MX 23

Hogwarts

No-Mage Studies class

Alex waited patiently as the pupils began filling the classroom. He stifled a smile as the bubbling children excitedly took their seats. It was three days since the presentation of the Goblet of Fire's selection, and the children were still feeling the rush. Alex enjoyed every second of the excitement and joy exuding from the youngsters.

There was an exception.

Harry Potter looked apprehensive, skittish, and uncomfortable around his peers, which was understandable, Harris thought. Just about everybody assumed that he somehow placed his name in the goblet. It was very unlikely that he had done such a thing being the person who he was, but most didn't believe him, including Ron Weasley, who was acting like a little snit. The boy's jealously was so obvious that it was embarrassing. He was also sure that Harry was hurt by Ron's attitude and Miss Granger as well. They were close, and now this situation had divided them. This was a part of life, however, that didn't mean he couldn't smooth some of the road for them.

Normally, he wouldn't interfere with the children, especially now. They were at the age of transition. Puberty had begun screwing with their minds and bodies. Nonetheless, he liked Ron and had plans for both him, Harry, and possibly Hermione. So, he promised himself that he would remain patient rather than beat them over the head with bricks. After all, this was Hogwarts, not Sunnydale High.

Being close friends of Arthur and Molly, Alex had no intentions of allowing Ron's attitude to fester as some of his own memories of elementary and high school came roaring back. Ron was actively avoiding his friend and Alex did not approve. He didn't approve of Snapes attitude either. For some reason, he was slowly getting worse, and a lot of his ire was pointed at Alex and he didn't know why. He couldn't think of anything that he could have done to offend the man. But Alex didn't like it, and his patience was wearing thin.

"Hello, students," he started. "Professor Delane will not be with us today. She had to attend to a couple of errands, but she will be back this evening. I know it's been an exciting week, so I want everyone to take several breaths and calm down a little. That's right." A few seconds later: "I want the class to say hello to our visitors from Beauxbatons Academy. Their headmistress graciously asked if some of her students could attend a few classes here. Our class was one of the classes picked, so I would appreciate you all be respectful and nice to them. Some of them don't speak English, but the translation spells should work fine. For those who do, please remember to speak slowly so that they can practice." He turned to the visitors. "I bid you greetings and I hope you will enjoy our class. It is a bit unorthodox, but it will be interesting if you give it a chance." He turned to speak to the entire class. "I wanted some of the students from Durmstrang, but Headmaster Karkaroff prefers to keep his students close to avoid any exposure to any no-mage contamination," he practically sneered, not caring in the least that his attitude would filter its way to the Bulgarian. "… And enough said about that. So, let's get started. Miss Hesleden, has your research found anything new about the ant invasion?"

Susanna looked depressed, but defiant. "No, professor. None of us found any information concerning giant ants, or grasshoppers in our library. We even used the computers here in class, but our inquiries were rejected, and the words classified always appeared on the screen."

"I spoke to my parents," Miss Granger said, jumping into the conversation much to Susanna's annoyance. "They have no memory of any of the events you mentioned."

"Therefore, the class has concluded that you are not telling us the truth," a very nervous Ron said.

Hermione looked at him accusingly, while Draco and a few others covered their mouths, all of them determined not to laugh, thus bringing attention to themselves. The last thing he wanted was to bring attention to themselves. The professor always asked questions that involved homework for Draco, not that it wasn't uninteresting, he silently admitted.

"So," Alex said. "My class is calling me a liar." His doggy eyes always worked on Willow and now, after decades of practice, the class didn't have a chance at defending themselves against him.

"No, no!" yelled a horrified Neville. "We would never say something like that, Professor." He gulped. "There's just no proof of anything that you've told us."

"At least, not yet," Harry blurted. He didn't want one of his favorite teachers mad at them, especially because it always came back to bite him personally.

"So, with all of those history books in the library, all the references to your parents, and the use of the class computers, you couldn't find any records of anything that I said?

"No, Professor," Harry gulped.

"So, if I told you I had a mummy for a girlfriend, or that one of my teachers in High school wanted to mate and then eat me, you wouldn't believe me?"

"I never want to go to America," Terry Boots muttered. Unlike many of his other classmates, he was a firm believer in the Professor. If he said there were giant ants, then there were giant ants. "We believe you, nut we would like some proof and we can't find any."

The visitors looked properly horrified. Was this how Hogwarts classes were conducted?

Inwardly, Alex was having the time of his life. "Ah," he whispered, forcing the students to strain to hear. "You have no proof." He began walking around the class. The students squirmed. "Let me tell you a story," he began.

