SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1D/C: I don't own anything.
A/N: THANK YOU, REVIEWERS!!! I have a wonderful idea for the ending, so keep reviewing and you'll get it! This chapter is going to be longer, hopefully, than the others. And we talk to Harry!
Family Portrait
Chapter Two: The Report
J-Chan
Late...
Teachers are not supposed to be late. That's the students job. They are supposed to be late, come in mumbling some lie as for why their tardy, and I get to take off house points. It's not the other way around. But after, oh what's their names, Fred and George turned my hair pink, I wasn't exactly going to let them have the joy of me walking around all day like this. Nope, I went to the bathroom and did a simple spell to take the pink out, though it was difficult, seeing as the pink stuff was sticky. Of, course, instead of detention, they will find a nicely placed, loaded Wizcracker, (A toy from Zoinks, I assure you.) That will blow up when they get to their next class.
Revenge didn't change the fact that I was late. What would Tom say? He would laugh, finding it incredibly funny that I was late for my first day of teaching. Minerva would look at me with disgrace, but end up laughing in the end. Saria Sprout would probably laugh as well. Oh well.
I stood at the door, my hand trembling. Would I open the door to find the students in an uproar, throwing loose parchment and spit wads all over the place? Probably, but if that's what they were doing, they were doing it very quietly, because not a sound was coming from inside the door.
I opened the door silently, looking around. Not a sound was being made. No one was standing up, nor were they talking even. Everyone was sitting at their desks quietly, quill in hand and parchment on the desk. Crouch must have scared the kids last year, because I would have never expected fifth year Gryffindors to be so quiet. If they stayed like this for the next two hours, I might enjoy this. (They had Double Defense Against the Dark Arts.)
"You are the fifth years, right?" I said, gaining the attention of the entire class. A very nervous boy shook his head, as did the others. A few peered under their desks, grabbing their books.
"You won't be needing those." I said, and the class looked at me funny. "I don't teach with a book. I teach with an open mind, and books require too much organization. However, as a teacher I am required to put a book on the list, so I told Albus to pick the cheapest thing in Flourish and Blots. I want, at the end of the year, for all of you to sell me all the books double the price, meaning you'll get more money." I said, and a red haired boy, probably a retaliative to Fred and George, smiled.
"Now, seeing as it's the first day of classes, and your stuck with me for two hours, I figure I'll spend the first day just getting to know each other. My name is Richard Patterson, and I want you to call me Richard, not Professor Patterson. It makes me feel too old." I said, and the class looked either excited or worried. A girl near Harry had a disapproving look, much similar to the way I pictured Minerva with.
"And secondly, I love Quidditch. My weakness is Quidditch. I'll be at every Quidditch game, and maybe even every Quidditch practice. I was a Seeker for England many years back. Tell me, who in here plays Quidditch?" I asked, and Harry was the only one to raise his hand. I smiled.
"What position?" I asked, sitting on my desk, looking at my grandson in the front row. He smiled back, his glasses falling to the tip of his nose.
"Seeker." He said, and I smiled widely. Always good to have another seeker to talk to.
"Really! Tell me, what sort of broom do you have?" I asked, and he replied with a "Firebolt." My smile got larger, and I probably would have sat here all day talking about Quidditch if it hadn't been for the fact that the rest of the class was looking at me in awe.
"See, Quidditch is a weakness of mine. But, as I always feel, it's good to have a weakness, keeps the rest of you in order. Now, starting with our Seeker here, I'm going to go around the room, and your going to tell me your name, and a little bit about yourself." I said, and I pointed to Harry. He really didn't want to do this, but I was going to make him anyway.
"Go on, Seeker." I said, and he smiled. I motioned for him to stand, and he did.
"My name is Harry Potter." He said, expecting me, I guess, to be startled. I wasn't. I sat on top of my desk, shaking my head, telling him to go on. He hadn't expected that one.
"I love Quidditch...and, um...What else do you want me to say?" He asked, and I shook my head. I laughed silently at him. He really didn't want to do this.
"Tell me who your friends are, what class you like, and anything else that sort of comes out at the moment." I said. He looked at me funny, and then turned to his right at the red head.
"This is Ron Weasley, he's my best friend," Harry said, and then he turned to the girl beside him. "And this is Hermione Granger, my other best friend." He said, and I looked at him, with a look in my eye telling him to go on. "I like Defense Against the Dark Arts and Charms." He said, and I smiled.
