Chapter 10

Familiar Faces

Early the next morning, Harry and Lily moved their things to Hogwarts. They were moving into the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher's quarters, where all of Harry's previous teachers in that subject had once lived, including Lockhart and Lupin. Lockhart was probably the only one of them who was still alive, Harry mused, since Dolores Umbridge had been killed by a Dementor at the beginning of the second war.
They would have to arrange something in order to get their things here from Spiffing Amberton, Harry thought as they tried to make themselves at home with the few things they had brought with them. Lily was happy, however, and it didn't seem to bother her that she didn't have any of her things there.
Hagrid had arranged for Lily to be home-schooled with the children of Hannah and Ernie MacMillan, who lived in Hogsmeade and had children who were the same age. She was excited at the prospect of spending her days in an all magic family.
When they had settled in, Hagrid took Harry to the staff room to introduce him to the other teachers. On the way there, Harry wondered whether there would be anyone there who recognised him – and also how many of the teachers would be familiar to him. Many of the old ones were gone – McGonagall, Snape, Trelawney and, of course, all the Defence Against the Dark Arts teachers – but there were also many who might still be here, for all he knew. And it turned out he was right.
As he entered the staff room, he saw, instantly, that most of the teachers were the same as they had been when he was at Hogwarts. Only two faces were new to the school, and even those he recognised.
'This is our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Henry Evans,' said Hagrid, looking proudly at Harry. 'Henry, this is Filius Flitwick, our Charms teacher ...' Hagrid introduced Harry to all the teachers: Sprout, Sinistra, Vector, Madam Hooch and the other ones Harry remembered from his own days at school.
'And this is our Potions Mistress and Head of Slytherin House,' Hagrid went on, looking at a woman who seemed to be the same age as Harry and had long blonde hair. 'Pansy Parkinson ...' Pansy smiled flirtatiously at him.
Harry couldn't help staring at her in shock, then quickly averted his eyes as Hagrid began introducing the last teacher in the room.
'... And this is the Transfiguration teacher, Nymphadora Tonks,' he finished 'And she is Head of Gryffindor.'.
Harry now turned to stare at Tonks, who looked annoyed that Hagrid had mentioned her first name, but then smiled warmly at Harry. Then he tried to compose himself, while most of the teachers hurried away to the various classes they were having. Tonks, however, remained in the room.
'Please, call me Tonks, not Nymphadora,' she said to Harry, giving Hagrid a reproving look.
'Sure,' said Harry, remembering, with a smile, when he had first been introduced to Tonks in the kitchen at the Dursleys' all those years ago. She looked almost the same as she had then, only her hair was a more modest chestnut colour. She looked a lot more serious than she had used to, and Harry wondered what her life had been like since the Defeat. Why had she given up working as an Auror? He supposed she might be doing Hagrid a favour, just as he was.
He turned to Hagrid again, and saw Pansy Parkinson just leaving the room in rather a hurry. She was the last of the teachers to leave, except Tonks, who didn't seem to have a class right now.
'How could you hire Pansy Parkinson, Hagrid?' Harry exclaimed as the door closed behind her. 'She's useless at Potions, she always used to mess things up.'
'Oh, were you at school with her then?' Tonks said, eyeing him with interest.
'Er – yes – I was,' Harry said, regretting his slip of the tongue, swearing to himself that it wouldn't happen again.
'Oh well, you must have been in the same year as Harry Potter, if you had Potions with Parkinson, that is.'
'Er – no, I just ... I just knew some classmates of hers.'
'Oh ...' Tonks looked at him, a hint of suspicion in her eyes.
'Ah, Harry, it hasn' been easy to find people here yeh know,' Hagrid said and sighed heavily. 'I have to take what I get – at least I have you now, a proper Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, tha's important ... But I still don' have anyone for Divination ...'
Harry thought about Luna's letter, where she had sounded so much like Trelawney, talking about the Orb. She had seemed to know an extraordinary amount of facts about Harry. 'How about Luna Lovegood?' He said, forgetting to worry about the chances that Tonks would recognise him. Luna really would be perfect for the job, considering that she had already made more true predictions in a day than Trelawney had during Harry's entire time at Hogwarts.
Tonks snorted. 'Oh, Luna Lovegood, she's made all sorts of crazy predictions ...' she said with a laugh. 'Don't you know she said that Guatemala would win the Quidditch World Championships next year (they don't even like Quidditch in Guatemala, they have Quodpot instead), and she's been saying for years that there will be a new Minister for Magic ... and I mean, she still insists that Harry Potter is alive!'
'Hmm... Tha's right, she did say that,' said Hagrid thoughtfully. 'Yer right there, Harry, I think that might be rather a good idea ... Lovegood, I hadn' thought o' her before. Yes, I'll send her an owl straight away!' He left the room eagerly, without another glance at them both.
Tonks stared after him, looking utterly bewildered. She then looked back at Harry, realisation dawning in her face. 'Hagrid just called you Harry,' she said, looking at him scrutinisingly. 'Those eyes ...' she looked at him even more intensely, leaning closer, 'those are your mother's eyes ...'
Harry realised that the game was up. 'Hagrid isn't very good at keeping secrets,' he said, looking at Tonks guiltily.
'Harry!' she whispered. 'Is it really you?'
'I'm not as good at disguises as you are ...' They looked at each other, and then couldn't help but grin, both of them at the same time. Harry gave Tonks a big hug.
'Harry! I can't believe it!' she said, shaking her head. 'But how is it possible? You – you're supposed to be dead! This can't be true! I mean, there were several witnesses who saw you getting killed!'
'Oh well, I got away, but that's a long story.'
'But where have you been all these years? And how come no one was able to find you?'
'I lived as a Muggle ... And I had put a concealment charm on myself.'
'But why? Why on Earth would you do something like that?'
'I know, I know ... I didn't mean to stay away for so long, but after the Defeat, I knew I would never be the same; I couldn't face all of you right then, I needed to get away ...'
'But Harry, what about your friends, the people who cared about you – the people who loved you ... We mourned you for years. How could you do that to us?' There were tears in her eyes as she said this.
'Tonks, I'm so, so sorry. I've been really selfish, I realise that now. But you have to understand that I didn't plan it this way. It's all my fault though, I'm not denying that.' He looked at Tonks, who didn't respond at first, but just looked back at him in silence, then sat down in one of the armchairs.
'All right, but you must realise that you hurt a lot of people ...' she went on, looking at Harry. 'Some more than others ...'
Harry's stomach churned as he thought of Mrs Weasley, who had lost a husband, three sons and a daughter. He remembered that time, so long ago, at Grimmauld Place, when Mrs Weasley hadn't been able to get rid of the Boggart, which had turned into different members of the Weasley family, all dead – but also into a dead Harry. How could he have done this to her?
He thought, also, of the time when Mrs Weasley had told Sirius that Harry was as good as a son to her. He hadn't fully appreciated it at the time, but now he was filled with remorse at the thought of what she had suffered because of him. He looked at Tonks again, who was surveying him with a strange expression in her eyes. She opened her mouth to say something when Hagrid burst in through the door, looking pleased with himself.
'If you'll excuse me, I have a lot of papers to grade,' Tonks said and left the room hurriedly, leaving Harry feeling even more guilty.