Chapter 1: The Three D's

"Happy Birthday, Melody!"

We sat around a magically expanded table in the yard of The Burrow, watching as Molly Weasley brought over a birthday cake with a single candle. Sitting at the top of the table with Melody, my now twenty-four year old fiancée, I looked over at my friends. Harry and Ginny Potter sat holding baby James, and next to them were Ron and Hermione Weasley, their best friends. George and Angelina Weasley were on the other side next to Arthur Weasley. Rounding out the table was Neville Longbottom and his girlfriend Hannah Abbott. It was a small surprise party, as George had convinced Melody that he had needed to discuss the upcoming fireworks for Gwennog Jones' retirement ceremonies at the next Harpies home game, and she had believed him. I could always count on George.

I sat there and watched as my future bride blew out the candle and I couldn't help but think about how much things had changed in the last year. I had gone from being a very depressed literature instructor at a small college to teaching at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in Scotland, from thinking that there was nothing special about me whatsoever to learning that I had inherited a very small amount of magical ability from a distant MacDonald ancestor. I had made a group of amazing friends who were not only good people but were some of the most famous witches and wizards of the day, and in the case of Harry Potter, the most famous wizard on the planet. I had survived being attacked on several occasions, including my brother's wedding in Virginia, and had somehow helped defeat legislation that would have caused a major impact on the civil rights of people in the Wizarding world. But most importantly, I had met a witch who had changed my life dramatically. I now owned a house in a little village called Stintborough, had signed a contract to teach Muggle Studies again at Hogwarts and in the near future I was going to marry Melodia Gwendolyn Bramble. Life was pretty damned good.

"One candle, Mum? We know she's way older than that." George looked over to Melody, who stuck out her tongue at him.

Molly walked past George and gave him a patented mother look, "After women come of age it's not polite to discuss ages, George. You should learn that."

Angelina, George's wife, just shook her head. "Just give up on that one, Molly. Remember who you're talking to. For our one month anniversary he gave me a chocolate frog."

I leaned over to Melody, "I'll do better than George, I promise."

She chuckled slightly and leaned up towards me, "That won't be too hard."

The last Friday of August found me at my desk in the Muggle Studies classroom in Hogwarts, looking around and thinking how different things were since a year ago. Back then I had no idea how anything worked, I was depressed as hell, and my only real friend was Neville Longbottom, the Acting Headmaster. Classes would start next week, and then I'd be back in the midst of things, but for now it was very quiet in my classroom; nothing but the Wizarding Wireless that I'd brought in. After being at Colony House for the last month I was used to having my music, but now I was back in the quiet of Hogwarts. Colony House, still had a hard time calling my Stintborough house that, but George had come up with it and it'd stuck. The "American Muggle Colony" is what he'd called it, and it was much easier saying Colony House than going through the whole address when using the Floo. The wireless was on a Quidditch program, and the commentators were discussing the Harpies' chances now that Gwennog Jones had retired and Ginny Potter had left the team. I listened for a bit, and then remembered that I had a meeting in a half hour or so, but I wasn't looking forward to it; the new Hogwarts Headmaster was having his all-staff meeting.

"You look like you've done this before."

I looked up to see Neville walk in and take a seat on top of the closest table.

"Hopefully better than last time. How've you been?"

"Pretty well, actually. I've got some things started in the greenhouse that should keep my students busy." Then he smiled "So, how's the wedding planning going?"

I rolled my eyes. "I pretty much just let the women do that. The only thing I'm in charge of is showing up at the ceremony. Right now we've got a couple of dates in mind, all after the term is over." Well, I thought about it, and I knew I wanted to ask him, and now seemed like a good time. "Neville, I want to ask you something…would you be my best man?

"Me? Of course, but I figured you'd ask Harry…or one of your brothers." Neville looked taken aback, but in a good way.

"Neville, my brothers will be groomsmen, but I thought I'd ask my best friend to stand up with me. You were there for me so many times last year; I don't know how I would have made it through without you."

He walked over and I stood up to shake his outstretched hand. "I'd be honored, Hank."

"Thanks, Neville. And don't worry, you can tell Hannah that Melody made sure of everything, you'll be walking down the aisle with Ginny."

