Love Enough for Both by Manwe Valarian



Summary: Harry heard a goblin speaking and he came out of temporary stupor. He was surrounded by witches and wizards all staring at him. The most shocking thing was he had his arms around someone. Who was she and how did they get here?
Rating: PG-13 starstarstarstarhalf-star
Categories: Alternate Universe
Characters: None
Genres: None
Warnings: None
Challenges: None
Series: None
Published: 2012.10.25
Updated: 2018.05.01


Love Enough for Both by Manwe Valarian
Chapter 15: A New Professor
Author's Notes:

Sirius looked at Harry and Ginny studying. They were sitting across from each other at a wide honey pine table in the library of Potter Manor in England. They were each reading from a book while making notes on a parchment with a quill. They seemed to be concentrating solely on their studies, except when you looked under the table. Their feet were intertwined. He wondered if they even realized they were touching each other.

“Must you two always be touching?” he shouted, and then laughed a loud barking laugh when they jumped.

Harry and Ginny looked at him then at each other. It was obvious they didn’t realize their feet were intertwined.

“Your feet,” he said pointing at their feet under the table.

Ginny realizing their feet were touching and ran her bare foot up Harry’s leg. “Why is it such a problem for you? Maybe if you found someone….”

“Don’t start on me about settling down and becoming respectable,” he quickly told her. “I am quite happy the way I am; single and active.”

Harry smiled at him. “You will never change, will you Padfoot?”

“No never,” he said with a laugh. He stopped smiling and became solemn. “I need to talk to everyone. Where are Bill and Remus?”

“I am over here,” said Moony from the corner of the library. “I think Bill is in the classroom preparing the next exam.”

“No, I am here. I heard Padfoot coming back. How did everything go with the trial?”

“Not good,” he said with a growl.

“What, it was an open and shut case!” shouted Bill.

“Whoa, calm down,” Sirius pleaded with the angry Curse-Breaker.

“Fudge tried to convince the Wizengamot that your Father did something that made it justifiable for the attackers to fire Killing Curses…,”

“Were they acquitted?” asked a shocked Bill.

“No, but they aren’t in Azkaban.” Sirius held up his hands as the room erupted with questions. “If everyone will have a little patience and let me explain all the details. This will go much faster, there were a lot of developments today.”

He spent the next ten minutes retelling the events of the day. How the six attackers had been Portkeyed to another location and escaped. The Ministry sentenced Gabriel Brandenburg to be kissed by a Dementor, and Dumbledore and Madam Bones had arranged his escape, because it was obvious that he had been Imperioused. He finished up with telling them that the Order now has Madam Bones, the Auror Proudfoot, and the Brandenburg family as new members. Everyone looked to be in shock.

“There was one other thing, Dumbledore asked us to move into Hogwarts and one of us to become this year’s Professor for Defense Against the Dark Arts.” Once again Sirius held up his hands to stave off the questions. “Let me say a couple of things about Dumbledore’s request.

“First, he needs a Professor and Harry and Ginny need to expand their education.

“Second, Dumbledore is still the most intelligent wizard in the world. He may be manipulative and he might withhold all the facts, but he can be a real help to our mission.

“Third, We need to help recruit people to our side. When Voldemort returns, we will need people who others trust and believe in us. It would help our cause if Harry became public. Gain the trust of people. Since the Ministry is obviously corrupt, getting the Hogwarts staff and children to trust you will be a great start. I realize that it may take time for people to believe and trust us, but we must start sometime soon. We kept Harry hidden because of his inexperience with magic. After seeing what he did to those six at the Burrow. I think he can take care of himself.”

Sirius stopped talking and waited for the arguments to start. To his surprise, no one said anything. They all sat or stood there deep in thought. Remus was the first to respond.

“After hearing what you just said, I think all of us moving into Hogwarts would be an advantage to us and the fight against Voldemort. The thing that has me bothered the most is that was a very logical and mature explanation. Padfoot, my old friend, you seem to be maturing. I never thought I would see the day when that would happen,” Remus said while pretending to wipe tears from his eyes.

