It has been two days since Harry defeated Voldemort. Everyone wanted to take a short break before going back to Hogwarts to help rebuild it.

Harry was woken up by a happy shriek from Hedgwig. Since the first escape from Hogwarts, Harry didn't pay much attention to Hedgwig, so she was quite happy when she delivered her first letter in a couple weeks.

"Hello Hedgwig, you got me a letter? Let's see it." Harry smiled, and untied the letter from her leg. It read;

Dear Mr. Potter,

I unblocked the floo in Dumbledore's office temporarily, so you can use that to get inside.

Professor McGonagall

Harry sighed, and he told Draco about the letter. Then they made their way to the floo.

When everyone was congregated in the old headmaster's office, Professor McGonagall began the procedure.

"Thank you so much for helping us out. Without your help, I don't think we would be able to start school until next year." Professor McGonagall said happily.

"No problem, Professor." Hermione said cheerfully.

"Good. Now I don't really have any specific jobs for you, but I would like for Mr. Potter and Mr. Malfoy to 'take to the skies', and fix out roofing problems." She joked a little.

"We will get right on that. But just so you know, I'm not a Malfoy anymore. I'm a Black." Draco told her.

"Well, then, Mr. Black, I'm going to have to change your name in the records. Or maybe I should wait until you become a Potter?" She teased. This caused both Harry and Draco to blush violently.

"Now run along." Professor McGonagall said happily. "Oh, and Harry? When you are done fixing the roofs, can you come back here and help me sort out Albus's things. Someone hid them away in boxes, and I want to put them back on their shelving." She smiled.

"Of course, Professor." Harry replied. Everyone then walked out, and started fixing problems that they came across. Harry and Draco went outside, and took flight, trying to repair everything that couldn't get fixed from the ground.

Draco and Harry were working together on a particularly large piece of rubble that fell from the Ravenclaw Tower.

"Ok, so I'll lift one end, and you lift the other! We can't levitate it by ourselves!" Draco yelled over to Harry. Harry nodded, and they both pointed their wands at each end of the chunk of Tower. When they placed it down, Harry held it there, while Draco quickly repaired it. Then they worked around to the other towers, and fixed the various roofing problems, and windows.

"Let's work on the bridge leading into Hogsmeade!" Harry yelled to Draco over the wind. They each began flying over to the stone bridge that had a large gap in the middle. Harry started sorting through the pieces of large rubble, and Draco was able to piece them back to where they go. When they were placed back, Harry bonded them all together, and used a quick Reparo to summon the rest of the smaller bits and pieces to their place.

Harry and Draco took one last fly by around the entire castle.

"All we have to fix now is the courtyard!" Draco yelled over to Harry. Harry nodded, and they made their way to the rubble that was supposed to be the courtyard.

It took them about an hour, with magic, to reassemble the courtyard. When they were done, they quickly disappeared the dust away, and it looked brand new.

Harry and Draco reverted back, and walked inside. Draco immediately started on repairing the stairs, but Harry made his way back to Dumbledore's office, flying over the gaps of stairs that weren't there for the time being. When Harry got to the gargoyles, he saw that Professor McGonagall had already opened up the entry. Harry walked up the stairs, and he saw her unpacking things.

"You're done already. That's great. Can you help me place some of these things back where they were. I can't remember where they go for the life of me." Professor McGonagall laughed, as she was placing Fawkes stand back next to the desk.

"Professor, where is Fawkes?" Harry asked, while putting away some old goblets.

"I don't know. Maybe you can try and call him. He might come then." She teased. But Harry thought she was being serious, so he said loudly.

"Fawkes! Can you come here?" He said loudly. Not a moment later, Fawkes appeared in a burst of ashes, flew over to Harry, and landed on his shoulder. Fawkes started nibbling on his ear, affectionately, just like Hedgwig does.

"Hello Fawkes. How are you?" Harry asked. Fawkes sent a happy trill as a reply.

"Wonderful. I was meaning to ask you, are you going to stay here at Hogwarts?" Harry asked. Fawkes sent a positive trill, that for some reason, registered as a yes to Harry. Harry didn't know what Fawkes was saying, but he understood the feelings in Fawkes 'words.' Professor McGonagall just watched at the cute display of Harry and Fawkes.

