The Houses Competition
Ravenclaw
Charms
Drabble
[Character] Bathilda Bagshot
764 words
"Did I ever tell you about the time I went head-to-head against Andrew Binns, Head of the Department of Magical Education, and Frederick Fortescue, Hogwarts' headmaster at the time?" Bathilda Bagshot asked Lily Potter while pouring the tea. The two ladies had just been discussing all the not-so-little problems of government that desperately needed fixing once the upstart, Tom Riddle Jr, was stopped. The young Mrs Potter had found it to be quite ironic that the world's greatest modern terrorist whose platform was based on blood superiority had actually been raised in the Muggle world and was, at best, a half-blood. More than that, however, the young woman had an excellent brain to pair with her Gryffindor courage and reminded Bathilda rather of herself.
Hence the latest topic.
"So as you might have guessed, Andrew Binns was a relative of one of Hogwarts' most dull educators and instrumental in his having been kept on after he died a few years before I started there. The textbook that had been in use under the esteemed history professor focused on the goblin wars due to some anti-goblin propaganda that was being pushed at the time, with Headmaster Frederick's full endorsement, I might add."
"Dear me. You mean the entire textbook was focused on those dreadful wars he drones on about?" Bathilda's guest interrupted, aghast at the very idea.
Bathilda couldn't help but chuckle. "I wonder if this next aspect will make it better or worse for you. Despite our rather dismal textbooks, the OWLs and NEWTs still required students to have a comprehensive understanding of magical Britain's history. I was the sole person in my year to pass either exam, and that was only through extensive self-study that my parents encouraged."
"If I've not said it before," Lily Potter exclaimed with feeling, "Thank you for all your efforts to improve our education. However did you convince the headmaster and head of the education department that change was necessary?"
"Why, trickery of course! After graduation, I had gone off and spent a good decade creating the damn textbook, but neither Binns nor Fortescue would even sit down with me to contemplate a change in pace. So I called up my inner prankster."
Outside, Lily's husband could be seen doing yard work. Bathilda smirked. "I doubt it'll come as much surprise to you to know that your husband comes from a long line of pranksters. James' great-uncle went to school with my much younger half-sister. As soon as he found out that I was trying to get one up on the headmaster for the horrible history program, he started smuggling my version of the book in, under the guise of the original, and swapped the two. That year, students made a note of which page numbers the ghost Binns would drone on about so that I could edit my book to look like it matched the current lectures."
"So that's why the chapter on Strides in Magical Healing was randomly interrupted with the Goblin Rebellion of 1530!"
Bathilda clapped. "Bravo! Bravo! I take it you're among the ones who actually paid attention to my book then. Good for you! Those who don't learn from history are bound to repeat it, you know! Anyways, purely as a method of rebellion, all of the house mates of my sister and her friend studied the book as well, with predictable results once exams came around. Andrew Binns and Frederick Fortesque made a point of inviting me to a meeting once the results were out, thinking that that would be the end of that. They didn't anticipate my having a list of all the students who had taken advantage of my textbook, a list that curiously matched perfectly with those who had passed their exams. Binns didn't honestly care so long as his relative was allowed to teach, and the headmaster capitulated without his support. The rest is, as they say, history, my dear."
"I just wish you still offered history tutorials when I was going to the school, Ms Bagshot. Why, I could listen to you all day." Lily Potter complemented as James came in for a drink.
"It looks like it's about time for us to head home. You will come over for supper this Friday, I hope?" the young woman offered.
"I wouldn't miss it for the world, dear. Not for the world." Bathilda watched as a careful hand rested on the young woman's abdomen. Unless she missed her mark, there would be an announcement from her neighbors sometime soon. Hopefully, the newest Potter would take after his mother.