Aftermath - Chapter 19 - Back to School

Saturday morning came to 12 Grimmauld Place with a sudden loud racket of noise. Harry awoke with a start as he heard the doorbell ring and Mrs. Black started screaming from her portrait in the downstairs hallway.

"Filthy scum in the home of my fathers! Dirty blood traitor boy and his Mudblood woman besmirching this noble house! And…"

But the noise was cut off as he heard Ron yell, "SHUT IT!"

"Is that my brother?' Ginny mumbled from beside him.

"Yeah," said Harry as he scrambled out of bed. Clothes were everywhere, Ginny's lingerie scattered here and there, Harry's dress robes in a heap on the floor, next to his underwear. He just grabbed them and got them on when he heard Ron's voice outside the door.

"Oy! Harry? Ginny?"

"Are you there?" came Hermione's voice alongside Ron's.

"Don't come in!" Harry said quickly.

"Bloody hell," came the muffled answer, from Ron, sounding almost like relief. "Mum's in a right state, you two nowhere to be seen this morning."

"Right," said Harry as he continued dressing, grabbing a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, clothes they had left in the house for their usual Sunday trips. 'See you in the kitchen, all right?"

"Yeah," said Ron and their footsteps started off downstairs.

"You're in trouble now," said Ginny in a teasing singsong voice as she looked at Harry from under the covers.

"Me? You mean 'us", don't you," said Harry as he leaned over and gave her a quick kiss.

"I wasn't the one who stole their daughter away in the middle of the night."

"Right," Harry said, a worried tone in his voice. "I'm sure they'll understand."

Ginny laughed. "Dad yes, Mum,…not likely. What time is it anyway?"

Harry grabbed his watch and was surprised. "8:15"

"Bloody hell, why are they here so early?" Ginny said and yawned. "Give me another thirty minutes. Bit tired this morning."

Harry grinned. "Yeah? Why's that?"

"You know why," she said back with a grin on also.

"Well," Harry said as he opened the door. "Don't be too long or Kreacher will sulk all day if you are late for breakfast."

Ron and Hermione were in the kitchen when Harry arrived. Ron was sitting at the table looking very tired and a bit hungover while Hermione was trying to put a frying pan on the stove and Kreacher was determinedly blocking her path.

"Please, Kreacher," pleaded Hermione. "I do know how to cook. It's okay to let others do some work once in a while."

"Not in Master's kitchen, it is not," said Kreacher with a scowl. "Kreacher is only one works here, miss."

"Let him be, please," Harry said as he came in and sat down and she sighed and gave the pan to Kreacher who started cooking right away.

"Harry!" Ron said, happy to see him, then his face lost its happy look. "Mum's going to tear a strip off you two. She went to wake me for breakfast and well, you weren't there."

"No…I wasn't," Harry said in a tired voice.

"She thought you were in Ginny's room again and tore down there and she wasn't there," Hermione continued as she sat down. She also looked and sounded very tired.

Harry was puzzled. "Wait a sec. If you two knew we were missing when you went to bed last night why didn't you say anything?"

Hermione quickly looked away and Ron suddenly found his fingernails interesting.

"Well?" asked Harry, a suspicious look on his face.

Hermione looked at him quickly and her cheeks were pink. "We…well…we got back to the Burrow late."

"Real late," said Ron.

"Where were you?" Harry asked.

"My house," said Hermione quickly. "I took us there right from Ginny's room."

Harry had a look of surprise on his face. "Yeah, I guess that's how I looked," said Ron. "When I realized where we were."

"My parents went off to see my grandmother in Dover, so…" Hermione said, her voice trailing off.

"House was empty," Harry finished for her.

"Yeah," said Ron with a slight grin to his face. "We got back about 6 AM, and then, well, that's when we knew you weren't there."

