Chapter Text
Harry had slept most all of three entire days, and it felt bloody amazing. He had never loved sleep so very much as he did that summer.
On the fourth day, he began grading the third and fourth year end of year one exams. It took him several days to work through it and on his fifth and final day of doing so, there was a knock on the door. Harry ignored it, well used to not showing his face around the Dursley’s guests, but then there was a knock on his door.
With a frown, he stood and opened it to find Professor McGonagall standing on the other side wearing a slight smile, “Hello, Mr Potter. Or perhaps I could call you Harry, since you have been effectively my colleague for the entire last year?”
“Uh, sure, professor,” Harry agreed awkwardly.
“Thank you and you may call me Minerva when we are discussing school matters. May I come in?” she asked.
Amazed at this strange turn of events, Harry stepped back. Pr– Minerva’s eyes swept the room disapprovingly and she raised an eyebrow at him.
He flushed in embarrassment and muttered, “It’s all Dudley’s old junk.”
She sniffed haughtily and glared briefly at the door, or more likely the people in the rest of the house, then pulled out her wand and vanished all of the old junk. Then, when it became clear that the only places to sit were the bed and at the desk, she conjured two comfortable looking armchairs and sat in one.
Uncomfortably, Harry sat in the other. He was startled when she called out, “Mipsy!”
A house elf appeared before them and said, “What can’s Mipsy be getting Professor McGonagall?”
“Some tea and brandy, if you will,” she said kindly.
The house elf popped away, then moments later the requested items appeared on the bed on a tea tray. Profe– Minerva leaned forward and served them both some tea with a small splash of brandy, then sat back and took a drink. Harry absently did the same, grimacing at the taste but not willing to say anything.
After a long moment, Minerva said, “It is something of a tradition for me to sit down with each professor at the school and discuss the term, any problems they had, anything they need help with, and how their students did that year. Obviously, we will not know the OWL and NEWT scores for another week, but then we will have a separate meeting about those scores specifically.”
“And you consider me a professor,” Harry said in disbelief.
Minerva smiled mischievously and said, “Why yes. You were running classes and OWL study sessions this year, were you not?”
“I uh– I guess so,” Harry agreed in shock.
“Have a drink, Harry.”
Harry absently did so, and she said, “Let’s begin with the grades of the students. I understand that you have been tracking them and gave them a final exam. How did they do both without and with the exams?”
Harry gulped and said, “Uh, I have a few tests left to grade, but they did very well. I can uh– show you my gradebooks, if you like?”
“Just the third and fourth years, if you please,” she agreed, then took a sip.
Harry carefully set his cup on the tea tray, then went to the desk and grabbed the books. He passed them over with a shaking hand and then quickly took a large drink of tea.
She studied them and said, “This is very good, though I suppose that is to be expected and it is in line with the other elective professors. As the students choose to take the subjects, they tend to do well, unless forced into the class. As you had no students forced into taking your class, it makes sense that you would have even better grades than your peers. Still, I am very impressed. For a first year teacher this is both excellent results and a very well organized set of gradebooks.”
“Hermione helped me design them,” Harry said faintly.
“Still, you used them effectively and that counts for a great deal. Are you doing all the maths by hand?” she asked.
He nodded convulsively and she hummed and began to murmur over the gradebooks casting spells. When she was done, she said, “Some minor adjustments now that it is done magically, but overall, that was a very good job done with the tallying as well. I will teach you those spells for your later gradebooks another time.”
“Right,” Harry said faintly, before shaking himself, summoning his courage, and steeling his spine.
She eyed him with approval and said, “Now, how do you feel the students handled the material? I know you do not have much of a frame of reference, having not taught students before, but just give me your general opinion of how you feel the students grasped the material.”
Harry took a moment to gather his thoughts, then said, “Overall, they seemed eager to learn and that counted for a lot. Most came because they were curious about the Boy-Who-Lived’s ideas about Divination, but they stayed because they became interested in the material.”
“Not everyone had talent in every practice, which I read is very normal for Divination, but they all managed some results with every practice we worked with. Even then, those who did not have a talent for the material continued to be invested and work hard. I once almost forgot to assign homework and they practically begged me for it, which was quite strange.”
