Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, they belong to the talented Ms
Rowling. I only own the plot.
This will eventually be a slash fiction Harry/Snape. As it is it deals with
homosexuality.
A big thankyou to all my reviewers and for the hints they've been providing me. Quite a few embarrassing details might have been left out if not for them. Thank you also to my beta-reader. Your efforts are greatly appreciated. (
All thoughts will be in italics.
CHAPTER 3
"Good grief! It's half past nine. I'm going to have to move fast!"
Harry quickly pulled on some clean clothes and apparated to Hogsmeade and began making his way up the path to the castle, thinking about how he was going to go about keeping his identity a secret from the wily old man that was the headmaster of the school.
***** Harry paused at a small pub between the Hogsmeade village and the school itself to visit the toilet and weave his concealment charms into place. He made sure the bathrooms were empty and magically locked the door to the toilet so he wouldn't be interrupted. He stood before the mirror and looked at his reflection carefully. What to do. he thought to himself. He didn't want to do anything too drastic because he needed to remember how to create the image. He made his jaw a bit broader and his nose a little less angular. He attempted to hide over his scar but the thing wouldn't disappear. A faint lightning-bolt shaped outline was left on his forehead but that could be easily covered over with his hair which he magically softened and tamed. He thought amusedly to himself that his untidy sticky- up hair had actually added height to his frame and he looked abysmally short without flat hair. He also lightened the colour of his hair to a light brown. Much the same colour as Greg's Harry thought sadly. Get a grip! Now is not the time for this he thought to himself as he fought back the tears that threatened to spill.
"Stop it!" He admonished out loud while slapping his face. "YOu don't have time for this now." He reached down into his pocked and pulled out the muggle camera which he had magically shrunken to fit in his pocket. He took a photo of himself so that he could remember what he looked like when he tried to replace the concealment charm. He quickly put shrunk the Polaroid and the camera and put them back in his pocket. Now for the eyes he thought. Harry pulled out the container which contained Greg's contact lenses. Greg had poor eyesight, though Harry's was much worse. He had brown contacts. Greg's eyes were a weak brown colour and he bought deep brown contact lenses because he didn't really like the colour of his eyes.
His eyes clouded at the sight of them. "Shit, I really can't do this." Fresh waves of memories momentarily overwhelmed Harry.
"Greg, that's gross. How can you do that to yourself everyday?!"
"Get a grip, they're just contacts. Lots of people use them. You just peel back your eye like this."
"Oh man! Get away from me when you're baring your eyeball like that. I've just had breakfast, and AUGH! Stop touching your eyeball. That's repulsive."
"You're such a girl Jason. It doesn't hurt."
"How can you stand to have those things in your eyes all day?"
"It's not too bad babe, it just feels like a bit of grit in your eye. Mind you, I'll admit that my glasses are much more comfortable. But they just keep fogging up in the kitchen. This way I've got a better chance of seeing what I'm doing when there are hot things and sharp things all around me."
"Fair point. It's still disgusting."
"Whimp."
Harry splashed cold water on his face and wiped away his tears. He tried to regulate his breathing though this was proving to be quite difficult as his chest was feeling so constricted. "Get a grip Potter" he told himself.
"Right, now. I can do this." He picked up one of the contact lenses and attempted to put it in. He dragged his lower eye lid down and.promptly dropped the contact lens on the bathroom floor.
"Shit." He fumbled for his glasses. "Way to go Potter. It's good to know you're still true to form. If you don't give yourself away your bloody clumsiness will." He put his glasses back on and spent the next five minutes crawling around on the toilet floor looking for his contact lens.
"Right" he said, picking it up and sitting back against the wall. "How hard can it be, Greg did it all the time." Greg was also a culinary genius and was a damn sight more coordinated than you are.
After some minutes of grappling and fumbling and with a large amount of luck, he finally managed to get them in.
"Bugger, I should have thought this through a little better."
Greg may have had poor eyesight but his lens prescription was not as strong as Harry's. Harry could see, sort of, if he really concentrated on what the shapes in front of him were.
"Well, I would have bought my own contact lenses if Dumbledore had given me a little more time before the interview. Speaking of which I'm going to be really late."
