Padder and Shanks

Padder and Shanks

Chapter 2

Harry groaned over his lesson plans and put his head down on his forearms which were resting on the desk. He hard someone enter the room and after a moment of alert listening, he recognized Ginny's footsteps and exhaled slowly. Feeling Ginny's hands on his shoulders, Harry stood up and wrapped his wife in his arms and kissed her cheek making his way along her cheekbone until he reached her ear, which he nibbled gently. When Ginny moaned, Harry firmly pressed his mouth against that of the redhead and pulled her closer to him. Hearing someone approaching, Padder released Shanks and quickly straightened his robes as she did the same with her own robes. "I'll finish answering your question later," he whispered in her ear with a quick kiss before answering the knock at the door.

"That's very kind of you Professor. I'll come back and ask again after the start of term feast, and you won't get off without answering my question next time," she said in a voice that made her intentions quite clear as she slid past Professor Flitwick.

Mustering all of the self-control that he had gained over the last several years, Harry restrained himself from running after Ginny and bringing her back so that they could finish what they had begun moments before. Self-control and patience Harry, she may be pregnant, Harry had to remind himself yet again. Harry shook his head and smiled at the short Charms professor. "What can I do for you, Professor Flitwick?" he asked in a voice that hid the effort he was exerting to keep himself in his classroom.

Flitwick chuckled and said, "Please call me Filius, Harry. I won't keep you long Harry, I was just wondering if you would mind leading the sorting ceremony tonight as I have a few accommodations to make to the Shrieking Shack before the full moon."

"Yes, I understand. I would be happy to as I was hoping to meet the boy before he's sorted so that I'll know him before any house prejudices can be formed," Harry chuckled. He was very interested in the lycanthrope that would be arriving at the school with his fellow first years that evening. I wonder if he'll be anywhere near as fun as Remus, though I'm not exactly sure how fun Remus was as a student as he won't tell me, he thought.

The older teacher nodded and thanked Harry many times before leaving Harry alone once more. Padder collected himself before exiting the classroom, fighting the urge to break into a dead sprint. He headed towards the rooms that he shared with Ginny up by Gryffindor tower as he knew that that was where she would be. He walked into the room to find Ginny waiting on the couch for him, cuddled under a thick blanket with a cup of tea for each of them. Harry joined his wife on the couch and wrapped his arms around her waist under the blanket.

"Why can't we just tell people Harry? I want people to know about us and I want to tell them now, not in a bloody month or two when things have 'settled down.' This is the thing that I always dreamed of...especially after you saved me from the basilisk...I want to be able to scream to the world that I'm married to Harry Potter and I'm having his child!" Ginny had a hurt look in her eye that was mixed with the seductive one that Harry couldn't resist. "Are you going to deny me that Harry?"

Harry sighed helplessly as Ginny nuzzled his neck and he kissed the top of her head. "We already talked about this, Gin. There's the press and all of my admirers that kept sending you hate mail just because you were my girlfriend and it'll only get worse if they know that we're married." Harry paused as Ginny shifted so that she was sitting in his lap, then he continued, "The press knows that I'm married to someone and they'll assume that it's you, but they won't report anything until they know for certain...that was one of the reasons that I liked the idea of us at Hogwarts so much. We're safer here Gin...Shanks...I love you and I won't let them hurt you like they hurt me in fifth year...Wait, did you just say that you're having my child? You're pregnant, and that is yet another reason that we should wait to tell them that we're married. Ginerva Millicent Weasley, I love you!"

"I love you too Harry, and yes I'm pregnant, but you must know by now that they'll hate me for a while for being married to you no matter when we announce it Harry. This feels like we're hiding something and that makes everything feel so wrong!" Ginny exclaimed with tears starting to claim places in her eyes.

Harry nodded and stared his wife in the eye, beginning to recover from his shock, "For once in my life, everything's right Gin! I want that to stay, but if you really want to tell them, then we can let the entire wizarding world know at the match against Puddlemore."

"I'm used to all the press and the hate mail and I'll put up with it a bloody million times over for you, Harry! You've got to give me at least a little credit as I did save you from the reporters after you defeated Voldemort. You're my hero-my big, strong, brave, and completely loyal hero Padry..." Ginny broke off and purred quietly as she settled against Harry's chest and stroked his jaw so that he would relax some.

Willing himself to relax, Harry pulled Ginny even closer to him (something that hadn't seemed possible) and kissed her passionately. No one could calm him down quite like Ginny could. There were times when he needed nothing more than to be in her presence to calm down.

"Mr. Potter, you are my hero," she purred softly into his ear.

