Velma spent the next morning wondering how she could have been so wrong. She felt like a terrible person for domineering these students and micromanaging their ideas. Sure, maybe they weren't up to par with what Kisp was arguing, but it was only the second week and these students were still learning about how to articulate their opinions about literature. It was Velma's job to teach them how to do that, and she had failed.

She had even gone back and reread Kisp, finding to her disgrace that Ashley's argument was far more correct than she'd thought. She attempted to read the text with Ashley's interpretation in mind, and discovered that Kisp did indeed hint that the sheer danger involved in the sport was one of the factors that made it impractical. Somehow, Velma had interpreted it in a completely different way the first time she'd read it.

Neither of their interpretations were incorrect per se. Rather, both of them were equally valid…they were just different ways of analyzing Kisp's argument.

Now Velma felt even more like a bad teacher. A good instructor would have shown her students that there were multiple ways to interpret the same text, but instead, she acted as if her interpretation was the only correct one.

Velma supposed the best way she could make it up to the students was to teach them as long as you were drawing logical examples from the text, there really was no "wrong" way to interpret literature. After all, writing was an art that was in the eye of the beholder.

She'd always hated the strict, rigid teachers in school, so it terrified her to realize she'd become one of them. She could only hope the students would take her back in their hearts, after she'd become the type of teacher she most hated.

Velma grabbed some coffee as she walked to breakfast. She was feeling exhausted this morning, which probably wasn't a good thing given it was Monday and thus, her first day of the third week of class. Her eye quickly caught Madelyn, who was sitting at one of the fancier tables which had swiveling wooden stools rather than chairs.

"Over here, sis!" Madelyn waved her sister down. "How's it going this morning?"

"Oh, I'm okay." Velma sighed.

"You don't sound like it." Madelyn didn't seem so certain about her teacher-sister's assertion.

"Well…" Velma sighed. She supposed there would ultimately be no harm in telling Madelyn. "I feel bad about the way I've been running class lately. You were right that day last week where you said I was coming off like a know-it-all."

"Oh…I'm sorry." Madelyn hung her head a bit, feeling bad that she'd made her sister sad.

"Don't be sorry. You were right to point it out." Velma said. "Literature is supposed to be fun, and I've been making it seem like it's an act of memorizing the author's arguments from my perspective. That's not the beauty of literature; it's that there's multiple different interpretations."

"I'm glad you realized that, sis." Madelyn looked a bit nervous as she began saying her next remark. "I don't quite know how to tell you this, but we don't really like 50 minutes of lecture every day. I know maybe it was like that when you went to school, but things have changed rapidly. People like variety in their learning these days."

"Heck yeah, brah!" a random "surfer dude" looking student with long blond hair said. "Just from playin' this Space Invaders game, I've learned the beauty of subjective truth!"

"How's that?" Velma looked a bit skeptical.

"Well, you're trying to destroy the space invaders, but have you ever thought about what they're feeling?" the blond-haired student made the sound effect of an explosion while putting his hands by his head.

"Maybe not quite that simplistic, but I'd personally love if we had small-group discussions, group activities, or even an interactive lecture where we're able to jump in." Madelyn suggested. "I mean, think about it, would you like to go sit and listen to somebody talk at you for 50 minutes straight?"

"Yes, I'd love it actually." Velma admitted. "I go to guest lectures at the university near the bookstore all the time."

"Not everybody does, though." Madelyn challenged.

"You make a fair point." Velma realized. "I imagine it would be boring for somebody your age to just listen to somebody talk day after day, and never be able to contribute. Thanks, Mads. I appreciate it."

"Top of the morning, ladies!" Whirlen exclaimed as he tipped the brim of his hat politely. "I see you're getting nourished and caffeinated. How are we doing this morning?"

"Great!" Madelyn exclaimed.

"Pretty good, I suppose." Velma said in a less enthusiastic tone than normal.

"All ready for class, I presume?" Whirlen continued making small talk as he picked up a bagel, three packets of butter and a plastic knife. He then returned to Madelyn and Velma's table and pulled up an idle swivel-stool from the table beside theirs.

