Introductions

Lily smiled around at her new class.
"Hi, I'm Professor Fletcher, and I'm your new Charms teacher. If you have any questions about me or my life, now's the time to ask. And please introduce yourselves as well."

Lily Fletcher wrote:

Lily smiled around at her new class.
"Hi, I'm Professor Fletcher, and I'm your new Charms teacher. If you have any questions about me or my life, now's the time to ask. And please introduce yourselves as well."

Well-hello! I'm the Ravenclaw Head Girl-Evanna Apryl Osment. If I may ask-how long have you been teaching?

Lily smiled at the girl.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Evanna. This is my first year teaching at Hogwarts, but I taught in a muggle school for 3 years before this."

Mihaela tilted her head slightly, taking in the new Charms teacher.

"You taught at a Muggle school? That's rather interesting...to go from a Muggle school to teaching Charms at Hogwarts, that is." She set her quill on top of her book, "Oh and it's Howard...Mihaela Howard."

"Nice to meet you, Mihaela." Lily smiled at her. "I taught at a muggle school because I wanted to teach, but I had to sort out my wedding at the same time so I had to stay close to home. Otherwise I would've come straight here."

"Apollina Vasquez… Welcome to Hogwarts, I hope you have a great year teaching charms." She said quietly, not looking up from her book.

"It's nice to meet you, Apollina. Thankyou."

"Which level did you teach Professor? At the Muggle School?" Tae-Hyun's interest was piqued by that information. He had never heard of someone teaching at a Muggle school and then transferring to Hogwarts. He briefly wondered what the transfer sheet would look like.


"I'm Pyeong Tae-Hyun by the way. Well Tae-Hyun is my first name, but you know we Koreans like to use last names first and first names last. Rather confusing. I just go by Tae." He smiled at her and the rest of the ladies in the room. "Generally, I make everyone call me Tae-Hyun, but I think I'll make an exception for such a group of lovely ladies."

Lily laughed. "It's nice to meet you Tae. I taught art for year 10s at a muggle secondary school."

Evanna's eyes widened as she heard that. "There's 10 years in muggle school? That is way too many! Wow-and without magic. Muggles must be very strong, well you know what I mean."

He knew it was a little rude. But he could really resist. He wasn't using a tone or anything, he was just informing.

"Actually Miss...Osment was it?" He tested the name, sure it was right. "There are twelve. Thirteen if you count Kindergarten."

Muggle Studies wasn't his best class. But that didn't mean it was his worst.

"Then there's optional school afterwards. It's usually called College or University." Samael paused for a second, before putting on a polite smile for the teacher and other students. "And I'm Samael Mallory."

"You went from Art to Charms? I love it! Beautiful, charming, and artistic." He grinned, leaning back in his seat. He looked around as another guy spoke up.

Tae-Hyun nodded at what Samael said. "Fourteen too if you count Headstart. And the Uni can be anywhere from four years to like a bajillion years."

Mihaela could already tell this was going to be a long year. First she was stuck in more classes with the annoying Fourth Year and then her Arithmancy Professor left. She sighed as her class went on about how fascinating it was that Professor Fletcher taught at a Muggle School, incredibly sorry she brought it up. As they spoke, she opened her book and started flipping through the pages, pausing every so often to take a cursory glance around her class to get an idea of who was in it. A few other girls, and a few guys, one of which was fairly attractive.

A bajillion years. Did she hear that nitwit correctly? And shouldn't he know this stuff if he's a Muggleborn?

"Actually, it's not a 'bajillion' as you say Pong, Ping...whatever your name is." Mihaela responded in an almost bored tone. "A normal undergraduate study is four years. Then if you continue to be a doctor or a lawyer you must take a graduate program which can last another four years which brings you to an education that could total between 20 and 22 years of study and a lot of student loans." Yeah, she had taken Muggle Studies also. Apparently it paid off, who knew. She tilted her head, letting some of her blue-white hair fall off her shoulder. "I believe, for example, that to teach art is only four years of study at the college or university."

Lily rolled her eyes, smiling. She got the feeling that this class would be fun to teach.

"I've never really thought of headstart as school. The sound of it comes out more like...daycare." It wasn't his intent to sound a little annoyed. He really did control his emotions well. But some things just sounded idiotic to him. The idea of a year of 'schooling' which was only so the parents could be free of their child for part of the day.

The white blonde spoke, explaining university, and he nodded along. "It's likely that's how long our Professor went." A quick glance over at Lily, "She could have gone a few more years. Are there doctorates in Art? I'm relatively certain."