He looked at his reflection in the mirror again - as much as he could see anyway - and said "You'll have to do something about this habit of talking to yourself Potter, it's very disturbing!"
*****
Harry approached the front steps of the school out of breath and with a sense of trepidation. It all looked the same. It looked exactly as he had remembered it. Well, what did you expect? He was greeted by Minerva McGonagall who was looking every inch as imposing as he had remembered her, though this was tempered by the warm and friendly smile with which she greeted Harry.
"Mr Green, thank you for arriving so promptly. I realise that the Headmaster left you little time to prepare, but, well, he was just so pleased at receiving an application. I am Professor McGonagall, but please call me Minerva. We're all friends here. Oh my goodness, you're limping. You should have let us know, we could have arranged for you to be picked up."
"No no, my ankle is fine. It's just an old injury. It doesn't really hurt at all, it just never really had a chance to heal properly. In any case, AN application? As in just the one?"
"Oh, no. THE application. He had several. Lots. This way please."
Harry promptly tripped up the first few steps. Damn contacts. "Um, are you sure you don't need assistance. Your ankle."
"No, thankyou Minerva. I just wasn't watching where I was going."
Hmmm. Yup, the position is still cursed, thought Harry to himself. I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing though. Well Potter, just wing it, you do that a heck of a lot.
In a fit of paranoia, Harry thought to himself, Damn Malfoy! Will my ankle give me away? He sighed at this. Don't be ridiculous Potter. It was during the final battle between the light and the dark that Harry had acquired his ankle injury, among other injuries. Lucius Malfoy had stayed by his master's side and Harry had to battle him before he could battle Voldermort. Lucius's form crumpled before him under a painful curse. Harry thought him to be unconscious at best, dead at worst. He had surprised them both when the dying man silently crawled over to Harry and drove his wand through his ankle while aiming a curse at him. As a result, Harry had been distracted while he was fighting Voldermort. The wand had lodged in his ankle and shattered the bone. The curse had been released inside his body and caused irreparable damage to the muscles and tendons of his ankle and foot. Harry had managed to pull the wand out, but the damage had already been done.
When Albus found Harry after the battle, he was unconscious on the ground. Dumbledore held Harry while he transported him to St Mungo's, so he wouldn't know about his limp. Well, that's one less thing to worry about anyway.
Startling him out of his reverie, Minerva spoke the password to the Headmaster's quarters, "Peanut Brittle", and let him know that he should follow the stairs up and the Headmaster would be waiting for him at the door.
Harry didn't really need this bit of advice. He knew perfectly well how to reach the Headmaster's office. After all, he had spent enough time up there during his days as a student, and then as a member of the Order of the Phoenix during the war.
As Harry approached the door he could hear voices from inside the office.
".You mistake my meaning Remus. I am not saying that at all. All I am saying is that we searched for years, Remus, years. It is seven years after the fact. Let it go. Harry is gone and we have no idea where he is. He has hidden himself extremely well."
"But what if this one checks out to be true Albus. What if."
"Why do you think this one will check out where all our other leads have lead to nothing? Remus. It's been seven years. We have done all we can. Harry doesn't want to be found. We should respect that. What brought this on Remus?"
"It's his birthday today Albus. He'd be twenty-six. He'd be a young man now." The sound of sniffling could be heard coming from Albus' office.
"I know Remus.I miss him too." Said Albus softly. "Go and get some rest. I'll come round later on in the evening, around dinner time. How's that. Right now, I'm expecting someone for an interview. For the position of professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts no less. Let's see if this one will last, shall we?"
"You're right Albus. I will leave you to it. I'll expect you about seven then?"
"Sounds lovely Remus." And with that Remus' head disappeared from the fireplace.
Harry felt rude for having listened in to a private conversation but was shocked that people were still looking for him. He had expected them to search for a while but not for this long. He was thankful that he took the precautions that he did. He knew that Albus had an extensive network of muggle co-operatives who could track down something as simple as a name change. All they would have to do would be to run a check for any Harry Potters and from there it would be simple to discover him.
