Whirlen Merlin's School of Magic

by WildwindVampire

Velma is unexpectedly called to teach a magical literature course at her younger sister Madelyn's school, Whirlen Merlin's Academy of Magic. However, Velma has to put her mystery-solving skills into action without the rest of the gang when she discovers that the school is haunted by the ghost of an ancient, powerful wizard.

15. An Enduringly Effervescent End

Velma let out a gasp when the stretchy rubber mask snapped, and the culprit's face was revealed. In fact, she was pretty sure everyone in the room gasped.

"Bumbledore!" Whirlen shouted in shock. "But…how could you do a thing like this?"

"The headmaster's job is mine! I was forced into retirement when I didn't want to be!" Bumbledore sneered as he stood up. "I am perfectly capable of serving as the headmaster!"

"What's going on here?" Marlin inquired as he entered the room. "I heard quite the racket down here."

"Well, we've caught this rapscallion posing as Merlin. Turns out it was Bumbledore all along." Whirlen answered his brother.

"If you weren't a real wizard, how did you appear and disappear in a cloud of smoke like that?" Ashley asked.

"If you don't know, this school hasn't done a good job educating you on stage magic! It was a simple disappearing act featuring a smoke screen." Bumbledore explained. "I always ensured that I turned the lights off before throwing the smoke bomb, which served the double purpose of scaring you all."

"How exactly did you possess Whirlen? We all saw that flash of light that happened as you went into his body." Madelyn inquired.

"Simple. The Whirlen you saw next to Marlin as he was making the announcement was just a very realistic dummy." Bumbledore explained.

"Wait a minute. What about that cold chill I felt down my spine that first week of class. It almost felt like a ghost went through me." Sabrina recounted.

"That's easy." Bumbledore shrugged. "I brought a miniature fan with me and pointed it at you, hoping you would think it was a ghost."

"Just one question, Bumbledore." Velma inquired. "How did you appear in my room that one night?"

"Simple. You left your window open like a nincompoop!" Bumbledore revealed. "It was easy to sneak in, and sneak back out when you were blinded by the lightning strike."

"Bumbledore, I don't understand. You're far too old to be full headmaster." Whirlen reasoned. "The duties would drive you into exhaustion. Even the School Board recommended that you step down from the role entirely due to your age!"

"That's the problem with all you young fuddy-duddies. You don't give old people a chance to do anything!" Bumbledore shouted.

"So your solution was to force children to work and essentially turn the school into an authoritarian regime?" Velma sassed.

"I wanted to punish the school for stripping me of my role as full headmaster, and also teach them a lesson in respecting their elders!" Bumbledore snapped.

"But why all this digging?" Velma asked. "Were you just trying to torture us?"

"The wand would have made me millions! I knew the legend of Merlin's lost wand being buried under the school, so I came up with a foolproof plan…or so I thought. By forcing all of the students to dig for the wand, I thought for sure I'd find it. After I did, I'd have my revenge on you all, and I'd get rich in the process! It was a win-win!" Bumbledore explained.

"You're a terrible man. I can't believe I ever let you stay partial-headmaster." Whirlen snarled.

"Quite frankly, I'm surprised you were able to pull this off with your…err…bumbling ways." Marlin pointed out.

"Are you implying I am too clumsy to properly execute a plan?" Bumbledore accused.

"Yes, I am. In fact, you're on the floor as we're speaking!" Marlin argued. Velma had glanced away for a brief minute to look at Marlin, and was surprised to see Bumbledore had somehow tumbled to the ground again into a pile of dirt.

"Thankfully, given the students did all the work, I was able to keep my clumsiness at a minimum. Whenever I was feeling particularly clumsy, I'd change back into Bumbledore."

"That's why Bumbledore was always watching over the pit when Merlin was away." Velma realized. "Come to think of it, I never saw Merlin and Bumbledore in the same place at the same time."

"Well, I phoned the authorities before coming in here, and they should be coming any minute now." Whirlen said. "I cannot believe this betrayal! You ought to be ashamed of yourself, Bumbledore. You had 40 good years as headmaster of this school and you would have been thought of as a hero, but now your name will be tarnished over this outrageous act of ego."

"Wow, sis, it's just like those mysteries you always told me about you and the gang solving." Madelyn replied, moving over to stand by her sister's side.

"Yeah. I guess it is. Usually the culprit was at least somewhat obvious in those, though." Velma recalled. "I never would have expected Bumbledore to do something like that."

"Well, regardless of what you say, the students loved me! Why do you think I accepted all of those outrageous proposals?" Bumbledore bragged.

"Hey, my proposal to create a ballroom dancing club with monkeys was not outrageous!" Parry snapped from a distance.

At that moment, two men wearing blue uniforms and hats came into the room. One of them had red hair, while the other sported brown hair.

"Alright, what seems to be the problem here, sir?" the brown-haired cop inquired.

"My former headmaster has staged an unimaginable revolt, in which I was kidnapped and tied up under a bed for a month, unjust firings occurred, and students were forced to partake in heavy labor." Whirlen exclaimed.

"Good god!" the red-haired cop exclaimed.

"Ah, it figures Velma would ruin my plan with her professional mystery-solving skills." Bumbledore lamented.

"Wait a minute." Velma reached an epiphany. "That's why you were so focused on scaring my class and not the others, right? You knew I'd be a threat to figuring out your plan to overthrow Whirlen with my past mystery-solving experience, so you tried to frighten me away before I uncovered your scheme."

"Precisely." Bumbledore admitted. "And I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for you bronchitis babies!"

Whirlen gasped in outrage. "Get that man out of here immediately!"

"C'mon buddy, you'll be seeing plenty of bronchitis babies where you're going." the brown-haired cop said intensely, as he handcuffed Bumbledore and began taking him away.

"There's no children in jail, Ben." the red-haired cop looked confused.

"I know. I just feel like I've gotta be the tough guy on account of the hegemonic masculinity my Grandpa Chad ingrained in me." the brown-haired cop hung his head in shame.

"Velma, you're a hero!" Madelyn exclaimed.

"I couldn't have done it without you guys." Velma replied.

"I still can't believe Bumbledore was behind all this!" Sadie gasped.

"I can't believe he made students dig for weeks when nothing was found." Kara interjected.

"Yeah, we didn't find anything but that stupid black-painted piece of wood." Parry said.

"What are you talking about?" Annabelle asked.

"It was a polished black piece of wood with a white tip, and a M on the bottom of the wood." Parry further explained. "I saw it in the dirt weeks ago. It seemed pretty neat, so I brought it back to my room."

"You've found Merlin's lost wand!" Whirlen exclaimed.

"Take us to your room at once, Parry." Marlin instructed. "We need to see if it's really the wand."

"Alright." Parry shrugged, as he began leading everybody to his room.

"I'm so sorry for all the mayhem Merlin has caused over the past few weeks, everyone." Whirlen apologized. "However, I can guarantee you that your last two weeks of the semester will be filled with fun and celebration. I'll be giving you the rest of the week off of classes, and now that Merlin is gone, the Year-End Stage Magic Show can commence on Sunday evening."

"But we haven't had any time to practice!" Peter lamented. Velma remembered that he was a part of Mrs. Rumbridge's stage magic class. "Merlin was gonna have us celebrate the end of the year by having a pit-digging contest. Come to think of it, that was pretty much what we were already doing."

"That's the best way of all to test you, then! I've always found preparation and practice to overglamorize the performances. Testing you spontaneously shows whatever skill level you're at currently. You know what they say, authenticity is key!" Whirlen replied, before shifting his attention over to Velma. "By the way, I hope you know you will be receiving a generous reward at the end of the show."

"I'll accept on one condition: if my students each get rewards too." Velma provided her ultimatum.

"Absolutely." Whirlen agreed. "You all saved this school from Bumbledore, and I could not be more grateful to you."

Parry quickly hurried out with the wand once everybody arrived in his room. "Are you sure this is the wand? It still just seems like an old piece of wood to me."

Marlin inspected the wand as Parry handed it to him.

"This appears to be the wand, but there's only one way to know for sure." Marlin ran his index finger smoothly along the tip of the wand. To everybody's surprise, the wand began to gain a faint glow.

"It is the real wand!" Whirlen gasped. "Everybody knows that first-millenium wands were filled with phoenix feathers, and only those feathers produce that kind of glow."

Velma was going to ask how they knew the glow wasn't just some cheap LED light somebody had put into the wand, until she looked up at the ceiling and saw the breathtakingly beautiful light projection of a phoenix, coming directly from the wand.

"That's amazing." Velma gasped. "This should be in a museum or something."

"It will be put in our collection of magical artifacts over by the art room." Whirlen replied. "I'm so grateful to you, Parry, for finding this wand. Perhaps this Merlin situation wasn't all for the bad after all, as without it, this wand likely would have never been uncovered."

