Disclaimer: No, none of these characters are mine...they are J K
Rowling's...that statement it so getting annoying...
* * * * *
Hermione occupied the seat adjacent to Harry. Ron sat in front of them and looked back in their direction, first at Hermione and then at Harry with a perplexed expression on his face. Hermione and Harry then exchanged glances and shrugged off Ron's facial expression.
The room was filled with curiosity and anxiousness as the students patiently waited for the Muggle Studies teacher to arrive.
Hermione had a rather large book open on her desk and her fingers traced the text on the page as she absorbed each word her eyes caught. Harry slipped into neutral and stared into the empty space in front of him.
A few minutes passed and Hermione heard the door unlatch behind her. The tension hanging in the surrounding air became heavier as the man walked to the front of the room.
Hermione lifted her eyes off the page momentarily and observed the profile of the new teacher. He was lean and very tall. From the back of his head, all she could see was the fiery red hair and it seemed vaguely familiar. As he turned on his toes, his shoes squeaking against the cold, hard floor, freckles were present on his aged face. In that moment, she was aware of the familiarity of his face.
Hermione then turned her attention to Ron. He was crouched down low in his seat, as if he was hiding. Though she could only see the back of his head, she knew his face was glowing bright red. His ears had been a clear indication of that because they had almost disappeared when they began to camouflage with his hair. She felt really bad for him to have this sprung on him like this.
"Good morning class."
"Morning" the class mumbled. Confused looks were being transmitted around the room.
The teacher approached the black board at the front of the room and tapped his wand on it twice. His name appeared in script on the board and this is exactly when Hermione's suspicions had been confirmed.
"Mr. Weasley" was written neatly on the board.
"As you can all see, my name is Mr. Weasley. I'll be your Muggle Studies teacher for the year."
Some comments could be heard whispering and a few students were trying to smother their laughs with their hands. Most eyes began to turn to Ron as he continued to crouch down in his seat.
"Please take out your textbooks and open to the first chapter."
The only sound that could be heard in the next few moments was the sound of students shuffling papers around in their bags in an attempt to retrieve their books.
Mr. Weasley looked around the room to see if everyone was ready for him to begin. When he saw a book on everyone's desk, he began to talk.
"Today, all we are going to do is observe some Muggle items. I have brought a few with me to pass around the class. None of them are harmful in any way, so don't hesitate to hold them."
He dug in his briefcase and pulled a few things and laid them on his desk. He put his bag back down on the floor and held each one up individually.
"This first one is called a pencil. It's a writing device, similar to your quills, but it's erasable. It's made of something called graphite. It used to be made with lead, but scientists found that the lead was harmful to the human body, so they replaced it."
He walked to the right-most desk and laid it on the table. The student stared at it and hesitantly picked it up, as if it were going to bite her.
"This next one is called a pen and it too is a writing utensil. It uses ink like your quills but the ink is contained in the utensil itself and no ink bottle is required."
He passed this around, just like the pencil.
"The last, but not forgotten, is a calculator. It does mathematical figures instead of doing them in your head. This one's harder to understand because you do not understand Muggle math and its complexities, but I will show you soon enough. I thought three simple items were enough for today. The last person to see them please put them on my desk."
Hermione and Harry watched with interest as the students passed the items around, some holding them as if they were carrying some sort of disease and some completely and utterly fascinated by them.
Harry just passed the items on as they were passed to him. Soon, the class was over. He tucked his books under his arm and started to walk to the door. He stopped when he heard the teacher's voice.
"Ron! Just a minute. Come here!"
Ron looked around to see if anyone had heard and apparently people had because they started to snigger at him. He turned uneasily toward the teacher and approached him. Hermione and Harry exchanged glances and stepped just outside the classroom. They waited for their third member patiently as his father talked to him.
"Dad, what are you doing here?"
"Well, I like this kind of stuff, you know that. And when I heard the offer was open, I just couldn't pass it up."
Ron opened his mouth to speak but no words came out. He paused for a few more seconds, and spoke.
"Is that all Mr. Weasley?"
"Yes."
Ron shot his father a look just before he left and when he finally stepped out of the room, his anger erupted.
