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The tiny first years bustled around Diagon Ally, running from store to store, their tired parents trailing behind carrying multitudes of books, quills, robes and wands. A few dazed wanderers could be found, studying each sign carefully, staring at various witches and wizards, walking into people and frightfully stepping back as they did so. These were the parents of the muggle-borns. There were a few people walking around casually, people just doing their shopping or who came to Diagon ally frequently (Hagrid was always spotted down the darker alleyways of the famous wizard street). These few calm and collected people –in the midst of the new-school-term-rush– could be found sitting in a small café somewhere while everyone shopped, and found in the shops while everyone had lunch. They were smart. This included none other than the Boy-Who-Lived, or rather, the Man-Who-Lived. He was 21 years old now, and had a job at none other than Hogwarts. He'd thought about being an Auror, and was all for it for a while, until he realised that the Dark Lord was gone, so what bad threat was there to the wizarding world now? And what good could he do, sitting in an office for hours on end, waiting for a call out to a house-elf-gone-mad case? Even as he grew a bit older and realised the job wouldn't fit that exact criteria, he still chose a different path...much to McGonagall's delight. Harry was the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. He'd talked about it with various professors upon his return to Hogwarts after the war and even Snape himself had once mentioned it, however unmeaningly vague he made it sound. "Well, you have already conjured up your own defence class once before, Potter. I can honestly see you becoming a real professor at Hogwarts one day, just don't do it while I'm still around" he'd drawled in his Snake-like voice. And so, he worked hard to pass his NEWT's and took a couple of years off after school while Ron was working to become an Auror and Hermonie a Healer. Harry returned to Hogwarts when he was 20 and applied for the position in the coming year. Funny thing was, his arch enemy Draco Malfoy, since returning to the light side, became the new potions professor last year. Harry wasn't too fazed about it though, they didn't fight like they used to anymore. Harry was wondering how it'd go, working alongside a fellow ex-student whom he'd once loathed. He figured he'd find out soon enough. *** Harry waited for his first class to line up outside the door to the Defence classroom. It looked the same, had the same scratched seats and scuffed tables set out in the same order, same dim light coming from a few candles along the walls, same blackboard that might as well be white. Harry wondered if anyone ever cleaned it. He hadn't seen anyone do so in the time he was here. He walked up the stairs to the landing looking over the whole classroom. He stood behind the door leading into the teachers office, out of sight from anyone, and waved his wand to open the classroom doors. Nervous second year Ravenclaws scuttled in, looking around for their new professor. "Do you think we even have a teacher?" A blonde boy asked his friends. "Of course we do, who do you think opened the door, silly" a shorter girl answered him. They reminded Harry of Ron and Hermonie a little. Slowly the students took their seats, still looking around and muttering to their friends. From behind the door Harry waved his wand and a small piece of chalk picked itself up from the floor and started to write on the blackboard on its own. Suddenly the whole class fell silent, not one murmur from a student was heard as the chalk slowly spelt out words. 'Welcome to Defence Against the Dark Arts' it wrote and paused for a second, before the words vanished. The chalk started again. 'I'm your new teacher, Professor Potter' the chalk stopped and dropped to the floor once again. Excited whispers broke out across the room. "Is that Harry Potter?" "The Harry Potter? The one that, that defeated You-Know-Who?!" "I thought he was going to become an Auror?!" "That's what my dad said" "My mum always said he'd go on to do something else, other than more fighting" "He saved my aunty in the war!" "My dad knew him!" "We're going to know him!" All of a sudden, a figure stepped out from behind the door, walked down the stairs and smiled broadly at the room. "Quiet, please. Quiet down. I believe we probably haven't met, yet. I'm Professor Potter, but you can call me Professor or Sir. I couldn't make it to the Great Hall last night, but at least I'm here for the first lesson. Now, shall we get started, then?" The lesson went just as planned, he got to know the students, taught them a bit about Cornish Pixies (all the while reminiscing on his own lesson on Cornish pixies, and choosing the safer textbook method to teach his new students) and dismissed them once the class was over. After the students all strode out of the classroom, (looking and sounding as excited as Harry and his class were when they first had Professor Lupin) a quiet little brunette boy walked up to Harry's desk, books in hand and an over-sized bag dangling off his right arm. "S-sir" he asked with the voice of a mouse. "Yes, ah, I'm sorry, I'm terrible with names-" Harry answered. "Anthony, my name's Anthony" he said, the tiniest bit louder this time. "Anthony, I'll remember that. What can I help you with?" Harry asked politely. "Um, it's just that, I'm not the best at defence, I failed it last year and I'm afraid I won't pass to get into 3rd year. I was just wondering if there was any extra curricular classes or extra homework I could do..." He rushed out. "Anthony, it's only the first day back. You shouldn't worry about extra curricular classes yet. You can do some extra reading from the textbook, but I'm sure you'll keep up this year. Who was your professor last year?" Harry asked questionably. "Uh, P-Professor Peters, sir" Anthony said, stuttering his answer. Harry remembered the name come up in a pre-term meeting between the professors. He couldn't attend, but got the information from another professor. McGonagall had to let Peters go. He'd fall asleep in the middle of a class, half the time he was drunk, and when he did decide to teach the students something, he'd only focus on the ones really good at defence. The students who needed help got lost in all the homework and couldn't keep up with his teaching. The professor ended up failing 3/4 of his students because he didn't teach them correctly. "It's alright, I'll help you and we'll make sure you do better this term" Harry reassured. These kids didn't need extra homework or more classes to catch up. They needed a good teacher, and that's what he was going to be. They both walked out of the class and down the stairs towards the great hall. "What class do you have now, Anthony?" Harry asked. "Um, Charms, I think" he answered. "Ah. Good luck" Harry told him. Harry was about to turn a corner and go down a different hallway when he ran into somebody. "Sorry bout' that" he said, stepping back and looking up at none other than Draco Malfoy himself. The second year, who was just about to walk off, turned around and just stood there, next to the two professors. He suddenly realised, or more assumed, that they wouldn't know each other. "Ah, Professor Malfoy, this is Professor Potter, sir. He's actually, he's the-" he cut himself off, not knowing how to explain that he's the Harry Potter, hoping Professor Malfoy got the idea. "Draco," Harry greeted. "Harry," Draco greeted him back. Anthony just stood there, looking astonished and confused. "It's been a while, how's Hogwarts been? Still standing, I see" Harry chuckled. To many people, this may have seemed an odyssey, but Harry and Draco had agreed when they returned to Hogwarts to finish 7th year that they'd try and put their differences aside and not become friends as such, but attempt to pass each other in the halls without muttering profanities or uttering curses. By the end of 7th year, they were almost mutual acquaintances, much to their remaining classmates surprise. And now they were just bordering on friends. Having only seen each other a few times in the past couple of years, maybe some catching up was to be done. "It's good. It was so strange at the start of last year to be working with the other professors, though. Since only 4 years before that we'd been in Sevrus' potion class sabotaging each other's potions!" Draco laughed lightly. "I'll have to get used to it. Did I miss anything at the feast last night?" Harry asked. "Not much, Dumbledore gave his usual ‘Work hard, study, have fun, make friends' speech, mentioned a new professor but didn't say your name, so the students would be surprised" "Ah, okay. I have to go, think I'm late for my second lesson-" "When were you ever early for any lesson, Potter?" Draco teased. "Shut up, Malfoy" Harry laughed with him. They soon walked their separate ways towards their classes of bustling, noisy teenagers, leaving the second year standing in the hall on his own, mouth agape, looking more flabbergasted than ever.