Disclaimer:
Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 257: New Year, New Professor
September 1975. Hogwarts, Welcoming Ceremony.
The students were quietly listening to the Headmaster perform his usual welcoming speech before they could all have dinner.
However, some of the Gryffindor ones were paying more attention to someone who was sitting at the professors' table.
"Is it true then? James is going to be a professor?" Charlie Bell, the current Quidditch captain, asked the boys in front of him.
"Of course it's true. Why would we make up something like that?" Sirius responded.
"I can't believe he said nothing to us," Alice complained. "Did you know something about this?" she asked her boyfriend.
"No, I didn't see him during the entire summer," Frank Longbottom answered. "I swear!" He added after seeing his girlfriend's doubtful expression.
"I knew he was ahead but…" Lily muttered. "Was he able to pass all the tests during the summer and graduate?" She was looking at Remus, who was sitting at her side.
"I…I have no idea. James doesn't seem like speaking about details," Remus said. "He just came to us one day and said, 'Hey, I might be a professor next year.' That's all…"
"We were as surprised as you all are," Peter added.
"Yeah, he is always so secretive about stuff, isn't he?" Lily had to agree.
"He was supposed to be an assistant professor during his first year, but…" Sirius looked around. "Who is he assisting?"
"Shhh!" Alice made a gesture with her hand. "I think the Headmaster is about to talk about it."
"Ehem…" Dumbledore cleared his throat. "This year, we have something very special to announce." He indicated for James to approach the podium. "A former student from this school was able to graduate early, thanks to his tremendous skills and effort. And because of that, he will be rejoining us this year as the new assistant professor for Defense Against the Dark Arts. Please, let's give a warm welcome to James Potter!"
"I wanted Potions though…" James muttered under his breath as he walked closer.
Most of the students present were too shocked to clap, but the ones at the Gryffindor table made enough noise to fill the entire hall.
'It's too bad that Professor Slughorn had no thoughts of retirement this time around,' James thought. The main cause for that had been his fear of Voldemort and his Death Eaters, and his guilt about having helped Tom Riddle when he was his student.
Since the war ended early, the true identity of the Dark Lord had never become public knowledge, so that particular scenario had not taken place.
'At least I don't have to worry about the curse on the D.A.D.A. position,' James figured. With Voldemort being dead for good, any curse he may have cast would have lost its effect.
"Mister Potter," Dumbledore said with a smile on his face. "Would you like to say a few words to your future students?"
"Sure." James nodded and approached the podium before looking at the crowded hall.
He cleared his throat before speaking again. "I won't go easy on any of you… that is all."
There was deep silence in the hall.
"Ehm… thank you, Mister Potter," Dumbledore said. "I suppose that will be all for the announcements. And now we can start with the feast. Enjoy!"
With a gesture of his hand, trays filled with food appeared in the middle of the tables.
"Your fiancé is a man of few words," Andromeda pointed out to her sister.
"I think he is just disappointed for not being able to teach Potions," Bella commented.
"He wanted to teach Potions? Hmph! How arrogant," Severus Snape scoffed. "Does he think he is better than Professor Slughorn?"
Bella glanced over at the black-haired boy. "Did it look like I was inviting you to join our conversation? Mind your own business, Snape."
"Come on, Bella, don't be mean. He must be feeling lonely over there." Andromeda pointed out the fact that Snape was sitting at the corner of the table, which was pretty much empty.
Almost half of the Slytherin table was, in fact, empty, since a lot of students from families who had joined the Dark Lord never came back to school this year.
Some of those old wizarding houses had either been killed off or driven out of the country, for fear of retaliation by Voldemort's enemies or even the Ministry itself.
Snape, however, could not afford the luxury of moving to a different country to attend another magical school, so he had to remain here.
Although after what happened in Hogsmeade, Snape had already started to put some distance between himself and Lucius Malfoy's group.
"Why don't you come sit with us?" Andromeda suggested, feeling honestly bad for the boy. If he didn't make any more friends, he was looking at three very lonely years ahead of him.
"I'm fine!" Snape huffed and turned his attention to the food instead.
"Leave him," Bella said.
"And what about you?" Andromeda asked. "Are you going to be okay? Most of your classmates seem to be missing. Won't you get bored?"
"No, I don't think so."
A mischievous smile appeared on Andromeda's face. "Is it because you are planning on sneaking around with the new professor? I would advise you against it, unless you're trying to get him fired."
A hint of redness appeared on her cheeks. "I would never do something so shameful as those seniors." She took a badge from her robes and showed it to her sister.
"They made you a prefect?" Andromeda was surprised for a second until she realized that the school didn't have that many alternatives, as the Slytherin population had been reduced to half of what it used to be, even with the new students coming in.
"Well… I suppose this is going to be a quiet year," Andromeda commented.
"You know what?" Bella said. "I'm fine with quiet." She had more than enough action during the summer.