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Harry smiled as he watched the DA practicing some of the various spells they had covered so far that term. It was the middle of November and he had decided to have a review lesson, allowing the DA to choose what they wanted to work on, as long as it was something they had already covered, so they could improve on where they individually struggled. He wandered through the room, being careful of who was doing what, so he didn’t get hit, helping correct people as he went.
“Dennis, you’re pronouncing the spell right, but you don’t need to use your whole arm to do the wand movement. Try just using your wrist to make the circle, rather than your whole arm.” He demonstrated what he meant, before guiding Dennis through the movement. Dennis nodded and turned back to Colin, who he was partnered with, and tried again.
“Stupefy.” This time, instead of knocking Colin back a little, Colin collapsed, fully stunned.
“Well done, Dennis. Keep practicing and try working it with Colin shielding as well.” Dennis nodded.
“Thanks Professor.” Harry blinked slightly at the title, before smiling and walking off; if Dennis felt comfortable calling him professor, he wouldn’t stop him, especially as he technically was essentially their teacher during DA sessions.
“Luna, try flicking your wrist more at the end of the wand movement. At the moment it’s like you’re drawing a v with your wand, try making it more like a tick.” Luna frowned before nodding, giving the wand movement a shot without the incantation.
“A bit more emphasis. Like this.” Harry demonstrated the end of the wand movement that he was talking about, and Luna copied him, before trying the whole wand movement and looking over at him.
“That’s good. Try the spell again.” Luna nodded, turning back to the target in front of the wall.
“Reducto.” The stand holding the target crumbled into a few large pieces and fell to the ground, the actual target clattering to the floor as well.
“Good job, just try and add a bit more power behind it. And try working on your aim with a less destructive spell so you don’t take out a wall or something before you try again.”
“Yes, Professor Harry,” Luna said brightly before moving to another target where she started sending various brightly coloured spells at it. Harry smiled and rolled his eyes, but again didn’t say anything about the title.
He continued helping various people, his new title having clearly spread quickly as it was used more and more throughout the lesson. He finally stopped back at Neville, who was trying to cast the body bind curse on Hermione or Ron, since they had formed a three like they did every lesson. He stopped and watched, trying to work out what Neville was doing wrong that was causing the spell to fizzle out before it could hit either Ron or Hermione. Right before he went to stop Neville and make a comment, Neville cast again, putting more force behind his words. This time, the spell hit Hermione full on, her arms and legs snapping together and causing her to topple over onto some of the cushions around her.
“Well done, Nev,” Ron said as he cast a Finite Incantatem on Hermione to release her.
“Yeah, well done Neville,” Harry agreed, causing Neville to spin around with a grin. “Was that the first time you’ve done the spell?” Neville nodded.
“It normally fizzles out before it hits, or it doesn’t work when it hits.”
“That’s great,” Harry praised, before going off instinct – like he often did - based on the new title he had just been given. “Five points to Gryffindor. Keep practicing so you can do it consistently.” Neville nodded, turning back to face Ron, while Hermione stepped over to him.
“Points to Gryffindor?” she asked. Harry shrugged.
“It felt right. And it’s not like it’ll actually affect anything.”
“Alright Professor,” Hermione said, emphasizing the name in a joking way. Harry rolled his eyes.
“Keep practicing. You have 20 minutes left.”
Over the next few meetings, Harry continued following his instincts in regard to house points and started awarding points to various DA members when they achieved milestones – first time casting a spell, especially after working hard on it (like Colin who finally got the Impedimenta after three lessons of hard work); a particularly good cast (like when Parvati turned a table to complete dust with one Reducto); or any other impressive point or milestone during meetings. He also gave points to the winners of the duels they had one lesson, which he held to see how they were going with their defense and offense and to get an understanding of what they needed to work on.
Even though most of them didn’t think it actually did anything, it helped them feel as if they were actually in class, as if it was their actual teachers praising them for their work rather than a fellow student helping them learn behind the teacher’s backs. It helped boost morale, and most of them enjoyed the familiar praise of receiving points.
And it caused the nickname and title of Professor to stick. To be honest, Harry didn’t really mind.
Minerva McGonagall frowned as she looked over the points listing for that term. As Deputy Headmistress, one of her roles was to take stock of the listed points given and taken over both terms, and make sure they added up to what the points hourglasses recorded. Just like how the magic of the castle removed or added jewels to the points hourglasses, the magic of the castle also made a note in the book of points that sat in her office so she could review the various additions and reductions of points at the end of the term. The points, when magically recorded, were listed in the house column with the number of points given or taken, along with the reason given, and each new listing was in a different colour, each colour representing a specific teacher or student with the ability to give or take points (the Head Boy and Girl, and Prefects from their specific house).
The reason she was frowning was an inconsistency in the points. There was nothing wrong with the numbers she had totaled, and the points displayed in the points hourglasses. However, about the middle of November, a new colour listing points awarded had appeared, and she ran the list of colours through her head as she had no idea who the colour represented.
