Hello wonderful readers and fellow authors!

This one's for Kenzi because she finally wrote the chapter and I want her to know how immensely proud of her I am :-)

And the disclaimer: anything labeled "fanfiction" is not original. Therefore, this isn't mine. Bite me.

Harry awoke the next morning with a sickening feeling of apprehension eating at his stomach. At first, staring up at the canopy that covered his four-poster, he couldn't remember why. Then it hit him.

He was a teacher.

Silently, he climbed out of bed and dressed. Dean, Neville and Ron were all still asleep; they had been up late the previous night talking excitedly. Harry, despite the late hour he had finally gone to bed, did not feel tired; instead, he felt alert and nervous.

Part of their conversation the night before had revealed why there were now only four boys in their dormitory. Seamus Finnegan had not returned to Hogwarts because his parents felt it was unsafe. Harry shook his head when he heard this, but there was nothing he could do about it. If that was how the Finnegans saw things, it was up to them.

Harry descended slowly to the common room, which was empty save for one person.

"Morning, Hermione," Harry said, surprised to see her awake. "What're you doing up?"

She held up a stack of toast and a few pieces of bacon wrapped in a napkin. "I went down to the kitchen to get these for you. I thought you might want help getting ready for your classes," she said brightly.

Harry grinned gratefully and took the proffered food. "Thanks, Hermione. You're a life saver."

She smiled. "Let's go."

They traced the familiar path through the corridors to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, meeting very few people along the way. Harry pulled the key that Professor McGonagall had given him out of his pocket and unlocked the door.

The room was undecorated, the only furniture being the teacher's desk at the head of the class and thirty or so smaller desks arranged in neat rows. Hermione brightened. "I'll go to the Room of Requirement and get some stuff to decorate," she said happily and promptly disappeared.

Left alone, Harry crossed to the storage closet in the corner and unlocked that as well. One shelf contained extra parchment, quills, and ink, and a long row of textbooks, but the rest were full empty. I'll have to find some stuff to fill those up, he thought musingly.

The other door in the room led to his office, which contained three empty bookshelves, a desk, a file cabinet, two other chairs, and a small desk in the corner. Branching off of this was his bedroom, furnished with a bed, fireplace, dresser, and closet. Satisfied, he returned to the classroom.

Not really knowing what to do, he waited for Hermione, who entered the room three minutes later, levitating before her a mass of objects that must have amounted to four times her weight.

"Wow," Harry said, nonplussed. "Am I supposed to use all of that?"

She shrugged. "I thought I'd bring down as much as I could carry, just in case.

Among the items were several of Harry's favorite books on Defense Against the Dark Arts from when he had been teaching the D.A., Professor Moody's Dark Detectors, several fluffy cushions, a huge box of Honeydukes' chocolate (for when he taught Patronuses, she explained), a pickled grindylow, and a high stack of portraits of famous wizards, each of which had a name attached below it. She hung them up happily.

"Flavius Belby," Harry asked, moving closer to one and remembering Professor McGonagall's strange password, "Who was he?" he asked.

"He found that a Patronus charm was the only way to defend yourself against a lethifold," she said distractedly, now straightening the Foe Glass in one corner. Harry decided not to ask was a lethifold was.

Harry could hear students beginning to file past his classroom towards the Great Hall for breakfast. He and Hermione continued to straighten up the room, hanging the remainder of the pictures and putting the pickled grindylow in the closet. Harry, in his nervousness, kept shifting things from place to place. Hermione looked at him sympathetically when he put the pile of cushions in a different corner for the fifth time. "You'll do fine, Harry."

Somewhere in the hall, the bell rang. With a start, Harry spun around, expecting students to begin pouring through the door. Hermione laid a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Calm down," she admonished him. "They won't be here for another couple of minutes. You'll be fine. I have to go."

Harry's throat felt dry as he watched her walk out the door. Cool and composed, Harry, he told himself. He knew, however, that he probably looked quite the opposite.

The door creaked open and the first kids started to filter in. They were first years from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, chatting in loud voices. Realizing he had left the schedule Hermione had drawn up for him, he slipped into his office and retrieved it, emerging just as the second bell signaled the start of class.

As he entered the classroom, a hush fell over the assembled eleven-year-olds. The first thing that registered to him was just how small they were; children's faces with bodies that were just beginning to grow. Some looked eager, some smug, others nervous, and a few even fearful. The second thing he noticed was that all their eyes were on him.

