Basic Class - Lesson 1, Winter Term

Robert was seated at the front of the class behind his desk with a book in his lap. If any students were on their way to History of Magic then they were no doubt stopping and talking to the portraits he'd hung in the area. He wanted them to talk with some of them but not all of them seeing as once a few got talking you had to sit there until the very end of the story.

However it was now time to start the class so Robert closed the book and put it on his desk before standing up. He took the glass orbs out of their places in the wooden basket on the front of his desk and walked around to each stand, putting the spheres in their places and tapping them three times. Each one played something from History like a Goblin Battle or Harry Potter slaying Slytherin's Basilisk.

Once all of the orbs were spread around the class and scenes were playing, Rob flicked his wand at the door which opened up and then at the chalk on his desk which promptly began to write out the lesson plan for that day.

Why do we remember our History?

A brief look at

Hogwarts: The Four Founders

Ben walked into the History of Magic classroom. There was nobody there, apart from the teacher. He was stunned. He was never the first to class. Ever. He had wanted to be on time this term but...first. He was acting like those Ravenclaw geeks! He was astonished at himself.

Ben wondered if he was in the wrong class, or if he had gotten the time wrong or something; still not believing this. He pulled his timetable out of his bag. Sure enough, it was History of Magic. He was about to make his way towards the back corner, when he caught sight of some weird ball-shaped things. They looked like those crystal balls from Divination, kind of. He loathed Divination, it was a load of crap, he thought. History of Magic was at least facts, he thought, might be more interesting. He stepped closer to the middle desk, the one he was at when he noticed the things on the desk, to see what they were.

Ben took a seat in the middle of the room, without even thinking about it. He looked at the ball. It had something on it! He turned to face it straight on, and this battle scene was playing from...well it looked old, though Ben had no idea how old it actually was. "Wow, what are these things?" he asked Professor Dent, intrigued by them.

James walked into class and took a seat, taking out his book expectantly. History in Magic was a rather standard affair- the winners write the history, so they are always the just. Just know what to say, and when to say it, bam! Easy points for everybody.

Miseria opened the door and entered the classroom. Only three students and that was all? She raised her eyebrows but nodded to Robert, another person who she knew closely enough to call them friends. That was odd, she was speaking more with older people that students at her age.

She also knew about History of Magic. And she knew about School's history as well. Though, now she had one rival here. James Wake, Ravenclaw student, Also smart. And they were almost in every class together. "Good morning," she said to everyone and sat down in the middle row, and took out her parchment, textbook and quill.

Ben turned as he heard a couple of other students enter the room. A Ravenclaw he recognised came in. He couldn't remember his name for the life of him though. He was a few years older than himself, Ben reminded himself. Then another Hufflepuff came in. He recognised her as Miseria, as she was on the Quidditch team with him. "To you, too." he replied as Miseria wished them all good morning.

Ben then turned his attention to the Professor, wondering what they were going to do in the lesson.

"These project images and scenes." Robert explained, picking up an orb and tapping it with his wand. At once a reel of film depicting Slytherin's creation of the Chamber of Secrets began to be projected into the air and Robert set it back on its stand, leaving it to play the scene. "History enthusiasts play out some scenes from our history and store them in these orbs. I was thinking about doing something like that this year." Rob said with a smile.

He noticed a few more people enter the classroom and Rob winked at Mis. Sure he'd go easy on her but not by much. He loved favourism because it was good to make the students work harder for acceptance and praise. Perhaps it wasn't a great teaching method but it did work. However, he wasn't going to favour Miseria too much.

"Right. Now most of us are here I suggest you all settle down and we'll get to work. First off I'm going to test you all on your Hogwarts Founder kno0wledge. It's pretty much come first serve if that makes sense and for every question someone gets right then I'll give five points to their house." he explained. "Question one, then. Which founder could form words in two languages. One cryptic, one only those who are gifted can understand and the other that was his native tongue."

(It's basically a very strange way of saying: 'Which founder spoke Parseltongue?' I think it is sort of obvious but I've put it down here just in case)

Hogwarts Founders. That's not too hard...right? I might even be able to answer some questions! Ben listened to the teacher. Wait what? Someone is bilingual and one language is cryptic or something? So their first language is like English or whatever. So the second is one only gifted people can understand it as well as those who speak it with a native tongue...tongue. PARSELTONGUE! Why did the Professor phrase it in such a weird way? At least, I think it's Parseltongue. That would be Salazar Slytherin, then. "Sir, are you talking about Salazar Slytherin and the fact that he spoke Parseltongue? he answered, hoping he was right. He didn't often get questions right. Then again, he hadn't tried to much before, either.

A smile tugged at Rob's list and he chuckled. He was a bit harsh when it came to the question because there was no need for it to be so cryptic, however it worked and showed that someone in his class had the brain power to solve riddles. Sure it wasn't too hard but it would challenging for someone who hadn't used their brain to the fullest extent.

"That's right, Mr. Macmillan." Rob smiled. "Salazar Slytherin did indeed speak to snakes and he was very gifted when it came to it because his abilities weren't as limited as most are today. We have also learned the name of one founder which is great."

Robert flicked his wand at the orb closest to him and an image shone out of it. The image depicted all four founders. Robert smiled to himself and turned back to the class with every intent of continuing the questions.

"There is one Founder who had no offspring or descendants however no one is sure of that fact. So lets imagine that this founer had no husband or wife and had no children. Which founder was this?

"Helena Hufflepuff," James said. Frankly, it was a manner of thinking. Nobody ever discussed the descendent of Hufflepuff, the same way they talked about the heirs of Gryffindor and Slytherin. It was a logical answer, in James' opinion. How sad that the most caring, forgiving, LOVING founder of them all died alone. Still, James believed that Love alone accomplished nothing beyond creating a future. It was not brighter, nor darker. It was just a future.

Puzzled, Ben decided to speak up. "Really? I thought it was Gryffindor. Didn't the Hufflepuff Cup or whatever item it was get handed down through her family - the name died out, but someone with a weird name like Hepzibah or someone had it before you-know-who, right?" he said, hoping he made sense. "Gryffindor has no known heirs. Slytherin obviously did, as everyone knows, and the Ravenclaw ghost is a descendent of Ravenclaw so she does. So it must be Gryffindor." Ben thought as he went along, using process of elimination to get to Gryffindor. He was sure that Hufflepuff had heirs. Positive.