Harry Potter and the Veil of Mystery

Chapter 8

The Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher

At 5:30 p.m. on Sunday, Harry was sitting in a comfortable chair in a room behind the teachers' table at the back of the Great Hall. Professor Dumbledore had asked Harry to meet him there before the feast. Having nothing to do, he decided to practice Occlumency. He closed his eyes, and felt his mind start to calm down. He wasn't sure how long he'd been at it when a voice said, "You do seem to be coming along with that."

"Thanks to you," said Harry. "Was there something you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Yes, it is about the feast and the order of events. As you recall, the Sorting is first, then I usually say a few words before we eat. All the teachers are seated at the staff table before the students come in. It has occurred to me that it may not be desirable to have you at the table at that time. Your presence would lead to much distraction; I would like everyone to be paying attention to the Sorting."

"Sure, no problem," Harry agreed. "I've been stared at enough for a lifetime as it is. So, how will we do it, then?"

"After the Sorting, I will say a few words, then tell them that I would like to introduce the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher to them. That is when you will walk up. I will not say your name until they can see you."

"You probably don't even need to," Harry pointed out. "Unfortunately, it seems I'm one of those people who needs no introduction." He chuckled wryly at his own joke.

"Yes, indeed," agreed Dumbledore. "It is just for form's sake, of course. I will then ask you to say a few words. You will say whatever you wish, then I will call for the feast to begin. Is that acceptable?"

"Of course, Professor. I don't mind saying something, but there will probably be disruptions from the Slytherins. If there are, I'd like to know how you'd like me to handle it."

"Why, in whatever way you choose," Dumbledore said, in a tone suggesting he was surprised that any other way could be contemplated. "I will send in the dog when I am ready to announce you. You may relax here until then."

Harry frowned, puzzled. "The dog? What dog?"

"Oh, you have never seen it... it is a little spell I invented a while back. It is simple, but amusing and useful. I summon a dog; it is gold and shines brightly when you first see it. It is something I send to people when I wish to summon them. When you see the dog, you follow it. As it gets closer to its destination, its brightness fades, and it fades away completely when you have reached the desired spot."

"That sounds neat, I'll be looking forward to seeing that."

"Very good. Oh, and Harry, I wonder if you would oblige me by remaining at the teachers' table for the duration of the meal. I know that you would prefer to eat with your friends, but I would like your status as a teacher to be emphasized at this time."

"Yes, I understand, that makes sense," Harry agreed.

"Good, I will see you in a while, then." Dumbledore departed.

Harry sank down into the chair, seeing how comfortable he could get. Speaking in front of hundreds of students who would be shocked to see him... what was he going to say? He spent the next thirty minutes thinking of what he would say, trying different ideas, imagining how the Slytherins might react. Finally, he decided that he was thinking too much, and it was time to clear his mind again. He was having some success beating down his nerves when he was distracted by something bright in the room. He looked over and saw a bright golden dog, a little over a foot tall. It was very friendly; it jumped onto Harry's lap and nuzzled him in the chest before jumping off and looking back at him, indicating that he should follow. Harry was surprised that the dog was substantial; he had expected it to be only an image. He got up and followed it.

He was behind the teachers' table and still out of sight when he heard Dumbledore saying, "And now, I have the pleasure of presenting our new Defense Against the Dark Arts instructor..."

Here goes nothing, Harry thought. He stepped up to the teachers' table, next to Dumbledore, who finished his sentence with, "... Professor Harry Potter!"

Harry took the podium. For the first second or two, the teachers applauded, but from the audience there was silence. Then a few Gryffindors started cheering; Harry could see Ginny, Ron, Hermione and Neville. Then there was a loud "WHAT??" from the Slytherin table, and naturally, it had come from Draco Malfoy. That prompted a low rumble of laughter, a kind of releasing of tension. Harry laughed as well, but it was partly at the look on Malfoy's face. Malfoy obviously couldn't believe it. Harry said, "Actually, I don't blame you; when Professor Dumbledore asked me to accept this position, I, you know, had to ask him to repeat it three times to make sure I understood him right." This got a moderate laugh. Harry started feeling more confident. These are just my fellow students, he told himself. I can do this.

"Most of you know that I led a group last year that was trying to practice Defense Against the Dark Arts, since it wasn't being taught to us. It was a great group and a great experience." He saw the two Hufflepuff prefects, Ernie Macmillan and Hannah Abbott, look at him and nod. He nodded back. "I assume that gave Professor Dumbledore the idea to have me teach this class."

Harry took a slight pause and was going to continue when Malfoy spoke up again. It wasn't clear to Harry if Malfoy was talking to himself, another Slytherin, or Harry himself, but he heard Malfoy loudly say, "No way! If he's teaching here, then I'm leaving!" There was a dead silence following that.

I can't let that go unanswered, Harry thought. A comeback thankfully popped into his head, and after the silence had stretched to five seconds, Harry looked at Malfoy and said, "You know, Malfoy, that's a good plan. I totally support it." That got a fair bit of laughter. Harry continued, "In fact, I think you'll find there's a lot of support for that plan of yours." This got an even bigger laugh, and a cheer started and grew quickly. The cheer was clearly being made by those who agreed with Harry, and it grew to include a substantial majority of Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Gryffindor houses. Only the Slytherin table was silent. Malfoy looked as furious as Harry had ever seen him, and that was saying something.

Harry put up his hands to suggest that the cheers should cease; they did after a few more seconds. "As I was saying," he continued, and even that got a small laugh, "I don't claim to have big qualifications. What I learned from the group last year was that if you really want to improve, and you really try hard, you can."

He was interrupted by a Slytherin seventh year who shouted, "Even Longbottom?" This got a laugh from some of the Slytherin table. Harry saw Neville embarrassed and angry.

Harry laughed derisively. "Especially Neville! I don't think he got an Outstanding Defense Against the Dark Arts O.W.L. by accident. Maybe you want to give it a try, knowing what you're talking about before you open your mouth." There was more laughter and applause. A look at the Gryffindor table showed Ron, Hermione, and Ginny howling with laughter, and a still-embarrassed Neville looking very pleased.

"Now, please, let me wrap this up, I know you all want to get to your food, and I do, too," Harry said. He felt he had done well with the Slytherins who had heckled him, but didn't want to push his luck. "I was saying, anyone can improve, I'm sure of that. I see my job just as helping people do that. So, your attitude in classes will be very important. Also, just so everyone knows, I'll be teaching only the first through fifth years. Since I'm only a sixth year myself, it would be hard for me to teach the N.E.W.T. class." Harry glanced over at Dumbledore with a 'can I tell them?' expression. Dumbledore nodded.

"Teaching the N.E.W.T. classes... and this is so cool... will be Professor Dumbledore himself." It did not take long for a new round of applause to develop, this one led by the sixth and seventh years of Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Gryffindor, and soon grew to include most of those houses, as well as half of Slytherin. Harry joined in the applause, looking at Dumbledore, and said, "It looks like I speak for most all of the sixth and seventh years when I say thank you, Professor, for doing this." Dumbledore inclined his head, to Harry and then to the students. Turning back to the students, Harry said, "Thanks for your support, and I'll be seeing most of you in class." He stepped away from the podium to widespread applause from all tables except, of course, Slytherin. Relief swept over him; he had done far better than he had expected. He wondered whether it was because he had spent the time before coming out trying to calm his mind rather than being nervous, as he knew he would have without Dumbledore's guidance.

He looked at Dumbledore again; he was not sure where he was supposed to sit. Dumbledore gestured him to a spot between himself and McGonagall, who got up as Harry was sitting down. Harry was surprised; he thought Dumbledore had planned to take back the podium after he was done.

McGonagall surveyed the students with one of her more severe expressions. "I had not planned to speak, but there is something I must make clear. Today is the first time in many years there have been disrespectful outbursts from the students during a welcoming speech." She cast particularly stern glances at Malfoy and the other Slytherin offender. "On this occasion, I will impose no punishment, as Professor Potter has already done so, in a fashion." She glanced at him as much of the crowd laughed for a second, then quickly stopped, as if fearing her disapproval. "But I must warn you, further expressions of disrespect will not be tolerated, no less with Professor Potter than with any other professor. He will be both taking classes and teaching them, but he has all the rights and privileges of a Hogwarts teacher, including the right to take points from offenders' houses and give detentions. Professor Dumbledore and I have urged him not to be shy about using that power." That got scattered laughter across the three pro-Harry tables. "As Professor Potter is also a student, he will not have time to supervise detentions; I will be overseeing any detentions he hands out. And I assure you..." She paused, surveying all the house tables, lingering slightly on Slytherin, "...you want to avoid that. I believe there are plenty of unpleasant tasks that Mr. Filch needs done. Professor Dumbledore?"

"Thank you, Professor McGonagall," Dumbledore said, stepping back to the podium. "And now the time has come to fill our stomachs. Bon appetit!" Food suddenly appeared on everyone's plates and tables. Conversation in the hall rose to an immediate high volume, despite the presence of the food, and Harry was sure he knew what most of them were talking about. I should be used to that by now, he thought. At least he seemed to have the support of a strong majority. It was, he felt, as much as he could have hoped for.

After taking a bite of her food, McGonagall leaned over to Harry and said, "You handled that very well, Professor."

After he finished the mouthful of food he was working on, Harry replied, "I would really rather have avoided it, though. I just didn't feel like I could ignore it."

"Most professors could have ignored it, Harry, but that was a luxury you did not have. Most professors already have their respect; no students question the right of any adult to be a professor. You, however, must earn their respect, and you went a long way toward doing so tonight. I am quite sure that it will not be long until no one is questioning whether you should have been made a professor."

"No one except the Slytherins, you mean," said Harry, frowning.

"I cannot imagine that that should matter to you in the slightest."

She had a good point. "Yes, that's true," he admitted. "I don't care what they think, really, it's just going to be a pain to have to keep them in line."

"If you give them detentions, Professor, I assure you it will be more painful for them than it will be for you," she said with a tiny smile. Harry grinned. It felt very good to have both her and Dumbledore on his side.

Starting about halfway through the meal, students started coming up to the teachers' table to talk to Harry. McGonagall, knowing this would happen, had told Harry that such visits should be kept to a couple of minutes or less, lest a crowd of students gather around the teachers' table. First to come were Ron and Hermione.