As cunning as Albus was though, Harry prided himself on having outsmarted Albus on this account. He had arranged the necessary and legal paperwork but had arranged to have his name changed at a small registry where there would be only a small paper trail to follow. He subtly and skillfully obliviated the memory of the incident from the minds of all those who came into contact with the paperwork and had arranged for the papers to be delivered to the main Registrar's office himself so that he could ensure that no body was left with any memory of the event. He even went so far as to put a concealment charm on the paper. This way if anybody looked at it, it would show that Neville Black had changed his name to John Smith. However, if the original document was needed for any reason, Harry could always arrange to come down the main office himself and retrieve the document and remove the concealment charm for whatever purpose it was needed. He wasn't silly enough to destroy the original copy of a legal document after all. One of your better ideas Potter. It would even impress Snape. He thought to himself, which was a big deal considering that Snape was the spy of spies and was unbeatable in the game of cunning and intrigue.
Did Albus say he missed me too? Ha! He missed having a powerful wizard around who could deal with things that might come up. Harry thought bitterly to himself. And that's right, he thought in surprise, it is my birthday today. I forgot all about it.
It seemed to Harry that Albus suddenly stepped outside and greeted him. "Mr Green, young man, please come inside. Can I interest you in some tea? Crumpets? I'm sure you must be hungry."
"No, thank you sir, and please, call me Jason."
"Please, call me Albus. Have a seat won't you?"
Harry limped over to the seat and settled himself comfortably. Albus was watching him carefully all the while though.
"We have an excellent nurse on our staff Jason, would you like to have her look at your ankle? I'm sure it would be no trouble on her part." Offered Albus.
"No, no. Thank you sir. It's just an old sporting injury. It's nothing to worry about. I don't even feel it any more. I only limp as it didn't heal properly in the first place. The way the muggle health system is and all.".
Albus settled himself into a squashy chintz chair in his office and poured himself a cup of tea. As he sipped he said "I was very pleased to receive your application. What exactly do you do?"
"I'm a chemist Albus, in muggle London. I own my own pharmacy in fact."
"Do you enjoy what you do?"
"Yes, very much."
"Then.if you don't mind me asking.why would you want to change jobs?"
Harry struggled for an answer as tears quickly stung his eyes. He grit his teeth together and tensed his jaw. He concentrated on regulating his breathing. There would be no breaking down here. It was an innocent question. Anyone would have asked it. It wasn't something Harry was anticipating though, and it caught him off guard.
"Something came up.and I needed a change.things can start to become routine after a while. I was looking for a new challenge. " Harry was groping for a plausible answer and he hoped fervently that this would be enough.
Albus continued to sip his tea. "Oh yes, I quite agree. I didn't think I would last so long as a headmaster, but I find that this job, and this school in particular, offer quite unique challenges. Something for everyone I'd say." He sipped more tea. "You are trained as a wizard?"
"Yes, I am."
"Where did you go to school Jason? I don't remember you being a student here."
Harry was prepared for this. He had spent the duration of the walk from Hogsmeade to the school rehearsing answers to these sorts of questions in his head.
"Well, I was schooled down south in a small school. There were only about 30 of us and it wasn't a school per se but a small group of people with a wizard who oversaw our education. I assure you that I am fully qualified to teach the subject though. In fact, I'd be happy for you to test my suitability if you feel you need to."
"I don't think that will be necessary Jason. You say you were educated in the south."
"Yes."
"But your accent sounds as though it came from London."
"Yes. I was born here but was moved to the south at a very young age. I only returned a while ago and as you can see, I haven't lost my accent. Or maybe I did but re-acquired it. British accents are quite strong and quite catching, wouldn't you agree?"
Boy, thought Harry, that sounded lamer than lame. I've worn woolly jumpers that were less woolly than that story. Well, he doesn't look like he doesn't believe me but with Albus, you never really know.
"Well said. I am a big fan of muggle entertainment myself and I seem to recall a fetching young artist, Miss Kylie Minogiue. My niece is a big fan of hers. I understand that she is Australian but now sounds more British now than Australian. Personally, I think that is as it should be. I see your point."
Whew, thought Harry. He laughed out loud with Albus at this. "Can I offer you another cup of tea?" asked Albus.
Harry had just notice that he had been so nervous that he'd finished off his tea and was attempting to sip from an empty cup. "Yes please Albus."
