On Wednesday, September 2nd, 1992, Skyward School of Practical Sorcery held its first ever classes.

Having no house system at Skyward School of Practical Sorcery was highly beneficial to the teachers, who now only had to teach seven classes as opposed to the twenty eight classes Hogwarts teachers had had to teach since all the students in any given year made up an entire class. This reduced the burden on the teachers' time and allowed them to have a calmer and more relaxed approach to the teaching profession.

Like all second years, Harry, Amy, Susan, and Hannah had Potions with Professor Ivanoff as their first class of the year.

"Good morning, second years," said Professor Ivanoff warmly when all the second years were in the Potions classroom and seated, "When it comes to Potions, I believe it best to start a new school year by making a simple potion to get our feet wet before going swimming in the deep end."

"I like this school already," piped up Neville Longbottom, "At Hogwarts, most teachers always just dived head first into ten feet of water with difficult lessons right from the first class of the year. The only two teachers at Hogwarts who understood the concept of starting the year off with simple lessons and progressing to more difficult lessons as the year wore on were Sprout and Flitwick."

"And they're the only two Hogwarts teachers hired by Headmistress Abbott, " observed Ernie Macmillan in a satisfied voice, "Safe to say she can identify which teachers are competent and which ones are not."

"Headmistress Abbott was incredibly happy with me when I explained to her during my job interview that I believe in verbalizing rather than writing instructions on the board in teaching Potions, a belief I'll have more to share about when we advance to making more difficult potions. For now, I'll just say that Headmistress Abbott and I are absolutely on the same page when it comes to our belief about how Potions should be taught, " explained Professor Ivanoff.

"So?" asked Amy, "What Potion will we be brewing today?"

"The Fire Protection Potion," answered Professor Ivanoff, "It's easy to make and provides a safe first lesson of the year as there are no steps to making this Potion that require the use of the heat. The Fire Protection Potion protects the drinker from the effects of fire."

"Which supplies do we need to get out?" piped up Parvati Patil.

"Your cauldrons, your knives, your pestles, one vial, bursting mushrooms, salamander blood, and Wartcap powder" replied Professor Ivanoff.

"Simple enough," smiled Padma Patil.

Once all of the second years had taken out all of the supplies that they would be needing, Professor Ivanoff said, "Let's get started."

Everyone nodded in a show of readiness.

"The first step," said Professor Ivanoff in a businesslike voice, "Is to slice your bursting mushrooms with your knives and add them to your cauldrons. "

The room was soon full of the sounds of bursting mushrooms being sliced by knives.

Once Professor Ivanoff saw that everyone had added his or her sliced bursting mushrooms to his or her cauldron, he continued, "Now stir your potions clockwise until they turn blue."

All of the second years stirred their potions clockwise until a blue color was present in their cauldrons.

When he saw that everyone had completed this step and was ready to move on, Professor Ivanoff told his students, "Add Salamander blood to your cauldrons and stir your potions counterclockwise until they turn green."

The students, all gaining confidence seeing how everything was working out, quickly set themselves to the tasks of adding salamander blood to their potions and stirring them counterclockwise until a green color appeared in their cauldrons.

"We're getting there, " said Professor Ivanoff contently when he saw all of the students had a green color in their cauldrons, "Now, crush Wartcap Powder in your pestles and add the crushed Wartcap powder to your cauldrons."

Every second year instantly got to work crushing their Wartcap powder in their pestles. The nanosecond he noticed that the class had completed this step he declared, "Almost done! Just stir your potions clockwise until the turn red and you'll have completed Fire Protection Potions."

Each student eagerly stirred his or her potion clockwise and once each student saw red, he or she yelled, 'DONE!"

"Excellent, excellent, " cried Professor Ivanoff.

"Collect your potion in a vial and bring it to my desk, " instructed Professor Ivanoff.

The second years all felt at ease as they collected their Fire Protection Potions in their vials and brought it up to Professor Ivanoff's desk.

"Well done, class," beamed Professor Ivanoff warmly when the students were all reseated, "As we continue along with second year Potions, the potions you will be brewing will become fiddlier. For many potions, specific timing and amounts are important. And most potions require some heating steps. But I think we've got off to a good start by crawling before we try to run."

"Yes," agreed Amy, "This was a quite easy lesson, but I think that's a good thing. I mean, when you play Pac Man or Super Mario Bros, you don't play level five before you play level one."

"It's good to just get a feel for basic Potion Making at the start," observed Harry, "Students get accustomed to some of the basic tasks of Potion Making while gaining confidence from seeing their own successful work. "

"That last point is crucial," added Susan, "If the first class of the year features a lesson with a higher degree of difficulty than the trickiest Olympic gymnastics routine and students really struggle with it, they can easily get frustrated and lose confidence in themselves with regard to the subject or the subject itself. By starting out simple and building the difficulty level up, you've created a process for students to grow and gain confidence as their educations goes along."

"This room and Professor Ivanoff's personality have also created a comfortable environment that put us all at ease, allowing us to focus on only our Potions," observed Hannah.

"Well, " said Professor Ivanoff happily, "You've put your feet in the pool. Next lesson we'll be making a more difficult, but not too difficult, potion. I'll let the water come up to your knees the next lesson but it's still awhile before I'll send you to the deep end of the pool."

When the class let out, Harry, Amy, Susan, and Hannah walked to their next class exchanging smiles.

Their first Potions lesson had been a success and set the foundation for more success to come.

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