Professor Potter

Chapter 19

Chapter 19 

The first two weeks of school were fairly uneventful. Returning students quickly got back to their routines while the new students endeavored to establish their own. Harry, now in his third year of full time teaching noticed a pattern. In the first week nearly all his time interacting with students outside of class was spent helping first years get acclimated and advising them on how to cope with life at Hogwarts. After that, his efforts increasingly centered on providing help with academics as the true work of learning took hold. In the first category, Anton DuBonais was showing some signs of homesickness. Primarily it revolved around food. He confided to Harry late in the first week, 

"What I wouldn't give fo' a big ol' pot o' mah mama's jambalaya right now." 

Although deprived of some of the usual ingredients since moving to Great Britain, Mrs. DuBonais had apparently found ways to keep cooking traditional Cajun dishes. 

"You're not going hungry, are you?" Harry asked. 

"Oh, no, suh, I'm eatin' fo' sho'. But de food heah has no taste, no fire. I'd wrestle a 'gator for a bottle of Tabasco or betta yet some of my mama's special hot sauce." 

"Why not ask her to send you some?" Harry suggested. 

"How I do that, suh?" 

Harry explained how the school owls could be used and told to wait for a return delivery. He suggested picking a large owl that could handle the bottle on the return trip. The boy couldn't thank Harry enough, or fast enough, and in minutes was hurrying away to write his mama the rescue note. 

Harry also had the chance to renew his acquaintance with Davey Dickerson. He was of course a student in Harry's second year DADA and transfiguration classes. The boy stopped by to talk to Harry during his Thursday night table session. 

"Good evening, sir. Do you have a moment?" 

"Mr. Dickerson, of course. It's nice to see you again. How was your summer?" Harry asked. 

"It was very good, sir. My dad and I spent some time working on a real sailing ship. We volunteered to help with a historic restoration project." 

"That sounds great. Like working on a full sized model," Harry replied. 

"Yes, sir. A lot more tiring though. I was pretty sore after that week was done." 

"I can imagine." 

"I also spent a lot of time with my mum. We talked a lot about magic and her time here at Hogwarts. We even took a trip to meet some of her relatives who are much more, I guess you'd say, traditional about magic. They all thought it was pretty cool that you're one of my professors. They had a lot to say about all that stuff with Voldemort." 

"I'm glad you had the chance to do that, Mr. Dickerson. It's one thing to hear it from me or read about it in a book. It's quite another to hear it from people who lived it," Harry said. 

"Yes, sir. It just so happens I had a great uncle who disappeared during Voldemort's first try to take over." 

Harry nodded and said, 

"There aren't many families that weren't affected to some degree by Tom Riddle." 

"I can see that now, sir. My folks wanted me to say 'thank you' to you for taking the time to explain all this to me," the boy said quietly. 

"That's why I'm here, Mr. Dickerson. I'm glad I could help." 

Things got a bit more interesting early in the third week when an unfamiliar looking owl dropped a message on Harry's desk while he awaited the arrival of his next class. The bird flew off, presumably up to the owlry for a rest, before Harry could look closely enough at it to try and figure out where it might have come from. He picked up the parchment it had dropped and saw his name 'Professor Harry Potter' written on the front in a strong blocky script. He opened it and found it was a message from Viktor Krum. Harry read through the message but had little time to consider its contents as his class of seventh year Applied Magic students swarmed in. He put the note in his pocket; it would have to wait for a bit.