"We were so exhausted we just crawled into bed," said Hermione. "Different beds. Told Ron's mother we had no idea where you were, so after a few panicky moments she had us all up looking everywhere, then she sent us looking for you. This is the first place we looked. I've already sent a message back to the Burrow to say you are fine."

"A message…how? Did you bring Merlin?" Harry asked, referring to his new owl Hagrid had gotten him for his birthday.

"She used a Patronus," said Ron with a wide-eyed look.

Harry just stared at Hermione. "A Patronus? You mean you can…?"

She tried to look like it was nothing at all but failed as her cheeks turned a bit pink again. "Yes, I can do it. It's been a bit boring in Gosport during the week, my parents are so busy now, working, seeing relatives, so I've been studying as much I can for seventh year."

"That's brilliant, Hermione!" said Harry enthusiastically.

"Thanks," she said, turning pinker.

Ron looked to where Kreacher was cooking some eggs. "Couldn't make it breakfast for four, could you mate?" he said to Harry. "Mum sent us off before we even had time for a nibble of toast."

"Course," said Harry. "Kreacher…"

"Kreacher heard and understands, Master. Breakfast for four."

Hermione got up and started setting plates and cups and getting the tea pot ready for hot water. After breakfast was set Kreacher went off to do some cleaning, he said, even though Harry told him to take a break. Soon Ginny joined them and they had a nice breakfast, giggling at Harry as he wondered what Mrs. Weasley would say to him now.

"Dad calmed her down a bit, figured you were here," said Ron as he chewed a piece of crisp bacon. "Reckon she won't be too hard on you."

"At least we managed to get back before sunrise," said Hermione. "It was rather foolish to go off without leaving a message. When did you decide to that?"

Ginny and Harry just looked at each other, trying to control their grins. "Kind of just happened," said Ginny. "Bit my fault really. I wanted to show Harry the rest of his birthday present."

"What was…" started Hermione then understanding came to her face. "What Fleur gave you? And he saw and…ha, no wonder you came here."

Ron was just looking at Ginny, all confused. "What did Fleur give you?"

"Same thing she gave me," said Hermione with a shy look at Ron. "You saw it last night. A bit different, color wise, but similar."

"What…? Oh…oh…right, right." He looked down at his plate as his face turned slightly red. "Nice present," he finally said and the others cracked up laughing at that.

After a bit Ron asked, "So, what are we going to do with the day. Guess you want to go to Godric's Hollow, right Harry?"

"Was hoping to, yeah. You're going to the shop though, right?"

Ron shook his head. "Mum told George I was to spend the day looking for you. Hope he already left for the shop when the message got back home. I'm dead tired anyway."

"Skiving off work?' Harry asked. "Thought you were worried about your status there?"

"Yeah, well, he's gone a bit mental, George has," Ron said, with a bit of a scowl on his face. "A test? How I am I supposed to make a joke Howler?"

"Oh, it's easy," said Hermione. "You just…." Then she stopped suddenly, as if she had spoken a secret she wasn't supposed to reveal.

"Yeah?" said Ron all excited. "What's easy? Is it a spell?"

"No, no, I promised myself I wouldn't help you," she said back.

"Hermione!" said Ron in frustration. "This is my chance to make something of myself, to be a partner, not his slave. I'm not just doing this for me, you know. This is for the future."

Hermione stared at him for a long moment, her eyes bright and no longer looking tired. "The future? You mean…our future?"

"Yeah," said Ron looking back at her with a smile on his face. "Of course I mean our future."

Hermione's lip trembled and it looked like she was about to start crying but she got control of herself. "Oh…oh…yes…of course I'll help you. I guess I understand how important it is to you now."

Harry and Ginny just looked at each other and almost laughed but didn't and then they looked at Ron and Hermione who were still looking at each other, both with a glazed, stunned look in their eyes which Harry knew wasn't from being so tired. Then Hermione suddenly spoke.

"We're going to get some rest," she said, standing up suddenly. "Come, Ron."

