Chapter 27 - Junior Professor

***** REGULARLY SCHEDULED CHAPTER ***** A/N: Some of you guys are on the right track when it came to the foreshadowing..... but nobody's guessed right just yet. But ya….. thanks for the Birthday wishes for my Doggo! I gave her some steak for her birthday, so safe to say she enjoyed herself LOL. Anyways..... Hope you all enjoy the chapter! *****

Khan descended the carriage, looking upwards at the giant castle.

No matter how many times he saw Hogwarts, the sheer size of the structure always amazed him.

Joining the queue of students eager to get out of the constant English rain they currently had as weather, the group of them all filed into the welcome hall, while waiting to move to the great hall for the welcome feast.

*SPLAT* *SPLAT*.

"Ahhhhhhhhh!"

A pair of water balloons had assaulted some smaller students in front of Khan.

Looking upwards, Khan saw it was Peeves the poltergeist, dressed in his typical bell covered hat and orange bow tie, his wide and malicious face contorted with concentration as he took aim with another pair of water balloons.

*SPLAT* *SPLAT*

"God damn it Peeves!" Cried Ron, who was Peeves' latest victim. "I'm already soaked!"

Khan watched amused by at Peeves' antics, fondly remembering all the prior pranks he had walked in on Peeves performing previously during his time.

Khan himself, never had any real problems with Peeves. Used to dealing with Fastidio, the poltergeist in his Hogsmeade shop (who was considerably more dangerous in his pranks), Khan found Peeves quite tame in comparison.

People all around him shrieked and started pushing each other however, in panic as Peeves took aim once again.

'They're already wet from the rain….' Khan thought to himself, as he calmly watched the chaos erupt.

"PEEVES!" Yelled an angry voice. "Come down here at once!"

It was Professor McGonagall marching angrily out of the great hall after hearing all the commotion.

"Not doing nothing!" Peeves sing-songs back to McGonagall, tossing another water balloon at a group of 5th year girls.

"PEEVES!" McGonagall followed up with a threat. "I'm warning you! I'll call the headmaster!"

"They're already wet!" Sing-songs Peeves back in complaint throwing another balloon. "Weeeeeeeeeeeee!"

Watching the chaos in front of him, Khan was reminded of an old phrase his father taught him

"In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity".

'I suppose I should help out… being a student teacher and all.' Khan mumbles to himself, seeing that not even the deputy headmistress knew how to control Peeves.

"Hey Peeves!" Khan called out getting the poltergeist's attention, pointing at the wet students in front of him. "Wouldn't it be better to wait for the spring to throw water balloons? Like you said, they're all already wet from the rain, so those water balloons don't do anything."

"If you wait until spring, when the sun is out, and students are enjoying the warm weather…. And then WHAM hit them with a water balloon…. Wouldn't that be better?" Khan finished to Peeves evilly.

"Ahahahaha!" Peeves cackles at Khan's plan. "Oh I like you! Such a good idea! Ahahahahaha"

Zooming up the marble fireplace, still cackling madly, Peeves made his escape, eager to plan his next round of chaos.

"Poltergeists are basically ghosts, so the sense of time doesn't really matter to them." Khan explains to McGonagall who is looking at him in amazement. "Waiting til spring to them, is essentially the same as us waiting 1 week. So Instead of trying to get them to stop their pranks (which they will never do), it is better to delay their pranks, as I have just done here."

"Now at the very least, we won't have to worry about water balloon pranks until spring time." Khan finishes happily to McGonagall.

"That….. was a very good idea Lord Khan." Answered McGonagall with some shock still. Albus was the only person she knew who could control Peeves, yet this soon to be student teacher had just taught them all how to potentially deal with Peeves on a regular basis. "Or perhaps it is better to call you Professor Khan in this particular instance, since you are already teaching all of us a lesson on how to deal with Poltergeists."

"Just Khan is fine ma'am...."

"I was recently informed by the Headmaster that you will be receiving a unique education, due to your special circumstances." She continued. "I am truly looking forward to your future lessons, if today is any indication of your teaching skills."

