Muggle Studies (NEWTs)

[Professor Amaryllis Hardy]

Since she didn't have the Duelling Classroom anymore, Amaryllis had started to channel her creative ideas more into the Muggle Studies classroom instead. Before, she'd decided that she was fed up with working in the bleak environment of the worn-out old Duelling classroom as it had been, and had renovated it into a colourful room that emanated vibrancy and flourished in its new lease of life. She didn't know whether Roger, the owner of that classroom now, had changed it. She hadn't been near it now since the beginning of the year, because she wasn't sure that she wanted to know whether he'd changed it either. So, since it was time to move on, she was focusing on her subject classroom instead.

Actually, she got a rather cushy bigger office now that she was Head of Gryffindor. The Muggle Studies one had been poky to say the least, the result being that she hadn't really bothered with it except as a storage place for her files. (The Duelling Professor didn't get an office at all!) Amaryllis had now moved into the office that Minnie had vacated, and, sad though it was, she relished the chance that it gave her to relax in peace. She always preferred to avoid Roger nowadays. He had simply become too infuriating. Julius had left, and it was him that she had chatted to the most, other than her friend Minnie, of course - who was now a little too busy to keep up much more than a professional relationship with Amaryllis. So, despite the new ties with other senior staff that she was obliged to keep up (it was a bit strange to have joined their ranks, but she had always been ambitious and she'd told herself for many years that she would succeed in something for herself after Robert had grown up), she didn't have much to keep her in the staff room.

Anyway, back to her creative skills being used positively. Amaryllis had decided that she'd like some blinds that actually worked (the old ones were broken), and so she had undertaken to make some rather quirky new ones herself. She was cheating a bit in their actual transformation into blinds, but for now she was diligently sewing together strips of different Muggle fabrics and materials to attach to the rigid surface of the blind slats. One lot were already up, and at the moment, some cheerful February sunshine was beaming in through them, lighting up pretty printed cotton, dyed wool and bright polyesters in the full glory of their colours. Amaryllis smiled contentedly as she sat at the manual sewing machine in the Muggle Studies room (it had seemed like too good an opportunity to miss), stitching a thin, sturdy piece of leather to a more flimsy piece of cotton. She had a piece of bubblewrap to one side; that would have to be sewed on by hand she thought, since it would be quite tricky.

Yes indeed, she had plenty of reasons to be content. Her classroom would soon be a unique place for her students to learn (and they’d have something constructive to stare at if they did get bored, because wizards didn’t use all of the materials that she was putting on the blinds), and – what was more – she had a NEWTs class full of enthusiastic students next. What more could she ask for? Amaryllis smiled at her students as they started to filter in. It was the lesson after the morning breaktime on a Friday, and so by this time in the week, the older students were somewhat relaxed about how punctual they chose to be for class. Amaryllis was sometimes quite strict about starting her lessons on time, but today she wasn’t going to get het up about it. She stayed working at the sewing machine until a few minutes after the bell when, satisfied that most of the members of her NEWTs class had now turned up, she abandoned her work at the sewing machine and walked to the front desk, leaving the door of the classroom open because the corridors had quietened down a bit by now.

“Good morning,” she greeted the class. “We’ve been looking at Muggle law for the past few lessons, so I hope that none of you are going to need breaking out of a Muggle jail now. We’ve also done a comparison of the Muggle police force with our own Aurors.” Her voice changed to the flat intonation that she used when talking about the exams that they would all take at the end of their seventh year: “You-should-have-notes-about-all-this-if-you-do-not-then-do-something-about-it.” She focused on the class again and smiled as she changed back to her normal way of speaking.

“So. Today, we’re learning about what Muggles do to protect their homes for themselves, because, as I expect you know, we can’t always rely on the law to protect us.” She paused for a moment, suddenly introspective, and then snapped out of it as if it had never happened. Then a piece of red chalk started writing on the blackboard behind her as she spoke:
“According to the British Crime Survey, there were 1.6 million burglaries/attempted burglaries in 1997.
5.6% of households in England and Wales were burgled in 1997.
A lack of security increases the risk of burglary, but only a quarter of Muggle homes have burglar alarms.” She switched back to her exam-information voice again. “Please-write-these-statistics-down-and-insert-them-into-your-essays-because-you-will-receive-credit-for-them-in-an-exam.” She waited to see that people were doing so, and then continued. “So, since burglar alarms are definitely useful for the Muggles who do have them, that’s what we’re learning about today. And to start with, you’re going to tell me how to break into your homes, whether you live in a Muggle home or a wizarding one. Any volunteers? Tell us what detects the burglar or triggers the alarm, what the alarm or security device does when it’s been triggered, and how you turn it off.” She nodded at each volunteer in turn to invite them to speak, listening to what they were saying very carefully so that she could pick up on any key points that she wanted to get across.

