Author's Note: Hey everyone! Sorry for taking so long to update, but I'm a busy girl, you know! Anyway, I'd like to thank Emilia Potter, Love-Power-Child, Zazz and BloodLust Vampire for reviewing! Thanks a lot guys, it means so much to me! Anyhoo, on with the story, shall we?

Disclaimer: I do not own anything. JK Rowling owns all the things that are Harry Potter related. The sorting hat song is from Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by JK Rowling. Lethifolds can be found in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander. The idea for the reason why the Cruciatus curse (which also belongs to JKR) causes pain belongs to Love-Power-Child in the story Harry Potter and the Green Flame Torch.

Dedication: I would like to dedicate this chapter to two people. First, is my friend Melissa, who reads this story during History and before class starts when we sit in front of my locker waiting for the bell. Thanks kiddo! The second is to my little big sister, Ti, who likes to make fun of my obsession with Harry Potter, but is really nice and supportive of my writing all the same. Thanks.

The Hero-Complex

Chapter Two

He was alone at last! He had forgotten what it was like to be around people all the time who did not want to kill you and was genuinely concerned for your well being. He felt it so over bearing that he almost felt nauseated. He had only been back at Hogwarts for three days, and he did not think that he had talked so much in his life! People just kept asking him questions about being an Auror or the missions that he went on. And it was only the teachers asking the questions! He wondered what it would be like when the students arrived. He really did not want to think about it.

He was sitting at the bay window in his newly repainted living quarters, looking out at the Quidditch pitch and the Forbidden Forest beyond. He shuddered as thoughts from his school years swam through his head when he looked at the forest. The first and only time he had killed someone had been in that forest. Of course, to call that monster a person was quite a stretch. He absentmindedly ran his fingers along the scar on his forehead…

All of a sudden, he heard a noise behind him, and he jumped up quickly, pulling his wand out in one smooth motion.

"Woah! Woah! Harry, it's just me!" Hermione said, jumping backwards slightly, and raising her hands up in the air, palms facing him. He lowered his wand slightly, and forced himself out of 'dueling mode', an Auror term that was used to describe the state of mind an Auror went into when they were steeling themselves up for a duel. Hermione began to approach him, but he held up a hand to stop her.

"Just - stay back for a second." Harry said, closing his eyes. He had found it had become harder and harder for him to switch between a battle and a normal state of mind since his mission in South America. He finally opened his eyes and motioned to Hermione (who had not moved at all) to sit down.

"What was that all about?" she asked him nervously.

"It was - nothing. Let's just say that my training at the Farm has started to go down the drain, shall we? Now, did you need me for something?" He said, trying to make the mood a little lighter, and not so on-the-edge.

"Er, no, actually. I just wanted to give you these," she gestured at a pile of papers that were stacked on the coffee table. He had no idea how they had got there; he did not see them when she had come in. "They are last years lesson plans. You may find them useful to help schedule your classes," she continued. "That's all, really, I should be going. I'm helping the House Elves get ready for when the students arrive."

"The House Elves? You didn't set them free, or are planning to set them free, are you?" Harry asked, giving her a mischievous smile. She looked at him blankly for a second before recognition seemed to hit her.

"S.P.E.W.? Oh! I had forgotten about that! I've forgotten a lot since seventh year, actually. I've started remembering a lot more in the past few years, though. Remember, in seventh, I had my memory wiped by a Death Eater in the For - er, um, anyway, must be going. See you at dinner, Harry!" And she departed hastily.

As Harry turned to the stack of papers, images once again filled his mind, but more specifically this time, his seventh year. Needless to say, he has a hard time concentrating on his lesson plans that day.

***

The next two days were a blur of books, papers and plans, for Harry. He was surprised to find it quite easy to write up lesson plans and to decide what should be taught for each year. All too soon, it seemed that he had to get ready for the Start of Term feast. Ten minutes before the students were due to arrive, Hermione came by his office to pick him up, so they could walk down together. They took a seat at the teacher's table (which was a very weird feeling for Harry) beside each other, and were talking about nothing in particular when they began to hear the clatter and loud chatter of the second through seventh years arriving. The door to the Great Hall banged open, and the students began to flood into the room and take their seats at the appropriate tables. He noticed that many of them were staring and pointing up at him, and he could not help but think of the irony of the situation.

