The Marauders.
Albus approached the cottage cautiously, uncertain of what wards would be in place.
Distraction ...expected and easy to dismiss.
Jelly Legs as a ward, most ingenious
... now disabled.
Thousand Thorns. Traditional, predictable
...also disabled.
General layers woven tight, packing a punch, hmm, difficult.
The snarl of the dog reached him before the paws flattened him to the ground, snarling teeth snapping at his face. Then a woof that moulded to a gasp and hands pulling where paws were pushing.
"Professor Dumbledore. I am so sorry. We weren't expecting you."
Dumbledore brushed himself off as he was helped to his feet.
"Not to worry Sirius. Not to worry. Just a little dirt. I should have called out, but your wards intrigued me. Who turned Jelly Legs into a ward?"
"Oh, that would be Harry. I've been trying to write a book about warding small properties and he was trying to illustrate that I was being a little too 'traditional'. There were more embarrassing ones; that was a compromise. If you'd come last week you would have ended up with a green feather Mohican and the limbs of a toddler."
Dumbledore laughed as they began walking towards the cottage.
"So, how have you all been? It has been quite a while since I saw you all. I must apologise for that, I have been uncommonly busy with the Hogwarts rebuild."
Sirius showed Dumbledore into a comfortably messy living room and indicated he should sit.
"Dobby."
The house elf popped into the room, smiling broadly at the Headmaster.
"Professor Dumbledore Sir. Dobby is glad to see you. Most happy."
Sirius placed a hand gently on the house elf's shoulder.
"Dobby, could you go and tell Harry that Professor Dumbledore is here please. I think we could do with some tea as well and some of Winky's wonderful lemon cake, if there is any left."
"Of course Master Sirius. Dobby will get Master Harry straight away and then Dobby be getting tea."
Albus smiled warmly as the house elf popped out of sight. It hadn't been hard to call the other house elves back to Hogwarts and he had to admit that he had been worried for the little creatures when they weren't amongst the others. He should have known that they wouldn't be far from Harry. A shrill shriek from the direction of the kitchen brought Albus out of his musings, he raised a single eyebrow at Sirius as question.
"Hmm? Oh, that's Suki, Dobby and Winky's daughter, she's about five months old." Sirius laughed, "Dobby wanted to call her Socky but Winky wouldn't have her child named after clothing, they managed to compromise on Suki."
Dobby reappeared a moment later with the tea tray and a laden cake stand.
"Master Harry is just coming Sirs, he is just wanting to finish his hood first."
Dumbledore looked puzzled.
"Hood?"
"Invisibility cloaks. Harry makes them. He dropped out of auror training in the second term, decided he'd had enough near-death experiences to last him a lifetime. He wanted a challenge and was trying to decide what to do when a chance remark of Hermione's made his mind up for him. She read an article in the Quibbler about "the last known maker of invisibility cloaks" and got in a huff about dying skills. She had a point, but apparently it takes a rather powerful and focused wizard to make invisibility cloaks so no-one had ever gotten anywhere with trying to get the skill taught anywhere. The only man capable had never met anyone who wanted to do it that had the necessary power and focus. Harry did. He's completing a large shipment for a wizarding emporium in Japan, he's been working on the order for four years. Makes you realise why they are so rare."
"Does that mean that he is no longer interested in Defence Against The Dark Arts?"
"Oh no. The invisibility cloak thing is usually single private orders, so it doesn't bring in regular money. He does some specialised training for the Ministry sometimes too. He just doesn't want to deliberately chuck himself into the path of danger. We got to run a training program together a few years ago, that was great."
"What was great? Professor Dumbledore. Hello. It's good to see you Sir."
"Hello Harry. Please call me Albus, I am not your Headmaster any longer."
Harry pulled off a pair of protective gloves and threw them onto the sideboard before grabbing himself a cup of tea. He cast a questioning glance at Sirius, who just shrugged.
