Chapter 7: Dungeons And Dunces

I awoke to the smell of sweet taffy and medicine.

I groaned, before I sat up and opened my eyes. I was in a very medieval looking Medical Ward of sorts. It was confusing, but I assumed it was just a makeshift hospital that they'd set up after the Hogwarts Express stopped.

I swung my legs off the side, and was about to reach my staff when a nurse stepped out and looked at me.

"Oh dear goodness, I did not realize you'd be waking up so soon."

I shook my head.

"It's fine missy, I just need to get to Hogwarts so that I can fill in my duties and-"
The nurse laughed.

"Oh you are so silly. We are in Hogwarts. Welcome to our humble school of witchcraft and wizardry… although we wish you'd come under more fortunate circumstances."

I sat taking in what was just said, before I shrugged.

"Eh, I've seen weirder. Guess this works as a school."

The nurse then grabbed a clipboard and came over to me.

"Well, there's a lot that you've been diagnosed with. Shall I go over it with you?"

I looked at her with a confused look as I put on my now slightly singed duster.
"Uh, sure I guess."

She sighed before putting tapping the clipboard.

"Let's see here. Unhealable Magic Burn Wounds, Multiple Fractured Bones, Metal melted into your hands, broken fingers, and most curious of all, that one ring on your hand remained entirely intact."

I looked down in surprise.
All my other shield rings were gone. I looked at my beside table to see they were either broken, melted, or completely shattered.

I scratched my head, before I looked down at the last ring, and felt my heart twist a little.

It was a simple Platinum ring with a simple diamond embedded into it. Susan's gift to me before she left for the Tropics. The one ring that was left entirely intact, and not even a single scratch on it. It was a sort of giddy happy feeling, but it also brought a tear to my eye to be reminded of what happened.

I shook it out of my head.

I nodded my thanks to her, and shook her hand.

"Thank you for your service. Name's Harry Dresden."

The nurse nodded.

"Poppy Pomfrey. Now you best get going. Teacher introductions are about to start."

I sighed and nodded, grabbed my things, and ran out the door with my duster trailing behind me.

I opened the door just in time apparently.

A man with a crooked nose, and quite the harsh voice looked at me with a look of contempt, before turning to the students.

"As I was saying, This year, our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher is Mr. Harry Dresden."

He motioned to me, to which I just waved my hand.

He continued.

"And as a final staffing choice, due in part to the unfortunate passing of Mrs. Charity Burbage, our Muggle Studies position has moved to a different person. I am pleased to welcome Miss Alecto Carrow to our teaching Faculty."

He motioned to a woman sitting at their chair uncomfortably, but nevertheless they stood up and grinned. She had a look of evil in his eyes i had only seen once before, but I've never felt it since back when I burned down Bianca's Red Court Mansion.

I sat down at my chair after arriving, and Snape motioned to the man seated next to Ms. Contempt over there.

"We've also hired Mister Amycus Carrow here to act as a Security Guard. Due to the position of Dark Arts teacher going to Mr. Dresden here, Amycus wanted to come to Hogwarts and watch over his sister regardless, so he will be roaming the halls as a security monitor. We will most definitely need one here anyways."

Snape sighed.

"Now to address some concerns... You may be panicking due to what happened on your train ride here, but I assure you we are safe within Hogwart's walls."
He looked outwards.
"Only one student was recorded missing due to the attack on the Hogwarts Express. Luna Lovegood. I assure that we are doing all within our power to make sure that she safely comes back and I assure you that we will not withstand any punishment from He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's forces. We are one of the best Wizarding schools in the nation, and we shall definitely not be pushed down."

The hall erupted into cheers as Snape then motioned for them all to go to their dorm rooms.
I stood up and scratched my head, turning to McGonagall.

"So uh, what else did I miss besides my little introduction ceremony?"

McGonagall stood also, and walked down the stairs before handing a student a slip of paper with some nonsense written on it.

"Oh, dinner, student indoctrination, all that. But it's fine Mr. Dresden. You'll have a wonderful time with the Students."

I nodded, before i turned back.

"Wait, where's my stuff? My Suitcase? My Dog? My-"

A short man walked besides me and laughed a little.

"All taken care of Mr. Dresden. We have moved all of your belongings to your office on the third floor. Your teaching room is located right next to it, so be sure to prepare for your lessons tomorrow! Your schedule is attached to your door when you get there."

I nodded, before picking up my staff and running there. A lot of students looked at me and whispered lots of rumors and things they'd heard of me.
"What kind of wizard uses a staff?"

