Terry Boot and Professor Binns's Extra Credit Assignment

Chapter 3: Research

As soon as he had free time, Terry went to the library and started looking for books about the founders. He soon found that he had bitten off more than he could chew. There were so many books on this subject, that he was surprised Binns had ever chosen it as an assignment. Why wouldn't he have chosen to have them write about something hideous like the development of wanded magic, on which there probably weren't five books to site.

However, once he started going over his material, he realized that there was going to be a problem. Even though there were many books, none of them were in agreement, even about basics such as when they died or where they came from. After looking at it he decided that this was going to be near impossible to come up with a historically accurate account. The best he could do was to write about what the conflicts in the literature were, and there implications. But, if he did that, he would not have been able to get the 16 people he needed to read it to even try. It had to be a narrative, and it had to be accurate enough to satisfy Binns.

He was considering giving up, but his actual grade in History of Magic was suffering. Professor Binns was either being harder on him than he had in previous years, or he was writing worse essays. His analysis of the The Influences of the Advances in Astronomy and Nautical Magics on Trade in the 1400's had only gotten a B, and his report on the personalities leading the first Goblin revolution had actually gotten a C-. He might actually need this extra credit, after all. Everyone in Ravenclaw had been watching his grade intensely, and the only way he could still live in peace was to continue working on the extra credit, giving them hope.

Terry had come up with a way to classify the works written about the founders. The first, and by far the largest, was the group that Terry called the 'Heroic Godric'works. These always portrayed Godric as the natural leader of the original school, with Rowena and Helga mostly in the background supporting Gryffindor against an evil Salazar. The problem was that these never agreed with others in the group in details. In addition, most of these had been written recently, with the largest crop dating from the recent war against Voldemort. He could easily have written something based on this model forgetting about the need for accuracy, but the problem was three Slytherins and Professor Snape had to read it, and he wasn't sure he could live through that experience.

Terry called the second group the 'Justified Salazar'. This one tended to scare him, actually. It usually involved Salazar as a solitary figure, fighting for what was right in the wizarding world, ridding it of Muggle pollution and Muggle threat, against three misguided idiots. However, that wasn't always so. Sometimes Rowena sided with him, but not completely. In these, Helga was usually considered Muggle-born, and Godric was an egotistical jerk. He really doubted these accounts told the true, or at least complete, story. They did agree with all the 'Heroic Godrics' in one point though- Slytherin left the school after a disagreement with Godric, and they met again in a battle where Salazar was killed.

The third group, which he disliked even more than the 'Justified Salazar' was the 'Whorish Ravenclaw' (but considering his house, it wasn't surprising). In these, Rowena was sleeping with both Godric and Salazar (and sometimes Helga) and was forced to choose between her lovers. She always chose Godric in the end, but it didn't sit well.

He put everything else in the miscellaneous category. These jumped around everywhere, from a 'Heroic Rowena', to an 'Evil Helga' and even a story where the founders were the split personalities of a single person. None of these were helping him to come up with a coherent picture of the schools founding. He had spent a month trying to get this in order, and he felt that he was no closer to finding a good source, when he overheard Professor Snape talking with Professor Trelawny.

"You know Severus, I always have trouble remembering the students' names. Of course, I can't spend too much time with them, but it is absolutely necessary for the next lesson on genealogical fortune telling with the seventh years, that I know."

"Why don't you try the register, Sybill. It has every student ever admitted to Hogwarts listed, and can help you not only review the names, but it will give you a good idea of many students genealogies," Professor Snape said.

"Oh, I never thought of that," she said, walking away rather quickly. Professor Snape let out a sigh and rolled his eyes. Terry, however, had a similar feeling of inspiration. If he knew who the first students were, he would be able to better tell who was telling the truth, and in all likelihood one or two would have written their own books about the founding.

***

The following day, Terry was seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Three of the original students had actually written books, and what was more,they agreed with eachother. In addition, one of the later 'Justified Slytherins' agreed with the specifics if not the interpretation. He had four sources, and he was unsure if the register itself would qualify as a source, which would make it possible to actually start the paper. Suddenly, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around suddenly and saw Hermione Granger, closely followed by Ginny Weasley. Terry blushed.

"Hi, Terry. How are you?" Hermione said.

"Oh..uh, hi. I'm fine, and you?" Terry replied.

"Fine, fine. What are you working on? It doesn't look like any of our homework," Hermione said, peering at the stack of books.

"Oh just extra credit for Binns." Terry said.

"Binns is offering extra credit?" Hermione asked excitedly.

Terry, quickly realizing his mistake, sought to cover it up. "Oh, you wouldn't want to bother. It really is nearly impossible, and I've almost given up on it many times."

"Oh, so let me know how it goes then. I might consider doing it later. Right now, actually, I'm just trying to stay afloat in Potions," Hermione said.

Terry was relieved. "When I'm done, maybe you could read it and give me your response, you too Ginny."

"Why, we would love too," Ginny said, without giving Hermione time to consider the matter. "Hermione, what was it you were going to show me... a book about freckle-removing spells..." and the two girls left.

"Hmph...she definitely does need those freckle-removing spells," said a voice behind him. Terry turned to see the Grey Lady sitting across for him.

"Actually, I find her freckles rather...What were you doing listening to my conversations?"

"I was just checking to see how you were doing with your extra credit," she said, pouting.

"Fine. It was hard, but I finally found four good sources. I just need one more," Terry responded.

"What is it about?" she asked.

"I have to write a 20 page paper or narrative of the founders," he said tiredly.

"Why don't you try the plain, brown book on the bottom shelf of the last column of the fifth row? It might be helpful," she said, then walked away through the nearest bookshelf.

Terry shook his head, then decided to check out the book. Couldn't hurt. When he bent down, and read the first page he was stunned. It said:

August 19, 1038 AD

Hello diary. My name is Helga Hufflepuff...



Disclaimer: You know the deal, a lot of this belongs to JKR