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SIYE Time:20:32 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: 26001; Chapter Total: 1430







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On the evening of the third Friday of the term, Harry sits down at the teachers’ table in the Great Hall, in between Neville and McGonagall, to eat dinner. It’s been a long day, filled with classes with barely any breaks, and he feels almost as tired now as he does at the end of a long day at the Ministry.

McGonagall’s sitting in the Headmistress’s chair in the centre, as always, and when she turns to look at Harry, she looks as tired as she feels. “How are you finding teaching, Professor Potter?” she asks.

Harry wrinkles his nose, the way he always does when McGonagall calls him that. “It’s been going good,” he says, helping himself to more potatoes. “Tiring, though.”

“Indeed,” McGonagall agrees.

“I still don’t know why you still teach Transfiguration when you’re Headmistress, too, Professor,” Neville says.

“Well, I’d be happy to retire from teaching if I found a suitable replacement,” McGonagall says.

“More suitable than you? That won’t happen,” Neville says.

Harry gets the feeling that Neville and McGonagall have had this conversation several times.

“I would appreciate the weekend off, though,” McGonagall admits. “Speaking of which, will you both be supervising the students’ visit to Hogsmeade tomorrow?”

It’s the first official Hogsmeade weekend of the term, and Harry’s looking forward to going — mostly so he can ask Rosmerta about the Dementor attack again. So far, he’s forced to admit that he hasn’t made any leeway on the investigation, not as much as he would’ve liked. He’s spoken to Padma Patil, who’s the acting Head of the Auror Department, and he and Ginny have been doing their best to look into things as much as they can at Hogwarts. He went to Hogsmeade last weekend, just to speak to Rosmerta, but it’d been to no avail.

“I don’t know,” she’d told him, pouring out another Firewhiskey for herself. “I stepped out in the morning, and then there they were, all of a sudden. Two Dementors. Luckily, I had my wand with me, and a Patronus got rid of them.”

“And they didn’t come back? And you didn’t see anyone in the area?” Harry’d pressed.

“No. They didn’t, and it was completely empty on the street. If it hadn’t been for my neighbours seeing it from their window, I would have thought it was a bad dream.”

So that was a dead end, but Harry hasn’t given up hope yet. He’s got some Aurors stationed near Hogsmeade, on the lookout for any suspicious activity, but so far, all the leads that the department’s investigating seem flimsy at best. Which is why he’s looking forward to going to Hogsmeade tomorrow and seeing what he can find out.

Neville nods at McGonagall. “We’re all going. Hannah’s going, too,” he says. “Is Ginny coming, Harry?”

“She is, yeah. Do you know where she is, by the way?” Harry asks.

The corner of McGonagall’s mouth twitches. “I believe that James, in his capacity as Quidditch Captain, booked the pitch in order to consult the Flying Coach about some Quidditch strategies.”

Harry grins. “That sounds about right.”

“I never thought I’d meet someone more into Quidditch than you and Gin are,” Neville puts in.

“He takes after his mum,” Harry says proudly.

“He seems to be taking after his father, too,” McGonagall puts in. “When it comes to forming secret Defence societies…”

“I heard about that! I heard James and Freddie talking about it during Herbology yesterday,” Neville says.

Harry’s face warms up, but he laughs.

“Nothing secret about this one,” he points out.

“Nothing illegal, too,” Neville says, grinning.

“Yes, well, I certainly hope it remains that way,” McGonagall says, but she seems to be holding back a smile. “Although I have to say, I am not opposed to the idea of a Defence club. It may please you to know, Harry–” Harry notes with relief that she’s dropped Professor Potter– “that now that you have a classroom at your disposal, you will not need the Room of Requirement for Potter’s Army.”

“Potter’s Army?” Neville repeats.

“Jamie named it,” Harry says, which seems to be all the explanation that both McGonagall and Neville need.

Harry practically scarfs down his dinner with how hungry he is; something about being at Hogwarts makes him have the appetite of a teenager again. Once he finishes dinner, he says goodbye to McGonagall and Neville and gets up.

