57 Late night conversations

"You know this is going to make Dumbledore unbearable, right?"

Harry didn't even pause in stroking his wife's back as she spoke for the first time since they had returned to their quarters. Actually, he was pretty sure it was her first time speaking since the duel. They had made it back to their quarters unmolested, then just sat in their favorite overstuffed armchair and cuddled.

"He will be either way."

"This would be giving him power over us, making him our boss."

"Maybe. It might be possible to force him to not interfere."

"You're talking like we are going to accept McGonagall's offer." Hermione shifted to look him in the eyes, searching him for some clue.

"I'm not sure we can refuse it," he admitted, never breaking her gaze. "We already have NEWTs in three of our classes, and an OWL in a fourth. We both know that even if Dumbledore does find a replacement professor, the odds are that they would be a poor teacher."

"Maybe, but why us?" There was a hint of pleading in her voice as she asked him.

"Why did we agree to tutor just about everyone in fifth and seventh years?" he countered, holding her tight. "We know what is coming, what must be done. So many others, like the Ministry, deny it. They bury their heads in the sand and think that if they ignore the situation it will go away."

"I suppose." Hermione hardly seemed convinced, so Harry kept going.

"I think we also need to because it's the right thing to do." His hand paused to hold her tight to him. "If in a year, or even next month, Voldemort attacks and people we know are killed. How much worse do you think we'd feel if we knew we could have taught them something that might have seen them survive, and didn't?"

"That's a lot to be responsible for, are you not afraid we're taking on too much?" Hermione's question held no accusation, she merely used the tone she usually reserved when investigating all possibilities.

"Maybe," Harry's admission was obviously reluctant, but still he spoke the truth to his wife. "I can't deny it will definitely be a challenge, but there are other benefits as well."

"Such as?"

"Well, if we are professors, Snape can't take house points from us or give us detentions." Harry tried to move out of the way of Hermione slapping his arm, but given her current position on his lap, his efforts were doomed to fail. "Sorry, but it's true. We would also be able, assuming Professor McGonagall succeeds, to accelerate all of our classes, not just charms, transfiguration, and defense. We went from the beginning of fourth year to having NEWTs in a year and a half with the tutoring we got."

"We barely passed charms and Transfiguration," Hermione pouted, her bottom lip sticking out just a bit.

"True, but we also took them almost three years early," Harry pointed out before kissing her. "Had we waited and taken them on time, we would, and could, do better. We also passed four OWLs, with fairly good scores a year early as well. We aced the practical portions, it was the theory we had not had time to learn completely that dragged our scores down."

"I guess you have a point, but does that mean we are ready to teach hundreds of students? Some of whom are older than we are?"

"Well, we have experience and knowledge they don't. Isn't teaching just the passage of knowledge such as that from one person to another?"

"There's more to it than that."

"Oh I know, but at the basic level it's true, isn't it?"

"I suppose." Hermione was obviously still unconvinced.

"Well, consider this; If we agree to do this, you'll get to show everyone in the school how smart you are," Harry grinned from ear to ear. Hermione felt offended for a second, before she saw the pride on her husband's face. He was proud of her and wanted everyone to know how amazing she was.

"Harry!" she blushed nicely. "There's still more to it."

"I know, but think about it; we can split the duties. You can teach them the theory and the book stuff, and I can teach the practical. If we do it that way, each of us plays to our strengths and we reduce the amount of pressure on each other. We will still help each other, but it will help us cope with the workload."

"That… could work," she admitted. He could see the gears beginning to spin in her head.

"The biggest issue I can see is going to be with the Slytherins. The house in general is going to be as disruptive as possible, especially Malfoy and his cronies."

"Maybe, though I think they may be a little more circumspect than that. You did just take apart a fully grown witch with no apparent effort," Hermione pointed out, then reconsidered. "Maybe not. She was pretty useless so they may not consider it a deterrent."

"What if I took Snape on?" Harry asked, his voice thoughtful. "Not out of the blue, but maybe invite him to the first couple of classes, fifth and seventh year in particular. The two of us can duel in front of the class to demonstrate dueling, yet even holding my own against him would show them I know what I'm doing."

"You think he would let you win?"

"Let me? Not likely," Harry snorted. "But I think that even he would refrain from throwing unforgivables or anything dark at me in front of so many witnesses."

"Maybe, maybe not. You really think he'll hold back if he gets the chance? Maybe Dumbledore would… no. McGonagall or Flitwick would be better." Hermione snuggled into his chest. "Remind them that Flitwick is a former dueling champion and hold your own against him, they'll listen."

"Sure they will," Harry snorted. "And next you'll tell me Malfoy is a fan."

"Well, maybe not." Hermione conceded. "But it is the best we can do for now. Eventually we will just have them duel those we trained and critique their form."

"Remind me never to piss you off love."

"You'll never do that dear, at least not more than once," Hermione smiled sweetly, her tone completely innocent. "But for now, it's time to sneak out. Croaker is waiting."


"Hey boss, how's it hanging?"

"Better now that I have some lowly new hires to assign shit details to," Croaker smiled as Harry and Hermione plopped down into chairs before his desk.

