August 10, 2015 - Prejudice (FR-13)
August 10, 2015 - Prejudice (FR-13)
Alt Title: Day 10 - Prejudice
Author: mmooch
Chapter Summary: Buffy rants when facing a bigot.
Crossover: Harry Potter
Rating: FR-13.
Word count: 738
Challenge: for the livejournal 2015 August Fic-a-Day Challenge.
Timeline: Storywise - Second day of the school year in the renovated castle
Warning: OC introduced for the purpose of this chapter
Disclaimer: BtVS/AtS characters belong to Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy. HP characters belong to JK Rowling. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.
Breakfast Hall
September 2, 1982
“Headmistress Summers, I protest having another course added to my class schedule without my asking for it,” a sixth-year Gryffindor complained loudly as soon as she walked into the Breakfast Hall.
Sensing a teachable moment for all the students - since apparently this student didn’t read the booklet sent to her over the summer - Buffy asked politely, “And which course would that be, Miss Keller?”
“Intro to the Wizarding World!” Miss Keller snapped, annoyed that she even had to explain it. Wasn’t the Headmistress aware of the courses her students were taking?
“You would do well to watch your tone, unless you want to be the first student this year to get detention. ‘Intro to the Wizarding World’, huh? So that means you were raised in the non-magical world, correct?” Buffy inquired, glancing down at her school map, which showed who was talking to her.
Understanding that her anger, while fully-justified in her mind, wouldn’t help get her out of this situation, Miss Keller nodded silently.
“Okay, fine…if you want to get out of that class, I will tell you what I’ve explained to all the other students who wanted to get out of a mandatory class: if you can pass the final exam for the course, you will get credit for taking the class,” Buffy replied.
“But what good will this class do me? It’s just a bunch of stupid pureblood nonsense!” the irate teen groused.
Buffy shook her head and looked at her sadly. “So I guess this means that after you graduate, you plan to leave the Wizarding World and go back to the non-magical one? Because I’ll tell you right now that with your attitude, you will have a hard time finding any kind of work without knowing Wizarding etiquette.
“Before you open your mouth and stick your other foot in there, let me tell you that it doesn’t have anything to do with blood status. Yes, there is some class status, but it’s the same thing in the non-magical world. You wouldn’t go up to the Queen, slap her on the back and ask ‘What’s shaking, Queenie?’
“The course will explain the proper way to address your colleagues at work, as well as your superiors wherever you are employed. You’ll learn how to treat the goblins of Gringotts with respect. You’ll learn the old - and somewhat forgotten - days of magic, and which rituals work best on which days. There’s a lot more, but you’ll see it on the syllabus during the first class.
“As far as I can see, the students who fare the best are the ones who are raised with a foot in both communities. They know how to go around the non-magical world without drawing undue attention to themselves, as well as keep from offending the magically-raised-only people,
“I agree that there are some things that need to change in the magical community, but in order to do that, you must get others to work with you, not just do what you say because you think you know better. If something is unjust or dangerous, you have to explain rationally why you think so.
“Take, for example, the house elves. At least half of the non-magically-raised students in this room are horrified at the ‘enslavement’ of the poor house elves. The ones who aren’t fall into three categories: the ones who don’t know about house elves, the ones who don’t care either way, and the ones that have actually done some research on the matter and/or talked to a house elf.
“House elves and wizards have a symbiotic relationship. Wizards may call it ‘owning’ the elves, but that is only because once an elf chooses to bond with a wizard, the choice to end the bond goes to the wizard. While elves can bond to Hogwarts, that is only because of the magical ley lines the school sits on. They give the school a sort of artificial intelligence, which acts as a wizard in the relationship with the elves. Still, the percentage of magic they can draw to keep themselves alive from that bond if far lower than they get from an actual wizard or witch.
“The professors will give you a better explanation, but I felt I needed to impress on you the importance of learning about the community you plan to live in for the rest of your life,” Buffy finished before sitting down again.