((I'd like to have at least one wizard anti-intruder system and one Muggle one described, but if you want to answer, please do even if two people already have.
The red text is what the chalk wrote on the board out of what she was saying.))

[Seth Wright]

Seth smiled at Chace as his best friend veered left out of the Common Room, and his foot clicked right. There was only one downfall to being able to choose his favourite lessons and take them for NEWT, dropping all those hated subjects such as Transfiguration and Herbology which he had almost failed for his OWLs. In his younger years, Seth could spend every lesson with Chace; they were in the same house and year, they were in each other’s presence constantly. Because Chace liked and excelled in all the subjects Seth was awful at, and vice versa (though Chace wasn’t particularly awful at anything in the way Seth was), the pair had ended up taking completely different subjects, with only one exception; Potions. Chace also wanted to become an auror when he graduated, another reason for his subject choices. Seth on the other hand had been utterly relieved to drop over half of his OWL curriculum. So off went Transfiguration from his timetable; Herbology scrapped; Charms forgotten about forever. Seth was almost rejoicing when his OWLs were over and he didn’t have put up with an hour spent in a stuffy greenhouse with gurgling poisonous plants again. Only, even though he now attended his preferred lessons in which he excelled in (made him feel more worthy, to be honest, and not so incompetent, because he didn’t make a fool of himself), Seth missed Chace’s presence. Chace never really talked much; it was Seth jabbering away in his ear and usually the teacher would tell him off. But Seth didn’t care. He would rather be reprimanded for talking than to stay quiet all lesson. Which nowadays, he did a lot, because there was no one to talk to; no one he felt quite as comfortable with as Chace, anyway.

Seth approached the Muggle Studies classroom and entered. He spotted his usual partner for the lesson, and made his way towards her. Aurora Chan was a nice enough girl; a Hufflepuff in his year, she had been talking to Seth since Day One. Unlike other people, she had never been prejudiced against him. Seth always appreciated her kindness, but they had never grown close; perhaps it was because she had her friends, and him his. Or rather, Chace. Perhaps it had something to do with Willow too; Seth’s girlfriend literally never associated with Aurora’s group. The two sides of women were so… different. Mostly you could hear Lara and Willow crowing about make-up, and men, and money. The three Ms. Aurora and her friends, on the other hand, were often just… chatty. Friendly. Willow was, to be honest, kind of uptight. Even Seth had to admit that. But he didn’t really care as long as she loved him. Willow had lots of good qualities in her anyway; she wasn’t an overall bad person. Everyone was allowed to have their own little flaws. So Willow was a big-mouth, she had a tongue of poison ivy, and she was as blunt as the wrong side of a knife, but she was also passionate, affectionate, and headstrong. Seth wondered why the girl hadn’t been housed in Gryffindor, but like with Chace, he didn’t question it; he only accepted it and smiled happily. He had everything he could want. A cool best friend, a beautiful girlfriend, and overall a decent, stable life. Seth didn’t need, or want to ask for more. He was content, for pretty much the first time in his life.

Aurora looked up to greet Seth with her usual smile. Seth grinned back in reply and sat down beside her. Aurora was always earlier than Seth, but that wasn’t because she was really early – it was because Seth always only got to his lessons just on time. And so, just as he was placing his bag on his knee, the bell rang clearly through the classroom. More students filed in quickly, and Seth kicked his bag to the floor. Professor Hardy was a good enough teacher, but one Seth was frightened of. A lot of his current professors scared him quite a bit, actually. They were intimidating, domineering personalities that would not be ridiculed. Professor Snape in particular… but no one could deny Seth’s potions genius. Mostly Seth was glad to be away from Professor McGonagall, who was now Headmistress. She was a good teacher, Seth had never denied her that – only, she despised him because Seth couldn’t do her subject at all; he also never handed in homework. Seth was sure she would not have believed he managed to pass his OWL, but that was attributed mostly to Chace’s hard work and preserving help. Seth wished he could’ve seen Professor McGonagall’s face when she read his result for Transfiguration. He knew he would’ve laughed so hard. However, before Seth’s thoughts could get carried away too much, Professor Hardy began the lesson, and he turned his attention to the topic at hand. Seth wasn’t one for concentration, especially in Muggle Studies, the subjects within it of which he knew a lot about already from his muggle background, but he was afraid of Professor Hardy, and he had told himself he had to do well if he wanted to graduate Hogwarts at all.

