Throughout the rest of the week it became clear that Harry and Tom's plan to drop deliberate hints about the Great Hogwarts Quest was working. More and more curious whispers could be heard around the Great Hall about something the staff was obviously trying to keep a secret. Harry and Tom shared many knowing smiles during their meals but otherwise pretended to be just as oblivious as all the rest of the adults.

It stood out to Harry that Dumbledore wasn't present for most of their meals. The headmaster showed up for breakfast a few times, but they rarely saw him for lunch or dinner. Harry didn't remember this to be the case during the first week in his original life as Harry Potter.

"He's probably spending all his time looking for poor little lost Harry Potter," Tom whispered to him during dinner on Thursday. "Up until this week the old goat still had high hopes of you turning up for your sorting. But when that didn't happen, he had to admit that he's well and truly lost you. I imagine the Ministry isn't exactly pleased with his conduct either, since he placed you with those muggles in the first place."

"Yeah," Harry said with no small amount of satisfaction. It amused him to no end that Dumbledore was running around like a headless chicken, desperately trying to find Harry Potter. All while Harry was happily teaching Potions at Hogwarts. "I sincerely hope the Ministry gives him hell for losing their precious Boy Who Lived."

Tom toasted him with his cup of tea and went back to his lambchop.

Throughout their many lives they had learned long ago that whenever they started a new life, it was necessary to let go of all aspects of their old lives. They needed to start every life with a clean slate to make their endless cycle of reincarnation work without losing their minds. They couldn't dwell on previous lives or on the loved ones they inevitably lost with each transition to a new life.

And yet, this time around Harry caught himself thinking back to his original life as Harry Potter far more than he probably should. Being back at Hogwarts in a world where Harry Potter should be attending brought back a lot of memories that Harry couldn't hope to ignore. Seeing Ron and Hermione on a daily basis also didn't help, probably.

There were many moments throughout the first week when Harry remembered his original first week. How happy he'd been to be away from the Dursleys. How overwhelmed he'd felt at suddenly being a person everybody recognized. And how delighted he'd been that he finally had a friend all of his own.

Harry also fondly recalled all the times he and Ron got lost trying to navigate the huge magical castle with its ever-changing staircases and its disappearing doors. Yeah, no matter that Harry actively tried to steer his thoughts in different directions, he still spent most of that first week walking around the castle full of warm feelings of nostalgia.

It was therefore, perhaps, that Harry didn't immediately remember a rather pressing matter now that he and Tom were back at Hogwarts. It wasn't until Thursday evening, after they'd retired to their own quarters after dinner that Harry suddenly recalled something they desperately needed to take care of.

Tom sat opposite him at their dining table while they were both grading the first pieces of homework they'd received. Grading was without question the most tedious part of being a teacher, but no matter how boring it was, it still needed to be done.

"The basilisk!" Harry yelled, as he finally remembered the urgent matter they needed to talk about. "Tom, we have to take care of the basilisk!"

Tom blinked large, brown eyes at Harry. "What do you mean, take care of?"

Now it was Harry's turn to stare at his soulmate in disbelief. "You know…take care of…get rid of it…permanently."

Tom inhaled a sharp, offended breath. "Why on earth do you want to get rid of her? She's not bothering anybody at this time."

Of course, Harry should have known that Tom wouldn't want to do away with Salazar Slytherin's murder serpent. Throughout their many lives, Tom had often enough commented that while he understood that Harry had killed the basilisk in self-defence, Tom still thought it a huge loss that the poor beast had met her end like that. In other words, Tom had never been happy with the basilisk's unfortunate end and now refused to see reason.

"Tom," Harry said slowly and carefully. Tom narrowed his eyes, his whole face portraying nothing but stroppiness. "Tom, darling, we cannot let a basilisk live under a school of children. It's not safe."

"She is hibernating," Tom said in a snooty tone, as though Harry had recently become brain damaged and was since unable to understand even basic concepts. "She is not hurting anyone."

"She is a basilisk whose gaze could kills dozens if not hundreds of students if she were to escape the Chamber of Secrets at a time when all students are gathered in the Great Hall," Harry said, trying not to let his growing anger colour his own voice.

