Once More Unto the Breach
Wednesday, 2 September 1998
When Harry got downstairs, only Luna was there. While they waited for the other two to come down, they discussed what they’d learned from the Founders so far. After a couple of minutes, Susan joined them followed closely by Neville. Before they made their way out the door, Luna spoke up, “I think we should keep what we’ve learned quiet unless we’re given permission to share.”
“I agree,” Neville said, “things like why we’re carrying daggers could probably be shared because Godric told us to use him as an excuse if we were asked about it, but I’m guessing that they’re going to be teaching us a lot of things that we should treat like secrets of Family Magic.”
Nodding, Harry added, “I think we should promise to share each other’s secrets too. There are certain things that will come up that I’m guessing we won’t want shared with the general public.”
“Is Lord Peverell one of those things?” Susan asked.
“The true meaning of it, yes,” Harry responded.
“Of course,” Susan said before raising her wand and making the traditional wand oath to keep an ally’s secrets.
The other three responded in kind. The simple oath upon an alliance worked perfectly in this sense, as the four Founders Houses had always been allied and the houses that they each represented had historical alliances as well.
With that assurance made, the group left their tower to head down to the Great Hall for breakfast. It was only around 7:45 so they had plenty of time, but they all wanted to test out what they’d been told about the castle offering them passage. As soon as they stepped out from the portrait guarding their tower, Susan turned toward the wall and said, “could we please have passage to the Great Hall?”
Immediately, the brick parted and revealed a flight of stairs.
Once they all stepped through, the brick sealed back over and a few lanterns appeared, floating along the passage to light their way.
“Wicked.” Neville and Harry breathed in unison.
However, they didn’t realize how efficient the passage was going to be.
When they reached the last stair, the bricks opened, and they stepped out directly next to the hourglasses that count house points. The hall went silent, every head turning around to look at the four students and the infant who just appeared.
The silence was broken by Teddy sneezing directly into Harry’s face.
“Thanks, Ted.” Harry grumbled, reaching into his pocket for a handkerchief.
“Morning, all!” Luna chirped before skipping toward the Ravenclaw table.
With a shrug, Susan walked over and sat down next to Hannah at the Hufflepuff table. Neville made his way toward the Gryffindors and Harry walked across the hall. As Harry approached, Blaise moved over to leave a spot between himself and Theo.
Harry nodded his thanks and sat down, saying good morning to everyone who was already at the table. It appeared that most, if not all, of the House was there. At Harry’s questioning look, Draco said, “we always arrive at the same time for the first breakfast so the first years know where to go and so we can all get our schedules, we only got here about 10 minutes ago so you’re not all that late.”
Before Harry could ask, Daphne said, “it was partially that we forgot to tell you and then, this morning when we realized we’d forgotten, we assumed you’d be up early with Teddy anyways, so you’d show up around when we did whether we told you or not and we didn’t have any way to contact you.”
“That’s alright,” Harry said with a shrug before handing Teddy off to Draco who was making grabby hands toward his young cousin, “though we should probably find some way for you lot to contact me if you need me.”
“What’re you thinking, Hades?” Draco asked.
“There’s a portrait in my living room, but I don’t think any portraits that aren’t directly keyed to Founders Tower could visit it,” he said, waving off their inquisitive looks, that was a story for another time, “can any of you cast a patronus?”
“No.” Theo answered.
“Well, then, I guess I’ll just have to teach you.” Harry decided.
“It’s an incredibly complicated spell, Harry.” Pansy said.
“I learned it when I was 13,” Harry said with a shrug.
“You also have godlike powers, idiot.” Draco responded.
“I really don’t,” Harry said. Then, at their unimpressed faces, he qualified, “and I had far less power at 13. My core was bound, and I was still walking about with Tommy Boy’s soul, which was incredibly dark magic. I think the spell is less about raw power and more about wanting to perform it. I hated the dementors, they affected me far more than anyone else. I worked forever to get the charm, but I didn’t actually get the corporeal form until I was facing down a hundred of the fuckers and both my life and Sirius’ life were on the line. It was as much the need to perform the charm as it was my power that made me succeed.”
“I guess that makes sense,” Theo conceded, “and I’d like to learn.”
