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SIYE Time:13:43 on 28th March 2024
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back to school
By lazyweekendmornings

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Category: Post-DH/PM
Characters:None
Genres: Action/Adventure, Comedy
Warnings: None
Story is Complete
Rating: PG-13
Reviews: 99
Summary: Twenty one years after the war, Harry and Ginny return to Hogwarts as the new Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor and the new Flying Instructor. Much to their children's embarrassment. Shenanigans ensue.
Hitcount: Story Total: 25998; Chapter Total: 1770





Author's Notes:
i know not much actually Happens in this chapter, but there are so many characters that are introduced here (including all the kids) that i wanted to give it a little room to breathe before i jumped right into more Plot! as always, please let me know what you think - reviews really do help me write faster! what are your guesses for how the new students - lily, hugo, lorcan, lysander, and roxanne - are Sorted? let me know!!




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The first of September seems to come all at once. Before Harry knows it, they’re in the car, driving to Kings Cross. It’s a tight squeeze in the car, even with its expanded seats: Harry and Ginny, along with their children and Scorpius, are accompanied by Teddy. Teddy’s there ostensibly to drive the car back, but Harry suspects two things: one, that Victoire is about to take an early lunch break from work, and two, that he won’t see his car back until Christmas, if ever, if the gleeful look on Teddy’s face as he drives is any indication.

“Did you ever get your Muggle driving licence?” he asks Teddy.

“Sure,” Teddy says.

“Doesn’t inspire too much confidence,” Ginny remarks from where she’s curled up next to Harry in the front with her head resting on his shoulder. Car rides always make her nauseous, which Harry finds a little amusing, given how many hours she’s spent flying on brooms that go so much faster.

“Don’t you trust me?” Teddy asks Ginny teasingly.

“I think your driving is great, Teddy,” Scorpius puts in from the backseat, where he’s sandwiched in between Lily and Albus. “It’s honestly so cool to get to be in a Muggle car like this.”

“You should meet my grandad, if you love Muggle things,” Albus says.

“I’d love to!” Scorpius says. “I bet he’s great. Everyone in your family is.”

Harry can’t resist saying, “Scorp, when you go home, I want you to tell your father that. In those exact words, okay?”

“Okay,” Scorpius says.

Ginny looks up at Harry, and they exchange a grin.

“Are we there yet?” Lily asks, for what feels like the fiftieth time.

“Not yet, Lils,” Teddy says cheerfully. “It takes a while. It’s your parents’ fault, I’ve been telling them for years to move closer to London.”

“There’s no space to fly if we lived in London,” Harry says.

“Grimmauld Place’s got a garden,” Teddy says.

“That garden’s about the size of a shoebox,” Harry says, falling into the old argument easily. “Besides, that house is yours, Ted.”

“I like our house,” Lily says, “I just wish it was closer to Kings Cross. Can’t you drive faster, Teddy?”

Teddy’s eyes light up at that. “Course I can,” he says, reaching out to press a button that Arthur added when he was modifying the car.

“No,” Harry and Ginny say in unison.

“You’re gonna have to let me push the button one day, you know,” Teddy grumbles.

“You should ask Uncle George. He lets you push all the buttons on his car,” Albus says. Harry glances at him in the rear-view mirror, raising an eyebrow. “Not,” Albus adds hastily, “that I’ve done that. I haven’t, of course. And Jamie and I definitely didn’t go there and try flying his car.”

“Nice save, Al,” Jamie grumbles. “Thought you Ravenclaws were meant to be smart, and yet here you are, betraying us to Dad.”

“I’m not betraying us, I just said–”

“Do you think I’ll be in Ravenclaw?” Lily pipes up, before their argument can continue. Which is smart — once Jamie and Al get started, they can argue all day. Harry and Ginny have been awoken countless times to the sound of Jamie and Al arguing — or just having a conversation, because it’s sometimes hard to keep track of which is which.

“You could be,” Teddy says. “You’re really smart, Lils.”

Harry turns around in time to see Lily beam. “I wanna be in Gryffindor,” she declares. “Like you and Mum and Jamie, Dad.”

“Hey. What’s wrong with Ravenclaw?” Albus demands.

“Ravenclaw’s quite fun,” Scorpius agrees.

“Hufflepuff’s not bad, either,” Teddy puts in loyally.

“As long as you’re not in Slytherin, Lils,” Jamie says. “But you might be. You’re very sneaky, like a snake.”

“I won’t be!” Lily says.

“You might,” Jamie points out, settling back in his seat as he starts to play his favourite game: winding up his siblings.

“There’s nothing wrong if you are,” Ginny says.

