Chapter Two: The New Defense Professor:
Harry Potter was not having a good start to his fifth year at Hogwarts. First he was treated like a leper by even his own house-mates, well all but Neville who was sitting by him and taking a stand for the first time in his life. Fred and George sat by him as did Ginny and interestingly Fay Dunbar. Everyone else believed the lies (well okay Ron and Hermione did not but he was still a bit upset with them) and steered clear of him, he saw Draco smirking and wanted to punch that smirk of the white-blond haired boys face. Harry looked like he had not had a good nights rest in a long time, which was true, his black hair was more unruly than ever, his green eyes dull and he was far more pale than normal. His friends looked fine, Hermione had her bushy brown hair tied back from her face her brown eyes bright from good rest. Ron, Fred and George with their short flaming red hair and bright blue eyes, and Ginny, well she looked quite nice with her long flaming red hair, somewhat round face with a sprinkling of freckles on her nose and brown eyes, Harry had to shake away those thoughts of his best mates sister.
He looked up at the staff table and was surprised not to see Hagrid. All the others were there, sour Severus Snape with his long greasy black hair, hooked nose, black eyes and thin lipped mouth in a sallow face, all he wore was black and he was evil as far as Harry was concerned. There was Pomona Sprout with a pump figure clad in brown robes, a merry face with twinkling brown eyes, her gray hair barely contained by her witches hat. Flitwick was clad in his suit and master's robes, black hair and mustache neat as ever, if Harry did not know better he would have thought him a human dwarf, he had all the features. There was Trelawney in her shawls and bangles over her flowing robes and oversized glasses. Sinstra sat prim and proper clad in robes of blue and Dumbledore was in his trademark robes of purple with moons and stars among them. The man next to Snape was interesting to Harry, he looked Japanese, was he from Japan? No he had to be English, Su Li looked Chinese but was as English as he was. Still he had to ask.
"Hermione who is that by Snape?" Harry asked.
"That is professor Alvin Stone, he is our defense professor this year, it was in the paper." Hermione said. "He is American."
"Harry is not reading the Daily Prophet Hermione, they side with murderers, rapist and thieves." Ron said getting Harry to stare at him, his anger turning to shock then a bit of shame, "mate I swore I would stick by you, you are mental but you do not lie, least I can do after what I did last year."
"It was in the Quibbler." Ginny said, "more truth in that than the Prophet. Luna's dad runs it."
"Luna, the girl that can see the winged horses like me?" Harry asked.
"Theserals, and yes, that is right." Ginny said.
"Is he from Ilvermorny?" Hermione asked.
"No Yarrow." Ginny replied, "he is part of the progressives."
"Who are the progressives?" Ron asked his sister.
Before she could continue McGonagall came in with the tiny first years trailing after her. She was tall, thin with her black hair tied back from her face in a bun and clad in robes of emerald green. The sorting got underway and Harry did not much like the song. Finally the sorting was done and Harry was able to tuck into his food and eat well. He looked up at the staff table, he knew very little about America. Really only what was taught in school, how they broke with England, helped out in WWII and had a civil rights movement that involved the murder of a peaceful man. He was not aware that there were Asians in America, he thought America had whites, blacks and west Indians but Asians? That was new for him, then again he had seen a map of America and saw it stretched a couple thousand miles from the Atlantic to the Pacific so maybe Asians did go to America. Finally dinner was over and Dumbledore stood to speak.
"Welcome to another year, we mourn the loss of Cedric Diggory and I will state again that Voldemort is back, no hiding can stop that. Now I would like to introduce our new defense instructor all the way from America, professor Alvin Stone. Professor Stone."
"Thank you." Alvin said standing, "students, it is an honor to be here at Hogwarts, I have read all about the greatness that is Hogwarts and I can say in the two weeks I have been here that those books do not do justice to the wonders that are Hogwarts."
"Windbag." Ron muttered getting Hermione to dig an elbow into his side.