“Have you found a place to brew and store 30 potions for that other thing?” Greg asked, seemingly apropos of nothing.
“I have a thought though I need to check in with the Goblins and make sure they’ve finished moving the giant bloody snake.”
It took a second for that to sink in before they were all staring at him like he was insane.
“I mean, I’d like to see it as much as the next Slytherin,” Draco said, “but isn’t it kind of a mess after sitting unused for a couple of centuries?”
“The main chamber is,” Harry conceded, “but one of the journals I read mentioned a large lab and a few storage areas that should be under pretty strong preservation charms. And the main chamber really isn’t all that bad. An hour or two of vanishing charms and scouring charms should have it good as new.”
“So, we use the lab to brew and the main chamber for you to teach us,” Greg said with a nod.
“Wait,” Blaise said, “where was it that you taught your secret society back in 5th year? Could we use that?”
Harry, Draco, and Greg each pulled a face at that question before Greg said, “odds are it’s still on fire.”
When Harry and Draco nodded, the rest of the table decided it’d probably be better not to ask, either guessing why, exactly, the place might be on fire or deciding that anything those three agreed on from during their original years at Hogwarts was probably better left alone.
“I’ll go down and check either today or tomorrow,” Harry said, “the next full moon is on Sunday. We don’t need a potions lab for the first bit, we’ll just all need to meet either sometime Saturday or, at the latest, Sunday morning to hand out the leaves. I found a modified sticking charm in my dad’s journal that they used after the second time they failed to keep the leaves in their mouth for a full moon cycle. The journal also said that the bitter taste of the leaves went away after a couple of hours so that’s good news.”
Before they could discuss any further, Slughorn appeared at the end of their table with a stack of parchment and began handing out schedules and making sure they each reflected the correct classes.
When he got to the 8th years he said, “since there aren’t many of you returning, we aren’t splitting you by house so each class will be shared with everyone else in your year who’s taking it. The Headmistress is going to put a master schedule on the notice board in your common room as well.”
He then handed each of them their schedule and double checked that they were correct. The staff had decided to introduce a few new classes, helped along by the donations the school had received in the wake of the battle as well as the interest they’d started earning from the Founders’ vaults being opened again.
The older years were now able to take classes like magical theory, warding, and spell crafting as independent studies. These classes would be available as electives starting in 3rd year for future students (and the current 1st, 2nd, and 3rd years). They’d also revamped the Muggle Studies curriculum and hired a living, breathing history teacher. McGonagall had also worked out a system with the Aurors where, in the event they couldn’t find a DADA teacher, the department would loan one of their instructors to the school on a year-long contract, hopefully bypassing the curse.
The previous thought had been that the curse was tied to Voldemort himself, but a quick study of the wards over the summer showed that the curse was, in fact, alive and well. The goblins hadn’t been able to find a curse in the wards themselves, meaning it was tied to some physical object somewhere in the castle that they hadn’t been able to find.
Harry had decided that finding the source of the DADA curse was his new mission. Part of his motivation came from the fact that it was something malignant created by Voldemort that was still affecting them, even after he’d been vanquished. The other part was that he’d been thinking more and more about how much he’d like to become the DADA professor eventually. He was still interested in becoming an Auror, but that was more for the training and how it’d aid him in working toward a defense mastery than as a job he could see himself doing forever.
Harry would be taking 8 NEWT level courses and would be doing the independent studies for Warding and Spell Crafting with the potential to take OWLs in those two courses either at exam time or over the summer depending on how much he was able to progress.
Draco grabbed Harry’s schedule to see which classes they’d be taking together and, after a moment quietly exclaimed “what the fuck!”
“Less swearing while you’re holding my son, dearest Draco.”
“Oh, you’re one to talk, Hades.”
“He’s my son so it’s fine.”
“Sure,” Draco said, “anyways, how are you taking the NEWT courses for Runes and Arithmancy? You didn’t take the OWLs.”
“Ah,” Harry said, “well, I helped Hermione study for her exams during 4th year because I didn’t have to take my own exams with the Tournament and realized how much I’d royally screwed up by taking Divination instead of one or both of those courses and decided I’d just teach myself. Hermione gave me her old notes and I started working through the course work. By the start of 6th year, I was entirely caught up with where you lot were in class. I took the OWLs at the ministry a couple of months ago and asked Professors Vector and Sinistra if I could take the 6th year end of year exams over the summer, they owled them to me and I owled them back and now I’m in your class.”