I'd taken a seat next to Professor Cho Chang in the Headmaster's office, and we'd chatted about her Charms class for a bit, but I sensed that the whole room was nervous. Nobody had met the new Headmaster yet; from what Cho had said he was meeting with the new Transfiguration and Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers and would be joining us soon. I was about to go speak with Minerva McGonagall's portrait, which was now awake and smiling at us, but before I could do anything Mr. Filch walked in, looking happy. Crap. If Filch was happy, that didn't bode well for the rest of us. I didn't have much time to reflect on Flich's state of mind, though, because the door opened and three people walked in. The first was a woman in her mid-thirties, if I had to guess. She had long, brown hair which was braided into a single plait that almost reached the middle of her back, and she had a smile on her very tan and weather beaten-looking face. Her robe was a deep crimson color, and when she sat down I noticed that something seemed to be wrong with her left hand. The second person through the door was an elderly wizard, a very round man with several tufts of white hair that seemed to stick out as if he'd just had a severe electrical shock, but what stuck out the most was that he had small golden hoop earring in his left ear. He sat next to the new woman, leaving the third person to walk to the Headmaster's desk and take a seat in the chair.

He clasped his hands together in front of him, and in a very deep voice said "Good afternoon, Professors. My name is Charles Flurbin, and I am the new Headmaster of Hogwarts."

He let that sit in the air for a while, giving me a chance to look at him. His dirty blonde hair reminded me of an old Professor of mine, as he was unsuccessfully trying to fool everyone with a comb-over to hide his bald spot. I guessed his age at around sixty or so, and he was of average height and weight. His robe was jet-black with no pattern, and he was wearing a white shirt with a green bow-tie. His eyebrows were bushy, which matched his very large mustache, and he was even paler than me. He stroked his mustache, and took a breath as if to say something, but stopped. He looked around at the expectant faces and continued in that booming voice.

"Last year was a transitional year for Hogwarts, as the unfortunate passing of Headmistress McGonagall was a loss to all. Professor Longbottom did an admirable job of carrying out the position through the term, but it is time that we return to the basics of education at Hogwarts, what I call the Three D's: Dedication. Development. Discipline. After reviewing the coursework, we will be making a few changes at Hogwarts. Before I go into that, I'd like to introduce your new colleagues. Professor Titus?"

The elderly wizard with the tufty hair stood up. Flurbin nodded at him. "Professor Gavin Titus is a colleague of mine from the Ministry of Magic. He taught Transfiguration in Ireland for several years before coming back to work at the Ministry. Thank you, Professor Titus."

Titus nodded and turned around to wave at us. He seemed like someone's grandfather, the one who always gave you candy when you weren't supposed to have it.

"And Professor Farnsworth." Flurbin motioned towards the brown-haired woman, who stood and smiled. "Professor Petal Farnsworth has decided to enter teaching; this will be her first year. Previously she was an Auror until an unfortunate accident forced her from that profession. Her experience will be greatly appreciated by DADA students."

After Professor Farnsworth sat down and Flurbin's tone changed; instead of the polite, dinner party host he seemed to turn into a disappointed parent.

"Hogwarts will be returning to its core values of education. Some of the instructor choices last year were," he paused as if trying to find the right word, looking at me the whole time, "unorthodox, therefore we will be returning to a more traditional schedule. Some of the softer options available to students will not be as widely available. Care of Magical Creatures, Divination and Muggle Studies will have reduced class periods, smaller student populations and are now optional classes. Furthermore, we will be returning Muggle Studies to an optional class for all students third year and up, back it to its traditional role."

Fuck me. I'd just got one year under my belt and now this guy was cutting my class size and the availability of Muggle Studies? I tried to look over at Neville quickly and see his reaction, but he didn't see me. I'd have to talk to him about it later. Hagrid, who hadn't attended the meeting, would probably not take it well. Sybil Trelawney was sitting behind me, so I couldn't see her, but my guess was that she wouldn't be happy, either.

"Furthermore" Flurbin continued "you will be receiving your Instructor's Guide shortly. This Guide will be your manual regarding classroom instruction and student conduct. Mr. Filch and I have gone over the manual, and while some of Mr. Filch's ideas are, shall we say, somewhat severe, we have agreed that the manual does provide the discipline guidelines needed at Hogwarts.

This was just getting better and better; where the hell was George Weasley when I needed him? Fuck.

Flurbin cleared his throat and stroked his mustache again. I had a feeling I was going to hate seeing that. "Please continue preparing your classrooms for the rest of the day. For those of you who had previously assigned textbooks, they will remain as approved curriculum for this term. For those of you who did not specify a textbook," again he looked directly at me, "I have selected the appropriate text. All students have been notified of the textbook change, so they will be ready for class on September second. Now if you would all excuse me, I have some matters to discuss with Mr. Filch. I will see you on the First. Good day."