Everyone laughed at Remus’ comment, including Sirius. After the laughter died down, Sirius looked at Harry.

“What is your decision, Harry?” He noticed Harry looking around the room at everyone. “Harry, it is time you get used to people looking at you as an adult leader of the fight against Voldemort. You are going to need to gain people’s confidence if you want them to follow you.”

“But I don’t want them to follow me. I am only thirteen in actual years.”

“You are considered an adult, because of the soul bond,” stated Remus. “Padfoot is correct. We pulled you away from magical society because you weren’t ready to face your fame and position. The decision to go to Hogwarts should be yours, because you are the one that will be most affected by the move.”

Harry ran his hand through his hair just like James used to do. It had the same effect of making it stick up in every direction. “Am I ready for this?”

Bill snorted a laugh. “Look what you have done over the past few months. You faced off with Albus Dumbledore and won. You faced off with Lucius Malfoy and won. Those two would have intimidated ninety percent of the population.”

“All right, we will do this, but I can’t be a Professor I haven’t even passed my NEWTs.”

[ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]

Ron Weasley pulled his trunk through the crowded corridor of the train. He wanted to find a compartment to hide from Hermione. The past month she had Owled him two or three times a week asking how his family was. He would only send back very vague answers in his Owls. The next Owl he received would be more demanding than the last. He knew the next time he saw her she would prod him incessantly for answers. As much as he trusted her, he wasn’t sure how much he should tell her about what he saw this summer.

Compartment after compartment was filled. He thought he was early, because the train didn’t leave for another ten minutes. He saw Penelope Clearwater. A girl he had petrified last year. He wasn’t sure if Dumbledore told the victims he had let the basilisk out of the chamber, but he didn’t want to take the chance.

A hand grabbed his arm and tugged him back towards a compartment he had just passed. He started to pull away and yell at the person until he saw it was Hermione. He straightened up and waited for the yelling to start. He supposed he would deserve it, even though he had orders from his parents not to write back to her.

“Well are you going to sit with us?” she hissed at him.

Looking over her shoulder, he saw Neville Longbottom sitting there. He would have been more comfortable sitting alone with Hermione.

“All right, I’m coming,” he said shakily as he pulled his trunk into the compartment.

Neville stood up and helped him with the trunk. Ron looked before he sat down and saw Hermione was already sitting down with her arms crossed across her chest. It was obvious he wasn’t going to escape the interrogation.

“Where are Dean and Seamus?” Ron asked trying to make small talk.

“They are sharing a compartment with the Patils and Lavender,” stated Hermione coldly. “It will only be us.”

“Hello, can I come in?” asked the unmistakable voice of Luna Lovegood.

“Sure, come in,” replied Ron.

He hoped that her presence would keep Hermione from digging too deep to find out what he knows. He stood and helped her with her trunk. He sat back down on the same side as Neville, but not directly across from Hermione.

Luna sat beside Hermione. She looked at Hermione, and then at Ron before pulling out her kaleidoscope glasses. She placed them on the bridge of her nose and oohed and aahed while appearing to look Ron up and down.

She was staring at him without saying anything to him. She was being extremely annoying. “What is so interesting?” he questioned her.

“You appear to be infested with whimperbees,” she said brightly. “They are interesting little insects that are attracted to people’s fear. Last year the castle was filled with them. What are you afraid of Ron?”

“Yes, Ronald what are you afraid of?” asked Hermione.

“No-nothing, there aren’t things called whimperbees,” he protested. “You’re just making that up.”

Hermione grabbed the glasses and looked through them. “Oh my just look at all the wimperbees gathering around Ron,” she said sardonically. She handed the glasses back to Luna. “Why don’t you tell us what has you so afraid, Ronald?”

He hated it when she spoke to him like that it reminded him of his Mum when she was disciplining him. At least Hermione wasn’t standing with her hands on her hips. She was sitting there with her arms crossed across her chest and a smug look on her pretty face.

