Chapter Eleven: In School Again
Harry sat brooding, alone, in his place at the teacher’s table in the Great Hall. Ginny, Ron, and Hermione had all needed to go meet the train and help organize things, so Ginny had brought Harry and dropped him off here in the Great Hall beforehand, and helped him find his seat. He didn’t at all like being dropped off everywhere, feeling it would be nice if he could walk Ginny to her door for a change. Fawkes was perched on a rafter above him, invisible, clearly eagerly anticipating the arrival of the students and the feast that would follow.
He and Fawkes had been getting along even better for the last two days, as Fawkes had been completely ecstatic to see Harry as a hawk. They had taken to going flying together at nigh, first with Ginny until she would go to bed, and then without her. Fawkes had been helping to teach Harry more about flying with wings instead of magic, and with his aid, Harry hadn’t had any more unwelcome encounters with the ground.
After flying for a while, Harry had found that he enjoyed sitting perched atop the highest tower at Hogwarts, simply surveying the beautiful surroundings, relishing his ability to see. It was different from sight as a human, which Harry still missed deeply, but as a hawk he could see things from incredible distances, catching the movements of small animals with ease. Sometimes he had a hard time resisting the desire to swoop down on an unsuspecting rabbit or squirrel; he could feel his instincts telling him to do it, but he thought he would be sick if he ever tried to eat raw forest creature, hawk or not.
Ginny had made a lot of progress in her own transformation, but was still a ways away from making it completely. Still, Harry greatly enjoyed the time they spent together working on it, and he hoped there would still be time for that while they were in school. Harry was growing more confident that he would be able to teach, since he had memorized the lesson plans that Hermione had helped him prepare. McGonagall had chosen the books this year, and they were all excellent texts.
Suddenly, Harry’s musings were interrupted by the sound of doors opening and people entering the room. The teachers had arrived, and were making their way to their places to await the students. After being greeted warmly by several of them, including Professor Sprout and Professor Flitwick, who was sitting to his left, Harry heard a jovial voice call out.
“Harry, my boy! Beginning as a teacher before you’ve even finished school! Knew you had it in you, of course, though I was shocked when I read about your condition in the paper,” Professor Slughorn rambled on happily. Harry was slightly sickened to find out that his blindness had been in the press.
“Still, no one can say you aren’t fit for the job. Subduing fourteen Death Eaters single-handedly without even being able to see is an incredible feat. You’ll go far, Mr. Potter, mark my words. I have contacts that can put you into any field you could possibly want, you know, and I’m not opposed to giving one of my best students a hand getting into the system” the rotund Professor finished patronizingly.
“It wasn’t exactly single-handed…” Harry began, before being cut off by more flattering words. Harry continued trying to put in a word here and their while Slughorn spoke, but was deeply grateful when the main doors opened and the hall flooded with sound as students poured in.
***
Ginny sighed wearily as she entered with the other Gryffindors. After spending so much time with Harry, and being so concerned with the war and Voldemort’s destruction, the concerns and gossip of the other students seemed petty and insignificant.
Her eyes immediately searched for Harry, who was looking somewhat harried as he spoke, or attempted to speak, with Professor Slughorn. She sighed, and wished she could wave or smile at him to offer some encouragement. She couldn’t even send him a note with Hedwig.
“What’s Harry doing up there?” Neville asked curiously.
“He’s student teaching the first three years of Defense Against the Dark Arts,” Ron replied smugly, sitting with Hermione at the front of the table. Ron always enjoyed knowing things that others didn’t.
“Wicked!” Neville exclaimed, as he and Ginny sat with Ron and Hermione.
As she scanned the teacher’s table she realized that she couldn’t see Hagrid anywhere, but Professor Grubbly-Plank was back and chatting amiably with Professor Slughorn, who had left Harry alone for a moment. Harry looked relieved at least. Ginny turned to Hermione, who was next to her.
“Where’s Hagrid?” she whispered.
“I don’t know! I don’t remember seeing him all summer either. Maybe Harry will find out from one of the other teachers and we can find out from him later tonight.”