Seth listened to the professor speak, and then ask her questions. He glanced round the room as a shower of hands shot up, Aurora beside him being one of them. She had never been shy in class, always a loud speaker, but not an annoying one like Seth. Thinking on how Hufflepuff kind of needed the house points right now (Ravenclaw were winning again), Seth decided he might as well try his luck in answering too. It wasn’t as though he didn’t know the answer and that he didn’t like talking (oh, the sarcasm), but he was afraid of people making fun of him if he didn’t get it right (but he always knew the answer was right, he knew it!), or if he appeared too swotty. Many Slytherins had jeered at him in first year for being too good at Potions and too bad at Herbology. Now Seth just didn’t want to draw attention to himself. Therefore, he was somewhat surprised when Professor Hardy turned to him for an answer. Though, he supposed, he never answered, so this was certainly an opportunity to test him out. “Um…” Seth remembered his hand was still raised and with an embarrassed cough, and put it down. “Well, the alarm is set to detect movement. It uses rays called infra-red rays, um, which detect the movement. When, like, a door opens, the rays detect it and this causes the alarm to ring. The alarm, well, alerts the people, obviously…” Seth trailed off, feeling a little self-conscious, but knew he hadn’t finished answering yet, so took a breath and continued, “You can, um, turn it off by putting a code into the machine which usually only the people who own the place know, like a number code, with like four numbers in it. So that means burglars shouldn’t be able to turn it off… and the people can if they set it off accidentally…” He looked at the professor a little helplessly, needing some reassurance. “…right?”

[Aurora Chan]

“Muggle Studies.”
“Herbology.”
Aurora grinned at Ari teasingly. “Heh. Sounds fun.”
“It is.” Ariane retorted in reply, face buried in her Herbology textbook.
“Nope. I just can’t understand the fascination with poisonous plants.” Aurora wrinkled her face and laughed. “Have fun. I’ll see you later.” Ari muttered her goodbye also as Aurora left her alone in the Library. They had their own reserved corner which they worked at a few times every week. It was quiet, the main reason why Ari preferred it. They could go to the Student Lounge, because they couldn’t share Common Rooms, which was inconvenient, but it was always noisier, with chitchat floating around as a distraction. Also, Harmony always knew where to find them. Still… Aurora had noticed how the younger Hufflepuff had been approaching them less and less lately. Maybe naïve, innocent, pure Harmony Chan was growing up. Maybe it was a good thing. Aurora wasn’t sure. She didn’t know how Ari felt about it either. Not really. She could guess, but her best friend refused to talk about this topic – even more adamantly than not wanting to discuss her parents and her past. Aurora knew it was a sensitive subject, and therefore prodding and prying would not be appreciated. She wasn’t a curious, nosy person anyway; she was merely worried for the sisters. They had been acting so weirdly around one another since the ‘Rex incident’, Aurora wondered if they could ever be the same again.

But now wasn’t the time to be worrying about family affairs. Aurora hurried to her Muggle Studies lesson through the packed corridors, a textbook tucked under her left arm and her bag slung over her right shoulder. Finally she reached Professor Hardy’s teaching classroom and entered, her eyes landing on familiar objects within the familiar room. She attended classes regularly here, since at NEWT level you had more lessons than ever before in one subject. Aurora moved to take her usual seat in the middle section; she didn’t like being too close to the teacher despite getting on with them well, because she felt a little intimidated; on the other hand, Aurora didn’t like sitting at the very back, because she couldn’t see and hear everything. So, the middle was just fine. After all, she had always been the piggy in the middle all her life. She was at the centre, but never on the edge or outside the lines. Aurora wondered sometimes if her existence would alter, but it seemed she would always be the thin line, the divide. And she supposed she was quite content this way. Unpacking her materials, Aurora waited for the rest of the class to filter in and the lesson to begin. Looking around she wasn’t the first person there; she never was. Aurora was usually five minutes early, but no more. She was rarely late, but it had happened before on rare occasion due to specific circumstances. Usually they were Ari-related problems, but teachers understood.

Aurora waited for a minute or so, when the usual bulk of students filed into the room. One of them was Seth Wright, a Hufflepuff in her year. He was always so nervous and jittery, but he was a nice kid – Aurora couldn’t help but think of him as a ‘kid’ even though he was so tall and gangly, and the same age as her. He was the type of boy you wanted to hug tightly and baby all for yourself. Outwardly he wasn’t cute, per se, but he had an adorable personality. Aurora wasn’t close to Seth though, for Seth spent a lot his time with his best friend, Chace Coxen, also a Hufflepuff. He was a decent guy, albeit a rather quiet one, which was amusing since Seth was so noisy and talkative. Seth was also dating Willow Walker, another Hufflepuff girl in their year; she was someone whom Aurora disliked. She was too girly, judgemental and selfish. Not that she had ever voiced this to Seth; she was his girlfriend, and he could probably see all her positive points. Aurora on the other hand could only groan when she thought about Willow; Willow evidently didn’t like Aurora, not with the odd sarcastic remarks she made about her.

