Present Fic: The First Day of School
DATE/TIME: 3 September 2007
CHARACTERS: Harry Potter, some students
PLACE: DADA Classroom - Hogwarts
RATING: Gen
STATUS: Complete
Harry stood at the front of the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. It was his first real day of teaching - the 1st had been over the weekend, so the students had arrived and classes had started this morning - and he couldn't help the small feeling of butterflies in his stomach. He'd taught before, of course, and certainly faced worse than a bunch of 6th and 7th years (NEWT level was his first block of the day on Mondays, he thought Minerva might have done that on purpose). He was surprised at the small number of students - had Defense grown less important since the war? It worried him more than speaking did, at the moment, and so he cleared his throat for silence and asked the students to put their books away; they wouldn't be needing them today.
Instead, he sat casually on the front of his desk and let the words flow out of him as he had when he was teaching the DA - he never knew quite what he would say, but it seemed to work for him, much like in battle, he'd always thought.
"Good morning - welcome back to school, of course, and welcome to my classroom. I'm glad to see you've all decided to try for your NEWT in Defense, as in my opinion it's the most important tool in the arsenal of wizardry - there is nothing more important than our ability to protect - family, community, secrecy - all of these things require constant vigilance and-" he smiled at the realization that he'd used Moody's old line, "and well, I'm getting ahead of myself and probably scaring the wits out of all of you." He laughed in a friendly sort of way and saw the students - seven of them seventh year (thee Gryffindor, three Ravenclaw, and one Hufflepuff) and four of them sixth year (one of each of the Houses, shocking Harry with the addition of a Slytherin) - visibly relax as well.
"Anyway, I'm Professor Potter, as I'm sure you've all heard through rumor by now, yes, that Harry Potter, and while I'll be glad to talk about all that it won't be until the right time in the curriculum, understood?" They nodded, one of the 7th year Gryffindors, a girl, even smiled. "So, I'd love to get to know you all as much as you'd love to get to know me, so let's have at it, eh? Go around?"
They each said their name, year, house, and where they were from and then Harry asked them at random why they felt the need to try for their NEWTs in the subject. Before the end of the class he gave a small homework assignment - each had to decide what was and then write ten inches on what subject they'd most like to study in the topic and why. They groaned but not too loudly - he'd felt ten inches was more than fair for a NEWT level class and told them so - and they all seemed friendly enough as they left.
When the last one was out the door, Harry sat in the chair behind his desk - fell into it more like - and flattened his hair. The nerves he'd felt had built up slowly over the course of the time they'd spent together and now that they'd unbundled the idea of another class - this time Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff first years - coming straight after lunch terrified him. He stood and spelled the chairs back into place with their desks from where the students had moved them over the class, and headed to his chambers for a quick coffee before lunch in the great hall. Eating at the Head Table was going to take some getting used to, he was sure (at the Start of Term Banquet he'd been convinced every eye in the room was on him for most of the meal), and so he felt he should just do it as often as possible.
CHARACTERS: Harry Potter, some students
PLACE: DADA Classroom - Hogwarts
RATING: Gen
STATUS: Complete
Harry stood at the front of the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. It was his first real day of teaching - the 1st had been over the weekend, so the students had arrived and classes had started this morning - and he couldn't help the small feeling of butterflies in his stomach. He'd taught before, of course, and certainly faced worse than a bunch of 6th and 7th years (NEWT level was his first block of the day on Mondays, he thought Minerva might have done that on purpose). He was surprised at the small number of students - had Defense grown less important since the war? It worried him more than speaking did, at the moment, and so he cleared his throat for silence and asked the students to put their books away; they wouldn't be needing them today.
Instead, he sat casually on the front of his desk and let the words flow out of him as he had when he was teaching the DA - he never knew quite what he would say, but it seemed to work for him, much like in battle, he'd always thought.
"Good morning - welcome back to school, of course, and welcome to my classroom. I'm glad to see you've all decided to try for your NEWT in Defense, as in my opinion it's the most important tool in the arsenal of wizardry - there is nothing more important than our ability to protect - family, community, secrecy - all of these things require constant vigilance and-" he smiled at the realization that he'd used Moody's old line, "and well, I'm getting ahead of myself and probably scaring the wits out of all of you." He laughed in a friendly sort of way and saw the students - seven of them seventh year (thee Gryffindor, three Ravenclaw, and one Hufflepuff) and four of them sixth year (one of each of the Houses, shocking Harry with the addition of a Slytherin) - visibly relax as well.
"Anyway, I'm Professor Potter, as I'm sure you've all heard through rumor by now, yes, that Harry Potter, and while I'll be glad to talk about all that it won't be until the right time in the curriculum, understood?" They nodded, one of the 7th year Gryffindors, a girl, even smiled. "So, I'd love to get to know you all as much as you'd love to get to know me, so let's have at it, eh? Go around?"
They each said their name, year, house, and where they were from and then Harry asked them at random why they felt the need to try for their NEWTs in the subject. Before the end of the class he gave a small homework assignment - each had to decide what was and then write ten inches on what subject they'd most like to study in the topic and why. They groaned but not too loudly - he'd felt ten inches was more than fair for a NEWT level class and told them so - and they all seemed friendly enough as they left.
When the last one was out the door, Harry sat in the chair behind his desk - fell into it more like - and flattened his hair. The nerves he'd felt had built up slowly over the course of the time they'd spent together and now that they'd unbundled the idea of another class - this time Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff first years - coming straight after lunch terrified him. He stood and spelled the chairs back into place with their desks from where the students had moved them over the class, and headed to his chambers for a quick coffee before lunch in the great hall. Eating at the Head Table was going to take some getting used to, he was sure (at the Start of Term Banquet he'd been convinced every eye in the room was on him for most of the meal), and so he felt he should just do it as often as possible.