megyal
in
harrydraco
Muggle Integration Studies [1/6]
Title: Muggle Integration Studies [1/6]
Author: megyal
Pairing-Rating: H/D-PG (for this chapter)
Summary: Harry lectures evening classes for adult wizards.
xposted to harrydraco, thelemontree
Harry stood all alone at the bottom of the lecture-theatre, the focus of nearly two hundred eyes. He was positive that the majority of them were simply here to gawk at him, then return and tell their friends excitedly that Harry Potter was teaching them... something! He gave a nervous smile and a flutter ran through the room.
As soon as the clock struck seven pm, he gave the main door an expectant look and it closed gently, the key turning in the lock. Harry was a person who hated tardiness.
"Good evening," he said, trying to keep his voice cool under the Sonorous. He clenched the edge of the desk and refrained from pulling his hand through his hair; Hermione had spent hours trying to get it just a little tidier. He had placed his cane in a corner; no need to show the students his limp. "Welcome to Muggle Integration Studies. Kindly take a look at your class outline," his eyes grew hard as half of the class continued to gaze at him, while the other half diligently flipped through their sheaves of parchment. "Now."
A lot of them jumped to obey and Harry relaxed, suppressing a small self-satisfied grin. At times, it was great being a Hero. When they had finally perused their listing, Harry cleared his throat and begun.
"So, I think the first thing we need to explore is that phenomenon Muggles call electricity. Can anyone tell me what they understand electricity to be?"
There was a long pause as the adult wizards peered at him and whispered to each other. Harry pressed his hip against the desk and was just going to call a random name from his class-list when a pale hand in the third row went up in the air.
"If I may, Professor Potter."
Harry stiffened and blinked at Draco Malfoy's impassive face.
"It's just Harry, Mr. Malfoy... or if you prefer, Potter. Go ahead."
Malfoy pursed his thin lips and the witch beside him fanned herself.
"Well. From what I understand, lightning is a raw form of electricity. Muggles have the means to reproduce it, control it to provide power." His grey eyes fixed on a shocked Harry. "Am I right?"
"Yes," Harry croaked and cleared his throat again; the class buzzed. "Quite right. There's a whole lot more to it, based in Muggle physics, but that sums it up quite nicely. Thank you, Mr. Malfoy."
"Of course, Harry," Malfoy said, smiling slightly. Harry stared at him and then tore his gaze away.
"Right. So, Muggles use electricity to run nearly all their devices. Their homes are lit with it, sometimes warmed by it." Quills scratched furiously at his words. "It's a secondary source, which means they have to harness the energy from a primary source to create the power. The majority of the time, they use oil from the earth, which is a point of contention now in terms of pollution and supply. They also depend on water, the sun and nuclear energy." He smiled at the creases of confusion on their faces. "Look, it can all be confusing, but here's the important part. If you happen to find yourself in a Muggle home, you will more than likely see small panels on the walls. Each of these is called a switch."
Harry turned to the board behind him and pulled down a large white sheet of paper that was rolled up. He had managed to convince Dean to do some small drawings for him and had enlarged them. On this particular sheet, a perspective into a Muggle room was drawn in Dean's clear hand.
"And...They use this switch to let the light on?" One tiny wizard speculated in the front row. Harry nodded excitedly.
"Yes! And here, this is called an outlet. Many Muggle devices have a long black cord called a plug attached to them, so that you put the plug in the outlet to power the device." Harry waved his wand and a little sketch-man appeared, holding a sketch-toaster. The wizards watched as the animated man bent and pushed the plug into the outlet. Slices of bread popped out of the toaster.
"Different countries might have different arrangements of their plugs, so you have to be careful, because the wrong use of electricity can be dangerous. And that's a toaster, by the way. It toasts your bread to how dark you want it. But that's for another lesson."
"But do they all need to walk around with these plug-cords?" An elderly witch in a large purple hat piped up. "Won't they trip all over them in the streets?"
"No. There are small objects that are called batteries that hold portable energy for use. Here are some." Harry opened a drawer of the desk and levitated different sizes of batteries to his students. They grabbed onto them and pored over the round little barrels, passing them to each other. Harry grinned; he was reminded of Mr. Weasley's excitement when Harry was running though his lesson-plan at the Burrow. He was certain that Arthur had stuck a few of the batteries in the pockets of his robes. He told them that all devices had some sort of switch on them, to 'turn on' the device.
