VI—A Familiar Girl in the Back of His Class
Harry's first day of teaching arrived swiftly. He had awoken and dressed early to sort out his thoughts. He left while the other boys in his dormitory were still asleep so that he would not have to bear walking down to breakfast with them. After an early breakfast, he walked the familiar path to his classroom, his classroom, the thought sent shivers racing down his spine. The room was dark when he got there, but he changed that by lighting some candles with his wand. He went into his office, his office; he never thought he would ever have a space like that to call his own. He had been there on many occasions, when he was only a student. Each time the room occupied something different; Lockhart had a gallery of himself on display, Lupin had stored some creatures in tanks, and the fake Mad-Eye Moody had evil detection devices. This time, however, the walls and tables bore no magical devices, no evil detectors or creatures; only a desk with a chair and a few books Harry had placed on the shelf from his own collection.
On the desk was a large, neatly wrapped package. He eyed it warily, suspicious of surprises. The tag read, 'To Harry, from the Phoenix'. He ripped apart the paper and saw some familiar objects, a book, destroyed by something very sharp, a ring with the Slytherin family crest, a cup with Helga Hufflepuff's sign and a locket he had seen before, at number 12 Grimmauld Place and immediately knew exactly what it was. He took the fake locket out of his robes, which he kept there to remind himself of his failure. He wondered what this meant. There was a note at the bottom of the box, which read, 'We'll take care of it.' Harry sighed and set the box in a desk drawer.
Well I hope these are supposed to be good luck charms.
He was alone with his thoughts and this was never good. When he thought, he got nervous. He wondered how the students would take to him being a teacher. He wondered whether they would think that this was just another act, another cry for glory. He wondered just how, exactly, was the Phoenix going to take care of the other horcruxes. He looked to the clock ticking above the door. His time had come. He swallowed nervously, stood and entered his classroom, his classroom; he was almost giddy now, though queasy with nerves.
His first class was his own year. He knew he would know some of them, and he would recognize other's faces. He knew that they would stare in surprise. Nonetheless, he opened the door and the students began pouring in.
"You're our new DA teacher?" Ernie Macmillan exclaimed. Professor Potter did not reply; he stood by the door, ushering the students in. He never knew students who could be so loud in chatter and wondered for a moment how the teachers put up with it, and then he remembered he used to be on the other side of this barrier.
"Settle down please," exclaimed Professor Potter in a most professional manner. The class hushed at once, more eager to hear what he had to say than to talk about it. He took a piece of white chalk and scratched it along the chalkboard, etching his name, Professor Potter. He began explaining the rules to them at once, "In this classroom, and with any Defense against the Dark Arts conversations you may have with me, this is what you are to refer to me as. I am like any other professor, I give homework and detentions," he looked at Ron at this moment because he knew that if there ever was a person with a joke in mind, it was the brother of the Weasley twins. The Harry inside the Professor felt a pang of hurt as he saw that the dark haired girl, Gwen sitting in his rightful spot. His voice wavered slightly but he recovered, "I suggest you take this class very seriously, because, in my opinion, and in your Head Master's opinion, Dark Arts Defense is the most important class you can ever take."
There were no comments, no questions not a jeer or two, only silence prevailed. Professor Potter began at once.
"Now that you're seventh years, you have a heavy burden on your shoulders. Previously, that burden was what you wanted to do once you got out of Hogwarts; I know that I still haven't decided maybe I'll take up teaching," a giggle erupted in the classroom, lightening the mood a little, but Professor Potter continued, "but honestly. What are you going to do now that Voldemort is out of hiding and terrorizing, not only London, or Great Britain, but all of Europe and all of the world?" The giggles stopped abruptly when his name was uttered and Professor Potter's voice was filled with a greater passion. "How are you going to properly do your jobs with his death eaters blowing up buildings and hanging muggles in the air? You can't, this is a situation that is impossible to escape. Last year, we saw at Hogwarts the ultimate doing of dark magic. The avada kedavra curse was performed on our own Head Master! I was there, I saw it, and I know first hand that there is no escape."
His students were silent, captured by his words. Most of them were still stunned that Harry, or rather, Professor Potter, was the head of the class. However, even more of them were surprised that Harry Potter was speaking to them of his experiences.
"This year, we will be going deeper into Dark Magic than any defense class has," he saw some eyes open up, especially Neville's remembering their fourth year with Professor Moody/Crouch performing the three unforgivable curses on spiders and on them. "But first, I would like you to open up your texts to page 56. There is a short analysis on Dementors I would like you to read quietly to yourselves before we have a question session and then take out our wands to practice the patronus charm. Bear with me, for some of you, this is review."
There were a few smiles because he knew that for, some of these students, working with Dementors were old news. However, the students needed something challenging that would instill confidence in themselves.
"Can anybody tell me what a Dementor is?" Professor Potter exclaimed to the sixth years, hands shot up in the air, most of them had been part of Dumbledore's Army, like Luna Lovegood, he chose a different student. A blonde haired girl with freckles in the back answered quietly. Her brown eyes bore into him and he felt relaxed, like Ron did when he encountered a Veela, "What is you're name?"
Her eyes widened and she replied, "W-wensley."
Harry eyed her suspiciously and said, "Miss Wensley could you please speak up."
"Dementors guard Azkaban Prison. They suck all of the happiness out of a person," she shuddered and her eyes emitted pity and longing.
"That's right," Professor Potter exclaimed, "it is a most vile creature, however, the text is slightly outdated. The Dementors no longer guard Azkaban Prison; they are now free and have sided with Voldemort. I have personally met these things on more than one occasion and have had to know the patronus charm since I was thirteen, which is not much younger than you are today," he said after dinner to his fifth years.
This class was more difficult than the other two because at the end of the day, the classroom was dark and sleepy. They were mostly silent during question period. He got them to move the desks aside and stand in a line.
"Now, the charm to rid of a Dementor is expecto patronum, but just saying the charm will not do. Mr. Wong told us that a Dementor feeds on your happiness. The way to summon a patronus is to think of the happiest thought you have, think of your friends, your family, Christmas dinner when you were four, your last great summer vacation. Say the charm when you feel you're happiest."
The students tried, he let them fail three times before he announced, "Don't worry if you don't get it right away, the reason you have so many spares, is so that you can practice. This is a very difficult charm. I have met older students who are not able to master it. I don't expect you to get it before next week's class but practice diligently and I'll see you all tomorrow!"
The day had gone quickly, and Harry didn't feel that he had learned anymore than he had known before, though he had shown all of his classes his fully developed stag patronus, something he hadn't realized he was so rusty on himself. He found his way to the Gryffindor common room. His entire house was there, cheering him on, he was Harry again and could talk about his experiences openly.
"Look, I can do it!" Gwen exclaimed, her silver creature, a beaver, swimming through the air above everybody's heads.
Harry smiled, "That's good, Gwen." He was preoccupied. He searched for Miss Wensley, the sixth year with the brown eyes. However, she did not seem to be present, or perhaps he was mistaken in her identity and she was in a different house. He knew he should not feel this way about his students, but he was a student as well, so he thought it all evened out.
AN: Thank you for all your lovely comments, I wouldn't be writing it if I didn't get any lol! I'm actually getting more than I expected though considering the Harry Potter thread is used more than others, stories really sift through quickly! However, I am glad you're enjoying it, keep up the commenting and I'll keep up my best work! ;)