Cobalt blue was Filius, emerald green was Severus. Sunny yellow was Pomona, scarlet red was hers. Navy blue was Ravenclaw prefects, forest green was Slytherin prefects. Lemon yellow was Hufflepuff prefects, maroon was Gryffindor prefects. Indigo was the Head Boy, magenta was Head Girl. Bathsheda was burnt orange, Charity was coral autumn. Hagrid was chestnut brown, Aurora was copper. Sybil was light grey, Septima was dark grey. Filch was black, Hooch was turquoise. The defense professor differed each year (Remus had been amber, Gilderoy peacock blue, Quirinus tawny brown, and Moody’s imposter, Crouch Jr, had been an electric blue), and this year Delores was baby pink, while Albus was always royal purple. This new colour was a shiny platinum.
The platinum writing appeared to only give points, in increments of 5 and 10 points, and only to Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw. There was no platinum writing in Slytherin’s column. And each of the reasons listed next to the given points seemed to indicate a Professor rewarding them, but it wasn’t any professor that she knew. She scanned the lists, looking at the various platinum points given.
‘+5 points: Gryffindor – first time successfully casting a spell’
‘+5 points: Gryffindor – first time successfully casting a spell’
‘+5 points: Gryffindor – mastering a spell’
‘+5 points: Ravenclaw – improvement of aim’
‘+5 points: Hufflepuff – winning a duel’
‘+5 points: Gryffindor – winning a duel’
‘+5 points: Gryffindor – winning a duel’
‘+5 points: Hufflepuff – winning a duel’
‘+5 points: Ravenclaw – winning a duel’
‘+5 points: Ravenclaw – winning a duel’
‘+10 points: Gryffindor – reducing a table to dust in one spell’
‘+5 points: Hufflepuff – first time successfully casting a spell’
‘+10 points: Ravenclaw – creative use of spells’
‘+5 points: Ravenclaw – mastering a spell’
‘+5 points: Hufflepuff – only one not hit’
‘+5 points: Gryffindor – creative response’
Judging by the chunk of points given for winning duels, she had the feeling that the Professor was teaching some type of dueling or defense, but she knew it couldn’t be Dolores. Either way, Hogwarts had recognized whoever it was as an official professor and had officially accepted their first point declaration and all those that followed. So she marked the points as accurately recorded and put the book of points away, content to find out who the new professor at a later date. She had too much work to do during the holidays to try and investigate it now anyway.
Christmas break came and went, and the DA kept meeting, their abilities in defensive spells increasing every lesson. Easter approached, and Harry started to plan some more intensive lessons, things that would keep them safe against Death Eaters better than simple school level spells, regardless of those spells being NEWT level in a group made majorly up of those who hadn’t even taken OWLs yet.
Along with Ron and Hermione, Harry started researching ways to teach them to fight the Imperious without being subjected to it, started planning lessons that would see them learn to defend themselves against Dementors. He spent more time in the library, looking through old newspapers to find different things Voldemort and other Dark Lords did during their reigns of terror, and researching ways to combat that. He taught them more destructive fire spells, and spells that would do more damage to an opponent than simply knocking them out. They started researching a few simple healing spells, that were quick but could save their lives in a battle. And together, the trio started brainstorming different ways lower-level spells could be used in a fight, to distract or to harm or to potentially do even more.
The DA started learning more offence as well as defense. They learnt to target wand arms, chests, and necks. They were taught to use the slicing curse on skin rather than cloth and wood, to use Lumos to blind and to transfigure splinters rather than matches into needles. They learnt to combine transfiguration and charms into their defense and offence, to use their surroundings to their advantage. They were taught to use the cheering charm to help them if they encountered dementors so they could find the happiness they needed with more ease. They learnt binding charms to use against opponents or to secure broken bones, simple healing spells that could reset small fractures or heal burns and cuts. They learnt to use prank spells and other spells normally seen as useless as distractions so they could run.
And every lesson started with dodging practice, because you couldn’t get hurt or killed if you weren’t hit.
It was two weeks before Easter break and Harry had started teaching them how to cast a Patronus, finally determining that their level of casting was at a point where they would be able to successfully cast it, successfully prove Remus wrong about students being able to learn it. He was sure it would only take a few lessons before they all had it down, be it corporeal or simply mist.
It was two weeks before Easter when a traitor spoke out and they were discovered.
After Easter, the DA continued. Those whose names had been spoken had been in detention for a week, Harry, Hermione, and Ron prime among them. But Hermione had managed to place a spell on the list to obscure the names on it, protecting most of them. And they had all been vocal about the DA continuing after the traitor had her coin secretly taken.
So the DA meetings continued, with Harry’s peers, his students, gaining more input in lessons. He taught them the Patronus and they started requesting types of spells to learn. They had requested to learn disillusionments and illusions, more powerful shields and destructive spells. Spells such as the bat-bogey hex, finger twitch, conjunctivitis curse, and other spells to cause confusion were asked for, and Harry did his best to deliver.
Every weekend the trio could be found in the library. They would say they were doing homework, and sometimes they were. But more often than not, they were researching, looking into the spells that had been requested and making notes on them, learning about them before going off and practicing them until Harry, at least, had mastered them so he could teach them at the next lesson.
Their lessons had a basic structure that had developed sometime around Christmas. The first ten to twenty minutes would be dodging, before they spent fifteen minutes reviewing the spells or spells, they had newly learnt in the previous lesson. The next 40 minutes or so would be spent learning one or two new spells. Any time remaining after that was then used to work on whatever they wanted to work on.
Harry walked around the room, giving feedback and praise as he went. They were currently in the last 20 minutes of the lesson, and were doing personal practice, so there was a large variety of spells occurring around the room.
