Harry Potter & the Honeychurch Institute of Magic
By Darkmoore
Chapter One – Unemployed and Useless
In the bedroom at the very top of a the most rickety looking house ever built, staring up at the most violently orange ceiling in the world, lays a young man named Harry Potter feeling very sorry for himself. It wasn't often that Harry would lie around on his best friend of eleven years' bed, but he wanted to get away from Ron and Hermione's screams as they started in on each other, once again. Even now, he could hear the two of them in the living room of the Burrow, several floors below, going at it like cats and dogs.
"Ron, Harry can't just lay around and feel sorry for himself, he needs to get up and start thinking about his future now that he isn't going to be an Auror anymore." bellowed Hermione.
At which Ron countered back, "Why should Harry have to go out and work if he doesn't want to, he's loaded, and he can live his whole life without working if he wants to."
"But that's just the point, he wants to work, he wants to be useful and some ministry lackey or corporate figurehead that does nothing but sit around all day looking good." Hermione said, and continued. "He doesn't want to be another Fudge or worse."
At this point Mrs. Weasley cut in, as she was soon tiring of the argument and had Harry had before and told them to go out into the back and degnome the yard while they argued and to give her some peace and quiet for five good minutes. Up at the top of the house where Harry was, he smiled and went back to thinking about how he ended up as he had.
Harry thought back to how he had completed a grueling three year study program to become an Auror for the Ministry of Magic. He had consistently led the class in his practical classes; in fact he had even tutored some of his class mates, to help them along. However, being Harry he sometimes fell short on his written exams, though he graduated second in his class from Auror training. Harry had been almost assured of field work, working along side his old friends from the days of the Order before he had defeated Voldemort. That defeat alone assured him a good reputation among the Aurors already.
However, it was the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge himself that became the dark cloud on the horizon of his day. Usually that was the space held by Severus Snape, the greasy haired potions professor at Hogwarts, but Harry had long ago rid himself of that man when he graduated from school. No, no, Minister Fudge decided that Harry was far too valuable of an asset to be used as an Auror and attempted to force Harry to work for him directly in his political campaign for re-election. Harry had tried to politely decline his invitation, but when Fudge black balled him from any Auror work and any work from the ministry in general that was not under his supervision, that's when Harry really lost his temper with the aged politician.
In an action that could only be described by Fred and George as "It's not good to piss-off Potter," Harry began an active campaign to remove Fudge from office all together. Luckily Harry was still on good terms with Rita Skeeter and had long held her secret from the authorities on her being an illegal animagi, and had given her a series of exclusive interviews about his unfortunate treatment by the minister and his personal views of the CURRENT minister of magic. At first Rita's articles only appeared in the Quibbler, but soon the Daily Prophet was running them as well. It wasn't too long after wards that Harry began to campaign (and partially fund) for the election of Madame Amelia Bones into the position of the new Minister of Magic.
After the elections were concluded and Amelia became the new Minister, Harry was offered several positions within the ministry, several professional Quidditch teams and by a large number wizarding companies and organizations. However, the majority of this influx of job possibilities was, in Harry's opinion, pure fluff, all hype and no guts. So now Harry was laying on Ron's bed after having enough of his two best friends constant bickering over him.
It wasn't like he was without resources like Ron had said; his parents had left him a fortune more than even he realized he had. On Harry's 17th birthday, he had been notified by owl post from Gringott's Wizarding Bank that he had come into his majority and could now have complete control over his family considerable assets. Having long though that his vault in the bank was the only thing his parents had left him; he was shocked out of his wits to discover that they indeed had another larger one, deep in the bowels of the bank. Guarded by dragons no less. However, Harry was also furious when he discovered that his headmaster Albus Dumbledore had purposefully kept this information from him, which led them into an even wider rift than they had before from the whole prophesy issue from the end of his 5th year.
