Chapter 24: Football

The next three weeks passed rather smoothly. My classes were going well, my students were listening to me, I'd made it clear to the school that my being a muggle didn't make me any less of an authority figure, and my old life was starting to feel like the dream and this my reality. I didn't miss my phone anymore, I rarely found myself wishing for a TV or computer to binge-watch television shows. In fact, without my devices, I was forced to spend more time with my friends and out and about in the castle and for once I really felt like I was a part of something.

Cam and Skye had gone on a few more dates since the one I'd accidentally almost crashed in Hogsmeade. Alex knew they were dating as well, which was good because it was always uncomfortable having to keep things secret, especially when you see a person every day. Alex and I remained very good friends, and every now and then I wondered if maybe we were moving towards something more, but nothing had happened yet. And I was afraid to say anything, because if I was wrong, it would make things so awkward for the next nine months until school let out and my contract was up.

As October descended upon Hogwarts castle, I began to transition my classes into new topics. In my seventh-year class, I began a unit on various muggle religions around the world. My sixth years were learning about muggle medicines. For my fifth years, we followed up our discussion of electricity and power with a study of various types of energy and a discussion about renewable vs. non-renewable resources. I was preparing them for a conversation about the concept of climate change, which I suspected would be a controversial topic. As for my fourth years, they were about to learn all about the muggle postage system.

But it was my third years I was most excited about. According to the curriculum I'd created back in August, they were scheduled to learn about muggle sports, like football and basketball. But after weeks of watching the various house quidditch teams practicing down on the pitch with Skye, I'd gotten to thinking that a more experiential learning might be in order. After all, what better way to teach my students about football than to have them play it?

The supplies were easy enough to come by. Skye found the materials necessary for constructing some crude nets in one of her storage spaces and with the help of Headmaster Slinkhard, I placed a special order for the actual foot ball using my budget. I felt it was best to get a proper foot ball. It wasn't like they were that expensive in the grand scheme of things.

I had my third-year class first thing in the morning on Mondays and Wednesdays. I decided that it would be best to have this lesson take place on a Monday, since I wouldn't have to supervise breakfast and would have time to get things set up outside. A tour of the grounds the previous afternoon had allowed me to locate the perfect location to set up my makeshift football field. I placed the nets the appropriate distance apart, and used a couple of quaffles I'd borrowed from Skye and had her enchant to be a neon orange color as markers of center field.

I'd instructed my third years to gather in the entrance courtyard that morning instead of coming to class so as not to waste any time. I hadn't told them what I had in store, nor did anyone besides Skye and Headmaster Slinkhard know the specifics of my plans, so when I arrived to retrieve them, they were all curious and excited, some of them a little nervous as well.

"Good morning everyone," I greeted them, gathering them all together in a group. "Now we're going to be doing something a little different today. Do you all remember last class when we talked about the sport muggles refer to as football?"

Most of the class nodded. I figured even if some of them didn't remember the specifics, this lesson would help them to grasp the important points.

"Well, follow me," I instructed, leading them out of the courtyard, onto the grounds, and around the castle to the flat bit I'd chosen for my football field.

When we came within view of the field and the nets, one of my students gasped.

"Are we – do we get to actually play?" Sarah Clarke exclaimed.

Excited murmurs broke out amongst the class and I smiled to myself, happy to have come up with such an ingenious lesson.

I had the students gather around for a quick refresher on some of the main rules before splitting them into teams. There were nineteen students in the class, so I split them into two teams of nine, leaving one to be the referee.

"I'll be keeper – er, goalie!" John Shepard volunteered, running to stand in front of one of the nets.

The rest of the students quickly split themselves up into offense and defense, while Hunter Abner took the other position of goalie. Normally a team would have had eleven players on each side, but I decided that for the purposes of this lesson, we didn't need to worry about that. This was more to give the students a feel for how the game worked.