"I am not here for political reasons, even if I am a progressive back home, I am here to teach defense. I am very good at it, I have my masteries in defense and defense against the dark arts which is very hard to do, only one other in this room has both and he is sitting right by me, might have poisoned my pumpkin juice." Here Alvin grinned at Snape who looked as if he wanted to murder him "no professor Snape is too honorable to do that, nice guy I like him."
"I am dead this year." Harry said, "He is going to hate me."
"Some of you will hate me, in fact I would be surprised if all of you did not by tomorrow night. We teach defense different in America, of all the core subjects it is the alpha. We have very good reasons, Scourers, dark lords and ladies, skinwalkers, stuff like that. Tomorrow you all will learn what we teach the first years in their first week and like I said most of you will hate me for it."
"What is he going to do?" Fred asked.
"Yea, has to be big." George replied.
"I already don't like him if he likes Snape." Ron said getting another elbow from Hermione.
"Thank you for letting me come to your school to teach, headmaster." Alvin said taking a seat.
Harry was sure he was going to hate professor Stone come tomorrow, probably already had a humiliation from Snape set up for him. Once dismissed he headed up to the dorms (having got the password from Ron) got ready for bed and went to bed with little hope of sleeping. Even his new defense books (two were for the whole school, one for his year) were not helping as he would have liked with the dreams. The books were a pleasant surprise, one was called The Mind And You, How To Tap Into Your Inner Strength by Marvin Gaye (not that one a totally different one), Avoidance, A Complete Guide To The Evils Of The Dark Arts by Sarah Green, Defense Against the Evils of the Dark Arts 5th Year, by Arthur Penn. Each was titled English addition and Harry wondered if that was because they were from America or another land. He read through the second chapter of the first book and then settled down trying to clear his mind for a good sleep.
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Far below him in what amounted to a three bedroom one bath apartment the Stone family was living. The children were in bed sleeping and Alvin was enjoying a cup of cocoa prepared by Randy. Mary was writing a letter while Alvin had just got a book down to read called The Rise and Tragic Fall of Detroit by Robert Stone, his father who had grown up in Detroit and left when he saw the jobs drying up and the violence coming in. Even mages there had turned to gangs and violence and the city was now cordoned off from the rest of the magical US, both Ilvermorny and progressives united on this as dark curses had taken over the city. It would be years before those were removed as someone had been stupid enough to release the curse of Azkaban on the place. It had been contained to one small building but the city still felt the effects to this day. Alvin had never been to Detroit and could not get in if he tried, magicals were banned from traveling in or out, and it made him sad that such a jewel of America had been reduced to such a state. There was a knock at the door and Randy answered it letting in one Severus Snape.
"I was hoping not to see your ugly face here tonight, what do you want?" Alvin asked Severus.
"To see if the poison I used tonight was working." Severus countered.
"You cannot poison my boss." Randy said, "I would stop you."
"Teach your house elf manners." Severus said forgetting Randy was not a slave.
"Teach yourself manners human pain." Randy said glaring at the wizard, "I am free, I work as a free elf with wages and a seven year contract, you forget I am not one of your slaves."
"Forgive me." Severus said giving a small nod of the head to the little elf.
"Maybe." Randy replied.
"Are all you Yanks this rude?" Severus said taking a seat and the cup of cocoa offered him.
"Just saying it like it is, you know where you stand." Mary said, "looking forward to the year?"
"No, you do realize the ministry is going to be watching you." Severus said. "If you were from Ilvermorny, less so, but from a progressive school?"
"I know, but they can't touch me as long as I stick to my contract, and I will, like glue." Alvin said a gleam in his eyes. "I was given full control over what I teach, though the students will probably hate me for it tomorrow, a few will try to curse me."
"You still have not told me what you are going to do, though you did have me brew all those calming draughts." Severus said, "is that how you teach, upset the children until they need a calming draught?"
"Some things do not get through to people without a major shock." Alvin replied, "that is why we teach the way we do, though we do have a few instances of people not doing what they should even after that. Never should have allowed the descendant of Ekirzdis into America. You know he started life as one Robert Rune?"
"No I was not aware of that." Severus said, "We don't know much of him here."
