When Poppy entered the nursery, she saw that Sirius was sitting on the edge of Harry’s bed, trying to talk to him. The boy, however, didn’t give him a chance but screamed.

“Out!” she said to Sirius, enraged. “How dare you come into my quarters uninvited and scare my boy?”

“Since when is he your boy? He is my godson!” Sirius shouted. “What have you done to make him not recognize and be afraid of me?”

“We have done nothing. You look differently than before. Now, get out of here, immediately. Go to bed, and we will talk about it tomorrow. Don’t you dare come in here without Harry’s or my consent again!” She pointed her wand at Sirius, and the man fled immediately. Poppy now cast a charm at the door, so that Sirius couldn’t enter the nursery any more. Then she picked Harry up, talking softly and kissing him. She took the boy with her to her bedroom, so that he could sleep between her and Aberforth for the rest of the night.

-----

After breakfast, Albus called Remus into his office. After Remus had accepted the offered lemon drop, Albus started to speak. “Remus,” he sighed. “I would like to discuss something with you. I know that it is only a week until the beginning of the new school year, and I know that you have already prepared your lessons, at least to a certain degree. Nevertheless I have a suggestion to make. Please listen to me until I’m finished, and then the decision will be up to you. Frankly speaking, I wondered if you would perhaps like to teach Care of Magical Creatures? You know that we will always have the problem that I – or someone else – have to take over your lessons once a month. However, if you taught Care of Magical Creatures, I could make Hagrid your assistant so that nobody would find it strange if he taught instead of you from time to time. What do you think?”

Remus sat there, stunned. On one hand, Defence Against the Dark Arts had always been his favourite subject. However, on the other hand, Albus’ suggestion was the best solution to his furry problem. He didn’t want the students to notice that he was always ill after the full moon. Hagrid had always been a good friend to him, and it would surely be all right to work together with him. But… who was going to teach Defence? And suddenly, he realized what this was about. Sirius was going to teach Defence.

“All right,” he answered, giving Albus a short nod. “You are right. Sirius has been an Auror before, so he is the best man for the job. And I am obviously predestined to teach Care of Magical Creatures.”

“No, Remus. It’s not that easy. Sirius is not better than you. You would be a brilliant Defence teacher. In fact, my suggestion doesn’t have anything to do with the Defence position. The reason for my suggestion is that it would solve your ‘once a month’ problem, and that I believe you would make a better Care of Magical Creatures teacher than Sirius. I haven’t asked Sirius yet if he wants to teach at all as I wanted to ask you first.”

Remus snorted. “He will, that’s for sure. Who wouldn’t take a teaching position at Hogwarts? And Sirius will, definitely, as it brings him near his godson, whom he is very fond of.”

“Oh, that I am not so sure about,” Albus contradicted, sighing. Then he told Remus about what had happened during the night and suggested, “Shall we call Sirius here now and together try to talk to him? We have to tell him everything about Harry’s experiences and that he has to share his godfather position with the whole Hogwarts staff.”

Remus gave him a short laugh, before his expression turned stern. “Yes, Albus. I don’t think this will be a pleasant discussion, however. Do you have a calming draught here?”

The Headmaster laughed and went to the fireplace to call his newest Defence teacher.

-----

Albus and Remus were just enjoying a cup of tea, when Sirius joined them.

“Hello Sirius, how kind of you to join us on this fine morning,” Albus greeted him, offering a lemon drop at the same time, before he motioned him to take a seat, while Remus poured a cup of tea for his friend.

“Now, Sirius,” Albus started the conversation, “We were wondering if you’d like to take over the position of Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher?”

Sirius jumped out of his seat. “But, that’s Remus’ position, isn’t it, Moony?”

Albus sighed. “You know, our old Care of Magical Creatures professor has been telling me that he wants to retire for years. But so far I couldn’t find an adequate teacher, so I have been denying his wish all this time. Hagrid would be fine, but as he hasn’t finished his schooling, I cannot make him a professor. However, if you took over the Defence position, Remus would be free to take the Care of Magical Creatures post, which would solve his monthly problem as well. Hagrid, as his assistant, which he can become even without taking his OWLs, could easily take over his classes once a month without anyone becoming suspicious.”

While Albus called Hagrid over, Sirius threw Remus a hesitant glance. “Are you sure you’ll be all right with that, Moony? Don’t you prefer the Defence job?”

