Chapter 7: Extracurriculars
A/N: I had to battle my own internet to post this update! Such Fun!
The first subject was oddly enough Muggle Studies. The male TA hit the desk in front of him and spooked all of the students. "Wooden desks! Crafted and invented by Muggles!" The student walked over to the castle walls and slapped them lightly. "Stone Masonry! Crafted and invented by Muggles!" He then took out a small flashlight. "Electricity! Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla, William Gilbert! All Muggles!"
"Computers! Mostly Muggles!" At this, the TA grinned, "It took us some time to feasibly enter the Muggle world you see." He gestured to the classroom around them, "Muggle Studies is a BROAD topic. Just because Hogwarts is too magical to let recent technology work well, does not mean we shouldn't study the Muggle world! You use Muggle ingenuity every day! Now then, who can tell me the most recent influence of Wizards in Muggle society?" Not even Hermione could shoot her hand up at this one, and she looked annoyed at this fact. The TA just grinned. "Well, guess that's where we'll start."
As the second years filed out of the class, they chattered excitedly. "I'm still not sure why we saw any Slytherins in there." Ron sighed, and Draco rolled his eyes. "I'm not going to explain it to you again, but when your hear of the next influential muggle and recognize his name as a Slytherin maybe it'll be beat inside your head." "But isn't the Professor a Ravenclaw?" Neville asked. "Yeah, but he's working with some Muggles on something called a 'Browser' to use the 'world wide web', doesn't sound flashy at all. I bet this Steve Jobs character is an American Slytherin! I'll have to ask father!" Draco said excitedly.
The others smiled, Draco seemed to have gotten over his cold and was looking much more healthy now. They rushed down the halls to the next elective 'preview class', Study of Ancient Runes. The woman who was their Professor smiled brightly as the students came in. "Welcome! I'm Professor Babbling and this" she tapped her wand on her desk and it glowed brightly and then disintegrated, then tapped the nearby wall which jostled out a stone which transformed into the same desk. "Is the study of runes."
The students wanted to start talking, but the Professor motioned for them to pay attention. "Runes are much more complicated than anything you have studied so far. The study of changing matter without a transfiguration is just one example. This simple runic structure was about a parchments worth of runes inscribed very carefully on both the table and the wall. Not to mention that I will need to inscribe both anew if I wish to have that effect. Now then, reach under your desks and lets try it out!"
At the end of the lesson, the group except Ron had managed to double an apple. It was even tougher than they had thought as precise carving of the unripe apples was not only difficult, but it took more than 'make' 'two' and 'apple' to make the ruins work. While the magic hadn't been honestly that impressive, the Professor regaled them with just a few impressive uses for runes as well as those who made a living purely off their studies of runes. Ron was likely distracted by mention of one of his brothers, Harry decided as he had seen first hand the effects of that name.
They took a breather for the rest of the day, Care of Magical Creatures was after dinner. Professor Kettleburn greeted them and quieted them down. He smiled, but the class was perturbed by his missing left hand and peg-leg. "No matter how much you know about creatures, they can be pretty tough to handle. Now we've got to be quiet, the reason Professor Dumbledore chose this weekend was for the full moon. Follow me!" The students followed quietly and found a small field with a burrow in it. The Professor shushed them again, and pointed to the burrow. Some noises were made from the burrow, a flat head poked out, then ducked back down.
Harry and the others started sweating a little, though it was nice and cool out. The head poked back out and it was attached to an odd cow figure. It had pale grey skin and four skidderly legs. It looked up at the moon and made an odd, beautiful sound. It began dancing and singing, sounding eerie and beautiful at the same time. It then twirled and dove back down the burrow, the Professor stood up and grinned, "Well, let's see what we got this month!" He said and raised his wand and the path that the creature trod lit up. "Mooncalves!" The professor said as he led the students to the path.
The geometry of the path was fascinating, "No Wizard has discovered the reason why Mooncalves dance for the moon, some believe it's for a mating reason." The students chattered amongst themselves, and Hermione had trouble holding her laughter. Harry asked her and she said she'd explain later. "If anyone finds any Mooncalf leavings, you'll likely get both points from me and from Professor Sprout!"
When they got back to the dorm, Hermione explained that Muggles thought that the Geometry was from alien spaceship. The noise was what Muggles thought UFOs sounded like. "One culture is surrounded by conspiracy!" And Hermione broke down into laughter, "And it's over an animal!" The others just looked at each other and shrugged, Harry wished he could have gotten the reference.
The next day, they tiredly ate breakfast. "Just two classes today. You know, you could still help us out with our homework that we're missing doing over this weekend." Ron looked at Hermione hopefully and Hermione rolled her eyes, "Show of hands. Who at this table has actually gotten their homework done, or even, most of it." Everyone except Ron raised their hands, "See Ron, all you have to do is focus!" Hermione chided. "I can't believe I'm friends with a group of-." "Finish that sentence and you might not be friends with them any longer." Draco said, smiling.
