History of Magic: Lesson One, Pod Two

Sweaty palms, red cheeks and uncomfortable heat across his back and underneath his arms – Baldric Wood was full of nervousness. Shuffling his feet at the front of the room for the sake of something to do, the young blonde man shoved his hands in his pockets and nibbled on the inside of his cheek. He had around five minutes until the end of the preceding lesson. Then his own students would pour in through the first floor door ready to learn, expecting Binns.

Baldric looked down at himself and at the black pair of trousers he’d airlifted from Ben’s wardrobe at the weekend, his having been a bit too scruff to wear for his first lesson. His tie, thankfully, was actually his – a red one that announced his leanings house-wise. That said though, he was nineteen. He’d been in their shoes not a year prior. He was barely qualified for the job yet there he stood, waiting for his students, wondering what was going to happen with it.

The clock shifted and Baldric straightened himself up, painting a neutral look on his features. He removed his hands from his pockets and picked up a whiteboard pen, beginning to idly click the pen lid on and off. Swallowing, Baldric raised a smile to his lips. He stepped over to his desk upon which he leaned, waiting for the students to take their seats.

“Hi there,” he offered with another smile. “I’m replacing Professor Binns who has, finally, retired. Officially I’m Professor Wood but you can call me Baldric.” He cleared his throat, glad that his voice was remaining steady and even. “What I really want to do is make history interesting for all of you again. In a few weeks, especially, we’re going to go on a bit of a field trip and I have some letters,” he paused to take the stack off of the desk to start handing them out.

As he walked down, setting a sheet on each desk, he continued on.

“Free of charge,” he added temptingly. “All you guys need to do is get a signature from your parents and we’ll get to see Hadrian’s Wall, some castles in the north of England whose names I can’t quite recall at the minute and we’ll stay a night in one before coming back up here. All of the meals are covered by us so literally all you have to do is pack some clothes and turn up. Does anyone have any questions?”

Pepper had been expecting the surly ghost that she had read about in her books detailing the goings on of Hogwarts, and of course she had heard tell from family friends about the professor that had seemingly carried on teaching after he had died. Almost as if he didn't realise his body had stopped working, and he simply carried on regardless. It was quite unusual that the professor who was taking the lesson was so young, but he seemed really nice and it set her nerves at ease. In her other classes that had not been the case.

Unable to stop a bright smile appearing on her face when she heard about the school trip that the professor had organised - a trip to Hadrian's Wall. Pepper had never been there before, but she had heard of it and had been interested in the Muggle history relating to it. She didn't have much information about the magical ties to the landmark, and was eager to learn.

Safely slipping the letter, folded up neatly, into her school bag Pepper shook her head from side to side to indicate that she didn't have any questions to ask. It was a free school trip, she was too excited to think of any questions her parents might have wanted to ask. If they had any, they could send an owl to the school later on, Pepper decided.