"I'm not sure what you're trying to tell me, here," Henry admitted. "Is there a problem with the way I teach? Because from what I've seen so far, I'm actually a pretty good teacher, judging from the, y'know." Henry waved his arm around haphazardly. "The grades my students have been getting, in both their practice NEWTs and OWLs."

"How dare you patronize me," Lucius Malfoy seethed angrily. Henry blinked at the complete non-sequitir.

"And here we go with the threats," Henry continued, entirely nonchalant and waving a glass of water around. "Next you're going to say something about 'when the someone hears about this', and then go straight to trying to curse me behind my back and failing miserably like the little cretin you are. This is boring," Henry moaned loudly. "Can we go and do something else? Like, say, not talk about my influence in Hogwarts? Because I kind of like that idea."

"Seconded," Henry's father spoke up before Lucius could speak. "And, Mr. Malfoy, I'd certainly appreciate it if you refrained from interrogating my son and heir. It would make proceedings go more smoothly."

"Are you trying to displace my power?" Lucius hissed. "You, of a house less noble than my own?"

"Nothing of the sort," Cyrus interjected smoothly. "Merely pointing out that it's a waste of time to attempt something so drastic for such a trivial reason. Surely you of all people can see reason, Mr. Malfoy?"

"He threatened my son," Lucius all but shouted.

"Uh, no, I don't recall ever doing so." Henry put a finger in his ear. "Also: ow. You're quite loud."

"Threatening to turn my son inside out," Lucius started, and Henry gasped.

"Oh, that was your son?" Henry pretended to think for a moment. "Hm, nope, doesn't look like you. Are you sure he's your son?"

"Are you sure you're your father's son?" Lucius sneered, instead.

"I am, whenever he wants me to be," Henry casually replied. "Which isn't really that often, come to think of it."

"Then why are you black-haired?" another person in the room asked, curiously. "Your father has brown hair, and your mother's a blond; where did the black hair come from?"

"Oh, that?" Henry dismissively waved his hand. "Psh, it's just hair dye. It's easier to live in Japan when you don't look completely outlandish, and not many natives there have blond hair."

The lady who asked the question nodded, and Henry stretched his limbs. This board meeting is getting exhausting, he thought, as he leaned back in his seat.

"And there! See?" Lucius suddenly shouted. "He shows no respect to us!"

"Respect is earned, not given," Henry drawled out condescendingly. "And considering the method in how you got this post, I certainly don't respect your opinions in my teaching of children."

"How dare you," Lucius started again.

Looking over the blond, Henry shifted his head to look at the other occupants in the room. "See, this guy has been talking for the past twenty minutes. Do any of you have opinions that differ from his? Because I don't really want to embarrass the whole room when I take apart his argument piece by piece."

"Yes," another stern lady interjected, this one wearing a vulture hat. Henry secretly wanted one for himself. "I certainly do. However, as much I want to defend you from Mr. Malfoy's wrath, I see reason in his argument -"

"How?" Henry gaped in disbelief.

"Well, your age is definitely a concern," she started. "Most importantly, though, is your status as a Squib in the world. You are aware of the traditional response to Squibs inheriting posts?"

"Of course I do," Henry muttered angrily. "But that won't happen."

The vulture on the lady's head nodded its own head in time with the lady's own. Henry really wanted to get one for himself. "I understand that. But please consider an alternate route, just in case this doesn't work out; it's not you, it's the political landscape in the world."

"I know that," Henry snarked. "I'm not an idiot, I'm a Squib."

"And your lack of respect -"

"I can be damn respectful if I wanted to," Henry cut her off. "I just see no reason to in front of a crowd that constantly seeks to undermine me, much less in a private area, while we're talking about something that shouldn't even be relevant to me."

"Then how will you handle politics?" the stern lady spoke sternly, vulture hat staring at him. "How can you handle something like politics when you can't even pretend to be respectful? Take your father, for example. I babysat him, growing up," she continued in a softer tone, noting Henry's surprised face. "He was a brilliant but very rambunctious child. But even he knew when to be respectful to others; you're simply shunning the ideals of our generation for your own selfish gain."