"Fate always finds a way to get people to gawk at me," He muttered to Hermione. She giggled and nodded her head.

"Too true," she laughed. He pretended to look hurt, then laughed along with her.

As the last few stragglers ran through the doors and took their seats, the small door off to the side of the room opened and Professor McGonagall came out carrying an old wooden stool and an old, frayed and tattered hat. She left once again, and came back into the hall with a stream of timid looking first years in tow. Once the progression of first years had made their way up to the front and the assembled students had stopped talking, the old Sorting Hat started to sing:

"Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,

But don't judge on what you see,

I'll eat myself if you can find

A smarter hat than me.

You can keep your bowlers black,

Your top hats sleek and tall,

For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat

And I can cap them all.

There's nothing in your head

The Sorting Hat can't see,

So try me on and I will tell you

Where you ought to be.

You might belong in Gryffindor,

Where dwell the brave at heart,

Their darling, nerve and chivalry

Set Gryffindors apart;

You might belong in Hufflepuff,

Where they are just and loyal,

Those patient Hufflepuffs are true

And unafraid of toil;

Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,

If you've a ready mind,

Where those of wit and learning,

Will always find their kind;

Or perhaps in Slytherin

You'll make your real friends,

Those cunning folk use any means

To achieve their ends.

So put me on! Don't be afraid!

And don't get in a flap!

You're in safe hands (though I have none)

For I'm a thinking cap!"

The hall erupted in claps and cheers and the Hat bowed at each of the four tables in turn and then became still. One by one, the first years were called up, all looking both very nervous and nauseous or proud and confident. Once the last student had been called up and had taken their seat at the appropriate table, Professor McGonagall whisked the Hat and stool away to the side room once again. When she had returned and had taken her seat, Professor Dumbledore stood up and all the heads of the students swiveled to look at him. Dumbledore began.

"Welcome to Hogwarts, first years, and to returning students, welcome back! Alright, first things first. A reminder to all students that the forest in the grounds is strictly forbidden to all students. Another reminder from our caretaker, Mr. Filch: magic should not be used in the corridors between classes, and Mr. Filch would also like me to tell you all that the Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes product called 'Instant Invisibility Paint' has been added to the list of forbidden items inside the castle. The list is comprised of some one thousand items, and any student who wishes to view the list may find it posted outside Mr. Filch's office." The corners of Dumbledore's mouth twitched. "On a lighter note, for any students who wish to try out for their house Quidditch team, they may contact the team captain or Madam Hooch to do so. Also, as many of you may have noticed, we have a new teacher here this year. Would you all please welcome Professor Potter, who has taken the year off his Auror duties to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts." Harry was surprised at the level of noise coming from the students. He would have thought that they had no idea who he was, but apparently, that was not the case. It took several minutes for Dumbledore to get their attention once again. "Yes, yes. Thank you, that would be sufficient. Well, since there are no more announcements, I guess I only have to say this: Tuck in!" And with that, Dumbledore sat down, and the feast appeared in front of them.

"That had to be the loudest applause that I've ever heard for a new professor," Hermione commented as she helped herself to some mashed potatoes.

"Really?"

"Yes, but you are famous, so - "

"I'm still famous!?" Harry asked incredulously. "I've been gone for three years! I thought that would have got rid of my fame!"

Hermione laughed. "Oh, poor, poor, naïve Potter. Doesn't even realize that he's still famous, no matter how hard he tries."

"What are you talking about?"

"Harry, you've been away for three years! It's not going to make you less famous! It's going to make you more! Less appearances equals more public demand. Besides that fact, you're still 'The-Boy-Who-Lived' and to top it off, you're a famous Auror!" Hermione shook her head at his ignorance.

"Can we get off the topic of my so-called fame, now?" Harry asked irritably.

"Sure. What do you want to talk about?"

"Uh, any students that you should warn me of?" He asked, saying the first question that popped into his head.

"Well, I guess there is the Weasley twins…" Hermione said slowly.

"What?"

"Harry, Fred and George's kids go here! And let me warn you, they're little mini versions of their fathers." Hermione said.

"Right, right. What are their names again?"

"Fred's kids are Lucy and Luke, and George's kids are Tini and Tino." Hermione said automatically.