Just after he leaves the Great Hall he spots, a muddy-looking Jamie and an equally muddy Ginny by the entrance of the castle. He feels a smile break out onto his face as he walks up to them. “Hi,” he says happily, and leans in so he can kiss Ginny. He’s suddenly overwhelmed by memories, of Ginny coming into the common room, muddy from Quidditch practice.

“Hi,” Ginny echoes when she pulls back from the kiss. “Quite a welcome, Potter,” she teases.

“Hi, Dad,” Jamie puts in. “Can we use your classroom for the meeting tonight?”

“What meeting tonight?” Harry asks, a bit disoriented. It’s always hard to think straight when Ginny kisses him, in his defence, and the way that she’s grinning up at him now says that she knows exactly what’s on his mind.

“Potter’s Army, of course,” Jamie says. “I told the others to meet us in the Defence classroom. Is that fine?”

“Well, if you’ve already told them, then there’s no point me saying no, is it?” Harry says dryly.

“I knew you’d see things my way,” Jamie says. “I’ve got to go, I promised Freddie I’d do something before the meeting… see you both in a bit!” he says.

“Wash your hands before dinner,” Ginny calls out to him, and then, turning to Harry, says, “Hi.”

“You already said that,” Harry says, smiling.

“Bears repeating,” Ginny says, and slips her hand into his. Her hand is small and warm in his, and he holds on tightly. “So. We’ve got some time before the meeting.”

“We do,” Harry agrees.

Ginny looks up at him, and he recognises the blazing look in her eye. “What do you say we make good use of it?” she whispers.

Harry doesn’t have to hesitate at all before he nods. “Lead the way,” he says.

*

Harry and Ginny don’t have to do much at the meeting of the Defence Club — Harry still hates to call it Potter’s Army — since Jamie and Freddie seem to have taken over completely. Harry doesn’t mind that at all; he’s quite happy to sit with Ginny and watch the others.

“Let’s practice Disarming again,” Jamie says, once everyone’s arrived at the classroom. There are the usual people: Jamie, Freddie, Albus, Scorpius, Rose, Lily, Roxanne, Hugo, Lorcan and Lysander, along with Leah Wood and Danielle Jordan.  

“Again? It’s all we did in Defence last week!” Danielle says. “No offence, Professor,” she adds.

“We did Disarming for exactly one day, Danielle,” Harry says, amused.

“Besides, an enemy can’t attack you if they have no wand,” Scorpius says. “Wanna practice with me, Al?”

“Yeah,” Albus says immediately.

“Okay, great. Let’s divide into pairs,” Freddie says. “Before that, though, has anyone seen anything suspicious recently?”

Harry sits up a little straighter. He notices that Lily, right at the back of the classroom, has gone a bit pale, but she doesn’t speak up, only shuffles a bit closer to Hugo and Roxanne. Lorcan, next to her, is frowning, and whispers something to Lysander.

“Well, if something occurs to you, speak up,” Jamie says. “Wanna be my partner, Leah?”

“Oh, go on, then,” Leah says, grinning, and walks up to the front to join Jamie.

“Oh, and–while we’re asking things,” Jamie says once Freddie’s left to team up with Danielle, in a tone of forced nonchalance, “do you want to come to Hogsmeade with me tomorrow?”

Leah blinks, and then says, “Seriously?”

Neither of them seems to be aware that both Harry and Ginny can hear them. Ginny nudges Harry, who turns to exchange a knowing smile with her.

Jamie shrugs sheepishly. “Might be nice,” he says. “We can go to the Shrieking Shack.”

“No way in hell are we going to the Shrieking Shack for our first date, Potter,” Leah says.

“Is that a yes, then?” Jamie asks.

“It’s a yes to the date. Not to the Shrieking Shack. Do you want to try Disarming me first?” Leah says.

“Alright,” Jamie says, positively glowing with happiness.

“They grow up so fast,” Ginny whispers to Harry, who has to bite back his laughter.

After about an hour, which Harry and Ginny spend walking through the room — Lily seems to have recovered from whatever it is that upset her, but Harry makes a mental note to ask her about it later — Harry clears his throat. “Alright, everyone. We’ve got to end soon, or McGonagall will have my head.”

“Okay,” Freddie says. “You heard Uncle Professor. See you all next week.”