“Impressive.” Draco said with a nod.
Harry hadn’t really had a chance to look over his schedule or see the new professor’s names before Draco had ripped it away. Last night, there had been a few spots empty at the head table and a few faces he didn’t recognize but that McGonagall hadn’t introduced. Before he could think too hard about that, the Headmistress stood up to get everyone’s attention.
“Good morning students,” she began, “it appears that most everyone is here, but can I assume that you will share any information with those who aren’t here yet?”
After a general chorus of assent from the student body, she continued, “good, thank you. Now. I didn’t introduce our new staff last night as some of them weren’t in the castle yet, but everyone is here now. I will introduce everyone, even those professors who have been here for a few years, for the benefit of our younger students.
“Starting with your Heads of House, to my left is Professor Filius Flitwick, Head of Ravenclaw, Deputy Headmaster, and Charms Professor. Next is Professor Horace Slughorn, Professor of Potions and Co-Head of Slytherin, next to him is Professor Aurora Sinistra, Professor of Astronomy and the other Co-Head of Slytherin. To my right is Professor Pomona Sprout, Head of Hufflepuff and Herbology Professor. After her is Professor Bathsheda Babbling, Professor of Ancient Runes and the new Head of Gryffindor.
“The other returning professors are our two Divination professors, Sybil Trelawney and Firenze. They will be splitting up the Divination classes based on their specialties, all Divination students will have both professors at some point during your studies.
“We also have Professor Septima Vector for Arithmancy and Professor Wilhelmina Grubbly-Plank for Care of Magical Creatures.
“Apart from our returning professors, Argus Filch remains our caretaker, Madame Poppy Pomfrey will continue to serve as our Matron and Medi-witch, Madam Rolanda Hooch will be continuing as our flying instructor and quidditch director, and Rubeus Hagrid is staying on as the Keeper of Keys and Grounds.
“Now, for our new professors, please join me in welcoming Professor Henry Binns who will be taking his grandfather’s previous post as the History of Magic Professor, Professor Arit Sikander is returning as the Muggle Studies Professor after taking a few years off for other research and opportunities, Auror Proudfoot was kind enough to join us on a one-year contract as Professor for Defense Against the Dark Arts.
“Then we have a couple other familiar faces, William Weasley will be joining us as the Warding Professor and his wife Fleur Delacour Weasley will be the Professor for Spell Crafting and, finally, our new Transfiguration Professor, an old student of mine who has spent years studying and researching different areas of transfiguration and whom I’m incredibly excited to be welcoming back to Hogwarts, please say hello to Professor Mary MacDonald.”
At that, Harry’s head snapped toward the head table. He knew that name. He’d read it over and over again in both his mother and father’s journals. That name was listed in their wills as someone who would care for Harry in the event his parents and godparents were unable. This was someone who Harry should’ve grown up knowing but had never met. He’d only seen pictures of her and read about her in his parents stories.
She looked different than she had at 20, in the most recent photo Harry had of her, but she was immediately recognizable.
Her warm brown skin and golden-brown eyes. Her long, incredibly curly hair and welcoming smile.
This was someone Harry had been dying to get to know but hadn’t been able to find. He’d tried sending a letter, but it had come back unopened, like she either had a mail-ward against unknown senders or was behind incredibly strong wards herself.
Now she was here, and, according to Harry’s schedule, would be teaching his first class.
* * *
Mary scanned the students, looking for any familiar faces. So many looked back. Two redheads at the Gryffindor table, one looking so much like his deceased uncles it was uncanny. A boy with brown hair and brown eyes who could only be Frank and Alice’s son. Long blonde hair and knowing blue eyes at the Ravenclaw table that couldn’t be anyone but a child of Pandora Rosier. A girl in yellow robes with auburn hair and hard eyes, that had to be a Bones.
Then her eyes reached the Slytherin table.
That was absolutely a Malfoy, though those grey eyes could only belong to a Black. Must be Narcissa’s son, she thought. Not thinking she’d recognize anyone else at that table, she started to look away before she looked directly into green eyes.