That day, they had Arithmancy before Lunch and Divination afterwards. The second years were all talking about their choices so far and none still knew what to expect from either class trial. It seemed each Professor had been trying their best to show how awesome the class was.
Professor Vector greeted them and had them sit down. "Listen three times." She started calmly, "Arithmancy is the study of numbers, words and the magic behind them." As she spoke, a chalk board behind her was moving and noted the numbers of that plain sentence. "Taken in the basic way, this sentence has the value of 6, 2, and 4. This means that Arithmancy connects to harmony, balance and stability. Of course, this is just in plain English. We can study this sentence in any language we choose and come out with various deeper meanings."
The Professor paused and noted the classes looks. "Fine then, a competition is in order! 10 house points to anyone who can complete and ascribe a meaning to this!" a stack of papers flew from her desk and some students groaned at a bizarre set up of numbers in boxes with directions on the top. A chart wrote itself on the board and the students got to work. Harry was in the middle of erasing a 6 for the third time when the professor called out. "Yes... Mr..." "Weasley ma'am. I got 'Hogwarts', 'Castle' and 'Hollow' with an O, Is this refering to Hallowe'en ma'am?" "What do you think Mr. Weasley?" "I think that it's highly likely due to the common mixup of Hallow and Hollow, but that it wasn't just a mistake in the math. Perhaps the Great Hall will be emptied out for some reason?"
The Professor smiled, "It WAS emptied out actually, that is a simple look I took in October last year. Not that it did us any good since it didn't tell me WHY the hall was emptied out. 10 points to Mr. Weasley in Gryffindor. Can anyone see any connection to Troll?" Hermione raised her hand, "2, 9, 6, 3, 3, 23 or 5, 6 and 8 right?" The Professor nodded, and Hermione smiled, "Hogwarts has a 5, Castle has two sixes and Hallow with an A has an 8. That's as close as I could get with the basic chart." "As they say, Ms. … Granger. Hindsight is 20/20. Or rather a 4." She chuckled at a joke no one could understand. "These are the bare bones of this class, and we will be discovering many uses for numbers in life if you so desire!"
The Professor had held Ron and Hermione after class, so the others waited until lunch to hear back from them. Ron especially looked excited. "She knows not just chess, but other really wicked games! And she's agreed to teach me some of them if I take her class!" Hermione sighed dreamily, "Her ability to throw numbers around makes me so jealous, I really want to learn about 'The golden ratio' and 'perfect squares'." The others smiled, pleased to see Ron of all people taking a class seriously.
The last elective was Divination, the second years headed up the long stairs to the north tower. They stood up in the drowsy classroom waiting for the Professor. A voice came suddenly out of the shadows, a soft, misty sort of voice. "Welcome," it said. "How nice to see you in the physical world at last." Harry's immediate impression was of a large, glittering insect. She sat them down and began what seemed to be a rehearsed speech but then focused on her actual students.
"You, boy," she said suddenly to Neville, who almost toppled off his pouffe, "is your grandmother well?" "I think so?" Neville said. "I wouldn't be so sure if I were you, dear." She then continued into the syllabus and scared some of the students with odd predictions. "But don't let me scare you, let's have some tea!"
The students peered at their tea and tried to make sense of the funny shapes they saw. The Professor went around to each of them, helping them in turn. When she got to Harry, she turned it several times and then screamed. "My dear boy – my poor dear boy... My dear," Professor Trelawney's huge eyes opened dramatically "You have the Grim." Some students gasped, but Harry stared at her confused. "The Grim, my dear, the Grim! The giant, spectral dog that haunts churchyards! My dear boy, it is an omen – the worst omen – of death!"
That Monday was the worst, all the second year students kept looking at Harry like he was just going to fall down dead any second. It was Tuesday morning before a Professor cheered up Harry. "Really, what has got into you all today?" said Professor McGonagall, "You look like you... Trelawney right?" The class looked up at her questioningly, "Come on, out with it, which one of you will be dying this time?" Harry sighed and spoke up, "Me." he said.
"I see," said Professor McGonagall,
"Then you should know, Potter, that Sybill Trelawney has predicted the death of one student a year since she arrived at this school. None of them has died yet. Seeing death omens is her favourite way of greeting a new class. If it were not for the fact that I never speak ill of my colleagues –' Professor McGonagall broke off, and they saw that her nostrils had gone white. She went on, more calmly, 'Divination is one of the most imprecise branches of magic. I shall not conceal from you that I have very little patience with it."
She stopped again, and then said, in a very matter-of-fact tone, "You look in excellent health to me, Potter, so you will excuse me if I don't let you off homework today. I assure you that if you do die, you need not hand it in." Hermione had to stifle her laughter and the rest of the day they made up horrible dooms from watching the clouds, the way the grass flowed when plucked and released and the specific way the lake burbled gently from the giant Octopus. Needless to say, they would NOT be taking Divination next year.