"Well, his grandson was sealed up and recovered twenty years ago and brought to Detroit, where he attempted to continue his grandfather's work. He was stopped but not before turning a mansion into a house of horrors Azkaban style. The city is now dying and might not recover, my father lived there and though it was in decline it had a real chance of rebounding but now may never do so." Alvin said.
"That is horrible." Severus replied.
"Yes, but we have seen worse in our history, the Scourers, the witch hunts, the magical civil war that made the non-magical look peaceful, it's why we teach the way we do to this day with defense and defense against the dark arts the highest priority." Alvin said, "The horrors our ancestors saw, well, we don't want that again."
"We are required when we turn seventeen to join a magical state militia, and swear to fight the true dark arts and never use them." Mary said, "it's how the progressives were able to break away from the Ilvermorny community. This may sound extreme but it works, aside for what happened in Detroit and the Skinwalkers, the nation is rather peaceful, though New Orleans does skate on the edge at times, still it is a really cool place to visit."
"I would not mind visiting." Severus said, "but well, you know I have practiced the dark arts."
"As long as you don't anymore you are welcome to come visit." Alvin said, "Who else would I get to beat up?"
"Oh you are funny, and I recall you getting knocked down not me." Severus said smiling.
It might seem strange for two Americans to befriend Severus Snape, but truth be told they had more in common with him than the other professors. He came from a working class family and so did not have the same airs, as the other professors. Oh they were nice and all but they still lived in a classed society, one that Severus still had a hard time getting a leg up in. If he was not such a genius who knew where he would be? He had used the dark arts, but honestly, he had not been really taught why that was a bad idea. He knew now and though Alvin suspected he was a spy in Voldemort's camp (this was not something he could prove) he believed him to be a good man. Besides it was fun to push buttons on Severus and get a reaction out of him, he needed to get steam off as he had to show a fully different side to his students. Alvin would do the same, and the children would learn he was one to be respected. This school year was definitely looking up for him.
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So yea Harry's reaction to Alvin is based on something I do not let a dear friend live down. She was not aware how diverse American's were and was shocked that there are huge American with Asian ancestry communities in America. Harry probably was raised to believe that Americans came in three varieties to put it mildly, white, black and American Indian. I am not painting Harry as racist, just misinformed.
Yes, there are two American communities, it would make since in our nation. Not trying to get down on JKR here but people like freedom here, and I am sure with our civil war that would have led to everyone and I mean everyone having to swear loyalty to one government only. There would legally be no way the MACUSA would have much legal power at all over the whole of America. They would be like a state government, but Federal law would rule supreme over them (which still has states and the federal government arguing to this day over who can do what) most of the time. The 13th and 14th amendments to our constitution would not allow slavery or discrimination (though it is very hard to keep the latter from happening) and every person is a citizen. Enter the progressives and their rapid climb, which would have happened.
As for Alvin and Severus being friends, they are the same age born the same year, as is Mary. Who do you think Alvin is going to want to make friends with? Someone his own age, and I do believe Severus needs friends. I do not see him as a bad man (he was actually really selfless in the end, big hint he was a potions master), he has a sarcastic wit that many of my friends do not get (I have the same since of humor) and so a lot of what he says is funny to me. How else do you expect him to keep his sanity teaching teens that don't take his classes as seriously as they should? At first Severus was in spy mode with the Stones, but he is warming up to them and might become a friend of Alvin's, right now they are on friendly terms, well Severus is friendly, Alvin already sees him as a friend.
As for Detroit, it was once a great city, and millions lived there and in the suburbs. That all changed in the late sixties, a combination of having a one industry town, rampant crime rate, greedy union bosses, city miss-management that led any new companies to flee and Detroit is a rotted hulk that shows what can happen when industry leaves and no-one does anything to save the city left behind. Detroit was no village, it was a vibrant city teaming with factories and culture, the music that came out of that city is on my ipod right now, half a century after that music came out. I still hold out hope that it can rise from the ashes (literally as the city has been burned many times since 1968). And if you ask, no I am not from Detroit or even close, I am from Colorado.
Anyway do review please!