"And don't forget Trey Reed," Professor Flitwick, who was sitting on the other side of Hermione, added. "He's a real wonderful student, but trouble just seems to follow him everywhere."

"I think I know how he feels. What year is he in?" Harry asked in interest.

"Seventh year Gryffindor, I believe. Excellent at Defense Against the Dark Arts and not bad at Arithmancy." Hermione answered.

"And Charms. Quite good at Charms." Flitwick added.

***

After the feast, Harry made his way up to his living quarters alone, managing to get ambushed only three times by curious students who wanted to know if he was really Harry Potter, the 'famous Auror'. Once he had reached his room, he collapsed on his bed, and passed out instantly.

The next morning, Harry woke up bright and early to do some of what his - in his opinion - eccentric Healer termed 'physical therapy' on his leg. His Healer, Healer Dominic, liked to experiment in Muggle Medicine, and since Harry grew up with muggles, he did not mind being the test subject sometimes. And this time around, Dominic's 'experiment' in physical therapy seemed to be working pretty well for Harry; his leg had been feeling much better as of late.

Once he had finished, he showered, dressed, and went down for an early breakfast. There were only a few people in the Great Hall, and none of them were teachers. He inwardly shrugged, walked up to the front of the Hall, chose a seat at the teacher's table, sat down and began to serve himself food. He looked up as someone sat down next to him.

"You're up early," Hermione commented as she pulled the plate of toast toward herself. "I'm usually the only one here at this hour."

"I'm used to getting up early. When I was still training at the Farm, we had to wake up at five in the morning to go for a two kilometer run. My normal routine still consists of running, but at the moment, I kind of can't." He gestured at his leg and Hermione nodded her understanding. "I do physical therapy in the morning instead now. It's actually not so bad."

"Isn't physical therapy a muggle thing? You don't go to a doctor do you?" Hermione asked, concerned.

"No, no. My Healer likes to experiment in muggle stuff. Like, this one time when I was helping Arthur with a muggle artifacts case when I was still a rookie Auror, we got cut by this enchanted knife gone wild and Dominic, my Healer, decided to experiment with stitches. Well, you know how Arthur is with muggle stuff. We tried it, and it worked, but did Molly ever give Arthur an earful after that! She was yelling about what happened last time when he experimented with stitches when he was bit by that snake. She wouldn't talk to him or me for about two weeks until we were healed." Harry said, chuckling at the memory.

"Why would an Auror need to go on a muggle artifacts case?" Hermione asked him.

"Well, the guy who had bewitched the knife was wanted by muggle artifacts offices all over the world and the knives were killing both wizards and muggles all over the place. At the time, we weren't sure if it was the real guy or just a copycat, so the ministry decided to send an Auror along as protection. I had been badgering my superiors to send me out into the field for a while, so they sent me with Arthur." Harry explained.

"Did you catch the guy?" Hermione asked, sounding slightly breathless.

"I didn't personally, but another witch in Scotland did." Harry answered. Hermione breathed a sigh of relief.

"Who's your first class?" Hermione asked him a few minutes later after several other Professors joined them at the teacher's table.

"Seventh year Gryffindors and Slytherins. This ought to be a riot." Harry answered.

"Actually, it may well be a riot. Watch out for them. The enmity between those two houses in that year is very great. It's even more so than all the other years put together." Hermione warned.

"Do you know why that would be?"

"No one knows. None of the teachers or students in the houses. We've tried asking someone in that year, but they aren't talking." Hermione said. "It's frazzled all of us. We've just learned to accept it now." Harry nodded in understanding.

"I've got to go. I have to get prepared for my first class. See you at lunch, Hermione." Harry waved to her as he left the hall.

***

A half an hour later, Harry was sitting on his desk in his classroom, looking through some notes when the first few students began to come in. Many of them gave him looked at him funny, but didn't say anything. When the bell rang a couple minutes later, he gave the last few stragglers a minute to run into the room before closing the door. As he did so, the class immediately stopped talking and watched him. Harry looked back at them and noticed with amusement that all the Slytherins were seated on one side, and the Gryffindors on the other.

