Chapter: Chapter Fourteen: Defense Against the Dark Arts Instructor
Author: King Harrison
Category: Action/Adventure
Sub-Category: Romance
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: SS/PS, CoS, PoA, GoF, OotP,
Summary: Wherein a staff appointment is made.
DISCLAIMER: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Author Notes: Here's another one! RnR!
"Minerva, take the mike!"-The Sorting Hat, Harry Potter and the Council of the Magi.
Chapter Fourteen: Defense Against the Dark Arts Instructor
The whole of Gryffindor house woke up to the sound of clashing blades. Startled, most of them ran down in their pajamas to see the commotion. Some quickly dressed and followed. Most grumbled about how it was six o'clock in the morning and wondered who the hell was making that racket at such an ungodly hour.
What they found surprised them. Two figures, clad in simple trousers and t-shirts, were blurring through the air at surprising speeds, feinting, swiping, blocking, and pretty much clanging.
After a few minutes of the astonished staring, the two stopped and looked around guiltily. Harry swore and muttered, "Forgot the silencing charm! Stupid me!"
Hermione muttered right back. "I forgot, too, you nitwit."
Queensley Shacklebolt was the first to step forward. "W-what were you two doing?"
"We were dueling in the muggle manner. We practiced over the summer holidays, knowing that we would have a class this year about it," Harry explained calmly. While not exactly a lie (they had trained over the "summer," and had known that they would have the class, but they still left a lot out), it wasn't exactly the whole truth either.
After a few moments of questioning, a voice rang throughout the room. "Everyone, get back to your dormitories and prepare for your first day. Mr. Potter, Ms. Granger, you stay here." It was McGonagall. Glancing meaningfully at Hermione, Harry asked, "What's the problem professor?"
McGonagall's frown lessened. "I just wanted to point out that the charm on the tower notified me immediately when you began to fight, sensing battle occuring. I also heard you through another charm. There's something else, too. You two won't be living in your dormitories this year. Your posessions are being moved as we speak, and your beds are being removed.
"You will sleep in the quarters of the Tempus Olympus." McGonagall looked at them expectantly.
Cottoning on, Harry asked a question. "What exactly is Tempus Olympus?"
McGonagall actually smiled. "It is a mix of Latin and Greek language and mythology. Olympus was the home of the ancient Greek Gods, and Tempus is 'time' in Latin. It has been quite dormant for many years, but the Headmaster recreated it for you. Come."
McGonagall led them to the girls' staircase. As she was about to ascend, she turned. "Oh yes, Potter, you can't go up–"
Harry grinned and pulled out his wand. He waved it at his feet and said, "Mobilius."
McGonagall frowned. "That's one way to do it." Harry was floating several inches off of the ground.
Hermione suddenly stepped forward. "Hang on a second." She went to the bottom of the stairs and yelled up, "Attention! Code Red Four-Zero! Code Red Four-Zero!" There were several screams and the sounds of doors slamming.
Harry looked at her questioningly. She laughed. "It's the code we use if a guy is ever going to go up the stairs. They all ran to their bedrooms so you wouldn't see anything."
They quickly went up the stairs to the end, which was a blank wall. McGonagall said curtly, "Minerva Mathilda McGonagall." The wall opened. "The same will happen if you say your names. There are nine other entrances to this place, at the staircases in all four houses, in the staff hallway, and on the second floor."
McGonagall led them in through the door, and Harry and Hermione gasped. The founders had not told them about this place. A voice entered their minds. Of course not. We wanted you to see it for yourselves. The voice belonged to Rowena Ravenclaw. Or rather, Rowena Gryffindor. Few people knew it, but they had married centuries before. (A/N-The male heirs were named Gryffindor, and the females Ravenclaw. Harry is the heir to Gryffindor, and Hermione is the Heir to Ravenclaw.)
The grand room that they had entered was humongous. They saw how it reached the Ravenclaw Tower and the Slytherin and Hufflepuff dungeons. It was big enough for it to be quite plausible.
"Professor, Gryffindor Tower is, as it's name states, at the top of a tower. How is it that this humongous dome room does not show when one looks at the castle?"
McGonagall's simple answer was, "Magic."
Harry laughed. McGonagall showed them to the center of the room, where a large column, easily a hundred yards in radius, towered above them. On either side was a door, on the other side of which lay two bedrooms. One was decorated for a male inhabitant, and the other for a female one.
At the other side of the rooms from the doors was a door connecting the two. "This is where you are to sleep. Now, there is one more matter to discuss."
Harry looked at her with a quirked eyebrow. Somehow, McGonagall smiled again. "As you know, Albus has yet to procure a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. He stated at the feast that he had a candidate in mind. He has one, or rather, two. Albus wants to offer the position to the two of you, knowing that your experience, Harry, and you're knowledge, Hermione, would allow you to teach the class.
"If you accept, you will be on a very odd schedule. You will spend the day as a student, and then you will use these," Mcgonagall showed them two time-turners, "to take you back a day, at which point you will spend two days as a teacher. Then, after the two days are up, you shall go back one and be a student for two days.
"These time-turners are rather special, because they are already scheduled to take you back at midnight and put you in the proper bed-for you will have rooms in the staff chambers as well. You will have to stick to the curriculum asigned this year, because the students have already bought their books, but you may improvise somewhat. Do you accept?"
Harry waved his hand at McGonagall, and she froze.
Harry turned to Hermione. "What do you think?"
She smiled. "Duh, yes!"
Harry chuckled. "You want to be a teacher when you grow up, right?"
Hermione smacked him on the arm. "She will expect us to ask her about the extra time spent-if we will lose a year off our lives and whatnot."
"Then we'll ask her." Harry waved his arm again. "What about the extra time we spend?"
McGonagall frowned. "Why, you will age half as fast. It's part of the time turner's effect."
Harry nodded. "I accept."
Hermione 'thought about it' for a moment and then asked, "Will there be any limitations on us?"
"Not when you are a teacher that day."
"Then I accept as well."
She smiled again. For the third time that day, McGonagall had smiled. "Oh, yes. You must call us by our first names now, unless you are in class. You already know Albus, Remus, and my first names. The other members of the staff's names are: Filius Flitwick, Phoebe Halliwell, Aera Hooch, Severus Snape, Rosie Sprout, Andrea Sinistra, Signus Vector, Aberforth Dumbledore, Poppy Pomphrey, Nilrem Syrme, and I think that's it. You might as well go down to breakfast. You're other selves might be there already. I saw them about five minutes before I came up here."
Hermione gasped. "You already knew that we would accept!"
Four the fourth time that day, Minerva smiled. "Of course. The door to the second floor is right over there." After she pointed, Minerva left through another door, presumably into the Staff quarters. Right before the wall/door shut, she turned around and said to them, "I won't be able to get back in here, by the way. Albus insisted on it."
The door shut behind her, and Harry and Hermione left for the second floor. As soon as they stepped out, they almost ran into two people dressed in blue robes. It was themselves.
The other Harry (A/N-from now on, the teachers will be 'Professor Potter' and 'Professor Granger,' and the other two will remain the same) smiled at them. "Want to walk down together?"
Harry laughed, and the four of them walked slowly toward the Great Hall.