After retrieving the batteries, he informed them that at times, electricity-supply failed and Muggles went back to lamps, candles, fires and a lightstick called a flashlight that ran on batteries until it returned.
"Or they have a back-up system," he continued firmly, "To provide a continuous supply. Alright, Seamus."
Finnegan, who was seated in the far corner, stood up with a flat wooden panel in his hands that he set on the table with a cheeky grin to Harry. The rest of the class was craning their necks to look at the crude construction as Harry pointed with his wand to the different components.
"So, like I said, here's the switch. Here is a battery...and a light bulb. These wires run the power from the battery, via the switch, to the bulb. I have to place a ward over it so that the magic in this room doesn't interfere with the power-supply of the battery. Mr. Malfoy? Would you like to come and turn on this on?"
Malfoy looked as if he would prefer to do something else. Like fall off a cliff. He got up anyway, pulling his robes close as he strode down the wide steps. A small blue dome of light flickered over the demonstration-panel and Harry nodded to him; he stretched his hand out, made a face at the sensation of the ward against his skin and gingerly pushed the switch from off to on.
The room gasped as the light bulb glowed. Malfoy looked inordinately pleased.
"So there's a big battery in every Muggle house?" he asked Harry, removing his hand and tucking it in his robe-sleeves to accompany the other.
"No, not the way you think. You can say that a massive battery powers whole communities. It looks nothing like the small ones, though." A small chime rung though the room and Harry flicked off the switch before cancelling the tiny ward. "Time's up, then. And for your assignment, find one Muggle-born witch or wizard and have them tell you about an appliance that runs on electricity. I want four inches on what they say." He grinned at their groans. "See you all next week."
Malfoy still hovered near him as Harry tidied his desk. Finally, Harry gave him a slightly exasperated look.
"Yes?"
"That was a fair enough lesson," Malfoy ground out. He was staring at the darkened light-bulb. "I have to admit, when my work-place forced me to take this course, I was highly displeased."
Harry nodded, giving Seamus the panel to dismantle. He had heard that Malfoy was just made the Under-Secretary to the Minister for Magic...which meant that he would have increased contact with Muggle politicians that were aware of their existence.
"Well. Look at it this way: you'll be on even footing with Muggles. You won't act silly in their presence."
Malfoy hummed with haughty amusement. "If you'll excuse me, I need to find a Muggle-born and extract information from them."
"Don't do it the Malfoy way," Harry warned, trying not to laugh. They'd always had that awful joke during the war, trying to find humour hunkered down in their hiding-places: how Malfoys did things the Malfoy Way....which may or may not have involved dungeons and chains. Draco's mouth simply tilted in a wry smile of recollection; he nodded at both Harry and Seamus and strolled out.
"You always did take the fun out of everything, Potter," he said airily, making sure to Apparate before Harry could get in a last word.
***
"How was it?" Hermione asked excitedly as she Floo'ed into the flat, exactly in time for dinner. She gave Ron a huge kiss on the cheek before limping over the dining-table, making pleased noises over the steaming platters that Ron had lain out under a warming spell. She and Harry had undergone the same torture during the war, curse-damage to their legs; Harry's was worse, since he still had to depend on his cane, but Hermione only had a small limp now. Harry made his way over and sat down stiffly, biting the inside of his lower lip as his right knee muttered in pain.
"Fine," he replied, nodding when Ron levitated the mashed potatoes over. The spoon dug out three hearty helpings before serving Hermione. "Malfoy was in the class. He said he liked the lesson, even though he was highly displeased when they forced him to take it."
"Yeah, if highly displeased means throwing a bitch fit," Ron said dryly, making sure to put lots of carrots into both their plates. Harry pouted and Ron sighed, adding another forkful. "Dad said when he heard it was you, he nearly blew the place up."
Hermione laughed and then choked on her mouthful of food. Ron clapped her soundly on the back and conjured a glass of water.
"Sorry. It's just that when it comes to Harry, Malfoy always overdoes it. Anyone can tell he wants to get into Harry's pants."
Harry rolled his eyes and shoved his peas around. Ron gave him a glowering look and he ate them meekly.
"Not that again. I've told you during the war and I'll tell you again: Malfoy isn't interested."
"Right." Ron simply served him another helping of pot-roast, completely ignoring Harry's half-hearted protests. "Anyway. What's the next lesson?"
"Muggle-dress," Harry said impishly. "And you both are going to be two of my models. Hey, you should see your faces. What's for dessert?"