Harry was about to reply when they heard the rise in noise outside that signaled the arrival of the students. Standing, the couple brushed wrinkles out of their own robes as well as those of each other hastily before taking a quick trip through a hidden tunnel that left them just off of the Entrance Hall. After a quick kiss, Ginny hurried to take her seat at the staff table for the start of term feast while Harry waited where he was for the first years to enter the Entrance Hall.

When he heard the first nervous footfalls, Harry stepped into the Entrance Hall to see Hagrid shooing the last of the first years in front of him.

"Alri' there 'Arry?" Hagrid called out to him with a huge smile on his face when he saw the young man in the Entrance Hall. "Why aren't you in at the feast with the rest of the teachers? Dramatic entrance?" he asked as an afterthought.

Harry beamed at the half-giant and called back, "Everything's great Hagrid! And as much as I would like to make one of my dramatic entrances I couldn't find one worthy for my first year as a teacher. Flitwick asked me to conduct the sorting ceremony this year though, as he had some things to see to in Hogsmeade, so I guess that that kind of counts for my dramatic entrance." Harry moved closer to Rubeus Hagrid and quietly asked, "Which one is he?" Moving towards the pale and somewhat plain boy that Hagrid had indicated, Harry quietly said, "I hear that you've got a furry little problem. I'm Professor Padder, what's your name?"

"I'd say that you were really Harry Potter, but then my mum would reprimand me for having bad manners. I'm Trey Jacobs, Sir. How do you know about my...problem?" Harry noted that Trey had obviously never come to terms with his lycanthropy.

Harry laughed. "Your mum sounds a bit like Professor Shanks' mum. On a more serious note though, you'd be surprised how many of my friends have these 'furry little problems' Trey. The headmistress thought that, between my knowledge of your condition, my knowledge of the school, and the fact that I'm an animagus, I might be able to help you when your problem pops up. Now, I'd better go see if they're ready for you and your friends in the Great Hall," he said and walked away, rather enjoying the look of surprise on the young man's face.

When Harry peeked into the Great Hall, he was relieved to see McGonagall's nod. He was not eager to overwhelm Trey, as he was sure the boy had enough to think about without the added thoughts from his Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Carrying the stool with the sorting hat on it, Harry led the first years into the Great Hall to an outbreak of whispers and looks at and about the professor that had just entered the hall. He conducted the sorting and was rather pleased when Trey and five other boys as well as five girls were sorted into his own house of Gryffindor. When the ceremony was over Harry took the hat and stool from the hall and then took his seat next to Ginny and giving her a quick peck on the cheek that was accompanied by another bout of whispers.

After everyone had gorged themselves on the delicious food, the headmistress stood to address the assembled teachers and students to immediate silence. "Welcome and welcome back to another year at Hogwarts. I realize that you must all be tired and I will try to keep this short to ensure that you all get enough sleep as I'm sure you all want to be wide awake for your classes tomorrow," she said with a kindly twinkle in her eye. "Mr. Filch has, once again, asked me to remind all of the students as well as some of the teachers that there are a large number of banned items at Hogwarts, including all Weasley's Wizard Wheezes products and many...many others. Also, I would like to remind all students and at least one of the teachers that the Forbidden Forest is, in fact, forbidden. Just because we are in times of peace does not give us cause for being foolish. I would also like to welcome, and I hope that all of you will as well, our three new professors. Professor Harry Potter will be teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts as we once again found ourselves without anyone to teach the subject and will be addressed as Professor Padder. His wife, Professor Ginny Potter, will be teaching Transfigurations as Professor Granger left in favor of getting married and starting a family and will be addressed as Professor Shanks. Last but not least, Professor Slughorn has once again retired and Professor Draco Malfoy has agreed to take his place as our Potions teacher. Now, you are all excused for bed and please do not stay up too late or your heads of houses will be forced to dismantle parties and I'm sure they will not be amused as they all have better things to do than breaking up parties," she said and began to leave the hall.

"Padder?" Malfoy hissed. "More like Professor Prat if you ask me," he said, just loud enough for the majority of the staff to hear.

Ginny grabbed Harry's hand and whispered into his ear, "Don't take the bait Harry; he's only trying to make you mad. Why don't we go find Trey? We could show him where our rooms are so that he can find us if he ever needs us," begging Harry to leave, Ginny became Shanks.

"You're not worth it Malfoy!" Harry spat and became Padder.

Draco sneered and hissed, "That's right Potter, follow your darling little wife and be the good boy."

"We'll always be here if you ever need us for anything, Trey. Make sure that you remember that, because I know that school would have been so much better for me if a teacher had ever told me that, but of course, as the Boy-Who-Lived I wasn't even allowed to consider the castle my home." Harry had been showing Trey around parts of the school. Ginny had accompanied them, 'to keep them out of trouble' was how she had put it, but Harry suspected that it was really because she wanted to hear more about what Hogwarts was like for him.

