Written for QLFC, Round 2 (Hogwarts Subjects) as the Keeper for the Arrows. Prompt: Write about a student's relationship with their teacher for the subject, Muggle Studies.

Also used prompts from the forum Caesar's Palace (technology, innovate).

WC: 1425

Rose buried her face into the pages of her History of Magic textbook, stifling a huff. Professor Binns seemed completely unaware that Egyptian King Tut's tomb had been discovered long ago.

As she was lamenting her misfortune, her pocket warmed, and she huffed again. All her cousins didn't know when to shut up, apparently.

"Miss Weasley, is there an issue?" Professor Binns said from the front of the room.

Rose quickly sat up. "No, sir. My apologies," she replied, reaching into her pocket and drawing out a scroll.

A line of small, neat print showed up on the parchment.

Professor Richards just said that the television is where little people live. -A

Rose unraveled the rest of the scroll and read the remaining comments.

Muggle Studies is a joke, haha! -T

Why don't we get an actual Muggleborn wizard to teach the class? -A

Please, as if the school board is smart enough to think of something like that. -T

With a deeper huff, Rose picked up her quill and scratched into the paper. Albus, Prof. R used that analogy in my class yesterday. Emphasis on analogy. -R.

Of course your class would be ahead of ours. -A

Shut up, you lot! My pocket will burn. -JAMES

Rose smothered a giggle when she saw the angry face that James had drawn on the page. Ever since he had started studying five NEWTS, he'd been particularly irritable.

Sorry, that's illegible? I suddenly can't read. -A

Pay attention in class. -J

Even if it's Muggle Studies? -A

YES -J

Rose snorted at the huge letters. They took up almost the entire page. It was lucky for James that his words would be erased the next time he opened his scroll.

Rose put hers away. It was true that she was more of an expert in Muggles than Professor Richards was, but he knew the Ministry-regulated curriculum better than she did. The Ministry was so behind on Muggle advancements; their textbook was fifteen years old, and so much had happened since then! There were so many incorrect particulars in it (and on the tests), that Rose had to actually study to pass. Even her family knew enough about Muggle culture to fashion a system of scrolls based on the structure of what Muggles called internet forums.

"Miss Weasley, do you know the answer?"

Rose cringed. "Sorry, Professor. I don't."

"Pay attention! Does anybody know what the French did to battle the onslaught of Mages at the Battle of Tours?"

Dammit, Binns! Rose cursed. Muslims, not Mages.

"Did I miss much?" Rose plopped into her seat, breathless.

"Not really," said her desk mate.

"Thanks."

Rose chewed her lip. Muggle Studies wasn't her favorite class, but at least the teacher wouldn't give her detention for tardiness.

Professor Richards was talking about pulleys again. Pulleys made up around fifteen percent of the final exam, and Rose was almost determined to get her hands on one before then. Once, Rose had suggested that Professor Richards bring in a pulley to demonstrate some of what he was talking about, instead of just using diagrams. He brought a model to class and immediately broke it.

"I'm going to assign you all a topic on Muggle technology. I expect two thousand words, and I will be checking. Remember, the spell is quanta verba!"

Rose groaned along with the rest of the class.

After doing nothing but nibbling her pencil for a good twenty minutes, Rose decided to owl her mother about the essay. She was so glad that her mother kept in touch with her former home and could probably tell her lots about Muggle media, which was Rose's assigned topic. Rose made sure to mention her professor's incompetence a few times to rile her mother up enough to make her respond in a timely fashion.

Rose's age-old trick worked better than a charm. Soon enough, she got a letter with a long list of resources she could read, printed articles, and a Muggle newspaper.

So, you can imagine her surprise when she got her essay back and saw a failing grade in the top margin of the first page.

"What in Merlin's name?" Rose paced around the common room, her arms flailing wildly. "I was, for once, excited about Muggle Studies! What did I get in return? A fail! Why do I try at all? Don't answer that."

Scorpius raised his eyebrows. "Because you're a Gryffindor try-hard?"

"I said not to answer."

"When have I ever listened to you?"

Rose collapsed onto a couch. "I knew letting Slytherins in was a mistake."

"Don't be rude."

"You know who's ruder than I am? Professor Richards."

"What'd he do, anyway?" Scorpius asked, prodding her on.

"Do you want the long version?"

"I guess there's no escaping it. The long version is fine."

"Well, basically," Rose started, "I wrote an almost flawless essay on Muggle media. I decided to be creative, you know? Think outside the box, be unique, et cetera. I wrote about New Media and digital news, and I got a low grade for inaccuracy!"

"Was it inaccurate, though?"

"Of course not! His argument was that it wasn't covered material in the book. I got my information verified by a real Muggle, and Professor Richards doesn't know shit anyway."

"That real Muggle could have been wrong," Scorpius pointed out.

Rose toppled dramatically off the sofa and onto the ground. "My grade is in more pain than I am! I can't fail Muggle Studies, of all things to fail!"

Scorpius raised his eyebrows even higher. "I'm sure you could talk to Professor Richards, if you really cared."

Rose's eyes shot up to glare at him through a net of curls. "Are you implying that I don't care?"

"Maybe. Maybe not."

Scorpius suddenly found himself sitting outside the Gryffindor common room, smiling at the back of a peeved Rose storming towards the Muggle Studies classroom.

Rose chewed her lip as she approached the classroom doors, wondering if she should go through with with her plan. She never had any quarrels with Professor Richards before; why would she start now? Rose then reminded herself that she also had never failed an essay before.

She knocked thrice and let herself in. If he were in there naked, doing something illegal, or picking his nose, he'd just have to deal with the two seconds she gave him to get decent.

"Miss Weasley!" Professor Richards turned from the board and greeted her with a smile.

Rose, unfortunately, could not match his expression. "I'd like to talk about my essay grade."

"Of course, my dear! Do sit down."

Professor Richards sat behind his desk, and Rose took a seat on the opposite side. "If you can spare the time, I'd like to know why you failed me."

"Of course I can spare the time. You are always welcome in my office. I failed you because your essay was inaccurate. From what I've read, what you called New Media is not media."

"Well." Rose dropped a hefty stack of printed Muggle newspaper articles on the table before folding her hands neatly. "Even if the concept is debatable, I'm sure you can't argue that these Muggle tabloids do offer strong points."

Professor Richards pushed his glasses higher up the bridge of his nose. He picked up the first page from the stack and flipped it back and forth, as if inspecting its validity. "You certainly did your research."

"I understand that most kids just rephrased their textbooks."

"That was the expectation, Miss Weasley." With a sigh, Professor Richards picked up another article. "You exceeded those expectations. Unfortunately, I'm grading your essays like the Ministry will, and New Media is not yet known to them. You would receive low credit or no credit if you were writing this paper for your OWL."

Rose crinkled her nose in disbelief. "Well, we've got to fix that."

"I'm sorry?"

"It's not fair to grade people as if they're incorrect if you are really the incorrect one."

"Miss Weasley!"

"Sorry, Professor Richards. I didn't mean to imply that you don't know much about your subject. That came out wrong." Except I really did mean to imply that, Rose thought.

Professor Richards leafed through the rest of the articles, occasionally reading a line or two. Just as Rose was beginning to conclude that he just wanted to look busy, his expression slowly turned apologetic, then excited. "Well," he said. "I suppose we could work together to propose a new textbook."

They met eye to eye for the first time and smiled conspiratorially at each other from across the table.