Miss Moony would like to dedicate this chapter to MuGgLeNeT27 for being the first reviewer.

Miss Moony would also like to thank Jersey Princess, I can see Thestrals, insanity- is- my- life, Serenitystone, crazyginnygirl2, Lady Lily3, The Mystical Elf, volleypickle16, girlknight, minnie-mae, Kaaera, KittyLupin, REBELICIOUS4701, UniMyth, ikav, Nightwing 509 and Troll bogeys for reviewing.

Miss Moony would also like to tell Lady Lily3 that she didn't realize that the characters were very OOC, but they are supposed to be a little.

To Troll bogeys: Wow. Miss Moony hasn't had a compliment like that in ages. Thanks!

To I can see Thestrals: Sorry. Miss Moony's other fic is romance, but it hasn't really begun yet. It's a romance/angst.

To Jersey Princess: Why exactly did you say "Jamie" at the beginning of your review?

------- I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good -------

Chapter 6

Dumbledore seated himself behind his desk, surveying the six friends with trepadition.

"You understand that I have every reason to believe that you are Death Eater spies, do you not?" he asked.

Harry nodded. "But I've already told you that we're not," he said, "we're just looking for a job."

"And how exactly do you expect six people to be able to teach together?"

"Oh please," Ginny said dismissively, "stranger things have happened. And we agree with each other most of the time."

Dumbledore agreed reluctantly. "And the age problem?" he asked.

"Far younger people have taught at Hogwarts in the past," Hermione said, "I read it in 'Hogwarts: A History'. In 1623, Stephanus Fuller started teaching Herbology at the age of fourteen and Erin Taylor taught Potions in 1712 when she was thirteen."

Dumbledore looked amused as Hermione finished her tirade and folded her arms across her chest, challenging him to prove her wrong.

"You are correct, Miss Grant," he said, "I have never met anyone your age who has done such extensive research on the school's history."

Harry could picture Hermione swelling with pride at the compliment. Not that Hermione didn't often get complimented, only it wasn't usually by Dumbledore.

"What next?" Neville asked.

Harry chewed on his bottom lip anxiously, well aware that Future-Dumbledore had told them that they would have to duel, though he couldn't remember whether the others had been present when he had been told as much.

"We duel," Dumbledore stated simply, conjuring a dueling stage. "Who will go first?"

Surprisingly, Neville stepped forward.

The two of them bowed before taking on their stances; Neville's defensive.

With a quick flick of his wand, Dumbledore began the offensive.

"Stupefy," he said.

Neville quickly countered it with "Protego", and the beam of red light dissipated as it hit the shield. "Locomoter mortis," Neville added before Dumbledore could send another spell his way.

Dumbledore, surprised when Neville's shield absorbed his stunner rather than backfiring it, was caught unawares and was hit by the leg-locker, ending the duel, as the Headmaster had fallen and couldn't get up, having dropped his wand when he fell.

Neville quickly released the spell and helped Dumbledore to his feet.

"Congratulations, Mr. James," he said, his eyes twinkling, "though I wish we'd had a chance to use some more advanced spells."

Ginny came next. Her dueling style, to say the least, was unusual.

"Impedimenta," was the first curse that Dumbledore used.

Ginny side-stepped the jet of light before shouting "Colorare" and turning Dumbledore's office black - including the windows, darkening the room considerably.

Dumbledore hadn't been expecting this, but he didn't let it effect him and he quickly sent a blasting spell her way.

She flicked her wrist and bent the spell back on itself with "Curvus."

After that her reaction was lightning quick.

"Lumos solem," she shouted, blinding him, and before he had recovered she finished the duel with a bat-bogey hex.

Dumbledore congratulated her before retrieving his wand and cleaning his office. His eyes were twinkling with amusement.

The next three duels were rather similar, Hermione won her duel using "petrificus totalus", the full body-binder, Ron lost his duel to a well timed stunner from Dumbledore, but put up a good fight and Luna also lost, but this time from a curse that none of the six knew that shattered the bone in her wrist, causing her to drop her wand.

Finally, it was Harry's turn.

"Ready, Mr. Patterson?" Dumbledore asked cheerfully and Harry nodded stoically.

"As I'll ever be," was the short reply.

Dumbledore began the duel with "Impedimenta."

"Protego," unlike Neville's, it reflected the jinx only at double the force.

Dumbledore dodged the rebound.

The duel went on like this for a few minutes before Harry conjured up a grim to distract Dumbledore. His heart gave a painful twinge - it looked surprisingly like Sirius.

Dumbledore managed to vanish the grim quite quickly, but not quickly enough. During those vital seconds, Harry managed to hit the dueling stage with a blasting curse and they were both thrown backwards.

Harry recovered from the shock and got to his feet, still slightly dazed and he watched as Dumbledore did the same.

"Should we call that a draw?" he asked, his voice sore from the force of the explosion.

Dumbledore smiled and nodded. "You're hired," he said.