"Oh my God! I can't believe this! Why here?! Why?"
"Ron calm down!"
Ron's face was red with fury and frustration. Ron threw his things on the ground and walked away a couple steps.
"Ron, you're completely over reacting!" yelled Hermione.
"Over reacting? Over reacting?" he repeated himself. "You think I'm over reacting? How would you feel if your father was a teacher here? Huh? How would you feel?"
Hermione opened her mouth to say something but before she could, Ron stormed off in the direction of the Gryffindor common room, leaving all his belongings sprawled out on the floor.
Hermione looked at Harry and he looked back at her.
"I guess we better leave him be and let him calm down."
"Yeah. I think that's all we can do. Help me pick his things up."
Hermione nodded and bent down to do so. They distributed his books equally between the two of them and headed to their next class, regretfully leaving Ron behind.
The day finally came to an end, much to their relief. The first thing Harry and Hermione did was to go find Ron. They walked quickly up to the common room where they figured they'd find him.
Sure enough, they found him lying sideways in the easy chair in front of the fire. His legs hung over one end and his head was propped up against the other side. His eyes were fixed intently at the nothingness lying in front of him.
"Ron?"
He was conscious of their presence but he didn't speak.
"Ron?"
His eyes traveled from the place they were fixed on to Hermione's face. He looked straight into her eyes and saw glints of concern present there. He then looked to Harry and his face was masked with the same expression.
"Are you alright?"
Ron remained silent for a few moments and then began to speak.
"I suppose I'm alright as I can be. Hermione, you were right, I was over reacting..." He saw a look of almost like a triumph on her face and continued, "Don't look too happy with yourself 'Mione" he joked.
"I guess the feelings of frustration and shock and all that rigmarole just got to me. I mean, it's going to be weird having my father as my teacher. It's weird enough having him as my father, let alone my teacher. I mean I feel like he's going to be down my back about everything and I almost feel like he's here for the sole purpose to keep his eye on me. He never did this to Percy or Charles or Bill or even Fred and George."
"Ron, I don't think he would. I mean, he is extremely intrigued by this stuff, you have to admit."
"I know he is, but it's just going to be....different. I suppose I'll get used to it."
"That's the spirit Ron."
"I swear though, if that prick Malfoy says one word, I'm going to mess his face up so much, he's going to be spelling his name, "Lamfoy."
Hermione and Harry laughed at him and motioned for him to get up.
"Don't worry Ron. It'll all be ok. Let's go to dinner."
He nodded and hoisted himself out of his chair. He was in the middle and all three left the common room arm in arm. When they got there, they took their usual seats and ate their meals.
Hermione decided to go back to the Gryffindor common room for a bit after dinner to visit and hang out with Harry and Ron. She stayed there until she needed to fulfill her duties for the evening as Head Girl.
She roamed the halls looking for students and when she found none, she returned to her own common room. Deciding it would be a good idea; she slipped into her bathroom and took a warm shower before she retired to her bed.
* * * * *
The next morning, she did not wake up to a deserted common room, but instead she found Draco lying face up on the couch. One leg was dangling over the floor and the other was draped over the arm of the couch. His silver blonde hair was delicately ruffled and he almost looked human. Almost.
Hermione walked out without a second's thought to go down to breakfast. She took her seat just as the first post arrived. The first years, still absorbing everything about the school, looked with extreme interest at them as they arrived. The owls fluttered gracefully to their owners and dropped the package in their lap. Some stayed to get a meal and the others left the way they came.
Hermione observed Pigwidgeon as he fluttered down and landed on Ron's shoulder. Ron, slightly startled by this, jumped and yelped slightly as the bird gripped his shoulder.
"Oh it's you."
Ron took the note that was tied to his leg and motioned for Pigwidgeon to return to his flight. The bird did so and Ron looked at the writing printed on the front of the letter. It read:
"To: Ron From: Mom"
He sighed deeply as he slid his finger under the flap and opened it. His eyes scanned the text written on the parchment and he folded it back up in a sloppy manner. He shoved it in his pocket and went back to eating.
"Ron? What'd it say?"
"Forget it. It was another attempt from my parents to keep their eye on me I suppose."
