Harry's POV
'Expelliarmus!' Harry roared, pointing his wand at the training dummy. The dummy expertly flattened itself onto the floor and the spell flew harmlessly over its head and rebounded off the wall behind it. Harry ducked, just in time, as the blast of red light flew over his head. The smell of singed hair filled the air.
'Stupefy!' This time he caught the dummy full in the face as it tried to rise and it fell back to the floor with a satisfying clunk. Harry wiped his sweaty fringe out of his eyes, feeling rather pleased with himself; this was the first time he'd fought one of the Ministry's top-of-the-range Auror training dummies and he'd thought that he'd done a pretty good job of it.
'Good, but haven't you forgotten something?' Harry turned at the familiar voice and his heart jumped into his throat at the sight of the five further training dummies that had lined up silently behind him whilst he'd been fighting the first. Five fake wands pointed at his throat. Five Death Eater masks leered at him.
'Never leave your back exposed.' The amused voice continued. Harry looked beyond the dummies and saw Tonks standing by the open doorway. Four-month-old Teddy was asleep in her arms, his hair the exact same bubble-gum pink as his mother's.
'Hey Tonks!' Harry smiled at her, before flicking his wand at the dummies. They turned with one accord and trundled obediently over to a nearby store cupboard where they lined themselves up neatly. He then flicked his wand at the one he'd stunned and it righted itself smoothly and wheeled itself over to its friends. With a further flick of his wand, Harry closed the cupboard door and then turned back to Tonks.
'What are you doing here? I thought you were still on maternity leave?'
'I brought Teds in to show him off to everyone,' Tonks said proudly, bouncing the sleeping baby up and down a little too vigorously. Teddy gave a sleepy moan of protest and she stopped abruptly. 'Oops, sorry Munchkin! Anyway, Kingsley said that you were using the training room and gym this afternoon so I thought I'd dig you out. We're both late…' She consulted her wristwatch, almost dropping Teddy in the process. '…we were supposed to be at the Burrow ten minutes ago.'
'Oh, I forgot about that!' Harry glanced worriedly at his own watch; Mrs Weasley had planned a final get together that evening before the students went back to school the following morning. Things were definitely still far from normal at the Burrow these days, but since Tansy had woken up, Harry had noticed a definite change in Mrs Weasley's demeanor; she still looked pale and tired and she was constantly close to tears but some of the old spark had returned to her eyes and she was making more of an effort to get on with life again.
Harry and Tonks left the Auror headquarters together and got into the noisy lift down to the Atrium. It was fairly crowded with Ministry workers, all heading home after a long day at work, and Harry pulled the hood of his jumper up over his distinctive features, flattened his fringe over his scar and unearthed a large Daily Prophet from his pocket which he spread out in front of his face as he pretended to study the evening headlines.
'Oh, is it…?' A bespectacled middle-aged witch, wearing flowing purple robes with an embroidered 'M' on the shoulder, flattened the paper so that she could see the person hiding behind it. Harry scowled at her and reached up to flatten his fringe again but it was too late. 'It is! Look everyone it's…'
'Oh! Oh no!' Tonks staggered sideways into the witch and proceeded to drop Teddy's nappy bag on the woman's foot. Baby things spilled out all over the floor. A bottle of formula hit the ground with a clunk; the top snapped off, and a wave of baby milk erupted over Harry's left shoe. He wrinkled his nose at the distinctive slightly sour, soapy smell of it.
'Oh, I'm sorry Miss Trepintog! I'm even more clumsy than usual what with all the sleepless nights.' Tonks gave Harry an enormous wink, plonked the still-sleeping Teddy into the other witch's arms and dropped to her knees to pick up the contents of her bag. The other occupants of the carriage were already bending down to help. One elderly wizard used his wand and cleaned the milk off the floor but said regretfully that he was unable to return it to the bottle for fear of contamination.
They finally arrived in the Atrium and the baby was passed back to Tonks as she thanked people loudly for their help, still putting on a big show until everyone had walked away towards the fireplaces. Then she turned to Harry and grinned, taking a small and slightly mocking bow.
'Thanks!' Harry grinned back. 'I've just about had enough of being the centre of attention.' He felt the smile slip off his face. 'I think I'm holding on to the vain hope that people will forget if I leave it long enough.'
'Unlikely,' Tonks said, shaking her head. Then she changed the subject. 'Anyway, I didn't realise you were using the gym here, how did that happen?' She asked, turning to look at Harry as they both got out of the lift. In so doing, she tripped over one of her own feet and nearly wiped her son out on the lift door. With quick reflexes, Harry reached out automatically to shield the baby's head.
'Maybe I should carry Teddy?' He asked, worried that his godson wouldn't make it to his first birthday without a huge dent in his head.