Although Velma didn't feel the same sense of gratitude for finding the wand, given she'd barely known what it was an hour ago, she shared Whirlen's sentiment in a different way. The awful ordeal with Merlin had arguably made her a much braver person. Back when she was traveling around the world with the gang, Fred and Daphne were always the brave ones. She had always considered herself as just the smart girl who figured the mystery out. Now, through the drive she showed to help her students, she knew she was far more than just the smart girl with glasses: she too was brave.

---

After what they'd been through with Merlin the past few weeks, students were thrilled to have off of their classes for the rest of the week. Velma also was glad to have a rest, although she was becoming a bit sad that she only had two weeks left with her students. She really connected with her students far more than she thought she would when she took the role. In fact, Velma would even say she loved her students. She'd grown to appreciate them each for their individual learning styles and quirks, and was truly going to miss teaching them every day.

Mr. Mistara had invited everyone who normally partook in game night back for one last hurrah before they had to buckle down and study for finals. They were currently playing Magic Mystery Mansion. All of the normal game-playing gang was there, in addition to Whirlen, who had decided to join them on a whim. Velma remembered back to how resistant she was to playing games with the students ten weeks ago, thinking it would mean that she was getting too chummy with the students. Now, she wished she could have had more opportunities to play games with this group.

"1, 2, 3, 4, oh dang it!" Mitch lamented as he moved the four spaces awarded to him by the dice. "I got kidnapped by a griffin! Move back 10 spaces."

"We're really going to miss having you around here, sis." Madelyn said, as she took her turn and rolled the dice. "1, 2, 3. I found a lucky charm!"

"I'm going to miss being around here. I can't believe there's only two weeks left!" Velma replied.

"Ah, that's where you'd be wrong. There's only one week left." Whirlen corrected.

"What do you mean?" Velma was confused. She knew that there was a full week next week, followed by finals.

"Well, you see, in your absence, Merlin chose to cover all your remaining materials at twice the pace you were going just to spite you." Whirlen revealed. "The only thing he didn't get to was the final."

"So all I have to do is give out the final? Can't I give them a review session for two days, and then give the final Wednesday?" Velma asked. If she were honest with herself, she knew most of the students would probably succeed at the final knowing how brilliant they were, but she wasn't ready to leave them yet. She wanted at least one more week.

"I suppose you can, sure." Whirlen replied, as he took his turn. "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Oh drat, a ghoul has captured me! Looks like I must lose a turn."

Velma felt a bit relieved, though still quite shaken up by the fact that she'd be leaving here at the end of next week. "What was it like having Merlin teach you, by the way?"

"Not good." Sadie shared. "He was talking so fast, I could barely understand him. All he wanted to talk about is himself, and why the magical authors he taught were inferior to his philosophy."

"The only author he liked was Michael A. Erlin, and it turns out that was just his own pseudonym!" Annabelle added.

"Yeah, it was pretty bad. Merlin made me redo my weekly assignment because it didn't have enough gratuitous compliments about him in it." Mitch explained.

"It was honestly a nightmare, Velms." Madelyn chimed in. "Most people still got A's because they bent over backwards to compliment him, but a few of us didn't. Myself included."

"I'll give redo assignments to those of you who got bad grades." Velma promised. "Hey, maybe I could even stick around for an extra week and try to re-teach what Merlin did."

"I'm afraid I can't allow you to do that." Whirlen stepped in. "According to the school board's ART policy, no subject can be retaught if it has already been taught by a licensed teacher, and Bumbledore was a licensed teacher."

"What does ART stand for?" Velma questioned.

"Anti-Re-Teaching." Whirlen answered. "Your last week is next week, and that's final."

Velma felt a bit down after this revelation. She didn't realize how much she'd grown to love this routine of teaching her students, but now, life without it was going to feel strange.

---

Velma sat down in the crowded theater with her sister by her side. The room was packed with students and faculty filling nearly every seat, as they watched the year-end magic show. She was amazed by the intricacy of some of the tricks performed.

"With this trick, I'm going to jump through a hoop within a hoop!" Peter exclaimed, as Sabrina spun a larger hula hoop around inside of a smaller hula hoop.

"Do you really think he can do it?" Velma asked her sister.

"They didn't spend all of this semester training for nothing, sis." Madelyn laughed.

With a flying leap, Peter jumped through both hoops at once in an incredible feat of agility.

Velma felt her body tense up as she saw who was coming to fill the empty seat next to her: Brian.

"Hey…" Brian awkwardly said. "I'm sorry, I would have picked another seat, but there weren't any."

Velma figured Brian was trying to be polite, but he was coming off incredibly rude.

"It's fine. You can sit here." Velma didn't want to be too cold to somebody who was a former student, but what he had done was pretty despicable. If not for him, she and her students likely never would have been caught, and she wouldn't have had to dig for weeks upon weeks.

There was an awkward moment of silence between them, where nobody said anything and both of them kept their eyes squarely on the show. It appeared Sabrina was doing some sort of rope trick.

"Hey, look." Brian finally broke the silence. "I'm sorry for what I did. I've thought about it, and I just acted the way I did because I was frightened. It wasn't the right thing to do."

Although Madelyn didn't say anything, a quick glance beside her showed that she was absolutely enraged. Surprisingly, Velma didn't feel the same way. There was no doubt in her mind that Brian had made one of the dumbest decisions ever, but looking at Brian showed his vulnerability. His tone of voice seemed genuinely open and honest, and his hands were even shaking a bit as he said it. It was very hard for Velma to accept his apology, but spending the past 14 weeks being a teacher taught her that students sometimes made dumb decisions. Jake was a perfect example of this: Velma didn't feel her assignments were unreasonably hard. Essentially, if you did the readings and put in some level of critical thinking, you'd pass the course. However, Jake chose to repeatedly squander the opportunity by not even attempting most of the assignments. Thinking about this caused Velma to experience a new feeling inside of her: forgiveness. Knowing that Brian had behaved stupidly did not cloud her view of him, because there was always the possibility for improvement in the future. Velma knew he was anxious, and anxiety often caused people to make reckless decisions. In fact, the divide between Jake and Brian was pretty clear: while Jake didn't even bother to try, Brian at least showed some effort and desire to pass the class. In Velma's opinion, that awarded him the benefit of the doubt.

"Apology accepted, Brian." Velma finally responded. "Make no mistake…what you did was wrong, but I understand it was done out of fear rather than malice."

"Thanks, Ms. Dinkley. It was an honor being in your class." Brian's cautious look transformed into a smile.

"You could be in it again, if you wanted. Whirlen's been talking with the school board, and from what he's told me, they've declared none of the firings or grading Bumbledore did was legitimate, since he forcibly took over the role of full headmaster." Velma informed. "That means you dropping my class wasn't legitimate either…unless you want it to be."

"I think I'd like another chance, if that's alright." Brian decided.

"On one condition: you have to make up all the assignments you missed by Wednesday." Velma requested. "I know it will be tough, but I think you can do it. Besides, it will be a week before your other finals anyway, so you should have time."

"Deal." Brian reached out his hand, which Velma assumed to mean that he was shaking on his promise. Velma reciprocated and shook his hand.

Velma hadn't been paying attention to the magic show as she talked to Brian, but apparently it had nearly concluded. Sabrina, Ashley, and the rest of the students were now all on stage.

"We're now going to perform the same match trick we did at midterms!" Sabrina announced to the audience.

"Oh come on! If I wanted a repeat, I'd just watch reruns of Bewitched on KQIC weekdays at 6, after the Nightly News with Nick!" a man wearing a black blazer and gray dress pants shouted from the audience. "Also, this serves as your official sponsored message to watch reruns of Bewitched on KQIC weekdays at 6 after the Nightly News with Nick!"

"Hold on, you didn't let us finish!" Sabrina clarified.

"We're going to perform the same match trick…with only one match!" Ashley announced, as she snapped a singular match in half. The half-matches couldn't have been any longer than a thimble, so this would take extreme gracefulness and coordination. She was barely able to even hold on to the tiny matches. To Velma's shock, she was somehow able to cause a fire to ignite from the two half-sticks. Ashley cautiously carried the fire over to a large bottle rocket, and lit the wick on the firework. The rocket exploded into the air, its sparks safely disappearing without causing any damage.

"Wonderful job, Mrs. Rumbridge!" Whirlen exclaimed, as he got up from his seat and went onstage.

"The pleasure was all yours, I'm sure!" Mrs. Rumbridge shrilly spoke to the audience through her microphone, before handing it to Whirlen and sitting down in his prior seat.

"To conclude tonight's show, I would like to recognize some very special people. As you all know, for the past four weeks have been very trying for all of us."

"I didn't know!" a male student with blond hair exclaimed in the audience. "I've been on vacation in Aruba for the past month and just got back! What the heck happened?"

"However, even in the face of fear and peril, one very special teacher and her eight students stood up to Merlin and ultimately saved our school. This teacher and her students deserve recognition tonight." Whirlen announced. "I've invited a very special guest to provide you all with an award. I'd like to introduce none other than special musical guest Michael Jackson."

"Wow!" Parry shouted in the audience. "Special musical guest Michael Jackson?"