"Yeah…" Velma wondered whether she should bring up how she'd fallen into a bit of a teaching rut with her boss. Sure, he was her boss, but he seemed pretty relaxed…unless you said certain words beginning with 'p,' that was. "I feel kind of bad, though. I've been relying too much on lecturing, and I realized the students haven't been enjoying it as much as they could."

"Interesting. Do you think this is representative of how the students feel, Madelyn?" Whirlen inquired.

"Yeah, I'd say so." Madelyn responded.

"Well then, I would suggest an immediate layoff for you!" Whirlen replied, causing Velma's heart to race. "That is to say, I suggest you lay off the lectures and focus more on other methods of content delivery. Perhaps you could start with some small group discussions; class activities; trains. Students love trains!"

"Thanks, Whirlen. I really appreciate that advice." Velma smiled, feeling relieved.

"Speaking of which, since your class is at 1:00pm today, I wanted you to know about the firing that's going to happen at that time." Whirlen ominously said. "Ah, drat, I'm so bad at words this morning…I mean to say, you're going to have to hone your fire skills for the 1:45pm fire drill we have today! Make sure all the students get out of the classroom safely in an orderly manner, ensure there's no pushing, shoving, or horseplay of any sort."

Velma breathed another sigh of relief. It was an odd workplace, but she really cared about doing a good job here. She loved her class, and they deserved so much better than she'd been giving them.

Velma tried not to feel nervous or ashamed when she walked into the classroom. Feeling those things wouldn't do her any good; the best she could do is be as helpful and informative to the students as possible.

The ding of the school bell served as Velma's cue to begin.

Many of the students looked bored and disengaged off the bat, which made Velma feel a bit sad. She took all of their lack of interest personally, because she presumed she'd made them feel that way with the past two weeks of content.

"Hey everybody. So for today, you were supposed to read chapters one through four of The Warlock of Wimbledon by W. Anthos." Velma felt quite nervous saying this, because this is exactly the book she'd dreamt about teaching the kids. She just had to make sure it didn't play out anything like her dream. She couldn't let that happen. "Today, we're going to do things a little differently. I wanted to provide a more interactive way of learning the material."

She wanted to just come clean to her students and tell them about how she was wrong about the way she was going about teaching the class, but she wasn't quite confident enough with them to do that quite yet.

"Ooh, are we learning with trains? I love trains!" Parry exclaimed.

"No, not with trains…" Velma laughed. "Maybe another day. I was thinking about doing a small-group activity based on Anthos's arguments. We could divide into groups of three. How about we have the following groups? Group 1 is Kennedy, Mitch and Brian. Group 2 can be Ramando, Ashley and Owen. Group 3 is Sabrina, Sadie, Madelyn and Annabelle. Kara, John and Katie can be group 4, and finally, that leaves Parry, Jake, Mike and Ron as group 5. I'd like you all to discuss your interpretation of Anthos's arguments, and decide on a main takeaway that your group had from these chapters. Not every group has to have the same answer, as there can be multiple different interpretations. We'll come back to the large group in twenty minutes to discuss this!"

Velma hoped that this would bring the students more enjoyment and make them more passionate about the material.

Nineteen of the twenty minutes of group discussion had elapsed. Quite frankly, Velma was nervous and wished she had given the students longer to discuss. She was quite antsy to see if this new way of teaching the students would be functional, but she kept doubting her level of preparation for facilitating this type of learning.

"Alright, it's time to come back to the large group and discuss. Let's go around and hear from every group. Group 1, do you want to start us off?" Velma suggested.

"Sure." Brian volunteered. "He's arguing for magical responsibility. Magic is a core skill that we bring with us everywhere, so we have to learn to be responsible with it."

"Great point, Brian!" Velma smiled. It was the same interpretation she'd had of the book, so she was glad that at least one group of students got it. "What about group two?"

"Well, Anthos was arguing that magic is everywhere. You can't avoid it, so it was like he was saying that magic haters better just embrace it, because it's not going away anytime soon." Ramando spoke for his group.

