Disclaimer:It's still not mine. It's all Rowling's.
Chapter Three: Back to Hogwarts
Harry woke up slowly one morning towards the middle of August, feeling strangely unhappy. He realized why with a start. He was leaving for Hogwarts later that afternoon with Bill. Minerva had sad that they would have four new teachers, and they would all need to meet together so that they would get to know one another and meet each other. Harry was slightly nervous as Minerva had failed to tell him who the two other new teachers were, and Harry was afraid that there would be someone he was uncomfortable with on the staff.
He shook his head slightly, and looked down at the redhead lying in his arms. He grinned at her, and softly stroked her hair. He wondered when, exactly, he started caring so much for Ginny. Not for the first time in the last few days, he questioned what he was going to do at Hogwarts when he was unable to hold her. She stirred in his arms, and he knew she was close to waking up.
"Morning, sleeping beauty," he murmured. She turned towards him, smiling at him and resting her head on his chest. "Sleep well?" She nodded sleepily, turning her head into his chest and trying to go back to sleep. "How am I going to sleep without you?" he mumbled.
"You'll manage," she said quietly. "Sleep again," she mumbled.
"No, it's my last day here," he reminded her quietly. "Surely you don't want to sleep the whole day away." She glared up at him.
"I'll see you at Hogwarts," she said, as if that settled the discussion, and tried to sleep again. Harry shrugged and moved her slightly so he could get up, and she glared at him again. "Excuse me, but I was comfortable. Don't get up."
"I have to finish packing and spend some time with your mother. Bill and I have to be at Hogwarts by three this afternoon, and it's already nine," he pointed out. "I have to shower." With that, the discussion was settled, and Harry left the room.
The day passed quietly, with Bill and Harry getting their things packed and just spending time with Mrs. Weasley and Ginny. A few minutes before three, the two reached for a Portkey, and soon found themselves standing in the Entrance Hall of Hogwarts.
"Welcome, Harry, Bill," Professor McGonagall greeted them warmly. "If you would follow me, I will lead you to your rooms." Bill and Harry both levitated their trunks and followed McGonagall through hallways and down a hallway that Harry had honestly never been down before. They came to a portrait of the four founders and McGonagall gave it a password, before they continued even further down the corridor.
"That was the entrance to the faculty wing. This will be Harry's room," McGonagall said, stopping in front of a painting of a large black dog, a stag, a werewolf, and a small rat. Harry grinned at the painting, before McGonagall told him how to set the password, and Harry quickly chose the password to be "Snuffles." He entered his new room, with an order to be in the Great Hall for dinner at six, and that they would have a faculty meeting at seven. Harry nodded politely, before going in to check out his new room.
What he thought would be only one room turned out to surprise him. He had his own little kitchen, a sitting room, a huge bathroom, and a spacious bedroom. It was all decorated in the red and gold colors of Gryffindor. Harry loved his room. He noticed that he had a notice on one of the walls that listed the password to the staff wing, the staff room, the special faculty room in the library, the Headmistress's office, and Gryffindor Common Room. He smiled, thinking that he wished that he had had access to one of these during his years at Hogwarts, and wondered if he could get the passwords to the rest of the common rooms.
He slowly unpacked, taking his time, knowing that he didn't have anything to do until dinner. When he was finished, he took some time and looked around the bookshelf that was in his sitting room and looked through it. He spotted a copy of Hogwarts, A History, and decided that as he was a professor, he should read it, especially since Hermione wasn't going to be available to quote it.
Soon, it was time for the faculty to meet in the Great Hall for dinner. He walked through unfamiliar corridors, managing to arrive on time. When he walked in, he felt his mouth drop open slightly. He saw the usual people: Professor Sprout, Professor Snape, Professor McGonagall, Madam Pomfrey, etc. The person he saw that he wasn't anticipating, however, was Draco Malfoy.
"Is that Malfoy?" he muttered to Bill. Bill looked up at the blond, then nodded at Harry. "That's someone I never wanted to see again," Harry muttered. Bill laughed at him, and they both took empty seats at the long table that was sat up in the Great Hall. Harry was seated next to Hagrid and Bill, and Bill was seated next to a woman that Harry hadn't seen before. She had long black hair and bright blue eyes, and she was very tall for a witch.
"I'm Gloria Hamilton," she said, addressing Bill and Harry. "The new Arithmancy professor." She gave them a bright smile and Harry managed a smile back at her.
"I'm Bill Weasley, Charms, and this is Harry Potter, Defense." The two returned to a quiet conversation as they ate a wonderful meal prepared by the Hogwarts house elves. As they finished, Minerva asked that they all meet together a common room inside the staff wing. They all got up together and slowly walked up to the staff common room.
"All right, I thought we would talk for a bit, getting to know one another. This year we have four new teachers, and I do believe that we should all be rather familiar with one another. We'll start with them. Bill, why don't you start? Just tell us about yourself," Minerva explained.