Ginny smiled as she indicated that the boy should sit down and said warmly, "We have all sorts of friends, and we're always happy to make a new friend, Trey, so make sure that you extend that same feeling back at us once in a while." Harry noticed that his wife had gotten in the habit of resting her hands protectively over her stomach whenever she was idle.

It had been two weeks since the beginning of term, and the young couple had already made quite an impression on the Hogwarts students. Between Ginny's never-ending cheerfulness, Harry's nonchalance about the rules, and the pranks that the two of them pulled together every weekend without fail had earned them a place in the heart of every student at the school...with the exception of a few older Slytherins who had been first or second years during his seventh year.

"You really should be setting a better example for the students, you know," Professor McGonagall had told them off one evening over tea. She had been easily persuaded that what they were doing was merely in fun, and when they pointed out that nothing they had done had caused any damage to anyone(with the possible exception on Professor Malfoy), she had relented and warned them about what would happen should they ever decide to harm someone with their pranks.

There was also the fact that every Gryffindor had hopes of being as great as Harry at Quidditch and the looming Chudley versus Puddlemore match.

"If anyone misbehaves then you'll all be sent back to school, so I suggest that all of you take some time today to show what noble people Gryffindors really are," Ginny said as she led the Gryffindor students who had been allowed to come to the game in early October to their seats. She was acting as the head of house as Harry was unable to discipline his house while he was playing Quidditch.

Just as the last student had taken their seat, the loud voice of Lee Jordan-who had been hired right out of Hogwarts to commentate on Quidditch matches-boomed through the stands. "Witches and wizards, welcome to the British Cup Championship Playoff between Chudley and Puddlemore. Please join me in welcoming the Puddlemore team...Keeper, Oliver Wood...Beaters, Trisha and Meisha Applebaum...Chasers, Alicia Wood, Zacharias Smith, Tinsley Macnair...and as Seeker, Leonardo Bonaparte..." Any other words that Lee said were lost as the crowd began to cheer loudly. "Now, the moment that I know I've been waiting for," Lee announced when the cheering quieted down considerably, "The Chudley Cannons...Keeper, Mark Thatcher...Beaters, Rema and Tina Blonquist...Chasers, Katie Spinnet, Jonathon Jenkins, Julie Norman...and as Seeker, playing in his last game for who knows how long, is Harry Potter!"

Ginny had been waiting for the roaring of the crowd and added her own voice to the thousands of others that were cheering for her husband. It look fifteen minutes for the stands to quiet down enough for Lee's commentary to be heard again, and by that time the game was well underway. Please be safe, Harry, Ginny pleaded in her mind as she watched him speed around the pitch, performing complicated maneuvers to dodge Bludgers and making them look extremely simple as he did so.

The crowd was dazzled by his antics, watching him perform countless maneuvers that no other witch or wizard would have ever attempted. An hour into the game, the score was 270, 190 for Chudley, when Harry went into a steep dive towards the ground that only Ginny recognized as a feint and pulled up just in time, while Leonardo was not so lucky and crashed into the ground. Harry had all but claimed the Wronski Feint as his trademark over the last five years, and I was shocked that Leonardo Bonaparte hadn't been expecting it. A time-out was called as medi-wizards rushed onto the field to attend to Bonaparte while Harry hovered just above the ground- body still, but eyes following a dot of gold in the sky. Ginny had seen it as well and silently hoped that the game would end soon so that they could get the press conference over with.

Harry was back in the air and as soon as the whistle was blown, Harry was off after the Snitch. Leonardo was so dazed after his crash that he didn't even notice Harry speeding after the Snitch. By the time Oliver realized that Harry was chasing after the Snitch, it was too late and the small, golden, winged ball was in his hand. Soaring over the stands, he hovered above Ginny and pulled her onto the back of his broom for a victory lap around the pitch. When they landed, the red head was kissed long and hard and when she looked into the emerald eyes she couldn't help but smile. "Couldn't wait for the press conference?"

"Nah, I am the impatient one remember," he said and pulled her into a one-armed hug as he held the Snitch above his head for the cheering crowd to see. "You ready to face the reporters?" he asked and they made their way to the pedestal for the last time. Harry addressed all of the reporters politely and said, "Now I'm sure that you have many questions, but I know what the first one will be and I have an announcement to make that goes along pretty well with the answer to the question that everyone in bloody dying to ask. First of all, I would like to introduce my wife, Mrs. Ginny Millicent Weasley Potter. As that was the answer to the question that everyone was wanting, my announcement is that we just found out that Ginny's pregnant...I'm going to be a father."