Chapter 5
Since term began on a Sunday, the students of Hogwarts got to have a bit of a lie-in before breakfast.
The Seventh Years reveled in their last Beginning of Term; the Sixth Years marveled at being one year away from graduating; the Fifth Years were beginning to put together their schedules for studying OWLs; and the Fourth and Third Years were established at that point to their surroundings and helped the First and Second start making their way around.
Harry and Ron got to sleep a bit later until Hermione went to drag them out of bed.
“I want to make sure I didn’t dream Tony up,” she told them in response to their groaning.
“You could just call him on the radio,” Ron pointed out. The other boys in the room either already knew or were still asleep, so they weren’t worried.
Harry dug his radio out and showed Hermione. “It’s supposed to work long distance, remember? Tony will answer if you call him.”
Huffing a sigh, she rolled her eyes and conceded the point. “Call him, then.”
Sighing, Harry shrugged at Ron before turning onto Tony’s icon. “Good Morning, Tony,” they waited for a response.
“Harry! Thank Merlin! I couldn’t be sure if any of you were still up, so I thought I would head to breakfast, only… I may have taken a wrong turn somewhere.”
“See?” Ron told Hermione. “He’s here.”
“Where is he?” she asked. “I’ll get him while you two get ready for breakfast.”
Harry relayed the information and Tony answered back.
“Are you familiar with any portraits that have waterfalls? There is also a clump of reeds at the base and what looks like a bird – sorry, horse – grazing on the side of the wall.”
They puzzled over it before Harry sent Hermione off with her own radio and the Map.
When they reunited outside the Great Hall, Tony was glaring darkly at the walls.
“You were here last year,” Ron reminded him.
“Yeah, well, being a visitor and being a teacher are two entirely different things.”
“He ended up near the basement,” Hermione told them.
“Dumb doors and trick corners,” Tony huffed.
“At least you’re here,” Harry pointed out.
“And you’re both up,” Hermione tucked radio and Map away before heaving open one of the doors.
Harry smiled slightly as he walked inside to see the Hall half-filled with students. “Can you imagine we’re leaving this?”
“Not really,” Hermione and Ron stood next to him.
The memories of the past six years – no all good – flooded through him. From walking through these doors as a First Year to worrying about the next Task in Fourth and worrying about Tony just this last year.
All the while oblivious to the fact that Tony had been right beside them the whole time.
Harry looked over to where he expected Tony to be standing and frowned when he glanced back to see the Italian back in the corridor, eyes wide.
“I think it’s just sunk in,” Hermione sighed. They went back and led him away from the doors. “Tony, breathe.”
“How – I – ” he slumped back against the wall and slid to the floor. “How did I think – how could I get talked into thinking – I could do this?”
“We have faith in you,” Harry consoled, reaching down to squeeze his shoulder. “Can’t back out now.”
“It was a lot different when I was ‘visiting’,” Tony scratched his head.
“Ah, Tony,” they glanced up to see Albus Dumbledore approaching. “I hope you are not having second thoughts or regrets about agreeing to your tenure.”
“Uh, yes. Yes, I am.”
“I can’t believe you got him to do it,” Harry grinned at him.
“It was a surprise as well,” the Headmaster nodded.
“Sir,” Hermione spoke. “I was wondering if there was an investigation into the train stalling. Tony said it wouldn’t be easy to do.”
“Ah, it was looked into, I believe. Yes,” he looked solemn. “One of the wards collapsed and I’m afraid it had been a matter of time before it happened.”
“The warder died,” Tony shook his head.
“Yes. It was suspected when Auror Dale failed to show up to retrieve Harry last summer.”
“Rica Dale?” Tony frowned.
Harry had never met the Witch – he didn’t think -, but he certainly remembered the reason Tony had showed up to get him.
“At the moment, it is unclear the moment of her death, but it was almost certainly a year ago.”
Harry felt a moment of sadness at the news that she was actually dead and wondered what she had been like.
Had she been as clumsy as Tonks?
As serious as Kingsley?
Or just a Witch with something personal dragging her through what had remained of her life?
“Did she have any family?” Hermione asked.
“You know,” Dumbledore smiled sadly, “I cannot claim to know for certain.”
They stayed there for a moment after Dumbledore was called to breakfast.
“It’s really heartbreaking,” Hermione sniffed.
“What if she didn’t have anyone?” Ron asked.
“We’ll just have to remember,” Tony sighed. “Nothing else to do. Actually, I’m fairly sure she went to school with Tonks. You can look her up.”
