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8 years later

"Absolutely not!" Harry yelled at the Minister before calming down. "Sorry, Sir, but it's just not going to happen."

The Minister smiled. "I thought that was the career you've been working towards, becoming an Auror?"

Harry just laughed. "That was before the war. Frankly, I feel I have enough brushes with death for one life."

The Minister laughed as well. "Dear boy, if you think you have seen the last of those brushes with death, then you're in for a surprise. You still have a mark on your head, even with the fall of Voldemort and his Death Eaters."

"True, and that is why is why I wish to avoid those brushes as much as possible. Joining the Aurors is a great way of getting killed," Harry replied sternly, making his point known.

It was the middle of August, it had only been three and a half months since Harry Potter had killed Voldemort; since then he had been staying with the Weasleys at the Burrow. It had been a very long and trying life for Harry, so he planned on using this summer to do absolutely nothing. It was relaxing, it was peaceful, but most of all it was very...boring.

So, he had been thrilled when Minister Kingsley arrived by floo powder to discuss his future with him, but Harry just really didn't want to be an Auror anymore.

"Harry, whether you like it or not, you are no ordinary wizard and once again you find yourself in an unusual position," The Minister droned with his deep voice.

"You have no need to go to Hogwarts as a student other than to learn. If you wished you could have any job in the Wizarding world, qualified or not. I'm not surprised you have lost your enthusiasm for becoming an Auror, hence my true purpose here."

There was another burst of green flame and out from the fireplace emerged a familiar figure.

"Professor McGonagall, It's great to see you," Harry said, shaking her hand.

"It's 'Headmistress' now, Potter," she said sternly, with a hint of a smile in the corner of her lips. She took a seat by the fire and looked up at Harry.

"I had a feeling I would be offering you this position one day," she said in a more formal, official tone. "But I never believed you would be so young. However with your past experience with Dumbledore's Army, your real life experience and the fact that absolutely no one else will take the job. I officially request that you would join the Hogwarts staff as the new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor."

Harry was in a stunned silence. He had not expected this and had no idea what he should say or do.

"B-but I never even finished my Newts." Harry stuttered. "I-I never even finished school, I'm only eighteen."

"Yes, you are only eighteen," said McGonagall. "And in those eighteen years, you have accomplished things great wizards have only dreamed of. Not to mention that judging from the progress of the students in Dumbledore's Army, you are already the best DADA teacher Hogwarts has seen in years. You are beyond qualified, so do you accept the position?"

Harry thought about it, and he remembered how reluctant he had been to lead DA. He also remembered the thrill of teaching the members, and watching them grow into fully fledged practitioners of defensive magic. "I don't know," Harry muttered, more to himself.

"Potter, what would Miss Granger say if she found out you turned this down?" McGonagall asked with a rare smile.

Harry laughed, "Probably hex me to next week, OK I accept".

Harry shook McGonagall's hand, feeling excited already. He had not planned on returning to Hogwarts, but was certain then and there, he was going back home.

"Now that is settled, I'm afraid I must leave you. After all, it's busy being the Minister," Kingsley announced, before disappearing into the fireplace.

McGonagall spoke again, "Now that you have taken the job, there is much to discuss. Rules, guidelines, schedules, and the curriculum. However, there's another matter I must first speak to you about."

There was another burst of green fire and out came the tiny Head of Ravenclaw house.

"Professor Flitwick," Harry said, surprised, but the wizard shook his head.

"You can call me Filius if you like, Harry as you are now a Professor of Hogwarts," he said with his high pitched voice. "Every year when a new staff member joins the sacred walls of Hogwarts, the Headmaster, or Headmistress as in this case, and I meet with them to discuss a most unusual student of mine."

"Unusual? Who do you mean?" Harry asked curiously.

Flitwick just smiled. "Harry, can you not think of a Ravenclaw student who could be classified as 'unusual'?"

Of course Harry could, he had known her for 3 years now. "Luna."

Flitwick just nodded, "I think you could be a great help to her; if I am not mistaken, you were the first classmate she ever told about her mother." Harry saw pain in Flitwick's eyes as they looked back at an old memory.