Harry reached for the cup that was offered to him and managed to knock the cup sending the tea all over the carpet in Albus' office.
"Albus, I'm so sorry. I'll just." Shit, shit, shit.
Albus chuckled. "Don't worry my boy." And with a wave of his wand the stain disappeared. He poured Harry a fresh cup and this time Harry concentrated and reached for it successfully.
"What sort of things would you be teaching this year Jason?"
Harry was surprised at this. "Don't you need to see references or past experience before offering me the job Albus?"
"No, I don't think that will be necessary Jason."
"You know nothing about me. I could be the next you-know-who for all you know."
Albus chuckled at this. What would have happened if I hadn't offered him the job? He silently wondered. Out loud he said "I'm sure you're not Jason. If you were, Fawkes would not have let you spend time in my company. You see, phoenix's are extremely loyal. And he's an excellent judge of character. So, what would you be teaching Jason?"
Harry sat nursing his fresh cup of tea. "Well, I don't know what they've covered so far, but I thought that I'd start by teaching them how to defend themselves properly. Then we'd move onto the more common hexes and counter curses. I thought they'd benefit from a thorough grounding in both the theory and the practice. Then -."
"Why is that?" Albus inquired.
"Well, the more they understand about how the spell works, the more they'll understand the ways to effectively block it. They won't simply be rote- learning the words of the curse and counter curse. They'll have an understanding and they'll be able to use this where they may have forgotten what the particular words of the counter curse were."
"That's very sound thinking. Please continue."
"To be honest, I hadn't really thought about it beyond that. I only really saw the ad yesterday and applied then. I'd have to look at a few books and see what the students have been taught before I could come to a decision."
"Of course."
Harry and Albus spent the next two hours chatting about inconsequential things like their favourite muggle candies and the differences and similarities between wizarding life and muggle life.
"Well Jason, our first staff meeting is the Monday after next. School starts on the Monday two weeks after that, September the 1st. Welcome to the staff. Now, we'll move you into your quarters in the school next Monday in the morning at about 9:00. The staff meeting is at 12:00 so you'll have some time to get settled before the meeting. We'll just be discussing things like class syllabus but you don't need to have every class planned out, just a flexible outline of what you plan to do will be fine. We'll see you then."
Albus led Harry to the staircase outside his office and watched as Harry descended the stairs, with one of his hands always on the wall, as though he were feeling where he was going. Strange, but then I'm hardly one to talk I guess. With that he shut the door and thought about what he'd like for lunch.
Harry slowly made his way down the spiraling staircase. He could hardly see how many steps there were and he was holding onto the side wall because he didn't fancy falling down the stairs and breaking his neck.
"Jason, how did it go?"
"I got the job Minerva. I'll be joining you on staff."
"My congratulations to you Dear." She cried enthusiastically as she lead him outside the castle. I'll see you at the staff meeting then. Just remember to - Ah, Professor Snape."
"Professor McGonagall. And who is our guest?"
"This is Jason Green. Our new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor."
Harry nodded his head in acknowledgement. He couldn't see Professor Snape pale at the last comment but he noticed a definite tension and chill in the air as the Professor stalked off in the direction of the Headmaster's Office muttering things like ".another idiot Professor. He wouldn't have these problems if he would let me teach the class."
Harry had almost forgotten that Professor Snape had been applying for the position since as far back as he could remember. He idly wondered why it was that he was never given the position. He pushed the thought aside and concentrated on following Minerva without falling over a crack in the stone and falling on his face.
"Yes well, Jason, here we are then. I will see you at the staff meeting."
After he had walked a little way away from the castle, Harry took his contact lenses out and put his glasses back on. He had a shocking headache from using the wrong prescription all morning. If he could keep his story straight in his head this year it would be a miracle. Let's see.I was Harry Potter, pretending to be Jason Green. Now I'm Harry Potter pretending to be Jason Green pretending not to be Harry Potter.I've got a headache. he thought to himself as he made his way back to Hogsmeade and then apparated back home.
At his flat he found the Panadeine and settled back into the sofa. As he let the codeine settle into his system he could almost hear Greg whispering to him "Sleep tired one. I'll be here when you wake up." He could almost feel a soft hand stroking his aching forehead and he could almost feel the ghost of a kiss on his temple." Harry fell asleep with the tears soaking the cushion his head was resting on.
