That night I dispatched my letters home to the twins and Mum. I was missing Fred and George a lot but I couldn't say it was the first time I had been in the castle without them because they left school last year close to the commencement of NEWTs while I was still studying.

I also wrote a letter to Remus because I needed to rant to someone about Snape being the Defense teacher. The good thing was I had no reason to tolerate him teaching me as I was no longer one of his students. Or else, I don't know if I could have stayed here full-time without going insane.

The next morning, I got up at the required time, got dressed, and went down to the Great Hall for breakfast. The morning mail had come through and as I took my seat, I saw my letters already there.

The twins and Mum had written back and there was a letter from Perce too. I bet he would have enclosed a full lecture on how he was praying that I wouldn't get into any trouble that could damage his reputation or something like that.

Remus would have been busy or else I would have gotten a reply from him too. Perhaps he would write to me later when he got some free time. I couldn't wait to see what he thought about Snape teaching Defense.

I thought it would be better to read the letters in the privacy of my office so I put them in my bag and focused on breakfast instead. 

I feel terribly sorry for the poor dear students who have to face his wrath. But at the same time, considering the previous Defense Professor we had, Snape wouldn't be that bad.

I had received my timetable as well that morning which was quite similar to the one handed out to the students. The only difference was that there was only one subject in the teacher's timetable but the classes and timings differed for each batch.

It was magic-operated too, letting me know if any other teacher adjusted her classes and it clashed with mine so I could conveniently reschedule. All in all, everything here was super organized, and I shouldn't have much trouble getting used to this life.

After breakfast, I found my office as I had the first period off. Mostly the first periods were taken by the mandatory subjects such as Defense, Potions, Transfiguration, and Herbology. Subjects such as Divination, Arithmancy, and Ancient Runes, etc were placed after the first period. For Flying and Quidditch, we usually had the third or fourth periods unless the class being taught was first-year, then we had the second period.

So in the second period that day, I was supposed to take the first years out to the school grounds for their first flying lesson.

In the meantime, I decided to organize the office space to better suit myself. Madam Hooch had taken all her stuff with her so the room was rather bare with one desk, one chair, a rack for quidditch gear, and a small bookshelf. 

There was a board hanging on the wall that I assume was used to keep a record of Quidditch matches and practice hours during the game season.

Making sure that everything was set to my liking, I sat down on the chair behind the desk and took out the letters and the copy of Daily Prophet that I had received in the mail. One more perk of being a teacher at Hogwarts was getting a free subscription to the Daily Prophet so that all Professors would keep up to date on current affairs.

I flicked through the copy that held even more accounts of Death Eater sightings, the usual depressing talk about the Ministry, and the reforms enforced by the new Minister Rufus Scrimgeor. Finding nothing exceptional there, I put it down and focused on the letters.

Mum had written back to express her delight that I was finally doing better than earlier and looked forward to the new changes that would come as a result. The twins also had a lot to share and they enclosed a list of all their new inventions that as a teacher, I should look out for in case my students tried to prank me.

Percy's letter was also very helpful as aside from the expected bossing around and lectures not to tarnish his reputation, he had written in detail about all the incentives provided to the teachers at Hogwarts. Judging by the list, it seemed that he too wanted to apply for a teaching position at some point because he had researched so thoroughly on it.

Time passed much quicker in reading the letters and I didn't even notice that the second period was about to start until my timetable alerted me. It was enchanted to remind teachers of their upcoming classes and as I had to take the first years for their flying lesson, the timetable turned yellow, and began to repeat the details of the scheduled class.

Kinda like a howler but polite.

I stuffed it into my bag and left my office, locking it behind me. On the way to the grounds, I picked up my broom (courtesy of Fred and George) from my current accommodation.

As it was still morning and the sun was shining bright, the grounds offered a perfect environment for a flying lesson. When I reached, I could spot the first-year Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw students marching up to the area.

The brooms provided by the school were all lined up on the ground as first-year students weren't allowed to have their own brooms or fly without supervision. When they all reached, I told them to stand behind each broom, lining them up as I had seen Madam Hooch do so earlier.

"Alright everyone, pay attention," I admit, it will take me some time to get used to the whole teacher and student dynamic. "I know all of you are very excited as this is your first flying lesson but there are a few things you should know before we begin."

Thankfully, it was too soon for the students to have picked up on house prejudice and other such issues. They didn't cause me much trouble as they listened to what I had to say to them.

"First, we have to master the summoning of the broom," I demonstrated the way we used the word Up to summon our brooms and mount them.

It took me a few minutes to make sure that all of them were doing properly and then one by one, I guided them in taking off and hovering in the air.

It was a good first lesson for me as I didn't get into any worrisome situation, unlike what Ron told me happened in their first year. And it felt good to fly too, almost as if I had relieved myself of a heavy burden and finally taken to the sky.

I had a good feeling about this term. Well, as good as we can get without a war starting.

***