Chapter 6

When Thomas got out of the fireplace, he was facing the Headmaster. If someone had told him last wednesday that he would be back to Hogwarts as the one responsible for the detentions, he would have laughed at his face. Sure his story until now was wild, but not that wild.

He wished a good day to Albus before good to what would be his office at school, the room was empty, outside of a desk. It was the only strength of Hogwarts right now : the absolute freedom of the teachers for the decoration of their rooms. He took out his shrinked trunk and let it go back to normal size, when he opened it the enchantment he set up made all the furniture he stored in it fly out of it one by one to go to the place he pointed with his wand.

By the end of that, he had bookshelves along all the walls, the desk was put in the middle of the room with his comfy leather chair, with spongify enchantment on the seat, on the side that allow him to face the entrance door and two wooden chairs that have their back on the door.

Next, not knowing where the bedroom of the teacher usually was he decided to simply enchant a wall to add a door that led to a room that wasn't supposed to be there, said room was empty for but a second before he put his trunk in it and added a bed with a mattress that wasn't too comfy as to prevent him from lazing in bed. He also added a dresser and a wardrobe and finally he went to the affixed room added by his enchantment and made sure that the plumbing enchant was working properly.

He finished faster than he thought, as his future classroom is on the first floor, it was Classroom 1C, to allow him to easily get outside as needed. He was also very close to the great hall where it would soon be the time for breakfast and where he would be introduced to the students. As decided with Albus through floo call after he had finished organizing his trunk and preparing his plans for the detentions, Thomas got to Hogwarts the saturday after the hearing.

He went to the great hall, on the way many nostalgic memories came to him as he walked. Sirius teasing James when he was flirting with Lily in the corridors or the long debate with Severus on potions and alchemy in the entrance. He smiled a little at those memories, sadly James and Lily are now dead… He was talented and always knew what would be his specialty so he had all the time he wanted to have friends, but he learned the hard way that life is fleeting.

He sighed once in the great hall, only some Ravenclaw were at their table and their curiosity caused them to look, more like stare, at him while he went to the teacher's table where most were already seated, he took the free seat next to Flitwick as he still was a Ravenclaw at heart and his previous head of house was pleased to see him.

"Oh my, Mr Preacher ! What a pleasure to see that you are back !"

"Professor Flitwick, it is always a pleasure to be back to Hogwarts. It's been a long time since we've met Professor."

"Please, we are now colleagues, do call me Filius. It'll save us both so much time."

"Then, please, call me Thomas, Filius."

"Of course Thomas !"

"So, Filius, how are the children of this generation ? Some genius you've set your eyes on ?"

"It is sad to admit that there aren't any bright witches or wizards like your generation had, but some have good potential, like the young Nymphadora in Hufflepuff. I've heard it is thanks to you that dueling was reinstated ?"

"It sure is Filius ! I won't lie, I wanted to put Hogwarts back in shape before Harry Potter joined the school."

"Oh, color me surprised. I've heard that you sent all your children to Beauxbaton, so everyone had assumed you'd send the young Potter there as well."

"Well, they had the choice between Hogwarts and Beauxbaton and they chose to follow in their mother's footsteps. I'm actually more of an advocate of choosing one's destiny."

"Knowing you, you exposed every pros and cons of both schools and let them decide, didn't you ?"

"Here I'd hoped you'd have mostly forgotten little ol' me."

"Please, if it weren't for Lily you'd have been the best wizard of your generation by far. I wouldn't forget about such young talent. Especially when said talent published eight books extremely complete on Thaumaturgy, twelve on alchemy and the application of alchemical material in enchantments and nine on Ritual magic."

"I mean, anyone would have done the same in my place Filius, it's not like I'm some sort of absurdly productive engineer."

Filius ended up laughing discreetly at the obviously ironic retort, which brought the attention of most Ravenclaw, all of them having slowly trickled in and not got back as the presence of a new face at the teacher's table was worthy of attention, that and the fact that when a Slytherin tried to leave he was kindly asked by the Headmaster to stay in the Hall for an announcement.

Thomas continued to discuss with Filius, Minerva, who was grateful to Thomas for taking care of a huge part of her job, and Pomona. The discussion was light hearted and that very fact kept the attention of more and more students that got into the Hall. When everyone had finished eating, Dumbledore made an announcement after Mcgonagall made sure the hall was silent.

