"Muggle Studies?!" 3rd year George Weasley exclaimed, staring blankly at
the paper in his hands. He blinked several times, testing his eye-sight.
Nope! There were those two words clearly and neatly written on his
schedule.
"What?" mumbled Alicia as she shuffled through the other schedules to find her own.
"They gave me Muggle Studies!" George said, relishing the slip of paper in front of her face. Alicia jumped.
"So?" she asked, taking the paper from him and looking at it, but Fred showed up before he could answer.
"Hey, I'm back! George, Filch washed off those little messages we left him last year in the bathroom!" Fred grumbled, wiping his hands on George's shirt. "And there's no paper towels."
"Fred, do you have Muggle Studies?" George asked Fred, ignoring his brother.
"Nope! And I pity the poor fool who does!" Fred chuckled at his own joke, sat down at the Gryffindor table and grabbed a bowl.
"Oh, gee thanks!!" George practically fell down into the seat next to Fred, face in hands. "Why me..?" asked no one in particular just before Alicia gave a small squeal of joy. George looked at her through his fingers in front of his face.
"Hey, I have it too! Muggle Studies!" Alicia proclaimed in a rather high pitched voice. She seemed excited. George starred. Usually he would have rolled his eyes but this was a crisis.
"Oh, fabulous!!" George responded in his girly imitation. Alicia rolled her eyes and passed the schedules on to Lee Jordan, who had just arrived along with Angelina and Katie.
"What's wrong, Fred?" asked a concerned Katie. Fred didn't answer for a moment and George looked up at Katie, and found lest to his surprise, she wasn't looking at his twin; she was looking at George.
"Uuhh... I'm George," he snapped loudly at her, rolling his eyes and wondering what he'd been thinking last year when he'd signed up.
"Well pfft, what's gotten your panties in a twist, honestly?" Katie sat down. George glared at her. "Don't look at me in that tone of voice! You're the one who's all grumpy!"
"He has Muggle Studies... personally I don't see what's so bad about that," Alicia told Katie. Katie raised an eyebrow.
"Well go cry a river, build a bridge, and get over it," she told him simply. George let it drop, he didn't feel like arguing with her. Katie often got on his nerves, the blonde thought she knew everything. George, instead, turned his focus to Fred, who was looking glumly ahead, chewing a bite of cereal.
"And how about you, Fred?" Katie said "Fred" very carefully and slowly and George raised an eyebrow at her again.
"Huh?" Fred came out of his trance upon hearing his name.
"You look upset."
"Oh.just thinking," Fred replied. The girls paused and exchanged comical looks and then burst out with snorts of laughter.
"Did I hear what I thought I heard?" Lee asked as he folded his schedule into a paper airplane.
"Fred Weasley!? Thinking?!" Angelina giggled.
Fred cheeks reddened as he smiled rather impishly.
Fred grinned. "What can I say? I'm getting wiser in my old age."
Lee let out a short but loud, "Ha!"
"So, who else has Muggle Studies?" George asked. No one said anything, except Alicia.
"Me!" she sang joyously. Katie and Angelina shrugged and looked apologetic.
Lee examined his own schedule. "Nope... divination."
"Oh me too!" said Katie.
"North Tower...where in Godric's name is THAT?" Lee asked no one in particular and scrunched up his face, apparently searching his memory.
"I dunno, but we'd better get going ..." Katie said, grabbing her bag and bagel for the trip. Lee took one too, they said their goodbyes and were gone.
"Does anyone else have Arith ... Arithmancy?" Angelina spelled out the word. Fred raised his hand and sighed.
"Oh THAT sounds like fun," George said sarcastically. He took Fred's schedule and placed it next to his own, examining both of them.
"Well, all our other classes are together..."
"Yeah, but it's not the same, man," Fred sighed. George sighed and nodded.
"Fred, we need to get going," Angelina urged. Fred sighed and gave a weak grin, grabbing his bag, which had fallen off the seat next to him and under the table.
"See ya later." George said to him. Fred waved over his shoulder, slumped and followed Angelina. George watched him go.
Alicia broke the silence. "Shall we get going then?"
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It was bound to happen one day. I thought we'd made sure our schedules were the same though! George glumly thought to himself as he and Alicia made their way through the corridor towards Muggle Studies.
Alicia on the other hand was as happy as a monkey in a jelly jar. She was humming all the while, a certain pleasant spring in her step.
Annoyed, George asked her: "Why are you so pleased?"
"Why are you so not? Honestly, it's not the end of the world, " she asked, using the old Socratic method. George pondered for a moment.
"One.. I have Muggle Studies." He told her as they turned a corner. Alicia opened her mouth to argue but George cut her off. "B: Fred doesn't have muggle studies," Alicia thought about that for a second and slowly nodded her head. "And D ..." he tried to think of another reason why he was upset.