"Can I read it?"
"No" he snapped.
Hermione contorted her face and continued her meal. The three of them went to Potions for their first class and chatted along the way. Hermione remained silent at Harry's left side the whole way there.
As they reached the classroom, Harry allowed Ron to enter first and stopped Hermione as she motioned to enter.
"You ok?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just tired is all."
Harry nodded and followed her in to the classroom.
As if it was almost expected, Draco and his posse sat on one side of the classroom and the shadows illuminated Draco's silver orbs as he glanced to where Hermione had just entered.
His eyes traveled to Ron's direction and Hermione watched the entire event unfold in slow motion. He displaced himself from where he was sitting and walked toward Ron.
"Like it isn't enough having the two youngest Weasley children here, but now we have to have your father here too?"
"Malfoy, I swear. You better watch what you say."
"Or what Weasel? What are you gunna do about it? Tell your father?"
Ron's fury was building. He was trying very hard to control himself but to no avail, Draco's next comment made him want to explode.
"What? Got nothing to say for yourself? Or maybe you're just too scared to stand up for yourself."
"Malfoy, will you get over yourself?" Hermione intervened.
"Oh, so now Weasel has a girl fighting his fights for him."
"I'm not-"
"She's not fighting my fights. I fight my own. You leave her out of this." Ron cut her off.
"Yeah? So what is she telling me to lay off you for?"
Hermione spoke again.
"Does picking on people give you some sort of sick twisted triumph? Does it make you feel like you've accomplished something worth anything? I assure you nothing you do is worth much of anything."
"Hermione-"
"No Ron." She directed her speaking to Draco again. "Grow up will you?" she spat at Draco.
Draco remained silent for a moment and walked away defeated for the first time in his pathetic life. An expression of triumph graced itself on Hermione's face as she looked to Ron.
His eyes thanked her without speaking. She smiled back at him and her eyes silently said "you're welcome."
* * * * *
A/N: Sorry my chapters are so short. I'm going to make an attempt to make them longer...thanks for all the reviews I've gotten...please keep giving me feedback. Like the Muggle studies teacher?
* * * * *
Hermione occupied the seat adjacent to Harry. Ron sat in front of them and looked back in their direction, first at Hermione and then at Harry with a perplexed expression on his face. Hermione and Harry then exchanged glances and shrugged off Ron's facial expression.
The room was filled with curiosity and anxiousness as the students patiently waited for the Muggle Studies teacher to arrive.
Hermione had a rather large book open on her desk and her fingers traced the text on the page as she absorbed each word her eyes caught. Harry slipped into neutral and stared into the empty space in front of him.
A few minutes passed and Hermione heard the door unlatch behind her. The tension hanging in the surrounding air became heavier as the man walked to the front of the room.
Hermione lifted her eyes off the page momentarily and observed the profile of the new teacher. He was lean and very tall. From the back of his head, all she could see was the fiery red hair and it seemed vaguely familiar. As he turned on his toes, his shoes squeaking against the cold, hard floor, freckles were present on his aged face. In that moment, she was aware of the familiarity of his face.
Hermione then turned her attention to Ron. He was crouched down low in his seat, as if he was hiding. Though she could only see the back of his head, she knew his face was glowing bright red. His ears had been a clear indication of that because they had almost disappeared when they began to camouflage with his hair. She felt really bad for him to have this sprung on him like this.
"Good morning class."
"Morning" the class mumbled. Confused looks were being transmitted around the room.
The teacher approached the black board at the front of the room and tapped his wand on it twice. His name appeared in script on the board and this is exactly when Hermione's suspicions had been confirmed.
"Mr. Weasley" was written neatly on the board.
"As you can all see, my name is Mr. Weasley. I'll be your Muggle Studies teacher for the year."
Some comments could be heard whispering and a few students were trying to smother their laughs with their hands. Most eyes began to turn to Ron as he continued to crouch down in his seat.
"Please take out your textbooks and open to the first chapter."
The only sound that could be heard in the next few moments was the sound of students shuffling papers around in their bags in an attempt to retrieve their books.