"Hey everyone, I'm Bill Weasley. I know a lot of you from my Hogwarts days," he said with a grin. "After I finished Hogwarts, I got a job with Gringotts, and was hired to do some treasure hunting down in Egypt. I spent a good nine years breaking into the pyramids, extracting treasure. It was fun—got to practice all my charms a lot. That's about it," Bill said. Minerva nodded at him, and called Harry next.
"I'm Harry Potter. I feel a little silly doing this because I was here last year with all over you, with the exception of Gloria," he said, smiling over at her. "Like I said, I'm sure you all know the story and who I am. Cheers," he said, seating himself again. Gloria appraised him, Snape was smirking, and Draco was sneering. Minerva then called on Draco.
"I'm Draco Malfoy. I just finished school as well as Harry, but I'm afraid my reputation doesn't quite reach as far as his does," he said, smirking softly. "Gloria, I'll address you, since I'm sure I'm doing this just for your benefit. I was a Slytherin, here, and I was a prefect. I was almost given Head Boy, but that went to someone else," he said, looking as if he'd swallowed a rather sour lemon. Bill and Harry grinned at each other, thinking of Ron's status the previous year. "I was an excellent Seeker on the Slytherin Quidditch team, and I'm always up for a pickup game," he said, that time with a glance at Harry and Bill. The two grinned immensely.
"I guess I'm last," Gloria said with a grin as Draco sat back down. "I'm Gloria Hamilton, and I've not been in Hogwarts for nearly 25 years," she said with a smile. "I was a Slytherin when I attended here. In the interim time, I've been working for a research company in the Netherlands, doing many Arithmancy problems, and some translations of Ancient Runes," she said. With that, each of the Hogwarts teachers and staff members stood up and gave a little bit of information about themselves.
"Tomorrow," Minerva said with a smile, "Severus will be working privately with Draco, I'll be with Harry, Ponoma will be with Bill, and Geri will be with Gloria." Geri Duncan, the Ancient Runes professor, looked positively thrilled to get to work with Geri, and they could be heard talking together as the rest of the staff filed out . Harry and Bill were walking behind the group, when he saw Malfoy stop.
"Hey Potter," Malfoy said with a smirk. "A bet you were surprised to see me here."
"Yes, I am," Harry replied. "You know, since the last time I saw you it was during the Final Battle, and I am pretty sure Ron was kicking your arse," he said with a glare.
"Now, now, Potter," Malfoy said. "I'm not a Death Eater. I never was a Death Eater. My daddy made me participate on his side." Harry was trying to practice Legilmency on Draco, but found that he was a skilled Occulmens, and he couldn't get into his mind.
"Draco, I don't really remember you being good at Transfiguration," Harry said quietly. Draco's smirk dropped.
"I got a O on my N.E.W.T.," he said. "I'm very qualified for this position. All you had to do was to defeat Voldemort."
"Because that was so much easier than getting an O," Harry muttered. "Never mind, Malfoy. I'll talk to you later. Preferably very much later," Harry said, before stalking off.
The next day, he met with Minerva, and she gave him some advice on how to handle his classes. She told him to expect the first day to have quite a few questions about all of the confrontations with the Aurors that he had had in his life, and why exactly he was teaching at Hogwarts. She also told him to expect sixth and seventh years to be quite chummy with him, but she was quite confident in his abilities to teach them responsibly. She gave him advice on grading, and his exams. She told him to expect Peeves to try to cause havoc in his classes, and then looked at him squarely.
"There is one question I must ask, Mr. Potter," she said seriously. Harry gulped slightly; he felt like he was back in her office after a prank he had pulled. "What exactly are your feelings for Miss Weasley?" Harry exhaled slowly.
"I feel like I've gotten that question a lot this summer," he murmured softly. "She's one of my best friends, Minerva. I love her dearly. If you're asking about a possible romantic coupling, I won't lie to you. I care about her deeply, and it has come to mind over the years. In Hogwarts, I ignored it because I was too focused on getting rid of Voldemort. During the summer, I didn't really think about it. Now that I'm a professor here, I'm assuming that it's against the rules?" Harry questioned.
"Not at all, really, Harry. Especially for Seventh Years. It is to be expected that in the Seventh Year that the teacher doesn't actually do any grading that would affect the overall grade in the class. In Seventh Year, the only grades given are on the N.E.W.T.s, although the essays are graded in a reflection of that," Minerva said with a smile. "I'd be willing to read over the essays that Miss Weasley turns in for the first few times, and make sure that you're grading fairly. If your feelings evolve into a relationship, it should be fine. The students knew that you were very good friends last year, and the staff will be very fine with it. So, in other words, go for it, Harry," Minerva said with a smile. Harry grinned at her, blushing softly.