"Well get over it! You have Muggle Studies with me at least you're not totally alone!" Alicia pointed out. George tried to make that a happy thought but it just wouldn't happen. All too soon, they had arrived at the Muggle Studies class room.
But before they could enter someone ... ('or rather something' George thought) showed up looking distressed.
"George!" Ron called, tripping a bit as he and Harry Potter hurried over to him. "We're lost!"
"Kudos to you," George grinned.
"Help!" Ron exclaimed.
"Oooh.. is that what you want?" George asked, innocently rubbing his chin.
"What do you need?" Alicia asked, pushing George aside. George snorted as Ron's ears turned a bit red. Why was Ron embarrassed?? George had no clue, but his ears were red all the same. He chuckled some more, covering his mouth and looking away. George looked from Ron to Harry, and then his gaze landed on Harry's scar. There it was just ... there. It was like any other scar that George had on his own body... but it was different. It was a lightning bolt... on his forehead. Covered a bit by his untidy mop of hair, just looking at it made George's stomach knot a little. 'Voldemort' George thought to himself. Even hearing it inside his mind made George a bit uncomfortable.
"Trans ... Transfiguration Class... Professor McGonagall.." Ron said, pronouncing the wicked bat's name wrong, "Where is it?"
Alicia smiled kindly and pointed down the corridor. It was a moment before George realized she was pointing in the wrong direction entirely. George pried his eyes away from Harry's scar and opened his mouth to tell Alicia she was wrong, but then he decided that passing up the chance to correct Alicia was worth his little brother being late to McGonagall's class any day. He decided not to say anything till the first years were gone.
"Thank you!" Ron said, his ears still red. He stumbled a bit on his overly large feet and they disappeared down the wrong corridor.
"You do know you just gave my little brother the wrong directions," George said, a smug grin on his face. He expected her mouth to fall open, perhaps she would stop dead in her tracks, embarrassed that she'd forgotten where Transfiguration was. But instead a sly grin, much like his own, spread across her lips.
"I know."
George blinked a few times, then let out a small laugh. "What?" he asked. "Do my ears deceive me?"
"No, they're working perfectly fine. What do you think about that?" she asked.
"I think you need to get your own act because being annoying prats is copyrighted Fred and Myself."
"I'm not being an annoying prat! It's not my fault your antics have rubbed off on me."
"Yea well. don't do it again."
"Why not?"
"Because you're too nice for that."
The words spilled out of his mouth. He hadn't really meant anything by it, they really just sort of came out because it was true. Alicia hadn't quite experienced enough mischief to be telling people wrong directions on purpose. What next? Pfft, she'd probably be going to Hogmeade with them to steal butterbeer. It was simply out of the question.
They were approaching the class room by now, the professor standing by the doorway greeting students as they came in. Short, thin, and with a head of long dark hair, she smiled warmly, inviting them in. George recognized her now, remembering the first time he was informed that she was a teacher and not a student. True, she looked a bit older, maybe twenty five or so, but she was still small. He shook her hand, forcing a polite grin. First impressions were everything and nice ones made for an even better facial expression when this woman finally realized he wasn't a regular student.
"You must be a Weasley," the woman said to him. His grin widened, although he hoped he looked annoyed. Assumptions, assumptions. He wondered what it was like for those people with red hair who weren't Weasleys.
By the time the bell rang, Alicia had some how managed to make George sit in the very front of class. He sank low in his chair, though, hoping no one would notice or think perhaps he had conformed to be a well behaved young man. No, don't want that.
"Come on in, come on in... it's OK to be late today, seeing as it's the first day," the Professor said, coming up the isle and standing in front of the class.
George looked around as other people found their seats. Ravenclaws, Hufflepuffs, Gryffindors, and Slytherins all had this class. George didn't really find it much of a surprise... but it was the first time he had people from all 4 houses in one of his classes. He spotted a few other Gryffindors, and noted the Slytherins, particularly Adrian Coleman. Being in Slytherin, she did, of course, think herself higher than everyone around her. But she'd always been a sight to see, her pretty blonde hair pulled up in a pony tail, cold blue green eyes that always had an hint of superiority beaming out from them. She looked even more annoyed than usual, and George figured it was probably because she was taking this class. Most Slytherins weren't interested in muggles.
A few seats away from Adrian, George spotted Cedric Diggory, Hufflepuff extraordinaire. Idiot, George thought, grinning inside himself. Too bad he didn't get brains with those apparent good looks. George opened his mouth to tell Alicia this but found, to his displeasure, that Alicia was waving at the very person he'd been prepared to insult.
Frowning and feeling a lurch of something inside him, George felt his blood rise a little. Disliking Cedric even more than usual, he had a strong urge to go and land a punch right square into his perfect nose. but he was forced to put his dignity aside as class started.
