Harry looked over to the clock. It was eleven thirty, but he still didn't get out of bed. He knew what would come, pats on the shoulder and distant looks of bewilderment. He didn't want everyone to look at him like that. And what would Mrs. Weasley do to him when she learned he insulted her son twice? He hoped he could run fast enough, maybe he could run back to Hogwarts. In the end Harry was ruled by his stomach, which was growling so loudly he thought it could have been heard through all the walls in his bedroom.
As he stood outside the kitchen he did not hear any voices, but the rustling of paper. He wondered if he should go get his Invisibility Cloak and try to get food without anyone noticing. No, better face the embarrassment and get it over with.
He opened the door and watched as everyone read the article quietly. Apparently they were too busy reading to actually notice him, once a small amount of hope washed over him, he saw their heads pop up one by one, and the hope was gone.
Mrs. Weasley seemed to come from nowhere, and hugged him so tightly he didn't know if he would ever breathe properly again.
Hermione seemed to be saying something about S.P.E.W. but he was unable to make out what it was over everyone talking excitedly.
Apparently he had done something right.
* * *
Harry had tried to lay low when he got back to Hogwarts, but that was a difficult thing to do with the glowing article the Prophet had about him at the Wizengamot. The school seemed split, those who agreed with Harry, and those who didn't. This time it wasn't split, Slytherins versus everyone else, there didn't seem to be any house that was all for him or against him.
Just as Harry drifted off to sleep McGonagall came into the room. This would have been fine under any regular circumstance, but Hermione was in the same bed as he was.
McGonagall gasped once she saw Hermione's wide eyes poke up.
"Potter!" she said an octave higher than he had ever heard her, "The headmaster wishes to see you."
Before she finished her sentence Ron, rubbing his eyes, walked into the room. He looked at the both of them with a sour face. His eyebrows shot up as he exited the room in a hurry. Harry was on his heels and went into Neville's and Ginny's room. Before Ron could beat up Neville, Harry tried to restrain him against a wall.
Unlike Harry and Hermione they were not in the same bed, and however innocent Harry knew it was, he also knew Ron wouldn't listen.
"That's enough!" McGonagall put a small binding spell on Ron, "We're all going to the Headmaster's office right now!"
Ron led the way, Harry couldn't see the look on his face, but he was sure it was anger if anything else. McGonagall was at the back, probably so they couldn't run away.
How was he supposed to prove that even though McGonagall found them in the same bed that nothing happened? Dumbledore had believed him time after time, but could he believe this? Was it even all that innocent? Ginny and Neville didn't share a bed, that was innocent. Maybe if he could spare Neville's life tonight, things would be semi-okay.
They all faced Dumbledore, he saw Hermione had yet to look above the ground, and waited for McGonagall to say what they didn't know how to.
"It's all right Minerva, I know." Dumbledore said before she could open her mouth.
"But... Aren't you going to do something about... this?"
"I don't see that there is anything to do something about."
"I saw them Albus, after you said I could trust them with that room, I saw them..." the anger was radiating off of McGonagall now, which made them all try and step away from her.
"I don't think you misplaced your trust at all. I see you don't believe me. I'll prove it shall I? All right, everyone place your left hand out, palms up. You too Mr. Weasley."
He tapped all their hands with his wand. Harry, Hermione, Neville, and Ginny's palms turned a dark blue colour, while Ron's seemed to turn a crimson red.
"See Minerva, you did trust the right students. I think you should speak to Mr. Weasley later though."
McGonagall nodded, exhaled deeply, and ushered everyone but Harry out of the office and back to Gryffindor tower. What Ron's red palm had meant didn't need to be explained. Harry, in an odd way, felt betrayed.
"Harry, I wanted to speak to you about Professor Lupin. Not him specifically, but his job."
Harry was sure he was about to tell him he had to fire Lupin, why wouldn't he? He wasn't going to be there the rest of the year.
"I was wondering if you'd consider substituting for him while he's away."
"But that's the rest of term."
"I understand that Harry." Dumbledore said in a rather calm voice.
"But I'm a student."
"Another fine observation, but I did think of that also."
Harry watched as a smile betrayed the old man's serious demeanor.
"How?"
"Seeing as you and Miss Granger have the exact same classes, she could tutor you. Seeing as there is no way for you to get to your classes and teach at the same time."
Harry knew there was, and Dumbledore knew there was. But they stole the time turner, maybe that was why Dumbledore didn't 'think' of it.
"But I'm just a student." Harry said.
"Yes, you're also a student who can perform all of the N.E.W.T.s Defence Against the Dark Arts spells. You know enough to teach a class of seventh years, which is what we need. Will you take the job?"
"Yeah." Harry said before he actually thought about it.
He left Dumbledore and once he was in the common room he saw Ron was waiting for him.
"I don't know what to do. I still want to beat you up, but as of now I don't really have a reason, do I?" Ron said as he sat down at the couch.
Harry sat in a chair across from him, "What about me?"