The train jerked and started moving away from the platform. Ron looked out the window while trying to ignore the three sets of eyes staring at him. He wasn’t a coward. He just wasn’t permitted to tell everything to anyone. Can he even trust Hermione, Neville, and Luna? He glanced at the door to the corridor, before turning back to Hermione.

“Look I can’t tell you everything that happened this summer with my family,” he said rather harshly.

“That is fine Ron,” said Luna told him sympathetically. “It must be difficult to be so closely involved with overthrow of the Ministry.”

“No one is trying to overthrow the Ministry,” he nearly shouted at her. Pulling his wand, he pointed at the door and silently cast a Silencing Charm that Bill and Remus had taught him.

“What was that for?” asked a shocked Hermione.

Ron looked at them. They all were looking at him anxiously. He realized that pulling his wand out after being agitated at Luna must have appeared suspicious. “Sorry, it was a Silencing Charm. I can’t tell you everything, but what I tell you; you can’t repeat it. So you all need to promise.”

“Sure Ron, I promise,” said Neville.

“You can trust me too,” said Luna.

Ron looked at Hermione. She had an unreadable look on her face. “I couldn’t write and tell you anything, because Mum and Dad wouldn’t let me. They were afraid that our Owls would be intercepted.”

Hermione’s expression seemed to soften a little. “Why would they think that?”

“You were at the wedding, Hermione. Our home was attacked. Some of them were Ministry employees. Then we go on vacation for a week and when we were gone a bloke was trying to break in to our home. We get home for one day and that night six wizards show up and try to break our wards. When Professor Dumbledore shows up, they try to kill him and everyone with him. So, yes, we are concerned about people watching us and trying to read or Owls.”

“Did you enjoy your vacation?” asked Luna.

Ron looked at her surprised. She asked the question as though everything he told them before was an everyday event. “Yes, I did. We went to Egypt where Bill had been working breaking curses on treasure vaults.”

“That sounds exciting,” said Neville. “Is your family all… all right?”

Ron smiled at Neville as he stumbled over the last part of his poorly worded question. “Yeah, they are all just fine.”

He looked over at Hermione. She was looking peaky. “What is wrong Hermione?”

“I read that a person from the Ministry had been convicted of helping six wizards escape from Azkaban. Were they the six that attacked your home?”

Ron was unsure how to answer Hermione. He wasn’t supposed to say anything about what she asked. It was the same group, but the man convicted of allowing them to escape was working with for the Order of Phoenix. Ron had met him and his family. He looked at Hermione and started to talk but wasn’t sure what to say, so he just moved his mouth.

Hermione broke out in giggles. “Nice imitation of a fish, Ron.”

“Does anyone want to play a game of Exploding Snap?” asked Neville.

“Yeah, I do,” said Ron, grateful for the change of subject. He hoped that he had satisfied Hermione’s need to know.

[ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]

Ron sat at the Gryffindor table waiting for the sorting ceremony to finish so he could eat. It seemed that everyone was excited to be back, because they were all talking so loudly that it was almost impossible to hear anyone speaking to you. Hermione was staring at someone further up the Gryffindor table towards the head table. She went to ask him something, but he couldn’t even hear her across the table.

The Headmaster stood up to announce the start of the sorting. Ron tuned most everything out as the little runts were sorted into the different houses. He applauded for the Gryffindors, but he couldn’t remember any of their names.

After all the first years were sorted, the Headmaster stood up again. Ron groaned as he realized that he wouldn’t be able to eat for a few more minutes.

“Welcome to another year of filling your minds with knowledge at Hogwarts,” said the Headmaster over the crowd. “I will be brief…,”

That would be brilliant, because I am starving. Ron thought to himself as he tuned out the Headmaster. All he could think about was what would be on the platters when they appeared in front of him.

“…our new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor, William Weasley.”

Ron looked up from the table and stared at his brother standing at the head table. He looked back at Hermione who only rolled her eyes at him.

“We also have four teaching assistants this year,” said the Headmaster. “Please stand up.”