They were interrupted by the doors banging open and Professor McGonagall leading a somewhat smaller than usual group of scared-looking first years into the room.
The Sorting Hat’s song was short and somewhat sorrowful, speaking of loss, and a need to stand together through trials. Many people seemed sobered by it, excepting the Slytherins. It appeared that more of them had come back to school this year than any other house, and Ron was already complaining about the larger pool they had to choose from for their Quidditch team.
As the Sorting concluded and the feast began, Ginny continued to watch Harry. His blankly staring eyes were fixed on a point somewhere to the left of the Gryffindor table, and she resisted the urge to look where he was staring. She was proud of how he handled his fork and spoon, remembering the efforts they had put into helping him learn to use them again. He still can’t cut his own meat, she thought wryly, but where’s the fun of teaching him how to do everything? She greatly enjoyed his dependence on her; it made her feel important and useful.
After the feast was over, she felt a slight pang of sorrow as it was Professor McGonagall and not Professor Dumbledore who stood up to make announcements.
“As you all know, I have been named the new Headmistress of Hogwarts. I have a few announcements before you may return to your dormitories; first of all, I would like to remind all of the students that the Forbidden Forest is completely off limits, and Mr. Filch has asked me to remind you that items from Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes are banned, along with a number of other items, and the prefects and teachers will be enforcing these rules,” she said sternly, looking around the room. It just wasn’t the same as when Dumbledore had said the same things.
“Also, the teaching situation this year will be slightly different. While our present Care of Magical Creatures teacher is away on business, I would like you all to welcome Professor Grubbly-Plank who will be covering for him. As you may also have noticed, Mr. Potter is here at the head table. Mr. Potter has consented to teach the first three years of Defense Against the Dark Arts; I can personally assure you he is well qualified for the position. The article in the Daily Prophet concerning Mr. Potter’s recent run-in with Death Eaters is, for once, completely accurate.”
Ginny watched in amusement as Harry’s face went completely red. His emotions had always been easy to read, for her anyway, but since he had lost his sight, it seemed like she could almost read his mind by the expressions on his face.
McGonagall had outlined the rest of the teaching situation, and had informed them all that the new Head of Gryffindor house had yet to be chosen, and that she would continue on in that role in the meantime.
“I assure you, however, that I will not show any favoritism to the members of any house. If there are no further questions, you are all dismissed.”
Ginny waited with Ron and Hermione for the rest of the students to leave before going up to get Harry. Harry smiled upon hearing them approach, knowing who it would be.
“Did any of you know about the Daily Prophet article?” he asked, seemingly amused at the situation, though Ginny knew that it was at least partially a false front.
“Not until everyone else here was talking about it,” Ginny answered while taking Harry’s arm and helping him up. “I need to get myself a copy though. I hear it has a fantastic picture of you, and I want to put it up next to my bed like some of the fourth years were talking about doing.”
Harry laughed, though she could see the faint traces of red in his cheeks. He’s too easy, she thought smugly.
“Shall we head up to the tower?” Hermione suggested, leading them out of the Great Hall.
Harry had just finished explaining how Hagrid and Grawp were on some kind of mission for the Order according to Professor Flitwick, as they entered the common room and everything went silent. All of the students were staring at Harry, some with mouths dangling open. Unfortunately the silence was soon broken, and starting with the Creeveys, everyone was clamoring to know how Harry had come to be a teacher, what he was going to do in classes, and more than anything, asking about fighting Death Eaters while being blind.
Harry had paled as soon as the questions started coming, and at first had tried to stammer out responses, but things grew too loud for him. Ginny was trying to yell at them all to shut up, when suddenly Harry put an arm around her and reached up. Ginny felt the familiar flash of heat, and they were surrounded by blessed silence.
***
Fawkes sang merrily from Ginny’s shoulder, proud to have “rescued” Harry again; the phoenix seemed to feel that getting Harry away from pesky students was somewhere on the level with tearing out the eyes of a basilisk.
Fawkes had transported them to the Gargoyle outside McGonagall’s office, and Ginny had again hit him lightly, reminding him that she would prefer to have warning.
“What are we doing here, anyway?” she asked, finished with her scolding.