"Her name was Pandora, and she was the brightest Witch I have ever taught, she would've even given Miss Granger a run for her money! She was always the first hand raised in class, but when it came to using the actual spells, she struggled to cast the simplest of charms. We believed her to be a borderline squib. Then she just started to invent her own spells."

Harry gaped at the small man. Luna had told him her mother loved to experiment with spells, but to frequently invent new ones...

"She even invented spells we still use today, like the famous Wingardium Leviosa charm. The original spell for levitating was 5th year difficulty, so you may very well owe Pandora your life, as it saved you from that troll. To this day, no one knows why she could only perform spells she invented."

"Pandora dropped out of Hogwarts in her 5th year and became an unspeakable for the Department of Mystery's. I would like to say she was the youngest to do so, but all the records of said department are classified. She remained there for 5 years before leaving a very different person. I don't know what she discovered down there, but I expect there may be some truths to the early Quibbler stories."

"After that, Pandora would marry and have Luna. Not much was heard from her after that, but she had gained a reputation for having gone mad. Pandora would lock herself in her basement continuing her work as an unspeakable, illegally. One day her experiment went bad and blew up the basement, killing her in front of poor Luna."

Flitwick wiped away a tear before he continued, "Luna was always an un-ordinary child. She clearly had inherited her Mother's intelligence, but after her Mother's death she changed. She became more..."

"Like Luna," Harry finished.

Flitwick just nodded, "What I'm to tell you now must not leave this room, unless you are speaking directly to another staff member at Hogwarts. Do not speak of this to anyone else, not even your closest friends."

"It is possible that Luna's behavior is the result of emotional trauma. It is also possible that she is just being herself. There is also a theory that she suffers from the effects of the spell that killed her mother. I feel it is a little of all three. She has had frequent visits to St. Mungo's Hospital, but they were never able to prove either theory as truth. Something happened that night, I can't go into details but suffice to say, Luna was given a gift. We are still trying to figure out the ramifications, but it is safe to say that it changed her."

Harry looked over to McGonagall who simply shrugged and spoke. "Filius used to be an Unspeakable himself, he is sworn to secrecy. However, I do trust his judgment on what I can and can't know."

"Luna's first few years at Hogwarts were eventful," Professor Flitwick continued. "She was often picked on, and still is to this day. She has remained, for the most part, indifferent to this, but there was one subject that kids loved to use: her late Mother's suspect sanity. It became a twisted game they called 'Setting off the Loony'."

Harry's face grew dark at this; he had a feeling he knew which students participated in this game.

"The game was to insult her mother without getting horribly cursed. It was not a game they won often. In fact, if it wasn't for the effects of her curses, you would not have known that she cared at all. When asked about it, she refused to even acknowledge that she did anything. In her second year however, she took it too far and put a student in St. Mungo's. After that no one has dared to bring it up since."

"Luna also suffers with other problems. She never ever sleeps, instead she wanders the Hogwarts hallways and grounds at night. We have been unable to prevent this, so it was decided that we leave her alone. We just keep an eye on her to make sure she doesn't go too far. She also struggles in classes as she has no attention for anything that doesn't peak her interests."

"She will need to see a tutor every couple of days, since she works better outside of the class environment. I usually tutored her voluntarily, but I assumed since you are both good friends you might like to help her."

"Of course," Harry said without hesitation. "I owe Luna everything, not just for fighting beside me all those times, but for helping me get through tough times." He remembered how she had helped him come to terms with the losses in his life.

Flitwick beamed up at him, "You are a true Gryffindor, Harry. Your parents would be very proud. I tell you these things about Luna, so you can teach her better. I tell you these things, so you can protect her from others students, as well as from herself."

"But most importantly," McGonagall spoke with a voice full of pride. "We tell you these things because, as Professors of Hogwarts, we must learn how to help all our students in need, even if we may not understand how."

As her words sunk in, Harry felt his own sense of pride kicking in. He was one of them now: a Hogwarts Professor. He knew at that moment he made the right decision. However, he did not know just how vastly his life would change forever- all thanks to a most unusual student.