Charlie Weasley threw his bag down on the floor as he walked through the portrait. The portrait was of a man watching over a field of dragons. Charlie couldn't help but chuckle as Headmistress McGonagall directed him to the teacher suite that would be his. He was allowed to set his password and simply had to tell one other staff member, he of course planned to tell Bill. Never did Charlie imagine stepping back into Hogwarts as a Professor. Charlie was excited about the opportunity when he received the letter from McGonagall, Hagrid was going to be returning to Hogwarts as a student and had suggested that McGonagall offer the job to Charlie. He thought long and hard about it, spoke with Bill about it when he found out he was going to be teaching as the new Defense Against the Dark Arts, and even talked to his mother about being closer to home. Charlie stood in his new home and thought back to how this new adventure began.

Last week Charlie Floo'd to McGonagall's office to talk about taking the job. McGonagall had been overjoyed at his acceptance, she quickly pulled out the stack of parchment he was to read and sign before he could move into the school, or if he wanted to live off of the campus she would need to gather other forms for him to sign. Charlie's head swam as he tried to follow everything McGonagall was telling him. He would be teaching Monday through Friday with free periods throughout the day for planning and grading, he would have several evaluations throughout the year, duties he would need to complete each term if he wished to bring in any magical creatures he must fill out the proper forms beforehand. When Charlie left the headmistresses office he had 10 forms he needed to sign, a handbook to read, and guidebooks on what all his position would require. Charlie step back out of the Floo into his mother's kitchen and looked like he was going to be sick. Hermione and Ginny were sitting at the table with Bill. Hermione hopped up and help Charlie sit down all of the papers while Ginny went to get Charlie a glass of fire whisky. Bill busted out laughing.

"I take it that you took the job and are now extremely confused?" Bill said in between his laughter. Charlie flipped Bill off as Hermione made neat stacks of the papers. Ginny grinned at her two eldest brothers.

"You do also know that Hermione and I will be in both of your classes?" Hermione hummed her agreement as she skimmed the top lines of the papers and placed them on the table by what each forms topic. Charlie took the glass from Ginny and slumped into a chair. He eyed the papers as Hermione placed the last ones in a neat stack and pulled an ink pen from her beaded handbag.

"I don't think I have seen this much parchment since I graduated from Hogwarts." Charlie groaned as he downed his whisky. Bill, Ginny, and Hermione laughed as Charlie ran his hands through his hair. Bill sat in the kitchen with Charlie as he read and filled out each parchment. After he had Hermione explain the amazing "ink pen." The Floo went off again just before 6 O'clock and Harry and Ron stumbled out laughing about something in Auror training. Molly rushed the boys out to wash up for dinner. Hermione followed the boys up the stairs. Asked about them coming to Diagon Ally with her and Ginny the next day. Ron remarked about them being busy with training and how they wouldn't be able to, Charlie shook his head at his little brother and started gathering the papers he needed to owl back to the Headmistress. He tied them to his owl and it took off.

Now Charlie was standing in his room at Hogwarts, trying to plan out his first year of teaching. Charlie had been told that morning at the staff meeting that the teachers would have three weeks to get settled before students would be arriving at the school. What exactly that meant Charlie was unsure. He knew that he wanted to get his indoor classroom set up before dinner and then he planned to work on his fieldwork areas. Charlie waved his wand and started setting up his on-suite office area. He sat at his desk and ran his hand over the notebook Hermione and Ginny had picked up for him. Charlie smiled as he flipped to the first page. Ginny and Hermione had both left him a note. He slowly read the notes as he played with a cup of pens (That Hermione gifted him) he had sitting on his desk.

Charlie Professor Weasley,

I know that you will be a wonderful Care of Magical Creatures teacher…However, I do know that you and Ronald share a lot of personality traits so I am hoping this notebook will help you keep track of all of the new teacher things you will need to do. I placed a charm on the notebook to add pages as needed, yet stay the same thickness. I also hope you enjoy the new pack of muggle pens.

With love,

Hermione J. Granger

My Dragon-Loving lunatic,

Hermione is right you will be fantastic! Just remember, students can be stupid and get hurt by the creatures you love so much. Watch out for dummies. Love you, my sweet brother! Oh and by the way you are good-looking, young, and unmarried. I am sure girls…maybe even a few boys will try and "earn" good grades in other ways. Don't be tempted.

Your favorite sibling,

Ginny Weasley

He flipped to the second page and started a list of the creatures he wanted to teach about, what he would need to set up the creatures' habitats, actually getting the creatures and possible guest speakers. Charlie walked the halls of Hogwarts, stopping to talk with a few of the portraits. He noticed that quite a few of the portraits were missing or still damaged. Nothing in the school seemed to have escaped the effects of the war.

He shook his head as he headed back towards the hall he knew his room to be on. Fleur came bustling out of a classroom, speaking rapidly in French. Charlie slowly stepped in front of his sister-in-law. Fleur stopped and looked up at Charlie. "Ello! 'you 'elp me with something? I cannot get the ghost 'eeve, to leave the desk alone. He moves 'them 'verytime I get them set the way Bill likes. Charlie spent a few minutes talking to Peeves about the room, how it might look best, Bill's desk was hanging from the ceiling by the end of it but the students' desk was set. Charlie shrugged to a very flustered Fleur, "Small victories, you can fix Bill's desk later" Fleur said something about the pesky spook in French but Charlie didn't know exactly what.

Around 10:30, Charlie finally made it to his classroom. All of the windows were drawn shut, the desks were stacked to one side of the room, and everything was covered in a film of dust, grim,e, and cobwebs. "This is going to be a long day," Charlie said to himself as he started casting the cleaning charms his mother had taught him over the years.