In the end, everyone agreed to the Headmaster’s suggestions. The conversation about Harry, however, did not go as well. It ended with Sirius leaving the room and disappearing for the rest of the day.

-----

“I thought at least by being in Azkaban for nine months he would have grown up,” Remus told Poppy later, thinking about how Sirius had reacted to their revelations about his godson. He had put the memory in Albus’ Pensieve for the others to watch.

Curiously, Poppy and Minerva entered the Pensieve.

Albus, Remus, and Sirius were sitting in the Headmaster’s office.

“Why?” Sirius shouted enraged. “Why do I have to watch my godson hiding in Snivellus’ robes, hiding from ME, his godfather? Snivellus has no right to even touch my godson!”

“Please DO NOT forget that it was Severus who pulled you out of Azkaban. None of us would have been able to help you. It was Severus having Harry’s trust, so that he could access the memory needed to get you out. Don’t you EVER forget that! And DO NOT shout at me!” Albus spoke in a freezing cold voice, which nobody had ever heard him use to talk to a fellow professor before.

When the two women left the Pensieve after nearly an hour of calm explanations from Albus and Remus and shouting from Sirius, they were torn between laughter and shock.

“And my dear husband hires someone who behaves like a child to teach Defence?” Minerva commented on Sirius’ behaviour, exasperatedly shaking her head.

-----

The teachers used the remaining week of the holidays talking to Sirius as much as they could, so that by the end of the week, he finally accepted the situation as it was. He knew that for Harry he was only another uncle, but nothing special. However, he also understood that he had to get on with Severus in order to at least be able to interact with Harry.

One more problem the teachers had to solve before the students returned was how to introduce Harry to the students. At the end of the last school year, nobody had seen Harry as he had been confined to his bed in the nursery. Now, however, Harry was supposed to eat meals in the Great Hall.

“I have charmed the wards,” Albus said hesitantly. “They are now charmed to not let Harry out of the castle, neither on foot nor by Portkey or Floo. However, the problem is that he won’t be able to get away in case of an emergency. Does anyone have an idea how we can solve this? There could be an attack, or he could be hurt and has to be brought to St. Mungos urgently, or whatever else could happen?”

“Albus, is it possible that you give us a password that overrides the wards? It will be enough if Poppy, Aberforth, Severus and the two of us knew the password as it would only be needed in a case of emergency anyway,” Minerva suggested.

“Oh, yes, Minerva, that’s a good idea. I will see to it immediately after our talk. Now, as not many of you know, Harry is the heir of three of the founders. Through James Potter, he is the heir of Gryffindor and Hufflepuff, and through Minerva and me, he is the heir of Ravenclaw from Minerva’s side and the heir of Gryffindor from my side. Therefore, I have talked to the castle, which I am entitled to do because of being Headmaster. The castle promised to look after Harry and assured me that no one would be able to do him any harm here within the Hogwarts grounds.”

-----

Harry was extremely excited. It was Wednesday, September 1, and the students were supposed to arrive shortly. At lunchtime, he had seen the huge house tables that had appeared in the Great Hall overnight, and Aunt Poppy had told him that the Hall would be full with hundreds of students at the Welcoming Feast in the evening. At first, he had been afraid of not being allowed to have dinner with everyone, but Aunt Poppy had told him that he was her son now and that he – of course – would not only be able to, but would be obliged to attend the meals in the Great Hall. He learned that he’d sit at the Head table, either between Aunt Poppy and Granny or between Uncles Severus and Moony.

Hagrid had suggested taking Harry down to the station so that he could board the boats together with the first years, but as he had been coughing a lot during the last few days, Aunt Poppy hadn’t allowed him to go with Hagrid. Now, he was sitting on the floor in Remus’ office, trying to concentrate on the floor puzzle he had received for his birthday. Uncle Remus was telling him the letters of the alphabet, and Harry had to search for the piece with the respective letter. As he already remembered the pictures this wasn’t too difficult for him. But then he was supposed to connect the piece to the one with the previous letter, and this was rather tricky for his tiny hands.

“Uncy Moo-ey hewp Hawwy? Pwease,” the small boy said, giving his uncle a pleading glance.