“That’s what we’ll do today,” Hermione decided. “We’ll look her yearbook up in the library.”
No homework, yet, and she still found a reason to scour the bookshelves.
Tony finally decided to be a grown-up and hauled himself off of the floor with a deep sigh. “Well,” he straightened his clothes. “Time to meet the crowd, huh?”
They entered for breakfast and Harry noted the curious looks cast Tony’s way. Some had recognized him from the Weasley wedding and greeted him as the Trio slipped into their seats.
They had their schedules and Tony came around again to see that the Gryffindors had double Defense with the Hufflepuffs on Wednesday and Friday. “That’s great,” he approved. “And when everyone else is getting ready for dinner, the three of you can watch me have a nuclear meltdown at the end of the week.”
“Don’t you worry about that,” Hermione told him. “They’ll all love you by year’s end.”
“You are biased and have no room to talk,” he returned.
“Hi, Tony!” one of the Benson triplets materialized next to them. “Or should we call you ‘Professor’, now?”
“Yeah,” Ron frowned in agreement. “What do we call you?”
“Let’s just play it by ear, right now,” he mused. “But, maybe ‘Professor’ would be good the first week or so. I think that may be helpful to get my mind together and out of the ‘Agent’ mindset.”
“Looks like AJ was right after all,” the triplet grinned toothily.
“I guess so,” Harry glanced at Hermione.
“A lucky guess,” she loftily replied.
Sprout collected Tony a few moments later to eat at the Staff table and the teachers all congregated around them.
“I think they’re making it worse,” Ron noted.
“Maybe.”
The Hall filled up after that and almost thirty minutes later, the Trio finished and headed out for the library and the yearbooks.
Tony was preoccupied with two others, so the Trio couldn’t catch his eye and Harry shrugged as they went upstairs.
“Let’s see,” Hermione searched the section. “Tonks can’t be that much younger than Tony, right?”
“But we don’t know how old he is,” Harry couldn’t help pointing out.
“We don’t have to. It’s just a base observation. We just need to get a general idea.”
They eventually found Tonks and searched in other two books to cover their bases.
“Hey,” Ron piped up. “Tony was right! Look, I found them.”
The other two peered over his shoulders and Harry looked down at a picture of both Tonks and another girl, which was evidently taken at some sort of game event.
The captions identified the girl in the chair as Tonks and the pretty girl behind her as Erica ‘Rica’ Dale, a Ravenclaw two years older than Tonks.
Ron moved through the book until they reached Rica’s class picture.
“I wonder what kind of person she grew up to be,” Hermione voiced Harry’s thoughts.
“Maybe Tonks remembered her,” Harry suggested. “We need to send her a note or something.”
“Maybe. We should also tell Tony about this.”
Hermione checked out the yearbook and they headed back to the Tower to write to Tonks. Afterwards, they headed down to Hagrid’s to retrieve Hedwig.
“Don’ know,” Hagrid shrugged when they got there and said their hellos. “She went off the day b’fore yesterday an’ she’s not been back since.”
“Don’t worry, Harry,” Hermione patted his arm. “She’s off hunting and I’m sure she’ll be back before you know it.”
They went to the Owlry and wondered which one to use. Some of the First Years were exploring the structure and Harry had to smile as they watched the friends pass with wide eyes.
“I wonder what’s been going on with Hedwig,” Ron wondered as Harry finally picked out a school Owl.
“I just hope she’s not sick or anything,” Harry couldn’t help worrying as he tied the message to the Owl.
“Harry,” Hermione tapped her lips. “Have you ever thought that Hedwig may… well, be ready to … lay eggs? I mean, I don’t know much about owls and that aspect of their lives, but… you know.”
Actually, that had never occurred to him before.
“I don’t know,” Ron frowned, just as thoughtful.
“Maybe it only applies to female owls,” Hermione went on. “Pig and Errol are both males, after all.”
“Think the library has any idea?” Harry wanted to know.
“If not, maybe Tony knows something.”
* **
They found themselves back in the Great Hall none the wiser about owls.
“Someone would have to know,” Hermione sighed.
“Someone would have to know what?” Vince paused behind them.
Harry told him about Hedwig and watched the other think it over.
“I can’t claim to know anything, but maybe. She’s been acting odd since summer, you say? It is possible that maybe she’s sick or something. Maybe she’s getting over it.”
Harry just sighed. There were apparently quite a few things that could be affecting his poor owl.
