Harry stood shuffling outside Mcgonagall's office she had called him in for an appointment to discuss "his future employment" and frankly, he was worried. Had she found someone entirely else for the job who wouldn't be a year out of school? At precisely 6.30 he gave the newly rectified Griffin the password (Snidget) and walked up the steps.
Knocking on the second door he heard a faint
"Come in" Harry pushed open the door to McGonagall's office to see it looking both familiar and different. There were no puffing machines but there were several other odd ornaments, On a shelf on the side were a few cat toys with a metal plate saying 'Gifts from Albus and Filius', There were few quidditch trophies underneath some old headmaster portraits and on her desk were several wizarding pictures of various people mostly featuring a man Harry vaguely recognised.
"Good Evening Mr Potter" Mcgonagall stated gesturing to the single seat in front of her.
"Evening Professor" Harry replied with a smile
"Now this meeting is because at this school we don't often get the luxury of informing DADA professors of how things will work. Obviously, this is an especially large learning curve for you as you will go from sitting at the breakfast table with them to teaching those a few years younger than you." She summoned a rather large and heavy-looking leather-bound book "This is a book on the registered way of teaching, what to do if you fear for a child's safeguarding and other standard procedures" she then reached over to a pile of books on her desk and pulled out a much thinner one which appeared to be almost home bound
"This was Professor Lupin's teaching notes and the curriculum he followed. It's rather well organised and I thought he would have liked you to have it" She pushed both books towards him and he immediately picked up the smaller of the two and ran his fingers over the gold RJL on the spine. He looked back up to see an oddly soft-looking Mcgonagall when suddenly there was another voice
"Teaching then Harry? I always thought of you as an Auror" Harry looked to see Dumbledore relaxing comfortably in his portrait
"Hello Professor, I decided I'd had enough fighting for a lifetime"
"Ah yes, I suspect teaching will suit you well"
"Thank you, Professor"
"Yes Thank you, Albus. Now that's the teaching side of things now you need Teaching Robes which are plain colours I suggest Black, Blue or Dark Green and you'll need at least one set of dress robes. Now do you want to continue living at Hogwarts or would you rather us make arrangements so you could live away and floo in each day"
"I talked to someone and we were thinking of living off grounds"
"Okay well, that works quite well as some of the living quarters are in need of refurbishment. You will still have night duty and as Gryffindor head of house, your home floo will need to be accessible through both common room fireplaces in case of nighttime emergencies. And speaking of Miss Weasley she will be able to come here through your office floo and I'm sure the elves will be happy to set an extra seat at the table" Harry blushed at this slightly and then said
"I'm going to be taking care of Teddy a lot. Especially when Andromeda returns to work I-"
"Mr Potter, Teddy will be more than welcome and I'm positive there will be plenty of avid babysitters at your disposal. The boy is rather sociable. I also wouldn't want to separate him from you as apparently you're his favourite person in such a fashion you were his first word"
Harry blushed even more but his smile doubled
"Yeah" was all he mumbled
"Harry, have I ever shown you this?" Mcgonagall picked up a framed photograph on her desk and handed it to him. He looked at it to see Mcgonagall holding a dark-haired baby as his parents sat next to her and Sirius and Remus watched curiously
"I never knew you were "
"That close to your parents? I spent seven years chasing after the boys and the aftermath of all the pranks they played but when they graduated I found myself missing walking into the Great Hall each morning to see my students in various levels of either distress or laughter as all of the pureblood supremacists started floating up to the ceiling. So about six months after they left I was invited to dinner where Sirius gave me a cat toy and Remus spent half of the dinner admonishing him for it while James and Lily barely restrained laughter. After that then at least every other month I'd come to dinner and I was at the small wedding and knew about you before James because Lily was terrified of his reaction. Besides my point is I knew each of them and I know for a fact all of them are so proud of you Harry"
"Thank you, Professor," Harry said strongly as he handed her back the photo. She smiled at him (something that still made him slightly uncomfortable) and continued
"Now you'll have the traditional DADA office which will be emptied of all of Bill's things. Be warned though there are a few things that have been disillusioned thanks to the constant stream of teachers that no matter how many charms are cast they can't be found. We have mostly the fake mad eye to thank for that but it was rather funny when the Carrows were given luminous painful warts. You can decorate however you seem fit as long as it's not bright pink and if there's a single kitten in sight you will be sacked"
"Got it Professor" Harry replied with a chuckle.
"Oh and One last thing Potter"
"Yes Professor?"
"I look forward to working with you" Harry gave a nod
"I'm looking forward to it too." He shot her a lopsided smile and left to talk to His friends, most likely to tell them about the amount of reading he had to do. What Harry didn't see as he walked out-picturing Ginny's face when he told her that they can finally start looking at houses was Minerva's sad smile as she looked at the photo with that family. With the man with the same messy hair and lopsided smile and the Girl with the same piercing green eyes and fierce kindness. Harry also didn't hear her whisper to them
"He's done you proud"
Aw Minnie. This is slight filler for the mammoth of a chapter that's coming next (Or for some writers your average chapter length)