Green eyes that stood out against honey brown skin even more than they’d shone against Lily’s pale skin, freckles, and fire red hair. A mop of dark curls, messy in a way that only Potter hair could be. Though his nose and some of his other features didn’t quite fit Lily or James.
As she was watching, Harry reached out toward the Malfoy boy who then handed him a … was that a baby?
Before she could think too hard about that, the Headmistress said, “Mr. Potter-Black,” ah, Mary thought, that explains a lot, “would you like to introduce us to our new student?”
“Of course, Professor,” Harry said with a grin that was so reminiscent of James that Mary forgot to breathe for a second, this was going to be harder than she thought, “this here is Teddy Lupin Potter,” okay, Mary thought, I have more questions now, “he’s my godson,” oh thank Merlin, Minerva mentioned Remus had a son. Mary had found herself forgetting who was alive anymore, safer to just assume they were all dead, she remembered now though, Remus and his wife had died at the very end of the war, leaving behind a son. Mary had thought that the boy would be with his mother’s family, but apparently she was wrong.
“I adopted him,” Harry continued, “thus the Potter,” he laughed, “anyways, Teddy will be around some, he’s a super sweet kid. One thing to know, though, is that he’s a Metamorphmagus,” the little boy then, as if on cue, flashed his hair to a bright blue which Harry immediately copied, to the surprise of everyone but a select few, “Black family gift, pretty cool huh? So yeah, don’t be shocked by the random child who likes to change his hair and face all the time.”
With that, Harry sat back down.
Barely stopping herself from rolling her eyes, McGonagall said, “eloquent as always, Potter-Black,” Harry just shot her a grin and a wink, sighing, McGonagall continued, “that’s all I have for you this morning, you have your schedules, please remember to ask for help if you can’t find your way to a class.”
She then took her seat and the volume in the Great Hall slowly rose.
Fuck, Mary thought, I have the 8th years first, I need to get it together and get it together fast.
* * *
Back at the Slytherin table, Harry had decided to push thoughts of his long lost … aunt? … out of his mind in favor of finishing his breakfast and making it through the day.
Though, apparently, he wasn’t doing a great job of covering up his anxiety over the situation. A minute after he sat back down from introducing Teddy, he felt Theo’s strong hand grab onto his knee. Harry turned to see what was wrong and saw the concern in Theo’s eyes, knowing immediately what he was asking, Harry nodded as if to say I’m alright, I’ll tell you later. Nodding in return, Theo looked back toward their friends and made to pull his hand away, not wanting to lose the warmth that the touch brought, Harry quickly reached down and placed his hand on top of Theo’s.
Not quite able to contain his blush or stop the soft smile that action elicited, Theo ducked his head.
Blaise just rolled his eyes.
As it got closer to 9:00, the group stepped into the hall and Harry ducked into an alcove to call Mimi. He’d made a copy of his schedule for Andromeda and had written her a note, asking if she’d like to have Teddy for the whole day and send him back tomorrow after Harry was done with class, as he had astronomy that evening.
A minute after Mimi popped away, she returned with a note in Andy’s impeccable writing that simply said “yes!” with a lopsided smiley face.
Smiling to himself, Harry kissed Teddy on the head, made sure he had his wolf and that Mimi knew she could come to Harry at any time if there was an issue before handing the boy off to go spend the day with his grandmother.
With that taken care of, Harry re-joined his friends and headed toward the transfiguration wing. After a couple minutes of walking, Harry got sick of the moving staircases and nonsense hallways and called out for everyone to stop for a second before turning to the wall and nicely asking for passage to the transfiguration classroom.
Everyone looked at him as if he’d lost his marbles until a second later the bricks split and a corridor lit by lanterns appeared, “follow me,” Harry said with a grin.
A minute later, they walked out of another brick archway, standing directly in front of the door to the transfiguration classroom.
They were the first ones there.
“How the fuck?” Draco asked.
“Magic.” Harry said.
“No shit, idiot, how though?”
“Lord Slytherin, asshole.”
“Boys,” Pansy said with a long-suffering sigh, “why must we continue with the insults?”
“Insults are a pillar of our relationship, Pansy.” Draco said in a haughty tone.