"Harry! You were terrific!" enthused Hermione.

"Malfoy looked like he was going to go up in smoke!" gloated Ron.

Harry grinned happily. He knew he would have their support, but that didn't make it any less appreciated. "Thanks," he said. "I was really nervous at first."

"You didn't show it," said Hermione. "And that was sweet, what you did for Neville. I don't know if he was more embarrassed by the Slytherin's insult, or your praise."

"Harry, guess what?" exclaimed Ron. "McGonagall sent me an owl yesterday to tell me, I've been made Quidditch captain!" His face was glowing with pleasure.

"Excellent! Well done!" said Harry happily.

Ron beamed. "I'm glad you're happy about it. Hermione told me you would be, but I was worried... after all, you've been on the team for five years..."

Harry shook his head. "That's not what should decide that. You'll be a better captain than I would have been. You know Quidditch backward and forward, you'll be great at coming up with moves and game plans. I'd have been terrible. We'll be keeping that Cup this year, I can feel it."

"I should hope so," said McGonagall, who had disengaged herself from her conversation with Professor Vector, who was on her other side. "Its presence in Gryffindor is a luxury that I have become used to. Now, you two, please move along back to your table. You will have plenty of time to talk to Professor Potter in the common room after the feast."

Ron and Hermione both smiled at her humorous intent in using his title, and nodded. "See you later, Harry!" they said as they walked away.

A minute later, Ernie and Hannah came by. "Harry, that was great," said Ernie. "You really showed him who was boss."

"It'd be nice if he remembers, but I don't think he will... I wouldn't bet against a full-scale Slytherin revolt in my classes," said Harry.

"With Professor McGonagall there to supervise detentions? I don't think so. Of course, we'll be talking to our house later, about you and the D.A. You won't have any problems from Hufflepuffs, that's for sure."

"And I'm sure the Ravenclaws will be doing the same thing," added Hannah.

"And how about that, about Dumbledore!" said Ernie. "Can you believe it?"

"Incredible," said Hannah.

"Absolutely, we're just lucky to be N.E.W.T. students at this time. When I told Fred and George Weasley about this, they both wanted to come back." Hannah and Ernie laughed.

"Why, I do believe that my ears are burning," smiled Dumbledore, who had just ceased his conversation with Flitwick on his other side.

"I think Madam Pomfrey can help you with that, sir," said Hannah, with the smallest of smiles. Harry was surprised; he didn't know she had enough of a sense of humor to make a joke to Dumbledore.

Dumbledore laughed. "I daresay she could," he agreed. "I appreciate your enthusiasm, and I look forward to seeing you in class."

They thanked Dumbledore, said "See you later" to Harry, and went back to their table. Dumbledore said to Harry, "That didn't go so badly, did it?"

"No, it didn't," Harry agreed. "I mean, the Slytherins... that could have been a lot worse."

"I mean the others, Harry. Do not focus on what could have gone better, but focus on what you have, what you've achieved. You heard the support you have out there. And it is not because you are the Boy Who Lived; it is what you have done at this school. Always keep that in mind."

Harry would have, but the thought was knocked out of his mind by what he saw when he happened to glance up. Approaching them was Marietta Edgecombe; her friend Cho Chang was waiting for her about ten feet away.

She looked up at Harry and Dumbledore nervously. Harry couldn't avoid checking to make sure that all of Hermione's jinx was gone from her face; it seemed to be. She said, "I wanted to say, to, well, both of you that I'm sorry about what I did last year. I was scared about what might happen to my mum if I was found out. But I shouldn't have done it. I'm really sorry."

She seemed sincere enough to Harry, but something in him was unyielding in not wanting to accept her apology, though he knew he should. Dumbledore spared him further thought by saying, "Of course, Marietta. We understand that under stress we all sometimes make mistakes, and we know you would not be here if you were not sincere." He glanced at Harry meaningfully.

"Yes, absolutely," Harry agreed, more wanting to believe it than actually doing so. He found something he could say honestly. "I know it's hard to come over here like this."

"I should never have joined the group in the first place," she said, sounding distraught. "I didn't want to, because of my mum, but Cho talked me into it. Still... I learned a lot, and you were a good teacher. I hope you do well with your classes."

Harry was quite surprised. "Thanks... I appreciate it," was all he could think of to say.

To Dumbledore, she said, "I'm really looking forward to your classes, Professor." Dumbledore politely inclined his head. Marietta rejoined Cho and they went back to their seats.

Harry turned to Dumbledore. "I know that you're going to say I should have forgiven her. Part of me knows I should, but part of me doesn't want to because it's still upset about what she did. She betrayed us all, and got you driven out of the school. How do we know that she isn't just apologizing because you and I are in favor at the Ministry again? How can she be trusted?"

"Trust must be earned, while forgiveness can be given. We need not trust her to forgive her. And yes, it is not impossible that her apology could be motivated as you say. My practice is to hope for the best, but know that the worst could happen as well. She might well have learned from her experience. She might truly be trustworthy, now or in the future. In the end, you must rely on your intuition, which is different from your emotions, which rule your reaction now. Your intuition is the best decision-maker you have, and I have known you to use it unerringly in situations where your emotions were not engaged."

That reminded Harry of another situation regarding judgment and trust. After checking to make sure that Snape was nowhere in hearing range, he asked. "Professor... please don't take this as a criticism, I'm only asking because I'd like to know... when you asked Professor Snape to teach me Occlumency, were you listening to your intuition?"

Dumbledore smiled sadly. "My first wish would be to avoid the question entirely, to be honest. But, as with Umbridge, you suffered for my mistakes, and so you deserve an answer. No, I fear I did not listen to my intuition. I listened more to my heart. I wanted to believe that he could set aside a grudge in the service of an important task. As it was, he ended up yielding to the temptation to try to further both at the same time. I do not recall that my intuition strongly said otherwise, but I do not believe I tried so hard to access it. So, that was a case where I hoped for the best but it did not happen. When you listen to your heart, that can happen. But I still believe that it is better to be too hopeful than to be too pessimistic."

Harry thought about that. He found it hard to be hopeful in some cases, but he had to admit that he didn't have much experience with this sort of thing. He was still inclined to trust Dumbledore, even though Dumbledore had admitted more than one mistake. Thinking about that gave Harry another thought.

"Professor, you've admitted mistakes to me three times in the past three months. I'm pretty sure that no one else has done that, once, in my entire life. I'm not sure I'd want to. How do you do it so easily?"

"By realizing that if you lie to others, you end up lying to yourself; if you do not admit mistakes to those who were affected by them, you end up not admitting them to yourself. Notice here again the concept of 'what we do to others, we do to ourselves.' If we do not admit our mistakes to ourselves, we cease to notice that we are making them. And if we cease to notice that we are making them, we can go terribly wrong, causing pain to ourselves and others. We must always be honest with ourselves, and part of that is being honest with those close to us. Admitting mistakes is a part of that as well."

Harry looked pensive, then said, "Professor, I want to thank you for doing that. I mean, I didn't really blame you specifically anyway, but it kind of makes me feel better that you did."

"I think it is because you know that if you did blame me, I would admit it, and then you would feel better. It also means I respect you enough to tell you. However you would like others to act towards you, act towards them."

"The Golden Rule," Harry mused.

"Yes, well..." Dumbledore humorously shrugged as if mildly embarrassed, "...not everything I say is original. It is still true, however."

For the next half hour, Harry switched between talking to Dumbledore and McGonagall. He enjoyed doing both; he found to his surprise that McGonagall was somewhat relaxed and friendly to him, especially compared to what he thought of as her normal character. It occurred to him for the first time that perhaps how she was acting with him now was in fact her normal character, and that how she came across to the students was not who she really was.

As he finished telling Harry a story concerning a welcoming feast almost fifty years ago, Dumbledore said, "I notice people finishing, so I will be saying a few more words. After I finish, you will be free to head back to Gryffindor Tower. Excuse me, please."

Dumbledore stood up and moved to the podium. "Excuse me for interrupting your conversations. I notice that it is getting late, and I do not want you heading off before I mention a few pieces of school business.

"I believe that all four Quidditch teams have openings this year; there will be tryouts within the first two weeks of classes. Your house bulletin boards or your house's prefects will have more information. Also, the first Hogsmeade weekend will take place on the last weekend of October, so third years, get your permission slips to your Head of House.

"One final piece of business. Those of you who were here last year will recall that a number of 'Educational Decrees' were issued, which regulated various aspects of life at Hogwarts. I would like to make sure everyone knows that those decrees have been rescinded and are no longer in force." This was met with a resounding cheer.

"Thank you. Prefects, will you please show the first years back to their houses?"

He stepped down as Harry saw Ron and Hermione gather up the first years to take them back to Gryffindor. He was getting up to leave when he saw McGonagall approach him.

"Professor Potter, I'm glad I found you before you left. The students get these at breakfast, but I thought it would be better for you to have yours now." She handed him a schedule, and waited a moment to see if he had any questions.

Harry's first reaction was that it was a very neat, organized schedule. Then he realized why; unlike most days before when he had had different classes at different times every day, on this schedule, all classes started and ended at the same time. The mornings were when he would teach; he would study in the afternoons.

The schedule called for him to teach two double classes each morning to a different year's students every day. He saw that his Monday schedule was: 8:00-9:50 Gryffindor/Slytherin year one, then 10:00-11:50 Hufflepuff/Ravenclaw year one. On Tuesday it was the same thing except with second years, and so on until he was teaching fifth years on Friday. His afternoons were equally neatly done; he was taking five classes, and every one of them was a once-a-week double class. All started at 2:00, with one each day: Potions with Snape on Monday, Transfigurations with McGonagall on Tuesday, Charms with Flitwick on Wednesday, Care of Magical Creatures with Hagrid on Thursday, and Defense Against the Dark Arts with Dumbledore on Friday. Harry noted with pleasure that Potions took place on Monday, where it would be gotten out of the way for the week, and Defense Against the Dark Arts would be on Friday, leaving him with a good feeling before the weekend. It looked like exactly the schedule he would have chosen if he could. He noted with further pleasure that he had no classes as a student with Slytherins; all of his classes were with Hufflepuffs or Ravenclaws. It seemed too good to be true; he looked up at McGonagall.

