The Ice Queen [s.b.]

Misadventures in Teaching, Among Other Things - 78

November 3rd.

Sirius takes the day off for his birthday.

His class looks around, waiting for the teacher.

A substitute walks in.

"I heard that she's awesome," George whispers to Fred.

Fred rolls his eyes, "There's no way. It's History of Magic. Professor Black is the only one who can make it interesting."

"I don't know," Angelina disagrees noncommittally.

The door opens and in walks a tall woman with long brown hair and shining blue eyes. Really, it's Annalee Fawley making use of a polyjuice potion.

"Welcome, everyone," Annalee smiles with a gleam in her eyes. "I'm Mary Mayford, and you can call me Mary, Mayford, Professor, or whatever else tickles your fancy. Do me a favor, and put away your books. I don't particularly enjoy bookwork. That being said, your normal teacher will get mad at me if we don't do anything in class. So in the last ten minutes, you'll be writing a short paragraph on why history matters to you. Questions?"

Angelina's hand shoots up. Annalee calls on her. "What will we be doing, Professor?" Angelina asks.

"Great question. You're going to learn about the relevance of history. Anybody know what historic event your normal professor has been through? And from now on, say your name when you talk."

The class goes silent.

George finally raises his hands, "I'm George, and Professor Black fought in the war against you-know-who."

Anna narrows her eyes. "No. Well, yes. But no. His name is Lord Voldemort. You may call him the Dark Lord. You may call him by his first name, Tom. Or his last name, Riddle. Or just Tom Riddle. Or you could even call him Moldy Voldy. But you won't avoid such a word. A good friend of mine once said that fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself. Now, I'm a veteran of the War. Today, feel free to ask me any questions. Anyways, who knows the three most important events of the War?"

Angelina's hand shoots up again. "I'm Angelina. The first was the making of the Order of the Phoenix, the second was on October 31st, 1981 when... Riddle's killing spell failed, and the third was discovering the spy within the Order the next day."

"Good," Annalee agrees. "Who has questions about the War? You."

Fred stands up, "I'm Fred. What was the most dangerous mission you undertook?"

"That's hard," Annalee contemplates. Absentmindedly, she conjures wandlessly and wordlessly a cup of coffee. She takes a sip, then transfigures it into a dog which she pets. The students gape. She, with another wave of her hand, transfigures it back and sets down the cup. "It was probably when I was undercover. Next?"

"Jared Doonham. Do you have any siblings?" a pudgy-looking kid asks.

Annalee groans playfully, then conjures a black shawl into her hand and wraps it around herself in the same way a widow would.

"I had a secret brother who was erased from my memories. Quite the controversy, actually," she says, a hand splayed across her forehead in mock dramatics.

The students chuckle, thinking she's joking.

They continue with their Q&A until the students finally leave. Minutes later, Annalee scribbles out a note.

Dear Mr. Black,

Your students were fantastic. They all behaved and wrote sufficiently.