"I shun your ideals not because I'm selfish, but because I disagree with them-" Henry started, surprisingly quietly, but was cut off.

"That shouldn't matter," his father said. "Yes, you disagree with them, but in this, you are a minority. You cannot hope to achieve political gain by acting as a minority; you will need to gain more of a solid base before attempting anything so drastic. I taught you that, and you are ignoring it for whatever pathetic reason you fancy. We, the Board, primarily seek to ensure the ideals of Hogwarts are upheld, and this includes in respect to actions by our faculty. We expect the faculty here to respect our job. You have failed to show even this simple courtesy. Your other actions would have been more excusable had you shown even the tiniest smidgeon of courtesy, but your constant disrespect is grating on the Board's collective nerves. It is entirely within reason for us to expel you; the only reason we are even considering keeping you on the staff is because I know for a fact that you can show respect." His father's steely grey eyes met Henry's wide blue ones. "And by acting like a petulant child, you are ruining everything I have done for you to get this far in this world."

"I...I..." Henry stalled, dumbfounded, mind reeling in shock, before he suddenly slumped in his seat. "I...I'm sorry, Dad. I didn't even realize it was that bad."

"It was," the vulture hat lady sniffed. "But we expect better from you, starting now." She waved her wand, and a spell lifted that Henry didn't even know was there. From the looks of the other people in the room, they hadn't heard anything, so he bowed deeply and respectfully.

"I apologize, respected Board of Governors. My actions before now have shown my skills in a thoroughly negative view. I will ensure that it does not happen again."

Henry's father nodded. "I expect nothing less of my heir."

And the meeting went on, Henry keeping his mouth shut and merely observing, as the vulture hat lady used years of experience and a metaphorically firm hand to secure what she felt was best for Hogwarts, and as his own father used silvery words to achieve much of the same. Henry noticed that both of them were also vouching for him to stay in Hogwarts, which he felt grateful for. In the end, Henry was allowed to stay on as a teacher in Hogwarts, with restrictions.

"I can't supervise detentions," Henry said once the meeting was over and most of the Board was dismissed. "I can only meet with students if they personally request it, with it being witnessed by at least one other faculty member, definitely no threats to the students, and I have to keep my class up with the latest benchmarks in rune studies. All in all, though, I think I've just gotten off light. I've said this before, Father, but you're amazing at this. I'm not entirely sure how I could keep up."

"Practice," his father said, with a hint of smug superiority in his voice. "Practice, confidence, and emotional control, in that order. The world of politics is tough, Henry, but as a Greengrass I expect you to be the best of the best."

Henry bowed with a flourish of his hand. "I'll aim to please in the future, Father."

Cyrus nodded. "See that you do." With that, he picked up the Floo and disappeared behind green flames. Henry blew out a puff of air.

"That's really tough," Henry groaned. "Wait, he just called me Henry." He blinked twice. "Huh."

He felt a sharp tap on the shoulder and turned around to see the vulture hat lady stare at him with a stern visage. Henry blinked again. She smiled. "You are very much his son."

"I, uh, thank you...?" Henry felt confused, which didn't abate when the vulture hat lady laughed.

As she, too, departed via Floo, Henry felt older than he'd ever felt before in his life.

Henry sat in the front of his class, grading paperwork, when he heard a knock on the door. "Come in," Henry called, then hesitated. "Unless you're a student, then bring a teacher in as well." All of the students had learned about Henry's situation during dinner, though, so Henry wasn't particularly concerned about that. Still, it couldn't hurt to be thorough.

Dolores Umbridge walked in instead. Henry smiled politely. "Hello, Dolores. Is there something you needed?"

"My heirloom?" Umbridge asked curtly.