'Oops, nah he's okay aren't you Munchkin?' Tonks bounced the baby vigorously for a second time and he opened his eyes and yawned sleepily.
'Hey Teds! Woken up at last I see. Can I give him a cuddle now?' Harry extended his arms to the baby and was pleased when Tonks handed him over. He bounced him gently, marvelling at how big and solid he felt after Tansy's tiny daughter.
A faint frown appeared between Teddy's eyes as he focused on Harry's face. Then, slowly, one of his eyes turned from brown to a vivid green and his hair turned jet black. Harry smiled down at him in delight before handing him back to his mum; despite offering to carry him earlier, babies really weren't his area of expertise.
'So how long have you been coming here?' Tonks asked again, as they walked round the roped-off empty area in the centre of the Atrium where Voldemort's Magic is Might statue had once stood. Harry had heard that they intended to replace it with a statue of himself and Tansy. He hoped fervently that that particular rumour would never actually come to pass.
'Oh, this is the first time,' Harry said, 'Kingsley saw me practicing in the orchard at the Burrow and said I was always welcome to come and work out here instead. I think he was a little concerned that I would kill all of the fruit trees.' He chuckled dryly, remembering the long scorch mark he'd left in the trunk of a particularly gnarly apple tree.
'A taste of what's to come next summer.' Tonks said and, looking over at her, Harry saw her eyes sparkling with mischief. 'I know that it hasn't been officially announced but I heard about the unconditional offer. Huge congratulations by the way!'
Several months ago, Harry had been given an unconditional offer to begin Auror training at the Ministry of Magic. Then, the new Educational Decree had been released, which had rather scuppered his plans to begin the training immediately; he now had to return to Hogwarts to finish his education.
'Yeah, it'll be a bit weird going back to school tomorrow now. I mean, it'll be nice to go back to normal I suppose but what's the point of studying for NEWTs when I could be learning stuff here?' The old annoyance grumbled disconsolately in the background along with a faint thrill of panic; how were they supposed to go back to 'normal' after everything that they'd been through last year? What was their normal now that the war was over and Voldemort was dead?
'And back to school rules too, eh?' Tonks said sympathetically as they took their places in one of the short queues of ministry employees that were lining up in front of the departure fireplaces.
'Apparently we'll be granted some privileges after school hours and at weekends.' Harry was sure that even with these 'privileges' in place, he was still going to find school life extremely confining after a year on the run.
He looked over Tonks's shoulder towards the fireplace and grinned sardonically to himself as he remembered the quartets' heroic Ministry break in almost exactly a year ago. Even now, some of the stringent anti-intruder policies put in place during Voldemort's reign of terror were still in use. Harry didn't know whether they were still there because nobody had found the time to remove them or if Kingsley and his new cabinet had decided they might continue to be useful. They were, after all, pretty fool proof but not totally so.
'I'll see you at the Burrow.' Tonks grabbed a handful of Floo powder with one hand, secured Teddy in the crook of her other arm and then stepped into the fireplace, disappearing immediately with a roar and a flash of electric green flame. Harry gave her a ten-second head start and then followed, tucking his elbows in securely as he roared through the Floo. As soon as he arrived in a cubicle of the public toilet above, he turned on his heal and stepped into the familiar void of disapperation.
He entered the Burrow approximately ten seconds later by the kitchen door and found the room bustling with people; the entire Weasley family, Hermione, Remus and Tonks were all in attendance. People were milling around, holding plates loaded with food from the hot buffet that Mrs Weasley had clearly spent all afternoon preparing. Harry apologised for his lateness to Mrs Weasley as he passed her and then immediately crossed the room to where Ginny sat with Hermione and Ron. It felt natural and amazingly good to bend down and kiss her on the lips. He didn't even mind the audience.
'Whooooo, PDA!' Harry disentangled himself from Ginny and grinned at Ron.
'Go and get yourself some food, Harry,' Hermione said, smirking slightly. Harry looked down pointedly to where her hand was clasped in Ron's between their chairs but didn't say anything. Unwilling to let go of Ginny so soon, he pulled her up from the chair and, ignoring her mild protests, dragged her over to the buffet table with him. He loaded his plate with a selection of everything within reach and then retreated with Ginny to a quietish corner.
'So tonight?' He asked, sotto voce, enjoying the way that she immediately blushed crimson at his question. He moved his features into what he hoped resembled a totally innocent expression.
'Not here!' She whispered furiously back, turning away from him. Harry grinned at her and shoved a cheese and onion pasty into his mouth. 'Ron's going to sneak downstairs and I'll come up to you.' Ginny said, out of the corner of her mouth as she passed him, on her way back over to her brother and Hermione.
