Chapter Nine: A New Job
About a week had passed since the attack and Harry was growing more restless. He had continued to sleep a bare three hours a night for which he was exceptionally grateful. His dreams were plagued with the sound of thunder and the sickening sound of bodies hitting the floor. The lack of relatable images failed to make it any more bearable. Still, Ginny was always there for him, to comfort him and lead him around. With her help he had finally begun to be able to do more things for himself, including eat his own meals.
His nightly wanderings had continued, and he was becoming proficient at communicating with Fawkes in a manner that allowed him to maneuver without too much difficulty. He had even gotten used to the patterns of the hallways to the point that he could find his way to the Great Hall, the library, and the hospital wing, though the stairs were very difficult to manage, even with Fawkes, so he usually had Fawkes carry him past them. Fawkes was always with him one way or another, and Harry had grown to depend on him a great deal.
Fred and Madame Pomfrey had both woken up after a day and were both completely well soon afterwards. Madame Pomfrey had been somewhat miffed upon learning that her most frequent patient had been running the hospital in her absence, but she had smiled when he told her he had watched her healing long enough to learn it all himself. Fred and George had been pestering him since Fred had been able to walk around, trying to get him to teach them spells. He had shown them several spells, but some of the things they wanted to know, including exactly how to conjure the lightning bolt, seemed too dangerous, and he adamantly refused. Hermione was pleased with him for that at least.
Harry still hadn’t revealed how he knew how to do all of the things he had done. The spells he had used in the fight and in healing everyone afterwards had only confused everyone more. He still wasn’t sure what to say about it all and so he kept his silence.
Today was Ginny’s birthday; the Weasleys had another party planned, and Harry was determined to make sure hers ended better than his hand. Currently it was somewhere around 2:00 in the morning, and he was having Fawkes transport him to all of the secret entrances, including those that had been collapsed for years, and checking the seals on them. Remus had collapsed the ceilings on all of the tunnels and cast Wards to keep anyone from attempting to fix them or dig through them. The Wards were all very well cast, and Harry was finding very little to do.
He had been anxious over what to give Ginny for her birthday; he had no way of shopping, and couldn’t see what anything looked like for himself. He had finally taken his problem to Remus and Tonks, and Tonks had offered to buy jewelry or clothes. Remus had suggested Harry try and do something for her to try and make it more personal, so Harry had decided to do both. Tonks had found a beautiful (so she said) gold locket, and had placed a picture of Harry and Ginny in it for him. Following Remus’ advice had been more difficult, and he had spent a good deal of time thinking about it.
He had begun to attempt to apply what he knew about becoming an Animagus, and had soon discovered that the knowledge of how to do something was often a far cry from actually doing it. So far he had managed what felt like a very partial transformation, but nothing far enough to even know what he was transforming into. He wanted to be able to do the transformation and teach Ginny how to do it as well. Fawkes seemed to like the idea, anyway, and so Harry had decided to go ahead with it regardless of whether or not he could do it himself. If nothing else it was something they could work on together.
Finished with his rounds among the passageways, Harry had Fawkes transport him to the library, where he began using the Book Reader Hermione had given him to read more on the transformation.
“What are you reading Harry?” Hermione asked, her voice startling Harry enough that he dropped his book on the floor. He sent a furious thought to Fawkes for not warning him, but the bird began singing what was obviously laughter, even to Hermione.
“Sorry about that,” she said, amusement evident in her voice, as she reached down and picked up his book for him.
“Animagi: Making the Transformation,” she read, and he could hear the incredulity in her voice. “That’s not really light night-time reading. Are you trying to become and Animagus, Harry?”
Harry sighed.
“Only you would come here in the middle of the night instead of the kitchen, Hermione. I would appreciate it if you would keep that to yourself; I have no intention of doing this legally.”
“Harry! Is this because of your father and Sirius?”
“Not entirely,” he answered, “but I’ll keep my reasons to myself.”
“You keep too much to yourself these days, Harry.”
Harry sighed again. “Alright. I’m not sure if you know anything about this kind of thing, but prior to our sixth year Dumbledore used a spell with Fawkes that made it possible for him to transfer his knowledge to me.”
Harry explained what he knew about the spell, and then waited. Hermione remained silent, and he began to grow uncomfortable.
“Are you still there?”
“I don’t know what to say, Harry.”
“You don’t think this is fair; if I were to venture a guess, I would say you don’t think I came by what I know honestly.”
“I don’t know, Harry. I guess I do think that, at least a little bit. It’s just that I’ve spent so much of my time working on learning everything I could, and now you know more than me without ever doing anything.”
