. Weasley announced a big family dinner to celebrate, Hermione stepped outside to apparate home and invite her parents. Ron eventually joined the Quidditch conversation and the afternoon slipped away into the night.

Just past 6 o'clock, Hermione arrived with her parents in their car and met the assembled Weasleys inside. Her two parents were beaming with pride at their daughter and chatted happily with the rest. Hermione even forgot to chastise George and Harry for crashing the tables into each other mid air, as per tradition. The dinner went smoothly and even though Charlie couldn't come on such short notice, Percy, Bill, and Fleur came for Mrs. Weasley's excellent home-cooking and to congratulate the two Gryffindor girls.

"We can just floo to my office instead of the Common Room if you want, Hermione," Harry said over his shoulder. His hands were full since he carried a large box full of random pictures and decorations and his wand was left uselessly in his back pocket. Yet, even with his occupied concentration, he still easily recognized Hermione tutting behind him.

"No, Harry. We can't. Have you still not read Hogwarts: a History?" she said tersely.

"I've been a bit busy this past year, Hermione."

"Well, if you read it, you would know that you can only floo to an office fireplace from one location of the occupant's choosing," she recited.

"But, I am the occupant and I flooed here from my office just a few days ago." Harry stopped at the fireplace of the Burrow and set the box on the floor so that he could turn easily to face Hermione.

"You can go to any fireplace connected to the floo network from the office, but you can only get to each office from one fireplace that you choose. It's a safety precaution."

"Okay, so I guess we're going to the Common Room, then?"

"Correct." With a heavy sigh of annoyance, he picked up the box again and balanced it carefully in one hand while the other gripped a handful of powder. In a swirl of green flames, he spun into the Gryffindor Common Room, followed by Ron and Hermione.

"So, I'll meet you in your new office after I talk with McGonagall," Hermione announced as they climbed through the portrait hole. "Do you know where she is, Harry?"

"I didn't bring the map, but I'd try her office." Hermione nodded and the three made their way down the floors of the Hogwarts castle, using their expansive knowledge of secret passageways to cut the time down considerably. They stepped out of one such passageway on the fourth floor and the sound of chattering children reached them, startling the quiet of the seemingly empty corridors.

"What's that?" Ron asked after shutting the portrait closed behind him.

"Dunno," Harry replied, peering down the corridor. "Seems like it's coming from the library though." Without a word, the three set off in the direction of the voices and their questions were quickly answered.

As they rounded the corner and the library entrance came into view, a group of children and their parents were standing in a half circle around the Headmistress. The cluster of people were all dressed in muggle clothing, so McGonagall's wilting pointed hat stood out among the crowd.

"Oh," Hermione said in a moment of realization, always one step ahead of the two boys. "It must be the muggle-borns getting a tour. I went to one before first year too, but I completely forgot about it!"

"What are you three up to?" McGonagall's shrill voice reached them at the end of the hallway. Harry and Ron turned away from Hermione to see Minerva parting the crowd and striding toward them as the new prospective students shuffled slightly behind her.

"Nothing!" Harry replied defensively. She cocked her head and raised one eyebrow in clear disbelief.

"Really, Potter?" She crossed her arms.

"I'm just here to decorate my office." He raised the box in front of him as proof. "And Hermione came to talk to you about something to do with being Head Girl."

"Hmm. Well then," Her arms dropped and she turned back to the muggle-borns and muggles. "Let me introduce you all to a Professor and one of your Head Girls this year. This is Hermione Granger, a seventh year Gryffindor; Harry Potter, one of our Defense Against the Dark Arts Professors; and Ron Weasley, another Gryffindor who fought in the war too."

"Excuse me, Professor," a kind looking woman asked with a tentative hand raised. "But, isn't he quite young to be a teacher?"

"Yes, he is. But, he is also a special case."

"You're a special case," Ron whispered to him.

"Shove off," he whispered back.

"Potter here is rather famous, actually," He looked at the woman's shoes to avoid eye contact while still being relatively polite. "He is an extremely talented and powerful wizard who can probably beat the majority of the teachers here in a duel. I have complete faith in him."

"Not you though, Professor," Harry said quietly behind her, blushing at her compliment.