It was an interesting argument, ironically pretty similar to the thing she'd dreamt Ashley had said. It was a very simplistic argument, but Velma could tell that Ramando and his group were at least engaging with the material. The fact that they were thinking about the literature was most important to Velma.

"Good! Thanks for sharing, group two." Velma complimented. "Group three?"

"We came up with a different interpretation: magic is inescapable. Once it's a part of you, you have to stay true to it, because it channels the mind and the body. That's what the reappearing staff represented: the duplicity and recurrence of magic." Sadie explained.

Velma quite liked that interpretation, even if that wasn't quite how she had read it.

"Wonderful, Sadie!" Velma replied.

"I have a comment, if that's okay." Kennedy interjected.

"Absolutely." Velma said. She loved the fact that this activity was engaging students so much. "Go ahead."

"Do you think magic also channels the spirit? I'd argue that's a whole different thing than the mind and the body." Kennedy added.

"Ooh, that's a great point!" Sabrina responded. "I would agree with that."

"As would I." Velma added. "Anybody else have any thoughts on that?"

Nobody responded, but Velma was quite frankly satisfied with the engagement that she got. It was great that Kennedy felt comfortable enough to comment on another group's contribution.

"That's okay. Group four, how about you go next?" Velma suggested.

"Well, our group focused more on magic being a core part of your essence." Kara began. "Off of group three's point, when you do magic, you're using your body, mind and soul to cast a spell. Anthos is arguing that you can't separate any of these elements from each other. That is to say, you can't do magic with just your mind, your spirit or your body; you must do it with all three for it to turn out optimally."

Velma was so proud of how smart her student was. Kara was so intelligent, and Velma couldn't believe she'd found an argument that her teacher hadn't even considered.

"Wow, that's an excellent point, Kara. I honestly hadn't even thought of that, but you're right. I think he was implying that, to an extent." Velma smiled. "Would group five like to go next?"

"Well, I guess we could do that." Jake shrugged. Velma couldn't tell if he was being cautious or sarcastic.

"We think that Anthos was arguing that magic doesn't mix with tennis." Mike said.

"What makes you think that?" Velma was a bit confused about what they meant.

"Well, you know, there was that chapter about him chasing people at the tennis match?" Parry clarified. "That chapter felt kinda weird, so therefore, magic shouldn't be used with tennis."

Velma felt she had opened her mind to multiple interpretations of the same literary work, but this was flat-out incorrect. There was no way you could interpret his arguments as relating to tennis, as it was such a trivial part of the work that made no sense to emphasize.

Before she was able to respond to group five's argument, the lights suddenly went out. Nothing had happened last week, so Velma was hoping Merlin's reign of mischief was over. Clearly it was not, though.

"Oh no!" Sabrina exclaimed.

Velma wasn't expecting much to happen other than a threatening message on the board.

Suddenly, Velma heard a horribly raspy voice whisper right behind her. "I warned you…soon you will pay the price!"

The lights quickly switched back on, and there was no sign of the creepy voice. Velma presumed that it was Merlin.

"Anybody hear anything?" Velma stuttered. She didn't want to worry her students if they hadn't heard what she had.

A bunch of people shook their heads, except Sabrina, who stood there shivering with her hands folded.

"I did…a voice warned you that you were going to pay the price." Sabrina shuddered.

Velma had honestly hoped nobody had heard the creepy whispers, so she wouldn't have to worry her students. Now she had to come clean, given Sabrina had revealed what she'd heard to the class.

"I heard it too." Velma sighed.

"Oh god!" Ashley panicked. "What do we do?"

"There's not really much we can do, I don't think. Merlin's never harmed anybody before, so we'll be alright." Velma wasn't so confident about that, but she had to assure her students.

"Is there anything we could read to help us maybe understand Merlin a little more? Maybe some history books?" Kara inquired.

Velma's learning-craved mind lit up at this idea. It was a brilliant suggestion that would accomplish two different goals: making the class more interesting for the students through connecting it to something they were actually experiencing, and also doing something about the haunting problem.

