Despite his fellow Gryffindors understanding the full situation, the rest of the school still thought Teddy had been expelled for hexing Farrow, or had gone to join Greyback during the full-moon, or that he was completely insane. Stares followed him accompanied by whispers as he walked the corridors down to the Great Hall the following morning.
"Surely it's obvious by now that I'm not expelled," he said irritably.
"It will blow over," Amina said attempting to comfort him.
"The blue hair isn't really helping you stay unnoticed," added Chloe. "Don't get me wrong – I like it," she reassured him.
Teddy had decided that as part of his new pact with himself to stop hiding who he was, he wouldn't hide his metamorphmagus abilities. He had changed his hair to his favourite turquoise shade that morning and was planning on keeping it that way. It was the colour that felt the most him and was the one he had always kept when he was home and with family.
The gossip surrounding Teddy was quick to blow-over however, as that morning Hogwarts was shaken by an announcement from Professor McGonagall.
"Your attention, please," Professor McGonagall said, her voice booming above the noise of the students eating breakfast. It took several moments for the students to realise the headmistress was talking as it was almost unheard of for her to make an announcement over breakfast.
"I want to speak to you all before you read the claims in the Daily Prophet this morning," she began, eyes scanning the crowd.
"This weekend, one of our staff, Professor Farrow was involved in a protest that was not supported by the staff. Professor Farrow has made his views on a certain subject clear and in light of these views, we have asked Professor Farrow to resign from his position as Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher and to vacate the castle."
There was an explosion of noise as students reacted to the news.
"Good riddance to him," Teddy muttered to Fionn who nodded in agreement.
"Who will teach us now?" Chloe asked.
"Silence, please," McGonagall bellowed which quickly muted the hall, the students were eager to hear what she would say.
"We are of course working to replace Professor Farrow as soon as we can. In the meantime, Defence Against the Dark Arts classes will be put on hold." There was a cheer from around the hall at the prospect of free periods.
Professor McGonagall surveyed the students, allowing the noise to continue only momentarily before recapturing the students' attention.
"Many of you are too young to remember the war but I know that you have all been touched by it in some way or another. War stems from hatred and discrimination. Hogwarts School does not tolerate discrimination or prejudice in any form, whether this comes from students or our own staff. I want you all to remember this and remember that the only way forward from the tragedies of our past is through love and acceptance of one another's differences."
The silence in the Great Hall was noticeable. Many of the students were nodding seriously at Professor McGonagall's words. She looked across the room seriously then smiled.
"Alright, off you go to class."
Once the entire school found out that there was an article about what Farrow had done in the Daily Prophet, copies became very hard to come by. By that evening in the common room, Amina had managed to get her hands on a copy.
"Not very surprised about what he was protesting," she said throwing the paper down on the table between Teddy and Fionn who were attempting to write their essay for Transfiguration.
HOGWARTS PROFESSOR FIRED FOR INVOLVEMENT IN ANTI-WEREWOLF PROTEST
Hogwarts Professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts, Thursten Farrow has been fired following his involvement in an anti-werewolf protest in the Ministry of Magic on Friday evening. The protest was against a proposed bill by Hermione Granger-Weasley of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement which will make it illegal for employers to discriminate against applicants on the basis of their werewolf status. The bill is one of many in a series of changes instigated by Ms Granger-Weasley in a fight to award equal rights to all magical beings.
Farrow, accompanied by several other anti-werewolf activists protested the bill on the night of the full-moon in a show of symbolism. The protest was quickly shut down and no charges were pressed against those protesting. However, Hogwarts School has taken matters into their own hands and ordered for the dismissal of Professor Farrow immediately. Headmistress Minerva McGonagall made the following statement:
"We at Hogwarts do not condone discrimination or prejudice from our staff. This blatant public show of discrimination from one of our own has shocked us immensely and it is with great sadness that we must insist on the resignation of Professor Farrow. We will not allow for the possibility that one of our teachers may pass their dangerous and unjust beliefs onto students."