"Shhh..alright, everyone settle down, settle down.." the professor said, clapping her hands together to get everyone's attention. The voices settled down as the class respectfully gave her their attention.
"Alright, this is Study of Muggles and their History, room 112, second floor. If anyone should not be in this class, please bring me your schedule now." Everyone looked around to see if anyone was raising their hand. No one was. "Alright then, let's get started," she smiled brightly at the class. That seemed to set off a chain reaction and the entire atmosphere of the room seemed to soften.
"Hello... my name is Rayelle Magness... you, however, may call me Professor Magness," the short woman addressed the class. George couldn't help but grin, any teacher who told you their first name on the first day was sure to be laid back and possibly even nice. George wondered if that was blasphemous.
"Welcome to The Study of Muggles and their History! Which is better known as just Muggles Studies... or atleast it was when I went here. Anyway, we all know what a muggle is." she stated. George laughed in his mind at anyone in this class who didn't know what a muggle was. 'Diggory' he thought, and a grin spread across his face like butter on toast.
"And we all know what witches and wizards are," She leaned against her desk. "We all know why they are different. But ... how are they the same?" she asked. 'Easy enough' George thought. 'They...' he searched his brain. 'Well... they..' he couldn't think of anything. 'Of course, they' ... nothing.
"Yes?" Professor Magness motioned towards the back of the room. George spun around. 'It can't be!!' he thought. But alas, it was: Cedric Diggory. He had his hand raised and the teacher... professor Magness was asking HIM to answer her question. George felt his cheeks turn red again and watched as if in slow motion as Diggory's lips formed words. Of course, to George, no actual words came out. Just noises. Noises that were the correct answer. And then as though someone had fast-forwarded everything, Professor Magness was saying. "Good! They certainly both do, but that's not quite the answer I was looking for." George stifled a laughed, deciding that if he laughed he might have been asked to answer.
Professor Magness called on a couple more people who gave good answers, but she didn't seem impressed. This sunk George's hopes a bit. If she wasn't all that impressed with these answers, this class was sure to be rather difficult. It might even include a bit of. thinking. George turned up his nose at the thought.
"Something they've always had together!" Professor Magness prompted her students. George hoped she wouldn't call on him, for he really hadn't a clue. It was then that Alicia timidly raised her hand. George watched her out of the corner of his eyes.
"Yes? How are they alike?"
"They both share. well. sort of. They but endured relatively the same History. in Europe that is," Alicia said quietly, fidgeting with her fingers. George thought about that for a moment, and gave a curt little nod. They sort of did.
"She's got it. Five points to Gryffindor." Alicia beamed and George smiled at her. Good. That would make up for lost points he and Fred would surely loose sometime during the next 42 hours.
"They both share the same basic history. They both lived intertwined within each other, both inspired each other and both grew to dislike each other, or some of them on both sides did. But that's later on." She proceeded to pull open a desk drawer and pulled out an odd contraption, of which, probably had muggle origin. She placed it on her desk for them all to see.
"Now, with all the enchantments and such put around Hogwarts, I will not be able to demonstrate the use of many of the artifacts and products I will be sharing with you throughout the year. Enchantments and the fact that many of them run on electricity. but that, too, is for later learning. Oh yes, this is going to be a wonderful class, and I'm so happy that I've got so many students in my class who are eager to learn about muggles. This is going to be a very great year, I can see it."
"And so ... like all great things, we start at the beginning. Some would say 'Start at the beginning with those fantastic four who started Hogwarts.' But, no, I won't. Because there is a deeper and older magic than that. And an even deeper magic that that. And an even deeper magic than that and so forth. Magic to the 14th realm and beyond." by this point, students had either lost interest and were either doodling on parchment or pretending to watching, their eyes glazed over. or they were actually paying attention. George was. 'Deeper magic?' he wondered. The professor charged on, telling them about the earliest magicians and a pure, simple magic, how the humans who had discovered magic had broken themselves away from others. it went on and on and George found himself utterly amazed. Why had Professor Binns not started there? Maybe he had, George said to himself, and I just never noticed.
"And so. that's the beginning of the beginning. We'll carry on next class, take notes and such but not too much because I only give you notes enough to do well on your exam. You can take the rest of the period to do whatever; I need to prepare for my next class."
George huffed a breath out and sat, as though he'd just woken up from an early morning nap or something of the sort. In a way he wasn't really all that amazed that any of that had happened, but he was still rather baffled by this 'Deeper magic' sort of thing she had mentioned. It wrestled his conscious for a few minutes and when Alicia nudged him in the arm, he found he'd been starring at the shiny white object that sat on the professor's desk.
"Are you feeling alright?" Alicia asked him. George blinked and thought for a second.