A big thankyou to all my reviewers and for the hints they've been providing me. Quite a few embarrassing details might have been left out if not for them. Thank you also to my beta-reader. Your efforts are greatly appreciated. (
All thoughts will be in italics.
CHAPTER 3
"Good grief! It's half past nine. I'm going to have to move fast!"
Harry quickly pulled on some clean clothes and apparated to Hogsmeade and began making his way up the path to the castle, thinking about how he was going to go about keeping his identity a secret from the wily old man that was the headmaster of the school.
***** Harry paused at a small pub between the Hogsmeade village and the school itself to visit the toilet and weave his concealment charms into place. He made sure the bathrooms were empty and magically locked the door to the toilet so he wouldn't be interrupted. He stood before the mirror and looked at his reflection carefully. What to do. he thought to himself. He didn't want to do anything too drastic because he needed to remember how to create the image. He made his jaw a bit broader and his nose a little less angular. He attempted to hide over his scar but the thing wouldn't disappear. A faint lightning-bolt shaped outline was left on his forehead but that could be easily covered over with his hair which he magically softened and tamed. He thought amusedly to himself that his untidy sticky- up hair had actually added height to his frame and he looked abysmally short without flat hair. He also lightened the colour of his hair to a light brown. Much the same colour as Greg's Harry thought sadly. Get a grip! Now is not the time for this he thought to himself as he fought back the tears that threatened to spill.
"Stop it!" He admonished out loud while slapping his face. "YOu don't have time for this now." He reached down into his pocked and pulled out the muggle camera which he had magically shrunken to fit in his pocket. He took a photo of himself so that he could remember what he looked like when he tried to replace the concealment charm. He quickly put shrunk the Polaroid and the camera and put them back in his pocket. Now for the eyes he thought. Harry pulled out the container which contained Greg's contact lenses. Greg had poor eyesight, though Harry's was much worse. He had brown contacts. Greg's eyes were a weak brown colour and he bought deep brown contact lenses because he didn't really like the colour of his eyes.
His eyes clouded at the sight of them. "Shit, I really can't do this." Fresh waves of memories momentarily overwhelmed Harry.
"Greg, that's gross. How can you do that to yourself everyday?!"
"Get a grip, they're just contacts. Lots of people use them. You just peel back your eye like this."
"Oh man! Get away from me when you're baring your eyeball like that. I've just had breakfast, and AUGH! Stop touching your eyeball. That's repulsive."
"You're such a girl Jason. It doesn't hurt."
"How can you stand to have those things in your eyes all day?"
"It's not too bad babe, it just feels like a bit of grit in your eye. Mind you, I'll admit that my glasses are much more comfortable. But they just keep fogging up in the kitchen. This way I've got a better chance of seeing what I'm doing when there are hot things and sharp things all around me."
"Fair point. It's still disgusting."
"Whimp."
Harry splashed cold water on his face and wiped away his tears. He tried to regulate his breathing though this was proving to be quite difficult as his chest was feeling so constricted. "Get a grip Potter" he told himself.
"Right, now. I can do this." He picked up one of the contact lenses and attempted to put it in. He dragged his lower eye lid down and.promptly dropped the contact lens on the bathroom floor.
"Shit." He fumbled for his glasses. "Way to go Potter. It's good to know you're still true to form. If you don't give yourself away your bloody clumsiness will." He put his glasses back on and spent the next five minutes crawling around on the toilet floor looking for his contact lens.
"Right" he said, picking it up and sitting back against the wall. "How hard can it be, Greg did it all the time." Greg was also a culinary genius and was a damn sight more coordinated than you are.
After some minutes of grappling and fumbling and with a large amount of luck, he finally managed to get them in.
"Bugger, I should have thought this through a little better."
Greg may have had poor eyesight but his lens prescription was not as strong as Harry's. Harry could see, sort of, if he really concentrated on what the shapes in front of him were.
"Well, I would have bought my own contact lenses if Dumbledore had given me a little more time before the interview. Speaking of which I'm going to be really late."
He looked at his reflection in the mirror again - as much as he could see anyway - and said "You'll have to do something about this habit of talking to yourself Potter, it's very disturbing!"