After a moment he looked back at Lily, as if appraising her. Then he turned his attention back to the girl. "Though, I would have to agree that she took four years. She certainly doesn't look old enough to have been in school that long."

Lily put a hand over her mouth to hide her laughter. This was definitely gonna be a fun year.

Mihaela nodded in agreement with what the black haired guy said about Headstart. "It really does. I mean, do they even teach in Headstart? I always had the opinion it was games, snacks, and nap time."

She also looked back at the professor and tilted her head. "She barely looks old enough to have finished Muggle University, teach at a Muggle secondary school and then come here." She raised an eyebrow. "Are you hiding something from us Professor? A potion of youth perhaps?"

She was joking of course, not really accusing her professor of taking potions to keep her appearance.

Mihaela Howard wrote:

Mihaela nodded in agreement with what the black haired guy said about Headstart. "It really does. I mean, do they even teach in Headstart? I always had the opinion it was games, snacks, and nap time."

She also looked back at the professor and tilted her head. "She barely looks old enough to have finished Muggle University, teach at a Muggle secondary school and then come here." She raised an eyebrow. "Are you hiding something from us Professor? A potion of youth perhaps?"

She was joking of course, not really accusing her professor of taking potions to keep her appearance.

As Duncan walk in he caught only the tail end of the conversation, but couldn't resist the urge to intraject "Well that would depend on the student, wouldn't it. My mother started university at 16. She could have started at 15 but her dad didn't want her aound guys that much older. Now she teaches at Oxford, that's a muggle university for those of you that are purebloods. Mum was the youngest doctorial graduate and youngest professor in more than a century. Maybe the professor is just as brilliant and got an early start."

And for an introduction he said "And I am Duncan Mowbray, half-blood and student of two worlds." He gave a quick wave to Tae and Evanna.

Evanna smiled and waved back. She then said, "Hmmm-so at what age do the muggles start school? I expect very young but wouldn't that be quite difficult to teach someone who's such a young age?" she paused and then continued, "what other courses would the muggles take? I'm sure they don't study charms."
"Oh-um professor, are we going to get our grades back soon? For the assignment?"

Samael nodded in agreement to Mihaela's compliment. It seemed adequate enough. At almost the same time, another student walked through the door, telling them of his mother's prowess as a professor.

He tried. He really did. But he had a tendency to information vomit. It wasn't something he could control well enough to not sound rude, even if he tried. Information worked it's way into his head, then stayed there. Samael was practically a walking encyclopedia.

"Pardon, but that sounds a little strange to me, that she was the youngest doctoral graduate in more than a century after starting at Sixteen. Considering that Ruth Lawrence, an Oxford Alumni, was twelve when she started attending the school and received her Bachelors from Oxford in the field of Mathematics at thirteen. After continuing in Physics, she then went on to complete a Doctorate of Philosophy in Mathematics before the age of Seventeen." He paused for a moment. "And this all happened by Nineteen Eighty Nine."

It really wasn't an attempt to be rude, so he amended a little, "I am a Pureblood. Though it was on the Muggle Studies final last year. Extra credit. But you're a new student this year, yes? That would be why you didn't take that final." Then he turned to give Evanna a smile. "Usually school starts around the age of six. Though some have been known to start at a slightly earlier age if their parent's feel they are developed enough."

A slight chuckle. "And they take a few silly classes, like geography. But mostly Mathemetics, and English, which is writing and grammar, as well as history. A few sciences, and some less academic classes."

Before Mihaela was even able to fully finish speaking, a loud boy came charging into the classroom. He, of course, had to throw in his two-cents to a conversation he wasn't even privy to and hadn't even heard except her own closing remarks. She was about to respond when the other boy, she believed his name was Samael, spoke up saying exactly what she was going to say. Looking over at this new boy, she raised her eyebrow.

"Who is to say that we Purebloods don't know anything? That is rather bias and rude, don't you think? Along with being a bit presumptuous with announcing your blood status which, I assure, no one really cares about." She touched the side of her face with her quill before continuing, "As it were, an ancestor of mine on my father's side helped to create Oxford along with other witches and wizards who believed that Muggles should have a grand establishment of education. It also helped that there was an expulsion of foreigners from the University of Paris around 1167." Her mouth twitched slightly.

"As it is..Samael?" she looked back at the other student to see if she was correct in the pronunciation of his name, "Is correct. The youngest doctorate graduate from Oxford is Ruth Lawrence. And I do believe the youngest professor title is being held by someone else, however their name escapes me at the moment."