"I hope you will not take this as an opportunity to slack off however!" McGonagall finished off strictly. "You will still have to take your mandatory standardized testing for your O.W.Ls and N.E.W.Ts this year!"

Nodding his agreement, he turned back to the crowd of students, and noticed with a bit of surprise that they were all silent, watching him, with shocked looks on their faces.

With his stylish house relic robes, his rare Asian looks and features, and his effortless way of dealing with Peeves, it was safe to say that Khan had successfully captured the attention of the current student population.

The silence did not last long however, as students began to gossip with their friends about this new person in their school.

"How old is he?"

"What kind of special robes is he wearing?"

"Is he a Professor or a student?"

"How can he be a new student at that age?"

"How can he be a new Professor at that age?"

Whispers of that nature were heard from all around Khan, as the group of students all followed McGonagall into the Great Hall for the Welcome Feast.

The great hall looked its usual splendid self, decorated for the start of the term feast. Golden plates and goblets gleamed by the light of hundreds of candles, floating over the tables in mid-air. The four long house tables were packed with chattering students, with the staff table at the front of the hall, the staff sitting on one side of the table, sat facing the students.

Khan was headed to the Ravenclaw table out of habit, when he was called up to the staff table by Dumbledore.

"Lord Khan! Up here!" Dumbledore waved Khan over. "Since you are a student professor and not attending regular classes, you may sit up here with us during large feasts, such as these."

"Come along, I've saved you a seat next to me and Professor Flitwick!" Dumbeldore said excitedly. "We can continue where we left off the other night, while waiting for the sorting to be started."

He had enjoyed the lengthy discussion with his senior the previous night before, and was eager to continue their discussions.

*****

The welcome feast was just finishing up, everyone's bellies now satisfied.

'The house-elves have gotten better at cooking in the past century!' Khan commented to himself, rubbing his full stomach. 'Not to mention, watching the sorting was quite illuminating.'

The sorting was quite the novel experience for Khan.

Having basically missed his entire sorting ceremony himself (due to getting attacked by a dragon in the carriage alongside Fig and George), Khan was fascinated particularly by the unique song it sang about the 4 founders.

Sebastian, Ominis as well as himself had only found Slytherin's Scriptorium. Perhaps he should dedicate some time to look into the other 3 founders, and what they may have left behind as well.

*CLINK* *CLINK*

Khan's thoughts were interrupted by Dumbledore clinking his utensils against his goblet, calling attention to himself.

"So! Now that you are all fed and watered, I ask for your attention while I give out a few start of the term announcements." Dumbledore began. "Firstly.... Mr. Filch, the caretaker, has asked me to tell you that the list of objects forbidden inside the castle this year has been extended to included Screaming Yoyos, Fanged Frisbees, and Ever-bashing boomerangs. The full list now comprises a total of 137 items, and can be reviewed in Mr. Filch's office at your leisure."

The corners of Dumbledore's mouth twitched with amusement at his little joke, knowing nobody, including the Professors, would bother reviewing the list.

"As usual, the village of Hogsmeade is restricted to all below third year, and will be limited to specific weekends for the upper year students." Dumbledore continued.

'When did that rule come into place....' Khan thought to himself confusedly at Dumbledore's latest announcement. In the past, he had been free to visit Hogsmeade whenever he didn't have classes. 'Come to think of it, curfew was rarely enforced as well; only the off-limits, and highly popular areas were patrolled by the prefects at night..... Appears Hogwarts is a lot more strict.'

"It is also my painful duty to inform you that the inter-house Quidditch cup will not take place this year." Dumbledore stated, with a poker face.

"WHAT!?!?!" A group of voices sounded out in unison at the protest.

'AGAIN?!?' Khan thought to himself unhappily. This was his 2nd year in a row, that the headmaster had cancelled quidditch. His first year, Headmaster Black had canceled quidditch due to some pureblood being injured the previous year. He was rather hoping to take the opportunity to finally play, especially after watching some of the action at the World Cup.