Aurora sent Seth a small smile as he sat down beside her. They usually sat together for Muggle Studies, which thankfully Willow didn’t take. Jez Cuthbert joined Aurora on the other side a second later, just as the bell rang. It was usual for both boys to be on the bell, which Aurora found amusing. She flashed Jez a quick smile too, thinking of Ari but then discarding the worries from her mind. The lesson began, Professor Hardy began to teach, and Aurora was absorbed in the subject the only way she could be with her favourite classes. When the professor asked her questions about alarms, Aurora raised her hand as she normally did. She was surprised when Professor Hardy turned to Seth, who had actually put his hand up. Smiling encouragingly at the boy, she listened as he answered the question correctly – even though he evidently didn’t think he had. Aurora kept her hand up though as Seth hadn’t replied about the wizarding way of alarms. When the professor chose her, she smiled and answered, “The wizards’ way is to perform a spell around, for example, the front door of a house. This protection and alarm spell basically alerts the user living in the house when it is triggered by someone opening the door, and in this way it is quite similar to the muggle systems. There are different levels of these spells; some are more powerful and some are not. For high security systems such as in the Ministry, they have powerful, specific spells that can decapitate the infiltrators. To stop the spell, the user has to speak the words he or she used to lock it in the first place. This is normally cast when the spell is put into place, so that not anyone can get past it. It’s like a password on a muggle computer, or as Seth said, a four digit code for the muggle alarms.”

[Celia Richmond]

Celia looked at her watch as she washed out the mug she'd used to drink the hot chocolate, as she did every Friday, as a treat. Well, perhaps she had it too often for it to be a treat, but the sweet, warm, creamy liquid was always very carming, and it always tasted luxurious. The powder the house elves supplied for it made a much nicer drink than the muggle stuff she'd tasted at home, which only tasted of the water that was added. Though she usually stuck to the milk-made drink for that reason. That's when she even drank hot chocolate-most of the time she'd drink tea, or occasionally coffee if she needed to wake up a bit more. But as today was Friday, she'd just had her hot chocolate, and putting the mug back on the shelf, she was still looking at her watch.

It was this that made her realise the time, and that she should really be getting to Muggle Studies, or she'd be late. Being a prefect, she was supposed to be responsible, and follow the rules, even enforce them in some cases, and this meant not turning up to lessons late. Connecting the two thoughts of Muggle Studies and watches, she wondered whether muggle watches were on the agenda for future a future lesson. She was sure Professor Hardy had mentioned something about time devices at the beginning of the year when she was going through what the course would entail, but that was several months ago, and Celia had filed away notes she'd written down then a long time ago.

She picked up her bag and quickly made her way down the stairs to the Muggle Studies classroom. Recently Professor Hardy had redecorated it, so it was now much more vibrant and it had a friendlier atmosphere. Ever since she'd started it in her 3rd year, it had beein one of her favourite lessons. Well, she really enjoyed most of the OWLs she did, hence why she was taking so many to NEWT. And she was still as enthusiastic about them all as she'd always been. Even more so, in some cases, especially where they went into more detail about things. Charms and Transfiguration just had much harder spells to master, Herbology brought rarer and generally more dangerous plants, Astronomy went into even finer detail about the constellations and stars, Runes had harder translations and more confusing runes to learn, and Muggle Studies, well, more complicated things from the muggle world to study.

Opening the door, Celia noticed that there were already several students there, but that didn't surprise her. She saw one of her friends sitting near the front, and so went over there to sit next to her. They often sat next to each other in Muggle Studies, come to think of it. More students arrived, and it wasn't long before the lesson started. She copied down the notes from the board, as well as the answers Seth and Aurora gave. She had to seise this oppurtunity herself, and volunteered some information about muggle alarms she knew about. "Well, Muggle burglar alarms work by an electrical circuit, and the break in the circuit is what causes the alarm to ring. As Seth said, it could be due to movement detectors, or it could be due to pressure sensors underneath the floor by the door, though this design is somewhat flawed, or it cloud be that the circuit actually goes through a window, so it is broken when a window is smashed. I think that it'd be wise to have several of these though, as there are several ways a burgular could get into the house, or building." Satisfied with her answer, she waited to see what Professor Hardy had to say.

