Harry James Potter, head of the DA and protégé of Albus Dumbledore himself, did not become a career Auror.
-Sure, he worked with them after the war-everyone did.
-Harry and Ron led the charge in rounding up old Death Eaters and Hermione researched and wrote crazily, making sure no stone was left unturned in their hunt and no memories were lost of the new history they’d made (her writings were eventually compiled into what is largely considered the most comprehensive history of Voldemort and his attacks ever written. Madame Prince has three copies in the school library).
-Even Neville and Luna lent their respective plant and animal (however strange) based abilities towards getting past old defenses and remaking allies.
-These children were born and raised in the midst of war, and it took a while for most of them to learn the ways of peace. But once they figured it out (sort of) they settled into their new roles.
-Hermione rose rapidly amongst Ministry ranks, Ron returned to family, the only truth he’d ever been sure of, and Harry went back to his first (real, remembered) home.
-The Defense Against the Dark Arts position had been rid of its curse for two years by the time Harry applied for the job, and the teacher who held it for those years was only temporary anyways. McGonagall had been hoping Harry would return to Hogwarts, and return he did.
-Harry Potter’s Defense lessons were notorious for their seemingly random schedule, where one day the class would be practicing spells normally, the next running obstacle courses in the Forbidden Forest, and the day after that having a class wide discussion on the power of emotions and their use in spells
-His first lesson of every year was on the power of chocolate and conversation to comfort, just as he had learned from Remus Lupin years ago. Like his old professor, Harry rewarded students with chocolate for good deeds and correct answers.
-Seventh Years got to choose personal research projects, ranging from meticulous dioramas of various battles to the best way to make a pile of dung explode
-Sixth Years learned more complicated traditional spells, including the Patronus and healing charms (Harry’s stag never failed to draw gasps the first time he showed it to a group)
-Fifth Years combined lessons from all their other classes to find ways to fight without traditional spell work, including stories from Harry about using Wingardium Leviosa to fight a troll his first year and Neville using his plants during the Battle of Hogwarts. (Often, Harry would bring in Hermione, Ron, and Neville to assist in the telling of these tales and the teaching of their techniques.)
-Fourth Years got lessons in love and death and ancient theories and stories, along with turns for everyone to go under the Invisibility Cloak on the day devoted to the Deathly Hallows
-Third Years learned defense against other species with a final like an obstacle course similar to the one given to Harry by Professor Lupin
-Second Year was for most traditional dueling spells, started with Expelliarmus. (Any students that complained about the “boring” spell would have him reply calmly, “this is what saved my life against Lord Voldemort” and shut right up)
-First Years started with basic theories, and continued to shielding and camouflaging charms (because Harry never really signed up to fight, and would rather his students never have to)
-every year ended with huge tournaments between the years, which he used to help houses bond with each other and to assess skills. They changed between magical paintball or laser tag, scavenger hunts, or temporary prank wars (the other professors’ least favorite), and the winners got to camp on the grounds for a night for s'mores, swimming, and a midnight Quidditch game
-His first students were mostly old enough to have been his classmates, just like those of the DA had been, and so his first years of teaching were to war-torn children like himself, who had gaps in their normal seating arrangements that their friends, now dead, had sat in, and the occasional blank stare that Harry was never offended by, as he was accustomed to seeing them on his friends and himself when they were revisiting horrors they’d witnessed
-as he continued teaching though, his students came in excited to learn from the famed Harry Potter, and he had to persuade them early on that to them, he was just a teacher who’d show them a trick on the Quidditch field or the location of a secret passageway, nothing more and nothing less
-eventually, students would get more excited when Harry announced that Hermione, the Minister of Magic, was coming to visit and chat with them about research, or Ginny, his Quidditch star wife, was arriving soon to show off her Bat Bogey hex than when he mentioned his own history
-and as time went on, Madame Pince’s copies of Hermione’s history book stayed on the shelves because students realized Harry was more likely to engage in a snowball fight than a duel and was happiest tucked into a Weasley sweater with a cup of tea, chatting with friends about anything other than defeating Dark Lords; and he was recognized in Diagon Alley less by adults wishing to shake his hand and more by children wanting to say hello to their favorite professor
-and students came to love him, not for his fame as the Boy Who Lived, but as a professor who cared, and sought to teach in a way that everyone could learn from, and Harry wouldn’t have it any other way