Harry, to his utter astonishment, found that he was able to speak in a voice that was only slightly higher than his normal one, and the tremor in it was barely perceivable.

"Good morning," he began, looking around at his students. "Welcome to your first class at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

He proceeded to do what Hermione had recommended he do; bolster their confidence. "They're scared," she had informed him matter-of-factly. "It's their first day and they're not sure of themselves. They need to know that someone is there for them and that someone believes in them."

"First of all," he said slowly, gazing at them and wondering how people could possibly be so small and yet so intimidating, "I want you to realize that you are all here. You made it. You all have enough magical abilities to be able to come to Hogwarts. That means each of you has the potential to be someone amazing. None of you is better or worse than any other. Some of you may have had more exposure to the magical world, and that will give you an advantage, but the rest of you have the ability to be just as good as them."

They looked at him blankly.

"Look," he said, smiling slightly. "Professor McGonagall selected each of you to come to her school. And believe me, she doesn't make mistakes." He paused thoughtfully. "Make sure you tell her I said that."

No one smiled.

"Tough crowd," Harry said, frowning slightly. "Loosen up a bit, will you? You're making me nervous."

That cracked a few grins.

"Alright," Harry said, picking up and scanning the role. "I have to take attendance, so forgive me if I massacre your name. Say 'here' and raise your hand so I can see who you are. Maria Anderson," he said, looking up.

A girl in the third row raised her hand and said, "Here."

"Good. John Collins?"

A plump boy in the back put up his hand timidly and squeaked, "Here."

Halfway down the list of names, he said, "Jacob McLean?"

The voice that answered made him look up sharply. "Here," the boy drawled lazily.

Harry blinked. The kid's voice reminded him eerily of Draco Malfoy's. Harry scrutinized him suspiciously for a second, deciding that they didn't look enough alike to have any kind of family connection, and said, "Arionna Pusey."

A freckled hand went up, one that belonged to an eager-looking red-haired girl in the front row. Someone, apparently thinking Harry couldn't hear him, muttered, "Freak."

Harry stopped halfway through Kara Quinn's name and looked up sharply. "I'm not going to abide that in my classroom," he said quietly, looking straight at the offender. "If I hear anything of the sort again, you're leaving and not coming back. Is that understood?"

He looked at his hands. "Yes, Professor."

"Thank you. Kara?"

The role finished, Harry set it down and crossed to the closet in the back. Thinking of two of the only names he could remember, he said, "John and Maria, if you could help me please…"

A boy and a girl stood up apprehensively and crossed to him. "Give a textbook to everyone, if you would. Thanks."

Maria took a stack of five books, and John, trying to prove his machismo, took eight. Harry went and sat down behind his desk, surveying the first years for a moment before he spoke.

"As you are all fully aware," he began slowly, trying to phrase what he was going to say just right, "Lord Voldemort has returned and regained the power that terrorized your parents." He noticed the flinches and grimaces that happened at the mention of Voldemort's name. Looking at them sternly, he said, "A very wise man once told me that fear of a name only increases thing of the fear itself." He continued, "Because of this, there aren't nearly as many students here as there have been before. Your parents chose to let you come either because they were unaware of the full extent of the danger, or because they felt you were safer here. Either way, my job is to teach you to defend yourselves. It's even more vital now that Voldemort is back, because he wants you to join him or he wants to hurt you. That's how he is.

"So the things I'm going to teach you this year are the things I think will be most valuable to you in a fight against Voldemort or his followers. A lot of the things you're going to learn are very advanced spells that many adults don't know. It might prove that having as little magical training as you've all had that you won't be able to do some of them, but I don't think that'll happen. I believe that you're all smart enough to perform shields, hexes, Patronuses, et cetera."

Arionna, the red-haired girl on the front row, let out a gasp. "We're going to do Patronuses?"

Harry grinned. "Don't tell your parents or they'll think I'm overworking you."

She said something in an excited whisper to a boy sitting next to her, who appeared entirely disinterested. Harry was about to continue, but Arionna asked excitedly, "Can you do a Patronus?"

He chuckled. "I sure hope I can, if I'm the one who's going to be teaching you."

"Will you do it for us?"

