Epilog

It was the end of another school year at the Hogwarts School of Magic and Wizardry. The students were assembled in the great hall, most talking excitedly about their plans for the summer and speculating on who would win the house cup this year.

Harry Potter however was not in a very festive mood. His summer consisted of the dreary prospect of several months with his guardian family, the Dursley's. Something he did not consider the least bit pleasurable.

"C'mon, Harry." Said Ron Weasley. "The offer still stands for you to come stay with us."

"Thanks." Harry said glumly. "But I doubt Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia want to see me having that much fun, even if it meant having me underfoot."

"We could always kidnap you." Offered George Weasley. "Fred and I haven't had the chance to do that an several months."

"I'll let you know if it comes to that." Said Harry.

Professor Dumbledore stood up and tapped his glass with a spoon. "Quiet please." He said. "I have a few announcements to make."

The great hall grew quiet.

"First, I believe is the awarding of the house cup. This was a fierce competition coming down to the final Quidditch match between Ravenclaw and Gryffindor. Harry, I'm sorry but the review clearly shows that Cho Chang just beat you to the snitch. Therefore, Ravenclaw wins the cup by a score of five hundred and seventy three points to Gryffindor's five hundred and sixty eight points. Very close indeed."

Harry threw his hat on the table. Beat out by a girl. Riding a Comet Two Sixty no less. He turned to the cheering Ravenclaw table and tapped Cho, who was sitting behind him, on the shoulder. She turned toward Harry.

"That was a great game you played, Cho." Said Harry, "But I'll get you next year."

"Promise?" Said Cho smiling sweetly.

"Quiet please." Dumbledore went on. "I would like to recognize some others if I may. First is Professor Severus Snape, who, I'm told, will be receiving the Felix Faust Award for Alchemy and the Lawrence Talbot Foundation Award for his breakthrough research in the field of potions relating to his treatment for the Curse of the Werewolf. Congratulations to Professor Snape."

There was light, scattered applause. Snape glowered and raised an index finger in acknowledgement.

"Second. As I'm sure you are all aware, our Defense Against the Dark Arts program has been, shall we say, somewhat unfocused of late. We have had several very good teachers in the job but for various reasons, they were unable to remain in it. As such, we have decided to take on someone who has the necessary credentials but even more importantly will give more consistency to the position."

The great hall buzzed. Everyone was offering their ideas who it might be.

"Who do you think it is, Harry?" Asked Hermoine.

"I don't much care as long as they didn't rehire Gilderoy Lockhart." Harry mumbled.

"Without further ado." Exclaimed Dumbledore. "May I now introduce to you, our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Sirius Black."

For a moment the great hall sat in stunned silence, especially the part of the Gryffindor table where Harry, Ron and Hermoine sat. They watched in openmouthed astonishment as Sirius walked into the room. Then the entire hall broke out in thunderous cheers. Except for Draco Malfoy and his contingent at the Slytherin table.

"Can you believe it?" Malfoy sneered. "First they hire a werewolf, then a stupid giant and now an ex-convict. What is this school coming to? My ancestors must be spinning in their graves."

"Shut up, Malfoy." Growled Ron Weasley, "Or I'll put you in a grave myself."

Harry and Hermoine could not contain their enthusiasm. They jumped up from the table and ran to Sirius. "Sirius." Stammered Harry. "What? How?"

"Petigrew was captured and confessed." Sirius explained. "And I was cleared. I'll explain it all later. Professor Dumbledore was kind enough to offer me this position."

"Oh there is no kindness involved." Dumbledore interjected jokingly. "See what you think of me after you have completed your first full year with some of these students."

"Oh this is all so wonderful." Squealed Hermoine barely able to contain herself, "I'm so happy for both you and Harry."

"Say, Harry." Said Sirius. "I'll be moving into my new residence here at Hogwarts tomorrow. You, uh, wouldn't be interested in hanging around and help me move in would you? There's a place for you to stay if you care to."

"You mean live here. At Hogwarts? With you?" Said Harry disbelievingly.

"Sure." Smiled Sirius. "That is, if you want to."

"Oh gee." Said Harry screwing up his face. "Hmmm. Live with you or go back to the Dursley's. Tough decision. Let me think."

Sirius' expression turned just a touch to disappointment. Then Harry brightened. "Are you nuts!" He screamed. "Of course I want to live with you. Why in the world would I ever want to go back to the Dursley's?"

Sirius grinned. "That's just great, Harry." He said. "We can send for your things in the morning."

"There's not much to send for." Harry commented. "The Dursley's didn't let me have much."

"Well, we will fix that." Sirius promised. "Excuse me. I think Professor Dumbledore wants me to say a few words." Sirius proceeded to the teacher's table.

"Thank you. Thank you for that warm reception." Began Sirius. "I hope I can live up to Professor Dumbledore's and your expectations. I'm told you are a tough crowd. To help me ease into this position, Professor Dumbledore has graciously allowed me to take on an assistant. May I therefore introduce the Associate Professor for Defense Against the Dark Arts, Professor Remus Lupin. To those who may be concerned, Professor Lupin has been completely cured of his werewolf affliction, thanks, in large part, to Professor Snape."