"I heard he rode a Dinosaur Skeleton!"

" I heard he was the cause of those Creepy Vampires going to war with some White Council."
"Well he must be a good teacher if they sent him here, right?"

I shrugged off most of the comments, and reached the third floor in now time.

Once there, I looked through all the doors until I found the one with my name on it, and the Class name under it.

Defense Against the Dark Arts.

It couldn't be that bad, right?

I opened the door and stepped into the room.

It was quite empty save a few things here and there. The short man was correct though, there was a schedule on the back of my door.

2nd years were my first lessons, followed by the 3rd years, 6th years, 1st years, 4th years, 5th years. And finally 7th years at the end of the week. The house order was Hufflepuff and Gryffindor with each other, and Ravenclaw and Slytherin with each other. Double Hours were on Thursdays for me and my planning period was near the end of the day.

2nd year magic lessons. And I didn't know a thing about English Magic.

I found my suitcase and pulled Bob out. He coughed a bit before I set him down on my desk. I set aside a shelf under my teacher's desk for Bob's stash to be placed. I then unloaded all my things into my office, set aside some areas to practice magic in the front of the room, and finally took out a book I bought recently about how to teach kids. I was going to have to go through this as a green eared professor with no experience. How embarassing.

I knocked on Bob's skull.

"Hey, if your done skulking around I got a few questions."

Bob groaned before his eyelights lit up again.

"What is it man? I'm trying to get all this dust outta my head."

I groane, before flipping through the pages.

"Tell me what you know about English Magic, and what I can teach the kids."

Bob rolled his eyelights.

"English Magic has the same principles as your own magic. It's just focused more on Latin and fine tuned through their fancy wands. The wands allow for more creativity, but don't allow for the raw power that you output. It's funny. Control over Power. That's basically how it works."

I nodded.

"Sounds simple enough… So I should start with Latin vocabulary and-

Bob cut me off.

"No no no! Do what feels comfortable for you! You're your own teacher, you don't have to follow what those other teachers did! Each one taught a different curriculum and each had their own style! You have to do that also!"

I turned to Bob.

"When did you get all philosophical and crap?"

"Shut up. Anyways, digging through the spirits of the castle and analyzing this room has told me three things. One: None of the teachers in this position ever kept their jobs. Two: Each teacher had their own methods of teaching. One of them was even a Toad according to at least one of the ghosts around here…"

He then turned to the window.
"Third thing, is something I know about you. You need to focus more on yourself than worrying about what the kids will think of you as a teacher. You're the kind of guy to do things his own way, so do it like that!"

He then retreated back into his skull, eyelights dimming.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I need to read some of this new stuff you got me. The English guys write some damn great erotics."

I heard a book fall behind me, and groaned.

"Just don't read any of those while I'm teaching classes."

Bob didn't listen, and I rolled my eyes, before finally getting the room prepped and ready. I walked to the door to find Mouse sleeping next to my doorway.

"Oh hey buddy, you doing ok?"

Mouse made a satisfying soft bark, before setting his head back down. He wanted sleep.

I rubbed his head a little, before heading back inside. I sat down at the desk, and started to read again.

About an hour later, someone came knocking on my door.

"Come in, state your business then leave, I'm busy doing teacher things."

In stepped the same three students from on the train. Ron, Hermione and Harry if I remembered their greetings to me correctly.

Ron looked around my room curious, before Harry looked at me intently.

"So, you wanna tell us what that was all about?!"

I tilted my head.

"Uh… what?"

Harry threw his hands up.

"THE DEATH CURSE! You blocked the Killing Curse! How did you do it?!"

I shook my head.

"The, what now?"

Hermione stepped forwards.
"Sorry Harry, I don't think he knows what it is."

She looked to me.

"The Killing Curse is a curse that we've marked as Unforgivable. It's one of the most cruel and punishing, in that it is able to kill anyone that it's directed at."

I made a mental note in my head. That's what that Green light was.

Hermione then turned again.

"We were wondering how you survived it."

Ron, done with his admiration nodded.

"Yeah! We were watching from under Harry's invisibility Cloak, and it was so cool! One minute we thought you were dead, then you reflected it off into the sky, and then you looked like you were dead again! It was confusing but cool."

That's when I heard Bob.

"Hey, ain't it obvious what protected Harry? It's love!"

I didn't even know what to say. The whole room was in shock.

More explanations will come in due time. Besides, Harry has got a lot more to find out about his fate and the teaching of things. In the meanwhile, I hope you all enjoy the story so far.