"Is something wrong with your schedule, Professor?" He thought she sounded amused, but he could never tell with her.

"It's perfect, which is why I'm surprised. How did it happen that all my classes line up at 2:00, one each day? That's an amazing coincidence," Harry pointed out.

Now he was sure she looked amused. "Well, I'm pleased that your native intelligence was sufficient to notice. It is not a coincidence at all, as you may have guessed. One of my responsibilities as Deputy Headmistress is supervising the assembling of the year's schedule. It is a difficult task, not to mention tedious. It was made much more difficult by the addition of a teacher who is also a student. I dealt with the situation by creating your schedule first; all others were created around that. So, there was no reason not to make yours, as you say, perfect. Your lessons will be finished by 4:00, so your evenings will be free for study and Quidditch, while my evenings will no doubt be laden with supervising dozens of your detentions." Harry looked up in surprise and smiled; he could not recall ever having heard her make a joke of any sort to him before. I bet she makes them more with Dumbledore or others, he thought.

"Well, let's hope not," he said. "Let's see how it goes. As Professor Dumbledore says, let's hope for the best."

She raised her eyebrows a bit. "Well, good... I'm pleased to see that he's rubbing off on you," she said. "Good night, Professor Potter." She walked off towards the teachers' quarters.

Most of the students had filed out by now. Harry headed off to Gryffindor Tower, McGonagall's words echoing in his head. "He's rubbing off on you..." Harry realized what a great opportunity this year was; as a teacher, he would have more access to Dumbledore, and as a student, he would take a very important class from him. Dumbledore was also giving Harry a lot of advice, and Harry knew he could profit by understanding Dumbledore better, understanding how he was the way he was. The conversation about admitting mistakes had been interesting; it seemed that Dumbledore gained strength by admitting weakness. Harry hoped he would understand these things at some point.

He turned a corner and saw the portrait of the Fat Lady. Harry realized with a start that he didn't know the password, and it looked as though everyone might already be inside. However, just at that moment, Ron climbed out of the portrait hole.

"Ah, there you are," said Ron. "I was wondering, you didn't come back..."

"McGonagall was giving me my schedule." He showed it to Ron.

"Wow, never seen one like this. As for your afternoons, I've got everything you've got, except Potions. Won't miss that. Hey, you've got no classes with Slytherins! As a student, that is. How'd that happen?"

"I forgot to ask her, but I'd bet it's deliberate. After the incident on my birthday, I think they're trying to keep me and Malfoy apart. A real tragedy, that."

"Be brave, I know you'll get through it somehow," Ron answered in the same vein. "Maybe you'll run into him in the hallways, find any old reason, and bang, he's in with McGonagall."

Harry shook his head. "Sounds good, but... if I have to explain to McGonagall why I did it, I'm going to want to give her a better reason than "I didn't like the way he was looking at me."

Ron laughed. "Knowing Malfoy, just stand near him for ten seconds, he'll give you a really valid reason."

"That's true. Oh, by the way, what's the password?"

"Pepperoni pizza."

"You're kidding," said Harry.

"It's all food this year. Don't ask me why. Hermione's idea. I know better than to ask." Harry understood that Ron wanted to avoid getting bogged down in explanations he didn't care about.

"Hey, speaking of Hermione, how are you on this Astronomy thing?"

Ron glanced around to make sure no one was listening. "Just between you and me, I'm not big on it. I got my 'Acceptable' pass, that's good enough for me. I could do without this."

"But as far as Hermione's concerned?" Harry asked, glancing around to make sure she didn't suddenly appear.

"Let's go, full steam ahead, 100% behind her. I can't wait to raise my Acceptable to an Outstanding. She was so thrilled. 'That's the spirit, Ron!'"

"I can't believe she believed you, it's so unlike you. She must be really bent out of shape on this, to not see what you were doing. This is so important to her."

"Which is why I'm 100% behind her. So to speak. Yeah, you should have heard her on the train. As soon as Malfoy and Parkinson leave the compartment, she starts in on it. Ernie was totally with her; he got Exceeds Expectations too, and by the time they're done going on about it it's the crime of the century, with historic and worldwide moral implications, you get the idea. Like me, Hannah didn't care, but unlike me, she was free to say so. But I'm totally behind her, you understand."

"Of course," Harry agreed. "Just don't forget you are."

"Shall we?" Ron asked, pointing back to the portrait.

Harry nodded. "Pepperoni pizza!" The portrait swung aside, and Ron climbed in, followed by Harry. Harry was greeted by a loud burst of cheers, people clapping him on the back, and people talking to him.

"A teacher! In our common room!"

"How did it happen?"

"Looking forward to your class!"

"You really burned Malfoy!"

Harry shook hands with well-wishers and talked to a few people at a time; there didn't seem to be a single Gryffindor who did not wish Harry well. He noted that those who approached him tended to be older students; he wondered if the younger ones were too intimidated to approach him. The famous Harry Potter, now a teacher, a larger-than-life figure. He chuckled to himself at the idea; he definitely never felt larger than life.

He was even approached by Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown, both of whom had been in the D.A. but had kept a certain distance from Harry in general; he wondered if it was because of his disdain for Professor Trelawney, whom they both revered. Both congratulated him on his new job, and thanked him for his help in the D.A. the previous year ("Our parents were shocked that Padma and I both got Outstandings; now they're big fans of yours!"). He awkwardly thanked them and changed the subject to the excitement of taking lessons from Dumbledore.

Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of a whistle. Harry looked around and saw no one with a whistle, but Ginny was trying to get people's attention, so Harry assumed she must have done it with her wand. Maybe a spell she learned from her mother, Harry thought. It sounded like something Mrs. Weasley might do.

"Everyone... I just want to give us a chance, as a group, to congratulate Harry on being the youngest-ever teacher at Hogwarts. And you were the youngest-ever Quidditch player, too! They'll have to write new record books."

Flush with their approval, Harry felt like cutting up a bit. He affected the air of pompous politicians he'd seen on Muggle chat shows, and said, "Yes, thank you, Ginny. My next goal is, after Professor Dumbledore retires, to become the youngest-ever Hogwarts headmaster." To their widespread laughter, he added, "But first, I plan on becoming the youngest-ever teacher to give Malfoy over one hundred hours of detentions." This got even greater laughter and cheers, and shouts of encouragement.

Ginny continued, "And we all hope to see you accomplish that goal. One other thing I wanted to say is to thank you for standing up for Neville." Others voiced approval; Neville was smiling but still looked embarrassed. "And," Ginny went on, "there's something you deserve, but I think Neville will be too shy to give you, so I will." She took a step forward, reached up, and kissed him on the cheek. This was met with cheers and laughter, the latter of which Harry assumed was inspired by his obvious embarrassment.

Seamus and Dean were teasing Neville, Dean saying "Go on, then, Neville, don't be shy! He stood up for you, after all!" Harry laughed; Ron was in hysterics.

Neville was laughing, too. He stepped forward, and said, "Well, no kissing, Harry, but I do want to thank you. You stood up for me, and got him good."

Harry shook his head, as if to say that it was nothing he needed to be thanked for. "Well, I wouldn't have been able to say what I said if you hadn't done so well on your O.W.L."

Ginny's little ceremony was over; people were returning to their own conversations, so Harry headed over to Ron and Hermione near the fireplace. He sat down in a chair they had saved for him and exhaled. "Well, that was quite an experience."

"You mean Ginny kissing you?" Hermione teased.

Harry started to shoot her an annoyed look before he realized that she was teasing him. "No, the speech, of course. I'd never spoken to that many people before."

"I know. You were so embarrassed when she kissed you, it was really cute."

"Well, I just wasn't expecting it." He paused. "Better her than Neville, though."

"Well, that's quite a compliment," said Ginny, having just walked over. "I'll cherish that for the rest of my days... he'd rather be kissed by me than Neville..." She smiled wickedly.

He feigned annoyance. "Having quite a bit of humor at my expense tonight, aren't you?"

"Well, to be fair," she protested, "I didn't kiss you just to make fun of you. I really do think it was great of you to do that." She paused. "Your being embarrassed was just a side benefit."

"Glad I could be of help," Harry countered. "I guess it's good, though; you should have at me now and then, so I don't get too big a head from being a teacher."

"Oh, don't worry, Harry, we'll make sure that doesn't happen," said Hermione. "We're your friends. We wouldn't let you get away with it."

"No, I wouldn't think so," Harry agreed. "So, anything happen on the Hogwarts Express worth telling?"

"No, not really," said Ron. "Malfoy was his usual horrible self, kept making cracks about you, your Muggle family, you know the routine. About us, a bit, too, but mostly you. Must still be hurting from the disciplinary hearing. I wanted so badly to come back with stuff about Dudley. But I didn't, don't worry."

"Sorry... I just feel like my aunt does have at least some reason to be worried."

"No, no big deal. I really also found myself wanting to tell him about you being a teacher, but Hermione was right, it would've been bad. Anyway, finally he left. Things got a lot better after that. Later, after we joined Ginny and Neville in their compartment, he and his minions came by. 'Where's Potty? Off doing publicity photos?' He seemed to be really curious. Boy, did I want to tell him."

"Ron did pretty well, though," said Hermione. "He said, 'he's off at the Ministry, giving testimony against your father.' Malfoy looked really angry, and said, 'you wait, they'll be out of there soon enough.' Ron was really quick, he just said, 'Oh, thanks, Malfoy, I'll be sure to tell my Dad to have them increase security.' Malfoy got red again and stomped out."

"Well done, Ron," said Harry encouragingly. "You do that long enough, he might even start leaving us alone."

"That's a bit much to hope for," Ron pointed out. "Hey, how about you? How was your weekend up here?" Harry started telling the story; it took about half an hour to cover the highlights. They were most impressed by his dinner with Dumbledore.

"Wow..." Ron exclaimed. "A private dinner with Professor Dumbledore... that must've been so cool..."

"I was nervous, but not for long. You know, I'm sure, he has this way of making you not feel nervous. But, yeah, it was pretty great. He told me all kinds of stuff." He related some of it, including his answer about the Veil of Mystery. He suddenly remembered something. "Hey, Neville!" he said; Neville was reading a few yards away. He put down his book and walked over. "Yeah, Harry?"