"That's fantastic. Who are you going to stay in the castle with? It must be lonely to be by yourself. You're going to want to live with somebody to keep you company, right?" Harry asked. Fawkes nudged his beak on Harry's cheek, and gave a happy trill.

"What? You want to stay with me?" Harry said incredulously. Fawkes repeated her happy trill.

"Well if you want to stay with me, you most certainly can." Harry said happily. Harry had always like Fawkes, and their friendship seemed to grow after Harry got his mark. Fawkes then gave Harry one last affectionate nibble on the ear, and flew away into a cloud of ashes.

"That was extraordinary, Mr. Potter." Professor McGonagall praised. Harry blushed, and continued putting the treasures away on the shelves.

"Mr. Potter-" Minerva started, but Harry interrupted her.

"Please, call me Harry." Harry said while smiling. She smiled.

"Harry. I wanted to tell you that I will be taking over the headmasters position. And I wanted to know if you are still aspiring to become an Auror?" She asked.

"Well, Professor McGon-" This time, she interrupted.

"If I can call you Harry, you can call me Minerva." She said with a wrinkled smile. Harry nodded.

"Minerva. I was thinking about becoming an Auror, but I think I've sustained enough field action in this last month to last me for awhile. I just want to take a more calmer route." Harry explained.

"Well, would you be willing to be the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, and the head of the Grifindor house? Professor Slughorn quit. And I think it would definitely help the students to have a teacher who stays for longer than a year." Minerva chuckled. "But of course, you would have to take our test to see if you are capable of holding the job. But I have no doubt that you will do perfectly on it." She said.

"I think that would be an amazing idea. I would love to teach here. Thank you so much." Harry thanked. Minerva smiled.

"I would like you to help me with some new decisions for this year though. Sadly, we need a new potions teacher, and a new divination teacher." Minerva said on a slightly grim note.

"I would be honored. I was also thinking, maybe we could have a memorial stone placed in the courtyard for all that perished from the fight. It would be a lasting memory for them; those who helped destroyed the Dark Lord." Harry suggested.

"I think that would be perfect. We can unveil it on the first Sunday of the new term." She suggested. 20 minutes later, and everything was done.

"I think that just about does it." Minerva said happily. "I think I'm going to go out, and see if I can locate all the portraits." She said, as she exited the room. Harry watched her leave, and looked around the room.

Everything looked exactly the same. Harry looked towards the open pensieve, and next to it, vials of memories. Harry inspected the case of memories. A couple caught his eye; Meeting Tom, Tom's graduation, Order of the Phoenix. But the one that Harry was drawn to the most, was the vial labeled, The Truth. Harry carefully picked up the vial, and walked over to the pensieve. Hesitantly, he poured the memory into the water, and Harry stuck his face in the bowl. Soon, Harry was swirling into the memory.

Harry looked around, it was a nursery. Harry looked to the ground, and was horrified. Harry saw his mother and father on the floor, and there he was, sitting in the crib, a scar burned onto his forehead. Then Snape busted the door open, and dissolved into tears. Harry watched in horror and shock when Snape dropped to his knees, and cradled Lily in his arms. Harry could feel all his emotions, and Snape was devastated. Then the memory started to change.

It was Snape and Dumbledore talking in his office. Harry listened intently.
"Severus, I know my time is coming. Voldemort is planning my death. And I know that Harry cannot continue his journey until I die. I can give myself about a week before Tom comes for me." Dumbledore told Snape. Harry gasped. This was a week before he escaped.
"Albus, what is it that you ask of me?" Snape asked.
"I ask of you to continue helping Tom after my death. I do not want to have to meet you in the after life so suddenly, okay? We need Tom to think that he has everything under control." Dumbledore pressed on. "And I need you to protect the students that Tom disowns."
"As you wish." Snape said. The memory started to change, again. 

"Severus! My most loyal comrade. I need your input on a subject I just can't decide on." Voldemort asked. Snape came closer.
"What is it that you wish of me?" Snape drawled.
"I don't know what I'm going to do with the other students. I certainly won't let them learn." He explained.
"Well it would be such a hassle to send them home. How about we just lock them up in the dungeons? It would certainly save us time and effort." Snape lured.
"Maybe we can even test out some of your mild potions on them for bad behavior. Or get them to do some work around the castle. I like the idea of keeping them." Voldemort sneered sadistically. The memory started to change, again.