“I’m sorry. If it makes you feel any better, in a lot of ways I wish it hadn’t happened. Maybe he would still be alive if he hadn’t weakened himself to do this. I still have to sift through everything I know, and sometimes I’m not sure what is right for every situation. I only have Dumbledore’s knowledge, not his wisdom. If I had had more time to think about it, or if I had experimented with things so that I knew better what they did, I probably would have done something besides the lightning bolt, and three people would still be alive.”
Hermione remained silent, so Harry continued.
“I’m not trying to take away your usefulness, Hermione, and there are things that I still don’t know. I need you to help me find the Horcruxes, and I definitely need you to keep me making the right decisions.”
“Will you register as an Animagus legally then?” she asked, and Harry could hear the good humor creeping back into her voice.
“I will someday, but probably not until after Voldemort is destroyed.” Harry answered, smiling. “At least, that’s if I can manage to do it at all.”
Hermione got up and hugged Harry.
“I’m sure you’ll figure it out. If you need any help let me know, but for now I’d better get back to sleep.”
Harry waited as she left, and then went back to his book, occasionally attempting the transformation as he learned something new. By the time everyone else would be starting to get up for breakfast, he was tired, but had made some definite, albeit slow, progress.
***
Ginny’s day had begun very well and continued to get better. She had woken up to find Harry standing next to her bed with a tray of food, a flower, and a smile. Fawkes was singing merrily from his shoulder.
“You’ll have to take the tray from me,” he said brightly, “and I’m not sure what the flower looks like since Fawkes picked it, but he says it’s very pretty. Happy Birthday.”
Ginny thanked him profusely while taking the tray. The flower was bright yellow and orange and looked like a burst of flame. She thanked Fawkes for it, and saw the bird fluff up his feathers in pleasure.
Ginny ate her breakfast while Harry sat on the end of her bed and chatted with her. After a while, she said she needed to get ready, and Harry had left using Fawkes, claiming he didn’t want her parents getting the wrong idea again, though he smiled when he said it.
When she came down the stairs into the common room everyone, including Harry, was waiting for her, and they all wished her a happy birthday.
The day since then had been spent playing games and having fun. In the afternoon, Fred had suggested they go out to the Quidditch pitch and do some flying. Ginny hadn’t wanted to at first, not wanting to leave Harry out, but he had used Legilimency again and found out that she really did want to, and had insisted that she use his Firebolt. After playing for an hour or so, she had turned to see him in the stands with her parents, and felt bad for the glum expression on his face. It was quickly smothered and replaced by a smile when he heard her calling his name as she flew up.
“Want to ride behind me?” she called out, as she landed next to him.
His smile suddenly became real and dazzling as he nodded and got up. She felt her heart racing as he got behind her and put his arms around her waist, and she was thrilled to hear him shout with pleasure as they shot off into the sky, her mother shouting for them to be careful.
They had walked back to the castle flushed with excitement, and they had been welcomed back by a feast and a huge birthday cake.
Now everyone else was asleep, and she was sitting in the common room talking with Harry.
“I wanted to talk to you about your present, Ginny,” Harry said, changing the subject completely.
She felt the locket around her neck and smiled. “I love the locket, Harry, thank you.”
“Not that, although you’re very welcome. Tonks had to pick it out for me, so I wanted to do something for you myself.” He was clearly nervous, and she sat up in anticipation.
“How would you like to become an Animagus?” he finished, in a rush.
Out of all the things she had been thinking about, this had not been one of them.
She sat speechlessly for a while, and Harry began to panic.
“It’s okay if you don’t want to, I can think of something else…” he started, but she cut him off.
“That would be amazing, Harry! How would we do it? Can you do it already? What if I’m something terrible, like a snake or a mouse?” she blurted, the questions coming out faster, and a note of panic coming into her voice at the end.
He answered her last question first.
“You won’t be anything like that. The animal you become depends on what you really want to become, deep down. My dad wanted to be noble and impress my mother, and he became a stag. Wormtail wanted to hide from all of his problems, so he became a rat.”
She was comforted by this, but still wanted to know how.
Taking her hand, he said “I’ll show you.”
Through his Legilimency he showed her all that he knew about the transformation, and also all the things he had done himself so far.
“It will take a lot of work,” he started.
“But we’ll get to do it together,” she finished, smiling happily as she kissed him. This was going to be her best present of all.
*********
Bill’s wedding had been a smashing success, at least as far as Harry was concerned. The ceremony had been held outdoors on the grounds at Hogwarts, followed by a feast and dancing in the Great Hall. The hole in the ground was long since repaired, and the decorations were magnificent, according to everyone else. Best of all, he got to dance with Ginny, and his inability to lead wasn’t a hindrance at all, since she had to lead now anyway.
“Wasn’t the ceremony beautiful, Harry?” Ginny asked, sighing.