"No, certainly not me, Potter. Nor Professor Flitwick, I should think," she responded out of the corner of her mouth. Harry smirked and dropped his gaze to the ground while McGonagall smiled at the crowd. The woman seemed quelled by her response, but someone's daughter certainly was not.

"Potter? I read about you! In one of my books!" She exclaimed excitedly and started pulling on her father's sleeve. Her excitement certainly quelled the woman's worry. If he was good enough to be in a book, then he must be good enough to teach. Even if his mention in the textbook was probably only him as a baby. Surely, the more recent information couldn't be in textbooks yet (but oh, how wrong Harry was in this sense).

"Well perhaps, if you have any questions for your Head Girl and Professor, they could answer a few?" She turned to look at them. Hermione eagerly nodded and Harry shrugged while Ron stood idly by.

"I'm also a muggle-born, so I can answer any questions you have about the transition too," Hermione clarified with a hint of pride that Harry had never noticed before. The group suddenly seemed much more eager and Hermione joined the families and began to answer questions one at a time. Harry shifted the box to one hand to reach his wand in his back pocket. With a quick flick, it floated mid air and he joined the group as well, Ron behind him with his hands in his pockets.

After roughly twenty minutes of talking with the families, the trio continued down to the third floor and to begin to decorate Harry's new office. Hermione decided to stick with them since McGonagall clearly had her hands full. Besides, she could always talk to her at the start of term.

Slowly, his new office was transformed into a far less dismal room. Pictures of the DA, of the trio, Harry's first and last Quidditch team, a single picture he had of Harry with Sirius and Remus, the Weasleys, and the Potters filled his desk and shelves. A Gryffindor banner hung above the fireplace and the same textbooks he used to teach the DA were lined along the shelves. He had a stack of lined paper in the desk drawer and a cup of pens on top, caving in to his muggle upbringing, just as Hermione had.

The three stood at the office doorway, admiring their handiwork.

"It's brilliant," Harry admitted, gazing around his much more colorful office.

"Do you want to set your fireplace now, Harry?" Hermione asked.

"Er… is it easy to change if I need afterward?"

"Yes. As long as you're the one to change it, it should work since it's your office."

"Right."

"Want to just make it the Burrow?" Ron asked as he approached the fireplace and leaned against the mantle.

"Er… maybe," Harry replied, unconvinced. He gazed at the wooden logs at the base and bit his lip.

"What is it?" Ron asked. He knew Harry too well to ignore the clear signs of him hiding something.

"Well, it's just that, I can't really live at your Mum and Dad's place forever…"

"And…" Ron prodded, his eyebrows raised as he waited for an answer.

"And I was thinking of maybe moving into Grimmauld Place once September comes. You can live there too, Ron. And that way you can use the fireplace to come to Hogwarts and visit Hermione whenever you want and we don't have to live alone or anything and-"

"That's bloody brilliant!" Ron interrupted his excited rambling.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah!" he confirmed. Then his face fell as he came across something rather troubling. "Although, I don't want to be the one to tell Mum."

"Well I'm not telling her," Hermione chimed in with her arms crossed.

"Let's cross that bridge when we get there. Can you tell me how to set it for Grimmauld Place, then?" After a careful explanation, Harry cast the appropriate spell that connected the fireplace to number 12.

"Speaking of, we should probably go to Grimmauld Place tomorrow and see what we can do to make it less… dreary," Ron added when Harry had finished.

"Yeah, probably," Harry agreed. "We do have less than a month to make it inhabitable again." His mind wandered to the few summers ago when he had joined in the fight against the pureblood home, and had managed to clean the rooms, but they never were quite able to make them pleasant. Following his two friends, Harry flooed back to the Burrow and said goodbye to Hermione before she apparated back home. With a silent glance, Harry and Ron both decided that now was not the time to tell Mrs. Weasley about their new plans and came to an agreement to put it off until later. Much later, if they could manage.

Thank you to all of my lovely readers and reviewers! I hope you liked this chapter, and the next one will have some cute relationship developments, for anyone who has been waiting for clarification on that.

Please leave reviews with any thoughts you have about the story or chapter. I would love to read them!