“You thought Albus would be in Slytherin, and he wasn’t, so you don’t know anything,” Lily tells Jamie, crossing her arms.

Albus looks up, meets Harry’s eyes, and looks away again.

Harry thinks about the conversation he had with him on the platform, and then the one they had the following December, when Albus was back home for the holidays. Albus had been helping him make dinner, and then he’d confessed: You were right, Dad. The Hat let me choose where I wanted to go. I chose Ravenclaw. When Harry had asked — as gently as possible without being too prying, because Albus, unlike Jamie, could be scared off by too many questions — Albus had admitted why he chose Ravenclaw: because Scorpius had gotten Sorted into Ravenclaw before him, and he’d known that he wanted to be in the same House as him, even after only knowing him for the duration of one train ride.

“There’s nothing wrong with being in Slytherin, Lils,” he says, instead of saying what he’s thinking about.

“My dad was in Slytherin,” Scorpius says.

Ginny looks up at Harry but doesn’t say anything. Nor does Harry: both of their will power has gotten much better over the years. It also helps that Scorpius is one of the sweetest kids Harry’s ever met; he couldn’t be more different from what his father was like in school, and it’s served to soften Harry’s attitude towards Draco Malfoy the smallest amount.

“So was Voldemort,” Jamie says. “Just saying.”

“He wasn’t evil because he was in Slytherin, though,” Teddy says fairly. “He just happened to be an arse.”

“Language,” Harry says half-heartedly.

“If we’re not allowed to swear about Voldemort, then when can we?” Lily reasons.

“Besides, Dumbledore wouldn’t approve of you not letting us swear,” Jamie says.

“How do you work that out?” Ginny asks.

“Fear of the name of a swear word only increases fear of the thing itself,” Jamie says without hesitation.

“Oh, bloody hell,” Harry mutters, but suppresses a smile.

“Quick question, Jamie,” Ginny says, “wherever did you learn to be so cheeky?”

“What can I say, Mum? You and Dad have always been good teachers,” Jamie says sweetly.

*

They take it in turns to go onto the platform.

Lily holds onto Teddy’s hand as they go, and he keeps his arm wrapped protectively around her even as they run. Jamie turns to grin at Harry and Ginny. “I’ll see you on the train,” he says, and then disappears at a run, pushing his trolley with enough momentum that Harry, even after all these years, worries momentarily about him crashing into the platform.

“We should go next, I think,” Scorpius tells Albus. “Since your parents said they’d go last. So. Do you think, er. Should we go together?”

“Yeah,” Albus says immediately. “I mean. Yes. I think… that’s for the best, we should do it,” he says.

“Together?” Scorpius says. When Albus nods, Scorpius takes his hand. Albus’s cheeks turn a little pink, and then they both jog to the platform and disappear.

“You know,” Ginny says thoughtfully, “I always thought our kids would tell me when they started having crushes. And I never thought they’d be so obvious about it.”

“What are you talking about?” Harry says.

Ginny laughs. “Nothing. Come on, our turn,” she says, and drags a confused Harry with her to the platform.

“Ginny! Harry!” someone calls out to them, as soon as they’re past the wall between the platforms, and on Platform Nine and Three Quarters.

Harry’s children seemed to have disappeared in the steam of the train, but Harry’s had enough experiences with this to know they’ll show up eventually. Who does show up now, though, Neville Longbottom, appearing before them with a bright smile.

“Hi, Neville,” Ginny says warmly, and leans in to hug him.

Harry hugs him as well after, grinning at him. “What are you doing on the platform, Nev?” he asks. 

“McGonagall told me that you two are coming on the train, so I thought I’d join you on the journey,” Neville says. “I can’t believe you’re both coming to Hogwarts! McGonagall’s been trying to get you to come teach Defence for years, what finally convinced you?”

“Did she tell you about what happened in Hogsmeade?” Ginny asks Neville.

“She did, she was quite worried, she thinks–Oh,” Neville says, a look of dawning comprehension on his face. “Is that why you both agreed?”

Harry nods.

“Yeah, I’ve been a bit worried about it too. Been ages since we had to deal with Dementors. I’m glad you’re coming, though. Between us, we’ll have everyone producing a Patronus in no time,” Neville says confidently. “It’ll be much safer with you both there. Especially you, Harry.”

Harry can’t help be touched by Neville’s faith in him.

Especially him? Ouch. You’re forgetting who ran Dumbledore’s Army with you during your last year?” Ginny asks, giving Neville a teasing nudge to the ribs with her elbow.

“Would that be Luna?” Harry asks innocently.