“Thanks for that,” Ron sighed himself. “Harry, it’s more complicated than we thought.”
“You could also see if there’s some kind of spell on her,” Vince suggested.
“If we ever manage to catch her.”
“Her who?”
“Good afternoon, AJ,” Hermione smiled up at her as Vince shakily rubbed his eyes, leaning on the table. “We’re trying to figure out what’s wrong with Hedwig.”
“Have you asked Professor DiNozzo?” she tilted her head. “I think I saw him hiding near Hagrid’s.”
“Hiding?” she frowned. “Whatever for?”
“I’m not sure, but I think he’s hiding from the other teachers.”
Harry studied AJ thoughtfully. “I thought you didn’t trust adults.”
“I like Professor DiNozzo,” she shrugged. “I can’t explain it, but I think I could trust him.”
Ron, Vince and Hermione looked at Harry as AJ wandered off.
“What was that, then?” Ron asked, looking bemused.
“Maybe later,” he muttered. But it was nice to know that AJ was starting to trust adults. It meant she was getting over whatever hang-ups she had with them.
The Trio took some food with them as they set out for Hagrid’s, where Tony had been spotted.
Harry looked up at the floating clouds overhead and smiled. He had a good feeling about this year, especially with Tony teaching them.
It was going to be a year they would never forget, he just knew it.
“Where, exactly, did she say he was?” Ron looked around.
Harry frowned as he, too, scoured their surroundings.
“Maybe he’s in the trees?” Hermione suggested, breaking off to check.
Hagrid wasn’t home, but Harry looked in his Hut, anyway. The half-Giant had gone to Hogsmeade and had taken Fang with him, but Tony wasn’t there.
Harry shook his head as he came back to Ron, the redhead frowning at a pile of pumpkins toward the end of the house. The magically grown pumpkins were about midsize already.
“He’s not in there, either?” Hermione came back while they stood there. “Maybe he’s moved.”
“No,” Ron kept frowning at the pile of pumpkins. “I think he’s still here. Harry, do those pumpkins look like they’ve moved?”
Both stared at the pile in question. The more Harry looked, the more suspicious he became.
“Ron’s right, Harry,” Hermione pointed.
There were drag marks in the dirt from where whole vines were moved – pumpkins still attached – to the places they now sat.
The Trio looked at each other before inching closer to the pumpkins and saw Tony’s legs when they got close enough.
“Tony?” Hermione asked, the three rounding the pumpkin pile branching to the side of the Hut to see the Italian lying flat on his back with a compress over his eyes. “Is everything alright?”
“Honestly?” Tony smiled somewhat manically. “No. No, it’s not. Why was I picked for this?”
“You’re more than qualified for this, Tony,” Hermione sighed. “And I find it an incredible relief that someone we know and absolutely trust is on the staff this year.”
“And you can find out who that other teacher is so we can know what to do about her,” Ron tapped his shoe against Tony’s.
“Hm.”
“It’s lunch,” Harry told him in case he didn’t know. “Hungry?”
“I don’t know,” he sighed. “I wonder if the teachers were serious about some of that stuff they told me about or if they were having me on.”
“Well,” Hermione shrugged. “I suspect there to be a grain of truth to what they probably told you. They’ve been on staff for a long time, so they have experience.”
Ron threw himself down next to Tony as he groaned. “C’mon, then,” he held out a sandwich. “Food makes everything better.”
“I thought that was tea,” Tony lifted a corner of the compress to look at him.
“Don’t have any. It’ll do.”
“We’ve got juice,” Hermione settled on Tony’s other side to lean against the side of Hagrid’s hut. Harry sat next to Ron and started talking about Quidditch practice.
That was how they spent lunch; Harry and Ron talking strategy with Hermione relaxing nearby and Tony listening.
Tony started eating sometime later before asking, “How did you three know where I was, anyway?”
“AJ said she saw you out here,” Hermione told him.
“Huh. Probably. I thought I saw here out earlier. She stayed up there, though,” he shrugged. “Don’t know why she didn’t say hello.”
“Harry,” Hermione frowned at him. “What did you mean back there about AJ not trusting adults?”
He explained what happened last year when he visited AJ in her Common Room .
“But why wouldn’t she?”
“I dunno. Didn’t seem like something she wanted to answer.”
Tony and Ron were silent.
Harry shrugged, having long given up trying to understand the Hufflepuff.
“Oh,” Hermione remembered. “Tony, we found Rica Dale and you were right. She went to school with Tonks and we sent her a note asking about Rica.”
