A/N: Welcome to "The Hogwarts Network"! I am writing this story as part of a final project on internet literacy for my English 301 class. Please feel free to leave reviews or PM me your thoughts on this fic. I love hearing from you guys!
Winter Break of the 2020-2021 School Year:
"The internet has indeed consumed much of the idle time of the Muggle World, Mr. Chairman," said Governor Higgles. "We have seen great strides being made in the fields of academic and social literacy due to internet affiliations and online communities. Relationships of all kinds are being forged across the world and, to be honest Sir, the British Wizarding Community is already falling behind."
"It's true," interjected Governor Bellson. "Salem introduced the internet into the classroom setting two years ago, to great success."
"Sydney, Drumstrang, and Beauxbatons have all also been successful," stated Governor Folley.
"Sydney?" cried out Governor Banes, who was known to have a deep-seated loathing for the entire continent of Australia, for reasons that ranged from their convicted criminal origins as a population to a bad surf n' turf he once had at a seafood restaurant in Melbourne. The general displeasure was echoed through the chamber though. Everyone knew The Sydney School for Magical Mates was far from above par.
"But we can't forget the Montreal Academy for Wizarding Sciences," said Governor Newhome, flicking her wand to distribute the memos of statistics on internet usage in wizarding schools. The governors each received their papers and instantly began mulling them over. "They instated a program and within a month, the entire school had deteriorated into a fantasy hockey league battleground and half of the senior class had to repeat their final year."
Silence fell after that startling fact. Except for Governor Banes, who leaned over to ask Governor Rigby what a 'hockey league' was and did the fact that it was imaginary in any way lend itself to the fact that the pupils were fighting about it.
"It is Canada, though," said Governor Higgles, "And the general statistics don't lie. Internet programs are successful."
"Monty, if this were a question of statistics, you know I'd be on board," began Governor Newhome, "But the emotional and psychological damage of the internet is hard to argue against. Just look at the cyber bullying. At inappropriate conduct and content. At the decline of academic literacy!"
"And we can stop those things with careful monitoring and censorship charms!" argued Governor Higgles. He was the youngest and newest member of the Board. Upon graduating early from Hogwarts and making a name for himself in the fields of Academics and the Muggle Internet in the Ministry, he then proceeded to rise quickly through the ranks as a politician and representative of popular opinion. He joined Hogwarts's Board on the promise of bringing fresh ideas to the table. Priority number one was bringing the internet in to the classroom. "I've already gotten money pledged from The Lily Potter Fund and private donors for personal computers for each student and installation of a network around the wards created by the charms surrounding the school. I have spent countless hours compiling information on exactly how we need to go about enabling a network and I've gotten the majority of the parents on board with the system-"
"Monty that is quite enough!" said Chairman Malfoy from his spot at the head of the table. Though he had just yelled at him, he had quite a soft spot for the enthusiastic governor. His ideas were good most days and he was just cheerful enough to pull Draco out of his pre-coffee funk in the mornings. He was still so young, though. "Now, I agree with you." There was a general outcry from the rest of the board and Draco held out his hands to signal them to calm down. "But I also agree with Esther. We need to address these issues before we allow the students to have full run of the internet. I've looked over all the data from both sides, as well as Governor Higgles's plan, and I have come up with a compromise.
"Instead of allowing the students free reign, we have an internet-integrated class, only one, designed around introducing the internet to the students. A seventh-year Muggle Studies class. Each student is given a personal computer, the usage of which will be heavily monitored. We will work with Professor Thomas to develop a curriculum for the rest of the school year, which will be considered the trial period for the internet integration. After careful evaluation of student progress and consideration of necessity and usefulness, the Board will determine whether or not to allow a full-capacity system in the school. Thoughts, Headmaster McGonagall?" Inquired Draco, turning to the woman on his right.
"I agree with Chairman Malfoy. Professor Thomas is more than capable of picking up this curriculum and developing. I also would like to recommend that we move PA Weasley from Charms to Muggle Studies, so she can be of aide to Professor Thomas."
"That sounds reasonable. Shall we put it to a vote?" suggested Draco. General supportive murmurs sounded from around the room.
"All in favor of the trial period for internet integration at Hogwarts, say ay."
"Ay," stated 14 of the 15 governors.
"All opposed, say nay."
"Nay," stated Governor Newhome.
"That's settled then. Unless extenuating circumstances occur, I will see all of you back here in June to evaluate the new policy. Thank you for your service."
Winter Term, 2020-2021 School Year
"Good morning, students," said Professor Thomas. "Good morning, Professor Thomas," the students reiterated before taking their seats. Dean Thomas, current Muggle Studies Professor at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, took his spot at the front of the room, waving his wand to distribute the stack of laptops from his desk to his pupils'. The thin, shiny electronic devices floated gently to settle on the desks, one for each student. The students, especially those from wizarding families, just stared, wide-eyed, at the silver rectangles, hands kept firmly in their laps. Only the three, brave muggleborns reached out to skim their fingers along the rounded edges.