In one corner, Colin and Dennis were practicing their Patronuses. Off near one wall, the four Weasleys in attendance were having a four-way duel, the rest of the room protected from errant spell fire by a protective ward the room had created for them. Luna, Padma, and Terry were clearly working on their illusions, as there were four Luna’s, two Padma’s - with a third flickering in and out of sight - and three Terry’s in the room. Justin, Susan, and Hannah seemed to be working on their disillusionment charms, judging by how Susan had suddenly faded out of sight. Alicia, Katie, and Angelina were utilizing their long years of knowing the twins and were practicing their distractions in the form of various pranking spells. Near the back wall, Ernie and Neville were both working on their spell repertoire, casting a large range of defensive and offensive spells against dummies.
“5 points to Gryffindor Lee, that shield is holding really well. Dean, Seamus, try looking for weak spots in his shield, trying to overwhelm it with lots of spells won’t always work,” Harry commented as he passed the group of three. Lee was holding a variation of Protego that took more magic but would hold up against spell barrage for longer, while Dean and Seamus were firing at him; he had to admit that the variety of spells being sent at Lee was impressive though – jelly-legs followed by a colour changing charm, a stunner, binding spells, hair growing charm, and then a cutting curse was not something many people would think to use.
“Thank Professor,” Lee said with a grin.
“Alright Professor Potter,” Dean and Seamus added, shifting their stances as they started to inspect Lee’s shield, even as they didn’t stop with their spells. Harry rolled his eyes slightly as he moved on but didn’t comment on the title, which hadn’t dropped at all, even as a few new faces (like Seamus) joined the group. As weird as it was to sometimes have people older than him calling him professor, he found he actually quite liked the title.
The fifth years were all sitting down in the Great Hall at their individual desks, preparing to start their Defense Against the Dark Arts OWL exam. They each had their exam on the desk in front of them, a special quill to prevent them from cheating at the top of the desk next to a full inkpot.
“Please fill out your name and your teacher for this year,” Professor McGonagall instructed from the front of the room. Everyone picked up their quills and wrote their names as instructed before moving on to their teacher’s name.
Normally, this part of the exam is universal of the whole school, as everyone has one teacher throughout the year. However, for this particular exam, the answers between the fifth years seemed to vary, which in itself was unusual. However, aside from preventing the students from cheating, the quills were also enchanted to make them tell the truth in regards to their name and the name of their teacher. So no one would be able to protest the various teachers written down, as the students couldn’t by lying about it.
A handful of the Slytherins wrote Professor Severus Snape’s name at the top of their exam, having had extra tutoring from their Head of House. Another handful of students wrote Professor Dolores Umbridge, having had no access to anyone else to teach them. Harry himself wrote that he had been self-taught that year, while over half of the fifth years all wrote that their teacher had been Professor Harry Potter.
The fifth years on the DA didn’t even react to realizing they had written down Professor Potter under their teacher’s name. It made sense to them. They had all acknowledged Harry being their professor in November and had continued to acknowledge it throughout the rest of the year; they had clearly learnt more from him than the rest of their DADA teachers combined, even Professor Lupin hadn’t taught them that much despite being a very good teacher.
Professor Potter had been their teacher that year, there was no doubt about it in any of their minds.
When the seventh years went to sit their NEWTs for Defense Against the Dark Arts, there was again more than one name written down as their teacher. Majority of the seventh years wrote down Professor Dolores Umbridge, while a few of the Slytherins wrote down Professor Severus Snape. Three of the Gryffindors, Angelina, Alicia, and Lee, all wrote down Professor Harry Potter.
In the Ministry, where Fred and George went to independently take their NEWTs, just to say they had done them and so they could claim they had credentials if they were questioned about their business, the two Weasleys sat their various NEWTs. And when it came to their DADA one, they were unsurprised to find themselves writing down that Professor Harry Potter had been their teacher that year.
Minerva sighed as she went over the various points from the second half of that year. Unfortunately, unlike normal and even the first half of the school year, the points in the points hourglasses did not match up with the officially recorded points in the book of points. Since Umbridge had given the Inquisitorial Squad the ability to give and take points, the point system had been decimated, giving her that much extra work before the end of term feast. Especially because the magic of Hogwarts had not acknowledged them as having the ability to give and take points, even as the hourglasses did as they said.
This meant that, instead of just matching the officially recorded points to the points displayed above the hourglasses, she had to individually add up all the officially listed point awards and deductions, rather than just look at the total at the bottom of each house list, and then work out the inconsistencies between the official points and the points hourglasses. And then she would have to go attend to the house hourglasses and the wards around them to get them to match the official points, since she couldn’t just verbally give and take points until the points between the books and hourglasses matched, because each addition and reduction that she gave would be official and recorded in the book, messing up the calculations and overall results.
She had just finished adding up the Slytherin points total, which was much lower than the hourglasses showed, while the other three houses totals were meant to be significantly higher than the hourglasses demonstrated; they had apparently gone into the negatives even, which the magic of Hogwarts wouldn’t even officially allow. Minerva sighed again as she made a note of what each house was meant to officially have as total house points, before looking back over the list of points given and deducted and actually paying attention to the colours and reasons, rather than just the numbers, curious to see if the unknown person – unknown professor – had continued to give points that term.