Mr. Weasley looked around the room to see if everyone was ready for him to begin. When he saw a book on everyone's desk, he began to talk.
"Today, all we are going to do is observe some Muggle items. I have brought a few with me to pass around the class. None of them are harmful in any way, so don't hesitate to hold them."
He dug in his briefcase and pulled a few things and laid them on his desk. He put his bag back down on the floor and held each one up individually.
"This first one is called a pencil. It's a writing device, similar to your quills, but it's erasable. It's made of something called graphite. It used to be made with lead, but scientists found that the lead was harmful to the human body, so they replaced it."
He walked to the right-most desk and laid it on the table. The student stared at it and hesitantly picked it up, as if it were going to bite her.
"This next one is called a pen and it too is a writing utensil. It uses ink like your quills but the ink is contained in the utensil itself and no ink bottle is required."
He passed this around, just like the pencil.
"The last, but not forgotten, is a calculator. It does mathematical figures instead of doing them in your head. This one's harder to understand because you do not understand Muggle math and its complexities, but I will show you soon enough. I thought three simple items were enough for today. The last person to see them please put them on my desk."
Hermione and Harry watched with interest as the students passed the items around, some holding them as if they were carrying some sort of disease and some completely and utterly fascinated by them.
Harry just passed the items on as they were passed to him. Soon, the class was over. He tucked his books under his arm and started to walk to the door. He stopped when he heard the teacher's voice.
"Ron! Just a minute. Come here!"
Ron looked around to see if anyone had heard and apparently people had because they started to snigger at him. He turned uneasily toward the teacher and approached him. Hermione and Harry exchanged glances and stepped just outside the classroom. They waited for their third member patiently as his father talked to him.
"Dad, what are you doing here?"
"Well, I like this kind of stuff, you know that. And when I heard the offer was open, I just couldn't pass it up."
Ron opened his mouth to speak but no words came out. He paused for a few more seconds, and spoke.
"Is that all Mr. Weasley?"
"Yes."
Ron shot his father a look just before he left and when he finally stepped out of the room, his anger erupted.
"Oh my God! I can't believe this! Why here?! Why?"
"Ron calm down!"
Ron's face was red with fury and frustration. Ron threw his things on the ground and walked away a couple steps.
"Ron, you're completely over reacting!" yelled Hermione.
"Over reacting? Over reacting?" he repeated himself. "You think I'm over reacting? How would you feel if your father was a teacher here? Huh? How would you feel?"
Hermione opened her mouth to say something but before she could, Ron stormed off in the direction of the Gryffindor common room, leaving all his belongings sprawled out on the floor.
Hermione looked at Harry and he looked back at her.
"I guess we better leave him be and let him calm down."
"Yeah. I think that's all we can do. Help me pick his things up."
Hermione nodded and bent down to do so. They distributed his books equally between the two of them and headed to their next class, regretfully leaving Ron behind.
The day finally came to an end, much to their relief. The first thing Harry and Hermione did was to go find Ron. They walked quickly up to the common room where they figured they'd find him.
Sure enough, they found him lying sideways in the easy chair in front of the fire. His legs hung over one end and his head was propped up against the other side. His eyes were fixed intently at the nothingness lying in front of him.
"Ron?"
He was conscious of their presence but he didn't speak.
"Ron?"
His eyes traveled from the place they were fixed on to Hermione's face. He looked straight into her eyes and saw glints of concern present there. He then looked to Harry and his face was masked with the same expression.
"Are you alright?"
Ron remained silent for a few moments and then began to speak.
"I suppose I'm alright as I can be. Hermione, you were right, I was over reacting..." He saw a look of almost like a triumph on her face and continued, "Don't look too happy with yourself 'Mione" he joked.
"I guess the feelings of frustration and shock and all that rigmarole just got to me. I mean, it's going to be weird having my father as my teacher. It's weird enough having him as my father, let alone my teacher. I mean I feel like he's going to be down my back about everything and I almost feel like he's here for the sole purpose to keep his eye on me. He never did this to Percy or Charles or Bill or even Fred and George."
"Ron, I don't think he would. I mean, he is extremely intrigued by this stuff, you have to admit."