"What about you?"
"I'm angry too."
"About what?!" Ron asked.
"You never told me about... You and Luna. I'm supposed to be your best friend and you never thought you could tell me about it?"
"You knew about me and Luna." Ron crossed his arms and sat down in one of the armchairs.
"I knew you were dating, snogging each other to death, but you never told me you two..."
"What about me, how long have you and Hermione been..."
"We aren't together." Harry said quickly.
"That's funny, because from what I saw-"
"You saw us sleeping in the same bed. That doesn't mean we're together."
"Then why... Okay, save why for later. How about when. When did this start?"
"When we were in Grimmauld Place alone together over the summer." Harry said.
"All that time! You didn't think of bringing this up?" Ron stood up and started to pace in front of Harry.
"Of course I thought about it, I just didn't actually do it."
"Does anyone else know?" Ron asked.
"Neville knew we shared a room, but he didn't know we slept in the same bed. Ginny figured it out a while ago."
"My sister knows before me? This is brilliant."
"How did you want us to tell you? By the way Ron, for reasons I don't even know I'm sleeping in the same bed with our purely platonic best friend, fancy a game of chess?"
Ron sat there for a while and nodded.
"Sorry I didn't say anything about me and Luna, I just got carried away."
"So," Harry shuffled his feet, "What's it like?"
* * *
Harry threw the stone across the lake, skipping it. The Giant Squid caught it with one of it's tentacles and skipped it back to Harry. Harry caught it and skipped the stone again.
As dawn started to break Harry heard footsteps approaching. Dumbledore stood only a few feet behind, watching Harry skip stones.
"I thought I might find our new teacher out here. How are you?"
"All right, I guess."
"Is something troubling you Harry?"
Harry tossed up the stone, then threw it, "I'm... I was always just Harry. Just the one who slept in a cupboard under the stairs. Now, I'm Professor Potter. It's a bit intimidating, I mean, I'm not you. I'm never going to be like McGonagall."
"So what is it that you're feeling Harry? That you're not good enough?"
Harry nodded, "That and that I'm going to fail."
"You've substituted before, what makes today different?"
"Then I was just filling in for Lupin, today I'm actually teaching. I mean, now they arent just spending time with me. Now they have to call me Professor and pass my tests; I'll be giving grades."
Dumbledore's mouth twitched upward, "Don't forget, you'll have the power to give detention and take away house points."
Harry snorted, "I'm betting Snape was really glad to hear that for the first time."
"Professor, Harry, Professor Snape; and yes he did seem quiet overjoyed. Just because you're a bit trepidatious about it doesn't mean you're not ready; quite the opposite really."
Harry let it sink in and let out a sigh, "So I guess this means I can't call him Severus in the teachers lounge?"
Dumbledore chuckled, "Only if by some miracle he agrees to it. Would you like a piece of advice?"
Harry nodded.
"Don't let them see you nervous. If you seem to know what you're doing they will follow."
* * *
Harry sat at his desk. He had Lupin's lesson plan in front of him. He had done this before, he could do it again. He was doing basically the same thing; the one bad part of it was his first day he was getting all seventh years. They wouldn't believe or want him to teach them. The thought of having people older than him calling him professor made him feel sick.
The room started to fill with students from all houses. The class was considerably small.
Harry stood in front of the class, "Er- Okay, Professor Lupin isn't going to be here... at all. So now I'll be teaching for the rest of term. Now I want to pick up where I left off with some of you, today we're going to try to conjure a Patronus..."
* * *
"It's Celtic knot work, It means friendship. We each get one on our wrists, the inside, with the enchanted dye." Hermione put the dye on the table in the uncommon room.
"Will this hurt," Neville asked.
Hermione snorted, "Of course it will. Now we have to take these six pieces of parchment and write our codenames on them. I don't think we should choose our own... why don't we switch off. Ginny, you take Neville's, Ron, you take Harry's, I'll take Ron's. Let's see... Neville you can do Luna's while Luna does Ginny, and Harry can do mine."
Hermione passed out the parchment then dipped a quill in the dye then wrote down something. The quill was passed around until Neville finished with Luna's.
"Now we put them in the dye while saying the person's name, then what you're changing it to. We'll need just a little bit of blood on the parchment."
She took out a knife and pricked Ron's finger. She then took his finger and let a drop fall onto her piece of parchment.
"Ronald Weasley; Berserk." Hermione put the parchment in the dye and it was engulfed in a black flame.
"Hey! What's the big idea!" Ron asked.
"Honestly Ron. Berserk is a type of warrior who fought with such a frenzied violence they were thought to be only partly human, like werewolves, only the other part was a bear."
"Oh... thanks."
"No problem. Ginny?"
"Neville Longbottom; Nightshade."
"Hermione Granger; Tearsong."
"Harry Potter; Firewind."
"Ginerva Weasley; Swift."
"Luna Lovegood; Prophetwing."
Hermione sighed, "Now here comes the hard part, the tattoos."
* * *
-->