“It was nice, yeah.” Harry answered nervously. He didn’t know much about that kind of thing, and was afraid of getting into it.
“What do you want your wedding to be like?” she asked, seemingly ignoring his earlier answer. Harry was certain this was a loaded question and thought carefully.
“Whatever you want it to be like,” he answered, although it was phrased like a question the way he said it.
“Do you really mean that, Harry?” she asked, her voice suddenly very serious, and he could tell she wasn’t talking about the wedding ceremony or location anymore.
“I’m not saying right away, and I don’t know how everything with Voldemort will work out, and we have to finish school…” Harry stuttered, trailing off. There was a long pause where neither said anything, both thinking.
“I love you, Ginny, and I want to spend my life with you,” he finally whispered.
“I love you too; and I won’t let you die fighting Voldemort, so we’ll be together for a very long time.”
*********
Molly and Arthur Weasley gathered Ron and Ginny in for hugs, wishing them a good term, before hugging Harry and Hermione as well. The students who were coming back would be arriving in a few days and everyone but Harry was planning on using the time for the homework they had put off. Harry was still unsure of what he would be doing during the school year and decided that he would discuss it with Professor McGonagall that day. He left everyone else while they were surrounded by the books Arthur had purchased them all for the year, not noticing the jealous glares he was getting from Ron and Ginny at his lack of homework.
Fawkes brought him to McGonagall’s office and he waved his hand. The gargoyle leapt aside allowing him to pass through and Harry walked up to the office door and knocked. He had discovered that he could get past any door in the castle without a password, but hadn’t used that ability much, though he had come up with a number of great plans for terrorizing Slytherins with the ability.
McGonagall called him in, frowning, while muttering about needing different security.
“What can I do for you today, Mr. Potter?” she asked, taking her own seat behind the table.
“You had told me earlier that you had some ideas of what I could be doing while I am here at school, so I thought now might be a good time to find out.”
“Yes. At first, it was just an idea, but after seeing you defeat the Death Eaters at your party, I am sure. You know we stand in need of a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, and I have been completely unable to find anyone for the job. I am already going to continue teaching Transfiguration along with being Headmistress, so I cannot do it myself. I have asked Professor Flitwick to teach the sixth and seventh year classes, and Professor Slughorn has consented, for a slight pay raise, to handle the fourth and fifth years. I would like you to take charge of the first through third year classes as a student teacher.”
Harry was stunned.
“How will I be able to teach,” he sputtered, “I can’t see to know if they are moving their wands right, and if the classes get out of hand I won’t be able to control them!”
McGonagall smiled. “Don’t be afraid of docking a lot of points, and be liberal handing out detentions, at least at first. Eventually they will come to respect you. As far as seeing the classes, recall that the first three years are concerned mostly with theory and dark creatures, so you won’t need to worry as much about advanced spells or wand movements. We can assign some of the prefects to attend your classes as assistants, and they can point out any mistakes as necessary.”
Harry sat silently for a while, and Fawkes flew over to his shoulder and began singing reassuringly.
“You can do this, Mr. Potter. You were blind and defeated over a dozen Death Eaters in deadly combat. You can certainly figure out how to teach children to deal with a Boggart.”
Her words finally broke through his shell of astonishment and he realized she had a point. How much harder could it be, especially since he also had all the knowledge of the greatest wizard of the age?
“I’ll do it then,” he said quietly, “and I will be grateful for having some prefects help in the classes as well. I’ll also need to be able to leave the castle whenever I have to, but I should be able to keep that to evenings and weekends.”
“We will have the assignments ready by the opening feast. Madame Pomfrey is still hopeful that the potions she has you taking now will work, so perhaps we won’t need them for long. Regardless, there will be significantly fewer students here, so things shouldn’t be unmanageable. And if you need to leave, as a staff member you won’t be questioned, though I advise you to let me know in advance. Would you like to move into the staff quarters, or remain in Gryffindor tower?”
Harry told her that the tower would be fine, and left, still in a daze. Lesson plans and ideas were already going through his head, much like they had with the DA. He was still trying to reassure himself, though, and so he had Fawkes take him back to the Gryffindor common room. Ginny hugged him in congratulations, and Ron and Hermione both assured him that he would do well. All of them demanded that they be able to help in his classes as well. Hermione had been made Head Girl, and Ginny had been made a prefect since the other prefect in her year would not be returning to school.
“Hermione, will you help me prepare some lesson plans?” he asked finally. “You’ll have to write them for me, and help me get materials…” Harry was interrupted by Hermione hugging him.
“Of course I will, Harry,” she said, gratified that he felt that she was still important.
Harry went to bed that evening intensely grateful to his friends, certain that he could handle anything with their help.