"I know he is, but it's just going to be....different. I suppose I'll get used to it."
"That's the spirit Ron."
"I swear though, if that prick Malfoy says one word, I'm going to mess his face up so much, he's going to be spelling his name, "Lamfoy."
Hermione and Harry laughed at him and motioned for him to get up.
"Don't worry Ron. It'll all be ok. Let's go to dinner."
He nodded and hoisted himself out of his chair. He was in the middle and all three left the common room arm in arm. When they got there, they took their usual seats and ate their meals.
Hermione decided to go back to the Gryffindor common room for a bit after dinner to visit and hang out with Harry and Ron. She stayed there until she needed to fulfill her duties for the evening as Head Girl.
She roamed the halls looking for students and when she found none, she returned to her own common room. Deciding it would be a good idea; she slipped into her bathroom and took a warm shower before she retired to her bed.
* * * * *
The next morning, she did not wake up to a deserted common room, but instead she found Draco lying face up on the couch. One leg was dangling over the floor and the other was draped over the arm of the couch. His silver blonde hair was delicately ruffled and he almost looked human. Almost.
Hermione walked out without a second's thought to go down to breakfast. She took her seat just as the first post arrived. The first years, still absorbing everything about the school, looked with extreme interest at them as they arrived. The owls fluttered gracefully to their owners and dropped the package in their lap. Some stayed to get a meal and the others left the way they came.
Hermione observed Pigwidgeon as he fluttered down and landed on Ron's shoulder. Ron, slightly startled by this, jumped and yelped slightly as the bird gripped his shoulder.
"Oh it's you."
Ron took the note that was tied to his leg and motioned for Pigwidgeon to return to his flight. The bird did so and Ron looked at the writing printed on the front of the letter. It read:
"To: Ron From: Mom"
He sighed deeply as he slid his finger under the flap and opened it. His eyes scanned the text written on the parchment and he folded it back up in a sloppy manner. He shoved it in his pocket and went back to eating.
"Ron? What'd it say?"
"Forget it. It was another attempt from my parents to keep their eye on me I suppose."
"Can I read it?"
"No" he snapped.
Hermione contorted her face and continued her meal. The three of them went to Potions for their first class and chatted along the way. Hermione remained silent at Harry's left side the whole way there.
As they reached the classroom, Harry allowed Ron to enter first and stopped Hermione as she motioned to enter.
"You ok?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just tired is all."
Harry nodded and followed her in to the classroom.
As if it was almost expected, Draco and his posse sat on one side of the classroom and the shadows illuminated Draco's silver orbs as he glanced to where Hermione had just entered.
His eyes traveled to Ron's direction and Hermione watched the entire event unfold in slow motion. He displaced himself from where he was sitting and walked toward Ron.
"Like it isn't enough having the two youngest Weasley children here, but now we have to have your father here too?"
"Malfoy, I swear. You better watch what you say."
"Or what Weasel? What are you gunna do about it? Tell your father?"
Ron's fury was building. He was trying very hard to control himself but to no avail, Draco's next comment made him want to explode.
"What? Got nothing to say for yourself? Or maybe you're just too scared to stand up for yourself."
"Malfoy, will you get over yourself?" Hermione intervened.
"Oh, so now Weasel has a girl fighting his fights for him."
"I'm not-"
"She's not fighting my fights. I fight my own. You leave her out of this." Ron cut her off.
"Yeah? So what is she telling me to lay off you for?"
Hermione spoke again.
"Does picking on people give you some sort of sick twisted triumph? Does it make you feel like you've accomplished something worth anything? I assure you nothing you do is worth much of anything."
"Hermione-"
"No Ron." She directed her speaking to Draco again. "Grow up will you?" she spat at Draco.
Draco remained silent for a moment and walked away defeated for the first time in his pathetic life. An expression of triumph graced itself on Hermione's face as she looked to Ron.
His eyes thanked her without speaking. She smiled back at him and her eyes silently said "you're welcome."
* * * * *
A/N: Sorry my chapters are so short. I'm going to make an attempt to make them longer...thanks for all the reviews I've gotten...please keep giving me feedback. Like the Muggle studies teacher?