“Would what be me?” Luna asks as she walks up to them. Lorcan and Lysander are following her; Lorcan’s looking impatiently past Harry and Ginny — looking for Lily, no doubt — and Lysander has his mother’s dreamy expression on his face.

“Luna!” Ginny says, and tugs Luna into a hug before she hugs Lorcan and Lysander, too.

“Hi, you two. And Neville’s here, too,” Luna says happily.

“I’m going to go on the train, actually. Try and find a compartment near the front. But you’re still coming to Hogsmeade to see me and Hannah this weekend, right?” Neville asks Luna.

“Of course. It’ll be fun,” Luna says serenely. “Bye, Neville.”

“Come find me once you get on the train,” Neville adds to Harry and Ginny, who nod in response, and then Neville goes onto the train, wand clutched tightly in his hand the entire time.

“Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Potter. Where’s Lily?” Lorcan asks.

“I think they went to the train,” Harry says. “To get their things on.”

“Oh, really? I thought they went to find Ron and Hermione,” Ginny says.

“Great. We’re not even at Hogwarts yet and we’re losing track of them,” Harry says.

“No, they’re over there,” Luna says, and points to the distance where, amidst the steam of the train, Harry can spot just about Jamie next to the train with Lily. Teddy’s helping them load their trunks on. Albus and Scorpius are nowhere to be found, but Harry’s stopped being surprised by that years ago.

“Oh, good,” Lorcan says, cheered up. “We’d better get on the train too, right? It’s nearly time, and we’ve got to find Hugo, too.”

“You’ll write, won’t you?” Lysander asks Luna nervously.

“And you’ll tell us how Dad’s trip to Romania goes?” Lorcan adds.

“Let’s give them a moment,” Ginny murmurs, and Harry steps aside with her to give them some privacy. 

“I’m a bit glad we don’t have to deal with sentimental goodbyes,” Harry admits to her quietly. “It would’ve been… tough, saying bye to Lily.” He loves his children equally, but Lily’s always been the baby of the family, younger than everyone — even younger than Hugo by a few months — and the idea of sending her away hadn’t been one that Harry had been looking forward to. He thinks he only got through Jamie and Al leaving because Lily had been there at home, brightening everything up with her presence.

“Yes. Me too,” Ginny admits and squeezes Harry’s hand.

“There you are!” says a familiar voice, and Harry looks up with a grin to see George and Ron striding towards them, with Freddie, Roxanne, Rose, and Hugo closely following.

“Hi,” Harry says happily. “Where’s Hermione? And Angelina?”

“Angelina’s at her father’s, he’s a bit poorly again,” George says.

“And Hermione had a meeting with someone from the Iranian Ministry that she couldn’t cancel,” Ron says.

“S’what happens when you’re married to the Minister for Magic,” George teases.

Ron smiles proudly.

“Hugo!” Lorcan says, having extricated himself from Luna’s embrace and running over to them. “Oh, good, you’re here. Lily’s with Jamie and Teddy, let’s go,” he says with a grin.

Hugo turns to look at Ron with wide eyes. “Bye, Dad,” he says, and his voice is barely louder than a whisper.

Ron ruffles Hugo’s hair. “Come on. I’ll help you with your things,” he says, clearly picking up on the fact that Hugo isn’t ready to say goodbye yet. “Come on, Rosie,” he adds. “You’ll have all the time to greet Harry and Ginny on the train, since they’ll be there with you,” he snorts.

“I should go, too. Find the other Prefects,” Freddie says.

“I can’t believe my own son is a Prefect,” George says, pretending to wipe a tear. “Couldn’t you have been Quidditch Captain like Jamie instead?”

“I don’t play Quidditch,” Freddie points out, not unreasonably.

“That’s no excuse,” George says.  

“I’ll try and break a toilet seat and send it to you to make up for it, if that helps,” Freddie says cheerfully.

“Fair deal,” George says, after considering it. “Write me and tell me when your Hogsmeade weekends are. I’ll pop by the branch there.”

“Cheers, Dad,” Freddie says delightedly. “Come on, Rox, let’s go.”

“Bye, Dad,” Roxanne says. She hugs George tightly.

“Bye, Roxie. Remember, it’s only your first year, but you’ve got a lot of mischief to cover. Don’t forget that,” he tells her, and pokes her nose, making her giggle. “And give both Professor Potters a lot of trouble, okay?”

“You know I will,” Roxanne giggles, and gives George one last hug before she follows Freddie to the train.

“Think you’ll be able to handle all the Weasleys and Potters this year?” George asks Harry.

“I think it’ll be tougher than handling Voldemort,” Harry says solemnly.

*

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