Eventually Harry learned to live with it, especially when open war had erupted in the wizarding world and the two needed to work together in order to defeat Voldemort and his Death Eaters. Which Harry did while taking his N.E.W.T. examinations when the Death Eaters stormed Hogwarts. At the end of the battle Voldemort was destroyed, many Death Eaters and several students and faculty lay dead and Harry himself ended up in the hospital wing for several weeks, missing his own graduation and having to retake his N.E.W.T.'s.
So now the former "Boy Who Lived," now referred to as the "Man Who Destroyed Evil," is laying in his best friend's bed feeling sorry for himself because he is now (in his own mind) unemployable, when Ron and Hermione came into the room looking for him to once again convince him that he is not unemployable as he has been offered the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts by Dumbledore and he has refused to accept it or even acknowledge it.
"Come on Harry, you know you could do this with your eyes closed and your wand arm tied behind you" said Ron, giving the impression that Hermione had once again won her argument with him. "You'd be brilliant mate."
"You know Dumbledore must really want you if he hadn't offered you the position twice now." Hermione continued in Ron's wake. "Plus it's not like you haven't taught the class before. If it weren't for you half of the school wouldn't have done so well on their O.W.L.'s and N.E.W.T.'s in our 5th, 6th and 7th years at school."
"And don't forget how he was allowed to teach outright the first and second years in your seventh year" said Mrs. Weasley as she brought in some freshly folded laundry and put it in Harry's trunk, before giving him a pointed look, turning and leaving the room.
"Wait a minute guys," Harry started, "Dumbledore only offered me that job out of pity or charity or something, he knows as well as I do that I am no longer employable. No one is going to hire an ex-Auror that turned on the ministry."
Hermione started to speak again when Harry cut her off, "Yes, I know Minister Bones, offered me my old job back as if nothing had happened, but it did and you both know full well that the Aurors look at me differently now." Both Ron and Hermione rolled their eyes as Harry gave off a sigh.
"Yeah, mate, they all think you have the guts to back up your mouth." said Ron. "Of course, that whole episode with V…Vol…Vvvvv, awe you know who I mean, was probably not enough to convince them you meant business, but the other sure did" he finished with a grin.
"Voldemort" Harry and Hermione chimed in together.
"Yeah, him" Ron said sheepishly
Try as he might Harry could not convince his friends that just like so many other offers, this too was charity. Just as the three of them began to argue they were interrupted by Dobby the house elf.
"Harry Potter, Harry Potter, you is looking at this, Dobby has found you the perfect job for you he has!!!" Dobby squeaked excitedly.
Dobby had left the employ of Hogwarts after Harry had graduated in order to look after him, since he, in Dobby's opinion, needed looking after and taken care of.
"What is it Dobby?" Harry asked confusedly.
"Defense Against the Dark Arts post, Harry Potter!" Dobby was positively jumping now.
"No Dobby," Harry started to explain, "that the Hogwarts teaching position that Dumbledore asked me to take, I already turned it down."
"No it isn't, Harry Potter." Dobby said, "this is another school needing you it is." Dobby smiled triumphantly at the trio. "This is for a smaller school that is needing a new teacher."
All three stood there and blinked at the little house elf who continued to beam as he handed the Daily Prophet want ads to Harry.
The ad read… 'Needed a new Defense Against the Dark Arts instructor for the Honeychurch Institute of Magic. All interested and qualified people should apply to Madame Edwina Klump, headmistress.'
"Well, I'll say this, it's a short one." said Ron
"And easy to miss also, I never saw it this morning" said Harry. "What is this Honeydew Church place anyway?"
Hermione rolled her eyes, "Don't either of you ever read anything other than Quidditch magazines? Honestly!"
Both Harry and Ron shrugged and said "No." as Dobby giggled at them.
Hermione continued to explain that there were indeed other, smaller schools of magic in England and in other parts of Europe besides Hogwarts, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. She also said that the Honeychurch Institute of Magic, although one of the smallest schools in England, had a fine academic record.