She was not disappointed to see the shining platinum points given, again to only three of the four houses, and no reductions from that specific person. However, that person had increased the amount of points they gave at once, with not just 5 and 10 points awarded, but going as far as to be additions of 20 and even 50 points in one go. However, looking over the reasons, she couldn’t fault the large additions.
‘+10 points: Ravenclaw – amazing illusions’
‘+5 points: Hufflepuff – excellent stunner’
‘+5 points: Gryffindor – strong shield’
‘+10 points: Gryffindor – inventive use of spells as distractions’
‘+20 points: Ravenclaw – non-corporeal Patronus’
‘+5 points: Hufflepuff – first successful disillusionment’
‘+5 points: Gryffindor – increased spell repertoire’
‘+50 points: Gryffindor – corporeal Patronus’
‘+5 points: Hufflepuff – increased spell repertoire’
‘+10 points: Gryffindor – winning four-way duel’
‘+20 points: Hufflepuff – non-corporeal Patronus’
‘+20 points: Gryffindor – non-corporeal Patronus’
‘+50 points: Gryffindor – corporeal Patronus’
‘+20 points: Gryffindor – non-corporeal Patronus’
‘+20 points: Hufflepuff – non-corporeal Patronus’
‘+20 points: Ravenclaw – non-corporeal Patronus’
‘+50 points: Gryffindor – corporeal Patronus’
‘+50 points: Gryffindor – corporeal Patronus’
‘+10 points: Hufflepuff – successful range of healing spells’
‘+50 points: Ravenclaw – corporeal Patronus’
To say Minerva was stunned to see some of those reason would be an understatement. She had had an idea that whoever the teacher who awarded points in platinum silver was, was teaching some type of Defense or Dueling. But to see such a variety of things listed – four-way duels, healing spells, illusions, disillusionments, spell repertoires. And to see so many lots of points given for Patronuses, non-corporeal and even corporeal. It was amazing to see. To witness the proof that someone had taught so many students to cast the Patronus charm, and for them to do so successfully, was something she had never thought she would hear about, let alone witness. What she wouldn’t do to find out who it was.
She had originally thought that perhaps Potter had been the one behind it, after finding out about that defense group he had been leading. But she had believed that the group had disbanded before the Easter break, especially after Albus was forced out of the school and Dolores took over, and the platinum points continued being given through to the exams. And no matter how much faith she had in Potter, she just didn’t believe it was possible for him to teach some of the things that points had been given for; where he had learnt to cast illusions or healing spells well enough to teach she had no idea, and even though she knew he could cast a Patronus himself she didn’t think he would be able to teach it, especially to other students.
Considering the OWL and NEWT exams revealed the teachers and showed the percent of each teacher’s students results, such as percent that passed and the percent that gained O’s, hopefully the exam results would explain whoever the mysterious teacher was.
Harry lay on his bed at Private Drive, staring at the ceiling. He had been back at the Dursleys for a week and didn’t expect to leave for at least another three at least, considering he normally stayed at with the Dursleys for at least a month before going to the Weasleys, or possibly Headquarters. He really hoped he wouldn’t have to go to Headquarters though, not yet; it would only remind him of Sirius, and even thinking about Sirius at the moment was too painful, especially since he still at least partially blamed himself for his godfather’s death.
He sat up abruptly and turned to stare at the window as two owls flew in through the open window, neither owl being one that he recognized. He slowly approached the owls, noticing that both had a letter tied to their legs. He approached the brown owl first, untying the letter gently and placing it down on the desk before turning to the other owl, a tawny, as the brown owl flew away. He untied the scroll from the tawny, who settled down to clearly wait for a reply, before turning to his two letters. Who could they be from? Any letter from Ron or Hermione would either be delivered by Hedwig or Pig, and he didn’t know anyone else who would write to him.
He opened the scroll first, finding thin, slanted writing waiting for him. He read over the letter quickly, blinking a few times as he processed the information. Dumbledore was going to come collect him at two in the afternoon on Friday; he would have been with the Dursleys for less than two weeks, but he certainly wouldn’t complain about spending majority of the holidays with the Weasleys, especially since he would be able to spend his birthday with them. He grabbed a piece of parchment and a quill from his still-packed trunk, quickly scribbling a short reply of ‘yes please, see you Friday’ that he tied to the owl’s leg, watching as the tawny proceeded to fly away with his response.
Harry then turned to the letter he had placed on his desk. He picked it up, looking at the elegant black ink addressing the letter to ‘Prof. H. Potter’. He turned it over and found it sealed with purple wax, the letters W E A interlocked together. He blinked, before slitting it open and pulling the letter out of the envelope and unfolding it.
Dear Prof. Harry J. Potter,
As you are aware, the latest round of OWLs and NEWTs were held last month. The students who sat their OWLs and NEWTs will not receive their results until the end of the week. As an indicated professor of numerous students for the subject Defense Against the Dark Arts, this is to formally inform you of how your students performed as a whole.
-
OWLs
Passing rate – 100%
Outstanding rate – 54%
Exceeds Expectations rate – 46%
~
NEWTs
Passing rate – 100%
Outstanding rate – 40%
Exceeds Expectations rate – 60%
~
Overall Results
Passing rate – 100%
Outstanding rate – 47%
Exceeds Expectations rate – 53%
-
Congratulations on such high results amongst your students.