Hogwarts has long held a pro-werewolf stance due to the late Professor Albus Dumbledore's strong and lasting influence over the school. Dumbledore even went as far as hiring known werewolf, Remus Lupin, as Defence Against the Dark Arts professor in 1993. When his werewolf status was revealed, Lupin left the post immediately to discourage complaints towards Dumbledore. Lupin, an active member of the Order of the Phoenix tragically died a hero in the Battle of Hogwarts alongside his wife, Nymphadora Tonks.
More on Hermione Weasley's pro-werewolf legislation on page 13.
"Is that your dad?" Chloe asked quietly. She had leaned over his shoulder to read the article along with him.
Teddy nodded. It was always strange to see his parents' names written down, referring to the lives they had led before they died. He knew his dad had been the Defence professor – Harry's teacher, in fact. He had just never considered it in terms of being a scandal at the time, a brave and risky move based on trust from Albus Dumbledore.
"I wonder who the new professor will be?" Teddy asked, steering the conversation away from the article and his father.
"Well, I hope it takes a while, I'm liking the free time," Fionn said laying back on the couch.
By the end of the week the novelty of not having Defence classes was beginning to wear off just in time for Professor McGonagall's second announcement of the week. Students were to return to their scheduled Defence classes as the new Professor will be starting.
"Who is it?" a ballsy fifth year Gryffindor shouted up.
"You will find out in due time," McGonagall said calmly.
"We're first up with the new Professor!" Chloe said excitedly. "Defence first thing this morning."
Teddy made his way to Defence with his fellow Gryffindors – Christopher walked slowly behind the other four. He was still very standoffish with Teddy for reasons Teddy had no explanation for. As they walked, they discussed the possibility of who might be the new teacher.
When they arrived at the Defence classroom, the new teacher had yet to arrive. Teddy took a seat next to Fionn with Amina and Chloe sitting in front of them.
"Be careful you don't scare this one away too, Loopy," Castor Nott said as the Slytherins filed into the classroom.
"What are you talking about, Nott," Teddy said irritably. "You know why Farrow had to leave."
"And it had nothing to do with you, eh Loopy?" Nott had a smirk on his face as the Slytherins behind him sniggered. He raised his hands to his mouth and let out a wolf-like howl.
"Arr-arr-aroooooo!"
Teddy leapt from his seat and raised his wand, not that he knew a spell he could cast.
"Loopy's cracked again. His hair is gone mad!" jeered Nott.
"Sit down, please," a voice said from the back of the room. In the commotion, the class had failed to notice that their new Professor had entered the room. When they turned their heads, they were shocked by the figure standing there.
"Harry?"
"It's Professor Potter, Mr Lupin," Harry said seriously, keeping a straight face. He walked, or limped, to the top of the classroom. "Everyone please sit down. I do not officially start for another thirty seconds so we can forget about what was happening before I entered the room."
The class abruptly sat down, eyes staring intently at Harry. He surveyed the class and smiled slightly.
"Alright, let me introduce myself," he began. "My name is Harry Potter – er, Professor Potter to you lot. I'm Deputy Head Auror for the Ministry but due to a recent injury on the job, I'm on desk duty." He gestured towards his heavily bandaged arm and blackened fingers which could still be seen beneath his robes.
"Rather than working from the ministry, Professor McGonagall asked me to fill in the position of Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher for the next few months. All very last minute – only confirmed this morning. I haven't much experience teaching but I've seen a lot and I think I have a good idea about the best defensive magic that I can teach you at any level. Any questions?"
There was a moments silence before several hands shot up in the air. Harry looked pleasantly surprised at the level of interest shown.
"Uh… you first, Ms?" He pointed towards one of the Ravenclaw twin girls with long blonde hair in a high ponytail down her back.
"Forsythe, sir. Are you going to teach us how to defeat someone like You-Know-Who?" The class leaned forward with more intensity than had ever been seen before. Harry ran a hand through his hair looking mildly uncomfortable.