Remus knelt next to Harry and helped him adding the ‘F’ next to the ‘E’. “Very good, Harry,” he commended the child.

Finally, they had finished with the puzzle, and it was time to head to the Great Hall.

Harry climbed into his chair that was placed next to his granny’s chair. Poppy had explained to Harry that Granny and Granddad had fixed places at the Head table because they were Headmaster and Deputy Headmistress – ‘whatever that is’, Harry thought. As long as he was allowed to sit between two of the people he knew best he didn’t mind where the others were sitting. He sat there, silently, watching the commotion around him, while the students filed into the Hall.

When Minerva arrived with a large group of students trailing behind her, Poppy explained that they were Firsties, who had come to Hogwarts for the first time. “Maybe you will get to know some of them soon,” Poppy told him. “Some of the first years get homesick after a few days, and then they will be sent to me, and I have to talk to them and make them happy again. Will you help me with this?”

“Yes, Aun Poppy, Hawwy hewp tudens, of cowse.” He excitedly watched the Sorting Hat when he sang a song about peace between the Houses and about a child that would help the school to overcome the House rivalry. Harry couldn’t understand the meaning, but he immediately liked the Hat. How he envied the students – they were allowed to put the Hat on their heads and even talk to him, before he shouted the name of their House. Harry was very impressed with the interesting Hat and vowed he would find out everything about the Hat and try to talk to him in the near future.

He was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn’t realize that Minerva had already taken the Hat away and had sat down next to him. Suddenly, Granny clinked her spoon against her glass. Harry, liking the sound, giggled and excitedly did the same, unwillingly drawing everyone’s attention onto himself. He blushed deeply and averted his eyes to the floor, causing everyone to laugh.

Dumbledore stood from his seat. “Good evening and welcome back to a new year at Hogwarts. To our new students a happy welcome to your first year at our school. I intended to introduce my grandson to you, but I see that he has already taken matters in his own hand. Anyway, our smallest member here is my grandson, Harry Potter. I expect your best behaviour towards him, especially as he is still very small. I would also like to warn you not to purposefully curse him as he is very powerful, and any attempt to harm him could end very painfully for the attacker.”

Harry, hating the attention as everyone was still looking at him, mouthing ‘cute’ to each other, climbed off his chair and onto his Uncy Sewwy’s lap. His head hurt from all the commotion, and he leaned tiredly against his Uncle’s chest, ignoring the loud gasp that went through the Great Hall when the students saw the toddler sitting on the lap of the man they used to call ‘bat of the dungeons’ or ‘slimy git’.

-----

During the next months, Harry got used to the students being in the castle. He soon made friends with Bill Weasley, a first year Gryffindor. Bill had to spend a few days in the Hospital Wing with a bad cold, and Harry, who was supposed to be playing with Aberforth in the nursery, managed to escape Aberforth several times and visited Bill, talking animatedly to the older boy. He thought Bill was very interesting, having five smaller brothers and a sister, one of them even Harry’s age. Harry’s speaking abilities had improved a lot, and he loved talking very much. He asked Bill many questions about his family, and both of them enjoyed their conversations. It was even worth being scolded by Poppy each time she found Harry at Bill’s bedside.

Even after Bill was released from the Hospital Wing, he came to see Harry from time to time and was occasionally allowed to take the boy with him into Gryffindor tower or out onto the grounds. In fact, Poppy was glad to have someone she could ask to baby-sit from time to time as she sometimes was too busy to take care of Harry after classes, when many students needed her help at the same time.

In the mornings, Aberforth always played with Harry or took him out for a walk. However, in the afternoon, Aberforth had to go home to care for Ginevra before he went to work, so that Harry was around Poppy when he woke from his nap, at least until the end of classes. Whenever she had time, she played with him; when she was busy, he normally sat in his playpen, looking at his books.

Amelia Bones, a seventh year Hufflepuff, had also volunteered to baby-sit Harry sometimes, so that Harry also had the opportunity to visit the Hufflepuff common room. Harry liked the students because most of them were very friendly to him, and they could tell him many interesting stories. However, he didn’t like being fawned at too much, and that was – of course – what happened in the common rooms, where especially the female students adored the cute little boy.