Wizarding Examinations Authority
Harry stared at the parchment, rereading it over and over, before it finally registered. Clearly, when everyone wrote down who their teacher was, everyone in the DA who was taking their OWLs or NEWTs had written his name down as their professor. Which meant he found out how his students went overall. Which meant he found out how the DA, his friends as well as his students, went on their exams before any of the actual results went out to the students.
He reread the result again, beaming as he realized that everyone in the DA had passed their DADA exams, with flying colours too, all of them with either E’s or O’s. Well, at least he could tell Hermione and Ron that they had at least passed Defense, which would hopefully stop Hermione stressing too much before they got their results at the end of the week.
Harry blinked again before it clicked that he would be finding out his actual scores at the end of the week. The end of the week when he was at the Burrow; hopefully Ron, and probably Hermione, wouldn't rub their stress and nerves about results on to him.
Harry rushed down the stairs as he saw Dumbledore arrive, stopping on the bottom step as the doorbell ring, his uncle already at the door.
“Good morning, Mr. Dursley. Do you mind if I come in?” Dumbledore asked pleasantly. Uncle Vernon stared at Dumbledore, so Dumbledore continued.
“I would assume, by your expression, that Harry forgot to mention my arrival. As it is extremely unwise to linger outdoors these days, I shall presume that you graciously invited me into you home.” With that, Dumbledore neatly stepped through the door, closing it behind him.
“Hello sir,” Harry said, and Dumbledore turned to him.
“Excellent, there you are Harry,” Dumbledore said. “We shall be leaving shortly, but I first wish to speak to your relatives about a few things.” Harry nodded, following Dumbledore into the living room, his uncle trailing behind them.
About half an hour later, Harry quickly headed upstairs and grabbed his trunk, dragging it back down and meeting Dumbledore at the front door; he assumed his relatives were still in the living room.
“Where are we going Professor?” Harry asked as he reached the bottom of the stairs.
“Well Professor Potter, I first have an offer for you that I didn’t want to make in the vicinity of your relatives.” Harry stared at Dumbledore in shock at the title the headmaster had used for him – only those in the DA had known about his title. Dumbledore smiled, clearly understanding his shock and the reason behind it.
“The headmaster receives the results of the OWLs and NEWTs the day before the individual teachers do, as overall results and broken down by teacher and subject,” Dumbledore explained. “Due to that, I am aware of the quite remarkable results your students received this year across both OWLs and NEWTs and is why I am picking you up in the middle of the day rather than later this evening like I had originally planned to. The teachers of Hogwarts usually gather the Friday after exam results come out to discuss the overall results and to award the teachers for the results they get from their students. As you were a recognized teacher by both Hogwarts magic, the examiner board, and now by the school board based on your results of the past year, you are also invited to this gathering today. You will be given your years pay that you should have had based on the number of students you taught over the past school year.”
“You want me to come to a gathering with the other professors to talk about exam results?” Harry clarified.
“I do,” Dumbledore agreed.
“Alright,” Harry agreed.
“Excellent. I also have an offer for you and if you agree, I will explain the more intricate details after the gathering.” Dumbledore clasped his hands together and Harry nodded slowly, indicating for Dumbledore to continue.
“Professor Potter, would you like to officially teach Defense Against the Dark Arts to every year level for the next coming school year, with a longer contract to be discussed after one year.” Harry thought about the offer, thinking back to the past school year.
He had adored teaching the DA, and found himself looking forward to the meetings over the week more than most of his daily activities and classes. If he didn’t agree, then the odds were that they would either get another Ministry teacher, or the teacher Dumbledore would find would be less than good, based on the past teachers, especially in the time of acknowledged war. But if he agreed, he would have to teach the levels above him as well as below him, but he had basically done that the year before anyway, and clearly hadn’t been terrible at it considering the five seventh years he had taught had all passed with either E’s or O’s. He would also have to teach the Slytherins, and that was the one problem he could see with accepting the position, other than working out how he would both teach and attend his own classes.
“How would that work? I mean, I would still be a student, but also be a teacher? And would the school board and other professors agree with it?” Harry asked.
“I have already thought of a way for you to attend classes and teach at the same time, which I would further explain later if you do agree, but rest assured that you would not miss any of your own classes or classes you would be teaching. And based on your results of the past year, there can be no argument over your ability to teach.” Harry nodded slowly. He wanted to agree, but he also wanted to know how the other professors would react to finding out he had taught already before instantly agreeing.
“Can I think about it?”
“Of course. I did not expect you to make such a large decision straight away. I would hope to have an answer either way by the time I take you to the Burrow this evening though, so that I can have enough time to search for a professor should you decide against the position.”
“That should be long enough sir,” Harry agreed. Dumbledore nodded.
“Very well then, we shall be off. I shall send your belongings to the Burrow and then we shall head to Hogwarts together.” Harry nodded, placing his trunk on the floor, Hedwig’s empty cage going on top. Dumbledore waved his wand and both the trunk and cage disappeared. Dumbledore then led the way out of the house and down the streets, Harry following him, stopping in the same alleyway where the dementors had attacked both Harry and Dudley the year before. Dumbledore offered his arm to Harry, and he hesitated before gripping it tightly. Before he could say anything, he was suddenly surrounded by the feeling of being squished through a straw.
Minerva looked around the staff room, absently wondering where Albus was. All the other professors who taught fifth years or seventh years was there, apart from Dolores, although it wasn’t surprising that she wasn’t there considering what had happened at the end of the previous school year. However, Albus’ absence was unusual, as he was normally the first one there.