Lesson 2
Author: megyal
Pairing-Rating: H/D-PG (for this chapter)
Summary: Harry lectures evening classes for adult wizards.
xposted to harrydraco, thelemontree
Harry stood all alone at the bottom of the lecture-theatre, the focus of nearly two hundred eyes. He was positive that the majority of them were simply here to gawk at him, then return and tell their friends excitedly that Harry Potter was teaching them... something! He gave a nervous smile and a flutter ran through the room.
As soon as the clock struck seven pm, he gave the main door an expectant look and it closed gently, the key turning in the lock. Harry was a person who hated tardiness.
"Good evening," he said, trying to keep his voice cool under the Sonorous. He clenched the edge of the desk and refrained from pulling his hand through his hair; Hermione had spent hours trying to get it just a little tidier. He had placed his cane in a corner; no need to show the students his limp. "Welcome to Muggle Integration Studies. Kindly take a look at your class outline," his eyes grew hard as half of the class continued to gaze at him, while the other half diligently flipped through their sheaves of parchment. "Now."
A lot of them jumped to obey and Harry relaxed, suppressing a small self-satisfied grin. At times, it was great being a Hero. When they had finally perused their listing, Harry cleared his throat and begun.
"So, I think the first thing we need to explore is that phenomenon Muggles call electricity. Can anyone tell me what they understand electricity to be?"
There was a long pause as the adult wizards peered at him and whispered to each other. Harry pressed his hip against the desk and was just going to call a random name from his class-list when a pale hand in the third row went up in the air.
"If I may, Professor Potter."
Harry stiffened and blinked at Draco Malfoy's impassive face.
"It's just Harry, Mr. Malfoy... or if you prefer, Potter. Go ahead."
Malfoy pursed his thin lips and the witch beside him fanned herself.
"Well. From what I understand, lightning is a raw form of electricity. Muggles have the means to reproduce it, control it to provide power." His grey eyes fixed on a shocked Harry. "Am I right?"
"Yes," Harry croaked and cleared his throat again; the class buzzed. "Quite right. There's a whole lot more to it, based in Muggle physics, but that sums it up quite nicely. Thank you, Mr. Malfoy."
"Of course, Harry," Malfoy said, smiling slightly. Harry stared at him and then tore his gaze away.
"Right. So, Muggles use electricity to run nearly all their devices. Their homes are lit with it, sometimes warmed by it." Quills scratched furiously at his words. "It's a secondary source, which means they have to harness the energy from a primary source to create the power. The majority of the time, they use oil from the earth, which is a point of contention now in terms of pollution and supply. They also depend on water, the sun and nuclear energy." He smiled at the creases of confusion on their faces. "Look, it can all be confusing, but here's the important part. If you happen to find yourself in a Muggle home, you will more than likely see small panels on the walls. Each of these is called a switch."
Harry turned to the board behind him and pulled down a large white sheet of paper that was rolled up. He had managed to convince Dean to do some small drawings for him and had enlarged them. On this particular sheet, a perspective into a Muggle room was drawn in Dean's clear hand.
"And...They use this switch to let the light on?" One tiny wizard speculated in the front row. Harry nodded excitedly.
"Yes! And here, this is called an outlet. Many Muggle devices have a long black cord called a plug attached to them, so that you put the plug in the outlet to power the device." Harry waved his wand and a little sketch-man appeared, holding a sketch-toaster. The wizards watched as the animated man bent and pushed the plug into the outlet. Slices of bread popped out of the toaster.
"Different countries might have different arrangements of their plugs, so you have to be careful, because the wrong use of electricity can be dangerous. And that's a toaster, by the way. It toasts your bread to how dark you want it. But that's for another lesson."
"But do they all need to walk around with these plug-cords?" An elderly witch in a large purple hat piped up. "Won't they trip all over them in the streets?"
"No. There are small objects that are called batteries that hold portable energy for use. Here are some." Harry opened a drawer of the desk and levitated different sizes of batteries to his students. They grabbed onto them and pored over the round little barrels, passing them to each other. Harry grinned; he was reminded of Mr. Weasley's excitement when Harry was running though his lesson-plan at the Burrow. He was certain that Arthur had stuck a few of the batteries in the pockets of his robes. He told them that all devices had some sort of switch on them, to 'turn on' the device.
