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It felt odd to be back in Hogwarts after nineteen years; even stranger to be escorted to his office as the newest Professor, and left there to unpack. He'd half-expected the place to have changed since Lupin's day, when it had been so familiar. Since the year when he'd learned so much from the man he'd believed to be Mad-Eye Moody, since the sickly-sweet nightmare of Professor Umbridge, and since Severus Snape had dominated the room, cold black eyes staring down on the class.
He could still feel their gaze, and somehow it didn't surprise him when he turned and saw the picture hanging on the wall. In the painting, Snape didn't look impressed.
"So you failed to hold down your position as Auror, Mr Potter? I suppose you are under the impression that impressing Defence Against the Dark Arts into the minds of disrespectful children will be in some way a more rewarding task?"
Harry looked up and met the portrait's gaze, facing down the sneer.
"I think you'll find it's Professor Potter now." He waited a moment, letting the pause lend an edge to what might have been taken as courtesy. "Sir."
"My congratulations... Professor." Snape's lip had curled in response. "Doubtless your appointment was based on your outstanding performance in setting out to train your fellow students in self-defence before you had attained any qualifications at all?"
"Yes," Harry said quietly, "I believe it was."
Those days with "Dumbledore's Army" had been the first time he'd begun to understand where his real talents lay; it had taken him this long to realise once and for all what he wanted to do with the rest of his life. Not just to protect others, but to help others learn how to protect themselves. Not to hoard knowledge as Snape had done, doling it out in scornful snippets, but to use his experience to teach everything he knew.
Most of the current members of the Board of Governors at Hogwarts had been in Dumbledore's Army, or knew someone who had, and the remaining old guard listened to the tales of nephews, cousins and even grandchildren. He was pretty sure it was his early achievements with the DA that had tipped the balance in helping him get the job.
Snape snorted, sending a puff of dust drifting from the portrait's frame. "In that case my good wishes would appear to be entirely superfluous."
"Entirely," Harry agreed, taking off his glasses for a moment to rub at weary eyes. He looked back at the portrait, seeing it as no more than a blurred patch whose shapes would not resolve, and decided he preferred Snape that way.
For a halting instant, though he was not certain, he thought he heard the other man catch his breath.
"All the same," Snape said, the words seemingly dragged out of him as if by hot irons, "for what it is worth, you have them. My good wishes... for a new beginning. Hogwarts has offered new beginnings before — to those who have lost their way."
And for a moment there was another ghost of memory in the office between them.
Harry wiped his glasses and put them back on, pushing them firmly up his nose. He began to unpack his books again without looking up.
"I know it has. And I'm glad of it."
The portrait said nothing. Harry used his wand to conjure a large crystal ball from its packaging, and floated it to a position on the far side of the room. He could still feel Snape's eyes on him, but there was an odd warmth to the sensation.
"I've every intention of doing justice to the task I've taken on, sir," he added, and heard a sudden snort of dry laughter.
"Oh, I'm sure you'll be the finest teacher this subject has ever had."
Harry grinned. "Well, I'll have a good go at it, anyway."
When he glanced up again the portrait's frame was empty, apart from a hint of dark robes that vanished out of one corner. Silence reigned, save for the comfortable mutter of the fire, and the distant sound of young voices from outside. But it was a companionable silence, and he could feel the aura of the room settling around him like a cloak.