And without another word she started walking out of the kitchen and Ron got up also. "Wake us about noon," Ron said and when Ginny wasn't looking, he and Harry shared a grin and then Ron was gone.

"They aren't going to sleep," said Ginny as she started picking up the dishes and taking them to the sink.

"Not right away," said Harry.

"They're the mental ones, talking about the future," said Ginny as she poured herself some more tea. Harry was just staring at her. "Well," she continued. "They're only 18 and they look like they are ready to get married."

"Yeah…mental," said Harry in a hollow voice, and she knew he didn't mean it right away.

"I just mean that the future is not set," said Ginny and then her voice started rising. "Mum going on like we should be married. Imagine me with kids minding house!"

"I can imagine the kids, but not the minding house part," said Harry, trying to make a joke but she didn't see any humor in it at all.

"Not you, too! I'm only 17!" Ginny suddenly shouted and Harry flinched under her glare.

"I didn't mean…I …never mind."

She was about to shout some more, but then she saw the hurt look on his face and her anger died. "Oh, Harry! I mean, oh, no, I didn't mean... Oh, I'm sorry!"

She came right over and sat next to him and hugged him tight. Then she just looked at him. "I just mean…not now, is all. There are things I want to do…you understand, don't you?"

Harry smiled. "Of course. Lots I need to do, too. But I do want a future with you and no one else, you know that, don't you?."

"I know," she said. "And I feel the same. So…let's just put that aside for now, Okay? There will be time enough…all the time in the world now that…."

"Voldemort is dead," Harry said, kissing her cheek and hugging her tight, feeling much better. "All the time in the world." And then Harry took her by the hand and led her back to their bedroom and in moments they were in bed and in each others arms again.

At one o'clock after everyone was up and had cleaned up and had a quick lunch of soup, the four of them walked towards Kings Cross Station. Harry used a public telephone in the station to call Mr. James' office in Godric's Hollow. He was there and then asked when he could expect Harry and he said within half an hour. They walked onto Platform Nine and Three Quarters, the others commenting on how odd it was to be so empty and quiet, and then they Apparated to Godric's Hollow.

Ron had never been there before and for the first time ever he saw where Harry's parents had died and the house where the tragedy happened. The top right side was destroyed and the place as overgrown with weeds and ivy. They were quiet as they looked at the house, a silent reverence for Lily and James Potter. After a few moments, Harry spoke.

"Think I should fix it up or build a new house?"

"If it is possible, fix it up," said Hermione right away. "It was their home, your first home, Harry. Make it your home again."

'Well put,' said Ron. "Fix it up Harry." Harry nodded and then looked at Ginny.

"Bad memories here," she said and for a moment Harry thought she was going to disagree with the others. "So it's time you made some good ones here. Fix it up."

"Right," said Harry as he smiled at them all. "Thanks. Now, just need to get someone to look it over and figure out how much it will cost. Guess I'll contact that company that fixed up Hogwarts."

"Might be cheaper to get Muggles to do it," said Hermione. "You know, the gold pound exchange rate is rather good now. I bet if you changed some of your gold into pounds and hired Muggles, you could save a lot of money. Not just on the material but on the furniture and all."

"That's a great idea," said Ginny with enthusiasm. "And get electricity, Harry. We want a TV and a computer and one of those, what do call them, videos, that's it,…what?" The others were staring at her.

"We?" said Ron, trying to suppress a laugh.

Ginny just glared at him. "Of course 'we'. Who do you think is going to be spending a lot of time here? Certainly not Cho Chang!"

"No, certainly not her," said Harry quickly. "Yeah, be nice to have electricity. And a TV. Suppose a computer, too. Well…let's just check it all out and see what it costs first. Come on, supposed to meet Mr. James about now."

"Wait," said Hermione. "Ron hasn't seen everything yet." She touched the gate and the magical sign appeared out of the ground. Now, however, there were lots of new messages, most of them saying things like "Well done, Harry Potter!" "Thank you, Harry Potter!" and one even said "Harry Potter for Minister of Magic!!"