A man with a ghastly white face who was wearing a black suit ran up on stage holding a stack of awards.

"And the award for Bravest Instructor sponsored by Nike goes to none other than…" Michael announced. "Velma Dinkl-hee-hee!"

Velma quickly got out of her seat and scurried up towards the front.

"Besides Velma, we'd also like to recognize eight of Velma's students who helped her defeat Merlin." Whirlen interjected, taking the microphone back from Michael as he went to sit down in the audience. "Madelyn, Sadie, Annabelle, Ashley, Mitch, Sabrina, Owen and Kara, come on up here."

"You nine have shown so much dedication to this school, and truly exemplified our school's motto: study hard or you'll flunk!" Whirlen spoke into the microphone. "In addition to that, you have shown immense bravery in a situation of great danger, aided your fellow students in distress, and most of all, you saved our school. That deserves a reward. In addition to these official "Bravest Instructor Sponsored by Nike" certificates, I would like to present you with a gift to show my deepest appreciation."

Whirlen handed out a small piece of paper to Velma and each of the eight students. The glasses-clad instructor quickly looked at hers, excited to see the reward she would be receiving. Her face quickly fell when she saw what the "reward" actually was.

"$1 off of a crispy chicken sandwich at Burger King?" Velma asked, perplexed as to why in the world Whirlen would have given her this.

"I thought you said we were getting a generous reward." Mitch questioned.

"Well, I could have made you pay for the whole sandwich." Whirlen replied defensively. "I considered it quite generous."

Although she was certainly disappointed, she figured it was a fitting reward for a man who paid her entire salary on the first week by handing her 100 $100 bills. Whirlen could be a very strange man at times, and while his reward was disappointing, Velma was at least thankful that Whirlen was honoring her and her students in front of the school.

---

Going into the second-to-last-day of class was bittersweet for Velma. She could remember her first day at Whirlen Merlin's like it was yesterday, so the fact that this 15-week experience was just a few days away from being over was mind-blowing to Velma. She really wished she would have spent less time worrying about Merlin and more time getting to know her students. In the past week, she felt like she'd gained more of an appreciation for her amazing students than she had ever before.

To help prepare her students for the final exam, Velma decided to spend part of the class period doing a trivia-style game, in which she asked the students questions related to the literature they'd read over the course of the semester. The way the game worked is that the first student to call out their answer for the question she asked was given a point. Currently, the game had almost wrapped up. Madelyn was in the lead with 13 points, although Kara trailed closely behind with 12, and Sabrina right behind her with 10. After the game was over, Velma had told the students she would check in with each of them individually to ask if they had any questions or concerns about the exam.

"Ooh! I know this one!" Owen exclaimed. "The main argument of The Warlock of Wimbledon was you can't separate the mind, body and spirit. They're all connected when you're doing magic."

"Good job, Owen! Another point for you. You're up to eight points." Velma announced. "Now, the next question is what was the winning argument for the class activity about the Merlin books?"

"The courage of protecting his people!" Owen quickly blurted.

"Excellent work!" Velma exclaimed. Owen had significantly improved as a student throughout the semester, but that was especially showing this week. Velma remembered back to the beginning of the year where he was feigning illness and coming up with all sorts of different excuses for why he couldn't turn in his assignments. Now, he'd probably improved more than any student in the course. It was success stories like this that made Velma love teaching.

"Alright, since this is the final question, whoever answers this correctly will get a bonus point." Velma informed her students. "What was Kisp's philosophy about Gridditch?"

"The danger that accompanies Gridditch makes it far from ideal, and therefore impractical to play." Kara answered.

"Great work! Kara pulls into the lead and takes the win with 14 points!" Velma exclaimed. "Great game, everyone. Now, for the rest of class, I'm going to meet with each student individually just to check in with everybody to see if they're ready for the exam. Remember, the exam will consist of three essay questions, and anything we've covered in the class is fair game. It's more likely that things from the past six weeks will appear on the exam, however, since you weren't tested on them in the midterm. Once I've talked to you, you may leave."

Velma didn't really want to allow her students to leave, because she wanted to have as much time with them as possible, but she knew it would be unfair of her to keep her students there only for that reason. She wanted to get the troubled student out of the way first, so she started by going up to Jake.

"Hey Jake." Velma said, keeping her voice low, so as not to embarrass him in front of the other students. "I'm very concerned about your grade. You're currently failing my course."

"I know, I know." Jake seemed perturbed.

"You can still pass my course if you do all the assignments, and get an A on the final, but it's going to take a lot of hard work on your part." Velma informed.

"You know what your problem is?" Jake snarled, causing Velma's jaw to drop. "You've got unrealistic expectations!"

"Jake, I'm trying to keep this private. Please keep your voice down." Velma urged.

"Even when I did some of your crummy papers, you still flunked me! I don't see what the point is in doing anything." Jake complained.

"Jake, you didn't follow the instructions in those papers. On your midterm paper, I asked for at least two pages, and you barely gave me a paragraph." Velma explained.

"I've heard other people in the class talk about how they didn't follow the instructions, and you still gave them full points!" Jake argued.

Velma felt a bit of anxiety. It was true that she sometimes gave people points even if they didn't follow the instructions, but this was only when the paragraph count of the papers was slightly under what it was supposed to be, and she could tell they still got the concept they were supposed to learn.

"That's only if they were slightly under the page count." Velma rebuked. "You didn't show me you understood what I taught you. Jake, I know my criticisms may seem harsh, but I'm trying to help you."

"Whatever, man, I don't need this. I'm outta here. You can take your class and shove it!" Jake snapped, as he stormed out of class.

Velma felt a little hurt at first by this remark, but the frustration dwindled as she thought about all the effort she'd put in trying to help Jake. She'd felt sorry for Jake's inability to grasp the concepts, because she cared about all her students regardless of if they were doing well in the class or not. However, Jake's angry outburst made Velma realize something: there was a difference between academically struggling and not putting in the effort. Jake simply didn't care, and there was nothing Velma could do to change that. She tried to shake the unpleasant encounter off as she moved to the next student, Ron.

"Hi Ron." Velma greeted as she headed up to the brown-haired student. "How are you feeling about the final?"

"Oh, pretty good. I know I'll fail it." Ron shrugged.

"You're not going to fail the final!" Velma assured. Admittedly, Ron was definitely on the "not-so-great student" end of the spectrum, but he certainly wasn't nearly as bad as Jake. "What specifically are you struggling with?"

"I just don't remember the authors' arguments very well. They all jumble together in my mind, and I don't have time to read all of those books again." Ron admitted.

"That completely makes sense." Velma sympathized. "One trick I would recommend is try reading over each of your weekly assignments again slowly. Maybe read over four this afternoon, four this evening, and then the last four when you get up tomorrow morning. Then, spend the day tomorrow reading them over again. Try to memorize the order of the authors and their arguments when you do it in your mind. That should help your mind categorize which argument belongs to what author."

"Wow, that's actually a good suggestion. Sounds easy enough. Thanks Ms. Dinkley!" Ron appreciated, as he grabbed his belongings and headed out of class.

"How about you, Parry?" Velma asked. "How are you feeling about the final?"

"I'm feeling great. I have a feeling I'm going to get an A!" Parry exclaimed.

Velma very much doubted that, admittedly. The best grade he'd gotten on any assignment was a B-, and in hindsight, probably even that was a bit generous. In general, Parry's weekly assignments came off as unrelated rambles about the week's content rather than actually answering the questions Velma had asked him to.

"I'm glad you're so confident about the exam." Velma simply responded. "Just remember to go over all your weekly assignments and papers again, and look at the feedback I gave you."

"Oh, I will! Parry Hotter never fails… well, unless you count all of those times I failed." Parry said, as he grabbed his belongings and headed out of the room.

"How about you, John?" Velma questioned.

"Umm…I don't quite understand Anthos's argument. He's saying that people need to have emotions to be able to do magic?" John asked.

It seemed John faintly got Anthos's argument, but hadn't connected all the pieces or thought about it with any depth.

"You're partially correct. Anthos is saying that magic requires a physical component, but you also need to be in touch with what emotions you're feeling, as well as thinking about it as a spiritual experience." Velma explained.

"What if I don't feel anything?" Parry asked.

"You're usually always feeling something. Even peace and indifference are feelings." Velma pointed out.

"Nope, I don't feel a thing. See?" Parry rebutted, and to the shock of everyone, ran headfirst into the brick wall. "See, even then I didn't feel anything…except pain! But it's only physical pain, so yep, still no feelings."

Velma ignored Parry's ridiculous antics and turned back to John.

"Does that make sense?" Velma questioned.

"Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Thanks!" John appreciated, as he put the pencil and notebook he had on his lap into his backpack. He rustled around in his belongings for a moment to return his pencil back to its home, before zipping up his bag and walking out of the classroom.

"I don't think I need any help, Ms. Dinkley." Katie responded from a few seats away.

"You've really shown a lot of improvement over the course of this semester, Katie." Velma complimented. "I hope you know how proud of you I am."

