Chapter 21: The Seventh Years

I had my seventh years for fifth period, which meant I had lots of time to get worked up ahead of time. I knew I shouldn't be stressed out. I knew that as a teacher, I should feel confident and in control, but I didn't. I was nervous. I honestly didn't know whether Donnor Dalman would show up to class today, but if he did, I knew he was going to go out of my way to make things difficult, just as he had in detention.

Skye tried reassuring me at lunch, but even all her comforting words didn't assuage my trepidation. I knew I was the teacher and he was the student. I knew that I had the power and the authority. I knew that I could always take away house points or assign detention if he acted out. I knew Headmaster Slinkhard would back me up on any decision I made. But I was still nervous. And though I didn't mention it to Skye, my conversation with Tessa Flitwick that morning hadn't made me feel any better.

I was in my office when the students began filing into the classroom. I'd spent the last hour going over my lesson plan, to make sure that I knew exactly what I wanted to say and cover during the one-hour period. I knew that if he was present, Donnor would likely try to throw me off, so I needed to be prepared.

I checked the time and saw that there were only a couple of minutes left before the start of class. Curiously, I peeked out the small crack between my office door and the wall, attempting to spy on my class just a little.

It looked like everyone was following my wand ban. The basket that was now positioned at the doorway to my class was full of the wooden sticks. The seventh years milled about in the room, chatting with each other in the few minutes they had left before the lesson began. And as I continued to watch them all, I saw Donnor Dalman step into the classroom.

The first thing he noticed was the basket of wands by the door. He looked down on it, an unhappy expression on his face. I'd expected a degree of resistance, and I was immensely glad that I wasn't actually in the room while this happened. It would have been immensely uncomfortable to have to have this face off with him all over again.

He stared at the wand basket longer than any other student, clearly waging a war within himself. I could see the conflict inside, and a part of me hoped that he just turned around and walked away. But then he produced his wand, carefully placed it in the basket, and took his seat.

I pulled away from my position of spying and took a few deep breaths. So Donnor Dalman would be staying in my class. I could handle this. It would be fine. One entitled seventeen-year-old wizard wasn't going to be my downfall. I wouldn't let it. And whatever happened here, I knew I could always vent about it to my friends later if I needed to, and they would listen with open and empathetic ears.

I checked the time again and knew that I needed to start class now unless I wanted to become known not just as the muggle professor, but the tardy muggle professor. So, steeling myself, I opened the door separating my office from the classroom and stepped up behind my desk at the front.

"Alright," I began, immediately regretting my weak opening. I needed to sound more confident, more in control. "Now that we've been acquainted and we've gone over the classroom policies, I want to go over the curriculum we're going to be covering this term."

I paused for just a moment, glancing over the room to ascertain the mood. So far, everyone seemed attentive, so I continued.

"Now, I know Professor Carborough had his way of teaching, but I'm going to be doing things differently this year," I declared.

There was a cough from the back of the room, and I was pretty sure I heard someone mutter 'no kidding', but I couldn't identify the culprit, so I decided to ignore the comment and continue.

"I intend to bring a semblance of structure to this subject. Structure that I believe has been lacking thus far. As such, each of my classes will be focusing on one major theme for the duration of the year which will encompass a wide variety of topics. For this class, that theme will be muggle beliefs and cosmology."

A hand went up at the back of the room. It belonged to a girl with a blue and bronze tie.

"Yes Miss…?" I acknowledged her while blanking on her name. In my defence, I had a lot of names to learn.

"Mara Taylor," she said as she lowered her hand. "I was just wondering whether you were going to take attendance today."

I mentally chastised myself for forgetting such an important thing. I'd been so distracted by Donnor Dalman and my worries that he was going to cause a disturbance that I'd completely forgotten. But I couldn't admit that in front of my students.

"Actually Miss Taylor," I said, "I won't be taking attendance every class. We only have an hour together, and that isn't vey much time. I want to make sure that we maximize your learning."

"But how will you keep track of those of us who aren't coming to class?" she insisted. "What if someone decides to skive off and spend the period sunbathing on the grounds?"

From the way that she said it, I suspected that she wasn't actually concerned about attendance, but more interested in being an annoyance. She wanted to distract me, throw me off. I wasn't about to let that happen.

"You're all of age as I understand it," I said with a shrug. "You're taking this class by choice. Nobody's forcing you to be here. If you'd rather spend the period sunbathing, then go right ahead. But when you fail your exam at the end of the year, I don't want to hear any complaining."

This answer seemingly wasn't what Mara Taylor had expected. She looked a little put out that I hadn't let her rile me up at all, or that I hadn't gotten flustered over forgetting something.

"Now, if we can get back to the topic at hand," I said, refocusing the class' attention. "Muggle beliefs and cosmology. This year we are going to talk about muggle belief systems and ways of looking at the world. We're going to talk about how they formulate questions and answers about the world that we live in, where it came from, and why it is the way that it is. We're going to talk about how they rationalize their lack of magic despite living in a world that's full of it. We're going to look at the overlap between the magical and non-magical worlds. And finally, we're going to look at ways that the magical and nonmagical worlds actually aren't as separate as you may think."

Another hand went up and I silently cursed myself for forgetting to do the attendance. Somehow the only name I actually remembered in this entire room was Donnor Dalman's, and he was being surprisingly quiet, sitting at his desk with his arms folded across his chest and a small smirk playing across his lips.

"Go ahead Mr…?"