She set her quill back down and looked at Evanna. "What assignment are you talking about? This is our first day of class and the Professor hasn't assigned anything prior. Unless, of course, I am terribly mistake and we had summer work I was unaware of."

Mihaela Howard wrote:

Before Mihaela was even able to fully finish speaking, a loud boy came charging into the classroom. He, of course, had to throw in his two-cents to a conversation he wasn't even privy to and hadn't even heard except her own closing remarks. She was about to respond when the other boy, she believed his name was Samael, spoke up saying exactly what she was going to say. Looking over at this new boy, she raised her eyebrow.

"Who is to say that we Purebloods don't know anything? That is rather bias and rude, don't you think? Along with being a bit presumptuous with announcing your blood status which, I assure, no one really cares about." She touched the side of her face with her quill before continuing, "As it were, an ancestor of mine on my father's side helped to create Oxford along with other witches and wizards who believed that Muggles should have a grand establishment of education. It also helped that there was an expulsion of foreigners from the University of Paris around 1167." Her mouth twitched slightly.

"As it is..Samael?" she looked back at the other student to see if she was correct in the pronunciation of his name, "Is correct. The youngest doctorate graduate from Oxford is Ruth Lawrence. And I do believe the youngest professor title is being held by someone else, however their name escapes me at the moment."

She set her quill back down and looked at Evanna. "What assignment are you talking about? This is our first day of class and the Professor hasn't assigned anything prior. Unless, of course, I am terribly mistake and we had summer work I was unaware of."

Duncan smiled at her and answered "You've answered that question yourself. Experientially, at least nine out of ten purebloods that I've met have no idea that Oxford is one of the finest universities in the world. Since nine out of ten in group PB have no idea what I'm talking about, I was attempting to be polite, just like I'd explain wizard stuff to the muggle raised people I've met. And of course you immediately need brag and attempt to belittle the ignoble half-blood, me. I didn't say youngest, I said youngest in a cenutry, and you found an immediate and absolute need to undercut me. Would you have been trying to make a fool of me if I announced I was a pureblood, like you ?"

He had heard Samael as he entered and said "I hope that her attack on me hasn't set us up for conflict. I was raised with the idea that every person is worthy of my respect unless they prove otherwise and I hope that others in this room were also taught to think in a similar fashion. Please don't judge me as I defend myself from my attackers."

He turned back towards Mihaela and said "All I did was offer another theory as to why the professor could look young, because she could be young like my mother. Where is the crime in anything I said, except admitting to be a half-blood ? So are you a blood-biggot ?" he asked rather bluntly.

Samael sighed. Very audibly. Without bothering to look at Duncan he began to speak.

"Did you really call 'blood biggotry'? Just because you were proven wrong? She's a Ravenclaw. They're intelligent. And I'm sure they want the facts to be straight before we move on and accept them as how the world works. I know a large quantity of people, pureblood, half, and muggle born. None of them pull that card." He finally looked over at him. "They're even of a large number of races. To pull the race or blood card as an issue is just counting yourself as ignorant, and unwilling to be proven wrong. Which is what people who disagree with your statement were trying to correct."

"If you were a Pureblood I, for one, would certainly have attempted to belittle you. When it comes to blood biggotry, I choose my own side to be a bigot against. Muggles have an excuse to not know about Wizards. Wizards chose not to be knowledgeable."

He let out another sigh. "But this conversation is entirely pointless. And to be honest it's gotten extremely rude to our Professor, who was just trying to introduce us to our class. Now we've turned it into a hot blooded debate. And honestly I'm under the impression that all those in the conversation should apologies to our Professor. I for one am sorry that you had to witness this, Professor."

Looking back up to the professor, he gave her an apologetic smile. Then adjusted in his seat, obviously done with the conversation.

Samael Mallory wrote:

Samael sighed. Very audibly. Without bothering to look at Duncan he began to speak.

"Did you really call 'blood biggotry'? Just because you were proven wrong? She's a Ravenclaw. They're intelligent. And I'm sure they want the facts to be straight before we move on and accept them as how the world works. I know a large quantity of people, pureblood, half, and muggle born. None of them pull that card." He finally looked over at him. "They're even of a large number of races. To pull the race or blood card as an issue is just counting yourself as ignorant, and unwilling to be proven wrong. Which is what people who disagree with your statement were trying to correct."

"If you were a Pureblood I, for one, would certainly have attempted to belittle you. When it comes to blood biggotry, I choose my own side to be a bigot against. Muggles have an excuse to not know about Wizards. Wizards chose not to be knowledgeable."