"Aww, thanks Ms. D." Katie smiled.

"I imagine you don't need any help either." Velma asked Kara.

"Given my current 108% in the course, I think I'm alright." Kara chuckled.

Thanks to the four extra credit assignments she'd completed, Kara was able to get over 100% in the course. Velma was quite a similar student to Kara; she'd regularly use extra credit so she could say she took every opportunity given to her in the course. Granted, she most certainly didn't ever need to do the extra credit, given Velma was almost always at 100% in all her courses anyway.

"Thanks for everything, though. This has been a great class, and I'll miss it." Kara replied.

"I'll miss having you all around too. It will be weird not to teach here next semester." Velma responded.

"I can't believe Whirlen won't bring you on for another semester. You're easily the best teacher here." Kara complimented.

"Aww, thanks." Velma smiled. "Have a good day."

"Yeah, you too!" Kara reciprocated.

As the dark brown haired girl grabbed her belongings off of the chair next to her and headed out, Sabrina came up to Velma to make an inquiry. "Hey, Ms. D, I've got a question. I don't get Nichols' argument in Scared a Lot in Camelot. It's sooo confusing!"

Velma had remembered that this was the one assignment Sabrina had struggled a bit on. Instead of saying that Nichols was arguing Merlin was an asset to saving Camelot, she had written about how daily life in Camelot could relate to modern society.

"Nichols's argument is a bit complicated, but essentially, he's just saying that without Merlin, Camelot would not have been saved. Think about that activity we did during week 7, where you all came up with different positive contributions Merlin made in his life." Velma provided a comparison point.

"Oh, that's all? That's easy! You're so good at making this stuff easy to understand, Ms. Dinkley!" Sabrina exclaimed, causing a smile to form across Velma's face. She was happy her students found her advice so helpful.

"Kennedy, you've been pretty quiet lately. Doing alright?" Velma asked.

"Yeah, I'm doing well." Kennedy nodded. She'd still been turning in subpar assignments. However, they were a far cry from the amazing work she turned in at the beginning of the semester. Velma admittedly wondered if her quietness meant she was going through something, but she supposed if Kennedy didn't want to tell her, there would be no way to know. Kennedy had really changed from the bubbly outgoing student she was at the beginning of the semester.

Velma looked around the room for Brian next, but realized he hadn't shown up. Given his apology, Velma wanted him to succeed and was pretty sure he had the drive to, but not if he kept up like this. She couldn't worry about it overly much, but she hoped Brian would come through in the end for his own sake.

She decided to head over to Ramando next.

"Nah, I don't need no help Ms. Dinkley." Ramando said as the glasses-clad instructor approached him. "I honestly just wanna say thank you. I was really struggling at the beginning of this class, but you were so helpful. No teacher's ever believed in me as much as you have, and I just gotta thank you for that."

Velma found Ramando's compliment to be quite sweet. She felt she had just done what any good teacher would do by helping her struggling student, but regardless, Velma was glad her words of wisdom had resonated with him so much.

"I'm really glad I could help you, Ramando. I have a feeling you're going to do amazing on the final." Velma well-wished. Although his assignments still weren't quite A-quality, she could tell Ramando was thinking critically in the work he submitted. Even if he wasn't on the same level as other students, Velma still considered the growth he had made since the beginning of the class to be a success.

Next, Velma went up to Mitch to see if he had any questions. "Anything you need to ask me before the final, Mitch?"

"Nah, I think I'm okay." Mitch responded, whilst in the process of packing up his belongings. "See you tomorrow!"

"I've got a question, Ms. Dinkley." Owen inquired. "Are there going to be any essay questions that ask us to compare and contrast different authors?"

There was only one essay question that had the students do this; however, it just asked the students to compare and contrast one of the books about Merlin to the arguments of any other book in the course, so it likely wouldn't be overly difficult for Owen.

"There might be." Velma responded. "Just make sure you know all the author's arguments, and you'll be fine."

"Actually, I have another question! If that's okay, of course." Owen backtracked after his initial excitement.

"Of course it's okay! I've noticed how you've really improved your presence in the course, and I want you to know that I'm proud of you for that." Velma complimented.

"Thanks, Ms. D! My other question is about the Merlin books. Do we need to know every argument from every book about Merlin, or can we just memorize one of them?" Owen asked.

A very smart question. Technically, the students only needed to memorize the arguments of one of the Merlin books, but Velma wanted the students to review all of their weekly assignments so they remembered the materials. On the other hand, she didn't want to be one of those teachers that made their students waste time overpreparing for something they didn't need to memorize, so she kept her answer neutral.

"I've been recommending to some of your classmates to just read over your weekly assignments again. If you do that, you'll be fine." Velma promised.

"Awesome, I definitely will!" Owen responded. "See you tomorrow!"

"Is any of the stuff Merlin…umm… I mean Bumbledore taught us going to be on the test?" Ashley inquired.

"No, you don't have to worry about last week's content. Like I told Owen, if you just study your weekly assignments, you'll be absolutely fine." Velma promised.

"Awesome! Thank you so much!" Ashley said, as she zipped up her backpack. "See you tomorrow!"

"See you tomorrow!" Velma repeated, as she turned her attention to another student. "Annabelle, do you need any help?"

"I had the same question as Owen, so no." Annabelle replied. "Have a good day."

"I've got one, though." Sadie chimed in. "You said don't worry about last week, but what about the Wednesday before that where Merlin took over for the last half of class? He read a book then."

"What was the book?" Velma asked.

"It was an excerpt from Johnny Cash's autobiography." Sadie revealed.

"That isn't magical, so I don't know why he would have taught that." Velma responded in a confused manner. "No, it's definitely not on the test."

"Merlin said Johnny's words were magical to him." Sadie said. "That's good we don't have to study it, though. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Do you have any questions, sis?" Velma turned to her last student.

"Nope. I'm pretty confident about the test." Madelyn smiled. "You're such a caring teacher. I'm really going to miss having my sister as my teacher next year."

As Velma looked around the classroom to see that all her students were gone, she felt a pang of emptiness inside her heart. She'd been trying not to think of it as the last week, but now, it was beginning to feel more and more real. She only had one more class period, and teaching would be done forever.

---

Velma was chowing down on a delicious plate of spaghetti and meatballs (this one was thankfully not alfredoed like it had so rudely been a few months ago). It was one of her favorite meals, and the chef here always made it so deliciously. The tomato sauce was perfectly rich in flavor, the noodles had an excellent texture, and the meatballs were baked to perfection.

"So what do you want to do tonight, sis?" Madelyn inquired. "Watch another movie, maybe? Sadie told me they've got a new DVD in the common room. I think it was called South Seas Scare."

"Oh! My roommate saw that, and he gave it a rating of scare-tacular!" Parry interjected, as he walked by with his plate which was only covered with the faint remnants of tomato sauce.

The tradition of watching movies with her sister was tempting, since they'd done that most nights together. However, Velma felt the craving to do something different. This would be one of her last nights here at Whirlen Merlin, and she didn't want to waste it sitting in her room doing the same old thing. Besides, after finals came in tomorrow, she'd probably be busy grading them. She knew Madelyn would have other finals she needed to begin studying for tomorrow as well.

"How about we take a walk around the school?" Velma suggested. "It'll be one of my last chances to do that here, so it'd be nice to reminisce on old memories."

"That sounds fun!" Madelyn agreed, taking her last bite of meatball. "We can always watch a movie later. The walk won't take that long."

Velma quickly scarfed down her last few bites as well. It was hard to believe this would be one of her last nights here, but she intended to make the most of it.

"Ready to go, sis?" Madelyn wondered.

While Velma was physically prepared she was most certainly not mentally ready. She didn't want to leave behind everything she'd built here over the past few months: her routines, her identity as a teacher, and most prominently, the bond she'd built with her students. However, she knew time was the worst captor of all, so she ultimately couldn't say anything but "yes."

Velma wasn't particularly talkative as the girls walked by each room together. It wasn't due to any awkwardness between them, though. Velma was just trying to take it all in, and think about the memories she'd had in each respective room. The route they were taking now was the way she took to class every day: past the dining hall, through the brick-wall-filled castle halls that were always a bit drafty, and past the big picture window that Velma always glanced out as she practiced excerpts of her lecture in her mind. What had felt so commonplace was about to become a cherished-yet-distant memory.

"There's the room where we played all those games." Velma said, pointing to the currently empty student common room and the shelf filled with board games.

"Yeah. I really enjoyed game nights with you, sis." Madelyn reminisced.

"Me too." Velma replied, before a short pause ensued. She began speaking again once they passed Whirlen's office. It was empty now, as presumably Whirlen was in his room for the evening. Velma fondly remembered going in there to ask advice or meet with him. Most prominently, she remembered the DA meetings. All of those times she snuck in there to meet with her students and plot against Merlin in secrecy. Right next to it was what had formerly been Bumbledore's office. Velma wondered what they'd do with it now that he was in jail.

"I'll never forget those Dinkley's Army meetings." Velma thought aloud.