'Attention all!' There was a clinking sound and Harry looked over to the other side of the room and saw that Remus was standing on a chair, tapping his wand against a half full glass of something bubbly. 'That was an absolutely fabulous buffet Molly, thanks so much.' There were noises of appreciation from everyone around the room. Harry nodded enthusiastically; his mouth still too full of pasty to join in.
'Anyway…' Remus stopped, presumably for dramatic effect.
'Dadada DA!' Teddy said loudly, taking advantage of the silence, and then clapped his hands together, looking thrilled at his own cleverness. Everyone laughed and Remus looked down indulgently at his son. Then he looked up again and cleared his throat.
'Anyway, I also have a little announcement to make!' Remus smiled around at everyone, looking thoroughly happy about something. Harry felt his stomach twist in anticipation.
'Get on with it!' Bill catcalled from over by the kitchen window. 'I can't stand the suspense!' He gave Remus a huge wink, letting everyone in the room know that he was already in on the secret.
'Tomorrow I will be returning to Hogwarts as the new Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor and head of Gryffindor house!' Remus announced loudly. A storm of cheering drowned out the end of his sentence.
'We should've known!' Ron roared over the noise. Harry sprinted across the room to shake Remus's hand as he got off the chair.
'That's great news, Remus! You were one of our best Defence teachers.' He pumped the other man's hand vigorously up and down.
'Well I don't know how much I'll be able to teach you, Harry, but I'll do my best. I…' His words were drowned out by another loud tapping. Harry looked up and saw that Bill was now standing on the chair. Slowly the hubbub in the room died away as people fell silent waiting for Bill to speak.
'Remus, you were supposed to announce me!' Bill said, in mock annoyance. He paused, letting the drama build up before continuing. 'I will also be coming to teach at Hogwarts this year as your new Professor of Ancient Runes.' Another loud burst of cheering reverberated round the kitchen.
'And I will also be joining to teach ze Transfiguration classes for ze lower school.' Fleur said stepping forwards gracefully. Harry looked over at Ginny's stunned face and smiled to himself. He intended to go over to Bill to congratulate him but, as the other wizard got off the chair, Fleur had pulled his face down into a long kiss, seemingly oblivious of the watching crowd. Harry decided to congratulate him later.
'I wonder what kind of teacher Flem will make?' Ginny said, sidling back to Harry and sliding her hand into his. There was no malice in her voice and he could tell that she used Fleur's old nickname more out of habit than any real malevolence.
'Well, I suppose we won't find out because we still have Professor McGonagall.' Hermione said, appearing at Harry's elbow. 'Now she's headmistress, she won't have time to teach the lower school anymore but she's such a good teacher I'm glad she hasn't stopped altogether.'
'And I suppose Snape has gone back to teaching Potions,' Ron said moodily, appearing behind Hermione, carrying another full plate of buffet food. 'I hope he'll let me back in with my lowly E. I mean I've done half of the NEWT course so…' He trailed off and stuffed a sandwich into his mouth.
'I think he'll have to,' Hermione said, stealing a mini quiche off Ron's plate.
'That's good news all round,' Mrs Weasley said tearfully, wiping her eyes on her apron as she bustled over to the four returning students. 'I went to visit Minerva and Tansy today…' She was interrupted before she could say anything further.
'How's Tansy?' Ron asked, through his mouthful.
'Don't talk with your mouthful, Ronald!' His mother snapped, reprimanding him as though he were a child of two rather than a fully-grown wizard. 'And Tansy is actually improving although, as you know, it's going to take her time.' A look of pain fleetingly crossed her face and Harry felt his heart twinge slightly as he thought of his friend. 'Anyway, I gave her all of her birthday gifts and wished her many happy returns. They were off to Hogwarts this afternoon. You'll see her tomorrow.' Mrs Weasley stopped, appearing to lose the thread of what she was saying. Then she rummaged in her apron pocket and withdrew three parchment envelopes inscribed with green ink, written in Professor McGonagall's familiar hand.
'Ah this one is for Hermione, Ronald, and this one is yours Harry.' She handed them to the correct recipients.
Intrigued, Harry slipped his finger under the flap and yanked open the Hogwarts seal. As he shook the envelope to dislodge the letter inside, a shiny, red Hogwarts Head Boy badge fell out into the palm of his hand. A further shake revealed that his Quidditch captaincy had also been reinstated. Grinning, he looked over to Hermione and Ron; Hermione was looking at her Head Girl badge with excitement but Ron looked totally gobsmacked.
'Minerva wanted you both to have the honour.' Mrs Weasley explained gleefully. 'My little Ronnie! Third Head Boy in the family!' In Ron's open palm lay an identical Head Boy badge to Harry's.
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