"Uh.. oh, yeah. Great," he smiled. Maybe this class wasn't going to be so horrible after all.
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"I can't believe all that stuff Professor Magness told us today," Alicia commented at lunch time. George nodded.
"Crazy," was all he could say without little chucks of chewed turkey flying out of his mouth.
"So... everyone have a good day?" Alicia addressed everyone else. The rest of the group exchanged glances as Alicia innocently poured herself a glass of milk.
"I assume you meant to say 'how was first hour?'" Katie asked. Alicia paused, assumed an annoyed little smile and nodded, glaring at Katie.
"I suppose so..." she said, nodding her head slightly. Her lips formed a rather odd smile and George swallowed his food. 'The Wrath of Alicia' George though, shuddering mentally.
"Well apparently I'm going to loose my voice soon," Lee said, his voice crackling slightly. Katie giggled, but everyone else starred at them.
Angelina spoke first: "Come again?"
"Our Divination teacher... she's crazy! She said I was going to loose my voice soon--"
"And I'm going to take up a sport I never thought I would," Katie proclaimed, saying it as though it were important, but she had a sly look on her face.
"Fred?" Alicia addressed Fred, who was being unusually quiet, though unlike Breakfast, he was actually paying attention.
"It was OK I guess. I mean, at least I have someone in the class with me," Fred winked a Angelina and put his arm around her. Angelina put down her goblet, smacked her lips together, and slowly turned her head to look at Fred. Her eyebrows were raised and her face serious. There were no need for words, Fred got the picture and recoiled his arm, looking rather afraid of Angelina. She instantly started giggling.
"I'm just kidding!" she said, putting her head on his shoulder. George smiled, noticing the awkward way Fred sat, the expression on his face was priceless; a mix between confusion and utter joy.
"So what do we have next?" Fred said, emphasizing the word 'we'. At that moment, they all looked at their schedules and together said "Potions" out loud. They all chuckled little and then groaned as they realized the word they had synchronized.
"Well at least we're all together! I mean, mischief will soon insure, right?" Lee pointed out.
"And you know the best part of mischief making?" Fred asked.
"Seeing your brilliance unfold," George finished.
"Oh joy," Katie remarked ruefully.
George sighed and held his tongue, continuing on his food quest. It wasn't worth picking a fight with Katie, the girls would take her side and there would be some sort of small civil war between the six of them and George would probably end up having to say sorry. The other boys, Fred and Lee, would probably have to apologize too because they would have taken George's side. He knew the routine a little too well and didn't want to go through with it until absolutely necessary.
Lunch was nearly over and George had just come back out from under the table to find Alicia smiling at him. He smiled back cautiously back at her and noticed that she wasn't looking at him anymore, she was looking over his shoulder, seemingly annoyed that he was in her way of something. He jokingly moved in front of her view, wherever she tried to look. She really did look at him then, glaring evilly and threw her napkin at him angrily.
"Stop that!"
George was taken aback, and turned to look over his shoulder at what was so important that she'd had to watch. Nothing there.
"What were you looking at?" he turned around to ask her but found the girls had already left. His gaze followed them as they walked over to the big oak doors leading out into the main hall. But they were stopped by a certain someone as they reached them. George watched, eyes bugging out of his head, as Cedric Diggory, standing a foot taller than any of them, even Angelina, greeted them. Envy surged through his veins as Alicia giggled, and covered her mouth, twisting a strand of hair around her finger.
"Git," he heard someone say. Bringing his attention back to the table before him, he noticed Fred and Lee were both watching the scene too.
"I know, right?"
"Really is an idiot."
"They just think he's good looking."
"Doesn't even have a sense of humor."
"Cause he's too stupid to put a joke together."
George didn't feel so envious as he rose and they kept pelting poor Diggory with insults behind his back, making their way to the dungeons. By the end of the trip, the twins and Lee were laughing richly, falling over each other and quickly taking their seats before Snape could deduct any points from Gryffindor before the real fun would begin.
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Right then. well. I've changed a lot of this chapter, it just had a lot of grammatical errors and loose ends and spelling etc. but. yeah. Hehe! Alright, sorry I haven't written in a while, you can flog me later. *grumbles*Filch. ah. anyways, I'm redoing this story. I dunno how long this'll be, it's one of my favorites. I just.. haven't had the muse to finish it. Plus the night of the ah. computer death I met this really sweet and very attractive guy. Yea, we ended up going out about a month or so later and then on our 4 month anniversary he broke up with me because we never saw eachother and he might have cheated on me. Really considerate of him, eh? So, yea I've been coping with that and a whole bunch of other CRAP. *deep breath* Right, on to the next chapter!!
OOOOH! AND PS. before you decide to review me, please just. yea, don't tell me how to write my story. I don't mind you asking me to hurry it up or suggestion stuff but PLEASE. you blow out my writer's flame when you do that. I love you all so much.