"Me either. Thank goodness we don't need them anymore." Madelyn said. "That was pretty scary, hiding from Merlin. The only thing scarier was being forced to dig for his wand in that pit."

Velma didn't care to relive any of those moments. The horror she'd experienced with Merlin was still far too recent and raw to want to think about.

"Mads, what do you want to do with your life?" Velma asked.

"Woah, that's a deep question!" Madelyn gasped in surprise.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to shock you. I'm just thinking about where my life is going next, and was wondering if you had any idea of where you're going." Velma further explained. "I thought I knew where I was going, but…I loved this experience. I thought I loved sitting at home with my books, selling them by day and reading them by night…but I loved this more. Connecting with students brought more of a sense of purpose to my life than the bookstore did, or at least it feels that way. Ugh…sorry. I asked you a question and then I went on and on."

"Don't be sorry, sis!" Madelyn assured. "I don't really know where I'm going yet, other than college, but I'm only in ninth grade. I've got plenty of time to figure that out."

"That doesn't help me feel better. I thought I had my life figured out, but this last week has made me a lot sadder than I expected to be." Velma sighed.

"It's okay, Velma." The older of the sisters noticed that the younger had used her full name, which was relatively rare. Usually it was just "Velms" or "sis." "You'll figure it out. You thought your life was going to be mystery-solving with the gang, but that ended, so you ran a bookstore. Now, you have this opportunity to teach, which will be over tomorrow. Life is supposed to be fun. In fact, I'd say it would be pretty boring if you just went through life never growing or changing."

That was a surprisingly insightful point. Maybe she didn't need to know what she was doing right now. All that mattered is that she enjoyed the teaching, and would keep that as a potential dream for the future.

"You're right, Mads." Velma acknowledged.

"A sister always knows best." Madelyn smiled. "Besides, I don't know, maybe the gang will want to solve mysteries again with you someday. That's what seemed to make you the happiest."

Madelyn definitely wasn't wrong. Velma enjoyed the thrill of figuring out complex mysteries even more than teaching. Racking her brain to uncover the secrets behind difficult puzzles was incredibly exciting to her, and she loved getting to do that with her best friends in the world. Although she enjoyed this teaching experience, she missed spending time with her close friends. When she was working at the bookstore, even though she didn't get to see Fred, Daphne, Shaggy or Scooby often, it was at least semi-often. Now, she hadn't seen anyone except Daphne in months. That was one pleasure that being a teacher couldn't give her. She enjoyed doing what she loved among her best friends. Perhaps that's what she was missing when she was working at the bookstore. Although she did like reading and selling books, it admittedly got lonely doing the same routine day after day all alone. Sure, she talked with customers, but most of them didn't care to discuss the books they were buying; they simply bought their literature and left. Teaching allowed her an outlet to discuss her love of literature and critical thinking with others…she hadn't thought about it before, but perhaps that's why she liked it so much.

Velma peeked her head in the auditorium. She cared less about that particular room given she was only in it twice, but it still held memories for her simply for being a part of the school that she'd been in more than once.

Close by was the conference room that Whirlen held all the staff meetings in. Velma would have one more meeting in there tomorrow, so this wasn't her last time in the room like it would be most of the places she was seeing, but she still felt the pang of prior memories in her heart as she strolled past.

"This is where you sit to grade papers sometimes, isn't it?" Madelyn pointed to the nearby restaurant-style booth adjacent to the conference room.

"Yep, that's the place." Velma knew she'd be back there tomorrow to begin grading her students' final exams. Her mind began to wander back to all the countless hours she'd spent there grading her students' work, updating the attendance spreadsheet, and organizing all of her lesson plans.

"Top of the evening to you!" the familiar voice of the school's headmaster greeted. Velma had really missed hearing that voice when Merlin had taken over. "What are you doing out here on this fine evening?

"Hey, Whirlen." Madelyn greeted. "Velma and I are just taking a walk."

"Yeah, I wanted to walk around the school one last time, since I don't have too much time left here." Velma explained further.

"That you don't." Whirlen confirmed. "I wanted to let you know that you should bring your keys to me promptly by 9:00am on Thursday."

"Thursday?!" Velma felt an alarm of anxiety go off in her mind. "I thought I was staying here through the weekend."

"Oh heavens no. Your room is scheduled for renovation beginning at 9:30 on Thursday. That's why I needed you to vacate the premises by then." Whirlen exclaimed.

"Oh…but…" Velma didn't want to tear up in front of her boss, but this revelation was really affecting her emotionally. She had expected to have until next week to come to terms with leaving this place and say her goodbyes, so it was utterly shocking she didn't even have 48 hours. "Sorry, I just thought I'd have longer to stay here."

"I'm sorry, but I have some extremely enthusiastic construction workers who want to start this project as soon as possible." Whirlen replied. "In fact, there's one of them now."

"Well, did ya tell her yet Whirlen? Did ya, did ya, did ya?" a blond-haired man in a construction hat eagerly replied with a huge grin on his face as he scurried up to Whirlen.

"Yes, she'll be out by Thursday, Robert." Whirlen confirmed.

"Yee-haw!" the blond-haired construction worker exclaimed in delight.

"I understand. I'll pack my things tomorrow and be out by Thursday morning." Velma confirmed, hanging her head a bit.

Once Whirlen and the overly eager construction worker were out of potential hearing range, Velma let out a sigh.

"Oh sis, I'm so sorry. You shouldn't be forced out like this." Madelyn lamented. "Oh hey, look, this will cheer you up! It's our classroom. You love our classroom!"

Velma glanced inside the empty classroom and reached her right hand in to turn on the lights. The emptiness of the classroom admittedly was a bit haunting to her. There were no students to fill the seats, no backpacks adorning the floor, and no one was up in front of the class at the podium. Velma knew after tomorrow, the classroom would soon be this way regularly. Especially given her allotted time had now been shortened, seeing this classroom didn't bring Velma any happiness, because she knew she wasn't going to be ready to leave this place yet.

---

Velma tried to savor every single bite of her breakfast, knowing it would be the second-to-last one she would have there.

"Have fun in your meeting!" Madelyn said, still finishing up her last few bites of breakfast as Velma headed off to the conference room.

The glasses-clad teacher looked up at a clock affixed to a wall and noticed she only had a few minutes to get to the meeting. She wished she could have a few more moments to walk down the hall at a pace that allowed her to appreciate and reminisce, but alas, she had to keep moving so she wasn't late.

"Ah good, Velma's here." Jonathan greeted as the brunette teacher arrived in the room.

She noticed all of her fellow faculty members were already sitting down in the chairs. Velma quickly took a seat as well in the one remaining cushy, padded chair.

"Well, everybody, I want to start by giving you an update on Bumbledore." Whirlen said. "He's been in jail for seven days now. Anyway, things seem to be wrapping up nicely, and I wanted to let you know that all the teachers that were unjustly fired by Merlin are being brought back next semester. They've all received a generous gift basket."

"What was in the basket?" Dan asked.

"The gift was the basket itself!" Whirlen revealed. "We don't have that kind of budget!"

To Velma's horror, all of a sudden, the lights went out. She felt a sense of panic wash over her as she lost her ability to see around her in the room, but that panic thankfully abated a little when the lights went back on.

Velma was incredibly surprised to see the other faculty members acting so calmly about it. She didn't want to come off overly terrified if there was a logical explanation for what happened.

"What was that?" Velma gasped.

"That was Merlin…well, the real Merlin. The one we told you about in the beginning of the semester that didn't do anything other than the occasional harmless prank." Whirlen explained.
"Isn't that right?"

A cackle could be heard resounding throughout the room, but this one was much different than Bumbledore's fake Merlin voice. While his was deep and eerie, this one was much more high-pitched and nasally.

For some reason Velma had been thinking Bumbledore had been dressed up as Merlin the whole time, but the school must actually be haunted by a poltergeist. Thank goodness this one was harmless.

"Whirlen, I just have a question." Velma spoke up. "What about Bumbledore's open position? Will that be filled again?"

"No, that was just a temporary position to support Bumbledore's wishes to still remain a part of the school's administration even after he retired. Clearly, that was a mistake. In fact, I don't think there will be any open positions here for a long time!" Whirlen revealed.

"What about Ms. Dinkley's open position?" Amanda asked. Velma was very glad she had asked that, given she was wondering the very same thing herself. She admittedly wanted to ask if there were any openings for teaching positions, but she didn't want to be so obvious or blunt about her intentions.

"Ah, yes. That was what I was just going to share next. We have hired a new person for the position Velma is currently in." Whirlen informed. "I would like you all to meet them. C'mon in, Joseph."

A blond-haired man wearing a red turtleneck and orange cargo shorts came into the room. "Hello everyone, my name is Joseph Josephson."

"Joseph was the ideal candidate for this position." Whirlen shared. "He is a lover of literature, is dedicated to student success, and he's a forward thinker. Joseph, I'd like you to meet the person you'll be replacing, Velma Dinkley."

Velma had never heard of the new candidate meeting the current person in the role, since it could potentially cause awkward feelings.