Finally Hermione convinced Harry to apply after finally stating, "It won't matter if they hire you or not, you'll never know, until you try." He figured that he wouldn't get the position as it required previous experience, but did allow himself to become excited about the possibility of teaching.
* * * * *
Harry then promptly sent Hedwig off with an application to Madame Edwina Klump, the headmistress of the school and received a reply a few days later excitedly inviting him for an interview. However, she highly urged him to take the train to the school, as she said "I'm not sure how to describe the school grounds to you and its always best to see it yourself before apparating there." This amused Harry since he had assumed apparating was not possible on school grounds, but apparently it was in this case. Hmmmmm.
Harry had wondered if the school were near a muggle village, as he knew Hogsmeade was the only entirely wizarding village in Great Britain. Now he was wondering if the school had any protections what-so-ever. However, he was determined to see this through and so purchased a ticket for him and for Dobby to go to the school.
So the next morning Harry and Dobby heading to Kings Cross Station to platform 6 & 7/8 to catch the train to the school and his interview. This Harry learned is the same train that the students take to get to school also, although unlike the Hogwarts Express, they often had to share it with non students. The train ride was uneventful, but did manage to take most of their morning and early afternoon for the journey, so Harry hade arrangements with a local wizarding inn for them a place to stay for the night.
At their stop, Harry and Dobby departed the train and saw that it was neither a muggle town nor a wizarding village, but rather a "spot" in the road. There was a train station, the pub with rooms to let, a couple of small stores and a few houses all along a cobble stone path that led into the forest. The two quickly went to the pub to check into their rooms, where they found Hedwig waiting for them, with a look on her face that said "You weren't thinking of going with out me were you?"
Harry grinned at her and put her on his shoulder and he and Dobby got the directions to the school from the bar keeper and went into the forest along the cobble stone way.
Arriving at their destination, Harry, Dobby and Hedwig made their way to the school grounds and what they found was absolutely not they had been expecting to find…
To Be Continued…
By Darkmoore
Chapter One – Unemployed and Useless
In the bedroom at the very top of a the most rickety looking house ever built, staring up at the most violently orange ceiling in the world, lays a young man named Harry Potter feeling very sorry for himself. It wasn't often that Harry would lie around on his best friend of eleven years' bed, but he wanted to get away from Ron and Hermione's screams as they started in on each other, once again. Even now, he could hear the two of them in the living room of the Burrow, several floors below, going at it like cats and dogs.
"Ron, Harry can't just lay around and feel sorry for himself, he needs to get up and start thinking about his future now that he isn't going to be an Auror anymore." bellowed Hermione.
At which Ron countered back, "Why should Harry have to go out and work if he doesn't want to, he's loaded, and he can live his whole life without working if he wants to."
"But that's just the point, he wants to work, he wants to be useful and some ministry lackey or corporate figurehead that does nothing but sit around all day looking good." Hermione said, and continued. "He doesn't want to be another Fudge or worse."
At this point Mrs. Weasley cut in, as she was soon tiring of the argument and had Harry had before and told them to go out into the back and degnome the yard while they argued and to give her some peace and quiet for five good minutes. Up at the top of the house where Harry was, he smiled and went back to thinking about how he ended up as he had.
Harry thought back to how he had completed a grueling three year study program to become an Auror for the Ministry of Magic. He had consistently led the class in his practical classes; in fact he had even tutored some of his class mates, to help them along. However, being Harry he sometimes fell short on his written exams, though he graduated second in his class from Auror training. Harry had been almost assured of field work, working along side his old friends from the days of the Order before he had defeated Voldemort. That defeat alone assured him a good reputation among the Aurors already.