“That’s probably a good idea. It won’t be suspicious since Rica had something to do with the Express stalling.”
“That was our thought, but why would they be suspicious?”
“It’s the Order, Mi. They’re suspicious of everything.”
“We won’t let them cut us off from each other,” Harry assured.
“Well, besides their paranoid ways and my inability to believe that, just keep quiet about wanting to find Rica.”
“But she’s… dead, right?” Hermione pressed her and Tony’s sides together. “Why would we want to find her?”
“Who knows what those Order members think, sometimes.”
* **
The day passed slowly by as the school readied for classes to begin.
The students were curious about their newest teacher and some were brave enough to approach him. Because two of Hufflepuff’s daughters had been seen greeting Tony, the rest of them shyly studied him from afar.
Luna Lovegood and R Benson greeted him, too.
The Gryffindors – more daring by nature – weren’t entirely sure how their most famous of members knew their Professor, but they held reserved judgement to see how Tony really treated Ginny and the Trio.
The Slytherins mostly ignored the American until they couldn’t.
“I think it’s also the House rivalry,” Hermione told Tony as they all filed into the Great Hall for dinner. “As you’re seen as something of a Gryffindor ally, the Slytherins don’t want anything to do with you.”
“Probably for the best,” Ron told him. “You don’t want anything to do with them.”
That struck something in the Italian, thought Harry wouldn’t know what until much later.
In hindsight, it would be Ron’s comment that would turn out an end result unlike any the school had seen since the Founders died.
But, again, until much later would Ron find out what he’d started.
At present, the quartet found seats at their respective tables.
“I can’t believe Tony’s going to be teaching!” Ginny beamed. “I’m still in shock!”
“Us, too,” Harry agreed.
There was not a doubt in his mind that Tony wouldn’t go easy on them just because they were married. That would just be incentive to push them harder.
“We have to wait until Wednesday,” Neville told her. “Double block. And Friday, too.”
Some of the nearby First Years shyly got Harry’s attention and asked what they should know about their teachers.
That led to a discussion about what they should know about what teacher and what they should never do in a million years.
Hermione was just telling one of the girls about their own Head of House when Tony suddenly appeared with his plate and goblet.
“Move over, Longbottom,” he ordered. “If I have to listen to those people anymore, I’m liable to bolt,” he settled on the bench next to Ron. “I can’t help but wonder if this hazing is because of me as an American or as a non-Alum.”
“…”
Tony had just put a piece of potato in his mouth when he realized that the Hall had fallen silent. He looked one way, then the other, and realized that they were all staring at him with wide eyes.
“…wha’?”
“Erm, Professor,” Hermione looked slightly amused. “You’re at the wrong table. You need to be at the Staff Table with all the other teachers.”
“Really?” he swallowed.
“That’s how it’s always been,” Ron added. “The students eat with students and the teachers eat with teachers.”
Tony looked slightly uneasy now as he glanced to see nearby students nodding in agreement.
Harry glanced up at Dumbledore as Tony did the same
“Don’t you dare act like the victim!” Tony scolded the Headmaster. “It’s your fault I’ve defected, anyway.”
“Perhaps we were a bit hard on the boy,” Flitwick was heard musing to himself.
“Besides,” Tony added, raising his voice so all could hear. “I am American, right? I don’t know about you, but some teachers eat with their students once in a while. I had one like that once. It was back in Third Year and one of the flying teachers ate with us for a week.”
Harry was amused to see many faces flood with understanding before returning to their dinners. The rest of the students slowly followed suit.
“Tony,” Hermione relaxed when all had settled. “Did that really happen?”
“Well, sure,” he nodded. “And it hadn’t only been the flight teachers. Why, now that I think of it, the Dean of school ate with us a few times around Fifth Year. You know, Pin’s dad.”
“I’ve never eaten with a teacher,” Neville fidgeted.
“Don’t think of me as one of the teachers right now,” he advised. “Pretend I’m just one of your classmates.”
Ginny eyed him critically. “You don’t look like one of us.”
“I could make my eyes match Harry’s and replicate the exact hair shade of black,” he offered.
“Why copy Harry? You could decide to look like Ron.”
“Nah. I look better with dark hair. I have issues with red hair that I’m still getting over.”
Harry was amused to note that Tony had changed his clothes to blend in with the others, now impersonating a fellow Seventh Year.
In the coming months, Gryffindor House would find Tony a frequent visitor, but for now they just watched him curiously as he let the Trio talk over his head.
It was certainly going to be an interesting year.