"What?" mumbled Alicia as she shuffled through the other schedules to find her own.
"They gave me Muggle Studies!" George said, relishing the slip of paper in front of her face. Alicia jumped.
"So?" she asked, taking the paper from him and looking at it, but Fred showed up before he could answer.
"Hey, I'm back! George, Filch washed off those little messages we left him last year in the bathroom!" Fred grumbled, wiping his hands on George's shirt. "And there's no paper towels."
"Fred, do you have Muggle Studies?" George asked Fred, ignoring his brother.
"Nope! And I pity the poor fool who does!" Fred chuckled at his own joke, sat down at the Gryffindor table and grabbed a bowl.
"Oh, gee thanks!!" George practically fell down into the seat next to Fred, face in hands. "Why me..?" asked no one in particular just before Alicia gave a small squeal of joy. George looked at her through his fingers in front of his face.
"Hey, I have it too! Muggle Studies!" Alicia proclaimed in a rather high pitched voice. She seemed excited. George starred. Usually he would have rolled his eyes but this was a crisis.
"Oh, fabulous!!" George responded in his girly imitation. Alicia rolled her eyes and passed the schedules on to Lee Jordan, who had just arrived along with Angelina and Katie.
"What's wrong, Fred?" asked a concerned Katie. Fred didn't answer for a moment and George looked up at Katie, and found lest to his surprise, she wasn't looking at his twin; she was looking at George.
"Uuhh... I'm George," he snapped loudly at her, rolling his eyes and wondering what he'd been thinking last year when he'd signed up.
"Well pfft, what's gotten your panties in a twist, honestly?" Katie sat down. George glared at her. "Don't look at me in that tone of voice! You're the one who's all grumpy!"
"He has Muggle Studies... personally I don't see what's so bad about that," Alicia told Katie. Katie raised an eyebrow.
"Well go cry a river, build a bridge, and get over it," she told him simply. George let it drop, he didn't feel like arguing with her. Katie often got on his nerves, the blonde thought she knew everything. George, instead, turned his focus to Fred, who was looking glumly ahead, chewing a bite of cereal.
"And how about you, Fred?" Katie said "Fred" very carefully and slowly and George raised an eyebrow at her again.
"Huh?" Fred came out of his trance upon hearing his name.
"You look upset."
"Oh.just thinking," Fred replied. The girls paused and exchanged comical looks and then burst out with snorts of laughter.
"Did I hear what I thought I heard?" Lee asked as he folded his schedule into a paper airplane.
"Fred Weasley!? Thinking?!" Angelina giggled.
Fred cheeks reddened as he smiled rather impishly.
Fred grinned. "What can I say? I'm getting wiser in my old age."
Lee let out a short but loud, "Ha!"
"So, who else has Muggle Studies?" George asked. No one said anything, except Alicia.
"Me!" she sang joyously. Katie and Angelina shrugged and looked apologetic.
Lee examined his own schedule. "Nope... divination."
"Oh me too!" said Katie.
"North Tower...where in Godric's name is THAT?" Lee asked no one in particular and scrunched up his face, apparently searching his memory.
"I dunno, but we'd better get going ..." Katie said, grabbing her bag and bagel for the trip. Lee took one too, they said their goodbyes and were gone.
"Does anyone else have Arith ... Arithmancy?" Angelina spelled out the word. Fred raised his hand and sighed.
"Oh THAT sounds like fun," George said sarcastically. He took Fred's schedule and placed it next to his own, examining both of them.
"Well, all our other classes are together..."
"Yeah, but it's not the same, man," Fred sighed. George sighed and nodded.
"Fred, we need to get going," Angelina urged. Fred sighed and gave a weak grin, grabbing his bag, which had fallen off the seat next to him and under the table.
"See ya later." George said to him. Fred waved over his shoulder, slumped and followed Angelina. George watched him go.
Alicia broke the silence. "Shall we get going then?"
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It was bound to happen one day. I thought we'd made sure our schedules were the same though! George glumly thought to himself as he and Alicia made their way through the corridor towards Muggle Studies.
Alicia on the other hand was as happy as a monkey in a jelly jar. She was humming all the while, a certain pleasant spring in her step.
Annoyed, George asked her: "Why are you so pleased?"
"Why are you so not? Honestly, it's not the end of the world, " she asked, using the old Socratic method. George pondered for a moment.
"One.. I have Muggle Studies." He told her as they turned a corner. Alicia opened her mouth to argue but George cut her off. "B: Fred doesn't have muggle studies," Alicia thought about that for a second and slowly nodded her head. "And D ..." he tried to think of another reason why he was upset.