She laughed outright, clearly surprised and pleased, then said, “I cannot say that I have ever had that experience, nor have most professors, or so I am led to believe. What a lucky young man you are.”
“Yes, how lucky of me to have seventy essays to grade,” Harry said dryly, relaxing some.
She laughed again and said, “You have always had a great deal of wit. Sometimes it is difficult to remain professional and not laugh at it. I am pleased to see it be put to use outside the classroom and to finally be able to laugh.”
Harry laughed too and said, “Anyway, I think the students did well, in all.”
“Yes, it sounds like it. That is excellent and in line with what I expected after the lessons I sat in on. You are a remarkably engaging professor who encourages his students and keeps them engaged, even when they are struggling, which is a difficult feat to manage. It seems you are a natural born teacher.”
Stunned by the compliment, it took him a moment before he responded and then it was with a heartfelt, “Thank you, professor.”
She smiled and said, “It is no less than you deserve. Now, I am going to begin a rather unorthodox discussion, but I feel it is important since you are a slightly unorthodox professor.”
Harry took a sip, and she continued, “I want to discuss how many lessons you will be having. I would like you to have one for each year except seventh year.”
“Each year? How will I manage that with my own schoolwork and Quidditch practice?” he asked in shock.
“Well, to start with, I am going to share two things that you are strictly forbidden from discussing with anyone. They are strict Hogwarts secrets and if you break your promise not to tell anyone I will have to ban you from teaching again,” she said seriously.
He gulped and said, “I won’t tell anyone.”
“Good. The first is that this coming year, there will be no Quidditch,” she said sadly.
“What?” he asked in horror.
She nodded unhappily and said, “Instead, there will be the Triwizard Tournament, which is an international competition between Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang. It will be a very demanding tournament, and we simply do not have time to run Quidditch and the tournament at the same time.”
“Oh,” he said, having no idea what to say to that.
“Yes, that is about what my response was to it. Now, onto the next secret and it has to do with how your friend Hermione was getting to her classes,” she said.
Harry flushed and looked away causing her to narrow her eyes and said unhappily, “I suppose Miss Granger told you.”
Harry looked back and explained the circumstances of the end of the year. She was decidedly unhappy but said, “I suppose if the headmaster approved it, I can say nothing against it. Regardless, I can now tell you that you are approved to have a time turner. You will be able to hold classes in the evenings and Saturdays, even when you are doing other things, though you will have to stay out of sight.”
“Oh wow,” Harry said as he accepted a wooden box from her and opened it to look at the fragile device inside it.
She nodded and said, “It is a great honour and responsibility, so I expect you to treat it as such.” With that, she began to explain the basics of how it worked and the rules surrounding its use.
“So, I have drawn up a schedule for you,” she said, offering him a piece of parchment.
Harry read through it quickly.
Monday third years Tuesday fourth years Wednesday fifth years Thursday sixth years Friday third years Saturday mornings fourth years Saturday afternoons fifth years Sunday mornings sixth years Sunday afternoons off
Harry stared at the lessons outlined and felt a headache coming on.
She poured them both more tea and brandy, which he quickly took a drink of. “You may use the time turner to go back not just during your class periods but also during your classes in order to complete the work needed.”
“Thank bloody Merlin for that,” he muttered before taking another drink.
She laughed and said, “Yes, I imagine your time turner will get a great deal of use out of it. Now, onto other privileges of being a professor. You are now listed as being an assistant to Professor Trelawney, though you will not answer to her. As such, you will be paid half of what a professor is paid. I wish I could make it more, but that is the maximum amount they will allow.”
She finished apologetically and Harry said, “I understand pr– Minerva.”
“That said, you will get a monetary reward, small though it may be, for every student of yours that passes their OWLs and NEWTs, so that will boost your income. You will also be able to use the staff room and have free access to the Restricted Section. You will be able to write notes to the Restricted Section, though they will have to be approved of by me until such a time as you are a full professor. I should note that NEWTs students have limited access to it already, so you will not need to write them notes. You will also have unlimited and unrestricted access to the school during the summer and at night.”