"Anthony Gesell," the student said. I noted that he too wore a blue and bronze tie, just like Mara Taylor and just like Donnor Dalman. "I just wanted to ask… I mean I understand why you're qualified to teach us about staplers and binders and ballpoint pens. I even understand why you might be qualified to teach us about electricity and the nature of muggle politics. But what qualifies you to talk about the intersection of the magical and nonmagical communities? Didn't you just learn that we existed a little over a month ago?"

"Thank you for the question," I said, refusing to be rattled by it. I couldn't say I hadn't been expecting such an inquiry, especially from my seventh years, to whom I'd be teaching the most challenging curriculum this year. But the question felt a lot more like a challenge with Donnor Dalman watching me the way that he was. "And I want to start off by saying that I do not think that I know more about the magical community than any of you do. I would never try to claim anything of the sort. But I do know a lot more about the muggle community than you all do. And I'm hoping that together, we can bridge that gap together."

I was definitely counting on my seventh years to be more accommodating of my lack of knowledge of their world. When I'd put together the curriculum, I'd figured that as the oldest and most mature of my students, we could have more of a back and forth type learning environment, rather than me standing at the front of the room and lecturing them for an hour twice a week. Of course, if they didn't cooperate, I might have to rethink my plan.

Another student raised her hand and I braced myself as I called on her.

"Maisie Brown," she identified herself. "I just want to say that I think that's a really cool approach. And really, isn't the whole point of this class to be able to have dialogue between magical and nonmagical people? For us all to be able to go into the nonmagical community and maintain the International Statute of Secrecy? What better way to learn to do that than by learning from and talking to an actual muggle? I'm really excited to see what you do with this class, Professor Harris. And I'm really excited to learn what you have to teach."

This time, I had to resist the urge to run over and hug the student.

"Thank you for saying that Miss Brown," I said, noting that her tie was the yellow and black of Hufflepuff. "I appreciate your support." I made sure to smile in her direction.

Before I could continue my lesson, another hand went up.

"Christina Underwood," the girl in the scarlet and gold tie identified herself even before I had time to call on her. "I just had a quick question about the curriculum."

"Alright," I nodded, curious to see what she had to say.

"Professor Carborough's curriculum was quite different from yours," the girl began. "But he did have a structure, and it was designed so that by the time we sit our N.E.W.T.s at the end of the year, we'd have all the necessary information. I'm just worried that with you changing the structure so suddenly, that it might result in gaps in our knowledge."

This was actually a fair question, and one that I was prepared to answer.

"I've looked over examples of N.E.W.T. exams, and I've compared that to the content that you've learned from Professor Carborough thus far. I am confident that when you go to sit your N.E.W.T.s, you'll have all the knowledge that you'll need. Furthermore, I feel confident that even beyond your N.E.W.T.s, my method of teaching will prepare you even better for real practical applications of this subject outside of school. One of my goals is of course to get you all through your exams. But another one of my goals is to make you all comfortable enough to go out into the muggle world with confidence."

I could see that my answer was well received when many of my students began to nod their heads. I could already start to feel myself starting to relax. This class was going much better than I'd anticipated, and I was actually finding that I was enjoying myself. Teaching thirteen-year-olds about school supplies was fun and all, but this was a class of adults, at least as far as wizarding standards went. I could talk to them on more equal terms.

I was about to launch back into my speech when another hand went up. My heart immediately sunk when I saw who it was attached to.

"Mr. Dalman?" I called on him out of obligation. I couldn't very well ignore his hand when I'd allowed so many others to pose questions.

"What qualifies you to speak on behalf of the entire muggle community?" he demanded. His posture was relaxed. His arms remained crossed in front of him, in a defensive position. He leaned back in his chair as if inviting me to fight him. But I wasn't going to rise to the challenge. I wasn't going to let Donnor Dalman be my undoing.

"Absolutely nothing," I declared, much to the entire class' surprise. Even Donnor looked a little caught off guard by my answer. He'd probably been expecting me to defend my credentials, or feed him a line about talking to the Headmaster. But if I wanted to develop an open and honest dialogue with my seventh-year students, then I needed to start now.

"Then what am I doing in this class?" Donnor demanded.

"I am just a regular person," I said. "I didn't have an extraordinary childhood. I was raised by two parents in a middle-class home. I went to the local public schools, and then when the time came, I spent four years in university and received a bachelor's degree in anthropology. I stumbled across this job by accident, and I suspect that I was hired because nobody else was applying for the position."

"But that doesn't mean you can't learn anything from me," I continued. "I may not be anyone special, but I think that's what makes me an ideal candidate for this job. I'm as average as you can get. I don't speak for all muggles. I'm not their leader. I don't have anything extra to offer like I'm sure many other people would. But I'm a perfect example of the everyday person. I'm the person that you're going to run in to on the street. I'm the person you're going to need to hide your magic from. I am your ultimate test."

There was a highly charged moment where nobody moved. I'd finished my speech and the ball was back in Donnor's court now. The rest of the class could sense it too, and they looked back and forth from me to him, waiting to see how he reacted.

His gaze pierced me in the most uncomfortable way, but I refused to look away. This was the moment. This was when I either earned his respect, or lost him forever. I waited. And waited. And waited.

And then Donnor inclined his head and uncrossed his arms.

"Fair enough," he said.

I let out a sigh of relief. Though it wouldn't seem like much to an onlooker, those two words spoke volumes. And I was mostly thankful that I wasn't about to spend my entire year here fighting with him.

"Any other questions?" I asked.

There weren't. And so, I continued my lesson.