Disclaimer:I am in no way, shape or form J.K Rowling. The universe that the story is in belongs to her.

Chapter 12:

After the talks with Hermione and Neville, they seemed to be able to integrate more closely into Gryffindor. Neville's confidence soared as soon as he realized that he could do magic as good if not better than the ones around him. He often topped Gryffindor first year classes, alongside Hermione, and soon the teasing of being a squib stopped. And although he did only slightly better in Potions than originally, he didn't let the belittling of Snape get to him as much. Hermione had started having conversations with her year girls and whilst she was now comfortable with the likes of Parvati Patel and Lavender Brown, I also often saw her in a study group filled with muggleborn first year students that I had set up to help them adapt in the new world. I had asked Harry to be part of the group, and he seemed to be the perfect person to bridge the gap between muggle and magical.

My own personal class was going rather well. With the overhaul of the muggle studies class, and several classes filled with students I had never read about before led to a rather normal teaching job. I had mostly purebloods and half-bloods from lighter wizarding families and a few muggleborns looking for an easy class to take. They younger kids were quite excited whenever I would bring out a Disney animated movie like Peter Pan or Cinderella, and the older ones were fascinated by the different styles of muggle music but especially loved any videos I projected of Michael Jackson dancing and singing.

Watching from afar, I could tell Harry was very much enjoying his time with his new house and was slowly getting to know people from the Ravenclaw house as well. What was interesting to note was his growing friendship with a young Cedric Diggory. A boy who looked eerily similar to the pale-faced Twilight actor, he seemed to have taken Harry as his little brother and would often show him all things magical that Harry might have missed when growing up. He had sort of replaced the influence that the Weasley twins had on Harry in the books. And as much as I loved the twins for their comedic value in the books, Harry had himself found an older brother figure without my interference, unlike with Susan, so I trusted him to know who he trusted as his friends.

I had taken on my role as someone the muggleborns could come to for basically any reason, and so I had started to cut down on the bullying they received. It was really quite surprisingly easy to stop the vicious cycle that Snape had cultivated in Slytherin. Just by generally being around the muggleborns the same way Snape seemed to always be around the Slytherins I would step in whenever the word mudblood came into use and take away points from that person. Soon all the children, especially the likes of Draco Malfoy, had realized that there was a teacher here who would stand up for the muggleborns.

What always amused me was the reaction Snape had whenever I took away points from Slytherin for what they said. In fact, the first time I took away ten points for Draco Malfoy for calling Hermione a mudblood, he asked in his slow intimidating voice, "Jack, for what reason did you have to take away ten points from Slytherin?" This earned a smug expression on Draco's face, almost as if he expected me to cower before Snape.

I responded hotly, "Simple, Severus. He used a derogatory term for a muggleborn and therefore was insulting Ms. Granger simply for having parents who are muggles."

Grinning, thinking that he had me in his trap, he spoke, "And, why would that be considered something that is punishable?"

I smirked, "Well, I just wanted to prevent Mr. Malfoy here from losing a potential friend. Something, if I remember correctly, happened to a fifth year Severus Snape when he called his best friend that foul word, only for her to never speak to him again. We wouldn't want history to repeat itself, now would we?" As soon as I mentioned fifth year, he turned paler than I had ever seen him, and once I had finished he stalked away without so much as backwards glance. By reminding him that I was around for the majority of his most embarrassing moments in school, Snape never again questioned my point taking, however he did bring up the issue with the headmaster which was the first time I had been invited into his office.

My interaction with Dumbledore had been quite minimal so far. Because I sat towards the end of the dining table, I never spoke to him at meals, and he had only ever personally spoken to me once, which was when he welcomed me to Hogwarts. However, during the past few years I had realized that I would have many meetings with the idealized Dumbledore, so I had prepared myself to stand strong and go against the usual reverence most people had when talking to him. Entering his office, which was really packed full of all sorts of odd trinket and had Snape standing to the side, he greeted me with a casual, "Good evening Jack. How have you been so far with your teaching role?"

I nonchalantly responded, "Oh, it's been just as expected so far. I hope your semester has been good too, Albus."

Looking over his spectacles he sighed, as if in disappointment, "I have received news from Severus stating that you brought up a former, now deceased, friend of his in front of the students. I expected better from you Jack."

"I'm sorry, but I didn't realize that I wasn't allowed to bring up Lily Potter in front of students, when Severus himself brings up James in most first year Hufflepuff classes. I was simply doing what I thought was acceptable."

Dumbledore actually had to pause a bit there when he heard that. He slowly responded, "I see, I didn't know of this."

Snape opened his mouth to prevent my follow up, but I quickly started talking, "Well, every class Severus has with the young Mr. Potter, the muggleborns who are in the class tell me that he complains that Mr. Potter is, and I quote, 'just like his arrogant father, always thinking he is better than everyone else.' I didn't realize, Albus, that you let teachers here insult fallen war heroes in front of their children. I hope Severus apologizes to the young boy for insulting a father he never knew in front of him and his classmates."