"About seven hundred or so years ago, there was an English night named Albert the Great. He was a young knight, not much older than you are, who came from a powerful family, and he was the latest member to receive knighthood. You have to know that his father and his father's father, were distinguished lords. Naturally, he wanted to be remembered as another of the distinguished Alberts, and that his legacy would be passed on to future generations as his father and his father's fathers had. So, like many knights of his generation, who had absolutely no interests in going on some holy crusade in some desert, following the orders of some incompetent king or lord who was more interested in his personal glory rather than for the safety of those under his command, he went forth to search for fame and glory that would recognize his strengths, his achievements, and his bravery.

He searched long and hard for something that would bring him attention and glory. Therefore, making his father and mother proud. After years of searching, he finally found what he was looking for in the small town called Suthington.

It was a small village with not more than two to three hundred inhabitants. The village was under the protection of the local lord of the castle, a small one in Albert's mind, but still a castle, nonetheless. The lord of the castle was a very poor man, and he only had a few soldiers to protect the people. The small folk had to fend for themselves and being poor people, they were unable to hire anyone to stop the plague that continually assaulted them on the nights when the moon was full and bright. This was the perfect opportunity for Albert the Great. Therefore, in his wisdom, he decided to offer his services to the lord, and that is exactly what he did.

Approaching the lord, his silver armor glistening in the sunlight, his magnificent broadsword at his side, and his white stallion's nostrils flaring, he offered his services. The lord was ecstatic, having someone of such magnificence coming in and offering aid in destroying the plague that had harassed this village for years. Many were the knights and soldiers who offered their services and went off to confront the dragon. None of them came back.

But none of them were Albert the Great.

With glory blazing in his eyes, he went forth, intent on hunting down and killing the demon dragon. He searched days and night and found nothing but evidence of where the dragon had been, not where it was. After the seventeenth day he began to despair, but it was at that very moment he found his quarry resting by a small pond.

Praising God, he pulled out his broadsword, adjusted his father's shield, jumped off his steed, and attacked the dragon with all the power that he possessed. Surprised, but quickly recovering, the dragon met the attack in kind. And they fought.

The battle lasted two days. The opponents fought in the hills. They fought in the forest. They even fought in the pond where the dragon was first seen by Sir Albert. The young knight had scratch marks everywhere. His now-dulled armor barely protected from the vicious claws marks of the creature he fought. The dragon received multiple wounds from the broadsword which Albert slashed back and forth. Desperately attempting to keep from being gutted.

The dragon's blue flame burned the family crest from the young man's shield as Albert constantly dodged to keep from being toasted. Despite the challenge, Albert was happy because this dragon couldn't fly. Rather, it glided towards him when it attacked. But even a gliding dragon was dangerous. After so much fighting, his sword blunted and his armor and shield half melted bur still, he fought, refusing to surrender to his opponent, which of course meant death, and he hadn't had a girlfriend yet, so he had reason to want to live.

The dragon wasn't in much better shape. It was tired and needed sustenance to rebuild his flame ability. Finally, by the end of the second night, it couldn't continue to fight and fell to the ground totally exhausted and at the mercy of Sir Albert.

Sir Albert wasn't in much better shape, being just as exhausted, but he was the victor! Thinking furiously, an exercise that was rare for him, he decided not to kill his enemy. What was better than a dead dragon? A live one! He decided to drag the creature to the village while it was still living and then kill it for all to see. This way, there would be no doubt that he was the knight who vanquished the great dragon. So, Sir Albert found his faithful steed, and used him to drag the creature back to the village so that he could proclaim his victory to everyone, especially the local he wanted to impress.

He had defeated the evil dragon, and here was proof!

The horrified townspeople saw what he had brought to their homes and as one screamed, fleeing away from Sir Albert the Great as quickly as they could.

The castle lord was even more horrified. This idiot had brought the dragon into the village itself.

They were doomed!

Albert hadn't really noticed the public reaction as he hoisted the great three-foot dragon with his left hand to show everyone his prize and had single-handedly saved the village from the dreaded menace. He didn't understand the villager's reaction. They were running away instead of congratulating and adoring him for the noble knight he was. His prize looked at him in disgust at being held up as if it were a prize sheep. Its arms were actually folded as it stared at the young knight with contempt. What Sir Albert didn't know at the time was that the dragon he had fought so long and so hard was just a baby. And most importantly, he failed to notice the mother was right behind him, looking at him in bemusement.

She had observed the entire battle but chose not to interfere as she believed it good practice for her baby. Softly, she growled at Sir Albert the Great, and it was only then he realized his predicament. The last thing he heard was an ear-splitting roar as the mother pounced. Naturally, he wet his suit of armor. but that was the last thing he remembered.