-----

The weeks passed quickly, and soon it was time for the first Quidditch match of the school year, Gryffindor vs. Slytherin. It was a cold, dark day on this last Saturday in November, and Harry was sitting on Poppy’s lap, huddled in a warm blanket. Severus and Minerva were sitting on each side of them, eagerly watching the game.

Suddenly Harry pointed to the sky and shouted, “Dewe, de nitch!”

Everyone looked at him and followed his finger up to the sky where a small golden flash could be seen in front of the dark clouds. Not noticing the attention he attracted, Harry commented, “De seekews awe not vewwy good, dey awe too sow. Dey have to pwactife more wif’e nitch.” His high child’s voice could be heard very well; therefore the whole stand erupted with laughter, while the Slytherin seeker quickly caught the snitch, which had not moved at all after Harry had pointed to it.

The Gryffindor team spent quite a time discussing the possibility of a re-match with Minerva, who frankly told them that their own Seeker had had the same opportunity as the Slytherin Seeker and that there was no chance of a re-match. At the same time, the Slytherin team approached Severus and Harry and invited Harry to join them in their Common room for their victory party immediately after dinner.

Harry’s eyes started to twinkle happily. “Oh, can I go, Aun Poppy, Uncy Sewwy, pwease?”

The team laughed at the name their Head of House was called. However, they shut up stunned, hearing in what a soft voice the strict professor talked to the small child. “All right, Harry. If Aunt Poppy doesn’t mind, but I believe she will let you go provided you stay near me for the whole time.”

“Yes, my boy, you may go with Uncle Severus if you stay with him and listen to what he says,” Poppy said, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

“Yes, Aun Poppy, Harry tay wif Uncy Sewwy awl de time,” Harry exclaimed excitedly. He enjoyed the party in the Slytherin common room very much, especially as each common room was very different from the others and he hadn’t been in Slytherin before, so that he found the trip extremely interesting.

An hour into the party, Severus was called away by a fifth year, who asked him to come to their dormitory as her friend seemed to be ill. Severus threw a glance at Harry, who was enjoying himself together with a group of first and second year’s students, sitting on the floor and playing with a few cars Harry had obviously had with him in his robe pockets. Severus decided to leave him there for the few minutes he’d be away. However, as soon as the Professor was gone, the older students quickly produced a few bottles of Butterbeer and handed everyone a glass full. Harry didn’t protest when he received a glass, and gulped down the brown liquid like he was used to doing with the potions he had to drink every now and then.

When Severus came back, Harry had just finished the Butterbeer. He couldn’t hold himself upright anymore but fell back and was fast asleep immediately. Severus carefully picked Harry up, cuddling the sleeping boy close. “What happened here?” the Professor asked in the iciest voice his students had ever heard from him.

The first and second years immediately told him what had happened, and after a short investigation Severus sent the culprits to their dormitories for the rest of the evening. Then he left the common room and carried Harry to bed, tucking him in carefully before he told Poppy what had happened. Fortunately, the Butterbeer didn’t do any harm to Harry – except for the fact that he slept through until lunchtime on Sunday.

Severus returned to Slytherin and paid a certain sixth year dormitory a visit. He had a very stern talk with the boys, but knowing that they weren’t evil but just hadn’t thought about it he didn’t punish them further. However, he made them promise that they wouldn’t give Harry anything in the future and told them that they had to apologize to Harry.

On the next day, before dinner, the sixth years surrounded Poppy and Harry on their way to the Head table. One of the students, Marcus Zabini, spoke up. “Harry, we are sorry that we gave you Butterbeer to drink. We didn’t think about the fact that you are too small for such drinks.”

Harry threw the boy a shy smile and replied, “Its awwight, fank you fow low Hawwy stay wif you pawty. Hawwy loww pawty.”

-----

Unfortunately, Poppy didn’t let Harry attend any more victory parties in the near future. However, he was still allowed to visit the common rooms together with one of his baby-sitters. One day, Harry had spent the afternoon in the Gryffindor common room and was just walking down the stairs together with Bill Weasley in order to attend dinner in the Great Hall. It was only a few days until the start of the Christmas holidays, and the whole school bustled with excitement. At the moment they reached the Great Hall, Peter Gibbon, a Hufflepuff seventh year student, approached them and held out a colourful lollipop for Harry.

“May Hawwy havv?” Harry confirmed with Bill before he reached out and grabbed the lollipop – and Peter and Harry were whisked away.