[Caleb Donnelly S7]

Strong form moved through the corridors. Green orbs, sandy blonde hair, and indifferent expression were popular of the Seventh year Slytherin. He moved with confidence as he looked slowly down at the individual walking with him, his head nodding to her words, before he himself sighed as she did. "Fi, you just have to hang in there. You know I'll always be here and I'm sure Kennedy will as well, even though you know I'd like nothing more than to knock him upside his head for what he did to you last summer," Caleb muttered as he flexed the muscles in his hand. Even though Caleb was a pure-blood he knew a thing or two about fighting dirty. He had learned that from those years spent without a wand, granted his adoptive parents didn't know anything about those times, but they were still important to Caleb's overall drive and make-up. Soft green orbs landed back on Fiona as she began to speak.

"Yeah, but I think this whole things has to do with Kennedy. I haven't seen my father in over a year...nearly two and then he just randomly shows up. I don't think so something is wrong. I just don't know what."

Caleb simply shrugged as he pulled his bag up on his shoulder a little more as he looked at her. "I don't know what to tell you Fi. I really don't. I know your dad and all, I just don't know why he keeps disappearing then randomly showing back up. If you want when summer months get here I can stop by for a bit. You know I'll have some time off before I start up practice with the Kenmare Krestels," Caleb said as he led Fiona through the Muggles Studies classroom door. It may have been strange to see two Slytherins entering the classroom, but the truth be told it was always good to know about muggles at least that was Caleb's thought and of course he'd convinced Fiona to take the class with him. After all they were practically best friends and they didn't get too many classes together with the different in their years, but he wanted to spend as much time with her as possible before he took up to play with the Irish National Quidditch Team.

The classroom was filling up slowly and he led Fiona to the back two seats sitting down and pulling at his stuff as they continued to talk in soft voices so no one could over hear them. The conversation didn't stop until Professor Hardy began class and Caleb began to take notes his eyes flashing over to Fiona only once when the other students began answering questions. He raised his hand a little before he just began to voice his opinion. "But wizards also have systems set up against muggles. For instance here at Hogwarts any muggle that gets near realizes they have to go do something and leaves. It's a safety precaution against them finding the school. Some wizards set that up with their own houses placing charms on it that make muggles leave. Wouldn't that be a form of alarm system?" Caleb asked as those intense green irises met with the professors.

[Professor Amaryllis Hardy]

Amaryllis was blessed with an eager group of students. She nodded and listened carefully to each of their answers, pleased with all of their responses. She replied to each student as they finished their answer and put their most pertinent points up on the board with a wave of her wand. She'd left spaces on the board below each of the headings in red chalk, and these were filled in with the students' answers as the class progressed:

What detects the burglar or triggers the alarm?
MUGGLE 1. Infra-red rays can detect movement.
MUGGLE 2. Pressure sensors.
MUGGLE 3. A combination gives more failsafe system.
MUGGLE 4. Alarm system is set off when relay circuit is broken/no current flows through relay circuit. eg. Stepping on pressure sensor turns relay circuit off.
WIZARD 1. Spell around front door detects opening of door/charm around vicinity.

What the alarm or security device does?
MUGGLE 1. Alarm rings.
WIZARD 1. Spellcaster alerted to presence of intruder.
WIZARD 2. Spell incapacitates intruder. (eg. Decapitation. NB. More common example needed for exams - eg. Paralysis).
WIZARD 3. Spell lightly Confunds Muggles, causing them to leave the area.

How you turn it off.
MUGGLE 1. Input code (eg. four number code) into control machine.
WIZARD 2. Codeword used when protective spell cast repeated.

"Mr Wright, an excellent answer," she told the Hufflepuff of a slightly nervous disposition. "Ten points to Hufflepuff." She nodded at Aurora's answer as well. "Well done Miss Chan, that was a good summary of how wizards protect their homes. Most protection spells don't decapitate their victims, though - that's considered a little messy and archaic nowadays." She smiled lightly at the sixth year. "Another ten points to Hufflepuff." Her chalk was kept very busy making additions to what was already on the board as Celia and Caleb made their contributions. "Well done Miss Richmond, Mr Donnelly, you both make excellent points. Five points each. Miss Richmond, you clearly have a good understanding of how the system actually works. The break in the relay circuit - such as if the window is opened - turns on the circuit that the alarm is in, so that current flows in that circuit and the alarm sounds."

((I do apologise for not completing this lesson for you. I'm just posting to respond to your efforts and reward you for them with house points before it's too late! Thank you for attending and sorry for my own poor performance.))