Soon, it was September first, and Harry was extremely nervous. Bill and he had volunteered to ride the Hogwarts Express, making sure that the prefects and heads had someone to report to, and so they could take care of any unexpected problems. They Apparated straight to platform nine and three-quarters. When they arrived, the platform was already full of students waiting to go to Hogwarts. They were milling around, hugging others and some were watching people out of the corner of their eyes, slight blushes creeping up their necks. Harry grinned at the sight. This was why he was so determined to defeat Voldemort—so that scenes like this could happen.
"Harry! Bill!" Ginny yelled, running towards them. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were following her at a fairly swift pace. Ginny jumped into Harry's arms, hugging him fiercely. "I'm glad you told me you'd be here," she said with a grin, kissing his cheek quickly, before moving to hug Bill. Mrs. Weasley also embraced the two of them.
"Are you going to stay in our compartment?" Bill asked Ginny. She nodded enthusiastically. "Good deal, little sister. Come on, we better go ahead and get on the train. We'll see you, Mum, Dad," Bill said.
"Bye Mr. and Mrs. Weasley," Harry said with a grin. The three hopped on the train and took the very first compartment, which was the compartment that had been specialized for the teachers. It had wonderfully squishy seats and complimentary butterbeers. Ginny helped herself to one, and sat down.
"How has training at Hogwarts been?" she asked with an amused grin. Their letters hadn't really been full of facts about what was happening. Harry and Bill shared a glance.
"Not fantastic, but not bad. Minerva is going to grade your essays for the both of us—" Bill started.
"She's actually going to have us grade, then she'll grade. She thinks that we're closely tied to you, so she wants to make sure we're fair," Harry said with a grin. Ginny grinned at him, then studied him critically.
"You're still not sleeping very well, are you?" she asked him. "You have bags under your eyes."
"Well, he doesn't have his favorite teddy bear, does he?" Bill asked grinning. Ginny and Harry both shot him exasperated glares. Ginny had him lie down and rest his head in her lap. She started running her hands through his hair and he sighed quietly. "He does have a teddy bear," Bill said with a smirk.
"Yes, it was very funny when you gave it to me," Harry said with a groan. "Draco almost saw it." Bill started laughing.
"Wait—Draco? Draco Malfoy?" Ginny asked abruptly.
"He's the Transfiguration professor. He claims that he wasn't a Death Eater and that his dad forced him to join in the battle, but I'm not buying it. He's skilled at Occulmency," Harry murmured. Ginny looked down at him, removing his glasses.
"Sleep, Harry," she said, still running her fingers through his hair. Harry closed his eyes, and was soon asleep, although he was still aware of the soft conversation around him between the brother and sister.
They arrived to Hogwarts several hours later. They all went immediately to the Great Hall, Bill and Harry rushing to the Head Table. They sat at their designated chairs, Harry by Minerva, and Bill in the chair next to where Snape was sitting. They grinned at each other as the first years were led in by Snape. They all looked rather frightened, but Harry assumed that if Snape had met him, he would be rather frightened himself. The Sorting didn't take very long, and Minerva stood up.
"As a great man once said, there is a time for speech-making, but this is not it. Tuck in, everyone," she said, and the food suddenly appeared on the tables. Everyone started eating, Harry and Minerva chatting quietly.
"You look like you've gotten some more sleep, Harry," she said, appraising him.
"Well, Ginny's quite insistent that I rest, and I sleep better around her. It's somewhat embarrassing, but when I'm near her, my nightmares go away," Harry admitted. "She wouldn't let me not sleep on the train ride."
"That's very interesting, Harry… How much sleep do you get per night?"
"About five hours now. That's more than I usually get," Harry said honestly. "It's cool. I'm getting used to it. I am tired of Ginny telling me how bad I look every time she sees me, and she really does," Harry grinned. Minerva smiled, and looked around the Great Hall. Nearly everyone was done eating, and Harry noticed several droopy eyelids.
"All right everyone," she said, standing up. "I'd like to announce a few new teachers. Bill Weasley has taken Charms, Draco Malfoy is the new Transfiguration professor, Gloria Hamilton for Arithmancy, and Harry Potter for Defense Against the Dark Arts." The cheer was overwhelming for Harry, and most of the Slytherins were actually taking part in the cheering, which surprised Harry. He grinned and nodded at everyone. "I'd also like to announce that Geri Duncan is the new head of the Ravenclaw house, and Bill Weasley is the new head of Gryffindor. The Forbidden Forest is forbidden, as the name implies. Also, Mr. Filch, the caretaker, has many items that are forbidden. There is a list on his office door. Also there is to be no magic in the corridors. Tomorrow your timetables will be handed out, and you'll be starting your classes. Have a good night, everyone."
Everyone slowly filed out of the Great Hall and soon, everyone was peacefully sleeping.