"Well get over it! You have Muggle Studies with me at least you're not totally alone!" Alicia pointed out. George tried to make that a happy thought but it just wouldn't happen. All too soon, they had arrived at the Muggle Studies class room.
But before they could enter someone ... ('or rather something' George thought) showed up looking distressed.
"George!" Ron called, tripping a bit as he and Harry Potter hurried over to him. "We're lost!"
"Kudos to you," George grinned.
"Help!" Ron exclaimed.
"Oooh.. is that what you want?" George asked, innocently rubbing his chin.
"What do you need?" Alicia asked, pushing George aside. George snorted as Ron's ears turned a bit red. Why was Ron embarrassed?? George had no clue, but his ears were red all the same. He chuckled some more, covering his mouth and looking away. George looked from Ron to Harry, and then his gaze landed on Harry's scar. There it was just ... there. It was like any other scar that George had on his own body... but it was different. It was a lightning bolt... on his forehead. Covered a bit by his untidy mop of hair, just looking at it made George's stomach knot a little. 'Voldemort' George thought to himself. Even hearing it inside his mind made George a bit uncomfortable.
"Trans ... Transfiguration Class... Professor McGonagall.." Ron said, pronouncing the wicked bat's name wrong, "Where is it?"
Alicia smiled kindly and pointed down the corridor. It was a moment before George realized she was pointing in the wrong direction entirely. George pried his eyes away from Harry's scar and opened his mouth to tell Alicia she was wrong, but then he decided that passing up the chance to correct Alicia was worth his little brother being late to McGonagall's class any day. He decided not to say anything till the first years were gone.
"Thank you!" Ron said, his ears still red. He stumbled a bit on his overly large feet and they disappeared down the wrong corridor.
"You do know you just gave my little brother the wrong directions," George said, a smug grin on his face. He expected her mouth to fall open, perhaps she would stop dead in her tracks, embarrassed that she'd forgotten where Transfiguration was. But instead a sly grin, much like his own, spread across her lips.
"I know."
George blinked a few times, then let out a small laugh. "What?" he asked. "Do my ears deceive me?"
"No, they're working perfectly fine. What do you think about that?" she asked.
"I think you need to get your own act because being annoying prats is copyrighted Fred and Myself."
"I'm not being an annoying prat! It's not my fault your antics have rubbed off on me."
"Yea well. don't do it again."
"Why not?"
"Because you're too nice for that."
The words spilled out of his mouth. He hadn't really meant anything by it, they really just sort of came out because it was true. Alicia hadn't quite experienced enough mischief to be telling people wrong directions on purpose. What next? Pfft, she'd probably be going to Hogmeade with them to steal butterbeer. It was simply out of the question.
They were approaching the class room by now, the professor standing by the doorway greeting students as they came in. Short, thin, and with a head of long dark hair, she smiled warmly, inviting them in. George recognized her now, remembering the first time he was informed that she was a teacher and not a student. True, she looked a bit older, maybe twenty five or so, but she was still small. He shook her hand, forcing a polite grin. First impressions were everything and nice ones made for an even better facial expression when this woman finally realized he wasn't a regular student.
"You must be a Weasley," the woman said to him. His grin widened, although he hoped he looked annoyed. Assumptions, assumptions. He wondered what it was like for those people with red hair who weren't Weasleys.
By the time the bell rang, Alicia had some how managed to make George sit in the very front of class. He sank low in his chair, though, hoping no one would notice or think perhaps he had conformed to be a well behaved young man. No, don't want that.
"Come on in, come on in... it's OK to be late today, seeing as it's the first day," the Professor said, coming up the isle and standing in front of the class.
George looked around as other people found their seats. Ravenclaws, Hufflepuffs, Gryffindors, and Slytherins all had this class. George didn't really find it much of a surprise... but it was the first time he had people from all 4 houses in one of his classes. He spotted a few other Gryffindors, and noted the Slytherins, particularly Adrian Coleman. Being in Slytherin, she did, of course, think herself higher than everyone around her. But she'd always been a sight to see, her pretty blonde hair pulled up in a pony tail, cold blue green eyes that always had an hint of superiority beaming out from them. She looked even more annoyed than usual, and George figured it was probably because she was taking this class. Most Slytherins weren't interested in muggles.
A few seats away from Adrian, George spotted Cedric Diggory, Hufflepuff extraordinaire. Idiot, George thought, grinning inside himself. Too bad he didn't get brains with those apparent good looks. George opened his mouth to tell Alicia this but found, to his displeasure, that Alicia was waving at the very person he'd been prepared to insult.
Frowning and feeling a lurch of something inside him, George felt his blood rise a little. Disliking Cedric even more than usual, he had a strong urge to go and land a punch right square into his perfect nose. but he was forced to put his dignity aside as class started.