However, it was the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge himself that became the dark cloud on the horizon of his day. Usually that was the space held by Severus Snape, the greasy haired potions professor at Hogwarts, but Harry had long ago rid himself of that man when he graduated from school. No, no, Minister Fudge decided that Harry was far too valuable of an asset to be used as an Auror and attempted to force Harry to work for him directly in his political campaign for re-election. Harry had tried to politely decline his invitation, but when Fudge black balled him from any Auror work and any work from the ministry in general that was not under his supervision, that's when Harry really lost his temper with the aged politician.
In an action that could only be described by Fred and George as "It's not good to piss-off Potter," Harry began an active campaign to remove Fudge from office all together. Luckily Harry was still on good terms with Rita Skeeter and had long held her secret from the authorities on her being an illegal animagi, and had given her a series of exclusive interviews about his unfortunate treatment by the minister and his personal views of the CURRENT minister of magic. At first Rita's articles only appeared in the Quibbler, but soon the Daily Prophet was running them as well. It wasn't too long after wards that Harry began to campaign (and partially fund) for the election of Madame Amelia Bones into the position of the new Minister of Magic.
After the elections were concluded and Amelia became the new Minister, Harry was offered several positions within the ministry, several professional Quidditch teams and by a large number wizarding companies and organizations. However, the majority of this influx of job possibilities was, in Harry's opinion, pure fluff, all hype and no guts. So now Harry was laying on Ron's bed after having enough of his two best friends constant bickering over him.
It wasn't like he was without resources like Ron had said; his parents had left him a fortune more than even he realized he had. On Harry's 17th birthday, he had been notified by owl post from Gringott's Wizarding Bank that he had come into his majority and could now have complete control over his family considerable assets. Having long though that his vault in the bank was the only thing his parents had left him; he was shocked out of his wits to discover that they indeed had another larger one, deep in the bowels of the bank. Guarded by dragons no less. However, Harry was also furious when he discovered that his headmaster Albus Dumbledore had purposefully kept this information from him, which led them into an even wider rift than they had before from the whole prophesy issue from the end of his 5th year.
Eventually Harry learned to live with it, especially when open war had erupted in the wizarding world and the two needed to work together in order to defeat Voldemort and his Death Eaters. Which Harry did while taking his N.E.W.T. examinations when the Death Eaters stormed Hogwarts. At the end of the battle Voldemort was destroyed, many Death Eaters and several students and faculty lay dead and Harry himself ended up in the hospital wing for several weeks, missing his own graduation and having to retake his N.E.W.T.'s.
So now the former "Boy Who Lived," now referred to as the "Man Who Destroyed Evil," is laying in his best friend's bed feeling sorry for himself because he is now (in his own mind) unemployable, when Ron and Hermione came into the room looking for him to once again convince him that he is not unemployable as he has been offered the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts by Dumbledore and he has refused to accept it or even acknowledge it.
"Come on Harry, you know you could do this with your eyes closed and your wand arm tied behind you" said Ron, giving the impression that Hermione had once again won her argument with him. "You'd be brilliant mate."
"You know Dumbledore must really want you if he hadn't offered you the position twice now." Hermione continued in Ron's wake. "Plus it's not like you haven't taught the class before. If it weren't for you half of the school wouldn't have done so well on their O.W.L.'s and N.E.W.T.'s in our 5th, 6th and 7th years at school."
"And don't forget how he was allowed to teach outright the first and second years in your seventh year" said Mrs. Weasley as she brought in some freshly folded laundry and put it in Harry's trunk, before giving him a pointed look, turning and leaving the room.
"Wait a minute guys," Harry started, "Dumbledore only offered me that job out of pity or charity or something, he knows as well as I do that I am no longer employable. No one is going to hire an ex-Auror that turned on the ministry."
Hermione started to speak again when Harry cut her off, "Yes, I know Minister Bones, offered me my old job back as if nothing had happened, but it did and you both know full well that the Aurors look at me differently now." Both Ron and Hermione rolled their eyes as Harry gave off a sigh.