Harry swallowed as it suddenly hit him that he was a full blown professor and all of the responsibilities that came with that. He took a large gulp of tea as she continued, “You will be able to give out points and take them, as well as assign detentions, though all of those things will also have to be approved by me. Technically speaking, it should be Sybill who does the approving, but as she hates you, I felt that would be rather biased.”
“Right,” Harry said, laughing dryly and a little hysterically.
She patted his knee and said, “There are worse things in the world than having a false prophet hating you.”
Harry laughed for real that time and said, “I suppose so.”
She smiled then said, “Now, do you have any questions?”
He took the time to think through everything she had said and then asked, “How will I know how many points to give or take?”
“An excellent question and here is your introductory material that I should have given you ages ago. It will explain it completely,” she said happily, and he realized it had been a test.
He accepted the thick book and sighed internally at the extra reading he had to do.
“Now, I have one request for you. Would you be willing to take the OWL this year and the NEWT next year? It is rather unorthodox to have someone who has not taken those tests teaching. Not unheard of, but unorthodox,” she said.
Harry frowned, but he basically understood the material so he agreed, “I can do that.”
“Excellent. I will have it all arranged by the end of the week. You will not be paying for it,” she said.
“Okay. Guess I have some studying to do,” he muttered.
She smiled and said, “I doubt you need it after guiding your students through OWL study sessions, but whatever makes you feel better. Now, onto the final part of this session. What do you feel that you need help with?”
Harry considered it for a long moment before he said, “Well, I would not mind some help with grading. Even with the time turner, grading four full years of material will be a time consuming task.”
“It is not unheard of to have NEWT students grade third and fourth year material. When we have our meeting next week, we will look over who has the highest results and send letters to them requesting their aid. They may not agree, but then we will just have to ask someone else. Given how much your students love you, I do not think it will be difficult to find help,” she said.
“Awesome,” he said, letting out a breath of relief.
“Was there anything else that could help you?” she asked.
He asked without expecting a real acceptance, “A bigger classroom?”
“With each class split between each year, the size should no longer be a problem,” she said.
“Oh right, sorry,” he said.
“That is quite understandable. I have thrown quite a lot at you today. Do you have any other questions?” she said kindly.
He thought about it but then shook his head.
“Very good. Now, here is a series of permanent portkeys. This one will take you to the edge of the Hogwarts wards, where you will be admitted automatically. This one will take you to the woods in the park nearby. Given the wards on your home, it cannot take you directly here, I am afraid,” she said, offering him two necklaces.
He accepted them and said, “Right, free access to Hogwarts. I guess I will use that to help plan my lessons better.”
“An excellent idea. Do you have any other concerns or things you wish to discuss?” she asked.
“Uh, I don’t think so?” he said.
She smiled and said, “Well, think on it over the next week and let me know at our next meeting if you do.”
She finished her tea, and he followed suit. She summoned a house elf, then said, “Oh yes. You will now be assigned a personal house elf. This is that house elf. Harry, meet Mipsy. Mipsy, this is Professor Potter.”
Harry startled at the address as Mipsy curtsied and said, “It is goods to meet you, Professor Potter.”
“You too,” he said faintly.
She took the tea tray and disappeared with it.
Suddenly, a question occurred to him as they stood, and he asked, “Is Ron getting the same thing?”
She looked very smug as she said, “It took all year to convince him, but Severus has finally agreed.”
Harry laughed and said, “Good!”
“Yes indeed. Now, our next meeting will take place in my office on Monday at three. Please bring your fifth year grade books and a sample of your lesson plans. I obviously do not expect you to have all years planned out completely, but I would like a sample of each year’s lessons.”
“Yes Professor,” he agreed.
She smiled and said, “One last thing. You are a professor now, so buy yourself an acceptable wardrobe. It is a disgrace to see a professor in rags.”
He grimaced and said, “Yes, pr– Minerva.”
“Very good. I will see you next Monday,” she said. They shook hands and she left.
He collapsed onto his bed, his mind whirling as he thought over everything that had happened.