Muggle Studies ((3rd-5th yrs))

[Professor Amaryllis Hardy]

There were ten minutes left until the bell rang for afternoon lessons, and Amaryllis Hardy was sitting at her desk in her first floor classroom, sipping at a mug of Earl Grey. The room was dark, not much light coming through the large windows to one side of the room – the sky outside was a dull grey, promising further snow to add to the flurries they’d had yesterday and the day before. The classroom was warm relative to much of the castle, though, a log fire burning lustily in the handsome stone fireplace at one side of the room. It certainly wouldn’t be warm enough to send anyone off to sleep, but students were able to feel their fingers, at least. Amaryllis remembered from her own schooldays the cold of the Potions dungeon at this time of year; she hoped that her own classroom was a somewhat more comfortable environment.

Amaryllis stood up, carefully – as was always necessary to avoid a twinge from the injury that was now almost half a decade old – and walked over to the door, propping it open with a massive stone doorstop which she used her wand to levitate into place. She could have done the whole thing from where she was sitting, but the practice at standing up with dignity before the class arrived was sadly rather useful. She hated feeling old: she was only in her forties. She returned to her desk and drank up the remainder of her Earl Grey before it went cold – that cheered her up. Tea always did.

The class was arriving now, and Amaryllis greeted in return the students that acknowledged her presence as they entered the classroom. She had a reasonably fun lesson lined up for them today – at least she hoped so. It was Christmas-themed, what more could they ask for? As the bell rang, she walked round to the front of her desk, leaning on it in a casual fashion, and flicked her wand to remove the doorstop, leaving the door free to swing closed.
“Good afternoon,” she said, timing her greeting to the class with the bang of the door, which had a natural silencing effect on the class anyway. “We’re going to be decorating the classroom using Muggle Christmas decorations today. Can anyone tell me what these are, and how they work?” She held up a long string of coloured bulbs to the class for them to identify.

[Dianna Jacobson S5]

Dianna looked down at her nails as she sat on one of the big leather chairs in the Slytherin common room. The deep green nail polish was starting to chip. With an irritated sigh she picked up the nail polish and began applying a new coat of paint. She was hoping to find a spell to keep the dang paint on her nails better, but so far no luck. Instead she was being forced to reapply as often as possible, which just made her more irritated. Blowing lightly on her nails when finished she picked up the cup of tea she had sitting on the table beside her. It was nearly cold now and she pointed her wand at it, thankful she at least knew how to warm the liquid. Cold tea was deplorable at this time of the morning and she wasn’t about to head to class without finishing her tea. The black tea was perfect, full of caffeine and everything she needed to calm her irritated mind before she was forced to sit through Muggle Studies. Why would she choose to take such an elective? She didn’t. It was her parents’ decision to make her sit through the class, as if she was going to learn to be a ‘better’ person through a ridiculous class. As if!

Flicking back a strand of hair and tossing her empty cup into the fireplace Dianna slowly got to her feet, brushing her robes down. It was a slow process this morning, okay so every morning. She couldn’t help the fact that she didn’t want to go to class. Sighing with malcontent she picked up her bag and headed out of the secret passage that led to the rest of the dungeons. Along the way she blew on her nails making certain they were dry as she headed toward her class. The last thing she wanted was to have the paint peel off before they were even seen. The halls were fairly empty by this point. She was pushing her luck this morning. If she didn’t get to class on time she’d lose house points and that wasn’t something that sit well with her. The House Cup meant something special to her and for the last two years Slytherin had won it. She was hoping to keep that tradition alive, because it was always amusing to see the look on her sister’s face.

Her shoes clicked on the ground as she slipped through the door just before it slammed shut behind her. So she’d barely made it on time. She smirked at her sister who was sitting comfortably in her seat already before she took her own seat. Her usual seat was at the back of the class with her best girl friend beside her. The two had struck a deal. Her best friend would force herself to sit through Muggle Studies as long as Dianna helped her through Divination. It was a decent trade. Her best friend enjoyed Divination, but it was by far her worst subject. So things were even and Dianna didn’t have to sit through Muggle Studies alone, especially right now when Christmas decorations seemed to be reigning supreme in the professor’s mind. Her eyes rolled across the string of coloured bulbs. She’d seen them before at camp. They were Christmas lights. She rolled her eyes as her sister threw her hand in the air. “They’re lights. You have to plug them in to an outlet, which means they need electricity to work.”