Chapter Text
Harry watched as McGonagall called the last First years name and they rake their place at Hufflepuff. Dumbledore tapped his goblet before standing and raising his hands. “Yes welcome all to Hogwarts, now this year we have quite a few changes, first we have the new teachers for your main lessons. I would like to introduce first the History of Magic Professor for years four through seven Arthur Leonatè. Your newest potions professor for years one through three Adeline Varsurious. The newest teacher for Herbology for years one through three Atlas Hightree, the newest charms professor for years one to three Gillian Nemos. The Transfiguration professor for years one to three is Naomi Newman and for Astronomy years one to three is Leonard Gramble. Your Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher this year for all years is none other than a dear friend of mine Elphias Doge.” And with that the hall clapped as the new teachers took a small bow at each of their introductions. Harry growled, how the hell had he snuck Doge into a teaching position? The man held no teaching certificate nor a mastery in the subject. No wonder the material for his lesson seemed...lacking and biased.
Dumbledore once again called for silence “Yes yes, now for mire teacher we have seven new electives and with it seven new teachers. So for Alchemy we have Leopold Zeno, for Warding we have William Weasley, for Spell Craft we have Xing Lau, for Wizarding Studies we have Sirius Black, for Politics and Law we have Lucius Malfoy, for Enchanting have Bonecrusher, for Creature Languages we have Firenze. Give them all a big welcome. Now these new electives are being offered to third year and those below for the future choices, those in fourth year and above who wish to take these next year will need to attend remedial sessions held every other Saturday and self study until next year.” A large round of applause went up and many were intrigued by the full goblin, Centaur and by the looks of it half mermaid now joining their tables. “Now just one more changes and that is that we are now having co-heads to each house so I would like to congratulate Remus Lupin, Aurora Sinatra, Bathsheda Babbling and Septima Vector on becoming co heads to our houses. Now let us begin our feast.” And with that food appeared on the tables.
Harry smiled as many cooed over his siblings who took to the group well and was telling everyone about their dads. Harry glanced around at the changes to the hall and chuckled, they still had house tables, but now they were circular and held the staff as well as students. Sirius, Remus and Severus had decided to sit at the Slytherin table which Harry understood as they had been discussing where they could sit. “Big brother...could you get me the bread please?” Gwen practically whispered and Harry smiled as ge passed one to both Gwen and Faolan knowing she would just split hers if he didn’t. It had taken a while to get the twins out of their shell, especially around food and realising that the food wouldn’t be taken. It had reminded Harry of his time at the Dursley’s and his heart hurt to see it in them. Faolan was retelling the story of their time in Beauxbatons to Daphne and Luna as Gwen joined Theo in drawing. Many chuckled as Blaise tried to colour with her only to have his hand shooed away and a fresh colouring page given to him.
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The speech given to the first years was once again very similar except with the introduction of Aurora Sinatra as their Co-Head and her office hours given which was later than Severus’ simply due to the time Astronomy happened and how long she was awake for. Aurora was given a tour of the Lord Rooms and shown what each was used for. She was amazed something like this existed with Hogwarts and when asked Harry stepped forward and explained only two rooms were restricted to her which was his Lord Room and the Passageway as that was the entrance to the Chamber and no one but him was allowed (read: only his LOS). Aurora quickly agreed and explained she would be there for general things and to help. It was also told that Professor McGonagall had stepped down as Head of Gryffindor and the positions were now held by Remus Lupin and Sirius Black as the new rules meant she could only hold two roles and they were Deputy Headmistress and Transfiguration professor. Harry felt some sense of relief at this as it now meant she could focus more.
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In the Gryffindor Common room there was a feeling of surprise as the two professors stood side by side in the middle of the common room. Many couldn’t remember when Professor McGonagall last came to give a welcoming speech, usually leaving it up to the prefects. When Remus cleared his throat the common room went quiet “Good evening all, as you heard I am one of your heads of house. Professor McGonagall has stepped down to focus more on her other duties so in her place I stepped up and with me is the other co-head Sirius Black. We know you aren’t used to a presence from your head of house but this changes this year. Our office hours are posted on the board, we will be in the common room for a couple of hours each weekend if you need to talk or discuss anything as a house. As a new implication we are doing a whole house medical check up and the list will be on the board tomorrow. Many houses already do this and we are woefully lacking.” Remus held up his hand as many begun to protest “It isn’t a bad thing, it’s to find those who need help and see how the school can help and nothing against parents or guardians.” Many seemed to go quiet at that and Sirius continued “Once a month we will be having a mandatory house meeting to discuss anything that comes up. Now we are also implementing a strict curfew for each year and they too are posted on the board. Miss Bell you will be asked to a meeting in a couple of days to discuss the Quidditch captaincy and trials.” Katie nodded and soon both men left and left the rest of the introductions to the prefects.
