1965
Starborn castle
It was a fine morning of January, as I was occupying a room in one of the towers of my castle, designated as my personal study.
I was sitting on my desk going through my correspondence when I came across a letter from Hogwarts with all the official pompousness. Without further ado I opened up the seal, took out the parchment inside and read it out loud.
" Lord Starborn,
We are pleased to offer you a position as Professor of Defence against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. You will be responsible for teaching 1st to 7th years. Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July.
Yours sincerely,
Professor Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore
Headmaster
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry "
I let the letter slip from my hands to the desk below as I think about the offer. Strictly speaking it was not bad offer for someone not of such a high standing as I. Normally lords of noble house's don't bother with anything other than the management of their house but occasionally some would do some respected jobs to boost there image among the normal population. I don't need this but teaching stirred something in me I didn't know I had.
The thought of spreading the knowledge about anything magic related was appealing to my mind. So after much thought I cleaned my desk for writing out a reply.
After setting up the stationary I wrote out,
"Professor Dumbledore,
I am delighted to receive such and honour as this from you headmaster. I would like to inform you of my answer to your invitation, in acceptance. I would love to come teach the future generations in the offered subject. In a few days I will reach out to you and inform you of the choice of books, set by me for the students to have for the classes for each year.
Yours sincerely,
Marcus Starborn,
Lord of the noble house of Starborn."
Sealing the reply in an envelope marked with the necessary details, I called out to an Owl kept in the castle for mailing letters through a specialised piece of magic signal. In it came flapping it's wings and hooting happily through the window in the study. I attach the envelope to its legs, give it a small amount of Owl treats and pet it once to apply some protective magic on it.
As I see the owl fly away I think of the future ahead of me. Every wizard, no matter his maturity longs to go back to Hogwarts at least once after graduating. I, being no different than the others, was of course happy with the opportunity to go there again.
A few months later.
Today was the date decided between me and Professor Dumbledore, on which we would meet for a small discussion about the work I would have to do as a professor at Hogwarts.
I arrived at Hogwarts via Apparition, to the front gates of the castle. I could have just flood directly to the headmaster's office but the scenic root held more appeal to me than that.
The walk through the castle towards the place of meeting was nostalgic, it felt like a trip through memory lane. The path half forgotten was refreshed in my memory.
I reached the gargoyle statue which guards the entrance of The Headmaster's office and speak the phrase required to seek entrance into the office. Though I use the term 'phrase' it was more of a random muggle candy name set by professor Dumbledore to annoy the people coming to meet him, not that I was annoyed by it.
The staircase comes up as the gargoyle leaps to the side and I step on it so that It could carry me to the door above. I knock on it.
Knock knock!
"Come in." reaches the voice of Albus to me promoting me to open the door.
There sitting on a comfortable looking chair behind the few of the largest desks I have ever seen, I saw him.
"Good morning professor, I hope I was not late for the meeting." I greet him with a small smile, the kind one would reserve for their loved ones.
"Good morning Marcus, no you are not late, as always." He replies with a similar smile as mine. "I was just finishing some of the paper work. And I would love to take a break from it to talk to you." He said further.
"Ah- paper work the enemy of mankind. I would be happy to liberate you from its clutches for a short while." I said to him in jest. Which has the intended effect, causing him to laugh out loud and say, "Yes, yes of course I am thankful for such a huge aid from you Marcus."
After a pause he continues, "Please have a seat, what would you have with your tea, some sweets or snacks?" I oblige by taking the seat at the opposite end of his desk and reply, "Nothing sweet please, I've not been a fan of any kind of sweets for a while now."
He just nods and waves his hand causing the tea pot to pour out some tea in the coup which is then levitated infront of me while the elves listing our conversation place some salted crackers infront of me, maintaining their invisibility.
After a few moments of silence that we spend enjoying the peace and quiet while sipping some tea, Dumbledore sets his cup down and starts speaking. "I have no doubt, Marcus, about your capabilities in teaching so I would directly talk about what is expected of you as a professor and some general rules to follow while handling the students. Is that ok with you?" he asks after saying his point, to which I just nod.
"Good, Generally it is not I who does this but my deputy headmistress named Minerva McGonagall, about whom you will come to know about when you start your journey here. But since it was you I thought I would handle this one myself."
"The main thing to keep in mind is as a professor working here you first represent us in any public settings and after that you would represent any other party. Which means that in a public event you have to state that you represent so and so company before saying something which could hurt your image as a professor." I nod to him finding his point agreeable to myself.
"Ok, next is that you have to read the Hogwarts charter, specifically the part where it states how should a professor handles classes as it will help you tons in the coming days. These two things were the only thing you have to keep in mind for now."
I nod showing my approval.
"Good, now onto the next and last thing on today's agenda regarding your tenure here as a professor. Although not required I would request you to keep in mind that you do not interfere with any confrontation between students as long as it is just verbal." He finishes the things he had to say.
"While there is some hesitation from my part on the last topic I do agree to do what you say." I nod to him respectfully.
"I am thankful for your agreement on the last point Marcus. Now I think that there is not anything else that we could talk about that I could think of." Says Dumbledore. "Is there anything that you would want of me in relation to your work here?" And asks me about any request I would have for him to fulfil.
"Yes actually, I would request of you to not interfere in how I teach my classes. There will be dark arts involved in the upper years curriculum decided by me as a sub part not related to the ministry approved curriculum. I would also ask of you to deal with the discontent shown by the ministry." I reply to him in a serious manner.
"As long as your classes don't get dangerous for the students I will support your venture." Says Dumbledore back to me.
"Then this is it there is nothing else from my side to add on this topic." I said to him. He nods and said,
"Then let's close this meeting for today. If there comes anything else that requires your participation I would call you but if everything goes smoothly, we will meet on September 1st ." I stand up and shake his hands. After which I depart from Hogwarts via the floo directly from the headmaster's office.