"Hi, I'm Velma." the brunette teacher greeted.

"Hello, I am Joseph Josephson. I can't wait until you're at home doing whatever the heck you're doing after this, and I'm up there teaching in your place!" Joseph expressed, much to Velma's surprise.

"That's a bit forward, isn't it?" Velma gasped.

"Yes, as I said, he's a forward thinker. As in, he's always being forward about whatever he's thinking." Whirlen clarified. "I've got to say, I love that attitude. With other employees, I have to worry about them not liking me, but with Joseph, if he's feeling something, he'll just say it!"

"Whirlen, has anyone ever told you those pants make you look kinda frumpy?" Joseph asked.

"See what I mean?!" Whirlen exclaimed in delight. "That'll be all, Joseph."

"Alright, good to meet you all, although I would have much preferred if this meeting would have been tomorrow." Joseph replied, as he turned the door handle and walked out of the open door.

"To conclude today's meeting, I just wanted to ask if anyone had any final thoughts or concerns they wanted to voice before concluding the year." Whirlen opened it up to the floor.

"I just want to say thank you to all of you for a great semester!" Mikayla spoke up. "It's been a lot of fun."

"The pleasure has been all ours, I'm sure!" Doris Rumbridge interjected.

"It's been a pleasure meeting you especially, Velma. You made a great addition to the Whirlen Merlin team." Matt complimented.

"I don't wanna dismiss this sweet moment, but can I get a free meal from the dining hall today, Whirls?" Mr. Mistara asked. "I meant to pack a turkey sandwich, but I accidentally made a ham one instead."

"Yes, you can get a free meal, but it'll mean additional taxes will be taken out from your salary this year." Whirlen warned.

"Deal!" Mr. Mistara exclaimed, as he pulled out a brown paper bag from under the table and whipped it in the trash. He then began shaking his head in disgust. "Ham. What a sham!"

"Thank you all." Velma brought the conversation back to its original point before Mr. Mistara interrupted. "It's been amazing working here, and I will truly miss it dearly."

"It's been an excellent semester working with you all. We definitely had times that were a little trying, but the important thing is we got through it together. We couldn't have done it without the help of Velma, who saved us from Merlin." Whirlen appreciated.

"How about a big round of applause for Velma?" Dan exclaimed.

Everyone in the room began clapping enthusiastically. It warmed Velma's heart to know she was appreciated this much by her colleagues. As much as she wished she could continue to teach there, it was nice to know she at least left a mark.

---

Velma couldn't believe the time had already come for her final class. Most students had already filed in the classroom, but there were still a few stragglers, including Brian. Velma was quite worried about him; unlike Jake, he seemed dedicated to succeeding in the class. He wouldn't be able to though if he missed the final; that would mean an automatic fail.

Speaking of which, she saw Jake didn't show up, as she suspected he wouldn't. Unfortunately for him, that would mean he would fail the course. However, unless he finished every missed assignment and got an A on the final, he would have failed anyway, so Velma wasn't particularly sad for him. He'd had dozens of chances, and he'd chosen to waste them all.

"Ready for the final, Owen?" Velma asked, as the brown-haired student came into the classroom. The brunette instructor had only decided to comment because she noticed Owen looked jittery.

"I would say I am. Four cups of coffee outta do it!" Owen said, before chuckling nervously.

"Yeah, that should do the trick." Velma laughed. She was glad Owen was taking the final seriously, but he certainly didn't need to caffeinate himself that heavily.

She momentarily became distracted when she saw Brian saunter into the room. She was incredibly happy he had made the right decision and showed up. Now all he had to do was get a good grade on the final, and he could still pass the class.

"Alright class, I'm about to hand out the final. You'll have 50 minutes to write your answers to each of the three essay questions. Just as a reminder, you need to write at least three paragraphs for each answer." Velma said. "Before you start this final, I just want to say I've truly loved teaching you all these past 15 weeks. I wish you the best of luck on the final, and I hope you all have an amazing summer!"

"Heck yeah I will!" Parry blurted. "I'm going to Camp Rock! I hear Demi Lovato and the Jonas Brothers are gonna be there this year!"

"Isn't that, like, just a movie?" Sabrina asked.

"The final starts now!" Velma informed. She didn't really have anything much to do at the moment, but thankfully, she'd remembered to bring her favorite book The Mystery of Haunted Island. She only had two chapters left, but she figured that would at least get her through most of class.

---

30 minutes of class had passed before the first person finished. Contrary to popular belief, the first people to finish were not always the ones who performed the best. While one might have expected Kara or perhaps Madelyn to finish first, Ron was the first to finish. Velma didn't take this as a particularly good sign, since Ron wasn't exactly the best student. Velma was on the last page of her book when Ron came up to the front of the room and handed his exam to her.

"Have a good summer, Ron." Velma said.

"Thanks, you too." Ron nodded.

Given she was nearly done with her book, she decided to switch gears after reading the last page and begin grading Ron's final. She felt a bit weird grading while the students were still in the classroom, but it wasn't like she had anything else to do. Also contrary to popular belief, the best students were not the most difficult to grade. No matter how detailed the students got, if they understood the material, it was quite easy to grade since minimal feedback was needed. Conversely, the worst students always required significant feedback so they could improve. However, in this case, the students would only see their grades and didn't need feedback, since there was nothing left in the course to improve upon, so the finals would be among the easier assignments to grade.

She read over Ron's exam, and while it was passable, it wasn't good by any stretch of the imagination.

Kisp's argument is that sports are dangerous and therefore you shouldn't play them was perhaps the worst line in the whole paper, as it represented a fundamental misunderstanding of the author's entire argument. Kisp wasn't arguing that all sports were dangerous, just Gridditch. He gave a number of specific reasons for it, which were not really covered in any level of depth. Unfortunately for Ron, he would fail this final, and this would bring his overall grade down to an F.

"All done, Ms. D. Thanks for an incredible class! You were an amazing teacher!" Sabrina said, handing Velma her exam. A quick glimpse at it showed that Sabrina had written a significant amount.

"Thanks, Sabrina. You were an amazing student too." Velma said, as Sabrina embraced her in a hug.

A quick glance at the clock showed there were still ten minutes left for the students to take their exam. She figured she could slip grading another paper in. She looked over Sabrina's paper, and was incredibly impressed. Typically Sabrina was one of those students who often fudged the rules about length, but Velma often gave her full points anyway because she could tell Sabrina understood the content. This, however, was incredibly detailed and well thought out.

Nichols's argument connects to Kisp's book because Nichols is arguing Merlin was essential for a functional society in King Arthur's court. On the other hand, Kisp is arguing that we need a functional society, and Gridditch does not provide us with this due to its level of danger.

This would most certainly get an A.

Velma stopped looking at Sabrina's paper when she saw Kara had come up to hand in her exam.

"Here you are, Ms. D. Thanks for everything!" Kara extended her hand in a very formal manner, shaking Velma's hand lightly before heading out.

"Have a great summer!" Velma responded. There wouldn't be time to read Kara's exam before class went out. In fact, she decided to save it until the end, knowing it would probably be the best one in the class.

"Hey…um…Ms. Dinkley." Brian came up to her nervously. Velma was surprised to see he did not just have the exam in his hands; he was carrying a gigantic stack of papers.

"Brian!" Velma exclaimed. "Good to see you!"

"Now, I wasn't able to get the assignment for week 5 or 11 done, or either of the last two essays, but I got all the other assignments finished." Brian revealed. "I'm really sorry. I tried…I even skipped class these past two days to devote my time to finishing those assignments, but there just wasn't enough time for those four."

"It's okay, Brian." Velma smiled. "This is more than I could have ever expected or wanted."

Velma felt a sense of warmth in her heart seeing how hard Brian had tried to succeed. She was admittedly beginning to count him out given his absence the past two days, but she was really happy he cared enough about her class to do all that work. Her students truly were amazing.

---

Velma didn't waste any time beginning to grade her students' finals. She'd already graded Sabrina and Ron, but she still had twelve left to grade. She considered going to her room to grade, but she wanted to sit in the study area with the restaurant-style booth one more time before her early departure tomorrow.

Thinking through the students she had, she thought Parry's final would likely be the worst. She decided to grade that one next, as to get the bad one out of the way. Velma was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't terrible, but it was quite rambling and more of an opinion than an answer.

I really liked Kisp's argument about not playing Gridditch. That sport sounds pretty dumb to me, so I can see why he thought it was dangerous. I'd say that too if it got me out of playing that stupid stuff.

There was the faint semblance of an answer somewhere in Parry's rambling opinions, so Velma decided to be a bit generous and give him a C-.

She decided to grade Owen's next. He had been so nervous, but he had done an incredible job.

Anthos argued that the mind, body and spirit are completely inseparable in his book, The Warlock of Wimbledon. Without being in tune with all three, performing magic will be impossible.

Velma was amazed with how much he'd improved over the course of the semester. She couldn't believe he was the same student that was making silly excuses not to do the work back at the beginning of the semester. Although Owen's personality was a bit strange and quirky, when he was passionate about something, he really put his all into it.

