Chapter Text
Harry Potter walked to the gates of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and looked up at the castle. He had just finished his fifth year of teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts a week prior, and was still loving being a professor. He was confused, and slightly anxious, as to why Headmaster Snape wanted to have a meeting with him just one week after the term ended, but Harry knew Severus wouldn’t tell him until he was ready. Harry walked up to the Headmaster’s office and knocked; the door opened immediately revealing Severus sitting at his desk.
Severus had changed since Harry first saw him, nearly thirteen years ago; for one his hair was no longer constantly greasy, his eyes calmer, and his teeth no longer yellow. Harry knew it was because Severus was trying to focus on his appearance more for his wife, Hillary; Severus and Hillary met when she worked as Dr. Mira Johnson’s receptionist, a Squib psychologist that Severus and Harry had both seen after the war. The couple had a three year old boy, who was fun to be around; after babysitting the kid, Marcus, a few times, Harry and Draco decided to start working on building a family.
They had decided on using a surrogate mother for the first two, and then adopt at least one more; the first surrogate mother would be Lily Moon, an old friend of the couple and a pureblood. Neither Harry nor Draco much cared about the pureblood part, but Draco’s mother did so their first child would be a pureblood to avoid an argument. Hermione agreed to surrogate for the second kid, but she was busy settling into her career to do it within the next couple of years. Harry was relieved to have someone else tell them to wait, as he would probably want the next kid within a year and that would be a lot of work.
Harry sat in a chair on the opposite side of the desk from Seveus and smiled at the man. “Hello, Sev. How are you?” Some days Harry could barely believe that he and Severus were on a first name basis, and other days it seemed weird. This man was the same age as his parents, which made him around forty-five; Harry realized how young his parents were when they had him after his own twentieth birthday, the age they were when they had him. Then he hit a rough patch after his twenty-first birthday, making him the same age they were when they died.
Severus tilted his head, then smiled softly. “Hillary is pregnant again, we just found out yesterday.” Harry beamed at the man.
“Congratulations! Not to trample your news, but Lily Moon, she’s mine and Draco’s surrogate for the first go-around, is pregnant too. We just found out yesterday too.” Harry laughed lightly, he was ecstatic over the news. Severus’s smile widened fractionally, but Harry knew if the man showed emotion like a regular person he would be beaming.
“Congratulations are in order to you as well then. However, that is not the reason I asked for this meeting.” Harry nodded and bit back his excitement; it left anxiousness in its place. Severus continued, “Minerva informed me that she would be taking a sabbatical this year, as will Madame Pomfrey. I know Madame Pomfrey is asking Draco to fill in her position for the year.” Harry nodded, she had asked Draco a few days ago; he was on the fence at the moment, but Harry knew he wanted to take it. “I need someone to fill in as the Head of Gryffindor House for the year, which I intended to ask you to do the day Minerva informed me of the sabbatical. However, now I am also going to extend the offer of filling in for the Deputy Headmaster position to you.”
Harry was stunned. He had not expected to be in the running for the Deputy position, since Severus was big on seniority and ensuring that Harry was treated like everyone else. He thought Severus would ask Filius or perhaps Pomona; Madame Pomfrey had told Draco about Minvera when she asked him to fill in. He must have looked surprised because Severus’ lips twitched.
“Filius declined my offer. Pomona will be retiring in a couple of years, and is taking on Mr. Longbottom as her apprentice for the position so she was not able either. Any other professor would not be interested. Are you interested, Mr. Potter?”
“Yes, sir. I am always up for extra responsibility.” Harry chuckled, and Severus rolled his eyes.
“Very well.” Severus flicked his wand and a tall pile of parchment fell on his desk. “Take half of these,” the pile split in half, “and narrow it down to your top eight. Then telephone each of the top eight and have a short interview, and bring your top four back to me. I will do the same, and we will interview the remaining eight together.”
“What is this for?”
“Filling in Minerva’s position for the year; all of these people have expressed interest in being a temporary Transfiguration professor for the year. I expect your top four by this time next Monday. We will decide a time for a final interview together with the applicant.” Harry nodded, but he felt nervous. He had never been interviewed for a job before, and he did not know how to go about narrowing down this pile to eight people. Severus handed him a sheet with questions, and Harry relaxed; this would help him narrow down the applicants.
“I will also need you to start inspecting the first year prospective students. First to see if any have alarming addresses, like yours, and secondly to distinguish the Muggleborn and Halfblood students who will need a professor to visit them. After that, please randomly assign the professors to go and explain the magical world to the student, add me to the list in the spot of Minvera, and contact the professors to sort out a schedule. All the students should be contacted before July 25th, so they have time to decide if they really want to attend Hogwarts. I would like a rough schedule by next Friday.”
Harry nodded more enthusiastically this time as he was on more familiar ground.”I would like you to keep your ear to the ground about a assistant caretaker as Mr. Filch is requesting help. We are also still accepting student applications for the exchange program in various countries but have a few already, and here is the list of our students who would like to sign up. Please start going through the applications to see who would be a good fit.”
Harry grabbed the new stack and silently figured out how to avoid mixing up the applications. Severus nodded at him, and Harry knew he had been dismissed. If this was how much work he would be receiving on the first day, Harry was already starting to regret accepting the Deputy Headmaster position.