*****
Harry approached the front steps of the school out of breath and with a sense of trepidation. It all looked the same. It looked exactly as he had remembered it. Well, what did you expect? He was greeted by Minerva McGonagall who was looking every inch as imposing as he had remembered her, though this was tempered by the warm and friendly smile with which she greeted Harry.
"Mr Green, thank you for arriving so promptly. I realise that the Headmaster left you little time to prepare, but, well, he was just so pleased at receiving an application. I am Professor McGonagall, but please call me Minerva. We're all friends here. Oh my goodness, you're limping. You should have let us know, we could have arranged for you to be picked up."
"No no, my ankle is fine. It's just an old injury. It doesn't really hurt at all, it just never really had a chance to heal properly. In any case, AN application? As in just the one?"
"Oh, no. THE application. He had several. Lots. This way please."
Harry promptly tripped up the first few steps. Damn contacts. "Um, are you sure you don't need assistance. Your ankle."
"No, thankyou Minerva. I just wasn't watching where I was going."
Hmmm. Yup, the position is still cursed, thought Harry to himself. I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing though. Well Potter, just wing it, you do that a heck of a lot.
In a fit of paranoia, Harry thought to himself, Damn Malfoy! Will my ankle give me away? He sighed at this. Don't be ridiculous Potter. It was during the final battle between the light and the dark that Harry had acquired his ankle injury, among other injuries. Lucius Malfoy had stayed by his master's side and Harry had to battle him before he could battle Voldermort. Lucius's form crumpled before him under a painful curse. Harry thought him to be unconscious at best, dead at worst. He had surprised them both when the dying man silently crawled over to Harry and drove his wand through his ankle while aiming a curse at him. As a result, Harry had been distracted while he was fighting Voldermort. The wand had lodged in his ankle and shattered the bone. The curse had been released inside his body and caused irreparable damage to the muscles and tendons of his ankle and foot. Harry had managed to pull the wand out, but the damage had already been done.
When Albus found Harry after the battle, he was unconscious on the ground. Dumbledore held Harry while he transported him to St Mungo's, so he wouldn't know about his limp. Well, that's one less thing to worry about anyway.
Startling him out of his reverie, Minerva spoke the password to the Headmaster's quarters, "Peanut Brittle", and let him know that he should follow the stairs up and the Headmaster would be waiting for him at the door.
Harry didn't really need this bit of advice. He knew perfectly well how to reach the Headmaster's office. After all, he had spent enough time up there during his days as a student, and then as a member of the Order of the Phoenix during the war.
As Harry approached the door he could hear voices from inside the office.
".You mistake my meaning Remus. I am not saying that at all. All I am saying is that we searched for years, Remus, years. It is seven years after the fact. Let it go. Harry is gone and we have no idea where he is. He has hidden himself extremely well."
"But what if this one checks out to be true Albus. What if."
"Why do you think this one will check out where all our other leads have lead to nothing? Remus. It's been seven years. We have done all we can. Harry doesn't want to be found. We should respect that. What brought this on Remus?"
"It's his birthday today Albus. He'd be twenty-six. He'd be a young man now." The sound of sniffling could be heard coming from Albus' office.
"I know Remus.I miss him too." Said Albus softly. "Go and get some rest. I'll come round later on in the evening, around dinner time. How's that. Right now, I'm expecting someone for an interview. For the position of professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts no less. Let's see if this one will last, shall we?"
"You're right Albus. I will leave you to it. I'll expect you about seven then?"
"Sounds lovely Remus." And with that Remus' head disappeared from the fireplace.
Harry felt rude for having listened in to a private conversation but was shocked that people were still looking for him. He had expected them to search for a while but not for this long. He was thankful that he took the precautions that he did. He knew that Albus had an extensive network of muggle co-operatives who could track down something as simple as a name change. All they would have to do would be to run a check for any Harry Potters and from there it would be simple to discover him.