"Good for you, ready for a heart attack?" Hermione ignored the obvious implications in the too sweet response.

"Another one? You really scared the daylights out of the warden when you jumped into the Department," Croaker chuckled in fond remembrance.

"Yeah, it's actually about that," Harry grinned evilly, and Croaker felt a chill go down his spine. "By the way, you are aware of the inept attempt at guarding the Department by the burnt chicken club, right?"

"Teach your mother to suck eggs, Harry."

"I'll take that as a yes then. Anyway, everyone knows you can't apparate within the Ministry, right?"

"Obviously."

"Just like Hogwarts."

"Are you going to make a point soon?"

"House-elves pop around Hogwarts all the time, what's to stop someone from sending a house-elf to steal stuff from the Department?"

Dead Silence. Harry fought a grin as he watched his new boss's mouth work without any sound for ten full seconds before he sat bolt upright and screamed.

"COBALT!"

Three seconds later, a harried-looking Unspeakable — Hermione was pretty sure it was the same one guarding the door to Croaker's office — opened the door.

"Yes boss?"

"Alert to all ward and research teams, all ongoing projects are placed on hold immediately. New priority directive: find a way to ward against house-elf apparition," Croaker snapped.

"Against house-elf…. Oh shit." While neither could see the eyes of the hooded Unspeakable, both teens could imagine the other's eyes going huge. "Right away boss. Er, do you want to pull the DE ward teams as well?"

"Shit, I forgot about them… Who's on it currently?"

"Panoptes team and Mjolnir team."

"Pull Panoptes to the new project, give Mjolnir team half of Hoplite to assist them," Croaker decided after a minute's consideration.

"Might want to have them look into blocking Phoenix travel as well," Hermione piped up, and Croaker nodded.

"Okay, now that you've assured yourselves that my heart is working, how did your mission go?" Croaker asked once Cobalt had left and closed the door.

"Fairly well. We've managed to plant the devices in most of the spots you wanted. Dumbledore wards his private chambers with wards that are both nasty and dangerous. We're still working on that, but his office is bugged to a fare-thee-well. We managed almost every Head of House and most of the staff offices as well. The only one we didn't get was Flitwick's personal quarters, he has Goblin wards up there."

"Paranoid little charmer. Oh well, thoughts on the job offer?"

"I'm honestly not sure," Hermione began. "It's a lot of work and responsibility, and it will give Dumbledore some control over us. On the other hand, I think we'd both enjoy it if we can figure out a way to balance the workload with our other endeavors. Between that, our regular courses, figuring out Voldemort's plans, and our work for you, it's a lot to deal with."

"Throw in the inevitable conflict with a quarter of the school, and it will be quite the headache, even if it's rewarding."

"Fair enough, though I think I have an idea or two on how to help you handle things," Croaker stroked his chin. "For one thing, we have a possible lead on two of Riddle's Horcruxes, assuming he was really stupid enough to make them. The problem is there is one that is close to where we know he has been, so we expect a bunch of nastiness if we go after it."

"Where is that?"

"His mother's home. Well, the one she grew up in," Croaker admitted. "It's not far from the site of his little resurrection party, actually. The Gaunts had a lot of the land on that end of town."

"So that's one. Where's the other?" Hermione asked, clearly not liking the slow pace of the tale.

"Hogwarts."

Both Croaker and Hermione turned to look at Harry, startled by his statement. They saw the boy hunched over, almost afraid of the word he had spoken. His ears were low, his tail curled under him, almost like he was ashamed.

"Well, yes. How do you know that?" Croaker asked, obviously very intrigued yet also worried.

"Dumbledore." Harry spoke softly, and Hermione could feel his depression threatening him over their link. She held his hand, pouring all her love into him. "He tried to have me raised much like Riddle. Both orphaned. Both raised without love, feared. Hogwarts was the first home he ever had, just like me. If he's housing these things in important places to him, Hogwarts must have one."

"That is… I'm sorry Harry," Croaker spoke softly, showing real human emotion for a rare moment. "That is indeed our belief. I'm requesting you both to search for it during the coming months, possibly some this summer as well."

"We'll try," Hermione agreed, never taking her eyes off her husband. "But even if we don't take McGonagall's offer, we're going to be rather busy."

"And that is item two to discuss. Take the offer."

"Is that an order?" Harry looked up, his eyes hard. "Are you giving us orders?"

"No," Croaker hurriedly explained, the clause in their contract about ordering the two around at the front of his mind. He'd nearly shit kittens when he had realized Hermione had slipped that one by him. "But I was going to explain. We have several Unspeakables who have been teachers, they are already revamping their notes and lesson plans. It will be heavier on the practical, so be prepared for that, but it will definitely help you."

"Okay, you've told us how you can help, why do you want us in that position?" Hermione asked, glaring suspiciously at their nominal boss.

"Among several reasons, the decline in Defense and Potions NEWTs has resulted in much reduced intake of new Unspeakables," he admitted. "In addition to being actual competent instructors, you would also be in a position to scout for prospects to join our force."