Tom leaned a little closer across the table, his sharp gaze never leaving Harry's. "The only two people in the entire world who even know where the Chamber of Secrets is are both sitting in this room. Do you have plans to open the Chamber, Harry? Because I assure you, I do not."

Sighing, Harry shook his head. "I get what you're saying, but the risk is just too great to keep such a beast sleeping under a school."

"I am not going to let you murder Salazar Slytherin's basilisk when she's not posing a threat to anyone," Tom said through gritted teeth. Yeah, he really was getting worked up and the last thing Harry wanted was to end up in a full blown fight with his husband.

Since they knew each other so well and since they had lived so many lives together, Harry and Tom rarely fought. They could bicker with the best of them about all sorts of menial things. What they were going to have for dinner or what movie they were going to watch, things like that. But they hardly ever argued about truly important things, because they almost always agreed on such matters. Any conflict that dealt with things like finances or child-rearing never had the chance to become full-blown fights, because Harry and Tom were pretty much always functioning on compatible wavelengths and could work out most arguments by simply talking about it.

But Harry could easily see that this was a subject that they were not going to be seeing eye to eye on anytime soon. "We don't have to decide anything tonight," Harry finally said in a desperate attempt to keep the peace for now. "Let's just both think about possible solutions to this problem."

Tom pushed his chair back, the legs scraping roughly against the stone floor as he got up. "I'm taking a bath. Alone." And with that, Tom marched out of the living room and disappeared into their bedroom to get undressed.

Sighing, Harry leaned back in his chair. Tom was so good at camouflaging, that even Harry, who knew more about autism than most, often forgot that Tom was in fact autistic. And therefore Tom needed time to process changes, especially when those changes happened unexpectantly. Like Harry suggesting out of the blue that they go and murder an animal Tom had fond feelings for.

Yeah, in hindsight Harry had to admit that he could have handled this differently. No matter. What was done, was done and they could only move forward from there on out. Harry hoped that given enough time to process everything, Tom might come up with a solution that would work for them both. Or perhaps Harry would have a moment of inspiration.

Harry just knew that something needed to be done. Because there was no way that Harry was going to let a fucking basilisk continue living underneath a school, no matter how much Tom liked that murder serpent.

After finishing his grading, Harry took Izzy for a long walk across the Hogwarts grounds. The sun was setting but that didn't stop Harry from walking around the entire lake, much to Izzy's obvious delight. Harry had found over their many lives that simply taking a nice, long walk was a great way to get rid of excess tension and stress. It also always helped to clear his mind of any frustrations he might feel towards his soulmate.

Because no matter that they knew each other inside and out and loved spending time together more often than not, even Harry and Tom sometimes needed a moment to themselves. Tom found soaking in hot water a great way to deal with any frustrations, but Harry usually chose going for a walk if their surroundings allowed it.

By the time Harry returned to the castle, it was completely dark and it was already past curfew. Harry caught a couple of Slytherins sneaking around and he sent them back to the dungeons with a stern warning. Harry usually didn't immediately take points just because a couple of students were sneaking out in the evening. Harry remembered how often he had snuck around the castle in every life he'd attended Hogwarts, so he wasn't going to be a hypocrite now.

Tom was already in bed when Harry entered their quarters. Izzy went to get a long drink in the kitchen while Harry stood in the door opening of their bedroom. "Sorry I dropped that bombshell on you earlier," Harry said quietly.

Lowering the book he was reading, Tom gave Harry a level look and a small nod. "I just needed some time to calm down. We're fine, Harry."

"Sensory overload?" Harry guessed as he stepped into the bedroom.

"Yeah," Tom said with a sigh. He snapped the book shut and slid it onto the bedside table. "I suppose the whole week of teaching is also catching up with me."

"You're autistic, babe," Harry said as he sank down onto the edge of the bed to take off his socks. "You don't need an explanation for why you were overstimulated. It's just part of the package."

"I know," Tom said, his lips twitching up into a small smile. "It's just frustrating when my brain suddenly decides it's had enough for little reason."

"Yeah," Harry said, remembering his own frustrations whenever he suddenly went into a meltdown almost out of the blue the last time he was autistic. "But you caught it early and you allowed yourself the time to process everything. So you're doing great, babe!"

"Thanks, darling." Tom flipped the covers back so Harry could easily crawl under them. "Just one more day of teaching and then we have two days off. We can spend the weekend brewing and taking it easy."

