Chapter 8:Welcome Back
Harry, Ron, Ginny, Hermione and Neville sat in the Great Hall at the Gryffindor Table while Luna had headed for the Ravenclaw Table.
Ron was rubbing his stomach, groaning, whining and begging for food.
Harry was smiling softly at his friend and Ginny was gazing longingly at Harry while Hermione chose to ignore the long redhead beside her.
Silence descended upon the students as Professor McGonagall cast a stern glare into their numbers.
"When I call your name, you will come forward and sit here and I will place the Sorting Hat on top of your head. After you have been sorted, you will join the rest of them at your House's Table."
There were surprisingly many first years this year, twenty new students were sorted into Gryffindor alone.
After the Ceremony, Albus Dumbledore stood up from his throne-like chair at the Head Table.
"Hello everyone, to the first years I say welcome, to the returning students, welcome back.
I have three words for you: Butterfly, Sausage, Gemini."
As he sat down, food began to appear on the plates on all of the tables and Ron attacked the food with vigour. During the meal, they talked about what they had done during the Holidays but Harry wasn't saying much because he didn't want it to leak he had used a Time Turner and that he really was seven and a half months older than people thought he was.
After dinner, Dumbledore stood up once again.
"Before I send you all of to bed, may I introduce you to your new Defence Against The Dark Arts teacher: Professor Kingsley Shacklebolt." There was a polite applause from everywhere but the Slytherin Table.
"Professor Shacklebolt has agreed to come teach you all and has resigned as Senior Auror at the Ministry Of Magic. Now, besides the DADA classes, there will be an extra, non obligated course which will go in depth with duelling and quite possibly the ancient art of Elemental Guidance for those of you able. The course is available for fourth years and above. So it is with great pleasure to present to you: Professor Harry Potter!"
First there was an utter silence in the Great Hall, but gradually, a polite applause began, to end in a thunderous wave of cheers and by all but the Slytherin Table.
Harry's friends were looking at him with expressions of pure shock and Harry was blushing slightly at the praise of his fellow students. The only problem was, they were all cheering and applauding, but they could not find him. They saw the new student sitting with Harry's friends, but they didn't see the Boy Who Lived.
"Professor Potter, could you explain a bit what this course will be about and what is on the program this year."
Harry stood and understanding suddenly dawned on the faces of the students as they saw the 'new student' rise from his seat. "Thank you everyone, now as some of you may know, last year my friends and I started a movement called the DA, Dumbledore's Army. I taught the members how to defend themselves as Umbridge did not teach us what to do in hard times as these. I will take this a step beyond that this year. Not only will I teach you how to duel, I will also explore the Elemental Guidance with those fit for it. For those who don't know what Elemental Guidance is, let me explain. Elemental Guidance is the control of the four Primary Elements, namely Fire, Wind, Earth and Water."
Harry was interrupted by a disbelieving snort from the Slytherin Table, followed by a shout of "Yeah sure, prove you can do it, Potter. I don't believe a word you say until proven!!"
"Malfoy, I already showed you some on the train but your clearly to dumb to realise what is was. But if you insist…"
A sudden gust of wind blew up Malfoy's robes into his face so he could not see anything while he was being raised into the air, the gust stopped, letting his robes fall down again, but he hung suspended in the air.
"Put me down, Potter!!" came Malfoy's panicked scream.
"That's Professor Potter to you, and I am not quite finished Malfoy, after all, that was only one Element."
The hem of Malfoy's robes caught fire while he screamed to be put down and that someone would help him.
Suddenly, he was soaked to the bone as Harry used the moisture in the air to cool the blond haired boy off.
As soon as the flames were doused, Harry released the moisture again, so as not to discomfort the rest of the students.
Harry caused the stone bench full of Slytherins to float up under Malfoy's ass and put the young man down on in, after which he floated the bench down again, releasing it once it stood on the ground.
Dumbledore coughed slightly "Hmm, yes, after that particular demonstration I think you may have proven your point Professor Potter." He said with the twinkle evident in his eyes.
"Elemental Guidance is not a type of wand magic and some of you may not have the Potential, but other may have Potential for multiple Elements, the only person to have the skill and Potential for all four elements is the Avatar, and for the perhaps slower students among you, Yes that means our Mr Potter here is the next Avatar. Excluding the Avatar, the most Potential a person has towards Elements is two."
"Now, enough of this. I'm sure you're all very tired and would like nothing more than to crawl in your warm beds, so for now I say goodnight."
The students were slowly filing out the room but Harry remained seated. Hermione shook him softly and he started out of his daydream.
"We're going up to Gryffindor Tower. Are you coming?"
"Yeah, I was just thinking about something"
"What was that then?"
"Oh nothing important" he lied.
Flashback
"Let's review what we've seen so far, shall we?"
"Yeah OK Professor," Harry said.
"Now Harry I told you to call me Albus, not Professor. Anyway, show me your Animagus forms if you please."
Harry started focusing on his forms, and picked one from the imaginary row. The transformation was swift and painless. Now, before Dumbledore sat a black dog with unruly hair, his tongue lolling happily from his mouth. Moments later an eagle took his place, only to be replaced by a cat, a weasel, a chameleon, an snowy owl, an eagle owl, a bumblebee, a stallion, a mammoth, a mouse, a puma, a cougar, a lion, and then Harry transformed to his back human self.
"Very good Harry, you've made a lot of progress, in these nine months, it's a pity an Animagus can only transform into non-magical creatures."
"Yeah, Albus, about that…"
Albus blinked and then saw a Thestral standing in front of him, then a Hippogriff, a Blast Ended Skrewt, a Griffin, a Chimera, a Nundu, and finally a Phoenix.
The ghost seemed to stagger back in surprise while Harry once again returned to his human form.
The old man's laughter filled the air a moment later. "I should've known you would've managed that feat. And you hid it quite nicely from me, you're becoming quite the Occlumens my dear boy. You're just a few lessons away from becoming a true Occlumency Master and you've already achieved Legilimens Mastership, Duelling Mastership and Potions Mastership, I'd say we're progressing very well."
"We still have one month left to achieve your Elemental Mastership, but that should not pose a problem. Now Harry, we have a few things to discuss."
"Sir?..."
"I must warn you that you will have to use your wand at school so as not to inform Voldemort of your wandless abilities. You will also have to keep your sword on you at all times.
I must ask you one last thing for tonight. I would like you to take the students who are willing and old enough and teach them how to duel, the rest of the curriculum will be your call.
You will of course receive the status of Professor and with that all the responsibilities that come with that status."
"I will think about it Sir."
"That's all I could hope for Harry, have a good night"
"You too Sir"
End Flashback
Harry turned to Hermione and said: "I'm thinking of including the Animagus transformation in my class. What do you think"
He took a good look at her face and privately thought she might have made a good impression of a goldfish.