"Yeah, mate, they all think you have the guts to back up your mouth." said Ron. "Of course, that whole episode with V…Vol…Vvvvv, awe you know who I mean, was probably not enough to convince them you meant business, but the other sure did" he finished with a grin.
"Voldemort" Harry and Hermione chimed in together.
"Yeah, him" Ron said sheepishly
Try as he might Harry could not convince his friends that just like so many other offers, this too was charity. Just as the three of them began to argue they were interrupted by Dobby the house elf.
"Harry Potter, Harry Potter, you is looking at this, Dobby has found you the perfect job for you he has!!!" Dobby squeaked excitedly.
Dobby had left the employ of Hogwarts after Harry had graduated in order to look after him, since he, in Dobby's opinion, needed looking after and taken care of.
"What is it Dobby?" Harry asked confusedly.
"Defense Against the Dark Arts post, Harry Potter!" Dobby was positively jumping now.
"No Dobby," Harry started to explain, "that the Hogwarts teaching position that Dumbledore asked me to take, I already turned it down."
"No it isn't, Harry Potter." Dobby said, "this is another school needing you it is." Dobby smiled triumphantly at the trio. "This is for a smaller school that is needing a new teacher."
All three stood there and blinked at the little house elf who continued to beam as he handed the Daily Prophet want ads to Harry.
The ad read… 'Needed a new Defense Against the Dark Arts instructor for the Honeychurch Institute of Magic. All interested and qualified people should apply to Madame Edwina Klump, headmistress.'
"Well, I'll say this, it's a short one." said Ron
"And easy to miss also, I never saw it this morning" said Harry. "What is this Honeydew Church place anyway?"
Hermione rolled her eyes, "Don't either of you ever read anything other than Quidditch magazines? Honestly!"
Both Harry and Ron shrugged and said "No." as Dobby giggled at them.
Hermione continued to explain that there were indeed other, smaller schools of magic in England and in other parts of Europe besides Hogwarts, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. She also said that the Honeychurch Institute of Magic, although one of the smallest schools in England, had a fine academic record.
Finally Hermione convinced Harry to apply after finally stating, "It won't matter if they hire you or not, you'll never know, until you try." He figured that he wouldn't get the position as it required previous experience, but did allow himself to become excited about the possibility of teaching.
* * * * *
Harry then promptly sent Hedwig off with an application to Madame Edwina Klump, the headmistress of the school and received a reply a few days later excitedly inviting him for an interview. However, she highly urged him to take the train to the school, as she said "I'm not sure how to describe the school grounds to you and its always best to see it yourself before apparating there." This amused Harry since he had assumed apparating was not possible on school grounds, but apparently it was in this case. Hmmmmm.
Harry had wondered if the school were near a muggle village, as he knew Hogsmeade was the only entirely wizarding village in Great Britain. Now he was wondering if the school had any protections what-so-ever. However, he was determined to see this through and so purchased a ticket for him and for Dobby to go to the school.
So the next morning Harry and Dobby heading to Kings Cross Station to platform 6 & 7/8 to catch the train to the school and his interview. This Harry learned is the same train that the students take to get to school also, although unlike the Hogwarts Express, they often had to share it with non students. The train ride was uneventful, but did manage to take most of their morning and early afternoon for the journey, so Harry hade arrangements with a local wizarding inn for them a place to stay for the night.
At their stop, Harry and Dobby departed the train and saw that it was neither a muggle town nor a wizarding village, but rather a "spot" in the road. There was a train station, the pub with rooms to let, a couple of small stores and a few houses all along a cobble stone path that led into the forest. The two quickly went to the pub to check into their rooms, where they found Hedwig waiting for them, with a look on her face that said "You weren't thinking of going with out me were you?"
Harry grinned at her and put her on his shoulder and he and Dobby got the directions to the school from the bar keeper and went into the forest along the cobble stone way.
Arriving at their destination, Harry, Dobby and Hedwig made their way to the school grounds and what they found was absolutely not they had been expecting to find…
To Be Continued…