Putting The 'M' in Mystery~ Hinny/Jily

Twelve Children and a Pet Crup

"Am I allowed to be nervous?" asked Harry, strumming his fingers on the arm of his chair. Ginny looked up from her seat on his desk, and grinned teasingly.

"What, the great Boy Who Lived, scared of teaching a class of measly seventeen year olds?"

Harry laughed.

"No, the great Boy Who Lived, scared of teaching a class that includes James Potter, aka Dead Father and greatest prankster Hogwarts has ever seen, and Lily Evans, Dead Mother to-be and President of the we hate James Potter club. Throw in another couple of father figures and you could say yeah, I am pretty nervous."

"At least you don't have to teach Pettigrew," said Ginny consolingly. "Bloody good thing he didn't make it into NEWT level Defence."

"If he'd made it that far the little bastard wouldn't have made it any further." Harry growled, envisioning himself ripping Peter limb from limb.

He was interrupted from his pleasant daydreams by the arrival of a group of girls, who quickly got out their books and sat at their desks, talking quietly.

"Miss Evans, isn't it?" asked Harry, pretending to be unfamiliar with his own mother. She looked up and smiled politely.

"That's right. And this is my friend Alice."

Harry greeted Neville's mother with a friendly smile, and looked up to see the Marauders rushing to their desks with a look of triumph on their faces. Harry had a horrible feeling that a prank was under construction. Lily glowered at James, and James shot her a melting smile. Ginny began to hum 'Here Comes the Bride," softly.

"Shut up, Ginny." Said Harry without turning to look at her. She stuck her tongue out at him.

"Right. I'm your teacher, she's Ginny and you know what our job is, so I won't waste time talking about that. The basic gist of what we're doing this year in my class will be techniques for staying alive."

A girl giggled nervously, and Harry shot her an icy look.

"That was not a joke, Miss Hatfield. You know perfectly well that Voldemort..." he ignored the compulsory gasps at his name, "Is growing more powerful by the day. Constant Vigilance is the only thing that stands between you and Avada Kevadra. By no means am I trying to scare you senseless, but as seventeen year olds I believe that you perfectly understand the gravity of the situation. Oh, and for Heavens Sake, learn to say his name. Every time you shudder at the word 'Voldemort', He wins one more battle. He has won your fear, and by fear you can be manipulated. I don't say 'don't fear him', because you would be stupid not to, but until you have looked him in the eye, he has not earned your fear."

Silence followed this speech, and most of the class were staring at their Professor, wondering if he was insane. James, Sirius and Remus's faces, however, showed nothing but pure respect.

"On a lighter note, however," Harry continued, "I have received no indication on what you have already learned. Miss Evans, could you enlighten me?"

"We've studied minor hexes, a few dark creatures, charms and talismans and Parseltongues," replied Lily promptly. Harry gave her a smile, but then frowned.

"No Unforgivables? Patroni? Wandless combat?"

She shook her head.

"No sir."

"Bloody Hell," Harry muttered. He shook his head and turned to Ginny, cocking his head inquiringly. She nodded and stood up.

"Okay, since Harry here is lousy at speeches I'll carry on where he left off. We'll be training you in some more major curses and hexes, you're going to learn how to repel Dementors, ad throughout the year you'll be learning some physical combat, because that can be bloody useful. Any questions?"

Sirius raised a hand. "Yes, Mr Black?"

"Are you two going out?"

Both Ginny and Harry burst out laughing. "Hell no!" they said in unison.

"Ginny is my best friends little sister," Harry explained, earning a scowl from his pretty assistant.

"You should get together." Sirius informed him matter of factly, "Don't you reckon Remmy?"

"Remus is our relationships 'guru'," James explained. Remus had closed his eyes and was humming mystically.

" Oooaam ... . I see ... Oooaamm ... Long lives ... .with ... .oooaamm ... .twelve children and ... ..oooaaamm ... a pet Crup ."

The Marauders and the rest of the class all laughed, Ginny and Harry included. After the laughter died down, Ginny said to Remus with a raised eyebrow.

"Mr Lupin, did you see with your second sight, the fact that I have a Crup allergy?"

Remus grinned sheepishly. Harry leaned in toward Remus and stage-whispered;

"Did you see me being beaten up by six red heads?"

Ginny and Harry both laughed, while the class looked confused.

"Now that we have received those priceless words of wisdom from the relationships guru, we must turn our mind toward more mundane matters. Any more questions?"

Lily raised her hand. "Miss Evans?"

"How did you get that scar on your forhead."

Immediately, all the laughter died from Harry's face.

"Why?" he asked sharply.

Lily shrugged.

"Just wondered." Harry closed his eyes for a second, and then opened them again.

"I received my scar when I was hit by Avada Kevadra when I was a baby."

Everyone in the class gasped incredulously. Remus Lupin put up his hand and asked the obvious question.

"How on earth did you survive the Killing Curse?"

A few murmurs of agreement passed through the class.

Harry sighed. "Frankly, I don't want to go into it now. I will tell you when we study the Unforgivables. Class dismissed."

The students filtered out of the door, talking excitedly among themselves. Lily lingered for a second.

"I...I'm sorry sir," she said hesitantly, "I didn't mean to bring back any bad memories." Harry smiled and shook his head at her.

"It's quite alright, Lily. And by the way, never call me sir again, unless you want a week of detentions."

Lily flashed him a quick smile and hurried out, noticing that they'd been let out a good ten minutes early.

Ginny touched Harry's shoulder from behind.

"Are you alright?"

Harry sighed.

"Yeah. I'm okay. It's just a bit weird, that's all."

She slid both arms around his waist, resting her head on his shoulder. Harry felt slightly surprised, but relaxed and turned around to hug her.

"I'm okay," he whispered in her ear, this time with more conviction.