"Welcome to the second half of your seventh-year Muggle Studies program. We are implementing a new curriculum this term, focused on the use and culture of the internet in the muggle world. These will be your textbooks. They are called personal computers, or laptops. You will be using them, on loan from the school, for the remainder of the school year. Yes, Miss Weasley?"
Lucy Meredith Weasley, daughter of Percy and Audrey Weasley, had her hand raised high in the air. She had her father's know-it-all attitude, which she loved to display prominently in class. The rest of the time, she was all kindness, which she got from her mother. Across the room, her cousin, James Sirius Potter, rolled his eyes and nudged his best friend, Elaine Alexandra Ilia, in the ribs to share his joking contempt for Lucy. In reality, she formed the third side of their tight-knit trio.
"Sir, I was just wondering how we are supposed to use these laptops for class? Don't the wards around the school virtually extinguish the electronic capacities of muggle devices?"
"Excellent question! 5 points to Gryffindor! Yes, all electronic muggle devices besides these will not work on school grounds. These laptops have been specially charmed and programmed to possess a downgraded version of the muggle 'internet' and other computer capacities. Essentially, your computers will act like they are from the spring of 2014. The internet, which is a system of interconnected computer networks, on which most of the world's information can be accessed, is only updated to that time period. Keep that in mind if you are window-shopping through the webpages and come across some muggle world developments from seven years ago."
"Um, it's 'browsing,' Sir," corrected a mousy Hufflepuff named Beatrice Houghton from the second row.
"Yes, of course, thank you Miss Houghton. Browsing. Now, in order to fully immerse ourselves in internet culture, we must become members of the websites which were most used at this time. Each week, we will use a different website as a case study to analyze the merits and drawbacks of each. You will create and maintain a profile for each website and interact with other users, logging at least five hours of internet time every week. Trust me, you will blow through those with flying colors.
"Your internet use will be heavily monitored, so please, attempt to keep your browsing appropriate. Many of the websites we will go on will contain highly inappropriate material, which will generally be flagged as such. Avoid these flags if at all possible, but we will mostly be trusting your judgment on such matters. At the end of the term, you can choose whether or not to delete your profiles or maintain them outside of Hogwarts. Yes, Mr. Scamander?"
A blonde boy with far-off eyes had his hand raised. In a dreamy voice, he said, "Sir, why is the school only just starting this program now?"
"Well, the Board of Governors has realized that the integration of the internet in to the wizarding world is evitable, so they've decided to start a trial program. At the end of this term, your individual progress and reports will be collected and the Board will determine whether or not to make this a permanent program."
The door of the office creaked open behind Dean and everyone turned to look. Molly Elizabeth Weasley strolled through, carrying what looked to be half the world's supply of paper in her arms. Her long red curls fell lazily past her shoulders and her pale blue robes trailed lightly on the floor. As soon as she set down all the papers and fixed her light brown eyes on the class, an audible sigh of longing from the general male population was barely heard, with the exception of James, to whom Molly was directly related, and Wes Peters, whose boyfriend was currently in herbology. James swiveled his head around the room, glaring at his fellow males. "Oh, control yourselves," he hissed.
"Thank you, Ms. Weasley," said Professor Thomas. Molly nodded, smiled, and skirted out of the room, off to help another class. As the current Hogwarts Aide, she was in training to be a professor, mostly by helping the current professors by running errands, grading papers, and teaching when one of them fell ill.
"I'm assuming most of you know Molly Weasley," continued Professor Thomas, sitting on his desk now. "She will be helping out a lot with this class and is already quite fluent in computers. Please feel free to visit her, as well as myself, if you have any issues with your assignments.
"Now, I think we've covered the basics. I want you to spend the rest of class playing around with your computers. Feel free to leave and start lunch early. The computers also have a repelling charm cast on them, so food, drink, and other messes should not harm them. For next class, please come back with a Facebook profile created. We will explore Facebook and friend all of your classmates next time. Have fun!" Dean dismissed his students, who each gingerly grabbed a laptop and filed out of the classroom.
As soon as they were outside, Lucy pulled James and Elaine off to the side and took their laptops out of their hands. "Infragilis," she said, casting a minor protective charm on each of the three computers. "There. Now they won't shatter when one of you inevitably knocks them off a desk."
"Did Molly tell you to do that?" asked Elaine, taking back her laptop and putting it in her bag. James did the same with his.
"She just told me the spell last night and said I would need it," Lucy said, also stowing her computer. "At this point, she's been right too many times for me to doubt her." James and Elaine both nodded in agreement.