“Yes, like the little Dragon said, if we stopped insulting each other we’d simply implode.” Harry said in a similar tone.
The wall opened again, revealing Neville and Susan followed by the rest of the 8th years taking transfiguration.
“What’s happening?” Hermione asked.
“Draco and Harry.” Theo responded.
“Ah,” Hermione said with a nod, as though that answered all the world’s questions.
As they waited for the classroom door to open, Harry took a moment to study his schedule more. It took him a second to notice the 2 hour block in the morning labeled “Training” that also indicated it was “added at student’s request,” having no recollection of actually requesting that addition, he looked up at Neville and Susan to see if they’d noticed the same thing.
“At student’s request,” Susan said with a laugh, “more like at literal knife point.”
“He’s a portrait,” Neville said, “he can’t actually stab you.”
“You know what, Nev,” Harry cut in, “I’m not entirely sure I want to find out.”
“Who’s a portrait?” Hermione asked.
“Godric,” Neville said casually, still looking at his schedule, Harry and Susan both just shrugged and started looking over their own schedules again.
After a full minute of total silence, Harry looked up, trying his best to look confused, “what?”
“Did,” Hermione started before seeming to buffer.
“Did he just say ‘Godric’?” Ron asked.
“Yeah,” Neville said, looking up genuinely confused before he realized why that might throw people off, “oh yeah, we each have a portrait of our Founder in our rooms, there are a couple of empty frames around the tower where they can move but they bound themselves to the tower so they’d only be able to talk to, or be affected by, their true heirs.”
“Rowena explained this morning that their portraits are charmed to only interact with their heirs so if anyone else looked at them, they’d actually appear as a stagnant painting, not even a moving portrait.” Harry explained.
“Why?” Hermione asked, sounding simply curious.
“Sal said that at the time it felt like they might’ve been overly paranoid, but it’s proven useful over the years, no one is able to manipulate them or force them to move somewhere else. They’re tied to Hogwarts and able to instruct their heirs in Family Magic, it’s worked out well.”
“I’m sorry,” Draco said, “did you just say Sal?”
“Yeah,” Harry said with a shrug, “he told me to call him Sal or grandfather, he was rather disappointed that everyone knew me as Harry because that meant there wasn’t a shortened name that was specific to family, so I told him that you call me Hades and he’s decided he likes it. So good on you, Dray, you’ve influenced Salazar Slytherin.”
“Every day with you is a new experience, Hades, that’s for fucking sure.”
“You’re so welcome, little Dragon.”
“What do I have to do to get you to stop calling me that?”
“I’ll let you know when I think of something.”
Before the two former enemies could devolve into a brawl – though their fights were much more brotherly and much less deadly now – Professor MacDonald came walking down the hall, shocked that everyone was already there, and asked, “how’d you beat me?”
Harry and Neville just shrugged before answering in tandem “we asked.”
“Merlin I forgot you two did that,” Mary said with a slight shiver.
The two boys looked at each other before turning back to Mary and asking, “what do you mean?”
Instead of answering them right away, she addressed the general crowd, “do they always do that?”
“No,” Seamus answered, “only when they’re either incredibly tired, stressed out, or trying to be general nuisances.”
“Ah,” Mary said with a nod, before turning back to the boys, “I was friends with your parents and knew you both when you were babies, you’ve been doing that twin speak thing since you started talking. I’ve gotta say, two babies babbling in sync was a little creepy.”
“I can imagine,” Neville said with a laugh.
“We’ve read about you in my parents journals,” Harry said, smiling, “it’s great to see you again.”
“I know that smile, Hadrian, what are you plotting.”
Realizing that it was going to be even harder to get away with anything with Mary around than it was with McGonagall (Minnie had an uncanny ability to know when trouble was afoot after teaching the Marauders, but Mary knew them and could seemingly recognize chaos from a mile away), Harry just said “we find ourselves in need of a Transfiguration Master.”
“For Merlin’s sake,” Ron said, sighing at his friends antics.
“Harry James Potter,” Hermione admonished, though the threat of the full name was hampered by the fact that she was obviously trying not to laugh, “give the new Professor five minutes before you go all Harry.”