I handed the football to Kelsey Wickman, who was currently filling the role of referee, and she strode out onto the field and placed it on the grass between the two teams, lining it up with the neon orange quaffles on either end of the field. She stepped back, and then counted down from three to signify the start of the game.

The first few minutes were hilarious. The thirteen-year-old witches and wizards had been overconfident in their ability to play the muggle game that they hadn't considered that most of them had never kicked a ball before. Almost all the students that were playing offense ran for the ball at the same time, many of them kicking out their feet, but instead of kicking the ball, they ended up running into each other and a few of them fell to the ground.

I had to stifle my laughter, aware that this was still a lesson.

"Alright, let's try that again," I ordered as they picked themselves back up.

The second attempt went better, but they still looked like a bunch of five-year-old children playing football for the first time. Many of them would get frustrated and pick the ball up with their hands, causing Kelsey to scream 'foul' at the top of her lungs smugly. There was also a great deal of running after the ball that had to happen due to the fact that the students all had terrible kicking aim. But I could tell that they were having fun, and every now and then I would call a short pause to the game to do a little bit of teaching and have them rotate positions so that they could all get a feel for different parts of the game.

About halfway through the hour, I realized that we had an audience. Though most students were in class at the moment, some of the sixth and seventh years had free periods, and a few of the teachers did as well. There were some figures leaning out of castle windows, watching with interest as my third years ran around chasing a black and white ball, and a few even ventured out of the castle, looking on from the sidelines. At one point, I sensed someone near me, and I looked over to find Skye looking on with interest.

"So, this is football?" she asked. I'd explained bits of the game to her when I'd asked her to build the nets, mostly so she would understand what it was that I wanted.

I nodded. "They're actually doing pretty well for their first time playing," I added. "I'm impressed."

"They seem like they're having fun," Skye said. "Who would have thought kicking a ball around on the ground could be so interesting."

I laughed. As fun as I was sure quidditch was, it was extremely complicated, with so many moving parts. "Sometimes there's beauty in simplicity," I said.

When we reached the end of the hour, my students complained that they didn't want to stop playing.

"But Professor Harris," Sarah Clarke complained. "We're tied. We have to see who wins."

"I'm sorry, but our time is over," I said, disappointed that I had to put an end to the game, but also happy that the students had enjoyed it so much. "You have a class to get to. Transfiguration, isn't it? You don't want to keep Professor Tonks waiting."

There was a collective sigh as the third years began to put their outer robes back on – they'd taken them off towards the beginning of the game after quickly discovering that it was difficult to run with fabric flapping around their feet.

"Can we play again on Wednesday?" Kelsey Wickman asked hopefully.

I shook my head. "Sorry," I said. "But we can't spend all our lessons like this. Sometimes we have to learn."

"But we were learning!" Sarah Clarke protested. "This was way more educational than just learning the theory of the sport. Now I really feel like I understand it."

"I'll tell you what," I said, looking to Skye and hoping that she would be on board with my plan. "For now, we'll leave the football nets up, and I'm going to give the football to Madam Volant. If anyone wants to play during free time, just pop down to the quidditch pitch to get the football and you're more than welcome to use the field."

Skye nodded her consent. "I'll leave the football in the broom shed with the quidditch supplies," she informed the students. "It'll be there for the borrowing."

"Just keep in mind we only have the one, so be responsible with it," I added.

The students all nodded seriously and I trusted that they wouldn't lose or steal the ball.

I didn't have any more classes that morning, so I waited with Skye as we ensured that the third years all returned to the castle and began to head towards their next class, and then joined her as she headed down to the quidditch pitch to stow the football in the broom shed.

"That was some lesson," she commented.

"I believe in an experiential approach," I declared. "Isn't the whole point of muggle studies to understand muggle life? What better way than to experience it?"

Skye nodded. "It's definitely a different approach than we'd had before. Professor Carborough never did anything like that."

I scoffed. "I bet Professor Carborough didn't even know how to play football."