"Remember that archway in the Department of Mysteries? The one you told us you had dreams about? When we were in that room first, what did you notice about it?"

"I wasn't sure-I was standing a ways away from it-but I thought I heard voices coming from it, as if there were people inside it. Why? Did you hear that too?"

Harry explained what Dumbledore had said about it. "So that's why Luna, you, and I heard stuff, but the others didn't. It's like with the thestrals."

Neville looked puzzled. "Yeah, but Harry, you said he said you had to have lost a loved one? I never have. The reason I see thestrals is because a friend of my gran's died while she was at our place, and I happened to be there. But I hardly knew her, and no one else I know has died."

Harry frowned. "That's really strange, but that is what he said. I'll try to ask him again if I think of it. Oh, Hermione, how's it going with the Astronomy test?"

She brightened. "I talked to Ernie on the train, and he completely agrees with me. He's going to start talking to Hufflepuffs, and try to find out if anyone failed and is interested in joining us. We don't want to make a big campaign of it because of possible backlash. But it's nice to find someone who agrees with me."

"We agree with you, Hermione," said Harry gamely. Hermione smiled, a bit sadly.

"You two... it's more right to say that you don't disagree with me. You really don't care one way or the other. It's like the reverse of Quidditch. I watch the matches, I want you to win, but I can't feel about it the way you do. You can't feel about this the way I do. I wish you could, but I understand. I can be happy with the fact that you'd like to care, like I'd like to care about Quidditch."

Harry and Ron looked a bit deflated, as though they'd been found out, but relieved that Hermione was being nice about it. "We do want to support you, Hermione," protested Harry. "If you ask us to do something, we'll do it."

"I know. And I do appreciate it, and I'll ask if I can think of something besides signing the petition. But sometimes... you need someone who feels the same way you do, it makes you feel like you're not alone. But you tried, and thanks for that."

They talked for a bit longer, then headed off to their respective rooms. Harry and Ron climbed the steps talking about Quidditch.

"...and the tryouts are Friday? Good, I'll be able to come. No detentions to do with Umbridge this year."

"You can't know, Harry, you've got Snape tomorrow, after all. You never know when he's going to get you for something."

"Oh, didn't I tell you? Dumbledore's decided that because I'm a teacher, I can't be given detentions when I'm a student."

Ron looked truly impressed by this. "So, you could do anything you wanted?"

Harry gave him a wan smile. "No, I couldn't. If I do something that merits detention, the consequences are worse. I have to look Dumbledore in the eye and tell him why I did what I did. You remember what it was like with him when we flew the car?"

Harry could tell by the expression on Ron's face that he recalled vividly how Dumbledore, instead of acting strict as most teachers would, gave off an air of saddened disappointment, leaving Harry and Ron feeling as though they'd let him down personally. "Yeah, I see what you mean," Ron said. "Oh, well, it was a nice thought."

They climbed into their beds. Harry's mind was churning with nervousness about the next day, and not only about the classes he would teach. Snape was the teacher listed on his schedule, so McGonagall had clearly somehow convinced him to accept Harry. But he knew that the lesson would be a trial. Lying in the bed, Harry decided to make Potions a test of his ability to do what Dumbledore had asked of him. He had already decided to work extra hard in Potions and keep up with the others, as Snape would be looking for excuses to criticize him, having no doubt resisted Harry's presence in the class. But now, Harry also planned to ignore every provocation, every insult, every sneer. Do what Dumbledore asked you to do, Harry thought. If he thinks you can do it, you can do it. He said I won't succeed all the time, but I should try.

Not wanting to forget before he fell asleep, Harry concentrated on clearing his mind with the Occlumency exercises he learned from Dumbledore. It was not long before he was asleep.

Harry got up at 6:50, which was earlier than he strictly had to, but this was the first day, so he wanted extra time, as did the others in his dormitory; he was the last to get out of bed. He dressed quickly, put his Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers' book and his Potions text in his bag, and headed off to breakfast in the Great Hall. Ron and Hermione were already there and had saved a place for him, at the end of the hall closest to the teachers' table. They had sat there consistently for most of their time at Hogwarts so that if Malfoy wanted to come by and cause trouble, he would have to do so in the full view of teachers. Naturally, Malfoy only tended to come by when no teachers were around. Harry sat down.

"So, how are your schedules?" he asked.

"Not too bad, even Hermione's, even though she still has ten subjects," Ron answered, his tone suggesting that not all was well with Hermione. "Thank goodness in N.E.W.T. classes there's only two lessons a week, so even on Hermione's worst day, she only has five lessons, and I've got four on mine. But of course, you're supposed to study more outside, so it doesn't seem that much easier."

"Nor should it, Mr. Weasley." Professor McGonagall stopped as she headed to the teachers' table. "These two years will be the most demanding academically of your time at Hogwarts."

Ron sighed. "Yes, I know that, Professor. When I think about all that work, a joke shop starts to look pretty good."

McGonagall raised her eyebrows slightly. "Did your brothers tell you that I dropped in on their shop last week?" The surprised looks on their faces told McGonagall that they had not known. "They seem to be doing quite well. I told them that I was there doing reconnaissance; I want to know what sorts of things I'll be confiscating this year. The fact is, I also wanted to express my appreciation for their actions last year. The students were not the only ones whose spirits they lifted."

Harry, Ron and Hermione all looked even more surprised now; this was McGonagall letting her hair down, compared to her usual manner. Harry said, "Yes, I was telling them at the shop that they should have gotten a Special Award for Services to the School."

"Well, Professor, if you were serious, you could attempt to see that they get it."

Harry's eyes widened. "Is that something I can do?"

"You can put them up for one," she explained. "If a teacher thinks a student deserves such an award, the teacher can suggest it to the headmaster, who will consult other teachers for advice, and then decide. None have been given out for last year."

"Wouldn't it be too late?" Hermione asked.

"The deadline is six months after the 'services' have been performed, so there would still be time."

"Well, then I am going to talk to Professor Dumbledore about that, because I really do think they deserve it," said Harry. "They could put the plaque up on the wall near that swamp they made, that would be fitting."

"You are quite fond of the twins, Professor," she observed.

Harry nodded. "They've been really good to me."

Ron scoffed. "I'd say it's more like you've been really good to them."

McGonagall gave Harry a quizzical look. "Ron's referring to how they got the gold to open their shop," Harry explained. "It was from me; I gave them my Triwizard winnings." Ron and Hermione chuckled at the look of incredulity on McGonagall's face; it wasn't something they saw often.

"I just didn't want to keep it," Harry answered her unasked question. "It should have been Cedric's. I tried to give it to his parents, but they wouldn't take it. Seeing the shop, I know I did the right thing."

"You felt the money was... tainted somehow? Because of Cedric's death?"

"Maybe partly that, and partly that I was helped to get that far; Barty Crouch was trying to steer me through it. Dobby got me gillyweed after he heard what he thought was Professor Moody talking about it to you in the staff room; I would've failed the task otherwise. I didn't deserve to win, I didn't deserve the money."

McGonagall looked concerned, and sat down next to Harry at the Gryffindor table. "Is that really what you think, Harry?" He nodded. She assumed a stern expression. "Listen to me. Do you think the other students had no one helping them? Their headmasters did all they could for them, I'm certain of it. Professor Sprout may have helped Cedric, for all I know. Only a great deal of self-control prevented me from helping you. You were three years underage, thrown into the contest against your will... if anyone deserved extra help, it was you. What matters, in any case, is not how you got the tools to do what you did, the important thing is what you did. You flew brilliantly against a very dangerous dragon. In the second task, you found the captives first, and were willing to sacrifice your score to make sure no one was harmed. In the maze, Barty Crouch did remove some of your obstacles, but I am certain you could have found your way past them. You saved Cedric from the giant spider, when you could have let him be attacked and taken the prize. You deserved the prize, because you competed well, and you showed character and humanity. Now, you two," she concluded, looking at Ron and Hermione, "you will remind him of this from time to time, I hope?" She got up, walked over to the teachers' table, and struck up a conversation with Professor Smith. Ron and Hermione looked stunned, as did Harry.

"Well, she sure told you, mate," said Ron with an impressed look.

"She's right, of course, Harry," said Hermione earnestly. Harry wasn't sure what to think. He wanted to believe McGonagall, but he had told himself that he didn't deserve it for so long, it was hard to let go of that opinion so suddenly.

A flood of owls came pouring into the room, as happened every day, but especially the first day of the term, as parents sent things the students forgot. Harry involuntarily looked down the table at Neville, but it seemed that he had forgotten nothing this year. A good sign, Harry thought.

Hermione got up and walked over to near the Hufflepuff table, where Ernie Macmillan had been waving at her. Harry looked at Ron, "Astronomy?"

"Must be," Ron agreed. "They'll be comparing notes on who's willing to join them, and how to get the Ravenclaws involved."

"Ravenclaws can't get involved," Harry pointed out . "They weren't there. It was just us and the Hufflepuffs."

"Oh, I'd forgotten that," Ron said. "Well, then it might be easier to get people to go along, right?"

"Seems so," Harry agreed. "Ernie'll be working on the Hufflepuffs, and Hermione on the Gryffindors. But I'm not sure how much influence she'll have. She doesn't get along that well with Parvati and Lavender. Neville will be in, I assume, but she doesn't know Dean or Seamus that well, either. Maybe we should talk to them."

"Good idea," agreed Ron. "After all, I'm a prefect, and you're... well, you're Harry Potter. Maybe we can get them to help."

Hermione came back to the table. "Ernie says three of the Hufflepuffs failed, so they'll be with us. He's going to work on the other ones."

"Too bad more of us couldn't have failed. At least you did your part, Harry," said Ron solemnly.

"They didn't follow my shining example," agreed Harry. "Am I the only Gryffindor that failed, Hermione?"

"No, Neville did, too. Five out of eighteen failed, which is a much higher percentage than usual. That should help, too. It's also unusual for no one to get an Outstanding. My next thing to do is to ask Professor McGonagall if I can find statistics on the average scores for the Astronomy O.W.L. test. If ours are substantially lower than usual, that helps my petition."

"Well, good luck. Wow, look at the time, it's already ten to eight. I should get going. Want to be ready when the students get there." He got up; Ron and Hermione did too.

"You'll do great," said Ron.