"This week, an event led to the start of a lot of changes. Some are so important that they need addressing in the middle of a semester. For starters, we welcome three new faces. We welcome Andromeda Black who will teach muggle-born wizards the culture of the wizarding world, welcome Professor Black."

The students were surprised by the new core subject, more importantly the new subject was directly targeted at students that did not come from the wizarding world, so after a short silence a massive ovation was heard from everyone while Andromeda stood up so that the student knew who she was. Dumbledore asked for the silence to come back softly and it was obeyed smoothly.

"The subject of divination was beginning to be more than underestimated and the student did not learn the subject correctly. As such we welcome Sappho Moody, a true seer and recognized private tutor of the subject, as an assistant teacher to Professor Trelawney, welcome Professor Moody."

The students that were learning divination applauded while Sappho Moody stood up to show who she was.

"Finally, it came to our attention that the educational methods the school employed left to be desired. As such we welcome Thomas Preacher as the Disciplinary Director, welcome Mister Preacher."

a deafening silence spread through the Hall, Thomas stood up and took the time to make a little speech to reassure the students.

"Thank you Headmaster, sorry to butt in your announcement but it seems the students don't like the sound of my job, so it's time for me to explain swiftly what I'll do. The board of governor decided that my presence became important when the fact that a lot of issues were ignored or badly addressed. As such, I've become the referral for all punishments.

I'll let the prefects, head boys and head girls know the new policies after our dear Headmaster is finished with the news, so do come to classroom 1C. Know that the only thing that will change with my presence is the way conflict between students will be handled. However, don't be afraid to find me for whatever issues you may have, my job is basically to make sure that you are at home at Hogwarts."

The students seemed more comfortable with his presence, but he clearly had yet to be accepted, which wasn't an issue, it is obvious that it takes time to adapt to the unknown. He sat down and let Dumbledore continue his announcement.

"On a lighter note, the Dueling course will be re-established, Professor Prince and Professor Flitwick will take charge of it so I'll let them announce the start of the class when they have it ready."

The joy of the young wizards could be felt with the thunderous applause they gave the Headmaster with this announcement. It took ten minutes for the clamor to die down and allow Dumbledore to resume.

"Consequently, any fight in the corridors will be punished even more severely than before. If you have any conflict with any other student, you now can go ask for a formal duel in the classroom reserved for it. Thank you for your attention and you are now free to go where you have to."

Thomas went back to the classroom he was assigned to brief the prefects, head boys and head girls on how to manage the rampant bullying that was present in school, which meant guiding them to his office, he wanted to hear whatever each one had to say to defend themselves as school was not supposed to be a prison. He also pointed out the appropriate punishment for students that did not care about house points.

The responsible students went to their different tasks, either it be patrolling or studying, and Thomas went back to his office to set up the different scrying tools that would allow him to know who to punish without it being unjust. Said tool was a prism on a silver chain, the prism would change coloration depending on the atmosphere around it, the redder it becomes the more the people around are lying or deceiving. Used in conjunction with a map it allows for the localisation of someone, sadly there are charms and wards nowadays to block such basic scry.

Then he began working on making a wand as he had free time and having more foci is never a bad idea. He had the entire morning without any interruption or that was what he thought, two hours after he started working on the wand someone knocked on the door and entered after he said they could. A student from Ravenclaw entered and he seemed sheepish.

"What can I do for you Mr. … ?"

"My name is Steven Wardenfell… Mr. Preacher, will you ever teach students ?"

"Maybe I will Mr. Wardenfell. Why this question though ?"

"Well… I've read your book on alchemy and I was wondering if you would be the teacher if there are enough students for the elective…"

"Well, I am not the teacher of Alchemy. While I do have the mastery and could teach, it is not what I've come to do."

The student seemed down when Thomas answered, which led him to smile kindly before continuing.

"However, if you have time and motivation, I can teach you on the weekends. But you have to understand, Alchemy is more dangerous than potions and as such I'll be extremely harsh to avoid any accident."

"Y-Yes Mr. Preacher !"

"Good, then if you have time I'll prepare something for the next week, do come by then."

The student nodded furiously before going out completely elated. Sure he wasn't a teacher, but if some students wanted to learn things that he had the qualification to teach in their free time, why should he refuse ?