"Exactly." Harry wanted desperately to snuggle up to Tom, but seeing as how Tom was already overstimulated, that was probably not a good idea. So Harry burrowed under the blankets and gave Tom a warm smile. "Love you lots. Goodnight."

"Love you, too." Tom turned off the lights just as Izzy jumped on to the foot of their bed.

During breakfast the next morning, Tom seemed mostly recovered and acted like his usual self. Harry knew that eventually, when he was ready, Tom would bring up the topic of the basilisk again on his own. Until that time, Harry simply resorted to being as patient as he could.

A barn owl dropped off a letter for Harry. It turned out to be from Sirius, who invited them to come to Grimmauld Place that evening for drinks.

"Are you up for that?" Harry asked quietly as he showed the short letter to Tom.

Tom nodded. "Probably, yes. And if it proves too much, I can always excuse myself a bit early."

That morning, Harry had Hermione in his classroom for the first time. When he told the class to find partners of the opposite House, Hermione ended up paired with Susan Bones. As Harry gave his usual introductory speech and lectured the class on the first potion they were going to be brewing, it became clear that Hermione was just as enthusiastic about learning potions in this life as she'd been in Harry's original. Every few minutes or so, Hermione's hand would shoot up as she gave Harry pleading looks to let her ask whatever question just popped into her mind.

It also became obvious quickly that most other students didn't appreciate Hermione's constant interruptions or her endless need to draw attention to herself. Susan Bones, who'd seemed happy enough to partner with Hermione at the start of the lesson, soon looked like she sincerely regretted her decision.

After the class was over, Harry told Hermione to stay behind. "How was your first week, Hermione?" Harry asked, deciding to make a bit of small talk first before tackling the more serious issues. He didn't want to scare Hermione off, or completely obliterate her self-esteem by immediately focussing on the negative.

"It's been great!" Hermione bounced on the balls of her feet. "Learning magic is even more amazing than I thought it would be."

"That's good to hear," Harry said with a fond little smile. "And how are you finding Ravenclaw? Made any friends yet?"

Hermione's face fell a bit while he suddenly focused her attention on the floor. "It's fine. Not everyone's friendly, but I'm used to that from my old school."

Harry wanted desperately to sigh, but he refrained. "Might I be absolutely honest with you, Hermione?"

"Please do," Hermione said, though she looked a bit like she dreaded whatever Harry would say next.

"You're a very bright and eager student, and I'm absolutely sure you're going to become a great witch," Harry said honestly. The Hermione he knew from his first life had been an amazing adult who'd worked effortlessly for the betterment of their society. "But I'm afraid that your eagerness is also putting off some of your fellow students."

Hermione frowned as she stared up at Harry. "How so?"

"Well, you kept raising your hand today to ask questions that were usually answered during a later part of my lecture," Harry said delicately, giving Hermione a reassuring smile. "This interrupted the whole class and made it hard for the other students to concentrate."

"Oh." Hermione's bottom lip trembled for a moment.

"Would I be correct to guess that you've been equally as eager in your other classes?" Harry gave Hermione a knowing smile, since he already knew the answer.

"Yeah," Hermione sighed and then gave Harry a confused look. "But are we not meant to participate in class then? At my old school part of your grade came from your level of participation in class."

Well, that explained a lot. "Participation is also important at Hogwarts. This means answering questions when asked, or raising your hand once or twice per class. You were rather excessive in your participation, Hermione, and I do believe that's the reason that other students find it difficult to befriend you. When you constantly try to answer all the questions and when you interrupt the class many times in a row, you take away the opportunity for others to participate."

"Oh." Hermione's eyes widened, as though she suddenly had an epiphany. "So if I only participate once or twice per class, it won't hurt my grade?"

"It won't, I promise you." Harry leaned back against his desk. "Set yourself a limit. You're allowed to answer one question per class and ask one question of your own. If you have more questions that aren't answered in the class, write them down and look up the answer in the library later." Harry knew only too well how much Hermione enjoyed looking things up, so he knew she wouldn't mind such a solution.

Hermione beamed at him. "I can do that. That's no problem at all."