Six months later, as he recovered from the multiple concussions and broken bones, was he told what happened by the villagers. He was at the complete mercy of the mother. The mother dragon chose not to kill him, but she did bounce him around a bit for an hour or so. The mother was twelve times his size. Another year passed before he could stand up and walk semi-normally again. He was never fully himself again. The mother and baby were never seen again after the 'incident'.

In a way, it was a victory for Sir Albert. But that wasn't really important, because the damage to his reputation was already done. He was never called again called. Sir Albert the Great. He was forever known as Sir Albert the Unenlightened.

"As a footnote, the town lived happily ever after, until the Black Death wiped everyone out a little less than a hundred years later/," Alex looked wistfully. "But that's not relevant to our discussion." His student looked aghast. "Now, throughout the centuries, a debate has raged between two groups of research specialists whether he was an idiot or a moron. Idiot won out."

The class was utterly silent before Ron asked the question.

"Why is he an idiot?"

"The word idiot implies that something is mentally or physically wrong. A moron is self-made. A person has to work to be a moron. So, the story of Albert the Unenlightened is new to everyone?"

The look on the students' faces said it all. None of them had heard the story.

"Maybe my brother might know the story." Ron stated. "What kind of dragon was it?"

"I don't have a clue."

"It couldn't have been a Horntail because they are vicious, and Albert wouldn't have survived."

"What type of dragon isn't important, Mister Weasley. The fact that you hadn't heard it, is. Why is it that no-mages knew about this story, yet you didn't? You don't have any knowledge of the ants, grasshoppers, or Audrey II. You have no records of this. Why is that?"

Alex looked at his class, who was nervous now. His stares were very intimidating and always involved homework.

"What is the point of this story?"

"Don't allow idiots fight dragons," George Weasley said.

"Be aware of your surroundings when fighting dragons," Fred Weasley added helpfully.

"Know your enemy," Hermione answered.

"Stay away from dragons and not make yourself a target," Harry muttered. A lot of fell students agreed with him. Dragons were bad and should be avoided if at all possible. "Ánd never bother baby dragons especially when the parents around."

"Those are all very good points," Alex responded. "But the main point of this story is this. Have any of you every heard it before?"

Heads in the classroom shook.

One hand rose. Good old Hermione. Alex could always count on her to stick her head in the oven when he needed it the most.

He nodded at her and she stood up, not content to sit and ask her question. She was showboating now. "Professor, it could be that none of these things happened is the reason we can't find any proof."

"Yes, it's possible," Alex admitted. "Or maybe the Obviators have erased the memories of the people and worked to remove all records of what has happened. Could that be a possibility, Miss Granger, everybody?"

Miss Granger sat. the thought of the Ministry doing something like that disturbed her. The girl couldn't quite believe that the authorities would do such a thing—unless they had a really good reason.

"I suppose so," Daphne Greengrass said, speaking for the first time. "But that means that they are doing their jobs."

"Or does it mean that they are abusing their authority?" countered the professor. "That is a no-mage story, having nothing to do with anything magical. The dragons were non-magical, just like the knight. The Ministry should not interfere as it is not in their jurisdiction."

"Dragons are within their jurisdiction," protested Draco. "the others shouldn't know of their existence."

"No, no. Sorry, Mister Malfoy. Not all dragons are magical. In fact, most dragons aren't magical creatures, just like people. By the way, witches and wizards should be classified as magical creatures." He smiled. "Didn't think about that, did you?"

"There no such thing as non-magical dragons," protested Miss Bones. "The very idea defies imagination."

"Like the ants?" Alex questioned.

"Without solid evidence, yes," replied a defiant Miss Bones.

"And again, lack of evidence rears its ugly head. And that brings up another point. How do we know that they, whoever 'they' are, aren't obliviating us to keep certain truths from us?"

"They would never do that!" Susanna announced.

"Are you so sure?" Alex asked the class. "Planes fly over the castle and magical areas all the time and they can't see us."

"Yes, and magic protects us from the no-mages. They can't see us."

"And we can't see them either, can we, Miss Greengrass," he said, causing her to stop short. "In whose interest is it in blocking both sides? Class, I am saying all of this to get you to think about this point. As much as the magical community tries to hide and remove evidence of their existence from the no-mages, they also hide things from us." There, he planted the seeds.

"But this is a class about no-mages, and we want to see if they know about magic and how much they know about it despite all of our protections. If the Ministry has done their jobs, this should be a simple question to answer. But it's not. Tonight, you will be required to come here and watch a movie. it was made by non-magical means, by non-magical people about magic in times long past."

The children groaned as this was a Friday night. Alex smirk. "This is a makeup class. You can thank the goblet for this," he announced. "So be ready. There will be a quiz at the next class on this." More groans. "I will promise you this. You will not be bored, and you will not fall asleep."

The visiting students from France believed the professor insane.

TBC