Rune stone path

Muggles, Horcruxes and Elephants

"Good morning everyone!" Lily said with a bright smile on her face. She looked over her students trying to figure out with a glance just who was taking the course solely to see her and who was genuinely interested. Her lips twitched briefly into a frown as the number seemed rather extremely biased towards the former. It wasn't much of a surprise, but it was still exceptionally frustrating. Well, at least it got them in the door. Now they were hers.

"Professor, is it true – " The fifth year Ravenclaw boy cut off as Lily held up a hand.

Wide smile firmly planted on her face and a sickeningly sweet tone, Lily answered the kid. "Before you finish that statement I want to make sure that it's relevant to the topic of this class. Questions such as 'Is it true that the Muggles can destroy cities with a single push of a button?' or 'Is it true that Muggles can turn on lights without candles, gas, oil, runes or magic?' or 'Is it true that Muggles can communicate over long distances instantly?' are completely appropriate!" Her smile widened taking on a distinctly dangerous appearance despite her continued feigned cheer. "On the other hand questions such as 'Is it true that you died?' or 'Is it true that your son is the Chosen One?' will see the questioner in detention for a month. With Filch."

The Ravenclaw gulped and slowly lowered his hand. Lily swallowed the chuckles that threatened to boil over and sent a pointed look at Harry who wasn't even trying to hide his quiet laughter. Lily noted with amusement that Hermione was alternatively rolling her eyes at Harry and glaring daggers at the Ravenclaw.

Su Li raised her hand and Lily nodded to her. "Professor Potter, could you elaborate on what you mean by Muggles destroying cities with a button? I've heard about that from family in China, but details are hard to find in this country and many magicals seem to regard it as exaggerated rumors."

Lily blinked a few times before slapping her hand to her face and groaning. "Exaggerated rumors? Seriously? Oh dear, please tell me you've heard of World War II at least…All Muggleborns and Muggle-raised put your hands down." Lily groaned louder as a grand total of two Purebloods had their hands still in the air. The look of complete confusion on the Purebloods' faces were only matched by the incredulity of the Muggleborn/raised. "I knew this course had needed updates but…Merlin this is going to be harder than I had thought."

"Please," Zacharias Smith scoffed. "We all know that Muggles can't do that. Wizards and giants can destroy a small town in about an hour, but even we can't wipe out a city that fast!"

"Professor Potter, perhaps we should jump ahead in the syllabus to the atomic bomb lecture?" Hermione said wincing. "It might encourage the others to pay more attention to the rest of the course."

"Unfortunately I think you're right, Ms. Granger. Especially considering current events." Lily clapped her hands together and turned around to rummage behind her desk. Letting out a short exclamation of victory she moved to the center of the classroom and plopped an old projector onto Harry's desk. "This, everyone, is called a 'movie projector'. Think of it like an advanced version of wizarding photos, but with sound added. The specifics of how it works will be covered later on."

Harry snorted in amusement and lifted an eyebrow at her. "Guess it's a good thing we got the Tech Assist working last night, huh?"

Lily just smiled at him and patted him on the head. "Good boy helping your mother out before she even knew she needed it!" Lily put a roll of film onto the reels and turned down the lights in the room. "Alright everyone, pay attention. While many sections of the wizarding world have somewhat stagnated, the Muggles have chugged right along outright surpassing us in a surprising amount of areas. Watch. Watch and learn why following – or allowing – Tom Marvolo Riddle to provoke these people into attacking us is a supremely bad idea."