"There you go." Harry considered what to say next for a moment. "And perhaps it's also a good idea to offer your housemates an explanation and an apology for your interruptions in class. Explain that you thought you were supposed to participate as often as you did." Hopefully at least some of the other first year Ravenclaws would be willing to give Hermione a second chance after they realized Hermione had just been a bit too eager in her excitement to learn magic. Harry would hate for Hermione to not make any friends at all, seeing as there was no child Harry to befriend her. And since Ron was in Gryffindor and seemed to have made fast friends with Neville, Harry also doubted they would reach out to Hermione anytime soon, especially since there would be no troll to bring them together that year.

Hermione gave Harry a solemn nod. "I'll do that. Thanks, Professor."

"You're welcome." Harry walked Hermione to the classroom door. "I'm not your Head of House, but you are more than welcome to come to me if you have any problems."

"I'll do that." Hermione gave him a wave before darting out of the classroom.

Yeah, Harry figured as he looked after Hermione. Looking after his old friends was the least he could do.

Right after classes ended that afternoon, the teachers of Hogwarts had their weekly staff meeting in the staff lounge. Dumbledore was already there waiting for them as everyone filed into the room.

"Welcome to our first staff meeting," Dumbledore said, voice full of warmth, though Harry spotted rather dark circles under the headmaster's eyes. It seemed the old man hadn't been getting enough sleep for at least a couple of days.

Everyone found seats around the long table Dumbledore had conjured. Usually the lounge was full of comfortable armchairs and small coffee tables for the staff to relax in.

"Have you learned anything about poor Harry Potter yet, Albus?" Sprout asked as soon as everyone was seated.

"I'm afraid not," Dumbledore said, his genial smile slipping right off his face. Lots of the people around them immediately started whispering about what could have possibly happened to poor Harry Potter. "The Ministry insists on leading the official investigation, which means that not much is being done aside from wading through endless bureaucracy."

Harry quickly bit his lip so he wouldn't snap at Dumbledore that of course the Department of Magical Law Enforcement was going to lead the investigation of a missing child, and not the old wizard who'd illegally placed the child with unsuitable guardians in the first place.

Tom quickly poured Harry a much needed cup of tea and then served himself one as well.

McGonagall quickly steered the conversation towards the actual agenda of their staff meeting. Harry was very gratified to see that McGonagall was still giving Dumbledore incredibly sour looks whenever Harry Potter's name came up. It seemed that Harry's old Head of House still hadn't forgiven the headmaster for losing the boy in the first place.

The next half hour was familiar territory for Harry and Tom. They'd both been teachers so often that they were well acquainted with the mild complaints, the amusing anecdotes and the worried comments about some troubled student or another that were usually shared during a staff meeting.

Eventually Flitwick mentioned the rumours that had been flying around the students. "Albus, are you aware that there are students expecting some sort of official competition this year? Some of my Ravenclaws mentioned it just last night."

Dumbledore blinked in obvious confusion. "I beg your pardon?"

"I've heard something similar," Sprout said with a wide smile. "My Hufflepuffs are really looking forward to a change of pace at school this year."

"I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about," Dumbledore said, looking between all the teachers with wide eyes.

"Ah," Harry said with his most charming smile. "This might be my fault. I told a couple of students about this idea I had for a new and exciting way for them to learn magic."

McGonagall pinched her lips, as though the idea of something new and exciting personally offended her.

Thankfully, Flitwick was at least curious enough to want to know more. "What did you tell them, Professor Bird?"

"I told them about my idea for the Great Hogwarts Quest," Harry said with a wide smile. "A friendly competition in which students are paired in age appropriate groups and are expected to solve magical questions and puzzles and challenges, all designed to help them learn their regular curriculum."

"I think it's a splendid idea," Tom said, to no one's surprise. Everyone expected him to support his own husband, of course. "It wouldn't cost the school anything and we'd only need the help of a few teachers for a few hours on the Quest weekends."

"I must admit, I'm intrigued," Flitwick said while Sprout nodded in agreement.

"What sort of challenges are we talking about here?" Pomfrey asked with a worried frown. She was probably envisioning a long line of injured students that she'd have to take care of after every Quest.

"Nothing dangerous," Harry said quickly, to put everyone's minds at ease. "Solving simple arithmancy problems, drawing a specific runic circle, identifying a certain potion that's needed to continue with the journey, that sort of thing."