I stood up and looked over at Cho who gave me a very sad and sympathetic smile. As I made my way out of the Headmaster's office I caught up with Neville.

"What the hell, Neville? Who is this guy?"

Neville shook his head, "No idea, Hank."

"Are you sure you can't change your mind about being Headmaster?"

"Too late for that, I'm afraid." Neville sighed deeply.

"What's the matter, Neville?"

"He reminds me of Umbridge, Hank. That's not good."

I stopped in front of the portrait of Sir Cadogan, and he saluted me. I feebly saluted back and just stood there looking at the painting. Now what? I felt like I had just been told that my class didn't matter, that it was fluff like Divination. Ok, most of Divination was crap, but every now and then Sybil came out with something good. Last year she had told me that she saw a great change coming into my life, but I had blown it off. At that point every five minutes was a great change; going from teaching in Virginia to teaching at Hogwarts meant that everything was a great change, even walking to my classroom. I hadn't remembered her comments until I'd been engaged for about a week, but still…damn.

"Professor Boyd?" I turned around to see Professor Farnsworth with a smile on her face as she walked over to me. She put out her hand and I shook it. "Nice to meet you. Ron Weasley's told me a lot about you."

"Ron? Oh, that's right; you used to be an Auror." I couldn't help myself, I looked down at her left hand, which was missing two fingers and looked several shades of mottled red.

She smiled and held up her hand. "It's all right, I'm used to it. Very unlucky with a cursed item in Wales. It's a three butterbeer story." She didn't seem phased at all, and I felt better about my rudeness.

"Sounds like a good idea. I have a feeling I'm going to need a few of those."

"I'm sorry about your class. For the record I don't agree, I think Muggle Studies should be compulsory for every year. I've seen what happens with Muggle and Wizard interactions, and if we knew more I think we'd have fewer incidents."

Her eyes were very kind, and she seemed very likable. It was out of my mouth before I could really think about it. "Would you like to come to dinner on Saturday night? My fiancée and I live right outside of Hogsmeade in Stintborough."

"Thank you, I'd like that." She shook my hand again, "very nice to meet you, Professor Boyd."

"Same here and please call me Hank. Seven o'clock work for you?"

"Sounds lovely. Thanks, Hank, and please call me Petal."

I walked into my classroom and there it was, right smack in the middle of my desk. Muggles Among Us by Frederick Hildensnort. Fucking hell. I picked it up tossed it off of my desk, over my shoulder, not caring where it landed. The Hogwart's Instructor's Guide was sat at the top right of my desk, and it was a very thick book with gold lettering and three bookmarks in the front few pages. I pulled out the bookmarks which read Dedication, Development and Discipline. Merlin's pants.

When I got back to Colony House there was a large box sitting beside the front door, and after looking for a few minutes I realized what it was; stuff from Mom and Dad that didn't come over in the big shipment. Mel and I had received a big shipment a few weeks earlier, furniture and things that Mom decided I needed. I had moved Granddad's desk into my office, and we'd arranged the china cabinet, but I couldn't figure out what would be left to send over. More importantly, I couldn't figure out how to get the box inside the house, as there was no way it was getting through the door. After walking out to the shed and getting some tools I pried open the box to find…another box. Mom and her packing. At least this box I could get through the door.

After maneuvering it through the door and banging all of my knuckles on the door frame the box finally sat in the living room, and I opened it up. Pictures, a couple of quilts, more pictures and a cherry-wood box, about the length of a shoe box but twice as wide. I opened it up and there sat Grandpa Boyd's pipes. I remembered several of them, some I'd never seen before, but a total of six pipes sat inside in little partitions, with pipe cleaners and other paraphernalia. Well, Melody didn't want me smoking cigarettes anymore, and I only smoked cigars on occasions, but she'd never said anything about a pipe. There was no pipe tobacco in the box, and if there had been it would have probably been older than Melody, so I decided to go into the village and see if I could find any.

The old Morris Minor I'd bought off of an elderly lady wasn't a luxury car by any means, but it got me to the places I needed to go as a Muggle. I'd used the money I received from selling my house in Virginia, so I had more than enough to buy a really decent car, but what was the point? It wasn't like I was going to commute every day. I'd tried giving Melody a driving lesson, but that had been a horrible disaster and I was just happy the clutch was still functional. It felt good to be out driving after the day I'd had, so I rolled the window down and thought about nothing but driving. It took me about thirty minutes to get to the village, and I found the shop, picked up some more milk, tea and found a decent cherry pipe tobacco that reminded me of Grandpa. I'd made it back and was sitting in the garden with my pipe when Melody came home.