Hermione walked up to face Harry, and smiled mischievously. "So, will you get embarrassed if I give you a kiss for luck?"

Harry smiled back. "Probably. But go ahead, anyway." She did, then she and Ron walked away, giving Harry last words of encouragement. He picked up his bag and headed to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.

He walked in through the office door; each classroom had an office for the teacher attached to it. As he sat down at the desk, the thought crossed his mind that this was where Umbridge had sat last year. It gave him motivation; he felt part of the reason he was in the chair now was to keep others like Umbridge out.

Harry did not have a specific lesson plan for this lesson. The day's students would all be first years, some of them knowing almost nothing about the magical world, so he would have to go a little slowly. He knew how it had been for him in his first year, and he wasn't going to forget that now. He wanted to be sure that no one was left behind, not understanding what he was talking about. He also reminded himself of his intention to treat the class somewhat like it was a big D.A. He didn't think of himself as a teacher so much as an older student, who should give advice and help to younger students as needed. He felt nervous, but thinking of it as the D.A. helped ease his anxiety.

Just then, the bell rang, signaling the start of class. Harry walked out of the office into the classroom. He was greeted by twenty faces, faces that looked impossibly young. He looked at the roll sheet, which was already at the podium he stood at. He looked up again, and saw expectant faces-some nervous, some gawking, some eager, but none disinterested.

"Well, this is your first class, so let me welcome you all to Hogwarts. I hope you enjoyed the feast last night, and weren't too scared at the Sorting." A few students chuckled, obviously the ones who had been scared. "I was, when I was Sorted. I thought I was going to have to do something. If I'd known it was just putting on a hat, I wouldn't have worried at all." There were a few more chuckles. A boy raised his hand. "Yes?" Harry asked. "What's your name?"

"David Finch-Fletchley, sir."

Harry raised his eyebrows. "Justin's brother?"

"Yes, sir." David looked nervous but intent. "Can I ask, did the Hat talk to you? If it did, what did it say?"

Interesting, Harry thought. No one's ever asked me that question before, and it's the first question I'm asked here. This is going to be a pretty different experience.

Harry could have deflected the question, but impulsively decided to be open, and share what had happened. "Yes, it did. I understand it talks to some people, not to others. It said several things to me, including that it was having a difficult time choosing a house for me." Harry wanted to be honest, but he didn't think it was a good idea to tell ten Slytherin first years that he had pleaded not to be put into their house. He decided to tell the truth, but change the emphasis. "The Hat couldn't decide between Gryffindor and Slytherin. It finally chose Gryffindor."

Students were mumbling and exchanging surprised and impressed looks. "Why did it choose Gryffindor?" David asked.

"I think, mainly because I asked it to. I had made a couple of friends on the train, and they went into Gryffindor, so I wanted to go there." This stirred more murmuring. A student near the front said, "You mean you can choose where you go?" David said, "I wish I'd thought of that," which caused a small murmur of laughter.

Harry was curious. "I assume you would have chosen Hufflepuff?"

"Well, yes... nothing against Gryffindor, seems like a great house, but I expected to be in Hufflepuff. I heard that most brothers get put in the same house."

"They often do, but not always," said Harry. "Did the Hat talk to you? Was that why you asked?"

"Yes, it did," David said. "It said it knew I wanted to go into Hufflepuff, but I was different from my brother, so it couldn't put me there. It said I would do well in Gryffindor."

"In that case, asking it wouldn't have done any good. It already had a strong opinion. In my case, it chose what I wanted because it didn't have a strong opinion. Or maybe because it knew it was important for me to be with my friends. I don't really know."

Harry was about to move off the topic when David raised his hand again. "Sir, those friends, are they Ron and Hermione?"

Harry was startled. How did he know that? Ah, Justin's brother, he thought. "I see your brother has told you a few things about his classes?"

"Oh, yes, and lots about you, and how Ron and Hermione help you. I remember when I was seven, that was the year he got Petrified, and so did Hermione, but you and Ron went into the Chamber of Secrets, and you killed the great serpent that had taken Ginny Weasley."

Before Harry could answer, a girl piped up, "That's right, we asked Ginny about you last night, and she said you saved her life."

This caused greater murmuring. I'd better stop this before it gets out of hand, Harry thought. Who knows how many stories they've heard. "Okay, I think I want to stop this discussion before it gets too far. If you want to ask about stuff I've done in another class, that's okay, but there are some other things I think we should do today. Now..." he saw a boy in the back with his hand up. "Yes?" Harry asked.

"Please, sir, just one more... you met You-Know-Who? You fought him? How did you survive?" Harry felt the energy level of the students rise even more. They really want to know about this, from someone who's seen Voldemort with his own eyes. He wanted to move on, but he couldn't ignore the question.

"I met him, yes. I fought him, yes. How did I survive?" He paused for effect, then looked at them seriously. "I was incredibly lucky." The students laughed. Harry smiled. "It's true, really. Again, I can't tell you the whole story now, but maybe some other time."

Another girl spoke up. While raising her hand, she said, "That's okay, sir, I have the article, the interview you gave about when You-Know-Who came back. I can show anyone who wants to see it." This generated more interested comments.

"And you are...?"

"Andrea Creevey, sir."

Harry smiled. "How many more Creeveys are there?"

"I'm the last one, sir. My two brothers were in your Dumbledore's Army group last year," she said, Harry suspected, more for the benefit of the other students than for him, "and they said it was really great, they learned so much. Did you learn a lot from fighting You-Know-Who?"

Harry was starting to get tired of hearing that phrase. Be patient, he told himself, they're only first years, they don't know. But I'm going to have to tell them.

"First of all... you've all been saying 'You-Know-Who.' I know it's what most people say, but it's not what I say. His name..." Harry paused so they could steel themselves, "... is Voldemort."

Harry could have predicted the reaction: several shrieks, a lot of gasps, a few other random noises. Harry gave them a very serious look. "I know some of you will be scared to hear that. I know you're not used to it. But Professor Dumbledore told me five years ago to always use his name. He said, 'fear of the name of a thing only increases fear of the thing itself,' and he was right. We have to fight him, and how can we fight him if we can't say his name? You're going to have to get used to it, and once you do, you'll think it's silly not to say his name. I want to hear you all saying his name in this class.

"Now, to answer your question, Andrea, no, I didn't learn magic from fighting him, I learned it because I knew I might have to fight him. I probably will have to in the future. He wants me dead." Most students' eyes went wide. "It gives me a real good reason to keep learning."

A sandy-haired boy near the front raised his hand. "Sir, You-Know- er, you-... do you want us to say his name?"

Harry nodded, encouraging the boy with his eyes. "If you can."

The boy seemed to be gathering all his strength. "Sir, if V- Voldemort-" He said it very fast; like ripping off a bandage quickly, Harry thought. He then exhaled sharply, as other students gasped. "...is the most powerful wizard in the world, and he wants you dead, how can you not be scared?"

Harry looked the boy over. "Before I answer your question, I want to know... what's your name?"

"Hedrick Flatt, sir."

"And which house are you in?"

"Slytherin."

"Do you know about the point system, Hedrick? How you can gain and lose points for your house?"

"Yes, sir." Hedrick looked very nervous.

"Well, Hedrick, you've just earned twenty points for Slytherin."

There was a collective gasp; apparently they knew that twenty points was a lot. "For saying his name?" asked Hedrick, flabbergasted.

"Yes. It was difficult for you to do it. It was brave of you. Obviously I can't give twenty points every time someone says his name. I will still give points, until you get used to it. But, Hedrick, you get twenty because you did it first. It's a good first step.. Now to answer your question... first of all, I don't agree that he's the most powerful wizard in the world. I believe the most powerful wizard in the world is Albus Dumbledore. I should know; I saw them fight, just over two months ago. Voldemort..." There were a few gasps, but not so many this time, "...got away, but he wasn't winning. He wasn't going to defeat Professor Dumbledore. Now, you wanted to know how I can not be scared... that's a good question." Harry paused for a moment, considering how to answer; he wasn't really sure. "The best answer I can think of is that I'm stubborn. I refuse to live scared. I don't want to die, but I won't live in fear, because that's not really living. He wants us to be scared of him, he wants us to be afraid to say his name. I say his name as a way of defying him. He could kill me, but while I'm alive, I'll live the way I want to."

There was silence for a few seconds, then, to Harry's astonishment, a few students started clapping, until everyone had joined in. Harry was truly embarrassed now, though pleased; he had to imagine that this was the students' first exposure to anything but fear concerning Voldemort. Maybe this is why Dumbledore asked me to teach, he thought.

He walked back to the podium as the applause died out, and said, "Thank you. Now I need to call the roll. When I call your name, please raise your hand and say 'here.'" He ran through the roll. There was one more familiar name; it turned out that 'Brown, Heather' was Lavender's sister.

Harry walked out away from the podium again. He had discovered that he didn't like standing behind it; he liked to move around, especially to move nearer to whatever student was asking a question. "Okay. Now, as you know, this class is Defense Against the Dark Arts. There's a textbook, which I see everyone has. I advise you to read the textbook; there's a lot of good information in there. But you're not going to need to bring your textbooks to class anymore. We won't be using it here. In class, we're going to focus on practical things, not the kind of knowledge you get from a book. Normally, we would use the book. Does anyone know why we're doing mainly practical things?"

No one moved or spoke for a few seconds. Then Andrea Creevey raised her hand. "Yes, Andrea?"

Looking pleased that Harry had remembered her name, she said, "Because he... um... Because Voldemort came back." It sounded difficult for her to say it as well. There was only a mild reaction now. They're acclimating to it better than I expected, Harry thought.

"Yes, that's exactly right, Andrea, very good. And ten points to Gryffindor." She beamed with pleasure. "It's because he's back. Now, that doesn't mean you're going to have to fight him. But the problem with him being back is, it's not just him. He has helpers, assistants. They are called Death Eaters." There was a bit of a gasp. Andrea raised her hand again.

"Are they the ones you fought in June? At the Department of Mysteries?" This caused quite a rumbling as well.

"How did you know about that, Andrea?

"Neville told Colin, sir. And Colin told Dennis and I."