"Uh, not directly. I will teach you basic defensive spells that will protect you if you ever find yourselves in danger. Besides, there aren't any dark wizards like Voldemort anymore." Harry ignored the shocked gasps at the use of Voldemort's name.
Hands shot up across the room. Harry pointed at a small Hufflepuff boy who was so eager to ask a question he was nearly falling from his seat.
"How did you do it? Will you tell us?"
Teddy knew that Harry hated this line of questioning. The exact details of how Voldemort was defeated for good were never revealed to the public. Teddy had asked on multiple occasions, but Harry had said that four people in the world knew the full story and he was planning on keeping it that way.
"With a lot of luck and help from other people," Harry said. His generic answer that he gave to the press when asked this question. Hands shot up again. Harry looked perturbed.
"Does anyone have questions about anything other than Voldemort?" Yet again, a shocked gasp resounded across the room at the mention of Voldemort's name. Harry looked un-phased by the effect of the word. All hands that were raised went down except for one.
"Yes," Harry smiled to the Ravenclaw boy with his hand raised.
"What kind of dark magic injured your hand?"
Again, all eyes were staring attentively at Harry. He looked across the room and surveyed the attentive students. "Fiendfyre," he answered after a pause. "I blasted open a door that had been cursed and burned myself in the blaze. Can anyone tell me what Fiendfyre is?"
He had clearly decided to use their questions in an educational manner rather than being annoyed by personal questions. Teddy assumed that it would difficult to hide the cause of his injury and understood his reasoning to be upfront. Harry tactically gave enough information about his injury without revealing anything about the case. Smart move.
Surprisingly, Amina was the only person to raise her hand.
"Yes, Ms?"
"Shafiq, Sir. Amina Shafiq." Harry nodded in encouragement. "It's very dark magic. The fire is more powerful than a normal fire and once cast it cannot be put out by water or normal spells. It is attracted to living targets and once attached to a target it is extremely difficult to put out."
"Excellent, Amina! Ten points to Gryffindor."
Amina smiled and blushed slightly.
Harry began the class once he was assured that there were no more questions. It was a rather interesting lesson based on the concepts behind disarming an opponent. Once the lesson was over, Teddy approached Harry after telling his friends he would catch up with them in History of Magic.
"Alright, Ted?" Harry said as Teddy approached him.
"No more Mr Lupin, then Professor Potter?" Teddy grinned. Harry laughed.
"I couldn't play favourites straight away, Teddy." His expression turned more serious. "What was that about, what I walked in on?"
Teddy shuffled uncomfortably. "It was nothing… Forget it."
"Your hair was bright red, dead giveaway."
"Nott was just saying some stuff. I can handle it." Harry looked at Teddy appraisingly. He feared he was going to push him for an explanation but Teddy abruptly changed the subject.
"So, when were you going to tell me you're the new Defence teacher?"
"Like I said, it was very last minute. McGonagall confirmed it with me this morning." He briefly paused. "Are you okay with this? I should have spoken to you first."
Teddy thought for a moment. Was he okay with having Harry as a Professor? It would be nice to have a familiar face around and this way he would be able to spend more time with Harry and speak to him whenever he wanted. Not to mention he thought that Harry was going to be a much better Defence teacher than Farrow.
"Yeah, of course! It's going to be great having you around the castle." Harry smiled and appeared relieved.
"What about Ginny and the kids?" He knew that Hogwarts professors generally lived in the castle.
"I'll be going home every evening like Neville does. He's going to show me some spell so I can be home and still know if someone is knocking at the office door. I've applied for a permanent Floo connection to be installed in my office so I can go back to Ginny and the kids whenever."
"I just never thought you'd leave your job." Harry loved being an Auror. The Weasleys often joked that Harry would be fighting dark wizards when he was one hundred.
"I'm still an Auror," Harry explained. "I'm managing my team and having them report to me just as often, I just can't be out in the action. It's perfect timing really. I never would have been able to take this job if it wasn't for this bloody injury."