"Brilliant!" said Ron as he read the messages. "Wish I'd brought an Everlasting Quill and ink."

"What would you write?" Ginny asked her brother.

"Dunno," he said. "Maybe, 'Harry had some help!'" And that got them laughing.

"Too right I did," Harry said. And then he looked at his friends. "Thanks for being here with me."

There was an awkward pause for a few seconds as they all realized how much they meant to each other. Ron was the first to break the silence. "Yeah, well, we had to or Mum would have killed us if we hadn't come."

"Still might kill me yet," said Harry with a sideways glance at Ginny. "Or maybe the both of us."

"Nah," said Ron. "She'll be all right."

"This is our mother you're talking about?" asked Ginny. "Not likely."

"She'll be fine. Just promise not to do it again," Hermione said as they started walking for the legal office.

It only took a few minutes for Harry to get the deed and do the paper work for the transfer of the property. He also asked Mr. James if there was a construction company nearby that might appraise the building and see if it can be repaired.

"What building?" Mr. James asked and then Harry realized that no Muggle could see it.

"Sorry, I meant the land. What needs to be done to build a house there, is what I meant to say."

Mr. James just stared at him. "You've just turned 18 and are already thinking of building a house? I thought you'd be off to university at the very least."

"Yeah, I am, but my parents left me a little something, so I thought I'd like to have a home of my own."

"You found that bank? What was it...oh, yes, Greenguts?"

"Gringotts," said Harry quickly, seeing the scandalized looks on Ron and Ginny's faces. "Yes, so...can you help me?"

Mr. James said no more about it but just gave him the name and number of a local company and then after some more chitchat and goodbyes they were on their way.

Harry was a bit mad at himself. "I guess I should learn to keep my mouth shut when talking to Muggles."

Ron laughed. "Yeah, bit hard to explain to that bloke that you bank with ruddy goblins and go to a university for catching dark wizards."

"So," said Ginny after a moment of silence. "Where to now?"

"I'd like to see my parents," said Harry and they started toward the church and its graveyard.

"I guess maybe you do need a magical architecture firm," Hermione said as they walked toward the church.

"Maybe I just need to get the spell that's making it invisible removed," Harry replied but Hermione shook her head.

"What are the neighbors going to think if suddenly after 17 years a demolished house appeared on their street? Too many memories would need modifying."

"I can still clear away the remains," Harry said. "And get a Muggle firm to start from scratch."

"Why don't you wait for the architects to look it over?" suggested Ginny and Harry agreed with her. Then they were at the church.

"I'll just be a moment," said Harry and he went into the graveyard alone and walked to his parents' graves. After a few minutes alone, just being silent and thinking about them, he came back.

"You all right?" asked Ginny tenderly as she took his hand as they started walking toward the edge of the village where they could Apparate in private.

"Yeah," Harry replied and he did feel better after seeing them again. "So, guess we must face your mother. Again."

"I am getting tired of this," said Ginny glumly.

But it wasn't as bad as they thought it would be. She didn't shout at them, not too much anyway, just told them it was bad manners to leave without telling anyone where they were going, especially after what had happened at Privet Drive. Mr. Weasley said they got more of a fright from Hermione's silver otter Patronus appearing in the living room than from Harry and Ginny being missing.

"Oh, and George said you had better show up for work," said Mr. Weasley to Ron. "Hermione's message arrived just before he left for the shop."

Ron just sighed. "Well, it's almost 3 o'clock now so no need to go in is there? Shop closes at six." But then he had second thoughts. "He's not going to be happy, is he? Saturday's the busiest day. Maybe I'd better go in."

"I know a better way to spend three hours and it will make him happy," said Hermione. "Come on, we've got work to do." She grabbed his hand and they raced upstairs.