A/N: Sorry if there are mistakes, I made the fatal error of updating to Window 10 before writing/posting my story.
Alt Title: Day 10 - Prejudice
Author: mmooch
Chapter Summary: Buffy rants when facing a bigot.
Crossover: Harry Potter
Rating: FR-13.
Word count: 738
Challenge: for the livejournal 2015 August Fic-a-Day Challenge.
Timeline: Storywise - Second day of the school year in the renovated castle
Warning: OC introduced for the purpose of this chapter
Disclaimer: BtVS/AtS characters belong to Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy. HP characters belong to JK Rowling. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.
Breakfast Hall
September 2, 1982
“Headmistress Summers, I protest having another course added to my class schedule without my asking for it,” a sixth-year Gryffindor complained loudly as soon as she walked into the Breakfast Hall.
Sensing a teachable moment for all the students - since apparently this student didn’t read the booklet sent to her over the summer - Buffy asked politely, “And which course would that be, Miss Keller?”
“Intro to the Wizarding World!” Miss Keller snapped, annoyed that she even had to explain it. Wasn’t the Headmistress aware of the courses her students were taking?
“You would do well to watch your tone, unless you want to be the first student this year to get detention. ‘Intro to the Wizarding World’, huh? So that means you were raised in the non-magical world, correct?” Buffy inquired, glancing down at her school map, which showed who was talking to her.
Understanding that her anger, while fully-justified in her mind, wouldn’t help get her out of this situation, Miss Keller nodded silently.
“Okay, fine…if you want to get out of that class, I will tell you what I’ve explained to all the other students who wanted to get out of a mandatory class: if you can pass the final exam for the course, you will get credit for taking the class,” Buffy replied.
“But what good will this class do me? It’s just a bunch of stupid pureblood nonsense!” the irate teen groused.
Buffy shook her head and looked at her sadly. “So I guess this means that after you graduate, you plan to leave the Wizarding World and go back to the non-magical one? Because I’ll tell you right now that with your attitude, you will have a hard time finding any kind of work without knowing Wizarding etiquette.
“Before you open your mouth and stick your other foot in there, let me tell you that it doesn’t have anything to do with blood status. Yes, there is some class status, but it’s the same thing in the non-magical world. You wouldn’t go up to the Queen, slap her on the back and ask ‘What’s shaking, Queenie?’
“The course will explain the proper way to address your colleagues at work, as well as your superiors wherever you are employed. You’ll learn how to treat the goblins of Gringotts with respect. You’ll learn the old - and somewhat forgotten - days of magic, and which rituals work best on which days. There’s a lot more, but you’ll see it on the syllabus during the first class.
“As far as I can see, the students who fare the best are the ones who are raised with a foot in both communities. They know how to go around the non-magical world without drawing undue attention to themselves, as well as keep from offending the magically-raised-only people,
“I agree that there are some things that need to change in the magical community, but in order to do that, you must get others to work with you, not just do what you say because you think you know better. If something is unjust or dangerous, you have to explain rationally why you think so.
“Take, for example, the house elves. At least half of the non-magically-raised students in this room are horrified at the ‘enslavement’ of the poor house elves. The ones who aren’t fall into three categories: the ones who don’t know about house elves, the ones who don’t care either way, and the ones that have actually done some research on the matter and/or talked to a house elf.
“House elves and wizards have a symbiotic relationship. Wizards may call it ‘owning’ the elves, but that is only because once an elf chooses to bond with a wizard, the choice to end the bond goes to the wizard. While elves can bond to Hogwarts, that is only because of the magical ley lines the school sits on. They give the school a sort of artificial intelligence, which acts as a wizard in the relationship with the elves. Still, the percentage of magic they can draw to keep themselves alive from that bond if far lower than they get from an actual wizard or witch.
“The professors will give you a better explanation, but I felt I needed to impress on you the importance of learning about the community you plan to live in for the rest of your life,” Buffy finished before sitting down again.
A/N: Sorry if there are mistakes, I made the fatal error of updating to Window 10 before writing/posting my story.