"You know, I'm not sure, but I love the idea. I'll have to check with Whirlen if that's okay, since I am supposed to follow the syllabus developed by the previous instructor of the position." Velma said.

"He's got an open forum in his office for people to pitch ideas every Monday at 3:00pm." Madelyn informed. "Why don't you suggest it there?"

This brought a smile to Velma's face. "Yeah. I think I'll do that."

Velma absolutely adored this idea. This would be such an interesting, unique way to teach the course that would be an incredibly memorable experience for the students. She just hoped Whirlen liked the idea as much as she did.

The orange-turtlenecked instructor walked into Whirlen's office, and took a glance at all the surroundings. There was a degree from the Great Mysto School of Stage Magic framed and hung on the wall, near several pictures of him and his family.

Velma saw a line of several students waiting to propose ideas to Whirlen. Velma was surprised to see that Whirlen was nowhere to be found; rather, Bumbledore was sitting in Whirlen's chair.

"Hi, I was wondering if we could start an environmental club on campus?" a brunette student with a high-pitched voice inquired.

"Stupendous idea! Instant approval!" Bumbledore exclaimed. "You know what I say, always do what feels right!"

"Thank you!" The girl looked super excited, as she walked out of Whirlen's office.

Velma was a bit nervous. She hoped her idea would be approved that easily.

"Hey, so I wanted to start this wet willy club on campus, but there's this pesky anti-bullying rule preventing me from doing it." a male lamented to Bumbledore. "I was thinking, though…what if we made it a magical wet willy club?"

Bumbledore looked a bit stern, scratching his beard for a moment. "Wonderful idea! Instant approval! You know what I say, always do what feels right!"

To Velma's surprise, a large mother bear and her cub barged ahead of her in line. The bear began roaring and ruffing up her cub's fur, before proceeding to do an odd mix of what seemed to Velma to be an interpretive dance and a vaudeville act.

"Stupendous idea! Instant approval!" Bumbledore approved. "You know what I say, always do what feels right!"

The mother bear got a big smile on her face, and gave Bumbledore a firm pat on the head before walking out the door holding hands with her cub.

"Always wonderful to get insight from our surrounding fauna community!" Bumbledore grinned.

"Hi Mr. Bumbledore." Velma greeted.

"Oh, Ms. Dinky, I believe?" Bumbledore vaguely recalled.

"Dinkley." Velma corrected. "Where's Whirlen?

"He was called away to a last-minute meeting. It seems some instructor had some trouble with a student." Bumbledore explained. "Now, how may I be of assistance to you today?"

"That's actually what I was going to talk to you about. I was thinking of radically changing the syllabus provided to me, and instead, teaching them about the history of Merlin. Perhaps even ways on how to stop him, should he ever get out of hand." Velma was uncertain how Bumbledore felt about Merlin, but from what he had said before, he seemed relatively dismissive. Then again, he seemed very dismissive about everything, including the potential bullying club that a student had just pitched to him, so maybe he wouldn't take much notice.

"Well, I really don't like…" Velma tensed up when Bumbledore began his sentence. How could he reject her idea, but accept all these nonsensical and ridiculous ideas? "...any of the reasons not to immediately accept your idea! Instant approval!"

Velma breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you so much! I think this is going to be one of the most interesting classes that's ever been offered here at Whirlen Merlin!"

"Well, our Critical Intersectionality of Mermaids, Birthday Parties, and Kendrick Lamar's Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City course begs to differ, but I can let you have your moment, I suppose." Bumbledore replied.

"Sorry to run out on you, but I've got to do some research on books on Merlin that would be good for my class." Velma apologized.

"Well, you know what I say, always do what feels right!" Bumbledore repeated.

Velma was so excited to start researching books to teach her class. Not only did the class truly feel like hers now, but she knew this was going to be one of the most memorable experiences these students had ever had.

Author's note:

Just a couple quick Scooby-Doo references here. The Great Mysto is a magician from The New Scooby-Doo Movies episode "A Good Medium Is Rare," and the reference to the tennis match in Anthos's book is referencing the events of "The Warlock of Wimbledon" from The Scooby-Doo Show. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!