“’Go all Harry,” the man in question said, trying to sound offended but failing to hide the mirth in his eyes.
“Can we go back to you guys maybe getting stabbed by Godric Gryffindor?” Padma asked, raising her hand as if they were already in class.
“It’s too early for this,” Mary said, shaking her head, “get inside, we have a double and all I have planned is testing you to see where you’re at which shouldn’t take more than a single period so we can all ask questions and get to know each other after that.”
Nodding in agreement, the group of 8th years made their way inside.
The class consisted of all the Gryffindors (none of them able to let down their former Head of House), all of the Ravenclaws, and about half the Hufflepuffs and Slytherins, plus the one former Gryffindor, now Slytherin menace to society.
* * *
After they worked through some OWL level transfiguration exercises and the major points of the 6th year curriculum, Mary had a good idea of where each of the students was at and would be able to adjust her syllabus moving forward. They were only a little over an hour into class and still had nearly two hours until lunch started so she decided to take the opportunity to get to know her students a little better.
She knew this class was different from any other. Her own class had been greatly affected by the war, but it hadn’t truly started until after they graduated. These students fought an actual battle in these very halls only 4 months prior. They were still scared, physically and mentally. And even those who hadn’t been here for that battle had lost classmates and family.
More than that, they were all of age, they could’ve chosen to take their NEWTs at the ministry and got on with their lives. Instead, they’d chosen to come back. Whether it was because they wanted to experience a peaceful year at Hogwarts or because they felt better being somewhere familiar with friends who had become family, it didn’t matter. What mattered was that they were here, and Mary would do her best to be here for them.
“So,” she started, “can I ask why you find yourself in need of a Transfiguration Master?”
The class looked at Harry as if he were their spokesperson but instead of immediately answering, Harry looked over his shoulder at a Gryffindor named Lavender Brown. Now that Mary looked closer, she could see a distinct scar going from right below Lavender’s left eye and down the side of her neck. Mary was pretty sure she knew what was going on but when she heard Neville whisper, “she knew Remus.” Mary was certain.
It seemed as though every student in the class knew exactly what was going on. It surprised Mary that they all knew such a secret, but when she thought about how united in trauma and healing this class must be, it made more sense.
Harry was looking back at her now, it looked as though he were thinking about how to phrase his question without spilling a secret. So instead of forcing him to answer, Mary simply asked, “Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs?”
The smile Harry sent her was blinding, “yes ma’am.” He responded.
“Well,” Mary said, “I helped them back then so I don’t see why I can’t help you now. It’s a difficult process, how many of you are doing it?”
“Everyone,” Harry answered, his tone brokering no argument.
Mary thought maybe she should’ve been shocked, but she was learning rather quickly that there wasn’t much out of the question when it came to this group of students.
So instead, she asked “do you have all of the supplies?”
“We do,” Neville responded, “and Harry has a place for us to brew.”
“Does this have something to do with you lot responding that you ‘just asked’ and somehow beat me here from the Great Hall?”
“Were you here last night?” Neville asked, instead of actually answering Mary’s question.
“No, I got to the castle after the feast.”
“Ah, well,” Neville said, “you missed something rather important then.”
“Merlin’s pants, Longbottom,” Susan Bones said, “get on with it.”
“If you want to explain go right ahead, Bones, I thought maybe I’d ease her into it, she knew us as babies it’ll probably be pretty weird for her.”
“If I might interrupt,” Mary cut in, “I don’t know if there’s much that either you or Harry could do that would shock me, please remember that I know all of your parents.”
The stress on the word all caused Harry to look up at her in surprise, she simply nodded at him, and he smiled back before saying, “in that case, nice to meet you, I’m Lord Slytherin, that there’s my lovely brother, Lord Gryffindor and the annoying one back there is Lady Hufflepuff.”
“Oh, screw you, Potter.”
“You wish, Bones,” Harry quipped back.
“I’ll kill you in your sleep.”
“Neville’s the only one who knows my password.”
“I’m 98% sure it’s a recycled Gryffindor password, though you’ve probably changed it, so it sounds more ‘Slytherin,’ I’ll have it figured out by lunch.”
Though Harry didn’t answer, the fear in his eyes said Susan was rather close.