"Is it still… you know. On fire?" Teddy grimaced at the thought.
"I'm afraid so. I tried to convince the Ministry that it wasn't a liability but they argued that I couldn't be out on the field and burst into flames. Honestly, I don't know why people keep saying I'm going to do that," he said bitterly.
"You should go to class, Teddy. We'll be seeing a lot more of each other. And change your hair, as your Professor, I think I need to tell you that it's against uniform policy."
Teddy grinned and changed his hair to its natural sandy blonde. Once he left the room he quickly changed it back to turquoise.
By lunch, the entire school knew that Harry Potter was the new Defence Professor. Not for the first time, Teddy was struck by Harry's fame and influence. He knew that Harry was possibly the most famous wizard in Britain, perhaps the world. However, in Teddy's eyes he was simply his godfather; a man who had done great things but was so much more to Teddy than that. He was his father figure, the person that taught him to ride a broom, who was honest with him about every situation. He was the awkward, funny, caring person that Teddy had known for his entire life.
Harry arriving at Hogwarts had once again alerted Teddy to his fame. Harry was an immensely private person and did his best to avoid crowds and never spoke to the press unless it was to make a statement on behalf of the Auror department. Teddy knew that Harry hated his fame and would give anything to be anonymous, particularly given the reasons in which he gained his notoriety.
When Harry walked into the Great Hall for lunch, the entire school turned to look at him. Harry simply nodded and walked towards the staff table with purpose, taking a seat at the end of the table next to Hagrid.
"He's really very modest," Chloe said in a dazed voice staring at the staff table. "Of course, I'd heard about what he's done but it was only today when I really researched it." She sighed. "He's so brave. You're so lucky, Teddy. He must have told you so many interesting stories."
"I suppose so," Teddy said.
"Is it true that he actually died? That he walked to his death a threw himself in front of You-Know-Who's curse to save the world." She was staring eagerly at Teddy now.
"Er…" Had Harry actually died? He had heard so many stories about the war but so few from Harry himself that he wasn't always entirely sure what was truth and what was fiction.
"And did he really break into Gringott's and escape on a dragon?"
"Oh yeah, that did happen." It was one of Teddy's favourite stories – Ron told the story in a particularly humorous way.
"Rita Skeeter never said why he did that though, do you know?"
"Hang on, you're reading Rita Skeeter?"
Chloe nodded eagerly. "She said she's a close, personal friend of Professor Potter's and that she knew him before he even started Hogwarts."
"That's a load of rubbish, Chlo," Teddy said, watching her face fall. "Harry hates Rita Skeeter, most of what she writes is a lie. That biography you're reading is unauthorised," he said pointing to the tiny font on the cover which stated as such.
"So she's hasn't known him since he was a child?"
"Blimey, no. Harry was raised by muggles, he didn't even know he was a wizard until he was eleven."
"Really?" Fionn asked excitedly. "There's hope for us all. If he can do everything he did without knowing about magic maybe we can be great too."
"Did you know he was going to be our Professor, Teddy?" Chloe asked.
Teddy shook his head. "I found out the same time you did."
In all the excitement of a Harry Potter becoming a Hogwarts Professor, certain events of the previous full-moon had gone under the press' radar – for once Harry was happy that his fame had distracted the press from more serious matters.
While the immediate aftermath of the full moon has yielded no trouble for the Auror office, within a few days a muggle case was brought to their attention.
A man had been brutally murdered in a small town in Yorkshire. His throat was ripped out and the muggle press were calling it the work of a deranged killer. The Auror's knew better. It was undoubtedly the work of a werewolf.
When the Auror department had began to investigate alongside the muggle police, they discovered something shocking – the victim wasn't the first to be killed in such a manner. The previous month, a similar killing had occurred miles away in Somerset. The muggle police thought they may be dealing with a serial killer – the Aurors thought that it was Greyback.
Once he was finished his final class of the day (fifth year Gryffindors and Slytherins – a rowdy bunch with more questions about Voldemort than he could defer) Harry flooed directly to his Ministry office.
