Chapter 12

Italics=Foreign Language/Dream

Underline Italics=Foreign Language in Dream

Bold=Emphasis

Disclaimer: Though this may be shocking, I am not Japanese(gasp!), A troll-I mean Devil- I mean New York Times Best selling Author, or a British woman. This means, sadly, that I am not Hiromi Arakawa, Rick Riordan, or J.K.Rowling, which also implies that I don't own any of the main/side characters except for Augustine. Sorry to disappoint.

Percy hated being a Hufflepuff.

Not that the title or principle itself was bad, per say. More of what lay under the surface. The whole conflict was mind-boggling, with everything from the fact that the Hufflepuffs were segregated in the first place because of their core traits to the fact that the head of Hufflepuff hadn't done a thing to prevent this. When he had secretly held a meeting with the other fellow Stripes, he discovered that they had already been influenced not to even bother interacting with anyone but stripes unless it was mandatory.

To put it simply, Percy felt like slamming his head into a brick wall every time he heard the words "Yellow", "Black", or "Stripes."

These thoughts brewed with Percy as he and Hazel headed to History with Frank, Matthew, Will, and Calypso. They managed to arrange themselves in a way where if a Hufflepuff looked, It would seem that a stripe and yellow were together followed by a separate pair of a black and black and a pair of stripe and yellow.

They walked through the corridors, eventually finding themselves in front of a solid wooden door marked with a brass plate that read, "History of Magic and the World Around it" with a smaller "Arthur Kirkland" written underneath.

"Guess this is the place." Hazel drawled, her southern accent slipping out. Her face flushed, but Frank just smiled in adoration.

Calypso ignored the romance and pulled open the door, peering inside. "Yep. The teacher is waving for us to come in. Should I prop the door open?"

"Probably," Percy replied as he stepped into the classroom. A neatly written placecard sat on each desk, so the six of them spent a few minutes hunting for our placards.

We sat in silence as the teacher busily scribbled at his desk and no other students entered. The minutes ticked by until Calypso cleared her throat. "Um, Sir? Are we going to start, or...?"

"Hm? Oh, are you the only ones who willingly came? Well then-guess that not all of the First Year Hufflepuffs are failures." Professor Kirkland got up and walked over to the door. "Etobfirmo prope" He announced, afterwards walking to the front of the room. The desks magically rearranged themselves so everyone sat in the front. "Now then, since you six are the only students out of this period's class to show up, you'll be the only First Year Hufflepuffs I teach. Any questions?"

Silence.

"Good. Now, each of you tell me your name, where you're from, and why you came to Hogwarts. And just for fun tell me your favorite era in history." Percy let out a groan, having been through ice-breakers like this before. Professor Kirkland paid him no attention whatsoever. "Let's start from left to right."

Will stood. "My name is Will Solace. I'm from Idaho is the US, and I came to Hogwarts because my friends also got acceptance letters. My favorite era in history is the 20th century because of all of the medical advances made during that time." Will sat down.

"Smashing." Professor Kirkland wrote Will's name on the board.

Calypso stood next. "I'm Calypso Nisí. I lived on the island of Ogygia for majority of my life until my friend Leo in Ravenclaw swept me off of my feet and took me to the US. I'm here for the same reason as Will, and my favorite part of history is Ancient Greek History."

The professor wrote Calypso's name on the board as she sat down. When it was Percy's turn, he  stood a little too quickly, causing his desk to nearly fall over. He grabbed it a repositioned it before awkwardly talking.

"Hi. My name is Percy Jackson. I'm from New York City, but I spend my summers in Long Island or Montauk. I came to Hogwarts to learn more about the wizarding world, and my favorite part of history is probably World War 1 or 2. Both are extremely interesting." He sat down quickly, his face red from embarrassment even though the only people who didn't know him was Professor Kirkland and Matthew.

"Great! Next!" Professor Kirkland proclaimed.

