Harry's Future

Chapter 38

Chapter 38

'Professor Potter'. The phrase had different meanings depending upon who was considering them. For Professor McGonagall it was the realization of a hope six years in the making, ever since a certain seventh year demonstrated an affinity for his subject and his students that could only be described as 'natural'. For Professor Weasley it meant the professional satisfaction of having a collaborator and partner that could greatly enhance the effectiveness of his own DADA class and produce some truly well qualified witches and wizards. Personally it meant his 'brother' was out of harm's way for a least a school year. This point of view was shared by the other members of the Weasley clan to include Professor Potter's wife. 

To the students of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry it meant a number of things. They saw him as a strange mix of legend and reality. The legend was a towering figure of power, will and almost superhuman endurance. The reality appeared to be an average sized young man approaching his mid twenties who bore the scars of many encounters with dark forces but always seemed to be smiling and was ready to talk about anything that was of concern to a student. They were also well aware that the smiling countenance could quickly disappear to be replaced by a green eyed scowl if someone was displaying inappropriate behavior but that happened only rarely. 

To the Professor himself it meant the opportunity to do something he truly loved and would gladly continue to do for a lifetime if he could only bring himself to accept that in doing so he wouldn't be 'letting down' his community. But he had time to consider and while doing so he was going to give his current, if temporary, assignment his all, and enjoy himself immensely in the process. At the moment, the Professor was sitting at the junior end of the Gryffindor table during a free period reading through some homework from his sixth year Applied Magic class. Harry wondered if maybe it would be a good idea to include a penmanship class for first year students. He knew that Hermione thought his own handwriting was poor but he swore at least one submission looked like a chicken had been dipped feet first in ink and allowed to wander on the parchment. 

His attention was diverted to a pair of young students several places down concentrating over a small wizard's chess set. As he watched he was forced to conceal a wince as the white player made a move that doomed him to defeat in two, maybe three, moves. He thought Ron needed to come up and conduct some seminars, but perhaps that was taking it all too seriously. He went back to reading and two moves later he heard, "Checkmate". 

Harry looked over at the white player and said, 

"You should have moved your queen's side knight instead of the king's. It would have blocked the black queen and put more pressure on his king." 

"Oh, okay, thank you, Professor." 

Harry smiled and went back to doing his homework. 

One other observation that the students made was that it seemed Professor Potter liked to talk to some rather unusual, well, 'people'. He was the only member of the faculty that was ever seen talking to the Centaur, Firenze. It was also fairly common to see him talking to this or that portrait in the lower corridors of the school. It might have been a few passing remarks or what appeared to be a fairly involved conversation. During one of his seventh year classes a student screwed up the courage to ask him about it. 

"Are you all concerned that Professor Potter is becoming Professor Potty? One too many knocks to the head?" he said with a grin. 

A few of the students gave nervous little laughs, others looked uncomfortable. Harry smiled back and shook his head. 

"No, it's not like that. Let me see if I can explain. Have any of you ever been inside the Head's office?" 

One student raised her hand. Harry recognized her as the school's Head Girl.