"Oi, oi, Professor," Ron greeted him. He was sitting in Harry's desk with his feet on the table. "How was the first day?"
"As expected," Harry said, shifting Ron's feet from the table. "Nothing but questions about Voldemort."
"They'll get used to you eventually," Ron reassured him. "Especially once they realise you're not really all you're cracked up to be."
"What's been happening here today?" Harry asked, getting straight to the point. He was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to get home to Ginny and the kids.
"I have an update on the muggle," Ron said, understanding instantly what Harry wanted to know. "Turns out, it wasn't Greyback."
"How can that be?" Harry countered. They had all been convinced that it had been Greyback. There hadn't been any werewolf attacks in years and there had been two since he had escaped from Azkaban – it made perfect sense. "All other known werewolves are under surveillance."
Harry had initially shunned the idea of putting surveillance on all werewolves during the full-moon. It had seemed dehumanising to him – as if they couldn't be trusted to not attack anyone. However, werewolf fear was at an all time high since Greyback had escaped and the Ministry was under pressure to appear as though they were controlling the werewolf population during the full moon. Hermione, Head of the Department of Magical Law, had agreed to support the initiative under one condition – all werewolves would be placed under surveillance during the full moon only once they were given free access to Wolfsbane during the full moon. Free Wolfsbane had been a corner that Hermione had been fighting for years as it created a classist barrier to receiving the life-saving potion. Werewolves around the country had considered it to be a fantastic idea and so surveillance had been introduced.
"There's your answer. We reckon it's an unknown werewolf – somebody who never reported that they'd been bitten. If they'd checked into Mungo's at any point, we'd know."
"I can't say I blame them, keeping it to themselves," Harry said bitterly. If it wasn't for the need for medical attention, Harry believed that more werewolves would be unknown. Witches and wizards would do anything to keep their werewolf status under wraps, even if it meant foregoing medical attention.
"Well, whoever it is killed a muggle."
"When can we see the first victim's body? We'll need to check if the bite marks match Greyback."
"No update on that," Ron sighed.
"Have the muggles police told the family yet?" Harry asked.
"Funny thing about that – they can't find the wife. They're saying she's likely done a runner. She was their prime suspect until we intervened."
"Shouldn't we be concerned? What if the werewolf has her, she could be dead?"
Ron shook his head. "They suspected her, so they began tracking her. Apparently, she's been using her electric card thing that takes gold out of her bank vault – honestly don't know how the muggles come up with these things."
"So, she's alive. Perhaps we should try track her down ourselves? Her husband might have gotten into something nasty with the werewolf who killed him. It might give us some clues."
"I'll get on it first thing in the morning," Ron said.
"Bring Brislowe, the trainee," Harry advised. "She's muggle born, she'll make you look more normal."
Ron opened his mouth to protest but decided against it. Despite having muggle in-laws, Ron still hadn't learnt how to speak to muggles in a believable manner. Instead he grinned at Harry.
"Right you are, Professor," he joked.
"Don't think I'll get used to that anytime soon," Harry said heading towards the fireplace.
"Where are you off to now?" Ron asked.
"It's my first evening as a Hogwarts Professor, I can't miss dinner," Harry said with a smile. Despite the stress that having a dual job was ultimately going to cause him, he was relishing the fact that he could once again enjoy certain aspects of the place that he considered his first real home.
AN: Thanks to everyone who has followed and favourited this story. I'd love some feedback on what aspects you think are working? Should I do more from Harry's point of view of keep it to Teddy? I really would love some reviews!
Also, just a note on Canon Compliance - this story is canon compliant with regards to the seven books and the Weasley family tree that JK Rowling created. I didn't like Cursed Child so I am choosing to ignore it. I have taken other aspects that she has said on Twitter and in interviews and incorporated them but I have also ignored some - such as Teddy being a Hufflepuff. The Teddy that I am writing and who I have imagined is a Gryffindor and it will become important later on that he is.