Remus, Sirius and Severus all entered the family rooms to find Theo and Harry already sat in there with the twins. It had taken the best part of three days but the rooms were finally to their liking with extra rooms for Theo and Harry who had opted to stay within the dorms. The twins shared a room as did Severus, Remus and Sirius who had invested in a large oak bed large enough for them plus the twins who still had nightmares occasionally. The family rooms also held offices for Harry and Severus and a large room for guests but all still felt cosy. Harry loved the family rooms as it meant his family could all be together throughout the year and nobody was left at home. Due to the twins going to Merlin Academy they would be flooed there by Andromeda who was one of the teachers each morning and returned in time for dinner each night. The twins had loved going school shopping for their new uniform and equipment which was sent out two days after Hogwarts’ letter. Severus hugged Harry as he entered and soon all were in a huge pile simply hugging and being a family. “Lots of new faces in this year, can’t believe I don’t have you for potions anymore Papa...” Harry lamented to which Severus ruffled his hair and chuckled “It will be fine, you will have me next year and then we can get you through your OWLs.” Harry merely pouted but nodded, he knew how much his father hated teaching dunderheads. “You still have us Pup, and you chose my elective so you are being taught by a of us.” Sirius added as he nuzzled Gwen who laughed at his scratchy stubble. That one had surprised Harry the most when looking for a teacher as he hadn’t realised just how many Sirius actually had. When asked he explained that whilst he was a prankster at heart and seemed quite lazy at school he was actually rather interested in different subjects and took many an OWL and NEWT outside of school and enjoyed lots of subjects. He had a mastery in Enchanting, Wizarding Studies and Defence. It annoyed Harry that Doge was teaching the subject and he begjn to think of how to change it.
“Go on you two, get your butts back down to the common room before you are out past curfew.” Severus said as he guided them to the door, hugging them before they left. Both boys arrived in the common room with five minutes to go and instant went to their shared room with Blaise, the castle melting the three after the declaration of their courtship, and were instantly embraced by him. “Tesoro, Bella how I’ve missed you both.” Blaise whispered as the boys lay together, entwined in each other’s arms. Harry chuckled as he nuzzles Blaise “Missed you too, it feels good to be laying here with you both.” Blaise and Theo simply smiled as they held him a little closer.
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The day dawned bright and Harry was awoken by a kiss to his neck and a gentle shake to which he tried to gently swat Blaise away “No hickies, my fathers will notice and I’ll be grounded till I’m thirty.” Blaise chuckled and nodded “Okay tesoro no hickies but we do need to get up for breakfast. No doubt Draco is hogging the bathroom again.” Harry chuckled at that and groaned as gathered his uniform for the day. His first day was sure to be packed with almost eight electives on top of his original classes and left very little time to his own but Harry didn’t mind as it meant he could gain more knowledge. Theo hugged him as he returned from the bathroom and Blaise went in leaving him to think some more.
Harry wasn’t really worried as the previous timeline wouldn’t happen so no dementors or escapee to deal with as well as no time travel which made his life easier. The only hiccup was Elphias Doge and how he would teach or if he would be another Lockheart. Harry showered quickly and dressed, thanks to warming and drying charms making it a thousand times quicker before he joined his friends in the common room as he received his timetable. Looking at it he winced, the timetable was packed but looking at his friends it seemed they also had roughly the same which meant he would be spending more time with them. He knew a few had chosen Divination and Care of Magical Creatures so the timetables did indeed differ and what Harry did notice was every other weekend he had three hours blocked out on a Saturday for a few of his electives which he didn’t mind. “Well this year is going to be rough homework wise...” Draco muttered as Daphne simply whistled at his timetable, sticking to the three elective which was normal instead of the extra all the boys had taken. “Well, it widens our OWL and NEWT possibilities and if we can’t handle it we can drop them and self study at our leisure.” Harry reaffirmed, not wanting them to feel too negative about the increased workload. Draco simply nodded as did Theo who was raring to start learning all he could. Harry looked around his friends before back down at his timetable, he was ready for this.
Let the endgame begin...this year marks Dumbledore’s downfall.