"What work?" asked Mrs. Weasley as she finally seemed to have calmed down about Harry and Ginny's disappearance.

"Joke Howlers," said Harry and then he caught a wide-eyed look from Ginny and realized he shouldn't have said anything.

"WHAT!?!" Mrs. Weasley yelled. "Joke Howlers?!? Is this George's idea?"

They quickly explained what was going on. "Oh, that boy!" said Mrs. Weasley, and they took it that she meant George. "Him and Fred spent more time on jokes than school work they…well…oh, but joke Howlers! How's a student supposed to know if it's from their parents or not?"

"Ah,…that's the joke," said Harry and as Mrs. Weasley scowled, he and Ginny decided it was a good time to go upstairs to help Ron and Hermione. With Hermione's skills at magic and with a bit of ingenuity, by the time George was supposed to be home the first joke Howler was ready. But George was nowhere to be seen.

"He's on a date with Angelina Johnson, remember?" said Mrs. Weasley after they asked where George was. She was in the kitchen preparing supper and Ginny and Hermione soon started to help her. Ron and Harry went to sit with Mr. Weasley in the living room. They told him about Harry's house and asked his opinion on what Harry should do.

"Build from scratch," he replied. "That's what I did here. Did this ground floor first just after we got married. All by myself."

He sounded proud. Harry loved the Burrow but it was a bit of an architectural nightmare. He was sure the only thing holding it up was magic. "When did you build the rest?"

"As the family grew, so did the house," Mr. Weasley said. "Charlie and Bill were even big enough to help a bit with the top floor. Now with your place, I think you might be better off doing it from scratch. The whole place has been exposed to the elements for 17 years so I don't think much is left that is useful."

"Never thought of that,' said Harry and thanked him for his advice.

George didn't come home that night and it wasn't until lunchtime on Sunday that he arrived, looking happy, but tired.

"Morning all…afternoon, I mean," George said cheerfully as he came in the door. He fixed his eyes on Ron as Ron was just about to take a bite of a chicken sandwich. "There's my lazy worthless brother. You're fired, mate."

Ron's hand dropped the chicken sandwich on his plate and his face fell. "Fired?"

"No, you're not," said his mother as she shot George a disproving look. "And where were you all night?"

"On a date," he said. "Which just ended," he added with a wink towards Harry. "And Mum how can I run a business if the employees turn up whenever they like?"

Mrs. Weasley was just glaring at him. "First, don't be talking like that about your dates. Second, Ron is not an employee, he's your brother and family comes first. Beside, he…he invented something for your shop."

"Not bloody likely," said George as he sat down. "I bet Hermione did it."

"What's the difference," said Hermione. "It was his idea."

"No, it was Harry's idea," said George as he took a sandwich from a pile in the middle of the table and put it on his plate. "Ron would have to have a brain to come up with an idea first."

"You don't need to fire me, I quit!" Ron said in anger as he stood, his face flushed. "You'd treat a house-elf better than me! Mum, please send McGonagall an owl and ask her if isn't too late to go back to Hogwarts!" Then he stormed off outside and Hermione quickly followed, a slightly pleased look on her face.

"Oh, she's happy, isn't she?" said George, referring to Hermione. "What she wants, isn't it, him and her back in school, holding hands and snogging in the corners."

"You're just rotten,"' said Ginny in a low, furious voice. "He really wanted to impress you."

"He has," said George after a sip of pumpkin juice. "I bet Lee Jordan 10 Galleons Ron would quit before the summer was out."

Harry ventured a look at Mrs. Weasley and she had a look that was half furious and half delight and the two sides were fighting with each other. But now after George mentioned his bet, the furious side won and she rounded on him and began a blazing tirade. George gave back as good as he got, with Ginny and Harry's heads going back and forth like it was tennis match. Mr. Weasley just sat there, taking it all it as if it was normal. After five minutes the action stopped suddenly as Merlin soared into the kitchen with a red letter in his claw. He landed on the table right by George.