"Yeah, Professor, do it!" came a shout from the back of the room. Other students joined their pleading.

Harry shook his head. "Not now."

"Please, Professor?" It was Arionna again. Harry smiled at her eagerness, thinking of Hermione. Perhaps it was this connection that changed his mind.

He sighed. "Alright, but only as long as everyone promises to hand in a twenty-four inch essay on the Patronus Charm next week."

He grinned at the outraged whispers that followed. Some of them looked murderous. "I'm joking, guys. Don't mutiny on me. Here we go."

Summoning up an image of Ginny, he raised his wand and said loudly, "Expecto Patronum!"

An enormous silver stag erupted out of the tip of his wand and cantered around the class once to a chorus of oohs and aahs. Arionna positively beamed as it walked past her and faded into nothingness.

"Satisfied?" Harry asked, stowing his wand back in his robes.

There was a round of applause, which he silenced by grinning sheepishly and saying, "You'll all be able to do that by the end of the year. Though it's a lot harder with an actual dementor there."

There was an outbreak of excited whispers. As Maria gave the last boy a text book and sat down, Harry said loudly, "Alright, if you'll all be quiet enough that I can hear myself think, we're going to start."

Silence prevailed instantly. Harry stood up and motioned for his class to follow him out the door.

He led them to an empty classroom a few doors down. Once everyone was assembled and the talking had died down once more, he explained, "We're going to begin with a spell I learned in my second year hear. It's very handy and fairly easy. Its purpose is to disarm your opponent. The incantation is expelliarmus. Say it with me: expelliarmus!"

They called it back to him. "Good!" he said encouragingly. "Okay, let me show you what it does. Can I have a volunteer?"

A few people raised their hands, Arionna among them. He pointed to a small, mousy boy who looked rather like he was surprised to find himself volunteering. "Come on up. What's your name again?"

"Neil," he said timidly, stepping forward.

"Alright, Neil, you're going to be my subject for this." The kid looked terrified. Harry smiled. "It's okay, it won't hurt, I promise. It'll just knock your wand out of your hand."

He nodded tremulously and withdrew his wand. Harry pointed his wand at the first year and said clearly, "Expelliarmus!"

The wand flew out of Neil's hand and he was knocked back a step. He looked ruffled, but jubilant that he wasn't hurt. Harry snatched the flying wand out of the air. "Good," he said in satisfaction. "Do you think you could do it to me?"

The boy shrugged. "Maybe. I could try."

"Alright, that's all I need." Harry took a defensive stance. Neil apprehensively raised his wand.

"Expelliarmus!" he shouted.

Harry felt his wand jerk slightly and his hair flutter, but he didn't lose his wand. Nevertheless, he clapped Neil on the shoulder and said, "Good job! That was a great try. One more time."

This time he was successfully disarmed. He could have held on to the wand if he had tried, but he figured it was the kid's first time, so he'd go easy. The class cheered as Neil joined their ranks, embarrassed but flushed with victory. Harry silenced them with a wave of his hand. "Alright, now I want you all to split into pairs and try it yourselves. Remember to concentrate on what you're doing and don't be careless. We don't want anyone to have to go to the hospital wing before their first class is over."

Harry strolled among the first years, correcting wand grips, reiterating pronunciation, and giving tips. Only a handful managed it in the hour remaining in class, and it was an hour that taught Harry very much about his class. By the end, he could pick out the exceptionally bright ones, the shy and uncertain ones, the popular ones, the cocky ones, and the ones who lacked any motivation whatsoever. Fortunately, there weren't too many of those.

A few minutes before the bell rang, Harry used his wand to create a loud bang, which immediately shushed his pupils.

"Great job," he said, beaming. "The bell's going to ring in a minute, so go ahead and pack up your things. Your homework this week-" there was a collective groan- "is to practice Expelliarmus and have it perfected by next Monday. If you can't get it, come see me and I'll help you."

He remembered something as they began filing out the door. "Oh, and Professor McGonagall asked me if I would hold extra classes once a week after dinner, for anyone who wants to come and get a leg up. It'll be on Friday, in this classroom here. Raise your hand if you think you might want to come, so that I can get a general idea of how many'll be there."

Four students raised their hands, including Arionna and Neil. He smiled slightly as they walked out the door, chatting animatedly.

This whole teacher business might be more fun than he thought.