"It would be very effective way to help students learn," Sinistra said with a thoughtful frown. She'd taken over as Head of Slytherin, now that Snape was on his sabbatical, so Harry was glad to have her support. "It wouldn't hurt to give it a try. If it proves problematic, we can always put an end to it."

"And it would be a much needed extracurricular activity," Tom said with a pointed look at Dumbledore. "I couldn't help but notice that due to all the budget cuts of the past decades, almost all extracurricular activities have disappeared from Hogwarts. It really puts us behind other magical schools in the world." Tom certainly wasn't lying about that. Thanks to Dumbledore's insistence to go against everything and anything the Wizengamot suggested about Hogwarts, the school had suffered a loss of budget as never before seen in its long history.

"Yes, well, that is a discussion for another day," Dumbledore quickly said, obviously not wanting to air his dirty laundry in front of his entire staff. "I suppose we can give this challenge a try, as long as there are enough members of staff willing to help."

"Tom and I will set everything up," Harry said quickly, beyond excited that his plan seemed to be working. "All we need is some help during the Quest itself, to make sure students don't cheat or try to sabotage other teams, things like that."

"I certainly won't mind helping," Flitwick said genially. Sprout immediately volunteered as well, as did a few other teachers. Enough that the Great Hogwarts Quest was definitely a go.

"I will announced it during dinner tomorrow night, if that's all right," Harry said and he got no objections to that, much to his pleasure. He shared a victorious smile with Tom before Dumbledore called the meeting to order so Hooch could complain about the quality of the school's brooms, which gave Harry an idea.

Right after dinner, the moment they entered their quarters, Harry all but threw himself in a chair at the dining table and summoned his stationary set. "I need all the names of rich families who have children at Hogwarts," Harry said as he dipped his quill into his inkbottle.

"Whatever for?" Tom asked as he patted a sulking Izzy on her head, comforting her since Harry had completely ignored her, the poor thing.

"I'm going to ask for donations for new school brooms," Harry said, scribbling a draft of a letter he could send to all the families. "The current brooms are so ridiculously old and worn that they are genuinely unsafe to use."

"That is an excellent idea," Tom said, sitting down opposite Harry to write a list of families to ask for donations. "We can also ask families who don't currently have children here. Everyone in the wizarding world loves Hogwarts, after all." Tom got a shrewd look on his face. "We might even have Rita Skeeter write a little piece for the paper about the appalling state of Hogwarts' student brooms. That would rake in the donations, no doubt."

Harry wanted to refuse working with Skeeter on principle, but he also recognized that Skeeter could serve an important use. Tom had already met her for an interview once, so he knew what to expect of her. Besides, Harry had no doubt that Tom could easily manipulate Skeeter to do what they wanted. "Yeah, all right," Harry finally said with a defeated sigh. "You go meet with Skeeter to express your genuine concerns for the safety of the students."

Tom's smirk was quite smug indeed as he quickly wrote a letter to ask Skeeter for a meeting. "I'll tell her I can get her some photographs of the worst of the brooms, that will help sell the article."

They couldn't finish their newest project since they had a hot date with Harry's dogfathers. They walked across the grounds towards the gates and then apparated to Grimmauld Place's doorstep.

Sirius opened the door with a wide smile. "Come in, come in!"

"We need you to fork over some gold to help buy new student brooms," Harry said the moment he stepped over the threshold.

Tom rolled his eyes as he followed Harry inside. "Good evening, Sirius. Nice to see you again. How have you been?"

"Yeah, yeah," Harry said, giving Tom a poke in the side with his elbow. "Sirius is family. We can forego all the pleasantries when something important has come up."

"Those brooms are hardly an important matter," Tom said with a snort, causing both Harry and Sirius to stare at him in disbelief.

"Just say how much you need, Harry," Sirius said quickly, narrowing his eyes at Tom, seemingly deeply offended that anyone could suggest flying wasn't important in any way.

Harry, in the meantime, realized exactly what Tom had just done and he gave his husband an admiring smile. The wizarding world really was lucky that Tom had decided to become a school teacher instead of a Dark Lord this time around, or they wouldn't have stood a chance against Tom's uncanny ability to manipulate anyone he wanted to.