After

Another September, another year at Hogwarts. The majority of Wix Britain spends seven years in those esteemed halls, learning and honing their skills to enter careers throughout the magical world. A select few go on to make their careers there. They spend decades as teachers, medi witches, quidditch instructors, librarians, and caretakers. Of those lucky few, Minerva McGonagall has had an exceptionally long run. 

With the exception of five years in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, her entire career has been dedicated to that school, and as September of 1998 arrived her dedication had not wavered. War had not dimmed her vision of what Hogwarts could be and she was determined that her reign of the school should last as long as it took to rebuild the castle, bridge house divides, and make the school a place of light and learning as it should be. And if she got that done sooner than she expected, probably a few years after that. After all, she felt she deserved a chance to enjoy the rewards of the peace she’d fought and worked so hard for.

As the year began there were still many things left unsettled, the future of the school beyond that first year was not secure. But it was the best Minerva could do for now. Half of her staff was hinting at very soon upcoming retirements, but there was a sense of determination and hope amongst them all as they finished the last details of their plans before the train pulled into Hogsmeade Station.

Of the fifteen courses that are supposed to be taught at Hogwarts twelve were staffed outright, and even then only one professor per department could be found. Except Care of Magical Creatures, which was to be taught by Hagrid along with Charlie Weasley who had accepted the position after every member of his family and Professor McGonagall had pushed him into it. 

Besides that, there was no one to share the workload in the other departments. Minerva herself was taking on teaching, both Transfiguration and part of the Magical Theory course while being Headmistress, which is not new to her, she had taught and held other positions for most of her tenure, but it was set to be a difficult position. 

Filius had agreed to be Deputy Headmaster, which made perfect sense. Of all the staff who had come through the war he had the most experience of the school, but with the accelerated course material he had to work into his Charms classes, and his part in the Magical Theory course, there was not likely to be a slow day for the next few years. 

Pomona would be doing the work of being the Herbology professor and Head of Hufflepuff House while rebuilding the stock in the greenhouses and gardens, which had taken terrible blows during the final battle. Her job was looking to be a round-the-clock position.

Septimia, who taught Arithmancy and Ancient Runes to fifth through seventh years, had agreed to assist in Theoretical Alchemy as well, as she was well versed in the subject but with that added to her course load, it was going to be a heavy year. To weigh her down even more she had taken on the task of being Ravenclaw’s head of house since Filius was going to be taking on so many other responsibilities. It was going to be quite a year indeed.

Professor Sinistra, with a full load of Astronomy students first through seventh years, had also agreed to take on the job of being the Head of House for Gryffindor, as Minerva was barred from doing so. She wasn’t looking forward to dealing with what was sure to be a rowdy bunch, but someone had to do it, and she was just about the only other Gryffindor Alum on staff. It was set to be a hectic year for sure.

Horace was set to teach potions, which is already a full-time job, and take half of the Alchemy classes for the fifth- seventh years who elected to take them and be the Head of Slytherin House. You wouldn’t know it but he had been retired for years. 

Professor Inglethorp could relate very much to that sentiment, she had been retired for twenty-four years before the war ended and hadn’t taught children for much longer than that. However, despite being a hundred and twenty-two she had taken up the task of teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts. She’d written to Minerva saying she would if no other suitable teacher could be found, and hoped against hope that it would be an empty gesture, but alas she was needed. While she was not exactly thrilled at the prospect she was determined to do her best by Hogwarts in this trying time,

Even Professor Binns was going to be busier than usual this year, and he’d been dead for decades. History of Magic was a notoriously difficult position to fill, so though the new headmistress didn’t appreciate his teaching style he retained that job and added his expertise to the Magical Theory course as well. 

Muggle Studies had been a nearly impossible position to fill as well, and the few applicants Minerva did interview had not impressed her much, but Charity Burbage was a difficult act to follow. Minerva had even gone so far as to offer the position to Arthur Weasley, even if he wasn’t the most well-versed in the muggle world. What he lacked in proper study he made up for in enthusiasm and just being a generally pleasant person. Sadly he had already accepted another offer, his old job back in the Ministry’s Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Department. (“Damn.” Minerva said shortly before correcting, “erm, I mean, congratulations.”) 

So the search for a new teacher had continued, far too long, but through sheer luck, a suitable replacement was found in Miss Astoria Richter. She had been living apart from the magical world for the last year due to the war and hadn’t seen the listings for a Muggle Studies Professor when they first went out. She was a thirty-two-year-old, Hogwarts-educated, half-blood, Gryffindor who had excelled in her time at the school in Transfiguration and Quidditch and more importantly, Muggle Studies. ( Those facts outside her professional credentials had absolutely nosway over Minerva, despite the fact that she too is a Hogwarts-educated, half-blood, Gryffindor who excelled in Transfiguration and Quidditch. No sway at all…)  

Astoria Richter arrived on the seventeenth of August, brand new to teaching, with little recent experience in the magical world as she had been living as a muggle with her Muggle father’s family for the last year. To say that she was intimidated would be a bit of an understatement. She quickly realised that she was the youngest member of staff by a long shot as almost everyone there had been her teacher when she was in school. After a brief education on how to plan a lesson, she was pretty much thrown into the deep end by a Hogwarts staff that, while not uncaring, was a bit too overwrought to take the time to properly teach her how to teach. Despite that, or perhaps because of it, by the first of September, she was relatively confident in her ability and her lesson plans.

So the staff of Hogwarts was as ready as they’d ever be as the carriages full of students and pulled by Thestrals that were getting quite a lot of attention this year, arrived at the front steps.