"Oh, here's a Howler!" George said mockingly. "I'm so scared! Look, its already smoking! Ha!"

And then BANG ! the Howler exploded and a shower of confetti spilled all over George along with small balls of multi-colored ink which splattered his face and hair and clothes and lunch. Then a voice exactly like Mrs. Weasley's shrieked from the envelope.

"GEORGE WEASLEY! IF YOU EVER COME HOME LATE AGAIN FROM A DATE YOU WILL BE SENT TO BED WITH NO SUPPER! FURTHERMORE, YOU NEED TO GIVE YOUR BROTHER A RAISE AND STOP TREATING HIM LIKE A SLAVE!!"

As the sound died down, with everyone except George holding their ears, George put on a big smile. "Bloody brilliant!" he said. "It's going to make a fortune."

"I think you owe your brother an apology," said Mr. Weasley in a tone Harry rarely heard from him and from the looks on George, Ginny and Mrs. Weasley's faces it was rare for them also. Mr. Weasley was tolerant of a lot more than his wife, but when he got mad or he said do something, he meant it and there was no room for argument.

"Reckon I do," said George quietly as he stood up and went outside.

Then upshot of the whole drama was that George asked Ron to be his partner and open up a branch shop in Hogsmeade. The day before George had rented a small empty shop in Hogsmeade near the Three Broomsticks. He said Ron could have 50% of any profits from the Hogsmeade shop, but he had to be responsible for the whole shop since George would be mostly in Diagon Alley in London. Ron agreed right quick and they shook hands and all was well again. Hermione was a bit disappointed that Ron would not be going back to Hogwarts full-time but was over the moon that he would be so close.

"Hogsmeade!" she said with delight, as the four of them went outside to say goodbye to Hermione before she Apparated back home for the week. "I mean as a part-time professor I guess I'm allowed to go anytime I like."

"Reckon so," said Ginny. "Of course, you can take along your favorite student, right?"

She was beaming at Hermione, who was looking a bit perplexed. "Ah…no, I don't think so. Rule are rules, Ginny."

Ginny laughed. "Knew you'd say that anyways."

"Are you going to take my class?" Hermione asked, with a bit of a hopeful look.

Ginny fidgeted a bit. "Well…no, sorry. Muggle Studies never interested me, especially after last year after they forced us to take it and that Carrow woman said all those horrible things about Muggles."

Now Hermione looked really worried. "I'd forgotten about that. Maybe no one wants to take my class."

"I'm sure they will," said Harry. "After all, the famous Hermione Granger, Order of Merlin First Class, defeater of Voldemort, will be teaching it."

Hermione blushed and felt much better after that. She gave them all hugs, with a quick kiss and sad, forlorn look for Ron and in a flash she was gone for another week.

The next morning at breakfast an owl flew in with a letter in it's beak and landed right next to Harry. He was surprised as he wasn't expecting anything. The Weasleys all looked at him as he opened it and his eyes widened.

"It's from Hogwarts, from McGonagall. Wants to meet me today, at the school at 3 PM."

"Does it say why?" Mr. Weasley asked.

"No, just that it's important."

They were all abuzz wondering why she would ask to meet Harry but no one had much of a clue. George teased him and said he had to go back to school and finish or they would chuck him out of Auror training. Harry didn't take this lightly and thought George was onto something. But when he got to work Charlie George had no idea what it was about either.

"Not likely chucking out my only student," he said with a grin. "I guess we better cancel the afternoon class, though, and you get yourself on up to Hogwarts."

That suited Harry just fine and after lunch he Apparated up to Hogsmeade. After wandering around a bit he found the new branch of Weasley Wizard Wheezes joke shop. Ron was there, surprised to see Harry again so soon. Harry lent him a hand, moving boxes and setting up displays, along with one of the assistants from the Diagon Alley branch.