Again the great hall broke out in thunderous applause. Lupin walked into the great hall leaning on a cane. He was obviously not quite fully recovered. Lupin bowed modestly and took his seat.

"One more thing." Said Dumbledore. "It is not often that someone who is not usually seen or heard makes such an impressively large contribution to another's well being. But I would like to take this opportunity to recognize Dobby, one of our house Elves, for all his fine actions of late. In view of his efforts, I hereby promote him to the position of Hogwarts Head Elf. Now let the feast begin!"

Harry approached the teacher's table. "Yes Harry?" Said Dumbledore.

"Is it really okay, professor?" Said Harry nervously. "Can I really stay here with Sirius?"

"Of course, Harry." Said Dumbledore grandly. "It's already being arranged. During the school year you will stay in the dormitory of course, but during the breaks you are more than welcome to stay with your Godfather."

"Well, Harry." Said Sirius. "I guess that about wraps things up. But, Professor Dumbledore, where are Dobby and Hagrid?"

"Good question." Said Dumbledore. "It's not like them to miss out on something like this."

Just then Madam Hooch, the flight teacher and Quidditch referee, burst into the great hall. "Professor Dumbledore." She gasped "I need your assistance at once."

"Madam Hooch." Said Dumbledore jovially. "Calm down please. What seems to be the problem?"

"Mr. Hagrid and an Elf have brought this old carpet to the practice field." Said Madam Hooch in exasperation. "They claim they are going to revolutionize the game of Quidditch!"

Dumbledore, Sirius and Lupin exchanged humorous glances and burst into laughter. Harry could not take his eyes off his Godfather and nothing could wipe the smile from his face.

It was going to be a great summer.

THE END

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Author's Notes: Okay, Okay. I know that I'm not the first one to place Sirius as the DADA teacher and I probably won't be the last either, but it just seemed like a fitting way to wind things up. I also know that Alchemy is the practice of turning base metals into gold, but I used that term because it sounded pretty sophisticated.

I'd like to make a few acknowledgements here:

First to my proofreader, chief critic and all round advice giver Etcetera Kit. She does stuff with music groups (which, sadly will not be with us much longer) and has done one Harry Potter story THAT SHE NEEDS TO FINISH. *hint*hint*wink*wink*. Check her out as well as her friends Shahanna and Kaidence Ledger.

Second A very special thanks to my most consistent reviewers Aida, Kit Cloudkicker, who have been with me pretty much from the start of this little adventure, and more recently Angelwriter 14. In a very real sense, you guys are as much responsible for the completion if this fiction as anything. There were times I got some serious writers block. Either I did not know where to take the story next, I knew where I wanted to go but had no clue how to get it there, or I managed to paint myself into a corner and didn't know how to extricate myself from it. I guess that's why writing teachers tell you to use an outline. I was quite tempted to throw in the towel more than once. Some of my frustration would be something like "Who are you kidding? Why are you busting your hump? Nobody's reading this." Then I would get a review from one of you guys and the thoughts would turn to "Hey, fool. There are at least some people out there who really want to know where this is going. So get off your duff, get to work, stop feeling sorry for yourself and don't disappoint them."

However the gates did eventually open (I wrote 5 chapters last week). Since I will be somewhat indisposed for the next two weeks, (Oct 1 - 11) I decided to post them in rapid order. Sorry if anyone found this overwhelming but it was either now or wait two weeks for the next one. This was my first "major" effort and I hope you found it entertaining.

What's next? Well, I'm just going to kick back for a while anyway. I realize that this was not exactly "War and Peace" but writing something that's more than a few chapters gets to be real work real fast. I might go back and refine the story some, give it some polish (which it needs in some places) and remedy a few inconsistencies. It has been suggested that maybe I expand it into perhaps a novelette form. I'm not sure I will be able to put that kind of time and effort into it, but the idea is tempting. Maybe a Star Wars fic is possible as well.

Thanks again to all who took the time to read this story and also to those who reviewed it.

Catch you on the FF pages

Dementor

P.S. To those of you who have not had enough of Sirius and Lupin (Who could ever get enough of those guys?) I strongly recommend the fic "Seeing Grey" by Ignominia It's pretty long (44 chapters at last count and 100,000+ words) but hey, 460+ reviews don't lie.



DISCLAIMER: The Harry Potter book series and all characters contained therein are the property of J. K. Rowling and Scholastic books. This is a work of fiction based on that series. The character Felix Faust is the property of DC Comics. Lawrence Talbot is the character, played by Lon Chaney, in the original 1941 movie "The Wolfman" that became the werewolf and is owned by Universal Pictures or whoever owns them these days. Any other characters invented by this author I do not consider to be my property. I wrote this for fun, not to make money. If I owned Harry Potter, I wouldn't be writing Fan Fiction would I?