It was late at night when Harry arrived at Hogwarts. A fog spread over the lawns, it ws the color of pearls; and so thick Harry felt like he could take a knife, slice it up, and have it for a snack. The castle where he had spent the bulk of his childhood, the good parts, loomed over head. It sparkled and glittered in the night like a lady in her many jewels.

Harry smiled, then frowned. If he was late Ginny was going to kill him. Since they had recently started dating againg, Harry fully realised what a stickler for time she was. He had to get this interview overwith, well maybe not over with, but done as quickly as possible.

"Lumos," he whispered. His wand suddenly glowed with a faint light, he let out a sigh. The wand had enough light so he could at least see if he was going to trip over a root or not on his way to the castle. He made his way quickly over the expanse of the lawn, dodging a tree root or a rock every now and again. It was a long time before the castle seemed to get any closer. Finally arriving at the huge wooden doors, he was out of breath. He looked at the doors and grinned, McGonagall had been busy as Headmistress. You could no longer tell that these huge wodden doors had once been subject to a battle that had nearly destroyed Hogwarts, and the Wizarding world as they knew it. Now they were carved with magicals symbols, and the mascot for each house. Harry put one hand on the door, and the door, recognising his magical signature, opened slowly. The 'creak' of the wooed was barely audible. Harry navigated his way through the maze of hallways, doors, and doors pretending to be walls with the ease of a seasoned vetran.

Finally arriving at the gargoyle, now restored, though a little deaf from the war, he asked to be let in.

"Password," croaked the gargoyle.

"Gillyweed," supplied Harry.

"Thank you. Good to see you again Mr. Potter," replied the gargoyle.

"Good to see you too," Harry said before ascending the staircase. He was then faced with the door to the office, "Professor McGonagall, Headmistress" it read.

Harry knocked three times before the words, "Come in Harry," reached his ears. Harry opened the door and was met by almost the exact same room Harry had left 4 years ago. There were a few minute changes here and there. Most of Dumbledore's strange object remained, but a few had been replaced by a large bell jar with swirling glass, a tin of biscuits, and oddly enough a ship in a glass bottle. The ship was obviously magical as it had small sailor battling a fierce storm inside the glass, but all the same, he had no idea Professor McGonagall was interested in anything nautical.

"Hello Harry," reached his ears, and his eyes shifted to the desk with Minerva Mcgonagall seated behind it. He smiled and greeted her with his eyes only slightly shifting to the paintings behind her. Dumbledore gave a quick wave and smiled, while Snape was clearly pretending to sleep. Though the drool, Harry concluded, was a bit much. Harry took off his long cloak, and hung it on the hook near the door.

"Would you like something to drink Harry?" McGonagall was stirring her own blue china tea cup with a spoon.

"Yes," Harry replied, "A green tea would be nice."

"Green tea?" McGonagall raised an eyebrow.

"Charlie recently returned from Japan, and brought the recipe back with him. Apparently a Chinese fireball somehow wound up at a...tree gazing ceremony, I think they called it? Anyway, I have been addicted to the stuff for three months." McGonagall chuckled, and with a quick wave, made a green tea appear, already piping hot. Harry picked it up off the desk and grinned. They drank in silence for a moment before McGonagall spoke again.

"Harry," she began, "I trust you know the reason I called you here?"

"Yes I do.," replied Harry, "You need a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher." Mcgonagall gave him a quick grin.

"Now," she went on, "I think I a quick floo interview would be nice, but the interviews for some reason or another are always face to face."

"I completely understand," replied Harry, "ask any questions you like." McGonagall gave him another grin, and picked up an official looking piece a of parchment an went down the list.

"Why did you apply for this position?" Began McGonagall.

"I want to teach the younger generations to properly defend themselves. I think that some were not quite as ready as they could have been during the war." McGongall gave a very sage like nod and went on to the next question.

"Are you properly trained in the art you plan to teach."

"Yes."

"If you had to be an animal, which would you chose?" It was around that question that Harry began to laugh uncontrollably.

"Yes Harry I know, that is a very silly , and I'm not sure which headmaster decided to put this on here, but there it is." The rest of the interview passed in a similar fashion, there would however be random spurts of laughter from Harry for some off the sillier questions, but most of the questions were perfectly reasonable.

At the end of the interview McGongall stood, her high backed chair made a rough kind of 'squeak' as she did so, and extended her hand.

"Congratulations Professor Potter," she proclaimed, "you got the job." Harry smiled more widely than he had since he got there. He, Harry was going to live at Hogwarts, his favorite place in the whole world, full time. He was going to teach his favorite subject full time as well. He and Ginny were going to go out in half an hour to celebrate. What in his world could possibly go wrong?

Now Fate, being the annoying tease it is, couldn't resist messing with Harry.

Shaking McGongall's hand goodbye, and waving farwell to Dumbledore and Snape, he threw his cloak back on. The heavy edge caught the side of the large bell jar with swirling dust he had seen when he had first entered. Then it was like slow motion, and Harry was able to percieve quite a few thing at once. He saw McGongall's horror stricken face, Dumbledore bolting out of his chair and shouting something, and of course the jar smashing into a thousand crystalline pieces while the dust puffed around him and erased the secen before him.