I woke up before Draco could this time and started working on my essays, just waiting for breakfast. When it was time, I walked with Draco, Blaise, and Luna. I talked mostly to Luna though.
Breakfast I spent eating, remembering that Wednesdays used to be Astronomy at midnight or so up in the Astronomy tower and wouldn't put it past Tom to give me that class, since he'd given me all the others in the first place.
Of course I had to follow Draco to class, and that class ended up being Ancient Studies… with Corban Yaxley and Avery again… I really have to ask Tom why Avery's almost in all of my classes. At least our class was with the Gryffindors, I was sitting next to Ron. "Hello class. I am Professor Yaxley and this is my assistant Professor Avery, and we are going to be teaching you Ancient Studies. First let us go over the outline of this year's class. We will be covering Africa and the Middle East. More importantly, this month we will be going over Magic vs Religion and Shifting Boundaries. There will be essays… and there will be quizzes… there will be one short essay a week, which means by next class period, I expect an essay. You get 20% for spelling and grammar. You get 30% for word count, and of course that leaves you 50% for the content of the essay. Extra credit will be at 5% for every extra inch, or every 100 words written. Plagiarism and cheating… do any such thing and you will automatically be sent to either the Supreme Headmaster or the Headmaster, while also receiving a T for that assignment. Any questions?" I raised my hand. His eyes immediately darted to me. "Yes Mr. Potter?"
"How will you know if it was plagiarized?" I asked, some of the students snickering at my question. I bit my lip to keep from smirking or snickering myself.
"There are certain enchantments that can be tested. Is that all?" He asked. No one had any questions and Avery began.
"It can be quite easy to confuse the concepts of magic and religion when examining ancient civilizations. Given the rudimentary knowledge of magic that many of these societies had, it is not surprising that magic and religion were often mixed in their daily lives." Avery said and Yaxley picked up the lesson.
"For our purposes, however, we must make a distinction between the two concepts to have any hope at unravelling the mysteries of these societies. For the purposes of this class, we will use the following definitions: Magic – The art of producing a desired effect or result by connecting with and channelling the energies around us through spells, enchantments, and other manipulations. Religion – A particular system of faith and worship. In many ancient civilizations, magic was incorporated into religious practices and rites, but was not a religion of its own accord. For example, a religion may use an incantation or spell on a field of wheat. The spell may be part of a religious rite to ask the god of the harvest to allow the field to prosper. The magic of the spell, whether realized by the caster or not, then causes the field to grow faster and thicker. After that, the god's followers may credit the god for the abundant harvest. While these two concepts are intricately related, especially in ancient civilizations, it is not the magic that is being worshipped, but the effect that the magic has, interpreted as a gift from the gods. They did not know they were the ones causing it."
When class was finally over, I stood and hurried out. Listening to him, something that Tom said clicked. Ancient witches and wizards didn't know they were causing magic, because it would always happen when they were emotional or something like that.
When lunch was over, I'd finished my 1000 word essay for Tom and just had to write the short open ended essay… though I still had made no effort in writing that other 600 word essay. Nor did I have any intention to do so.
My next class was History of Magic with the Hufflepuffs. I sat next to Hermione, in the hopes I could ask her to help me with any homework that might come up. Speaking of essays, we had to write a short essay on the difference between magic and religion for Ancient Studies.
"Hello class. I am Professor Rookwood and this is my assistant Professor Avery." Avery waved a hand before going back to reading a magazine upside down. He must be reading the Quibbler or something. "This year we will be returning to the Western world to focus on the Americas. Yes, I do mean both North America and South America. It is important for you to note that in previous years your knowledge of history was primarily confined to a specific geographical region and consisted of rote memorization, though you were exposed to some application in Fifth Year. Moving forward, I will not only ask you to learn the information presented, but apply it and draw from your knowledge of the last six years as well. If you did not learn the material before, you had best begin reviewing now. History is a spider web in that all aspects of it – and other subjects – are heavily connected. As Seventh Years, the expectations I have of you and will hold you to, should come of no surprise. It is my hope, that at this point in your education, you do not need to be reminded of what they are. However, there is two items I would like to draw your attention to. Plagiarism and cheating is never acceptable and will result in a T, period. No amount of begging or grovelling will change my mind. If you refuse to put your own effort and thought into your work, then it is not worth my time to grade. I think we've spent enough time on an introduction and administrative material. Let us dig into what we will be studying this year. This month we will be covering Native tribes of North America, as I have said. You will be expected to write nine different essays this year. One for each topic which will be due at the end of the month at our last class of the month. Each essay will be 5,000 words long, as you have a whole month to write about the topic. The rubic for these essays are as follows: 50% for content, 40% for word count, and 10% for grammar and spelling. There will be no extra credit. If you get a bad grade, you get a bad grade. If you get a good grade, you get a good grade."
He continued and had just began to tell us where exactly the Americas were before he dismissed us. I walked out, annoyed that I had been given another essay! At least I had a whole month to get it done. Though I still don't know if I'm going to do it or not.
After dinner we headed up to the astronomy tower at 10 to get to class. This time Avery wasn't here. This class was with the Ravenclaws… and Alecto Carrow was teaching. "Good afternoon class. Tonight we will be charting the stars and the planets that we can see tonight. I hope you all brought quills and parchment. I expect you to name them after you are finished." With that we were allowed to begin working on our work.
I was just drawing Jupiter when I heard Carrow talking to me. I'd chosen to be a little farther than my friends, only to work in silence. Clearly I won't be getting it. "Aww. Harry you're so cute. No wonder the Dark Lord decided to keep you. You don't seem to be a little Death Eater, so maybe you're his little pet… or maybe his little trophy."
"I don't belong to Voldemort."
"Denial is not a beautiful thing Harry." I glared at her.
"Shut up." I demanded. I went back to work planning on ignoring her… until I heard what she said next.
"Such a shame it was… watching the Dark Lord punish his little one." I turned around and pointed my wand at her. "Tut, tut. Looks like little Harry's going to be naughty. You know you're not supposed to pull your wand against a teacher."
"You are no teacher, you're a Death Eater. Now leave me alone."
"The Dark Lord will hear about this." She cooed before moving on.
"That's right, go hide behind your master." I told her before she could get out of earshot. She ignored me. I went back to my work.