Deciding to ignore the death threat, Mary carried on, “so the school helps you get around then?”
“Yeah,” Neville answered, “so long as we ask nicely. We’d be able to get around pretty quickly even without that, Harry knows the school better than anyone I know.”
“It probably helped that he had a magical map,” Draco said, sounding rather annoyed that he didn’t also have a magical map.
“The Map helped for sure,” Neville responded, “but he’d found most of the passages before Fred and George gave it to him and he found several things that weren’t on the map even after he had it.”
“Yes, yes,” Harry cut in, “I’m a genius just like my father before me.”
That got a groan out of everyone.
“Let’s get back to the point,” Harry said, smiling and shaking his head slightly, “we have a place to brew, we have the ingredients, and we know how the initial transformation works as well as the theory behind subsequent transformations, but it’d be really great to have an adult who could make sure we’re not walking around with antlers for a week.”
Mary laughed loudly at that, remember James in that exact predicament, “he kept falling over,” she said, still laughing, “he was too top-heavy and just kept flopping. I thought it was hilarious, Lily thought he was an absolute moron, and Regulus, I swear to Merlin, spent the week pushing his head slightly so he’d topple over.”
Smiling at the memory of his parents, Harry asked, “so would you be able to help us out?”
“Of course,” Mary responded with a warm smile, “I’d be honored. Now, I think there were other questions?”
“Yeah,” Padma said, raising her hand again, “could one of you clarify what you meant about getting stabbed by a founder and maybe also explain why you’re walking around with knives?”
“Ah,” Neville said nodding, “Godric Gryffindor is a crazy person who loves knives.”
“Jesus Christ, Nev,” Harry said, the muggle slang confusing Mary, she’d thought he’d grown up in a wizarding family, she was going to have to ask about that later, “don’t invoke his wrath.”
“It’s fine, he loves me.”
“You met last night.”
“Salazar has you calling him ‘Sal’ and he keeps calling you ‘my child,’ I really don’t think you’re one to talk.”
“Sal’s a big softie,” Harry waved off, as if that weren’t the most insane statement a human had ever uttered, “what Nev means to say is that we’re doing some training and learning about Hogwarts and Family Magic and Lord Gryffindor, well Godric, not Neville, has requested that we always carry daggers on our person. I’m not entirely sure if its paranoia from living in a time where they were constantly at war, if it’s just his training, or if it has something to do with always being ready for a ritual, we didn’t really want to question him. He can be a bit intense.”
“A bit?” Susan demanded, “he’s added two hours of training to our schedules every morning and somehow has the parchment saying it was at the student’s request.”
“He’s so excited though, Sus,” Neville said.
“You’re all off your bloody rockers,” Susan responded.
“Proudly,” Harry chirped.
“I guess that answers my question,” Padma said with a shrug, shaking her head at her friends’ antics.
Trying to change the topic away from whatever the fuck was going on with the founders heirs, Hermione decided to ask Mary what she’d been studying over the years. The two got into a conversation about recent research in transfiguration that was way over everyone else’s heads.
After a bit, Mary decided to ask more questions of the students. She learned about where they’d grown up, who they called family, and what they were hoping to do after school. Harry was rather cagey about where he’d grown up, simply saying outside of London. His non-answer and the looks of pity on several of his classmates faces was enough to make Mary worry. She vowed to get to the bottom of that sometime soon.
Finally, the bell rang for lunch and the students left all feeling great about their new professor. She seemed excited to teach and, more than that, excited to know them which made them feel as though they were being treated like adults. It felt good.
Harry stayed back a moment. Once the classroom was empty, he simply said “it’s really good to see you again. Would you like me to stop by your office hours some time with Teddy so you can meet him?”
“I’d love that, Hadrian, thank you. It’s wonderful to see you again as well. You grew up to be an incredible person.”
Blushing slightly, Harry nodded his head in thanks and left the classroom to join his friends.
Mary watched the students leave and felt the ice that had been around her heart for the last nearly 20 years start to melt. This had been a good decision. She’d thought Hogwarts would be full of ghosts and painful memories, instead it was full of light and love and two little boys who’d called her Aunt Mary were grown up and powerful but still as silly and close as they’d always been. It was good. It was almost perfect. If only her friends were here to share it.