As cunning as Albus was though, Harry prided himself on having outsmarted Albus on this account. He had arranged the necessary and legal paperwork but had arranged to have his name changed at a small registry where there would be only a small paper trail to follow. He subtly and skillfully obliviated the memory of the incident from the minds of all those who came into contact with the paperwork and had arranged for the papers to be delivered to the main Registrar's office himself so that he could ensure that no body was left with any memory of the event. He even went so far as to put a concealment charm on the paper. This way if anybody looked at it, it would show that Neville Black had changed his name to John Smith. However, if the original document was needed for any reason, Harry could always arrange to come down the main office himself and retrieve the document and remove the concealment charm for whatever purpose it was needed. He wasn't silly enough to destroy the original copy of a legal document after all. One of your better ideas Potter. It would even impress Snape. He thought to himself, which was a big deal considering that Snape was the spy of spies and was unbeatable in the game of cunning and intrigue.
Did Albus say he missed me too? Ha! He missed having a powerful wizard around who could deal with things that might come up. Harry thought bitterly to himself. And that's right, he thought in surprise, it is my birthday today. I forgot all about it.
It seemed to Harry that Albus suddenly stepped outside and greeted him. "Mr Green, young man, please come inside. Can I interest you in some tea? Crumpets? I'm sure you must be hungry."
"No, thank you sir, and please, call me Jason."
"Please, call me Albus. Have a seat won't you?"
Harry limped over to the seat and settled himself comfortably. Albus was watching him carefully all the while though.
"We have an excellent nurse on our staff Jason, would you like to have her look at your ankle? I'm sure it would be no trouble on her part." Offered Albus.
"No, no. Thank you sir. It's just an old sporting injury. It's nothing to worry about. I don't even feel it any more. I only limp as it didn't heal properly in the first place. The way the muggle health system is and all.".
Albus settled himself into a squashy chintz chair in his office and poured himself a cup of tea. As he sipped he said "I was very pleased to receive your application. What exactly do you do?"
"I'm a chemist Albus, in muggle London. I own my own pharmacy in fact."
"Do you enjoy what you do?"
"Yes, very much."
"Then.if you don't mind me asking.why would you want to change jobs?"
Harry struggled for an answer as tears quickly stung his eyes. He grit his teeth together and tensed his jaw. He concentrated on regulating his breathing. There would be no breaking down here. It was an innocent question. Anyone would have asked it. It wasn't something Harry was anticipating though, and it caught him off guard.
"Something came up.and I needed a change.things can start to become routine after a while. I was looking for a new challenge. " Harry was groping for a plausible answer and he hoped fervently that this would be enough.
Albus continued to sip his tea. "Oh yes, I quite agree. I didn't think I would last so long as a headmaster, but I find that this job, and this school in particular, offer quite unique challenges. Something for everyone I'd say." He sipped more tea. "You are trained as a wizard?"
"Yes, I am."
"Where did you go to school Jason? I don't remember you being a student here."
Harry was prepared for this. He had spent the duration of the walk from Hogsmeade to the school rehearsing answers to these sorts of questions in his head.
"Well, I was schooled down south in a small school. There were only about 30 of us and it wasn't a school per se but a small group of people with a wizard who oversaw our education. I assure you that I am fully qualified to teach the subject though. In fact, I'd be happy for you to test my suitability if you feel you need to."
"I don't think that will be necessary Jason. You say you were educated in the south."
"Yes."
"But your accent sounds as though it came from London."
"Yes. I was born here but was moved to the south at a very young age. I only returned a while ago and as you can see, I haven't lost my accent. Or maybe I did but re-acquired it. British accents are quite strong and quite catching, wouldn't you agree?"
Boy, thought Harry, that sounded lamer than lame. I've worn woolly jumpers that were less woolly than that story. Well, he doesn't look like he doesn't believe me but with Albus, you never really know.
"Well said. I am a big fan of muggle entertainment myself and I seem to recall a fetching young artist, Miss Kylie Minogiue. My niece is a big fan of hers. I understand that she is Australian but now sounds more British now than Australian. Personally, I think that is as it should be. I see your point."
Whew, thought Harry. He laughed out loud with Albus at this. "Can I offer you another cup of tea?" asked Albus.
Harry had just notice that he had been so nervous that he'd finished off his tea and was attempting to sip from an empty cup. "Yes please Albus."
Harry reached for the cup that was offered to him and managed to knock the cup sending the tea all over the carpet in Albus' office.