Snape was sneaking in extra food to the students.
It changed again.

Snape ordering death eaters to give antidotes to some of the students. It changed again.

Now Harry was at the top of the Astronomy Tower. Snape and Voldemort were there.
"You betrayed me! This whole time you were disloyal!" Voldemort yelled.
"On the contrary, I was the most loyal I could ever be. I just wasn't loyal to you." Snape yelled.

Harry was thrown out of the memory when Minerva pulled him out.

"Merlin! Are you okay? Some of those memories are not safe you know!" She scolded. Harry looked at her in shock. Minerva picked up the dropped vial.

"The Truth? What was the truth?" She asked. Harry wiped his face on his shirt.

"It was Snape's memories." Harry whispered. Minerva looked scared.

"What happened?"

"Snape- Severus. He was always loyal to Dumbledore." Harry smiled sadly. "He may have been a horribly biased teacher, who hated my guts. But he was loyal to Dumbledore till his very end." Harry said. He walked over to the chair, and sat down. Minerva sat down next to him.

"Was there anything else?" Harry nodded.

"He is the reason why the students weren't harmed. He protected the students that Tom placed in the Dungeons. Dumbledore ordered Severus to pretend to be loyal to Voldemort, and to help the students. Voldemort was ready to kill them, but Severus talked him into storing them in the Dungeons instead, and use them for work. He sneaked extra food to them, he even sent them antidotes and potions for when they got sick or punished." Harry whispered. Minerva had a looked of shock on her face. "And he was killed by Voldemort on the Astronomy Tower because he found out about his betrayal." He added.

"So Severus was just acting the entire time." Minerva said to himself. "He was a hero." Harry nodded his head in agreement.

They had a couple minutes of reflective silence, before Harry stood up.

"Did you find all the Portraits?" Harry asked.

"They were in the Dungeons. Can you help me place them back where they belong?" Minerva asked. Harry nodded, and they both walked back down, and helped levitate them to their rightful places.

Each day, for the rest of the week, the Weasleys, Neville, Hermione, Harry, and Draco helped fix the castle with the teachers. It was a couple days before Christmas break.

"Since the school is completely back in order, I would like to start the school year as fast as possible. And I want to only give the students a 3 day break in order to make up for lost time. The day before Christmas, Christmas Day, and the day after will be free, but then the students have to return back to school. And I think we will have to shorten summer by a week or two." Minerva told the group. "Do you think that's a good idea?" Everyone agreed.

"Wonderful. I will send out letters to everyone come tomorrow evening." She said happily. The group started filing back into the floo at Hogwarts before Minerva pulled Harry to the side.

"You can take the teachers test when the first weekend starts. I am sure that no one will complain if you teach for a week unauthorized. And also, I have a list of Defense books that I think would be good to start off with. Next year, you can order which books the students need to get for your class." Minerva smiled. "And also, I wanted you to evaluate the two teachers I picked to replace Severus and Sybill. I just want to know if I made a good choice." She asked. Harry placed on Minerva's hand.

"Of course, I will definitely watch over them." Harry assured. "I was wondering, do you mind if I use the train to get to Hogwarts this year? This is my friends last year, and I wouldn't want to be completely isolated from them." Harry asked.

"Of course, but you will have your own sleeping quarters. And if you want, I can allow Draco to live with you in your quarters. But he will still need to get to all his classes on time." Minerva said.

"Thank you. I'm glad you understand me and Draco's predicament." Harry blushed. He hugged Minerva, and walked into the floo back home.

"Draco!" Harry yelled.

"Yeah!" Draco yelled back, walking down the stairs and into the living room.

"How about we go and register ourselves tomorrow?" Harry said happily. Draco nodded.

"Of course. What did Professor McGonagall talk to you about?"

"She was telling me you that its ok for you to live in my quarters instead of the dorms. That is, if you want to live with me." Harry said.

Draco placed a finger on his chin. "Hmm, you are going to have to let me think on that." Draco faked a thoughtful look. He then walked over to Harry, and wrapped his arms around him.

"If its what you want, then of course." Draco assured. He kissed Harry on the cheek, and they went to the dinning room, and had a late dinner, before showering, and heading upstairs to sleep for the night.