“Does anyone know where Albus is? He is normally here by now,” Pomona asked, echoing Minerva’s thoughts.
“He mentioned picking up a teacher who wasn’t aware of the gathering,” Severus drawled. The rest of the staff exchanged glances.
“Surely he didn’t mean Umbridge,” Filius said.
“I wouldn’t have thought so, but there wasn’t another teacher that I could think of that wouldn’t know about our gathering,” Septima said.
“Actually, I do believe there was another teacher last year that we were all unaware of,” Minerva said slowly.
“Really?” Filius asked.
“Yes, I believe so, and I believe they were teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts in Dolores’ place.”
“How do you know?” Charity asked.
“One of my roles as Deputy is to check that the officially acknowledged points match up with the points recorded in the house points hourglasses at the end of each term. When I checked at the start of Christmas break, I noticed a different colour awarding points as well, although I have no clue who that colour acknowledged.”
“A different colour?” Pomona asked curiously. Minerva nodded.
“Each person who is officially acknowledged to have the power to give and take points has a different colour that those points are recorded in, although the prefects for each house all share the same colour. For example, the points I give and take are recorded in scarlet red, while Pomona’s are in a sunny yellow, Filius’ in a cobalt blue, and Severus’ are in emerald green, and Dolores’ were in a baby pink.”
“What was the new colour?”
“Platinum. And I believe they were teaching some type of defense due to the reasons listed next to all the points.”
“What were the reasons? And the amounts?” Severus asked.
“For most of the year they were 5- and 10-point increments, but towards the end of the year the points awarded increased to 20 and even 50 points, and I can not fault those amounts if the reasons are true,” Minerva said. “Some of the reasons were small things, like mastering a spell or casting a spell for the first time. Then there were some for winning duels, having a strong shield, creative use of spells, and then the 20 and 50 points that were given were apparently for casting a Patronus, 20 points for non-corporeal, and 50 for corporeal.”
“Patronuses?” Septima asked in surprise.
“Clearly whoever this teacher was, was giving points for completely different reasons than listed. No students at this school would be able to learn to cast a Patronus apart from a handful of seventh years, and I doubt even they could cast a corporeal version,” Severus said disdainfully.
“The magic of Hogwarts only acknowledges the points and the real reason they are given, even if the person gives a different reason to the student in question,” Minerva explained, glaring at Severus pointedly.
“So a teacher actually taught some of our students to cast a Patronus?” Pomona asked. Minerva nodded.
“And more than one student managed it. Six managed a non-corporeal Patronus, and five managed it corporeal, and I can guarantee that they were not all the same students.”
“How do you know?” Filius asked.
“2 Gryffindors had a non-corporeal Patronus, and 4 of my lions had achieved a corporeal Patronus. 2 Ravenclaws managed a non-corporeal Patronus, and another had a corporeal Patronus. And two Hufflepuffs achieved a non-corporeal Patronus.”
“No Slytherins?” Aurora asked. Minerva shook her head.
“None of the points given by that teacher at any time in the year was to Slytherin. Either they were biased, no Slytherin in their class achieved anything worth gaining points, or they simply didn’t teach any Slytherins.”
“I would believe it to be the last option. None of my snakes mentioned a new teacher.”
“Ah, good, you’re all here,” Dumbledore said brightly, entering the staff room.
“We were wondering where you were Albus,” Minerva said.
“I was picking up one of our professors from last year that we were all unaware of. I only found out that he had been teaching when I received the OWL and NEWT results,” Dumbledore said, taking a seat before turning to the door.
“Come on in.” Everyone else in the room turned to look at the door, staring in shock as the mysterious professor entered the room.
“Potter?”
Harry stood in the doorway of the staffroom and smiled sheepishly around the room, glancing over at Snape at his outburst.
“Why is Potter here headmaster?” Snape demanded.
“I invited him here. He taught students who took their OWLs and NEWTs over the previous year, and I must say, he produced extremely good results from his students for being younger than some of the those he was teaching and still being a student himself,” Dumbledore said genially. “Take a seat Harry.” Harry quietly let out a long breath before walking over to one of the armchairs in the staff room and sitting down in it, one leg crossed over the other.
“Now that we’re all here, let us begin. First, I would like to congratulate each and everyone one of you for the brilliant work you have done over the past year, teaching young and inquisitive students to achieve greatness. This past year has, once again, shown exceptional results amongst our students, across all year levels,” Dumbledore said.
“Let us speak of our newest records. In our first year class, we had one record broken for the highest score in Charms, with Mr. Filisby achieving an incredible 115%.”
“I still do not see how the students can achieve more than 100% on an exam,” one of the professors, who Harry recognized from Hermione’s descriptions as the Runes teacher Professor Babbling, said.
“They are so eager to show their understanding they write their own questions on the end of the written portion of the exam, something that stops once they reach second or third year. Or they surpass the expectations I had for the practical portion,” Flitwick explained.
“Amongst our second years there were two new records set. Miss Veley broke the joint record held by Black and Potter in Transfiguration, with a 94.8%, and Mr. Thyssen achieved an astonishing 98.3% in Potions, beating Severus’ own record. There were no records amongst our third or fourth years, however a new record in Herbology was set amongst the sixth-year cohort by Miss Clinch scoring 96.2%. And we all know there are no records amongst the fifth and seventh years,” Dumbledore said. “And I am sure we are all looking forward to seeing what those four students are able to achieve in the future.”
