The Care of Magical Creatures Professor

Chapter 1

    All too quickly, the first day of classes began. He would finally have to face his social anxiety and not seem like a complete idiot in front of the kids that he was to teach. They had to respect him, but qhe really had no idea how to achieve that. He wasn't his brother. His brother was the war hero, the one people could say they'd respect. The only people who "respected" Newt weren't people at all, mostly consisting of Dougal, his bowtruckle Pickett, and one or two kneazles.

    The bell rang for class and some rowdy fourth-year students clamored into the room, talking to one another about their summers. A rush of nervousness coursed through Newt as he overheard the way they were talking about one another, gossiping and mocking those who weren't deemed popular by the other kids. He remembered those days. They were hell.

    He ran a hand through his hair in an attempt to get it out of his face, and looked down at his desk instinctively to avoid making eye contact with any of them. He waited until he felt as though all of them were in the room before realizing that he was the one who had to quiet them down. He decided the safest route would be to stand up from where he was sitting at his desk, but he was proven wrong when he bumped into his desk, not having moved far enough back. He was lucky enough it didn't spill his ink bottle or his tea.

    Of course, as he had pictured in all of his nightmares from when he was a teen, the kids started laughing at his minor clumsiness. His face flushed red, and he tried his hardest to push the initial embarrassment behind him, though in the back of his mind he knew neither he nor the students would forget that that was their first impression of him.

    "G-Good morning class..." He said in a rather small voice, still embarrassed and avoiding eye contact.

    "Aren't you that new teacher?" a lively student sitting in the front row piped up.

    "Yes, I am.."

    A group of girls towards the back of the room were giggling at him and whispering to one another behind their hands, as he now noticed when he surveyed the class slightly more. He was a scientist, and despite his social ineptitude, he did try his best to associate the common behaviors of students to their personalities. Maybe that would mean he could predict them a little better. He decided that those girls weren't something he should deal with at the moment, and just hoped he wasn't doing something wrong or potentially embarrassing.

    His analysis was interrupted when another student asked, "Where's Professor Swanson?"

    "She left on maternity leave. I assume you... already knew that she was pregnant? It hasn't been a full 9 months since you were last here."

    There were some nods from the class.

    Newt opened his mouth to say something else, he wasn't quite sure what, but he was cut off by another student stumbling into the room, 15 minutes late, and collapsing into a back row seat. She had curly red hair and her tie signified that she was of Hufflepuff house, the house he had been in back in his Hogwarts days. He had a bit of a soft spot for his own house, he had to admit. The girl was pretty short as well, and if she hadn't sat with the rest of the class, he may have mistaken her for a first or second year.

    "You're late!" Some kid taunted her. She put her head down on her desk and put her arms over it. Newt couldn't believe how much this was already like watching a repeat of his own embarrassments from another point of view. He wished he could put his head on his desk like her.

    "I-I'm sure that is quite unnecessary, er... I'm sure Miss..." he trailed off, having tried to be the teacher he wished he had in school who actually did anything about the bullying problem, but falling short on the girl's name.