Snape paled once again, and Dumbledore looked quite flustered actually. He sighed before saying, "Very well, I will make sure Severus does indeed apologize to Mr. Potter. I trust that there will be no more issues between the two of you. Dismissed." I soon become idolized, by the Gryffindors especially, for being the only teacher that would put Snape in his place. This clearly started to filter through as fewer muggleborns were being bullied each day. By constantly being around the muggleborns of all houses, I was around to prevent all sorts of arguments including Draco's demand of a wizard's duel that happened in the books. So, there was no getting stuck in a room with a Cerberus any of Harry, Hermione Neville or Ron. Already, things were going better.

- Time Skip -

Soon enough Halloween day arrived, and I had preparations to make so that none of the students got hurt due to the troll. In the books, the only student out of the dining hall when Quirrell barges in, was Hermione. And she only left her regular classmates after she was insulted by Ronald Weasley after Charms that day. So, I coincided a regular patrol to be outside of the charms class for first year Gryffindors. I hoped that she would now be strong enough and have enough support from friends so that I wouldn't need to interfere, but I was there in case.

Ron came out of class standing next to Dean Thomas when he said the same thing he said in the book, "It's no wonder no one can stand her, she's a nightmare honestly!"

Hermione was standing next to Lavender and Parvati behind Ron. As soon as he said those words her two friends quickly came to her rescue.

Lavender shouted at him, "She's our friend, isn't that right Parvati?!"

Parvati agreed, "Yes she is!" then turning towards Hermione she said, "don't listen to him Hermione, we're your friends, and you have your muggleborn group in the library who are all your friends. Didn't you even say that Harry Potter was part of the group. I bet he's not Ron's friend."

Seeing Ron's ears start to go red, I decided to interrupt them before a bigger argument broke out, "Alright children, you only have a couple of minutes before your next class. You would do well not to be late." This stopped Ron from speaking and forced the kids to quickly walk towards their next class, taking separate routes there. And although I hated that Harry's name was still being name dropped two months after arriving at Hogwarts, I was impressed by Hermione's friends for standing up to Ron.

Once the feast began I was interested to notice that none of the Hufflepuff first years were celebratory, compared to the rest of the room. McGonagall was the first to remark on it saying, "Pomona, have you noticed that the first year Hufflepuffs seem to be rather quiet today. In fact, they aren't celebrating at all. What is going on?"

Sprout seemed as confused, so I interjected, "Minerva, for most of us today celebrates the end of one of the darkest lords known to wizards, but for one young boy on that Hufflepuff table today is the date he became an orphan. It appears that Mr. Potter's classmates have realized this and are not celebrating for that reason."

McGonagall definitely looked guilty that she had forgotten all about the ramification this night had on Harry. I counted the students at each table and was happy to note that everyone in the castle had showed up for today's feast. I had already spent most of lunch with Harry alone in my private room and just talked about anything I knew about his parents, a tradition we had done ever since I told him he was adopted.

Just as dessert was about to get underway, Quirell barged through the door saying, "Troll – in the dungeons – thought you ought to know" before fainting on the spot, and even knowing that he was faking it was difficult to notice that Quirell had not really fainted.

Dumbledore stood up and shouted, "Prefects, lead your Houses back to the dormitories immediately!"

Which is when I stood up and asked, "Albus, if as Quirell said, the troll is in the dungeons, surely you wouldn't send them to their deaths. I believe it is much safer here, where a few professors can remain, whilst the rest go deal with the troll."

Dumbledore gave it a second's thought before nodding, "Very well, since you suggested the idea, you will stay with the students. I need Severus and Minerva with me, the others can decide either to follow or to stay." He quickly left the room followed by Snape, McGonagall and Flitwick. The rest of us worked together to place enchantments on the door to prevent the possibility of the Troll making its way into the dining hall. We then revived Quirell, who barely showed any disappointment, about not having an opportunity to get the stone. He was a surprisingly good actor, and his stutter really did make it difficult to tell that he was dangerous at all. We waited for around an hour before the four Professors came back to the hall, and explained that they had knocked out the troll in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, and that it was safe for the kids to go to their dormitories.

That night was my first proper change to the timeline that directly affects Voldemort. I hoped that he wouldn't change his plans in any way so that I could still use the knowledge I had on him, but I felt exhilarated. And whilst I had helped Harry a ton so far, and I truly did love the kid, it was a different experience to be officially waging war against the likes of Voldemort. I was definitely terrified as well, that Quirell would realize that I knew Voldemort was possessing him, but for now I basked in my tiny but significant victory over Voldemort, hopefully one of many to come.