“I remembered that Professor McGonagall had offered me rooms in the staff quarters and I suddenly felt like that was a good idea. We’re going to find out if that offer is still good, and if you’re willing, you are going to help me find my way around my new rooms.”
“The offer is indeed still open to you, Mr. Potter,” Professor McGonagall said, coming around the corner. “I had a feeling you might change your mind, so I took the liberty of preparing the rooms for you anyway. If the two of you will follow me?” she finished, continuing down the hallway without stopping.
Harry let Ginny lead him down several corridors and staircases, until he was thoroughly lost, and knew he would have to spend a good deal of his nights getting used to this new route in the castle. Finally they arrived somewhere, and McGonagall said a password, which ended up being “Potter.”
“You can change that as you like, Mr. Potter, it was only temporary. You have five rooms here, in a private tower off the fifth floor; two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a sitting room, which we are in now. I sent Dobby to bring your things in, and to get Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger, and I imagine he will arrive with them shortly.”
The end of this sentence was punctuated by the sharp crack of something Apparating, and Dobby’s voice joined the conversation.
“Harry Potter! Dobby is so pleased to be helping you with your rooms. I will have all of your things put away instantly!” and Harry could hear him moving around the rooms noisily conversing with himself about how much of an honor helping Harry was.
“Professor,” Harry began, “why do I have two bedrooms and bathrooms?”
“Well, Mr. Potter, I realized that it would probably be difficult for you to live alone because of your blindness, and I know that Miss Weasley has been helping you thus far, so I thought that she might join you living here if she would like to.”
Before Ginny could express her happiness at this turn of events, Ron’s voice entered the room, accompanied, Harry assumed, by Ron himself.
“You can’t let them live together alone!” he sputtered angrily, “they’d… they could…”
Before either Ginny or Harry could interrupt him angrily, Professor McGonagall spoke again.
“I completely agree with you, Mr. Weasley. I would never allow any of my students to be in such a compromising situation, so I was going to ask if you and Miss Granger would like to join them here as well.”
“We’d love to!” Hermione interjected happily.
The rest of the evening was spent getting all of their things settled, and Professor McGonagall outlining several rules, informing them that noise levels were to be kept to a minimum for the benefit of the other teachers, and that no students but the four of them were to be allowed in the rooms at all, finishing with a stern warning about keeping to their own bedrooms while all four of them blushed embarrassedly; they were informed that various alarms would sound in her room if any of the rules were broken.
After Dobby had brought the rest of their things, they all sat talking excitedly in the sitting room for a while, before Ron and Hermione made their way to their rooms. Harry waited until he thought they were asleep before turning into a hawk so he could look at the rooms himself. The bedroom was very similar to the one they had had in Gryffindor tower, though larger and with larger beds, and there were nice big desks along the wall under the window, from which they had a spectacular view of the lake; their tower was practically right over it. Ron was already snoring loudly, so Harry knew the beds must be comfortable as well. The bathrooms were similar to the prefects bathrooms, although much smaller. Harry was excited about only having to share a bathroom with Ron and not a whole dorm-full of messy teenage boys. The sitting room was elegantly furnished with comfortable chairs and couches centered on a large fireplace, with a couple of tables at the sides. There was a large perch centered over a small platform that Harry recognized as Fawkes’ from Dumbledore’s office. He perched on it himself, looking around the room happily.
As his gaze rested on Ginny, he noticed her watching him enviously. He flapped over to land on the couch next to her and became himself again.
“What’s wrong, Ginny?” he asked as he took her into his arms.
“Nothing… well, I guess I am a little jealous that you are an Animagus and I’m not yet. Still, I’m really happy about being able to live here with you, although Ron and Hermione being around kind of ruins it a bit. For a while there I thought it was going to be just the two of us.”
Harry cleared his throat awkwardly, feeling his face heat up.
“That might be for the best, Ginny. Imagine what your mother would do…” he began, though Ginny interrupted him laughing.
“By the look on your face, I think you are imagining what I would do,” she teased playfully.
Harry grinned as he kissed her thoroughly, before they worked on her Animagus transformation for a while and then went to bed.