“Shall I walk you back to the common room, Leah?” Jamie says.

“We’re going to the same place,” Leah says, but she grins.

“I’m going to try and catch Lils, see if she wants a chat,” Ginny murmurs to Harry, who nods, grateful that Ginny seems to have noticed something wrong, too.

“I’ll see you back in the room,” he tells her.

He starts to gather his things, but frowns when he notices Albus, lingering in the room even once Scorpius and Rose have left.

“Everything alright, Al?” he asks.

“Yeah, Dad. Only… Do you, er. Do you have a minute? It’s alright if you’re busy,” he adds hastily.

Harry raises an eyebrow. “Not busy at all,” he says. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

Albus closes the door firmly behind him and walks up to him. “Yeah. Yeah, everything’s fine, it’s just…” he trails off. Harry waits, knowing better than to prompt him. Years of experience with Albus has taught him that it’s better to wait out his silences. “It’s just,” Albus continues after a moment, “it’s a Hogsmeade weekend.”

Harry frowns a little and sits down, waiting for Albus to sit opposite him before he answers. “Yeah. I know. First Hogsmeade weekend of the term, right?”

“Yeah,” Albus says. “Are you going?”

“We are, yeah. Ron and George will be at the shop, so we thought maybe we’d get lunch together…” And, Harry thinks, if lunch just happens to be at the Three Broomsticks, near enough to Madam Rosmerta that he can talk to her, all the better.

“Right,” Albus says. “It’s just… when you were my age, did you go to Hogsmeade? I mean… do you remember your first visit?”

“I do, yeah. I remember it very well. Since I had to sneak in through a passage to Honeydukes,” Harry says dryly. When Albus looks confused, Harry explains. “I didn’t exactly… have permission to visit. The Dursleys didn’t sign the form.”

“The Dursleys? Uncle Dudley’s family?” Albus says.

“Yeah, them. It’s sort of a long story,” Harry says. “They didn’t sign the form — again, long story — so I sort of had to sneak in. Which you shouldn’t do,” he says hastily. 

Albus tilts his head to the side as he mulls it over. “But if you snuck in, then the others couldn’t have known you went, right? So it can’t have counted as a first visit, not properly.”

“No, I suppose not,” Harry agrees. “Why do you ask, Al? Are you nervous about Hogsmeade?”

“No,” Albus says quickly. Very quickly. Quickly enough that Harry knows he’s lying. “Well, I’m not nervous about going, it’s just… can I ask you something? Something else, I mean?” He waits for Harry to nod before continuing. “Did you ever go with someone? Not, like, with someone, but… with someone. With Mum?”

Something clicks in Harry’s mind, and he sits up in his seat. “Al, do you want to ask someone to go to Hogsmeade with you tomorrow?”

Albus doesn’t say anything, but the slight flush to his cheeks and his embarrassed expression tells Harry everything he needs to know.

“You should do it, Al. Anybody’d be lucky to go with you,” he says.

Albus looks even more embarrassed. “Dad,” he says in protest, but a tiny smile spreads across his lips. “Do you really think I should do it?”

“I really do,” Harry says.

“What if–what if they say no?” Albus asks in a small voice.

Harry has to think about it. “If they say no, then… then at least you tried, right? At least you were brave,” he says.

“I’m not a Gryffindor,” Albus says.

“You don’t have to be a Gryffindor to be brave,” Harry counters. “You’re one of the bravest people I know, Albus.”

While James probably would have made a joke about it, all Albus does is Albus smile a little, and then look up at Harry. “Thanks, Dad,” he says softly. He gets to his feet, and then walks around the desk, leaning in and hugging Harry.

“Quick word of advice,” Harry says, patting Albus’s back as he hugs him. “Don’t go to Madam Puddifoot’s tea shop. Terrible place for a date.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Albus says. He pulls back from the hug, taking a deep breath and shoving his hand into the pocket of his robes. “Okay. Alright. Okay. I’m going to do it. I’m going to go right now and do it.” He seems to be trying to convince himself about it, and Harry feels oddly proud.

Harry nods. “You do that, Al,” he says, smiling as he watches Albus leave his classroom.

 

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