Four people stood up at the front of Gryffindor’s table. It was Ginny, Harry, Sirius, and Remus. Ron again looked at Hermione. This time she glared at him with one of her know-it-all stares. He looked back up and clapped with the rest of the Gryffindors.

“I would like to introduce to you; Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Harry Potter and his wife Ginny Potter.”

Fred and George stood up and cheered wildly for Ginny, who blushed in response. The rest of the hall sat there and whispered. It was obvious to Ron that they were surprised to see Harry Potter at Hogwarts.

“They will be helping everyone to get up to speed with Defense Against the Dark Arts curriculum. Please show them the same respect that you would any of the other Professors. Now tuck in.”

Food appeared on platters on all the tables. Ron already had a roast chicken leg in his mouth and was forking several boiled potatoes before anyone else even had the first serving on their plate.

“Is that one of things you couldn’t tell us?” asked Hermione over the sound of forks and knives scraping the plates.

“I didn’t know they would be here,” he said between bites.

They didn’t say anything else until they were filing out of the great hall. Ron was curious if Ginny or any of the others would speak to him. It bothered him a bit to be ignored like that. He will need to speak with Fred and George to see if they knew.

“My, my, it looks like the Weasleys have finally found a way of earning some actual money,” shouted Draco Malfoy. He was flanked by his two goons Crabbe and Goyle, as he stood in the entrance hall. “They had to because their father sure doesn’t earn enough at his useless job at the Ministry.”

A flash of anger raged through Ron. In the past he would have done something stupid like punch Malfoy and lose points for Gryffindor. Ever since talking that one night with Ginny, he had a new perspective on being wealthy.

“We don’t determine the value of the person by how much money they earn. Money doesn’t buy happiness. Look at that sour face of yours and it is obvious to everyone.”

All the Gryffindors around Ron laughed at his comment. Hermione’s laughter was the loudest.

“Shut up you Mudblood. You will get yours Weasley.” Draco pulled his wand as he spoke, but it was grabbed out of his hand by Harry.

Standing behind Harry was Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. Sirius beamed with joy.

“Why Draco, you know you are not allowed to say that word at Hogwarts. Five points from Slytherin house. You are also not allowed to pull your wand on another student that will be another five points from Slytherin house and a week of detention,” said Sirius. “Now go to your common room.”

Harry handed him his wand back. Draco took it and left in a hurry with his two goons right behind him.

“Is everything all right here?” asked Ginny with Luna right beside her.

“Yeah, everything is brilliant,” said Ron. “Why didn’t you tell me that you were going to be teaching assistants this year?”

“We only found out a few weeks ago, and things have been pretty hectic the past two weeks,” responded Ginny.

“Yeah, you’re right,” said Ron thinking about the long days of cleaning Headquarters at Grimmauld Place. “It was a bit of a shock, but it will be nice to have some back up against the Slytherins.”

“We are not supposed to be biased, Mr. Weasley,” said Sirius sardonically. “Now off to bed.”

When Ron turned around, he saw his entire year staring at him. Hermione was practically beaming at him.

“That was brilliant mate,” said Seamus.

“Yeah, Ron you really put Draco in his place,” said Neville. The rest of the group agreed with him.

“Thanks,” he said meekly to them. He started off towards Gryffindor tower with the rest of them following behind them. All his fears of how people would be treating him melted away. It looked like this might be a brilliant year.

[ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]

“He took points off Draco and gave him detention,” hissed Severus Snape.

Albus was stuck listening to Severus rant about allowing Remus and Sirius back onto the grounds and making them teaching assistants. He had expected Severus to complain, but at least he hoped it would be after a couple of days instead of the first night. Of course students losing house points before reaching their dormitories was unusual, but it had happened in the past.

“Maybe he had a good reason to deduct house points, Severus. I will ask him tomorrow about it.”

“He will just lie to you,” responded Snape.

“I will ask Mr. Black and determine if the punishment was justified, Severus.” Albus leaned back in his chair and stared at his Potion master. Severus was so one-minded about Harry’s father and his friends that it wouldn’t matter what they ever did. Severus would hate them. “How was your holiday?”