She wished his groupmate Ashley's paper would have been of the same quality. The final was absolutely terrible. Barely any detail was put into the answers, causing them to be quite shallow. Velma admittedly felt a little responsible for it at first, if she were honest. She'd told Ashley all she needed to do was look over her weekly assignments again, but Ashley had approached the final as if it were a weekly assignment. Velma wasn't as harsh on the details in the weekly assignments…the students got a good grade as long as she could tell they understood the material. However, here, Velma expected a decent level of analysis to show they had learned what they were supposed to from the course.

Kisp argued Gridditch wasn't safe. He thought nobody should play it. He recommended that it no longer be called a sport.

Ashley demonstrated a surface level of understanding of Kisp's arguments in her first answer, but it was extremely vague almost to the point of not saying much. The question had asked why Kisp had the argument he did, which Ashley completely skipped over answering.

As much as Velma hated to do it, she would have to fail Ashley. She'd still earn a B- in the course, so Velma couldn't worry about it too much, but Ashley was such a sweet, sensitive person. Surely it would be very hard for her to see she'd flunked the final. Ashley was such a genuinely kind, gentle person, and Velma would really miss being around her radiant positive energy.

Velma tried to put the unpleasant thought of failing Ashley out of her head and moved on to Kennedy. Her final was quite representative of the work she'd been putting in towards the end of the course: passable, but not good.

Glockhart talked about his experiences with ghouls and magic in Gap with a Ghoul.

That he did, but her answer wasn't particularly descriptive.

In working with a ghoul, he learned about how to use magic in a spiritual way.

Had that been accompanied by some sort of explanation, even a general one, it would have been a far stronger answer.

Glockhart believed magic was a positive thing, and said everyone should use it (if they can).

This line was an oversimplification of the argument, as was the entire paragraph. Glockhart was talking about how learning to use magic from a ghoul taught him the importance of channeling positive spiritual energy, so that you are focused and logical when you are utilizing the wonders of magic. Kennedy's argument was a vague interpretation of that, and only came slightly above Parry's rambling opinion answer. Kennedy would get a C on the final. Velma felt a little sad for Kennedy, because her assignments had always been quite good at the beginning, but in the past couple months, they'd gotten a bit sloppy and unorganized. Velma wondered what was going on in Kennedy's life that caused her to decline so much academically.

The next student Velma graded, Katie, was the complete opposite: she'd struggled at first, but got progressively better as the semester went on.

Glockheart believed that magic was a beautiful thing, which is why he believed you should always channel positive energy when you use it. Working with a real ghoul caused him to learn the importance of spiritual energy. His experience with a spirit caused him to adapt his theory to consider the spiritual aspect of magic.

That answer was the perfect example of why Kennedy's response was subpar. Katie was quite descriptive in her answer and presented his arguments in chronological order, whereas Kennedy's vague answer was disorganized. Katie had spelled 'Glockhart' wrong, but it mattered little in comparison to her superb answer. She was impressed with how much Katie had improved since the beginning of the class, when she used to be more like the current Kennedy.

Velma turned to Annabelle's final next. She'd improved a little bit over the course of the semester, but Velma got the sense that she rushed through all of her assignments and put little actual thought into them.

Lots of tricks were shown in New and Remembered Hexes and Tricks by Leduardo Imus. These tricks are some of the most common ones in magic. A connection to one of the Merlin books is that Scared a Lot in Camelot by Charles Nichols talked about some of the tricks Merlin used, and how his magical technique was based on the culture of his court.

The answer was quite vague and the connection was tedious. Annabelle was a super nice student, and she knew that Madelyn liked her as a groupmate. Velma was a little sad giving her a D, but that's ultimately what such a vague, information-light final exam deserved.

Speaking of Madelyn, Velma turned to grade her friend Sadie's final next. As soon as she began reading it, Velma could tell she really got it. Students like Sadie were always a joy to have, because it was clear she critically engaged with the material. Velma was glad Madelyn had such a smart, supportive friend like Sadie. Velma would certainly miss seeing Sadie in class, and it had been a pleasure to get to know her.

Glockhart and Anthos both argued for the inclusion of the spirit within the magical practice. Both authors discussed the importance of spirituality for putting your full mind and body into the process of doing magic. Magic is not just a physical experience. These two authors prove that magic isn't just mind over matter, it is both mind and matter.

Madelyn's answers were similarly insightful. Velma was so proud of how smart her younger sister was. Teaching her sister was one of her favorite memories of working at Whirlen Merlin, because it allowed them to bond more regularly than they ever had before.

One way in which Charles Nichols's book connects to The Unconventional Book of Tricks by Giranda Moshawk is through Merlin's unconventional practice of magic. Merlin regularly amazed his kingdom with his magical abilities, and eventually saved his people with his powers. Merlin is one of the most famous magical figures of all-time, and for good reason, because his powers represent a lack of conventionality as compared to other magic-wielders.

Velma chose to read John's final next. John was never an exemplary student, but he did at least generally submit quality work. However, this final was not particularly quality, and came off as if he was just trying to get it over with as fast as he could.

There are so many different books that we've read that connect to the Merlin literature that it's hard to choose one. I ended up picking Offensive Magical Theory. Merlin was one of the greats of magical theory, and that's why he's remembered. Merlin argued that you should always be defensive when practicing magic, and that's what Slinkhard argued too.

While Sadie and Madelyn had both earned A's, John received a C-. It was not as bad as some of the other finals, but Velma could tell he really didn't try much. It was a bit disheartening, because Velma had seen John submit a few really good assignments, and he could have done a lot better in the class had he just put in the effort.

Velma glanced at Mitch's final next.

Hilda Hagshot talked about the difference between using magic for good and utilizing it for evil. In the Nichols book, Merlin was conflicted about whether he should use his magic for good. Ultimately, Merlin decided to use magic to help his kingdom, which is what Hagshot said you should do.

Mitch's answers admittedly could have been slightly more descriptive, but Velma could definitely tell that he mostly got the material as she read through his work. Ultimately, he received a B, which is also what he would receive in the class. It was quite fitting for his quality of work, because Mitch tended to mostly get concepts, but he'd occasionally get a bit too cocky and cut corners in making arguments.

Velma couldn't believe she'd already almost gotten through the big stack of finals, so she decided to save Ramando's and Kara's for later. She had a huge stack of late work to grade from Brian, so she began to dive in by beginning with his final. Velma was really rooting for him to succeed, given how much effort he'd put in at the end.

Reading through his final, Velma was pleasantly surprised at his level of effort.

Through Nichols's book, the reader is taken through the journey of Merlin's life with him. The book explains how Merlin learned his philosophy of only using magic for good purposes. Merlin's theory is essentially highlighted by contrast in Offensive Magical Theory, which tells the reader about unethical magical practices through a number of stories.

Brian's answers were very well-explained and drew upon the texts in a very insightful way. Brian would be getting an A on his final for sure, and hopefully if his late assignments were good enough, he would pass the course successfully. It was moments like this that made Velma proud to be a teacher. Had Velma not believed in Brian and reached out when he was struggling, he would have easily failed the course. She didn't take any of the credit for Brian's success, though - that was all his own motivation. Although he had wronged her, Velma now saw Brian in a whole new light: he was just a scared kid who dealt with a bit of a self-esteem issue. She was so proud of him for pulling through and doing the work in the end.

---

Velma almost wished she had waited to do some of the grading until later on. It felt weird and empty knowing that she would never have class or see any of her students again. The sun was beginning to set and the sky was getting dark, but Velma wasn't quite ready for bed yet. She decided to grade one more final before heading to bed. She would start on Ramando's now, and save Kara's for when she was at home. She knew that one would be amazing, so she might as well save it so she'd have something to look forward to when she got home. She knew that was quite a sad thought, but she was very worried that her life would be boring upon returning home. She remembered back to her routine of selling books by day and reading them by night, then doing it all over again day after day. Compared to how busy she'd been when she was teaching, she almost preferred being busy because at least it provided some variety for her.

Nonetheless, she tried to push the worrisome thought from her mind and just focus on Ramando's paper. He had a very quirky style of writing, and some teachers might not consider him the best student as a result, but Velma could tell he was really trying.

Merlin was a pretty famous guy in his time. Everybody in the court knew him and stuff, because of the way he used his powers for good. He had a spiritual connection with his powers, and knew that you needed to use your mind to use magic. That's kind of like what that Anthos guy was saying about using mind body spirit, so I guess that's my connection.

Albeit very informally, Ramando had hit all the points that he needed to and answered all parts of the question, even if it wasn't exactly in the traditional way. Velma didn't see any reason to knock off points simply because he did things differently, so she gave him an A. It was clear he knew what he was talking about.

Grading Ramando's final went far quicker than she'd wanted it to, so she glanced at her grade sheet again.