"George said the big worry is shop lifters," Ron said. "So George came up with a new jinx and put it on everything so it can't leave the shop unless it's carried by one of us or it's paid for. Here, take this Skiving Box and try to walk out the door."

Harry did and it was as if an invisible hand pushed him back at the threshold and then a loud voice shouted "STOP THEIF!"

"That's right good magic," Harry said, very impressed. The hours went by too quickly and before he knew it, it was time to see McGonagall. It was a nice summer day and as he walked up to the school he saw Hagrid outside his house chopping wood, using only one big meaty hand to swing the ax, easily slicing through short logs in one blow.

"All right, Harry?' he said, not too surprised to see him there. Harry immediately asked him if he knew what was going on.

"Yeh know I'm not allowed ter say anything," he said, but then moved a bit closer to Harry and talked in a low voice. "But we was havin' a big meetin' the other day, all the professors and Filch and Madam Pomfrey and the rest of the staff, Hogwarts business yeh understand, and yer name came up."

"Why did my name come up? Am I in trouble?"

Hagrid looked at him in surprise. "Trouble? Not likely! Not after what yeh done for us all. No, it's…I can't say. Jus', go on up and she'll explain it all ter yeh. No worries now and come back for tea when yer done, all right?"

Harry, more puzzled than ever, agreed to come back later and then walked up to the school and finally made his way to McGonagall's office, which was the Headmistress's office now. The gargoyle outside was repaired and just looked at him, blocking the doorway. "I don't know the password," said Harry.

"She's from Edinburgh, Scotland," said the gargoyle.

"Ah, Edinburgh?"

"Don't be daft, that's too easy. Try again," said the gargoyle with an air of superiority. After going through a bunch of words related to Scotland Harry finally said "bagpipes" and the gargoyle leaped aside.

"Ah, Potter, come in," said Professor McGonagall after Harry had knocked and opened the door at the top of the moving spiral staircase. "I see you got my owl."

"Yes, Professor," said Harry as he came inside. His eyes immediately sought the portrait of Dumbledore, but the former headmaster was asleep. He turned his gaze back to McGonagall. "You forgot to include the password for your office though."

"Did I?" She seemed only slightly surprised at this and Harry suspected it was done on purpose. "Well, I see you got inside, so no harm done. Please have a seat."

Harry sat down opposite her desk. "Now, I suppose you want to know why I've called you here."

"Yes, been on my mind all day."

"I'm sure it has. Now, we had a meeting the other day, a meeting concerning the coming school year and it seems we have a staffing problem."

That surprised Harry. "Oh? A staffing problem?" Why would she tell him about…ah, that's it, he thought, as he believed he understood. "Did you want my help with finding someone?"

She smiled slightly. "In a manner of speaking, yes."

"Which position?"

"Can you venture a guess?"

"That's easy. Defense Against the Dark Arts. That Carrow scum who taught it last year is in Azkaban thanks to you."

"And you," she said with a slight nod. "But I was wondering if you knew someone who would like the position."

Harry just stared at her, his mind a blank. The only people he could think of were dead. Lupin and Mad-Eye Moody came right to mind, and then strangely enough Snape's name popped into his head, but of course he was dead, too. "Sorry, Professor, but I really don't know anyone. Sorry."

Now she was staring at him intently. "The staff and I had the same conclusion. Until someone had a bright idea."

She paused and Harry decided she was waiting for him to ask her. "Whose idea was it?"

"Hagrid's. He suggested someone no one else thought of. After some debate it was agreed on."

Harry wondered why in the blazes she had asked him up here for his opinion when they had already picked someone. Unless…no, it couldn't be…it was impossible. "Who did you pick?" he asked, his mouth suddenly all dry.

"You, Mr. Potter," said Professor McGonagall with a smile on her face as she peered at him intently over her glasses. "We've decided to offer you the position of Professor for the Defense Against the Dark Arts."