"Good, but class, try to say more than Harry did." I said, and Harry sat himself down. I watched him silently, and then I said something.
"Potter, if you do come across the Dark Lord this year, mind you, or anything else that revolves around it, you don't have to do your homework for my class." I said, and a few kids gave me a glare, like Harry was going to be my favorite. Probably.
"Right. Now, Ron, is it? Your turn." I said, and the red head stood up, not for sure what to say.
"Um...My name is Ron Weasley, and..."
"Arthur Weasley's son?" I asked, and he shook his head yes. "I'm guess Fred and George are your brother, right?" He shook his head yes, and gave me a look as to ask why I cared.
"Uh, your brothers were kind enough to turn my hair electric pink, which is why I was late to class. If they ask who put a Wizcracker in their backpacks, I have no idea." I said, and smiled, telling the class that I was the one to do it.
The rest of the class was enjoyable. I walked around the room, getting to know the students, knowing their names and their friends and what they enjoyed doing. The class ended entirely too soon, though. Before I knew it, the two hours were up and the class was going. I could help but hear a few students talking about me. I managed to catch the one Harry said with ease: "We haven't had that good of a Defense teacher since Professor Lupin..."
***
Now moving on to something more interesting, about two months later...
Most teachers spent the rest of the day after teaching in their offices, doing lesson plans or writing up detentions, sometimes with kids who have detention. I, however, was in the library. I felt there needed to be a teacher in there with them, to help the kids with their homework. I would have loved it, when I was in school, for a teacher to be there, helping us with our homework. So I decided I would play the favorite teacher role, and roam the library to help the students. Then I came across Harry, Ron, and Hermione, all having difficultly with something. How did I know that? Put it to you like this, Ron doesn't swear that often, and he was cussing up a storm, muttering something about Binns and history not being important and other things like that.
"You should hold your tongue, Weasley." I said, and he looked at as if I had been Professor Dumbledore telling him he was expelled. Harry laughed at Ron, and Hermione gave him a cold look and said something like "Told you so."
"Your not in trouble, Ron. I don't like giving detentions and I don't fancy giving you one for a few swear words. However, might I warn you that almost all of the library can hear you, and that some of the Prefects aren't as lenient as I am?" He said, and Ron's ears went pink. Harry busted into laughter.
"Besides, what's the problem?" I asked, leaning over Harry's shoulder, looking at the book he had.
"Professor Binns is the problem, Richard." (Remember, no Professor Patterson.) "He assigned us a report, and it's due Christmas! Ten rolls of parchment!" Ron screamed, and I pointed to him, motioning him to hush.
"What's it on?" I asked, and Ron threw his head on the table, not wanting to look at the large pile of books in front of him. Harry, however, answered for him.
"Our family. We have to come up with a family tree, compose a report for it, and then give an oral report on what we learned about our family history. It's kind of stupid, really. Ron's problem is that he has so much extended family, it's hard to keep track of everything. Hermione's problem is that she's a muggle born, so her family isn't in the Hogwarts record books." He said. Ron and Hermione shook their heads in agreement.
"Do you have any problems, Potter?" I asked with sympathy. He looked at me, and then looked at the books. If I kept this up, it was going to be hard to kill the boy later. But I had to get him to trust in me first.
"Er, just a little." Of all the things in the world, he did not want to do a report on family history, seeing as all of his family was dead. Ron could write home to his Mum and Dad, asking them about their family life. So could Hermione. I severely doubted that the Dursleys would be happy to answer Harry's questions. This also meant he would have to find out stuff about his parents...
"Tell you what, tomorrow, in class, I'll let you have the period to work on your report." He said, and they smiled. Or at least, Ron and Hermione smiled. That meant two extra hours they had to do a ridiculous report that was due in an outrageous amount of short time. It didn't seem to help Harry any. He still had a solemn look on his face, a depressed look on his face. I patted him on the shoulders.
"Come to my office this evening, Harry. I might be able to help you with your report. I know it's harder for you than it is the others." I whispered in his ear. Mind you, I didn't know I was his grandfather. He shook his head yes, and turned back to his books.
Somewhere from there, I would find out some of the most important things ever in my life. I would find my grandson.