Skye laughed. "You're probably right about that," she agreed.

I had one more class that day: fifth years during fifth period. We were supposed to have a lesson about geothermal heating systems, but before I could even start the lesson, Kate Sparks was inquiring about my morning lesson with the third years.

"Do we get to play football too?" she asked hopefully.

Sadly, I shook my head. "I'm sorry," I said. "But you've already covered muggle sports with Professor Carborough and I need to teach you about energy sources to prepare you for your O.W.L.s." I did wish I had the time to spare to take them down to the football field, but there was too much material to cover.

"But Professor Carborough never let us actually play," Philip Longman insisted. "He just gave us a list of rules to memorize."

"I promise I'll try to think of some fun things that we can do this year that are related to the topics you're learning," I said. "But we don't have time to go back over topics you've already learned."

I meant it too. After the success I'd had with my third years that morning, I was determined to keep coming up with creative lessons for all my students. Though lectures and book learning were essential components of most any subject, including the one I was teaching, I wanted that practical component there too. The best way to get my students to appreciate muggle culture was to experience it. There was no substitute for immersive learning.

After my fifth years, I didn't have any more classes to teach until the following day, but I did have a decent amount of work to get done, so I remained in my office throughout sixth period, grading essays that my seventh years had written about Buddhism. Even after sixth period was over, I continued to grade, hoping that I could return the essays the following afternoon since they were going to be handing in another round of assignments, this time about Jainism. I was nearing the end of the pile when Alex knocked on the doorframe.

"Hey," he said. "It's almost time for dinner. Don't forget you're supervising tonight."

"Right," I muttered, checking the time and noting that I wasn't going to be able to finish all the essays before dinner. I would have to leave the remaining few for the following morning. It wasn't as though I had any morning classes, so I'd have plenty of time then. "Yeah, coming."

I tidied my desk up just a bit and then followed Alex out into the hall, glad that he'd stopped by. If not, I might have completely lost track of time and missed my dinner shift, which I knew Tessa would have tried to use against me. Even though things had been running smoothly of late, I still got the feeling that she didn't want me around and that she was just waiting for me to slip up.

"I heard about your lesson this morning," Alex commented as we made our way towards the Grand Staircase. "Unfortunately, I was teaching, so I couldn't come out and watch."

"It went even better than I'd expected," I said enthusiastically. "They really seemed to enjoy it."

"I'd have to agree with that," he nodded. "I mean, if this afternoon is any indication – "

"This afternoon?" I frowned, confused. What had happened this afternoon?

"You haven't heard?" he asked in surprise. When I shook my head to indicate that I didn't know what he was talking about, he quickly changed our direction and led me down another corridor and to the end, where he pushed open a window. "Look!" he said, pointing towards the grounds.

We were on the side of the castle that overlooked the makeshift football field I'd created. We were up on the third floor, so I couldn't see what was going on in any great detail, but from what I could make out, there were at least a couple dozen students down below, some on the field kicking the ball around, and some on the sidelines cheering them on.

"What – ?" I could hardly believe what I was seeing. "Are those – ?"

Alex nodded. There were a couple of third years, some fourth years, even some fifth years all playing together. The game was sloppy, and I saw about ten different fouls occur in the few moments that I watched from above, but it didn't matter. What mattered was that there were witch and wizard teenagers down there playing football and having fun. They weren't using their wands, they weren't flying on brooms, they weren't dodging flying balls of death like on the quidditch pitch, and yet they were having fun.

"I can't believe it," I said. When I'd left the foot ball in Skye's possession, I'd figured a small group of third years might borrow it a few times until they got bored. I hadn't imagined such a large-scale event taking place, and I hadn't imagined so many students of different years participating. There were even students down there that weren't in any of my classes.

"You're really making a difference," Alex commented, pulling me away from the window and leading me back in the direction we'd come. We still had to get to the Great Hall before dinner started.

"I guess I am," I agreed.