The teachers started clapping, and Harry followed their lead, joining the applause. When the applause died down, Dumbledore continued.
“And finally, results for OWLs and NEWTs. Minerva, I’m sorry to say, did not have the highest overall results this year, for either OWLs or NEWTs. That honor goes to Professor Potter, as Harry managed to have a 100% passing rate from his students for both OWLs and NEWTs, with 47% of his students achieving Outstanding’s and the other 53% achieving Exceeds Expectations in their Defense Against the Dark Arts OWLs and NEWTs.” Harry smiled as the other teachers stared at him, before breaking into applause.
Harry followed Dumbledore out of the staff room after the gathering. They walked through the castle in quiet until they reached the gates, which was also where Harry suspected the wards ended. Then, Dumbledore turned to him.
“Did you enjoy our get together Harry?”
“I did, actually. It was a lot more relaxed than I expected it to be.”
“You can’t expect us to all be strict and stern teachers all the time, can you my dear boy.”
“I suppose not sir. But it wouldn’t surprise me if Professor McGonagall and Snape were.” Dumbledore chuckled.
“I suppose I can see how you would come to that conclusion. Now, have you reached a decision about the position I offered you earlier?” Harry nodded.
“I have. And if you have worked everything out like you said you have, then I would be glad to accept the position.”
“That is brilliant news,” Dumbledore exclaimed, clasping his hands together. “Now, those arrangements. You shall have an office like the other professors, and I ask that you do not use it as a hang out space for you and your friends, as it shall be a space for the students to come to you with questions during office hours that you will be able to set at your own discretion. You will have the ability to give and take points while you are teaching or in the corridors, but not when you are in class yourself as a student, or when you are in the Gryffindor common room. You shall also have the ability to give students detentions, although you shall have to notify that student’s Head of House when you do so, like how all the other professors are required to do, and you can choose to take the detentions yourself or assign them to Filch. I shall also ask that you send me a letter noting the book or books you shall require the students to have for your classes, which can be individual across the years or the same for each year group.
“In regard to your own schooling, you obviously shall not have to take Defense Against the Dark Arts, since it would be quite hard to be in the class and teach it at the same time, but if you continue to teach the position next year, you shall have the option to take the NEWT from independent study or to not take it at all. I also have two time-turners in my office, that are normally kept for a student or students that wish to take all the electives, like Miss Granger did, that you will be permitted to use in order to teach and attend classes at the same time. I will work with Minerva to put together a schedule for you that will help you keep on top of all your classes and give ideas of when to use the time-turner to go back a few hours. Like all professors, you will have to give assignments and homework and mark them, and I trust that you will be able to handle that on top of all your own homework, especially with the help of the time-turner.
“While using the time-turner I advise spinning back to give yourself extra hours to sleep, eat, and do paperwork, both in terms of homework and marking, and not just for teaching and attending class so we don’t see you burn out. You shall still be allowed to stay on the quidditch team, if you so desire, however please do not let it interfere with your academics or your teaching, and you will not be able to be Captain of the team,” Dumbledore finished. Harry stayed silent for a few minutes, processing everything Dumbledore had just said, before nodding.
“Alright. That all sounds good. And I don’t mind not being captain; as much as I would enjoy it, I don’t think I would be the best at coming up with plays or advice for the other positions anyway, and it would definitely be too much on top of teaching,” Harry agreed. “When would you want the book list by?”
“Some time in early August would be best, but anywhere before the last week of August works. Now, shall we get you to the Weasleys?” Harry nodded, taking Dumbledore’s offered arm. He once again experienced the extremely disconcerting feeling of being sucked through a straw, before blinking, and reappearing in the field across from the Burrow.
“One more thing before I let you go Harry. I ask you do not tell anyone of your new appointment,” Dumbledore requested as they walked towards the Burrow.
“Why?” Harry asked, confused.
“I simply wish to see everyone’s expressions when they find out,” Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling.
“Alright then professor,” Harry agreed, smiling slightly. It would be funny to see everyone’s expressions, although Ron and Hermione might be a bit annoyed that he hadn’t told them. Then again, they wouldn’t complain too much if he told them Dumbledore asked him not to say anything.
“Oh, and Harry? It is your choice, but I am sure that your friends would appreciate being told about the prophecy.” Harry nodded. “Then I shall see you on September the first, Professor Potter. Enjoy the holidays.” With that, Dumbledore disappeared, leaving Harry to knock on the door of the Burrow on his own.
Harry laughed at something Ron had said as he took another bite of his breakfast, occasionally glancing at the stairs to see if Hermione and Ginny had appeared yet. He had arrived the evening before, and had realized, as he was going to sleep, that their OWL results would be coming that morning and he hadn’t even told Hermione. Then again, what she didn’t know couldn’t stress her out.
“How long do you reckon Hermione will be?” he asked. Ron glanced over at the stairs as well before shrugging.
“No clue. She’s normally up before us though, isn’t she. You waiting for her for a reason?”
“I was just wondering if she’d be down before or after our OWL results arrive,” Harry said casually, snickering as Ron’s mouth fell open and he paused halfway to bringing his next piece of sausage to his mouth.
“Our results come today?” he asked quietly, putting his cutlery down. Harry nodded.
