Harry flew into the grounds of Hogwarts, breathing nervously. He was back at Hogwarts, ready to apply as a teacher for the Defense of the Dark Arts. Hermione had finally convinced him to apply. Harry wasn't totally into the idea of coming back to school, but he figured that if he didn't get the job, he could always work at George and Fred's company.

He had flown over on his Firebolt, knowing that he couldn't Apparate (Hermione had finally pestered him to read Hogwarts, a History in sixth year, and that was one of the things he had actually remembered), and had planned to meet Hermione near the gate. Hermione was going to let him in- teacher's privileges. However, Harry hadn't expected such nervousness!

He hopped off his Firebolt and walked into the open gate. Hermione stood behind the gate, pressing her wand against a patch of green. She looked up at Harry and smiled. "Ready?" She asked.

Harry sighed. "Ready as I'll ever be."

She smiled. "I'll bring you up to Dumbledore's office."

"And my Firebolt.?"

Hermione smiled and whistled. Suddenly, a little house-elf popped up. "You calleded, great professor?" It squeaked.

"Put this up in my room, Lolly," Hermione said.

Lolly nodded. "Yes great professor!" She took the broomstick gently and popped away.

Harry was astonished. "I thought there was no Apparating!"

"That's not Apparating. That's house-elf magic. Come on." She led him off into the great castle.

Nodding slowly, Harry followed Hermione into the familiar halls of Hogwarts. Only a few months ago he had lived in this very school, eaten in its Great Hall, taken its classes, and becoming a full-fledged wizard. Now it was different. No millions of students in the hallways, constantly making it hard to get from one class to another. No teachers complaining about their students. As they passed the hourglasses that showed the House Points, Harry noticed they were blank. How depressing, he thought. The school is dead! However, as he followed Hermione, he noticed Professor Snape in his classroom, looking over a bunch of papers. He didn't notice the professor look up, notice Harry, and run over to the doorway to watch Harry leave. He also didn't notice the professor swear angrily under his breath, and leave in the other direction.

Instead, Harry noticed that Hermione was leading him closer and closer to the giant statue that served as the entrance portal to Dumbledore's office. Harry looked at the large gargoyle, vaguely remembering the many times he had used it. When he had needed to discuss his scar in pain. When he found out that he was officially a Gryffindor prefect. And the day they finally defeated Voldemort. Ah yes, many memories- not all good, but not all bad, either.

Hermione looked expectedly at Harry. "Well?" she asked. "Aren't you going in?"

"Don't you need a password?" Harry shot back. "I don't know his password, you know. I can't read minds."

Hermione shook her head. "We don't use passwords during the summer. Calm down. It's not like you won't get the job."

"I didn't get the last job I applied for."

Hermione smiled. "Well, I bet you'll get this one. Go ahead."

Harry stood up tall, and then touched the gargoyle. The statue moved to the side.

"Good luck," Hermione said with a sense of encouragement.

Harry nodded and walked up the stairs.

***

"Hello Harry," Dumbledore said softly as Harry entered the room.

"Hello Professor."

"Glad to see you here."

"Uh. Same to you."

"So tell me, Harry, why do you want this job?"

Completely surprised by the question, Harry answered, "I dunno. I didn't get the last job I applied for-"

"So I heard," Dumbledore interrupted. To Harry's horrified face he answered, "I keep track of all my students their first year upon leaving. Go on."

"Well. I knew I needed a job, and this one sounded good. Hermione was saying it is a great job and all, I guess it was her that really convinced me. And. It can't hurt, can it? I do need some money, and this job is good. I know the subject matter well, I guess."

Dumbledore nodded. "Very much so."

"Also. Hogwarts has been more of a home to me then anywhere else. Here I learned everything I know."

"Not necessarily."

"I met my first friends here. I have been happier here my whole life. My family- my real family- is here. Hogwarts is my home, more than any other place in the universe."

"I see." Dumbledore nodded. "Good answer. Now that I know why you should work here, let's see if you can." Before Harry could ask, "What," Dumbledore placed a piece of parchment and a quill in front of him and said, "You have thirty minutes." He looked to his watch and started timing.

The parchment turned out to be a test. It covered subjects and topics that Harry had both used often and used only in class. It wasn't too difficult- but it still was a difficulty getting finished in the time period. Dumbledore, on the other hand, was quietly reading the Daily Prophet, every once in a while taking a jellybean out of a large box of Lady Botts Yummy Flavored Jellybeans.

After a long thirty minutes, Dumbledore quickly took Harry's test and said, "Testo Checketo." It immediately checked itself. After a moment of awkward silence, Dumbledore took the test. "Not bad," he said. "Only two out of 100 wrong."

"Is that good?" Harry asked nervously.

"Is that good? Is that good? Harry, the minimum amount of points for the Defense of the Dark Arts teacher is 30. You do have the whole summer to relearn everything. I had a feeling you'd be the perfect person for the position."

"Wait- you mean, I got it?" Harry asked nervously.

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. "Of course. You know Harry, I would have probably given it to you even if you failed the test."

Harry happily said, "Thank you so much!"

"Thank you, Professor Potter," Dumbledore said kindly. "If you follow me, I'll show you your classroom."

"Yes sir." And with that, "Professor Potter" left the room to learn about his future.

***

"Wow," Harry said softly. The Headmaster had shown him his classroom and bedroom, and now was showing him the secret teacher areas. The "wow" was for the teacher snack-room. It was filled with all sorts of interesting and delicious candies, as well as other healthy foods.

"I see the house elves have heard of your new position," Dumbledore laughed. "There's never this much candy!"

"All because of me?"

"Indeed. Hmm, some Lady Botts Yummy Flavored Beans. My favorite- no bad tasting mud, ear wax, spinach flavored jellybeans!"

"Doesn't this take away some of the danger of Bertie Botts' beans?"

"Same company, Harry. And some people don't like the danger- they just want good flavors. Now, if you'll follow me, I'd like to take you to the toy cupboard."

"Toy cupboard?"

"Where we put all the student's toys when they play with them in class, and they aren't supposed to."

Harry nodded, then followed Dumbledore out the door. As he walked out, he ran right into Hermione.

"Harry!" she cried. "I was looking all over for you! I thought that since I hadn't seen you for so long, you didn't get the job. You did get it, right?"

"I'll leave you in Ms. Granger's capable hands, Harry."

"Yes Professor."

He smiled. "Call me Albus."

"Uh. Ok Professor- Professor Albus."

With a laugh, the tall gray-haired man left the room.

"Well?" Hermione asked impatiently. "Did you get it? I assume you did, you wouldn't be here if you hadn't, but oh well. Anyways, did you see your classroom? It's quite close mine, especially with the special teacher passages, but even without the passages-"

"Hermione! Hermione! Calm down," Harry laughed. "I've never seen you this hyper before."

"Yeah, well, my best friend gets a job at the same place I work at. I think you would be excited too!"

"Yeah, yeah. Wait, don't you mean one of your best friends? Isn't Ron-"

Hermione turned bright pink. "Um, of course I meant one of my best friends."

"Or do you think of him as something more?" Harry teased.

Hermione quickly said, "Come on. I gotta show you the secret teacher stuff."

Harry grinned, and followed the excited Hermione out of the closet.
***

Hey! Please r/r. I know, I know- there's nothing here so far. But stuff's coming soon, like meeting Snape and starting classes and- wait, can't tell all my plotline! Also check out my other story, The Meeting of Sandra Wells. It's, well, a story!