"What is that smell?"

"Hi honey, your day had to be better than mine. And it's my pipe."

She walked out into the garden and gave me a look as if I'd just told her that I was a fish. "Why, for Merlin's sake, are you smoking a pipe? And where did you get it? Did it come in the box that you opened and just left in the living room?"

She'd been on me since we started living together about putting things away, and I explained about the pipes and the box, but more importantly I told her about Flurbin, the ranking of Muggle Studies with Divination and the three D's. "Oh yeah" I remembered, "I invited the new DADA professor over for supper tomorrow night. Hope that's ok?"

"It's fine, I guess, Hank, but you should really check with me beforehand. What if I had plans?"

"Um, do you have any plans?"

"No, but that's not the point."

This day was turning out to be wonderful. "Let's invite Ron and Hermione over as well. Professor Farnsworth said she used to be an Auror with Ron."

Melody cocked her head at me, "So you invited a single witch over for dinner?"

"It's not like that, really."

Then I got the look I was hoping for. "Oh, I'm just winding you up. That's fine, but you're cooking." She looked at me for a few minutes longer. "And no pipe."

I stood at the stove while Ron and Petal talked Auror shop and Melody and Hermione talked wedding. I was the Muggle out of place, I guess, but at least the pasta was coming along nicely. Ron and Hermione had arrived first, so it made things easier when Petal arrived, as she didn't walk into the house not knowing anybody. Ok, we'd met the previous day, but we'd probably said about twenty words in total to each other. I concentrated on the meatballs, as it made things easier than thinking about my upcoming year at Hogwarts. Dammit, I was really looking forward to the year, I'd planned out my syllabus and coursework, and I'd intended on using part of my textbook as a sort-of trial with my classes. So much for that.

"Is it ready yet?" Ron was looking over my shoulder and was just about ready to put a wooden spoon into the sauce for an advance taste.

"Few more minutes."

"It'd go faster if you used magic."

"Ron, you know the rules here, right? This is a Muggle-only house, no magic at all." I looked over my shoulder to see that Petal had joined the women and was busy chatting. "So what do you know about Petal?"

"Damn good Auror. It's a shame that curse hit her in Wales. She's smart, good person. She'll do fine."

"If she's allowed to." I stirred a bit then added the meatballs to the sauce. "Ron, you know anything about Flurbin, the new Headmaster? Maybe you could do a little research."

"Sorry, mate, not allowed." He shook his head, "Can't just go digging into people's pasts because they're nasty. Have to have just cause, you know."

Well crap. "Ok, it's ready now. Tell the ladies, will you?"

Ron turned around and half-shouted into the living room "Oi, food's ready."

Melody and I assured Hermione that we weren't insulted by Ron's lack of manners and we all tucked in. I'd had to pull a chair out of my office for the dinner as we only had a small table with four chairs. The meal went pleasantly enough, but eventually the topic turned to Flurbin.

"Neville told me that he reminded her of Umbridge."

Hermione sat her fork down mid-bite. "Oh bloody hell. That woman…"

I was shocked, as I'd never heard Hermione talk like that before. Ron yes, but not Hermione. This couldn't be good. For the next twenty minutes or so I was informed of Umbridge's reign, how it had been one of the low points in Hogwarts history and the impetus that drove George and Fred Weasley out of Hogwarts. Hermione had started the story, but Ron finished it for her, as she was still upset after all these years, of how Harry and Hermione "disposed" of Umbridge.

"Damn, that was awful." Petal looked over at the Weasleys and shook her head. "If I would have known that Flurbin was going to be anywhere close to that I don't know if I would have taken the job. I think I could have pushed parchment in the Auror's office instead."

"You didn't have to do that, Petal. You could have stayed on the job." Ron looked over at his former colleague "You could have kept being an Auror. Mad-Eye kept going after lots worse."

Petal shook her head. "My heart wasn't in it anymore, Ron. You know what they say, an Auror has to be fully committed, and after Wales I just wasn't anymore."

After saying goodnight to our guests Melody and I retired to the bedroom. She put her head on my chest and we laid there for several minutes in silence.

"I'm sorry about the new Headmaster and everything at Hogwarts, Hank. I know you were really looking forward to this year."

"Thanks, love." I smoothed her hair which was growing longer, and brushed it away from her face over her ear. "I really was excited about this year, but now I don't know about anything."

"Anything?"

"Well, almost anything." I kissed her and reached over to turn out the lights, but before I could touch the lamp it went off. "Melody, no magic!"

"Definitely no magic going on in the bedroom."