"Albus, I'm so sorry. I'll just." Shit, shit, shit.
Albus chuckled. "Don't worry my boy." And with a wave of his wand the stain disappeared. He poured Harry a fresh cup and this time Harry concentrated and reached for it successfully.
"What sort of things would you be teaching this year Jason?"
Harry was surprised at this. "Don't you need to see references or past experience before offering me the job Albus?"
"No, I don't think that will be necessary Jason."
"You know nothing about me. I could be the next you-know-who for all you know."
Albus chuckled at this. What would have happened if I hadn't offered him the job? He silently wondered. Out loud he said "I'm sure you're not Jason. If you were, Fawkes would not have let you spend time in my company. You see, phoenix's are extremely loyal. And he's an excellent judge of character. So, what would you be teaching Jason?"
Harry sat nursing his fresh cup of tea. "Well, I don't know what they've covered so far, but I thought that I'd start by teaching them how to defend themselves properly. Then we'd move onto the more common hexes and counter curses. I thought they'd benefit from a thorough grounding in both the theory and the practice. Then -."
"Why is that?" Albus inquired.
"Well, the more they understand about how the spell works, the more they'll understand the ways to effectively block it. They won't simply be rote- learning the words of the curse and counter curse. They'll have an understanding and they'll be able to use this where they may have forgotten what the particular words of the counter curse were."
"That's very sound thinking. Please continue."
"To be honest, I hadn't really thought about it beyond that. I only really saw the ad yesterday and applied then. I'd have to look at a few books and see what the students have been taught before I could come to a decision."
"Of course."
Harry and Albus spent the next two hours chatting about inconsequential things like their favourite muggle candies and the differences and similarities between wizarding life and muggle life.
"Well Jason, our first staff meeting is the Monday after next. School starts on the Monday two weeks after that, September the 1st. Welcome to the staff. Now, we'll move you into your quarters in the school next Monday in the morning at about 9:00. The staff meeting is at 12:00 so you'll have some time to get settled before the meeting. We'll just be discussing things like class syllabus but you don't need to have every class planned out, just a flexible outline of what you plan to do will be fine. We'll see you then."
Albus led Harry to the staircase outside his office and watched as Harry descended the stairs, with one of his hands always on the wall, as though he were feeling where he was going. Strange, but then I'm hardly one to talk I guess. With that he shut the door and thought about what he'd like for lunch.
Harry slowly made his way down the spiraling staircase. He could hardly see how many steps there were and he was holding onto the side wall because he didn't fancy falling down the stairs and breaking his neck.
"Jason, how did it go?"
"I got the job Minerva. I'll be joining you on staff."
"My congratulations to you Dear." She cried enthusiastically as she lead him outside the castle. I'll see you at the staff meeting then. Just remember to - Ah, Professor Snape."
"Professor McGonagall. And who is our guest?"
"This is Jason Green. Our new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor."
Harry nodded his head in acknowledgement. He couldn't see Professor Snape pale at the last comment but he noticed a definite tension and chill in the air as the Professor stalked off in the direction of the Headmaster's Office muttering things like ".another idiot Professor. He wouldn't have these problems if he would let me teach the class."
Harry had almost forgotten that Professor Snape had been applying for the position since as far back as he could remember. He idly wondered why it was that he was never given the position. He pushed the thought aside and concentrated on following Minerva without falling over a crack in the stone and falling on his face.
"Yes well, Jason, here we are then. I will see you at the staff meeting."
After he had walked a little way away from the castle, Harry took his contact lenses out and put his glasses back on. He had a shocking headache from using the wrong prescription all morning. If he could keep his story straight in his head this year it would be a miracle. Let's see.I was Harry Potter, pretending to be Jason Green. Now I'm Harry Potter pretending to be Jason Green pretending not to be Harry Potter.I've got a headache. he thought to himself as he made his way back to Hogsmeade and then apparated back home.
At his flat he found the Panadeine and settled back into the sofa. As he let the codeine settle into his system he could almost hear Greg whispering to him "Sleep tired one. I'll be here when you wake up." He could almost feel a soft hand stroking his aching forehead and he could almost feel the ghost of a kiss on his temple." Harry fell asleep with the tears soaking the cushion his head was resting on.