Henry nodded, and then opened up his desk. "It was pretty complicated, but I think I got the gist of it. Everything's all fixed in there. Thank you so much for going out of your way to get the parts, though; that was much more helpful than me having to get them." It wasn't out of the way for her, and Henry knew it, but after that meeting he supposed it also couldn't hurt to be polite.

Umbridge raised her eyebrows and stuttered, "Ah, yes, well..." Then she cleared her throat. "Thank you, Professor, for fixing my priceless heirloom. If there's anything I can do..."

Henry was about to wave her off, but then thought for a second. "What do you know about my, ah, restrictions?"

Umbridge blinked. "I know that you can't do a lot of stuff you used to do before, like supervise detentions and such, and then the benchmark exams. Was there more to it?"

Henry hesitated, then decided to chance it; Umbridge might have been a jerk, but he seemed to be on her good side. "I didn't tell the Board this, but I'm actually supervising a club, see, and I wanted to continue doing it. But with these restrictions..."

Umbridge frowned. "This isn't going against Ministry policy, is it?"

Henry waved his hands. "No, no, of course not. It's a simple, ah," he looked around subtly. "a simple rune demonstration club. It's for my more advanced students in my class, and students who weren't willing to take Runes but still have an interest." He was lying, of course; he didn't have a rune demonstration club, but for a bit more freedom he was willing to make one.

He might have gotten off light, but any sort of restriction was still stifling, and contrary to Henry's rune-development mindset.

Umbridge raised an eyebrow. "What years?"

"Any and all," Henry admitted. "Whoever's interested, really. Right now there's..." he did the math in his head, to see who would be interested in joining the club. "About four students, but I'm looking to admit more. After all, the change in course was a bit more drastic than anyone could have foreseen, and Ancient and Applied Runes are different, so, ah..."

Umbridge nodded in sympathy. "I understand, Professor. Rest assured that I will verify this club with the Ministry and Hogwarts' Board of Governors. If I could have a club list...?"

Henry coughed suddenly. "Ah - yes, a club listing..." He looked around, then decided to keep lying. "Ah, see, I don't want to force my club members into anything, so I'll have to actually verify with the students. And, well, I just wanted to see if you'd be able to assist in this endeavor. I certainly didn't expect to have the list on me, so..."

Umbridge's frown returned. "...so you don't have it on you, and you want to verify with your students. Very well, then." Umbridge nodded and turned away. "It's the least I could do for you having fixed a priceless artifact."

Once Umbridge left, Henry slumped in his seat with a sigh. "Oh my god that was tough."

He turned back to his papers and skimmed through Hermione's latest report, then did a double-take and re-read the whole report. Henry had never even considered the possibilities of doing that thing Hermione had unknowingly alluded to in her paper, so he jotted it down on a spare paper and marked her paper with an "O - see me after class".

Putting it to the side, he grimaced, pinching the bridge of his nose, before he noticed his sister Daphne standing in front of his desk, uncomfortable.

"Oh." Henry blinked and put his hand down. "When did you get here? And, uh," he then noticed Professor Snape standing by his doorway. "Oh, good, you brought faculty."

"I had to," Daphne stated quietly. "Your restrictions..."

"Ah, Professor Snape, if you would be so kind as to leave...?" Henry asked, waving at her. "She's my sister, I'm not going to hurt her, so my restriction doesn't really apply, right...?"

"...I remember your stunt in the Great Hall the other day. You don't like her, regardless of familial status." Snape kept a cool tongue and an arched eyebrow as he picked apart Henry's argument. "And yes, your restriction still applies to all students you have, including your siblings, for the duration of the term."

"Damn it," Henry cursed under his breath. "Foiled again by half-formed plans."

"It's okay, brother," Daphne said, so quietly Henry had to strain his ears to pick it up. "Professor Snape is an excellent Head of House. If it's something like what I think it is, he'll keep it secret."

Henry glanced to Severus, who gave a subtle nod, and then Henry relaxed a bit, slumping over his desk and placing his hands together. "So, Daph," he asked over steepled fingers. "How would you like to join a club on rune demonstration?"