“Fine,” Severus replied, while trying to avoid looking in his eyes.

“Anything unusual happen during the holiday?” He knew that Severus was trapped. He hoped that Severus would tell him about the attack on the Weasleys’. He would hate to lose him as the spy for Voldemort, but he needed to trust him.

“Why do you ask?”

“Severus, do you really think you weren’t recognized along with Lucius Malfoy a month ago at the Burrow. Why did you not tell me about the attack?”

Severus looked at the Headmaster staring him in the eyes. Albus wasn’t naive. He realized that Severus only did this because he had his Occlumency shields in place. It bothered him that a man that he vouched for to keep out of Azkaban would now turn on him. He was willing to give someone a second chance to redeem themselves, but the third and fourth chances would have to be earned.

“Severus, I stood up in defense of you in front of the Wizengamot. I will not do it again if I can no longer trust you.”

Severus looked surprised that he said that. His face went slack for a second as a look of fear washed over his features.

“Lucius Malfoy believes that if he captures Potter he can find the Dark Lord. He wants to capture Potter and interrogate him.

“What were the plans for everyone else at the wedding?”

“He wasn’t specific about anyone else,” responded Severus.

If Albus had not spent so many years with Severus, he may not have caught the lie, but to him it was obvious. He was also privy to the truth.

“Everyone was permitted to kill the others, weren’t they? You walked onto their property ready to kill an entire family and you tried to pretend that it was nothing. I was there also. Were you intending on killing me?”

“I did not intend on killing anyone,” responded Severus coolly.

“Were you going to try to stop them?”

“I only swore to protect Lily’s son.”

Severus stood up straight and stared defiantly at Albus. It bothered him that Severus was acting this way. He was starting to have doubts about their relationship. If he can’t trust Severus, then he may be best served by allowing Severus to hear less and less.

“I did not contact you, because I did not know the plan until I arrived at Malfoy manor. Lucius had been spreading word to former Death Eaters that he had plans to avenge the Dark Lords demise and set things right once again. I attended to find out what he meant. After the attack I didn’t tell you, because I didn’t realize that I was spotted and, after all, no one was actually hurt.”

“I thought you were an ally in the fight against Voldemort. I may need to reassess your position within the Order.” Albus admonished Severus. “While I am contemplating that, I am going to inform you of a decision that I have made. I gave Harry and Ginny and anyone who is accompanying them access to the Potions labs at times that suit them. They have already checked the calendar and assure me that he will be out of the Potions labs before you need the facilities.”

“I did not know the Order was meeting again. Lucius and the Dark Lord’s followers do not trust me since they discovered Order members there.”

“That is a common problem with spies like you. One day you are doing good work, and the next day you are caught between two grindstones with no escape. The Order is reorganizing. I have reliable sources that believe Voldemort is regaining his powers. Do you agree with that?”

Severus stared at the Headmaster. “Your sources are?”

“It does not matter who has informed me. I trust them. Like I said, we need to reassess your position within the Order of Phoenix. Severus, do not take Harry and his entourage lightly. I don’t think taunts will work on them now, so don’t try it. The only thing you may end up doing is alienating yourself from the Order.”

“Am I to assume that you have someone else within the ranks of the Death Eaters to do your spying for you?”

“You can assume what you want, Severus. I will question Mr. Black about the points he took from Slytherin House and also why he gave Mr. Malfoy detention. If it was justifiable then his decision will stand. You are excused.”

Albus watched as Severus left his office. He had shaken Severus by threatening him with removal from the Order of the Phoenix. It may seem like a favor to not ask a person to spy for them, but Albus wasn’t a fool. He knew that Severus was also passing information to the Death Eaters. Much of the information Albus had approved. It was keeping him in good standing with Voldemort. Without that information, Severus’ ability to remain in good standing would quickly diminish. Hopefully, he will become more cooperative. Albus can’t risk the possibility of losing him, but to alienate Harry and his entourage would be even more devastating.


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