“Yeah, sometime today I’m pretty sure.”
“How’d you know? Did Dumbledore tell you?” Harry nodded and shrugged slightly, not really wanting to say that, no, he knew because he’d already found out that all of the DA had gotten either E’s or O’s in their OWLs and he knew that because he had been put down as their teacher for the year.
Actually, what the hell, he was hiding enough about his teaching position, what was one little secret.
“I don’t think you two need to worry though. I can already tell you that you at least passed DADA with pretty good results.”
“What? Why’d you say that?”
“I taught you last year Ron. And apparently, everyone in the DA put me down as their teacher last year, so I was officially counted as a Defense teacher last year. So apparently that nickname everyone gave in me the DA was actually true. Which meant I got alerted to the overall results of my students before the individual results came out.”
“Really?” Ron asked, surprised. “That’s wicked. Does that mean the points you gave as well actually counted?” Harry grinned, not surprised that that was what Ron focused on; he was sure Hermione would have focused on the overall results instead though if she was down there.
“Yeah, they did,” he said, remembering how Professor McGonagall had commented on it after the awards part of the get together. “Really confused McGonagall over who was giving those points too.”
“Brilliant.” Harry then glanced up and looked out the window, his eyes widening as he spotted three small dots in the distance. He kicked Ron under the table, pointing out the window when Ron looked at him in question.
“Merlin, do you think that’s them?” Harry nodded.
“I’ll go get Hermione.”
“Good idea,” Ron said, still staring out the window in a mix of horror and expectation. Harry headed up the stairs until he reached the door he knew was for Ginny’s room, where Hermione was sleeping. He knocked on the door, smiling when Ginny opened it, looking wide awake, as if she had been up for hours and simply not bothered to come down yet.
“Is Hermione up?” Ginny nodded. “Cool. I just came to tell her our OWL results are coming today, and Ron and I spotted three owls in the distance.” He waved and started walking down the stairs when he heard a muffled shriek, followed by a banging door, and hurried footsteps behind him.
“Harry James Potter, come back here right now. Did you say our OWLs are here?” Hermione demanded from behind him. Harry just laughed and continued down the stairs.
“Yep,” he called up behind him. He reached the bottom of the stairs and headed back to the table, and had just taken a seat as Hermione rushed in.
“Are there here yet?” Hermione asked. Ron shook his head but pointed out the window, which was now open. The three dots were now clearly owls, and Hermione started pacing worriedly.
“Hermione, you’re going to do fine. And I can guarantee both you and Ron at least got an E on Defense, if not an O.”
“How do you know though?” Hermione asked, not stopping in her pacing. “I know I messed up on some of them.” She continued muttering under her breath and Harry sighed.
“I know because I got an early release of the overall results as your stated teacher, and everyone in the DA got an E or an O in Defense,” Harry said. “And I know you did fine in all your other exams because you’re crazy smart and extremely talented.” Hermione didn’t even seem to hear him, just continuing to pace and mutter under her breath.
Before the three of them knew it, the three owls had flown through the window one after another and landed in a line on the table. It was then that the nerves hit Harry; he may know that he did well on the DADA exam, and he may already have a job lined up, even if it was only for that year, but that didn’t mean he didn’t care how he had gone in his other subjects. With a deep breath, the three of them all approached the owl carrying the letter with their name on it and opened their results.
“Are we still doing DA meetings this year, Harry?” Luna asked, while Neville got up form the floor, Trevor clutched in his hands. Harry smiled slightly.
“I’m not sure, but I don’t think so.” They wouldn’t need the DA this year, not since he was teaching Defense and it would literally be like their DA sessions, and it would probably be too much for him to handle on top of all his teaching and class work. Plus, it would be a bit unfair for the other students if he was teaching some students extra stuff.
“I liked the DA. I learned loads with you,” Neville exclaimed.
“I like meetings too. It felt like having friends,” Luna agreed serenely.
“You can probably learn loads from any teacher as long as that teacher knows what they’re talking about. And we could always meet up to study together and stuff if you want, for all our subjects. I mean, just ‘cause we don’t have the DA doesn’t mean we have to stop hanging out or helping each other and stuff. And you do have friends Luna, I like being your friend.” Luna smiled.
“I guess,” Neville said thoughtfully. “Would we be able to start meetings again though if the teacher turns out to be rubbish?”
“I don’t see why not. But I have a feeling that our teacher won’t be too bad this year.”
“Who do you reckon the Defense professor is this year?” Ron asked, gesturing to the Head table after the last first year was sorted, where there was an empty chair that would normally be filled by the Defense teacher.
“Professor Dumbledore will tell us at the end of the feast, I’m sure,” Hermione said, starting to fill her plate with various foods that had appeared on the table. The three of them talked among themselves throughout the feast, occasionally talking to the other sixth years around them. Eventually the food disappeared, and Dumbledore stood up to start making his announcements. Harry half paid attention through Dumbledore’s speech until he reached new professors. Harry sat up, knowing what was coming next and very much looking forward to some of the reactions – he had had almost all holidays to look forward to and image the various reactions of his friends, the other professors, and especially the Slytherins.
“And finally, we once again have a new teacher filling the Defense Against the Dark Arts post. Please join me in wishing our new professor luck in the role. Welcome Professor Potter.”
Yes, those reactions were definitely worth waiting for.