"Shhh..alright, everyone settle down, settle down.." the professor said, clapping her hands together to get everyone's attention. The voices settled down as the class respectfully gave her their attention.
"Alright, this is Study of Muggles and their History, room 112, second floor. If anyone should not be in this class, please bring me your schedule now." Everyone looked around to see if anyone was raising their hand. No one was. "Alright then, let's get started," she smiled brightly at the class. That seemed to set off a chain reaction and the entire atmosphere of the room seemed to soften.
"Hello... my name is Rayelle Magness... you, however, may call me Professor Magness," the short woman addressed the class. George couldn't help but grin, any teacher who told you their first name on the first day was sure to be laid back and possibly even nice. George wondered if that was blasphemous.
"Welcome to The Study of Muggles and their History! Which is better known as just Muggles Studies... or atleast it was when I went here. Anyway, we all know what a muggle is." she stated. George laughed in his mind at anyone in this class who didn't know what a muggle was. 'Diggory' he thought, and a grin spread across his face like butter on toast.
"And we all know what witches and wizards are," She leaned against her desk. "We all know why they are different. But ... how are they the same?" she asked. 'Easy enough' George thought. 'They...' he searched his brain. 'Well... they..' he couldn't think of anything. 'Of course, they' ... nothing.
"Yes?" Professor Magness motioned towards the back of the room. George spun around. 'It can't be!!' he thought. But alas, it was: Cedric Diggory. He had his hand raised and the teacher... professor Magness was asking HIM to answer her question. George felt his cheeks turn red again and watched as if in slow motion as Diggory's lips formed words. Of course, to George, no actual words came out. Just noises. Noises that were the correct answer. And then as though someone had fast-forwarded everything, Professor Magness was saying. "Good! They certainly both do, but that's not quite the answer I was looking for." George stifled a laughed, deciding that if he laughed he might have been asked to answer.
Professor Magness called on a couple more people who gave good answers, but she didn't seem impressed. This sunk George's hopes a bit. If she wasn't all that impressed with these answers, this class was sure to be rather difficult. It might even include a bit of. thinking. George turned up his nose at the thought.
"Something they've always had together!" Professor Magness prompted her students. George hoped she wouldn't call on him, for he really hadn't a clue. It was then that Alicia timidly raised her hand. George watched her out of the corner of his eyes.
"Yes? How are they alike?"
"They both share. well. sort of. They but endured relatively the same History. in Europe that is," Alicia said quietly, fidgeting with her fingers. George thought about that for a moment, and gave a curt little nod. They sort of did.
"She's got it. Five points to Gryffindor." Alicia beamed and George smiled at her. Good. That would make up for lost points he and Fred would surely loose sometime during the next 42 hours.
"They both share the same basic history. They both lived intertwined within each other, both inspired each other and both grew to dislike each other, or some of them on both sides did. But that's later on." She proceeded to pull open a desk drawer and pulled out an odd contraption, of which, probably had muggle origin. She placed it on her desk for them all to see.
"Now, with all the enchantments and such put around Hogwarts, I will not be able to demonstrate the use of many of the artifacts and products I will be sharing with you throughout the year. Enchantments and the fact that many of them run on electricity. but that, too, is for later learning. Oh yes, this is going to be a wonderful class, and I'm so happy that I've got so many students in my class who are eager to learn about muggles. This is going to be a very great year, I can see it."
"And so ... like all great things, we start at the beginning. Some would say 'Start at the beginning with those fantastic four who started Hogwarts.' But, no, I won't. Because there is a deeper and older magic than that. And an even deeper magic that that. And an even deeper magic than that and so forth. Magic to the 14th realm and beyond." by this point, students had either lost interest and were either doodling on parchment or pretending to watching, their eyes glazed over. or they were actually paying attention. George was. 'Deeper magic?' he wondered. The professor charged on, telling them about the earliest magicians and a pure, simple magic, how the humans who had discovered magic had broken themselves away from others. it went on and on and George found himself utterly amazed. Why had Professor Binns not started there? Maybe he had, George said to himself, and I just never noticed.
"And so. that's the beginning of the beginning. We'll carry on next class, take notes and such but not too much because I only give you notes enough to do well on your exam. You can take the rest of the period to do whatever; I need to prepare for my next class."
George huffed a breath out and sat, as though he'd just woken up from an early morning nap or something of the sort. In a way he wasn't really all that amazed that any of that had happened, but he was still rather baffled by this 'Deeper magic' sort of thing she had mentioned. It wrestled his conscious for a few minutes and when Alicia nudged him in the arm, he found he'd been starring at the shiny white object that sat on the professor's desk.
"Are you feeling alright?" Alicia asked him. George blinked and thought for a second.
"Uh.. oh, yeah. Great," he smiled. Maybe this class wasn't going to be so horrible after all.