Albus was astonished by the young man before him, Ronald had proven a surprise but he had almost forgotten that Harry had grown up too. Harry had been 18 when he had last seen him, just heading out of his teens. Now he was nearing 30 and like Ronald, had grown into a rather formidable adult. He was not as tall as Ronald but he was far more muscular, he obviously kept up his training. He looked more the warrior now than he ever did whilst fighting Voldemort. His shoulder length dark hair hung loose with four plaits in the Iceni style. His face had broadened out along with the rest of his body, the square rimless glasses changed his face almost as much as the goatee beard.
"Uh, Albus... what can we do for you? Not that I'm not pleased to see you, but it's been ten years since the end of the war and we haven't seen you since they gave out the Order of Merlins."
Dumbledore had the good grace to look abashed. His obsession had made him neglect those who were important to him, he had no reasonable excuse.
"I have no good excuse for that. I hope that you can accept my apologies. By way of explanation, I have been working on rebuilding Hogwarts. Although much has been rebuilt as it was before, the school is much larger than it ever was and we now have Nursery, Infants and Juniors departments. I would like to reopen the school in September, so I am currently pursuing my "dream staff", if you will. You are both a part of that, as is Remus, who I notice is not here."
"Remus doesn't live here. He got married six years ago, he and his wife Talia live a couple of towns along the valley."
Sirius and Harry exchanged glances as they considered what the Headmaster had said. Sirius found his voice first.
"As what? You can't want us to teach ward casting and cloak making."
Albus chuckled. Dumbledore had learned long ago that it was always best to give Harry an out and let him feel that he had total control. He did have control of course, but Albus knew the safest way to play this.
"It might be interesting for the seventh years, but no. Sirius, I want to offer you a position in Transfiguration, Minerva will be Head of the Department. I would like to offer you, Harry, a position in DADA, I hope that Remus will accept the position of Head of DADA, so you will hopefully be under him. If you are willing to accept the position of course. I understand that everyone has moved on and built their lives away from Hogwarts. Sirius tells me that you have trained in a rare discipline."
Harry frowned in thought. Obviously he was weighing the pros and cons of this offer.
"It's sporadic work at best, to be honest. These last four years have been steady work because of a large order, I doubt its like will come around again any time soon. Which means that I would, most likely, be doing supplemental training at the Ministry. It's a surprise to be asked, I didn't even know Hogwarts had been rebuilt, but I think I'd prefer to teach kids than aurors. At least there'd be no more crap about why I became a glorified tailor. The deciding factor would really be whether I would be able to have some space for my workshop. There will still be the odd order, you see and I really don't want to give that up."
Dumbledore had started beaming at "sporadic" and by "to be honest" he knew that a "Yes" was around the corner.
"Oh, don't worry about that. The rebuild has given us plenty of scope to expand staff quarters, I am sure we can give you a suitable suite. Can I take it that you are accepting the position Harry?"
"If I've got space for a workshop, then absolutely, I would be honoured to."
Sirius had no demands. He could write his books anywhere that had a desk. He was a little surprised that it was transfiguration that he was offered, but it had been his best academic subject and he was an animagus. He couldn't begrudge Remus and Harry the DADA posts, they had far more experience there than he did. He had no desire to be left in the cottage by himself writing books and training aurors.
"Well, you get a 'hell yes' from me too Albus."
"Wonderful. Then I just need to talk to Dobby and Winky..."
"Dobby hears Headmaster Dumbledore. Dobby's family would love to go home."
"Fabulous, we are all set then. I expect you all at the castle on the 21st, that's next week. I hope that it's enough notice, I would like to get the school set in order and agree the curriculum before school starts."
xxxxxxxHPxxxxxxx
Dumbledore approached the small farmhouse by way of a winding grassy path. There were no roads or clear pathways to the house, it was deliberately remote. He had to step aside swiftly as a sheep's skull flew through the open kitchen window and shattered on the rocks outside.
"Remus, I have told you time and time again not to bring the bloody skulls home with you. Where did you even get it from?"
Dumbledore heard his old friend replying to this by courtesy of the upstairs window. The Lupins certainly liked fresh air. Albus shook his head. It was July for goodness sake, of course the windows were open; Albus felt all of his age for a moment before returning to the task at hand. He raised a hand to knock on the door when Remus' voice called out from the upstairs window, closely followed by a cropped sandy head.