He let out another sigh. "But this conversation is entirely pointless. And to be honest it's gotten extremely rude to our Professor, who was just trying to introduce us to our class. Now we've turned it into a hot blooded debate. And honestly I'm under the impression that all those in the conversation should apologies to our Professor. I for one am sorry that you had to witness this, Professor."

Looking back up to the professor, he gave her an apologetic smile. Then adjusted in his seat, obviously done with the conversation.

"How was I proven wrong ? I put forth the theory that the professor could look young because she is young. Was the professor proven to be older than my mother ? I certainly didn't hear that and that was the theory I offered." Duncan shrugged.

"And your freind set upon me without cause. I offered a theory and was attacked because I offered clarification just in case one group wouldn't be aware of it. When I was a first year I was talking about how my family had taken vacation in 'The Magic Kingdom' in California and almost everybody raised in the wizard world thought that I meant that the wizards in California made there own kingdom. It took a while to explain about Disney Land, a muggle amusment park. I simply offered a bit of extra explaination because I've had experience of having had to add extra explanation."

"And as far as biigot is concerned, she certainly did offer evidence. When she spoke of Oxford being better when 'those foriegners' all left, that's right out off the bigotry handbook. Do the test and replace the word foriegner with woman and if you said that it would be better off without women you'd be sexist. If you said it would be better without Muslims or Jews you'd be anti-semetic and if you said it would be better off without asains or people of African decent you'd be a racist. She had no trouble at all expressing her natural dislike of a whole group of people, foriegners, the people not like her. I wouldn't suggest somebody was a bigot without a reason, but I said nothing bad about anybody when I came in and was set upon. The only thing I said was I'm a half blood. Being attacked for being half-blood sounds like lood bigot to me."

Then Duncan spoke to Samael "And I gave you my reasons, a list of observations, for what I think. If you disagree why don't you give me some reasons, facts, that support your opinion."

He turned to the professor and said "And I'll join in with the appologies, it was inappropriate for this to begin in your classroom."

Mihaela blinked. All she really did was confirm that what Samael said was indeed true, and last time she checked, 1989 was still within a century. She was rather good at math, and that was basic math. Besides, she was confident that if the information was incorrect and a younger person graduated from Oxford, the Muggle Studies professor would have changed the answer. But still, she wasn't the one that pointed out he was incorrect, and yet she was getting the brunt of his response. Sexist much?

"I do apologise if it came off as bragging. You must have misinterpreted my tone. Although I do not know what I could have possibly been bragging about."

She twirled her quill around. Bragging? As if. She didn't brag. She actually said very little about her family unless she had to, and she believed that someone assuming she didn't know something based on being a Pure-Blood was reason to state it. And she didn't have time to make fools of everyone. As Samael said, she was a Ravenclaw. Intelligence and facts were kind of the trademarks of her House and she wasn't doing anything rude. That he seemed to believe she was needlessly picking on him because he was a Half-Blood made her laugh inside. She wasn't a bigot in the slightest. Just keen on facts and information.

She was about to apologise to their professor when Duncan spoke again and she blinked.

"Excuse me, Duncan was it? I'd like to point out that Mr. Mallory and I are not friends and this is, in fact, the first I've ever spoken to him." She looked over at Samael for confirmation. "I'd also like to mention, that I was not saying anything against foreigners. My mother is a foreigner. If you look back in history, the student number at Oxford rose because foreigners were expelled from the University of Paris. I was merely stating that is one of the reasons why it became a popular school...the British in France had to come back to the United Kingdom. I'd also like to point out that I, in fact, was not the one who pointed out your mother wasn't the youngest in a century to graduate with a doctorate from Oxford, that was Mr. Mallory."

She put her books and quill back in her bag. This conversation had gotten out of control and was a perfect example of why you don't jump into something when you didn't hear the beginning. "I sincerely apologise Professor Fletcher. This conversation has gotten widely out of control although, it was a perfectly tame one at the beginning." She stood up. "I'm also terribly sorry, but I honestly have better things to do with my time than sit here and try to defend myself against someone who is attacking me for something I did not even say or insinuate. I will stop by your office later Professor."

And with that she turned, pushed some of her white-blue hair over her shoulder and left. She didn't stalk out or anything haughty that might assume she was being a Pureblood bigot again. She merely walked out of the classroom as she would any other time. It wasn't worth her time to disprove everything being accused of her, and honestly she didn't really care. It was just that the so-called 'facts' he was spouting about her were wrong, but anyone with normal eyesight and hearing could see and hear that. Closing the door behind her, she walked towards the Great Hall to get some lunch.