England was having a very bad day.

It hadn't started out that way. He'd woken up and heard footsteps outside his door; for a moment he had frozen up, expecting an annoying cry of "THE HERO'S HERE!" or the sinister 'hon hon hon' that was France's laugh.

A moment later he'd remembered; he was at Hogwarts. It was enough to make him want to get up and start dancing with joy. He was at Hogwarts. France couldn't break into his house and molest him when he wasn't looking; he didn't have to put up with America's horrible, butchered english. He didn't have to make an effort to remember that one guy everyone forgot about (...what was his name? Melvin? Mathias?).

Then he'd left the room, gone to the Great Hall and had been greeted with the site of tables and tables stacked with beautiful, beautiful English food. And everyone was enjoying it. There were no annoying imbeciles complaining about the taste.

Classes had gone excellently. Of course a few of those Slytherin's had gotten on his last nerves but other than that, everyone had been surprisingly attentive.

By the end of his last class for the day, England had concluded that he was having an excellent day.

He'd then made the mistake of going outside. He'd wanted to take in the sight of that beautiful Hogwarts lake and admire yet another feature of the amazing country that he represented.

And then some oversized, overweight beast had jumped on him and, as soon as he had hit the ground (hard) he'd decided that this day wasn't that great after all.

"GET OF ME YOU VILLAINOUS BEAST!" roared England, struggling under the...dog? Wolf? Bear?

The...thing let out a loud noise and pressed it's furry body closer to the struggling nation.

"I SAID OFF! OFF! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA OF WHO I AM? I SAID DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA -"

"Hey!" there was the sound of a male voice. "Fang, get of 'im."

"GET OFF!" England yelled, frustration coating his tone.

A moment later the thing had been pulled off him. With gritted teeth, he pulled himself up and glared at the beast.

An oversized dog with a long, lolling tongue stared back at him.

"You...you..." he snarled.

The man next to him - a humongous man - smiled apologetically. "Sorry 'bout Fang. He jus' gets excited."

England's eyebrow twitched. "Yes" he said, speaking through gritted teeth. "I could tell."

"Eh?" the man's brow furrowed. "Yeh alrigh'? Yeh seem a little off."

'Of course I'm 'off' you oaf.' "I'm fine" England said, trying to sound pleasant.

"Yeh're tha new professor, righ?" the man gazed at him curiously. "Tha one for History of Magic."

"Yes" England replied, quickly shooting the dog a dirty look.

"Well, nice to meet yeh" the man said. "I'm Rubeus Hagrid. Tha Games keeper."

England stared at him blankly. 'What the hell is a Games keeper?'

"So" Hagrid said, petting the monstrosity standing innocently next to him. "You likin' tha school so far?"

"Yes" England nodded his head.

"Well tha's good" Hagrid beamed. "It's great workin' here, isn't it? Jus' gotta love this place."

England smiled. Now that was something he could relate to.

Hagrid frowned slightly, his brow furrowing. "Eh" he said. "I better go now...Fang needs 'is lunch soon. Poor boy gets agitated otherwise."

England took a step back. "Yes" he said, shooting the dog a nervous glance. "That would be for the best."

"Well, nice talking to ye" Hagrid said. "Maybe yeh can stop by some time. Have a cuppa an some cake in my hut."

"Uh" England didn't think that was very likely...not with that monster around. But he couldn't exactly say that so he nodded his head anyway. "Sure. That would be nice."

Hagrid beamed and walked away, dragging Fang with him. England silently thanked the heavens when that creature disappeared from site.

He glanced down at his muddy clothes and let out a low curse.

Yes; his excellent day was damaged beyond repair.

Hermione could feel excitement and nervousness bubbling within her.

She'd always found History of Magic an interesting class, despite the repetitive topic of 'Goblin Rebellions' and Professor Bin's style of teaching. Most people would call her insane, teachers and students both.

The class had become an amazing schooling experience since the arrival of Professor Kirkland. The young man wasn't just a nice sight to look at; the way he spoke of history, it was as if he had been there himself. It was almost intimidating at times due to aura of wisdom it gave him.

Hermione had been amazed by today's class. Finally leaving the topic of Goblin Rebellions, the class had been introduced to the story of a massacre that had occurred a little of a hundred years ago. The Professor had owned a copy of a book about the event, written by one of the survivors of the massacre. The book was almost as old as the event itself and so, there were very few copies left. By the end of the class Hermione had been thirsting for more information.

She shifted from one foot to the other, looking around the corridor to see if she could catch site of the Professor. She wanted to ask him if she could borrow the book; there wasn't much written about the event and certainly nothing as good as the account of someone who had actually been there.

The sound of soft cursing filled the corridor.

"Bloody dog...ruined my day...would've taken America over it...hell maybe even France...no not him..."

"Um, Professor...?" Hermione ventured, glancing around the corner. She blinked when she caught sight of him. He was a mess, his blonde hair sticking up in every direction (sadly though, it wasn't enough to put Harry's to shame) and mud covering his formerly pristine clothes.

He saw her, stopped abruptly, and let out another loud curse. Hermione stepped back, alarmed and embarrassed,

"Sorry" Professor Kirkland said, hurriedly.

"Uh, I wanted to talk to you about something -" Hermione said, her cheeks still pink. "I...I thought todays class was magnificent. I found myself completely entranced by you!"

The Professor stared at her. Hermione felt horrified as she realized what she had just said.

"I-I mean what you were saying! I found myself entranced by what you were saying!"

"Alright then" Professor Kirkland blinked. "Well then...dear...I really must be going. As you can see..." he gestured to himself. Hermione's cheeks grew brighter, this time with delight at being referred to as 'dear' by her latest crush.

"I was wondering if I could borrow the book?" she asked, quickly. "For some light reading. I found it very interesting."

"Light reading" Professor Kirkland shot her an odd look. "I doubt that book is good for 'light reading.'"

"I'll take good care of it" Hermione promised. "I just want to read it. I want to know more about what happened. I won't damage it or anything, I completely adore books. You can ask anyone they'll tell you."

The Professor stared at her for a few moments.

"Uh, yes" he said after a moment. "I don't see why it would be a problem...it's still in the classroom, if you'd like to duck in their and get it."

"Oh thank you! Thank you so much!" Hermione beamed. She hurried down the corridor, excitement bubbling in her veins.

England shook his head as he watched her disappear. What an odd child.

AN:

Hope this chapter was alright. I'll hopefully be getting to the main part o the plot soon...I hope you aren't bored with the story.

Comments, feedback, criticism...just review and tell me, okay? I'd really appreciate it :D