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"I can't believe all that stuff Professor Magness told us today," Alicia commented at lunch time. George nodded.
"Crazy," was all he could say without little chucks of chewed turkey flying out of his mouth.
"So... everyone have a good day?" Alicia addressed everyone else. The rest of the group exchanged glances as Alicia innocently poured herself a glass of milk.
"I assume you meant to say 'how was first hour?'" Katie asked. Alicia paused, assumed an annoyed little smile and nodded, glaring at Katie.
"I suppose so..." she said, nodding her head slightly. Her lips formed a rather odd smile and George swallowed his food. 'The Wrath of Alicia' George though, shuddering mentally.
"Well apparently I'm going to loose my voice soon," Lee said, his voice crackling slightly. Katie giggled, but everyone else starred at them.
Angelina spoke first: "Come again?"
"Our Divination teacher... she's crazy! She said I was going to loose my voice soon--"
"And I'm going to take up a sport I never thought I would," Katie proclaimed, saying it as though it were important, but she had a sly look on her face.
"Fred?" Alicia addressed Fred, who was being unusually quiet, though unlike Breakfast, he was actually paying attention.
"It was OK I guess. I mean, at least I have someone in the class with me," Fred winked a Angelina and put his arm around her. Angelina put down her goblet, smacked her lips together, and slowly turned her head to look at Fred. Her eyebrows were raised and her face serious. There were no need for words, Fred got the picture and recoiled his arm, looking rather afraid of Angelina. She instantly started giggling.
"I'm just kidding!" she said, putting her head on his shoulder. George smiled, noticing the awkward way Fred sat, the expression on his face was priceless; a mix between confusion and utter joy.
"So what do we have next?" Fred said, emphasizing the word 'we'. At that moment, they all looked at their schedules and together said "Potions" out loud. They all chuckled little and then groaned as they realized the word they had synchronized.
"Well at least we're all together! I mean, mischief will soon insure, right?" Lee pointed out.
"And you know the best part of mischief making?" Fred asked.
"Seeing your brilliance unfold," George finished.
"Oh joy," Katie remarked ruefully.
George sighed and held his tongue, continuing on his food quest. It wasn't worth picking a fight with Katie, the girls would take her side and there would be some sort of small civil war between the six of them and George would probably end up having to say sorry. The other boys, Fred and Lee, would probably have to apologize too because they would have taken George's side. He knew the routine a little too well and didn't want to go through with it until absolutely necessary.
Lunch was nearly over and George had just come back out from under the table to find Alicia smiling at him. He smiled back cautiously back at her and noticed that she wasn't looking at him anymore, she was looking over his shoulder, seemingly annoyed that he was in her way of something. He jokingly moved in front of her view, wherever she tried to look. She really did look at him then, glaring evilly and threw her napkin at him angrily.
"Stop that!"
George was taken aback, and turned to look over his shoulder at what was so important that she'd had to watch. Nothing there.
"What were you looking at?" he turned around to ask her but found the girls had already left. His gaze followed them as they walked over to the big oak doors leading out into the main hall. But they were stopped by a certain someone as they reached them. George watched, eyes bugging out of his head, as Cedric Diggory, standing a foot taller than any of them, even Angelina, greeted them. Envy surged through his veins as Alicia giggled, and covered her mouth, twisting a strand of hair around her finger.
"Git," he heard someone say. Bringing his attention back to the table before him, he noticed Fred and Lee were both watching the scene too.
"I know, right?"
"Really is an idiot."
"They just think he's good looking."
"Doesn't even have a sense of humor."
"Cause he's too stupid to put a joke together."
George didn't feel so envious as he rose and they kept pelting poor Diggory with insults behind his back, making their way to the dungeons. By the end of the trip, the twins and Lee were laughing richly, falling over each other and quickly taking their seats before Snape could deduct any points from Gryffindor before the real fun would begin.
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Right then. well. I've changed a lot of this chapter, it just had a lot of grammatical errors and loose ends and spelling etc. but. yeah. Hehe! Alright, sorry I haven't written in a while, you can flog me later. *grumbles*Filch. ah. anyways, I'm redoing this story. I dunno how long this'll be, it's one of my favorites. I just.. haven't had the muse to finish it. Plus the night of the ah. computer death I met this really sweet and very attractive guy. Yea, we ended up going out about a month or so later and then on our 4 month anniversary he broke up with me because we never saw eachother and he might have cheated on me. Really considerate of him, eh? So, yea I've been coping with that and a whole bunch of other CRAP. *deep breath* Right, on to the next chapter!!
OOOOH! AND PS. before you decide to review me, please just. yea, don't tell me how to write my story. I don't mind you asking me to hurry it up or suggestion stuff but PLEASE. you blow out my writer's flame when you do that. I love you all so much.