After retrieving the batteries, he informed them that at times, electricity-supply failed and Muggles went back to lamps, candles, fires and a lightstick called a flashlight that ran on batteries until it returned.
"Or they have a back-up system," he continued firmly, "To provide a continuous supply. Alright, Seamus."
Finnegan, who was seated in the far corner, stood up with a flat wooden panel in his hands that he set on the table with a cheeky grin to Harry. The rest of the class was craning their necks to look at the crude construction as Harry pointed with his wand to the different components.
"So, like I said, here's the switch. Here is a battery...and a light bulb. These wires run the power from the battery, via the switch, to the bulb. I have to place a ward over it so that the magic in this room doesn't interfere with the power-supply of the battery. Mr. Malfoy? Would you like to come and turn on this on?"
Malfoy looked as if he would prefer to do something else. Like fall off a cliff. He got up anyway, pulling his robes close as he strode down the wide steps. A small blue dome of light flickered over the demonstration-panel and Harry nodded to him; he stretched his hand out, made a face at the sensation of the ward against his skin and gingerly pushed the switch from off to on.
The room gasped as the light bulb glowed. Malfoy looked inordinately pleased.
"So there's a big battery in every Muggle house?" he asked Harry, removing his hand and tucking it in his robe-sleeves to accompany the other.
"No, not the way you think. You can say that a massive battery powers whole communities. It looks nothing like the small ones, though." A small chime rung though the room and Harry flicked off the switch before cancelling the tiny ward. "Time's up, then. And for your assignment, find one Muggle-born witch or wizard and have them tell you about an appliance that runs on electricity. I want four inches on what they say." He grinned at their groans. "See you all next week."
Malfoy still hovered near him as Harry tidied his desk. Finally, Harry gave him a slightly exasperated look.
"Yes?"
"That was a fair enough lesson," Malfoy ground out. He was staring at the darkened light-bulb. "I have to admit, when my work-place forced me to take this course, I was highly displeased."
Harry nodded, giving Seamus the panel to dismantle. He had heard that Malfoy was just made the Under-Secretary to the Minister for Magic...which meant that he would have increased contact with Muggle politicians that were aware of their existence.
"Well. Look at it this way: you'll be on even footing with Muggles. You won't act silly in their presence."
Malfoy hummed with haughty amusement. "If you'll excuse me, I need to find a Muggle-born and extract information from them."
"Don't do it the Malfoy way," Harry warned, trying not to laugh. They'd always had that awful joke during the war, trying to find humour hunkered down in their hiding-places: how Malfoys did things the Malfoy Way....which may or may not have involved dungeons and chains. Draco's mouth simply tilted in a wry smile of recollection; he nodded at both Harry and Seamus and strolled out.
"You always did take the fun out of everything, Potter," he said airily, making sure to Apparate before Harry could get in a last word.
***
"How was it?" Hermione asked excitedly as she Floo'ed into the flat, exactly in time for dinner. She gave Ron a huge kiss on the cheek before limping over the dining-table, making pleased noises over the steaming platters that Ron had lain out under a warming spell. She and Harry had undergone the same torture during the war, curse-damage to their legs; Harry's was worse, since he still had to depend on his cane, but Hermione only had a small limp now. Harry made his way over and sat down stiffly, biting the inside of his lower lip as his right knee muttered in pain.
"Fine," he replied, nodding when Ron levitated the mashed potatoes over. The spoon dug out three hearty helpings before serving Hermione. "Malfoy was in the class. He said he liked the lesson, even though he was highly displeased when they forced him to take it."
"Yeah, if highly displeased means throwing a bitch fit," Ron said dryly, making sure to put lots of carrots into both their plates. Harry pouted and Ron sighed, adding another forkful. "Dad said when he heard it was you, he nearly blew the place up."
Hermione laughed and then choked on her mouthful of food. Ron clapped her soundly on the back and conjured a glass of water.
"Sorry. It's just that when it comes to Harry, Malfoy always overdoes it. Anyone can tell he wants to get into Harry's pants."
Harry rolled his eyes and shoved his peas around. Ron gave him a glowering look and he ate them meekly.
"Not that again. I've told you during the war and I'll tell you again: Malfoy isn't interested."
"Right." Ron simply served him another helping of pot-roast, completely ignoring Harry's half-hearted protests. "Anyway. What's the next lesson?"
"Muggle-dress," Harry said impishly. "And you both are going to be two of my models. Hey, you should see your faces. What's for dessert?"
Lesson 2