Matthew stood. "I'm Matthew Williams from Ottawa, Canada. I came to Hogwarts because my brothers and sister, Professor Arthur Kirkland, Professor Dylan Kirkland, Professor Seamus Kirkland, Professor Alistair Kirkland, and Professor Aoife Nolan all were teaching there this year and I was invited. My favorite part of history is probably all of it. It's just so interesting!"

Everyone stared, except for Professor Kirkland. "They're your siblings?!" Will asked.

Matthew squirmed uncomfortably. "Yeah?"

"That's so cool! What's it like to have that many siblings be older than you? How many siblings do you have?" Hazel asked.

"I don't really know? Its cool I guess. And as for siblings I think I have 1 brother and 60 half-siblings, although most already have left and gone into their own separate lives." Matthew shrugged. He was acting pretty calm for a guy who practically fell over when someone even noticed his existence.

"Anyways," Professor Kirkland drew out the word, obviously wanting their attention to drift back to the subject at hand. "Hazel?"

Hazel gently rose, pushing her seat in before speaking. "My name is Hazel Levesque. I was born in New Orleans but I moved to Alaska and then California. I came to Hogwarts hoping to learn more about my mother, who was a witch herself before she died. My favorite part of history is probably the reign of Napoleon the First, but also the mid-20th century." She pulled out her chair and sat without making a single noise.

Finally, it was Frank's turn. He stood just as quickly as Percy had, but this time he actually succeeded in making the desk fall over. His books spilt everywhere and his ink pot leaked Prussian Blue ink all over the floor. Frank stumbled about, trying to pick you his supplies but instead just dropping them again. Professor Kirkland sighed in exasperation and waved his wand. Everything flew back to where it belonged, including Frank. Frank cleared his throat and stood, this time making sure nothing would fall.

"Uh, my name is Frank Zhang. I'm from Vancouver, Canada, but I moved to California after my grandmother passed. I came to Hogwarts to further my knowledge of transfiguration, a family specialty. And, uh, my favorite part of history would probably the history of the Eastern Roman Empire/Byzantium. It sounds really cool- I mean, interesting." Frank sat down, his face as red as many of his fellow classmates.

Professor Kirkland raised a single thick brow. "You six are more awkward than a butcher and animal rights activist in the same room. Never in my life have I watched something so painful."

Everyone seemed to melt a little into their seats as Professor Kirkland continued.

"But, that's adolescence. Anyways, it's my turn now. I'm Professor Arthur James Kirkland. I studied at Hogwarts, Durmstrang, Beauxbatons, Ilvermorny, Castelobruxo, Mahoutokoro, Uagadou, Koldovstoretz, Cambridge, as well as a few others." Professor Kirkland wrote his impressive resume on the board in neat cursive before continuing. A glimmer in his eye made it seem that he was bragging, but his tone and movements were completely professional.

"I live in many homes all across the world, but my favorite is probably my country home in the Hampshire countryside. I came to Hogwarts to teach magic after hearing of the mass resignation of teachers. I decided that it was my family's duty to uphold Hogwarts' prestige until new teachers came in. And finally, my favorite part of history is the same as Matthew's. I love all of it."

They clapped, finally done with probably the most painful part of their lives. Professor Kirkland gathered papers from his desk and distributed them.

"Now, these are your syllabi. They have the year's outline on them as well as what we will be studying. After a 5th of the year has passed, there will be a writing exam on one of the topics we learned about that grading period. There will also be a Portfolio project consisting of a timeline, a article analysis, and an essay due the day before the in-class essay. Any questions?"

Calypso rose her hand. "Sir, will you teach us how you want us to write the essay?"

Professor Kirkland smiled. "Good question, Miss Nisi. I will teach you how, at least a week in advance. If you have extra questions you can come to me after class. Anyone else?"

No one asked a question. Professor Kirkland cleared his throat and waved his wand. The board magically changed from names and personal information to a map of the Middle East.

"Now, today, we are going to learn about the first civilization to ever be built. It is known as Sumer, located in Mesopotamia."