"Welcome to your last first class ever, seventh years." Harry began, looking around at the extremely attentive class. "Let's start with roll shall we?" He began to call out each name from his list, and then look at them in turn as they declared themselves present. Once he finished, he began his 'welcome back' speech.

"Well, now that we're all present and accounted for, let's start, shall we? There's no doubt in my mind that you are all going to be hearing the same thing in every class that you have today, and lucky for me, I get to tell you first. I am talking of course, about your N.E.W.Ts. While these tests are extremely important, and affect whether or not you will be able to get into the career of your choice, they are not as exhausting as the name suggests. While they are much longer than your O.W.Ls, once you've done one of them, you get the hang of it. They're not so bad. Actually, for me, my N.E.W.T in this course was kind of fun. So, I see it as my duty to train you all up so that you find this course's N.E.W.T as enjoyable as I found it." Harry said with enthusiasm. Many of the students were giving him an odd look as if to say that he was crazy to actually enjoy taking his Defence N.E.W.T.

"Well, enough about me! Let's talk about you guys. Let's see how much you remember from last year. We're going to play a little - a little game if you will." He received many raised eyebrows at this statement. "I know. I know. You all think that you're too old to be playing games, is that it?" The class gave a general murmur of assent. "Well, guess what? You're not! So! Let's get to it! This side of the class is one team; this side is the other. Gryffindor versus Slytherin, how nice. This is how the game is played. I ask a question to someone on one team, and they have twenty seconds to answer. If they fail to answer within twenty seconds, it goes to the other team. If the other team can not answer it, the point goes to no one, and I answer the question for you. Mr. Reed, you are the captain of the Gryffindor side. Miss. Abervale, you are the captain of the Slytherin side. I am thinking of a number between one and ten. Who ever guesses closest, gets to choose to go first or pass to the other team. Mr. Reed, you pick first."

"Eight."

"Miss. Abervale, you next."

"Five."

"Mr. Reed guessed closest. The number was nine. Mr. Reed, would you like to go first or pass?"

"I'll go first, I guess." He answered.

"Excellent. We're going to start off easy and work up to harder. Your question, Mr. Reed is this: What is the effect of the Dementor's Kiss?" Harry asked.

"They suck your soul out through your mouth and you are left as an empty shell, not really living, but not really dead either." Reed answered.

"Perfect! Well done! Two house points to Gryffindor. Now, Miss. Abervale, you question is this: What is the only known spell to repel Lethifolds?" Harry asked. She looked stumped for a moment, then answered,

"The Patronus Charm."

"That is correct! Two house points to Slytherin. Let's carry on, shall we?"

A little while later, towards the end of class, the students were actually having fun answering Harry's questions and playing his 'game'. He had questioned all the students twice already, and they were back to Trey Reed.

"Alright, we're almost out of time, but I think we can still squeeze in two last questions for our captains. Mr. Reed, your question is this: Why does the Cruciatus curse cause pain?" Harry asked.

Trey looked positively baffled, shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. "I pass." He said. "I have no idea."

"Do you know, Miss. Abervale?" Harry asked the Slytherin captain, and she shook her head. The class was dead silent, waiting for him to answer. "You all know that every inch of the human body is covered in what is called nerves. We use these nerves to feel. When we hurt ourselves - say, burning our finger on a hot cauldron - the nerves send a message to the brain saying that the finger got burned, and the brain sends a message to the finger and that's the stinging feeling that we get. Well, that's the gist of it anyway, I'm not going to go into a whole scientific lecture on it. Anyway, the curse causes the nerves to be extra sensitive to everything that is touching it, resulting in pain. They become so sensitive that the clothes that you are wearing and the air brushing against you makes your body feel as if it's on fire. I suppose the only simple way to not feel the curse would to be to stand naked in an airless room." The class gave a nervous chuckle. Harry smiled grimly. The bell suddenly rang, startling all of them. "Class dismissed!" Harry called, and they all began to pack up and leave the room. He sat down behind the teacher's desk at the front, took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger, trying to forget the moment when he had first had the curse put on him, when he had first tried to use the curse, and when he had first learned the reason why it caused so much pain. The memories were more painful than the curse.

*~*~*~*

Author's Notes: I'd just like to state once again that the Sorting Hat song was from Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by JK Rowling and I do not own it. I used it because I am absolutely horrible at poetry. Please Review!!!