"Albus? I thought it was you coming through the wards. Give me a moment. I will be right down. (inside) Talia, can open the door ? (pause) Because Albus Dumbledore is standing outside and I would prefer it if he didn't have to keep standing outside while I dry my hair."
Dumbledore smiled to himself. The door swung open to reveal a tall, lithe woman, attractive in a "dangerous housewife" kind of way. She was wearing worn denim dungarees and had her curly blonde hair piled high up on her head and clipped with a pewter wolf's head clasp. Her amber eyes were the thing that struck the old man though, only werewolves have amber eyes.
"Hello my dear. You must be Talia Lupin. It is a distinct pleasure to meet you."
Talia gestured Albus inside with a warm smile. Shuffling round the untidy half-painted kitchen, she gathered tea things together, clumsily clattering the crockery onto the table as Remus came into the room, drying his hair with a faded pink towel.
"Hello Albus. How are you faring these days?"
"Well Remus, I have been rebuilding the school. It has been a fascinating project. How are you, my dear boy? Is marriage treating you well."
Remus wrapped an arm around his wife and beamed. She wrapped an arm around him and matched his smile.
"We done with the poster shot for "Witch Weekly?" Can I pour the tea?"
Remus withdrew his arm and swatted her dungareed arse with his towel before slumping into one of the kitchen chairs.
"Sirius just rang me, so I have a heads up on why you are here. The problem that we have is that Talia is looking for work at the moment."
Talia interrupted, "You see, I've only ever worked for Arithmancy 2Day, testing the theories expounded. But it went bankrupt a few months ago and now I have to try and find new work. There aren't that many jobs for an Arithmancy Master, so we will have to move wherever the work is. I can't apparate to Cornwall every morning from the Outer Hebrides."
"Well, we aren't quite that high up in Scotland but I understand your problem. May I ask if you have ever considered teaching?"
"Teaching? I've had a few apprentices, but I haven't had the time until lately and now we don't have the funds. Sheep farming doesn't pay that well."
"I was not speaking of apprentices. I only have one Arithmancer on staff as yet, I am in search of another. As a Master, you are certainly qualified. As the spouse of an Order member, I have no problem with offering the position to you."
Talia stared in shock, "Are you serious?"
"Absolutely my dear, I am not yet at the joking stage with this project and I would certainly never offer hope and opportunity as a prank. It would save me the trouble of searching for a qualified and trustworthy individual. You have the credentials and it would make me happy to help solve your problem."
"Is he serious?"
Remus nodded, smiling peacefully. He could have expected no less really, silly of him not to think.
"He's serious? You're serious? Just like that? You don't even know me and I've never taught kids before."
Dumbledore just smiled.
"Can I assume that I can assign your offices?"
"You know we're werewolves, right? Sorry, of course you know."
"I have set aside quarters near to Gryffindor tower which have a secret entrance to the Forbidden Forest. I had not heard of Remus' marriage, but the suite is certainly large enough to accommodate both of you."
Remus guffawed at that.
"You crafty old bugger. You should have saved yourself the trip and sent us an adult version of the Hogwarts Letter. 'Dear Professor, You have been accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please send your acceptance and lesson plans by return owl.' Do you have any doubt about acceptance of these appointments Albus?"
"Some I am concerned about. I have been surprised a few times, I must admit. To be honest, I had few doubts that you and Sirius would accept. The Fates seem to be taking a hand, converging need and desire on the right people at the right time, I couldn't have planned it better if I had actually tried. It is Hermione and Severus that concern me the most. Hermione has made quite a name for herself, she would have to set her own writing as course texts if she accepts the position and I am told that she is currently working on an archaeological dig in Egypt. I believe that she may take a fair bit of convincing. I have also been having trouble locating Severus, I have had to pull in a few favours from former students working at the ministry to find any reference to him in their records. It is taking more time than I would like though. I am concerned about his wellbeing and doubt that he would easily accept returning to Hogwarts. But he is the best and I wanted the best and most trusted witches and wizards to be educating our next generation. Who better than those that protected it for them?"