Madelyn, Sadie, Sabrina, and presumably Kara had all gotten A's. Ramando, Ashley, Owen, Mitch, Katie, and thankfully Brian had all gotten in the B range. All of Brian's assignments were extremely well written and thought out, and it made Velma feel like such a proud teacher that her student pulled through with such a good grade in the end. John and Kennedy had gotten C's, Parry had gotten a D, and Jake and Ron would completely flunk out of the course.

Velma sighed as she looked out the window into the purple midnight sky. She stood up and took another glance around the room at her surroundings: the comfy couch, the chair with the broken leg, the wooden tile floors, the small little kitchen island, the oven and microwave which she cooked her meals in, the cushy bed, the nightstands, the lamps in her bedroom…all of that would be gone tomorrow. This would be her last night here. Velma almost didn't want to waste it by going to sleep, but she knew she'd need her sleep for the trip back tomorrow, so she submitted to her sleepy desires. As she drifted off to the land of nod, she reminisced on all the excellent memories she'd had here at Whirlen Merlin. She wished she had appreciated her time here more instead of worrying about Merlin, but nonetheless, there was nothing she could do to revise history now. All she could do was make the most of the last morning she had tomorrow.

---

Velma woke up out of a dead sleep to a deafeningly loud crash. When she opened her eyes, she saw a horrific sight: a bulldozer had completely demolished the wall of her bedroom.

"Bill, the bulldozing wasn't supposed to be until 9:30!" an annoyed voice from outside called.

Velma looked up in shock at the man riding the bulldozer that had just crashed through her wall. The man had brown hair and was wearing a yellow construction outfit.

"Oops, sorry about that little mishap. Hope I didn't wake ya." the man said in a dopey voice, as he began backing up his bulldozer.

"Whirlen told me my room was going through a renovation at 9:30." Velma responded. "How is this a renovation?"

"Ah, you see, he probably meant to say demolition." the construction worker informed.

Velma didn't even know how to respond to such a comment. Why would Whirlen be demolishing just one room?

"I'll grab my stuff out." Velma said, quickly grabbing the few bags she had and scurrying out to the dining hall. Luckily, she'd packed everything last night, so getting all her belongings didn't take very long. As Velma headed out the front door of her room to get away from the madness, she thankfully saw Whirlen in the hall.

"Whirlen, forgive me for being blunt…but what is going on in my room?!" Velma exclaimed.

Whirlen glanced in the room, which had the entire bedroom wall that was facing the parking lot completely ripped out.

"Ah, it seems they started a little early." Whirlen assured.

"I'm not worried about them starting early. I thought you said that this was a renovation, not a complete demolition!" Velma pointed out.

"Apologies, I should have been clearer about that. It's a renovation in the sense that we are converting the room into a ball pit." Whirlen clarified.

"Why would you change it into that?" Velma asked.

"Well, our richest alum, Bown C. Ballpit, was very persuasive you see, and I'll do anything if people give me money!" Whirlen exclaimed.

"Hey Whirlen!" Parry shouted from down the hall. "If I give you five bucks, would you do a cartwheel?"

"Absolutely!" Whirlen agreed, as he positioned himself acrobatically and attempted to perform the cartwheel. Unfortunately for him, he had nearly completed it when he momentarily lost his balance. However, he was able to regain it before he tumbled to the ground.

"Well…that was a little messy at the end. I'll tell you what, I'll give you four bucks." Parry bargained.

"Aww shucks." Whirlen hung his head. "Anyway, I'd recommend getting all your stuff out now. These construction workers are extremely aggressive about making sure the job is done."

At that moment, two men in construction outfits, one with red hair and the blonde construction worker she saw yesterday, hurried into Velma's former room. One of them was carrying a large jackhammer.

"Alright Whirlen, I'm ready to get started!" the blond construction worker exclaimed, as he turned on his jackhammer and manically began drilling into the room.

The other construction worker stood by the wall and began writing something on it.

"Jack, what are you doing?" the blond construction worker asked the red-haired worker.

"I'm emotionally tearing down this wall." Jack answered very seriously, as he wrote "Dear wall, you're not much fun at all" on the paint.

A third construction worker with brown hair then ran in with a baseball bat and began clubbing the chair with the broken leg. Velma had never really liked to sit in that chair given its instability, but staying here the past four months had made her enjoy the quirkiness of the chair and consider it as part of the whole package of this room. She'd grown to love her room over the past few months, and couldn't believe this was the end. Sighing and taking one last look at her room, Velma picked up her luggage and turned her back to it. She then began walking towards the dining hall with Whirlen to get one last breakfast before hitting the road. It felt surreal to her that it could be over, but she couldn't sit around moping that such an amazing experience was ending. Life had to go on.

"It's been amazing working for you, Whirlen." Velma smiled. "I'm so glad I got this opportunity, and I want to thank you for one of the best experiences of my life. I'm not going to lie, I'll really miss working here."

"It's a good thing you're not going to lie, as I'm still your supervisor for another hour, and misrepresentation of the truth would lead to a formal grievance being filed." Whirlen said, his face looking incredibly serious. Although Whirlen was generally a good boss to work for, Velma had certainly learned that he had many odd quirks if you said something the wrong way.

"Anyway, it's been great having you here too. Thank you for saving our school and caring so much about our students. I owe you a debt of gratitude." Whirlen continued responding. "I give you my deepest gratitudes. There, now my debt has been fully paid! Safe travels."

"Thanks. Have a good rest of your semester." Velma replied coolly. Quite frankly, she was extremely disappointed that she wouldn't get her final hour in her room. She already felt like she was being rushed out with her departure date being pushed from the weekend to this morning, but this put it into overdrive. This was shaping up to be a bad morning.

"Hey sis, you're up early!" Madelyn exclaimed.

"Yeah, I know." Velma sighed. "The bulldozer outside woke me up."

"Bulldozer?!" Madelyn exclaimed. "What happened?"

"Apparently my room is being converted into a ball pit." Velma explained.

This caused Madelyn to chuckle in response. "That's just like Whirlen. Very spontaneous and random."

Velma was feeling quite annoyed, but seeing her sister laugh and try to make it into something silly lifted Velma's spirits a bit. Maybe this didn't have to be the perfect last morning she was expecting…maybe it could be like how Madelyn described Whirlen…simply a spontaneous last morning. Trying to put the morning on a pedestal with extremely high expectations was only going to end in her feeling disappointed. Besides, her whole adventure at Whirlen Merlin's had been a series of one random unexpected event after another, so the current direction of the morning was quite a good metaphor for that.

From that moment on, Velma vowed to herself to make the most of her last hour. Not by putting tons of pressure on herself to make the morning "special," but by appreciating the special thing she had right in front of her: her sister.

---

Velma and Madelyn had spent the last hour talking over donuts and coffee. Between reminiscing about all the memories they'd made here, Madelyn talked about how easy the final was for her, in addition to informing Velma what finals for other classes she had remaining. Velma was grateful to have one last morning to bond with her sister.

"It's been a great morning, Mads. I can't think of a more perfect way to have spent it." Velma got out of her seat and embraced her sister in a hug.

"Safe travels, sis!" Madelyn called after her sister.

"I'll call you right when I get home to let you know I'm safe." Velma promised.

Home.

Velma let that word slosh around in her mind for a moment. She hadn't thought about it in such depth before, but she realized something when that word left her lips: this school felt like home to her. Velma loved her small, cozy house and the bookstore, but she hadn't thought about it much or missed it since the very first week she was here. That was back in the beginning of January, and now it was nearly four months later at the end of April. Velma felt like she'd changed and grown so much since then, in the past few weeks especially. Never had she expected to exercise such bravery, or grow such a close connection with her students. It still felt surreal to her that she had literal moments left in this place, but she knew it was time to go. Like Madelyn had said a few nights ago, just because this teaching opportunity was ending, didn't mean that this was the end of excitement in her life. There would be other adventures to be had and new sources of joy that were yet to be uncovered.

Velma picked up her suitcases, and walked out the front door waving to Madelyn. It wasn't until she had fully left the building that the realization fully hit her: the life she had known for the past four months was completely over.

---

Author's note:

I recognize that this was an extremely long chapter, topping out at over 15,000 words, so a big thank you to all of you who made it this far. I really enjoyed writing this chapter that's essentially a conclusion to this fanfic. I will post the final chapter, that being the epilogue, next week, although that won't be nearly as long as this chapter was.

Merlin's wand being filled with phoenix feathers is an idea that was lovingly borrowed from the Harry Potter franchise. In that franchise, a signature component of wands is that all of them have a phoenix feather inside of them.

The film that Madelyn suggests, South Seas Scare, continues the trend of all of the films that she and Velma watched being named after episode titles of The Richie Rich / Scooby-Doo Show.

For those of you who haven't read previous fanfics of mine, it's a running joke that every fanfic features a reference to Michael Jackson and Camp Rock at some point in the story, hence why they are referenced again here.

Thank you to everybody who has given faves/kudos, follows/bookmarks and reviews on this fanfic; I truly appreciate your support and feedback. I hope you enjoyed reading this fanfic as much as I did writing it!