"I see. Yes, we had to fight some Death Eaters. Now, as I was saying, he has assistants, including them. There are also people who he can put under a kind of mind control, to make them do what he wants. They don't want to follow him, but if he controls them, they have no choice. There are also dementors, which he now controls. The more followers he has, the more danger everyone is in. Fifteen years ago, he was really powerful, because he had a lot of followers. Many people didn't know how evil he was until it was too late. Now we know, and we can fight him."

A Slytherin named Augustina Delva raised her hand. "How can we fight him?"

Harry was finding that the nervousness he had felt was fading rapidly, as he was focused on talking to the students. "You can't fight him with wands, Augustina, not yet. But you can fight him in different ways. You can fight him by saying his name. By not being scared of him. By making friends, both in your house and in other houses. By being kind to people."

Augustina was confused. "How will that help fight Voldemort?"

"Five points to Slytherin. Yes, Andrea? Do you know the answer to Augustina's question?

"I think so, sir. After Cedric Diggory was killed... my brothers told me that Professor Dumbledore announced to the school who killed him, and he didn't say You-Know-Who, he said Voldemort. And he said that we had to be united, to make friends, so we could fight him as a group."

"Exactly, Andrea. Groups are stronger than individuals. The better we make friends, the better groups we make. And being kind to people helps make friends." The topic had come up in his dinner with Dumbledore; he now felt he understood it in a way he hadn't at the end of his fourth year. "This is a very difficult point in wizarding history. To get through it, we have to try harder than we normally would. My way of trying is teaching this class. Your way can be doing your best to do well. The better you do, the better you can protect yourself and your friends if you ever have to. Maybe you won't have to. I hope you won't. But it's better to be prepared." He looked around; there finally seemed to be no more questions.

"Okay, now we're going to start using our wands. The first thing to teach you is really easy, it's a kind of test spell. It's called 'Blue.' You point your wand at someone and say 'Blue,' and they turn blue. Now, everyone please get up, and move your desks to the side of the room. We want a lot of space. Now, get into pairs, and stand across from your partner. No, line up like this..." He eventually got them into two rows of ten, so he could observe them better. He felt even more comfortable now, doing things he had done in the D.A. "Good. Now, this side, point your wand at your partner and say, 'Blue!'"

"Blue!" many voices shouted. The other row of students now had faces of varying shades of blue. There was an outbreak of laughing and giggling.

"Good, very good. The color won't last for long, about fifteen seconds at most... see, it's already starting to go away. Okay, now this side, go!"

The other ten turned blue, to more laughter. Harry looked for the bluest one, and found that his partner was David Finch-Fletchley. "David, look, your partner is really blue," he said encouragingly. David blushed. Harry continued, "Now, that spell doesn't have much of a use most of the time, but it can be helpful in a class. I want to show you how. David, would you please do that spell on me?"

The other students laughed at David's obvious nervousness at turning his teacher blue. He pointed the wand at Harry, said "Blue." Harry looked at his hand, which was a deep shade of blue. He smiled. "I've always kind of liked blue," he said, to which most of the class laughed again. "Okay, now let's wait for it to go away... I asked David to do that because I want to show you something, and first I wanted you to see that the spell would work on me. Now, David, I want you to do the same thing again, okay?"

David nodded, raised his wand and shouted, "Blue," just as Harry said, "Protego!" Harry looked at his hand, which was its normal color. Some of the students ooohed and ahhed. "Does anyone know what I did?"

David raised his hand. "You did the Protection Charm."

"Yes, very good. Five points to Gryffindor."

A Slytherin named David Septus raised his hand and said, "But he didn't say 'Voldemort!'"

The class broke up laughing. Harry smiled. "No, but you did, so five points to Slytherin." Septus looked pleased. "But I don't only give points for saying 'Voldemort.' Like other teachers, I give them for correct answers, and other things I want to encourage. I just think that saying 'Voldemort' is an important first step, and giving points is my way of saying I think it's important." Harry was very pleased to note that there had been no flinching at all when he said 'Voldemort' most recently. That was a good sign.

"As I was saying, yes, that was the Protection Charm. It's one of the first things I want to teach you. Now, normally, we don't teach this spell until the third year. It can be a little difficult. But some of you will be able to do it well, and everyone will be able to do it at least a little. It's a very important one. I used it a lot at the Department of Mysteries." The class exchanged impressed looks. "To use this spell, you first need to imagine a shield in front of you. Everyone, do that now. Imagine a shield. It may help if you make it colorful, with its own design." Some students chuckled. "Mine is gold and red, with my house's symbol on it; choose whatever design you want. I think a design helps you see it better, and makes the spell better. Has everyone got the shield in their head? Okay, now for practice, hold your wands, imagine the shield, and say, 'Protego!'"

"Protego!" shouted twenty voices.

"Okay, good," said Harry. "Now, I want this side," gesturing to the ten students on his left, "to do the 'blue' spell when I say-"

A Gryffindor near the back got overeager, and said 'Blue!' to his partner, who turned blue immediately. The rest of the class roared with laughter. Harry couldn't help laughing a little himself. "A little too soon, there, Eric, but I like the spirit. Let's wait a minute, for Devan to get back to his normal color. Okay, that's good. Now, when I say to, you ten try to turn your partner blue, and you ten do the Protection Charm. Got your shields in your mind?" The ten on his right nodded. "Okay, go ahead."

"Blue!"

"Protego!"

The results were mixed; some students were as blue as they had been before, but others were noticeably lighter shades of blue. Only David Finch-Fletchley was his usual skin color.

"David, I'm guessing you've done this before?"

He nodded. "Justin taught it to me."

"Well, he obviously did a good job," Harry observed. "Now, the results you saw were pretty good for a first try. What we'll do now is practice some more, each group taking turns, and I'll have a look at everybody."

The next half hour was spent practicing the spell, and to Harry's satisfaction, they did get better at it. He then talked for a while about basic ideas about magic, and ways for the students to get used to using magic if they didn't already know much about it. Before he knew it, he glanced up at the clock to see that it was 9:45. Wow, that was fast, he thought.

"It looks like we're almost out of time. Before we finish it up, does anyone have any questions? Yes, Eric."

"Voldemort," said Eric. The class was silent for a second, then erupted in laughter when they realized what he was doing.

"Very good, Eric, five points to Gryffindor," confirmed Harry, amused.

A Slytherin girl named Helen Clark raised her hand to ask, "Sir, this question has nothing to do with Voldemort, but..."

"...you wanted to get your five points," Harry finished.

"Yes, sir... my question is, last night in the Slytherin common room, Draco Malfoy and a few other people were... well, they were.."

Harry nodded. "Saying really awful things about me." She nodded. "And my friends, too, I'd guess."

"Yes, sir. Why does he say that? I mean, I hope all my classes are like this." There were definite murmurs of agreement.

Harry paused briefly, thinking. He knew it wasn't quite proper for a teacher to speak frankly about another student, but he quickly decided, too bad, I'm going to do it anyway. "Draco Malfoy doesn't like me because I don't agree with how he thinks about things. For example, I like Muggles. I think they're just as good as wizards. Malfoy thinks Muggles are worthless. Also, he judges wizards on whether they have any Muggle blood or not; I don't think it matters. He judges wizards on how much gold they have; I don't think that matters either. I think people should be judged on their actions, that's all. But he hates me more than other people because I'm famous." Harry briefly told them the story of their meeting on the Hogwarts Express, and how he'd put down Ron without even knowing him. "Now, the reason he said what he said is that he wants you to hate me, too. He wants all the Slytherins to hate me, so everyone will tell him he's right. All he wants is for people to agree with him, to tell him he's right. You can find out for yourself. If you say something that he disagrees with, he'll insult you, he'll tell you you're stupid and no good. It doesn't matter what it is, that's what he'll do.

"He's also angry at me now especially because his father's in trouble. Do you remember I mentioned that my friends and I had to fight some Death Eaters at the Department of Mysteries?" They nodded. "His father was one of them. He and some others were caught, by Professor Dumbledore, and are now in jail."

There was silence. Then David Finch-Fletchley asked, "Do you think Malfoy's going to become a Death Eater after he leaves Hogwarts?"

The class was rapt. Harry's first impulse was to say 'yes,' but then he remembered Dumbledore. "I don't know," he said. "I hope not. It looks like he will; he was gloating after Voldemort came back, gloating at Cedric Diggory's death, saying he hoped that Hermione would be next, because she's Muggle-born." Some students looked repulsed. "But we can never know what will happen in the future. Something could change. I hope it does."

He looked at the clock again. "Okay, we're almost out of time. Let me say this before we go: Always think for yourself. You can think 'Potter's class is good,' or 'Potter's class is terrible,' or you can think that Quidditch is exciting or that it's stupid. You can think whatever you want. But decide by yourself. Don't let someone else tell you what to think. Don't think something because you were told to. Decide for yourself. That's another way to fight Voldemort. He surrounds himself with people who let him think for them. You owe it to yourself, to think for yourself. And try to practice the Protection Charm before next lesson," he said quickly as the bell rang.

The students got up and started chattering among themselves immediately as they gathered their things for their next lessons. A few students approached Harry's desk. The first to get there was Helen, who said, "I don't blame you for choosing Gryffindor. I was really upset last night. Now I know he's totally wrong."

Harry nodded sympathetically and said, "You can help change that. You and people like you can make Slytherin a better place." She thanked him, and left. Two Gryffindors just wanted to thank Harry, to say they enjoyed the lesson. He thanked them, and they left. Harry went back to the office to take a break.

Or at least he thought it was a break. He walked in to find Professor Dumbledore there waiting for him.

"Professor Dumbledore! You startled me, I didn't think anyone would be in here. Did you come to tell me something before my next class?"

"No, Harry. I must admit to having had a keen curiosity about how you would conduct your class. I hope you do not mind; I have been here since class started."

Harry was surprised. "Oh, well, of course I don't mind. I'd be really interested in any comments you have."

"Just one, Harry. Many teachers hide their true personality behind a shield; they put on a different persona, one of authority. Students always sense that, and it keeps them from making a personal connection with the teacher. You did not do that here; you were yourself. Keep doing that. That was as good a first class as I have ever seen. That is my comment." He patted Harry on the shoulder and walked out the back door of the office.

