Defence and Mayhem

Discussions without end

After Harrison finished the session about muggles for all of the Hogwarts students, a session that took two lessons as many students had questions and points they wanted to discuss, He was out of schedule, being one lesson late, but it didn't matter. The subject was important enough.

Walking into the staff room, he saw that most of the professors were already there, with only Professor Slughorn and Professor Kettleburn still missing. A few minutes later, with all the staff present, the staff meeting began.

They talked about their lessons, the progress of the students, extraordinary students (Riddle was the main focus of that discussion, naturally), and much more. But when Harrison told the rest of the staff about the 'muggle session' he was met with baffled faces. "I mean no disrespect, but isn't that supposed to be my subject to teach?" Said the Muggle Studies elective teacher while giving him a condescending look.

"I didn't mean to insult you, Mrs. Edgecombe, I just realised that at times like these, war times, I should raise that issue within the student body. It was done so the students could take better care of themselves, and their words." He stated.

"Their words?" She asked, sounding less hostile but still mildly annoyed.

Harrison nodded "yes, their words. The students that didn't experience the war and weren't raised in the muggle world knew nothing of muggle technology, of their way of living without magic, they talk about muggles as if they were barbarians!"

He huffed in exasperation. "They have no idea what the muggle-raised students are going through, fearing for the lives of their families, their muggle friends! And still, they have to suffer from the wizard-raised students' ignorance."

He slowly calmed down after his little outbreak before apologizing for shouting.

To his relief, most of the staff agreed with him on the matter and Mrs. Edgecombe seemed placated when she understood his reasons. She even said that she would slightly change the curriculum to help raise awareness, but begrudgingly admitted that not a lot of half-bloods joined her elective class, and the amount of pure-blooded students in her elective was next to none. Soon after the mood calmed down and the meeting continued normally.

After the meeting ended and the teachers started to head out of the room, retiring to their private quarters. But as Harrison headed to do the same, Dumbledore stopped him. "I'm truly happy to know that our new staff member is working hard to help the muggle-born students," he said, a soft smile on his face, a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes, "and I would like to talk with you about a certain muggle- raised student, one that is quite concerning."

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Sitting in his classroom, waiting for the students to come in, his mind drifted elsewhere. The scenery brought memories of his own time at Hogwarts as a student. He never truly had the time to appreciate his time here with the danger that seemed to follow him everywhere. He wondered what would happen if he was just another student, just Harry, an ordinary student. Would he care for his studies more? Would he join a different house if he didn't know that Voldemort was a Slytherin? His entire time at Hogwarts was wasted on preparing for a war he had no wish to join instead of learning and growing as a person. He ended up as a pent-up teenager with no proper guidance, but could he really blame anyone but himself? He was the one who thought that fooling around was better than studying.

But he did make up for it, even if it was too late. When he realised that he actually had a future to prepare for, it was too late. He barely passed his OWL's, didn't take his NEWT's and knew next to nothing of what he had to learn. So he decided to study. There was no place for the lazy happy-go-lucky boy he used to be. He had to grow up. So for months, he studied. Nothing other than that. Having only a few close friends who had a life of their own and only came once in a while, he had nothing else to do. He didn't go out, being recognised anywhere he went, so Kreacher did that for him. He only studied, for hours upon hours. Anything he read and didn't know, he studied thoroughly, with the black library as his entire world, he even slept there most of the time and had his meals there. He did still cook, feeling bad for Kreacher having to tend to him all of the time, but that's it. Studying. Politics, history, theory, magic types, spells, hexes, charms, wandless and nonverbal magic (as much as he could with his untrained core), Occlumency, runes, arithmancy, potions, astronomy, and many more. He had time, and he was dedicated. Should he apply for a mastery in defence this summer?