"This is due to an event that will be starting in October, and continuing throughout the school year, taking up much of the teachers' time and energy." Dumbledore held up his hands to silence to unhappy crowd, and continued his announcement. "I am sure you will all enjoy it immensely! I have the great pleasure in announcing that this year at Hogwar-"

*BANG*

The doors of the Great Hall banged open, as Mad-eye Moody made his entrance.

A dull clunk echoed through the hall as Moody limped towards the Professor's table, sitting down in a huff, and pulling out his personal flask to take a long swig.

His magical eye, whirled around in its socket madly, as he continued to check for any threats.

'That's odd..... Moody didn't acknowledge me, or Dumbledore for that matter.' Khan thought to himself, remembering the very respectful auror he had met the day he had awoken from his 100 year coma. 'I suppose since he arrived late, he must have been quite busy... Perhaps that is some of his rumored paranoia showing.... in any case, I should probably find some time to get to know my other new mentor.'

He had gotten to know Flitwick a little bit more during the welcome feast; hopefully he could find some time before classes start, to get to know Moody a little better.

"I guess this is as good a time as any...." Dumbledore mumbles to himself before continuing. "The lovely Gentleman who made the rather stylish entrance just now..... is our new Defense against the Dark Arts teacher. May I introduce Professor Moody!"

He pauses for applause, as is customary when introducing new professors, but only the Professors (and Khan) clapped. The students remained transfixed, stuck staring in shock at Moody's bizarre appearance.

"And next to me, in the rather exquisite Hogwarts Relic Robes, is our new Student Professor." He motions for Khan to stand as he continues his announcement. "Helping teach Charms and Defense, and mentoring under both Professor Moody and Professor Flitwick for his OWLs and NEWTs.... It is my honor to introduce Junior Professor Jordan Khan!"

*CLAPCLAP*

The customary wave of applause greeted Khan's introduction, as many of the students recognized the Young man who had saved them from Peeves earlier.

Dumbledore waited for the applause to die down, before continuing.

"But as I was saying....." he said, smiling at the sea of students before him. "We are to have the honor of hosting a very exciting event over the coming months, an event which has not been held for over a century!"

"It is my great pleasure to inform you all that the Triwizard Tournament will be taking place at Hogwarts this year!"

"YOU'RE JOKING!" Fred and George said in unison quite loudly.

Nearly everyone laughed at their reaction, and Dumbledore himself chuckled appreciatively before answering.

"I am not joking, Mr and Mr Weasley." Dumbledore stated. "But where was I.... Oh yes! The Triwizard tournament was first established hundreds of years ago, as a friendly competition between the three largest European schools of wizardry - Hogwarts, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. A champion was selected to represent each school, in a friendly magical competition involving completing 3 different tasks. The schools each took a turn hosting the event... that is until the entire thing was cancelled in the 1800s due to the mounting death toll."

"While there have been several attempts to restart the tournament over the years, we have finally been successful this year!" Dumbledore said. "We have worked hard over the summer to ensure that this time, no champion will find himself or herself in mortal danger."

"A selection of students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving in October, with the selections for the respective school champions to be done by an impartial judge on Halloween." Dumbledore finished. "This impartial judge will decide which students are the most worthy to compete for the Triwizard Cup, the glory of their school, and a thousand Galleons personal prize money!"

A cheer erupted from the crowd of students, as they were all excited, and hoping to be selected as Hogwarts Champion. 1,000 Galleons was a fortune to most students, after all!

Khan meanwhile, was excited for an entirely different reason. As previously mentioned, 1,000 galleons was nothing to Khan..... he was used to buying 2 pieces of clothing from Gladrags for that price....

No..... Khan was always excited to compete against any and all challenges magical. This was demonstrated previously, as he constantly competed with Imelda Reyes for various Flying records, as well as eventually becoming the Summoner's Cup Champion, even winning out against Professor Ronen. And he knew about the Triwizard Cup himself, having collected the Field guide page from the Trophy room during his first year at Hogwarts.

He had always wondered what competing in the Triwizard tournament would be like..... Looks like he finally might get his chance to see for himself.