Harry felt himself fill with pride. The students clearly enjoyed it, and to have Dumbledore say that... this would be a good time to remember the next time I need a Patronus, Harry thought. He glanced at the office clock; there was five minutes until the next lesson. Harry closed his eyes and tried to clear his mind.

The second lesson went much like the first; many asked questions about him and his past, and some wanted to know about Voldemort. Again, he gave twenty points to the first student to say Voldemort's name, and again, the students clearly enjoyed it. Feeling quite good, Harry headed off to lunch. He found Ron and Hermione in their usual spots. He sat down.

"Well, I guess we don't have to ask you how your classes went," was Ron's first comment.

"Why not?" asked Harry, confused.

"Are you kidding?" Hermione said. "The whole school is buzzing with it. Your first class started telling people in the halls on their way to classes, and it's worked its way around. Apparently, they loved your class, and you're giving points for people saying Voldemort's name." She shook her head in admiration, and smiled.

"Well, I want to encourage them. If people stop fearing the name, I really think it'll be really good for our side. Actually, a Slytherin was the first to do it. I gave him twenty points."

"Twenty points?" gaped Ron. "That's not gonna help us," referring to the House Cup.

"He deserved it. He was the first one, and that's the hardest." He shook his head. "In some ways, it kind of reminded me of the Hog's Head. They really wanted to know about Voldemort, about the stuff I've done, that we've done. I made sure you two got credit."

"Great, now these first years'll be running up to me, all 'wow, you're friends with Harry Potter, can you tell us what it was like to fight with him?'" said Ron wryly.

Smiling, Hermione said, "Well, just don't tell them you were assaulted by a brain. It won't make you look good." Ron just made a face in response; Harry chuckled.

"In a way, today may have been my easiest class," Harry said. "These were brand-new students, Malfoy hasn't had time to indoctrinate them. As the class levels get higher, I'll get more and more resistance."

"Maybe, but you'll have a chance to win them over," Hermione pointed out. "Almost all of them don't hate you personally, but just because Malfoy told them to. If they like your class, they'll forget what Malfoy wants. It may not happen at once, but over the long term, you can do it."

"I hope you're right," Harry said.

"I am right. I was right when I said you'd be a great teacher, wasn't I?

Just then, two first-year Gryffindor girls walked past them. They waved at Harry, said "Hi!", and walked on. About ten paces on, both giggled.

Hermione raised her eyebrows. "On second thought, why don't I just go ask them what they think, of how good a teacher you are?" Ron snickered.

"Yeah, but you thought Lockhart was a good teacher, and you were a year older than them," Harry pointed out. Ron laughed out loud.

Hermione pouted slightly. "Fine, here I'm trying to be nice to you, telling you how good you are, and you have to throw that back in my face." She looked at him accusingly. Harry wasn't sure how serious she was.

"Sorry, Hermione, I know you're trying to be nice," Harry said.

"Remember, Fred and George wouldn't fall for that, Harry, but you do," said Ron smugly.

Hermione made the same face at Ron that he'd made at her earlier. "That's because Harry's nicer than they are."

Two more girls came by, Hufflepuffs this time. They waved, but didn't say anything. After they walked off, Hermione said, "I'm beginning to wonder if this could start to be a problem for you, Harry. Remember that little fan club that always followed Viktor around and wouldn't give him a moment's peace? That could happen to you."

"And if it does, Harry," said Ron solemnly, "it will be my obligation, as your friend, to tease you about it mercilessly." He shrugged. "I'd rather not, but there you are."

"If you do, I'll start telling them that you did it all, that I just got the credit."

"Did I say I would tease you? I'm sorry, I meant to say 'help' and 'support.'"

Hermione chuckled. "You laugh now, but it could be annoying."

"Let's just say that when I worried about the problems I'd have being a teacher, this was not even close to being one of them," Harry said. "But it may not happen. This could go away."

"Or, it could be worse. I mean, when I fancied Lockhart, I never for a moment thought I could ever have him. I knew it was just a schoolgirl crush. But you're only five years older than these girls. They might think it was possible, especially in a few years."

"Are you trying to make Harry feel better, or worse, Hermione?" asked Ron. "It's hard to tell."

"I'm just trying to prepare Harry for what might happen. But you'll be fine, Harry. If it happens, just pretend you don't notice, and be kind and polite. They'll get over it."

"I'm still hoping it won't happen in the first place, but thanks, I'll try to remember that," Harry said. "So, I have an idea. Let's change the subject to one that doesn't involve making fun of me. Hey, I know... Hermione, you mentioned Krum. What's going on with that? Have you heard from him lately?"

She shook her head, wearing an expression that suggested she was sad or indifferent; Harry wasn't sure which. "Just a short letter, about four months ago. It didn't say anything definitive, but it was enough to know that nothing's going to happen with that. I didn't really expect anything would, because we were so far apart, and it wasn't as though I was ga-ga over him anyway. He's nice, and everything, but... I thought of him as more of a friend, and I couldn't get to know him that well. Also, he isn't the best correspondent in the world. We're on good terms, though, I think, there just isn't the desire on either of our parts to make that kind of effort. So, does that answer your question, or were you just asking to change the subject and don't really care?"

Harry raised his eyebrows slightly at the accusation. "No, I was interested," he assured her. Not in quite that level of detail, he added to himself, but he knew that was how Hermione was.

The subject changed again, and it eventually worked its way around to Potions. Harry told them about his plan with Snape, and what Dumbledore had advised.

"Good luck, mate, that's going to be tough," said Ron.

"It's a very good idea, Harry," encouraged Hermione. "I'll help you. If you get angry, just look at me, I'll remind you to be calm. Remember, nothing he says means anything, it's just words."

"I'll try. Actually, I think I'm going to head off. I wanted to spend an hour or so in the teachers' staff room before Potions. See what goes on in there, if anyone has anything to say. It might be interesting."

"Ooh, I wish I could go with you, Harry," gushed Hermione. "I would definitely do what you're doing. I want to hear all about it!"

Ron smiled. "Yeah, Harry, me too! It'll be so cool to-"

"Oh, shut up," a frowning Hermione said to Ron, who was now laughing.

"See you two later," Harry said, and headed off for the staff room.

Harry had been in the staff room for the pre-term meeting, but never as the place where teacher relaxed between classes. He walked in, saw that there were seven teachers in the room, and that Snape was not one of them.

"Professor Potter," said McGonagall, standing up to greet Harry. "The headmaster has just been in here, giving us his report of your lesson. It is just as well that you were absent; you were no doubt spared considerable embarrassment."

"He told me what he thought after my first lesson," Harry said, "so yes, you're probably right. He was being very kind."

"And your first-years as well, who are right this minute spreading superlatives about your performance? Really, Harry, if you wish to be modest, you must at least recognize enough of the truth to make it believable. I have been teaching at this school for forty years, and I cannot recall when the students were so excited about a lesson. Your early students came to my class directly after yours, and it took me ten minutes just to get them settled down! I had to threaten detentions, and so on. Then hands kept going up, asking all sorts of questions about you, the things you've done, what you were like as a first-year, and so on. We finally did get down to business, but we did not get very far." She gave him a piercing glare, but Harry was sure that it wasn't serious.

"I'm sorry, Professor," he said, smiling.

"No, you're not, nor should you be. Without even trying, you have done what we all hope to do-you have inspired your students. You should be proud."

"I am, I really am. I'm just also overwhelmed. I never in a million years thought this would happen. That's really the truth. I was just hoping nothing bad would happen."

"Well, it looks like nothing did, but you may have a problem with an overabundance of female interest," smiled Professor Smith. "I happened to see what was happening as you ate your lunch." He told the other teachers, who chuckled.

Harry feigned annoyance. "Don't worry, Professor, Ron and Hermione have already teased me about it. It's good of you to take an interest, though."

"No problem, Harry. And I did ask you to call me 'John,' didn't I?"

"Yes, you did, John. Sorry. Some things are a bit hard to get used to."

Harry sat down on a sofa next to Professor Flitwick. Professor Sprout said, "I got your students after Minerva did. She had managed to calm them down a bit, but they were still talking about it."

"You mean, they didn't come in talking about their extraordinary Transfigurations lesson?" McGonagall asked Sprout, in her usual deadpan.

"Terribly sorry, Minerva."

Snape walked into the room. "Professor Potter," Snape said, surprisingly without his usual sneer or sarcastic tone, just a polite formality. "You have the Slytherin first years running around using the Dark Lord's name as though it were a new Chocolate Frog card. I would not have thought it possible."

Harry decided to be just as polite. "You don't seem to think that's a good thing, Professor. Don't you agree with Professor Dumbledore that fear of the name-"

"Of a thing only increases fear of the thing itself, yes, I have heard the headmaster say that," interrupted Snape. "I agree with him in principle. However, the wizarding community has made that name taboo for a long time. You are attempting to demolish a part of the social structure. Your actions may have unintended consequences."

Harry thought for a minute. "I admit that it's hard for me to know that, but it just seemed like a really good idea. Also, Professor Dumbledore totally approved of everything I did."

Snape sighed, still being amazingly polite, for him. "The headmaster is not perfect, as he would be the first to admit. He also has a particular affection for you, which may cloud his better judgment."

McGonagall took immediate offense. "Professor Snape! Really! If I did not know of the esteem in which you hold the Headmaster-"

"But you do, Professor. And you know that I am right."

A golden dog nosed its way in through the barely open door. All the teachers kept an eye on it, wondering who it would be for. It walked up to Harry, jumped into his lap, pawed at his chest, and licked his face. Harry chuckled and petted it. "I really like this dog," he said to the room in general, looking into the dog's eyes. "It's very affectionate. I never had one, but I would have liked one like this." He petted it a bit more, then shooed it off his lap as he got up. He now noticed the teachers staring at him, or looking at each other with expressions that shared far more with each other than with Harry. Snape in particular wore a look that spoke volumes, but Harry couldn't understand those volumes. "What?" he asked nobody in particular.

"You should not keep the headmaster waiting, Professor Potter," said McGonagall, wearing her usual poker face. The other teachers' expressions were no easier to read. Harry was sure something was up, but he had no idea what it could be, and they obviously weren't going to tell him. Not wanting to keep Dumbledore waiting, however, he got up to leave, following the dog.

Harry reached Dumbledore's office in less than a minute; the dog had almost vanished when he walked up the steps to Dumbledore's waiting door. Harry found himself wishing that the dog could stay around for awhile as he entered the office.

