Chapter 1.
"Welcome to another year at Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry," boomed the voice of Albus Dumbledore over the chatter of the students, who were talking excitedly about their summer vacation.
Fred and George Weasley had developed a new product over the summer break and were eagerly trying to get the new first-year Gryffindors to act as their guinea pigs, Neville Longbottom was telling Hermione about all the exciting plants he found over the summer (she was the only one who understood what he was talking about), and Harry, Ron, and Seamus were discussing the outcome of the last Quidditch match of the season ("Puddlemore United should have won, the stunt the bulgarian's pulled on the Puddlemore seeker was against the rules!").
"I hope you're all as eager to start the new school year as I am. As always I shall remind you that the Forbidden Forrest is forbidden for a reason, and anyone who does not wish to die a horrible death should stay clear of it." Dumbledore now looked pointedly in the direction of the Weasley twins, who were now selling Puking Pasties to a fifth year. The first years looked terrified at this statement.
"It has come to our attention that the wizarding world has little to no knowledge of Muggle technology, and little to none of the students from wizarding families are attending Muggle studies. Due to the recent increased amount of Muggle technology related accidents, such as in the case of poor Miranda Giggles who accidentally electrocuted herself using a computer, Hogwarts and a few other wizarding schools have decided to make Muggle studies mandatory for everyone." This sent the whole Great Hall into an uproar.
"You can't force us to attend Muggle studies!" Shrieked Pansy Parkinson, her face blanching more with every second.
"What is a "com-pu-ter"?" Ron looked dumbfoundedly at Hermione, who looked excited about the new rule.
"My father will hear about this!" Draco Malfoy exclaimed loudly from the Slytherin table, then lowering his voice he added, "He won't be happy to know you are forcing us to study things invented by lowly Mudbloods."
"Sonorus!" Said Dumbledore pointing his wand at his own throat, this was followed by a booming "Silence!" Suddenly the Hall became so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
"Now I understand some of you are not pleased with this, but this new rule is made for your own protection. Everyone will be required to attend one year of Muggle studies, after which they can decide wether they wish to continue or not. During this one year you will learn about the most important and used Muggle inventions, such as the telephone and the car. But enough about this, I believe Professor Burbage will be more than happy to fill you in on the details in your first lesson, now I believe you're all famished and tired from your trip. Let the feast begin!"
On his words the silver platters all around the tables filled with every food you could imagine, from toast to Yorkshire pudding.
The first years watched the platters awestruck, while the older students, being used to the phenomenon, started filling their own plates with food.
"Well, this is an interesting turn of events, can't wait to see the looks on some people's faces when they're taught about telephones," Harry exclaimed amusedly, filling his plate up with a bit of everything.
"It's about time this happened, I mean did you hear about Herman Tuffy?" Hermione asked, taking a bite of a piece of toast.
"You mean the wizard who got run over by a car?" Joined Dean Thomas, who had previously been explaining football to Ginny Weasley ("So there's no flying in football?!").
"Yes, read that he barely survived, lucky there was a witch nearby who Apparated him to St. Mungos." Stated Ron with his mouth full, pieces of food flying everywhere.
"Ron, would you please swallow before you speak," Hermione exclaimed, giving Ron a dirty look. Ron only rolled his eyes at her statement and continued stuffing his face with food.
"Could somebody please tell me what a com…compu… You know, that thing Miranda Giggles was using that landed her in St. Mungos?" Ginny asked, finally getting over her shock at the lack of flying involved in football.
"You mean a computer?" Dean asked, eating a spoonful of soup.
"Yes, that!"
"Oh, well a computer is…" And he launched off, telling Ginny about the wonderful thing called internet, leaving Ron, Harry and Hermione alone.
"Can't wait to see Malfoy try to figure out how a television works!" Hermione giggled, pulling out a thick book called 'Magic spells and the logic behind them'.
"Light reading?" Ron asked, eyeing the thick size of the book, his plate wiped clean.
Hermione lifted her eyes from the book, scowled at him, and then continued reading, looking immensely interested in what the book contained.
"Guys have you noticed that man sitting next to Hagrid at the Head Table?" Harry asked.
"Recon he's our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, hopefully he's going to be better than Barty Crouch Jr. disguised as Mad-Eye Moody," Hermione said, never glancing up from her book.
On the other end of the hall Draco Malfoy had finally stopped complaining about the new mandatory class and was now bragging about the new dark object he had acquired over the summer.
"My father finally boughed it for me, apparently this necklace was owned by a widow and anyone who wears it will have horrible luck for months, can't wait to use it on a Mudblood," he sneered, pointedly looking towards the Gryffindor table, or more accurately at Hermione Granger, muggle-born extraordinaire, resident know-it-all, and the very reason Draco didn't also get the bracelet that was a set with the necklace.
His father had been very disappointed at Draco for coming in second in the finals, having gotten two points less than Hermione in his Care Of Magical Creatures final.
His father had punished him for this, using the Cruciatus curse on him, and then when Draco had asked for the necklace and bracelet set, his father had told him that he would get him the bracelet too if he topped Hermione's finals score this year.
"It's very beautiful, such a shame that it's cursed," Pansy exclaimed, studying the piece of jewelry with hungry eyes, it was no secret that Pansy was a big fan of anything and everything shiny.
"It's fascinating Draco, have you picked your target yet?" Blaise Zabini asked, running a hand through his hair.
"I might have my eyes on someone," Draco smirked, but didn't elaborate more.
"Ahm.." Dumbledore coughed loudly, standing up from his seat at the Head Table.
"Before I let you go and catch up on some much needed sleep, I shall introduce the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor James Dingleberry."
A man dressed in dark blue robes rose from his seat and waved. He had brown unruly hair, deep green eyes behind square spectacles, and a sharp nose. On closer inspection he looked a bit like a barn owl.
"And now that that's out of the way, you may all leave for your dormitories. First years please follow your house's prefects!" Dumbledore concluded.
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Hey all, this is my first fanfic and I would love it if you would review, telling me what you thought of the first chapter, should I continue this story?
Also I wanted to clear up the timeline a bit. This story takes place during the Order of Phoenix book, but I got rid of Umbridge and instead put a new DADA teacher. Thanks for reading!