"Lunch?" James asked, starting off down the hall while the two girls trailed behind him, talking to each other. James barely paid attention to their conversation and considered what he wanted for lunch instead. There was still a half an hour left in their current period, so they were pretty much the only ones in the halls. As they rounded a corner, they saw Professor Theodore Lupin standing just down the hall. He had this period free and looked worried. He didn't even notice his pseudo-cousins and their friend until they were standing in front of him.
"Oh, wotcher," Teddy said in greeting before drifting off again. He was staring at a portrait of a faun drinking heavily from a goblet.
"How long has he been here?" James asked the faun. The subject of the oil painting shrugged and hiccupped.
"About 20 minutes. Or 45. Maybe an hour. I don't know, mate, bugger off!" The faun waddled out of the frame, undoubtedly off to visit the picture of the hard-partying centaurs on the third floor (also known as the Party Ponies).
"Teddy?" questioned Lucy, coming to stand in front of him, in his line of sight.
"Oh, wotcher," murmured Teddy. He didn't move. Lucy's eyebrows pulled together in concern and she went back to her friends.
"I don't know what's wrong with him," she whispered. "Maybe he's having a nervous breakdown?"
"Maybe it's a panic attack? Or he's catching dragon pox? I don't remember him ever having it when we were little," suggested James.
"Maybe we should get Victoire?" said Elaine, softly.
At the name of his long-time girlfriend, Teddy's head whipped around. "No!" he all-but shouted before clapping a hand over his mouth. All three young wizards looked startled, staring wide-eyed at their sometime professor. Teddy drew his hand away from his mouth and ran it through his sandy blonde hair, which darkened to a deep blue before their eyes. James's eyes darted back and forth between Teddy's hair and the deeply distressed look on his face.
"Teddy, your hair looks depressed. Let's go get some lunch and talk about it."
Teddy nodded and let Lucy lead him by the arm to the kitchens, instead of the Great Hall. Elaine reached up and tickled the pear in the portrait of the basket of fruit that guarded the entrance. The pear promptly emitted a sound like a giggle and turned into a door handle. Elaine opened the door and the four of them were ushered in by the house elves of the kitchen to a table in the corner. They immediately started bringing over food, for which the wizards showed gratitude. As they ate, the three students talked and Teddy just sat there mechanically moving food from the table to his mouth. James, who considered Teddy a brother, grew antsier and antsier over Teddy's lack of talking until finally he slammed his palms on the table.
"Teddy, talk to us, what's wrong? Are you ok? Is Victoire ok?"
Teddy sighed and pushed his plate away. "Yeah, we're all fine. Everyone's fine. It's just… Look, Jamie, you're my family, and I love you like a brother, but this might be a bit out of your depth."
"I'm of age Ted!" said James, loudly, throwing his hands up. "I'm just concerned! Talk to me!"
"James," Teddy said, taking on a shaper tone. James was unfazed and merely crossed his arm defiantly. "Believe me, I want to tell you, but-"
"No, tell me." James felt himself start to devolve into a petulant child, but he didn't care. Lucy and Elaine, for their part, remained quiet on the other side of the table, watching the back-and-forth like a tennis match.
"James, I-" Teddy began apologetically.
"Tell me, or I'm using that fireplace over there to floo Dad."
Teddy froze, narrowing his eyes as if to gauge James's sincerity. "You wouldn't."
"Try me," dared James.
After a minute of intense staring down, Teddy relented. His shoulders slumped and he uncrossed his arms.
"Victoire's pregnant," he murmured, with downcast eyes.
Elaine and Lucy's faces lit up, and they clapped and started bubbling over with congratulations. James looked perplexed still, though.
"Why did you try to keep that from me Teddy?" asked James. "Are you ashamed of this?"
Teddy looked wounded. "No, never, Jamie!"
"Are you planning on sticking around?"
"Of course! I would never abandon Tori!"
"Then why?"
Teddy ran a hand through his hair as it returned to its normal sandy brown color.
"I know we're young. And I know it's not very traditional to do pregnancy first. And I guess I just didn't want you to think less of me, and especially not less of your cousin, for letting this happen. We were careful. We were safe, but sometimes things don't go according to plan.
"But I love Victoire and I am going to spend the rest of my life with her. Are you still mad, Jamie?"
James looked him up and down, reading his face for sincerity. Then he smiled, nodded, and drew Teddy in for a hug, slapping his back in a brotherly manner. Teddy smiled too and let out a happy sigh.
After they released each other, James clapped his shoulder.
"You'll be a great father, Ted," said James, turning back to his lunch. "Besides, I don't know why you were worried about telling me. Now you have to tell Uncle Bill, Aunt Fleur, Mom, and Dad. Oh, and Grammy Molly."
Teddy paled and propped his forehead against his fingertips while the three younger wizards just dissolved into giggles.
A/N: Also, if you are confuzzled by anything you have read so far, please feel free to browse around my blog! R&R!