"Ah, Harry, please sit down. I know you have a class in not too long a time; this will just take a moment. This is in the nature of a precaution; Professor Snape has received intelligence suggesting a greater-than-average likelihood that Voldemort will again attempt to access your mind while you are asleep. It may not happen at all, or it may happen but you ward it off in your sleep. I know you are being careful about practicing Occlumency, and there should be no problems. I simply wanted you to know about this information, since we have it and it relates to you."

"Thank you, Professor, I appreciate it," Harry said.

"No problem at all, Harry. Off you go then, you don't want to be late."

Harry went back to the teachers' room to get his bag, then headed off to Potions. He ran into Hermione on the way, and told her about Snape's odd politeness.

"Strange," she agreed. "You're still ready to deal with his usual attitude, though?

"Yes, I'm not expecting this to continue," he assured her.

But to their great surprise, Snape kept up whatever he was doing. All through Potions, he made no special note of Harry, and did not bother him in any way. As they walked along the corridors after class, Harry told Hermione after the class that he was almost as unnerved by this as by Snape's usual unpleasant attitude.

"Why do you think he's being this way?" asked Hermione.

"I'm not sure, of course, but I have to imagine it's because I'm a professor now," Harry answered. "My guess would be either that he knows he has to treat me with a certain politeness for that reason, or maybe he was told to by Professor Dumbledore."

"Too bad he couldn't have told him that five years ago," commented Hermione. Harry nodded in agreement.

Just then, they were joined by Professor Smith, walking alongside them. "Hello, Harry, Hermione," he said cheerfully.

"Hi, John," said Hermione. Harry remembered that she had taken Muggle Studies for a year, but he was mildly surprised that she called him by his first name; he guessed that John had all of his students do that. "Did you want to talk to your fellow professor?" she asked with a smile at Harry.

"I did, actually. Harry, my office isn't too far from here. Would you join me there for a minute?"

"Sure. Is it okay if Hermione joins us?"

"Hmmm... well, this is kind of personal, but I know how close you three are, so I don't mind." He steered them into his office. Harry wondered what could be so personal; he hardly knew John, after all. He hadn't realized that John obviously asked all his students to call him by his first name.

John stood, leaning against his desk. "This is about what you saw in the staff room, where you saw people giving funny looks but you didn't know why."

Harry quickly explained to Hermione what had happened.

"Have you told Hermione about the dog?" asked John. Harry nodded. "How many times have you been summoned by it? Did it react the same way each time?"

"Twice, and yes, it was, like, normal friendly dog behavior." Harry wondered what this was all about.

John looked at Harry seriously. "Harry, I've been at Hogwarts for six years. The other teachers and I have all been summoned by that dog dozens of times. The dog walks up to the teacher, and stands there until it senses that the teacher is ready to follow, and then it starts walking. It has never jumped into anyone's lap, or behaved affectionately."

"Maybe he changed its behavior recently," Harry suggested.

John shook his head. "Another teacher was summoned shortly before you arrived in the staff room. The dog did what it normally does. It was only different for you."

Harry was starting to wonder why that would be, when he saw Hermione's eyes fly wide open. "You know, the problem with being Hermione's friend is that I often end up feeling like I'm rather slow. She gets things much faster than I do. Okay, Hermione, what is it?"

"Harry... I think John is trying to say that the dog's affection for you is a mirror of Professor Dumbledore's affection for you. He probably doesn't even know the dog is doing it, does he, John?"

John nodded. "The staff think not," he agreed. "There was quite a bit of conversation about it after you left, Harry. The staff wanted to talk about it, but we were also a little embarrassed about doing so. We felt as if we had unknowingly invaded Professor Dumbledore's privacy."

Harry was still confused. "Well, I know he likes me, of course, but he likes a lot of people. Am I still not getting something?"

Hermione smiled at him tolerantly. "I think what John is saying is that what Professor Dumbledore feels for you is something stronger... more like what one feels for a family member. Like a son, or a grandson." She looked at John, who nodded.

"That's why the staff were so surprised, Harry. I don't think the staff quite understood the depth of Dumbledore's feelings for you, and they were momentarily taken aback by such an obvious expression, if unconscious. Most of them thought it was sweet, though. Professor Sprout particularly liked how you returned the dog's affection with what she referred to as 'innocent enthusiasm.'"

Hermione smiled at Harry. "That's so sweet... you know, it says a lot about you that he feels this way about you."

Harry felt overwhelmed; he knew that dealing with emotion was not one of his strong points. "What should I do?" he asked them both.

"I don't think you should do anything differently, Harry, unless you really want to," said John. "I'm just telling you because I don't think it's right that the teachers should know something so personal about you, but have you not know it yourself. But you should especially not do anything differently the next time the dog comes for you. You should pet it, do whatever you did before. Don't be afraid to enjoy its affection. If you start acting awkward, the teachers will figure out that you know, and they'll be more embarrassed. But there's nothing to be embarrassed about, really. Now that the teachers know, like I said, they think it's nice. So do I. Don't worry about it. Just enjoy it, keep it in your heart. It's quite an honor, and like Hermione says, it says a lot about you."

Harry still felt overwhelmed, but what John was saying was starting to sink in. Is that why he was so angry about what Snape did to me in Occlumency that Hermione was able to notice it? he wondered. Why he was so kind to me after Sirius died? He felt very proud, because he had such great respect for Dumbledore.

"Okay, well, thanks for telling me," he said to John.

"Sure, Harry. Take it easy. Hermione, it's good to see you again. I really wished you could have stayed in my class. Very few students have the kind of enthusiasm for their classes that you do."

She smiled. "Thank you, John, I wish I could too. See you later." She and Harry left, heading for Gryffindor Tower.

As they walked, she said, "I guess you're still pretty overwhelmed, huh?" He nodded. "Well, you probably shouldn't dwell on it too much. I think the important thing is to try to be comfortable with it. I mean, you knew that Sirius loved you, that he regarded you like a family member. Were you comfortable with that?"

"I suppose so," he said. "It wasn't something that I thought about so much. It was always just, sort of, there."

They were passing near the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. "Harry, could we come in here for a minute?" She guided him into the room and headed for his office in the back. "I just wanted to be able to make sure we weren't overheard. I thought it might be good to talk about this."

Harry's face was open, but he wasn't quite sure what she was driving at. He motioned for her to go ahead and say what she wanted to say.

"I was just thinking that this might be difficult for you because... well, you were kind of emotionally disadvantaged as a child. Your aunt and uncle were mean to you most of the time. Basically, you had never been loved. You had never had anyone tell you they loved you, or act like it. That had to affect you. People need love, Harry. People need to know they're cared about. I'm wondering if this information about Dumbledore is hard for you to process because there's that lack in your past."

Harry thought. "I'm not sure I could know that. You might be in a better position to know than me. I assume that's what you think?"

"It seems likely. Let me ask you something. Remember that love isn't only romantic, but also a feeling of great attachment, great closeness. Now, how many people can you think of that love you?"

Harry had never thought about this. "I don't know... I suppose Sirius did... Mrs. Weasley, I guess..." He continued thinking.

"You can't think of anybody else, Harry?" she asked prompting him with her eyes.

Harry saw what was in her eyes, then looked down, then back up. "You mean, you?"

With barely concealed frustration, she blurted out, "Yes, I mean me! Come on, Harry, you know it, you couldn't not know it. I love you. Ron loves you, though he'd rather die than admit it. Ginny loves you. And so does Professor Dumbledore."

"I'm sorry, I'm not trying to be slow. Maybe you're right about my childhood. It seems strange for me to think in terms of love; it's more like it's a theory instead of something that has any connection to me."

"Well, that's one of the reasons I wanted to talk about it," Hermione said. "I think the more you think about it, the more you open yourself up and feel it, the more you'll get used to it, and the better off you'll be."

"I just realized something... when you said you loved me just a minute ago... that was the first time anybody had ever said that to me," Harry said, with a kind of surprised look, almost like he'd had a revelation.

Tears sprang to Hermione's eyes; Harry could tell that she was thinking of what it must have been like for him, never having heard that. She rushed forward and hugged him. "I do love you, Harry," she said through her tears.

He hugged her back tightly. He knew what he wanted to say, what he should say, but it was difficult. Finally he managed it. "I know. I love you too." She squeezed him harder. "And Ron, and Ginny, and Mrs. Weasley, and Sirius... and I suppose Professor Dumbledore, too... I just had never thought about it like that. I guess you know you love somebody if you'd be seriously upset to lose them, like I was with Sirius."

"Yes, that's a good way of putting it," she agreed, still holding him. "Let me ask you something..." She took a half-step back so she could see his eyes, still holding his shoulders. "Did you cry after Sirius died?"

"I think a little bit... I was sitting under that tree, the day after he died... I tried not to, though, I didn't want anyone seeing me."

"I know, Harry, but it probably would have been better if you had," she said earnestly. "There's a reason we cry. We need to release our feelings. It's not healthy if we hold it in. There's nothing wrong with crying. Look at me, I do it all the time, even for stupid reasons sometimes." She smiled.

"I guess I don't think there's anything wrong in your case because you're a girl. I always thought men weren't supposed to cry."

"A lot of people think that," she acknowledged, "but it's stupid. Men need to cry just like women do, they just suffer more for not doing it."

"Well, I'll try to keep that in mind the next time I feel like crying," Harry said, half-seriously. "I should take your advice, you know this better than I do."

"Yes, you should," she agreed, with a smile. She let go of him. "C'mon, we'd better get back to Gryffindor Tower if we're going to get any work done before dinner. You still wanted help with Potions, right?"

"Yeah, I did. But do you mind if we do it here? I'm just not in the mood to be around a bunch of people right now."

"Sure, Harry," she said quietly. "No problem." She pulled out her Potions text.

"And Hermione... thanks."

She smiled her acknowledgment, and they got to work. As they started working, Harry noticed that he felt more comfortable, a kind of satisfaction of being in the presence of someone who cared for him so much. He wondered if he had come to take Ron and Hermione and others who cared for him for granted. I don't want to do that, he thought. Then don't, he answered. He then asked Hermione to repeat the last thing she'd said, and he went back to focusing on Potions.