Protection: The Sword and the Shield

homecoming pt 2

......Great Hall, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Professor Hagrid smiled as he watched the last of the new student be sorted. Gathering the students and leading them to the school had been the highlight of his first time at the school and he was happy to continue in that role as part of his new duties as a professor.

News of the roaming giants had already reached the school by the time they arrived but it was fun listening to the excited first years recount the story to each other and him. It was also refreshing that after seeing true giants, none of the new students were intimidated by his size.

He had only been gone for a summer but the school felt different to him as he basked in the ambient magic that was everywhere. He wasn't sure if it was his now unchecked magic or the peace he had found but everything about his new opportunity brought a smile to his face. He had reconnected with the professors and staff and they had all welcomed him back and he felt like he had made the right choice in returning to the school.

His wand hummed against his wrist as if it felt his happiness and he smiled to himself. His level of contentment was something he never thought he would achieve and he wondered if people thought his constant smile was weird. He was not concerned if they did, just curious. The great hall was full and Rubeus smiled again as he looked around at the happy students.

The year had started with the same energy the previous year had ended. The Gryffindors continued to maintain the boisterousness that Harry Potter had inspired. Like Minerva, he was a former Gryffindor and was proud to see his old house so sure of themselves.

The Hufflepuffs had found a great deal of pride in themselves and though they didn't have the gregariousness of the Gryffindors, they all carried themselves with a self-assuredness that was a far cry from when they were known as the house of the duffers. The Hufflepuffs had a large contingent of noble family heirs within its ranks and wizarding Britain's return to a more traditional view of the peerage, ironic as that was, had elevated the house greatly.

The Ravenclaws had also seen a dramatic shift. And it was lead, surprisingly, by Luna Lovegood. Under the love and protection of Harry Potter and her sisters she had become the queen of Ravenclaw and was seen as the spiritual heir of Rowena Ravenclaw. The tiny sprite of a girl had led the house away from just amassing knowledge to a spirit of discovery.

The house had before been meticulously neat an orderly but now, even at the opening feast, members were covered in soot and burn marks and other minor magical maladies. Experimentation and curiosity was now the driving force for the house. And at its center was tiny Luna looking radiant. She reminded the large man of fairy as she would at random times moved from the table to claim semi-passionate kisses from Harry who would always indulge her even if he was in the middle of a conversation.

Rubeus looked at the Slytherin table. With Mytsi and Amelia as girlfriends, he had become much less binary in his views about good and evil but old habits were hard to shake. To him the house still seemed like the home of all things evil. It didn't help that the majority of the house looked somewhere between angry and disgusted with the rest of the school. The dynamics at the table were interesting though especially with Rubeus' more educated eye.

Amelia was an honest politician, but she was still a politician and had caught wind early of the public change of status of the Parkinson daughter from Draco Malfoy's betrothed to Theodore Nott's future concubine. She had also found out about Narcissa being tied to the Nott heir as well long before what had happened on the platform.

He was not much into politics, but even he recognized the slap in the face to the former powerful Lady of House Malfoy. Despite her connections, the fact that Amelia was able to find out that Theodore Nott was using the former Lady Malfoy as a sexual plaything was evidence of how complete the destruction of House Malfoy truly was. That the young Nott had paraded her in public the way he did was probably the final nail.