First Years, Lesson Two

Gabrielle was generally a little more lenient to first years taking their time to get seated, but she didn't want to encourage bad habits. And this group, she reasoned, would take a bit of tough love to set straight. She'd already split a pair of twins up, seeing immediately that one would interfere with the other one's learning. "Alright, you've had your time to ease into it, and now the real work begins. So take your seats and get your note taking materials out, please," she said, taking a long sip of water before getting started on her lecture. "Now, some of the most famous witches and wizards of history come from the medieval period, also known as the Middle Ages, being the time period from around the 5th Century to the 15th Century. Many of you will be familiar with the most well known wizard of that time, at least from Europe," she clarified, mindful that there was a large contingent of Japanese students who would perhaps know more of Abe no Seimei. "Who would that be?" she looked around, giving a nod when one of the students gave the answer of Merlin. "Correct, thank you."

"I suspect even if you are from a non magical background, you may well have a passing awareness of Merlin, of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. Merlin worked for King Arthur, and for his father, King Uther Pendragon before him. Merlin was especially wise, and given that throughout history royal succession has always been perfectly smooth," Gabrielle's voice dripped with sarcasm at this point, "it was considered in the best interests of the young Arthur to be placed up for adoption, to be fostered and raised in secret until such time as he was old enough to claim his royal lineage - and strong enough to defend himself should that be challenged. At least, that is one telling of the tale." A lot of these tales got changed over time, or had different interpretations, but Gabrielle would not bog her students down with that just yet.

"I dare say many of you will know the tale of the sword in the stone. Now Merlin, powerful wizard that he was, added another protection to Arthur's birth right as king. When Uther Pendragon died, there was no clear successor as Arthur was still not yet ready take the crown. So Merlin enchanted a sword in a large stone, with an inscription stating that whoever pulled the sword out would be king. Many attempted, but were not able to do so. Arthur eventually pulled it free, and the rest, as they say, is history." Gabrielle raised her eyebrows at her own lame joke, pausing to take a few breaths and let her students catch up. "This sword is often called 'Excalibur', by the way, but it's also argued that Excalibur was given to Arthur later, by the mysterious Lady of the Lake. Different swords? Same swords? Something you can look into. I suspect the mermaids in our lake don't hand out swords so freely, but you are more than welcome to ask them."

"Merlin was not the only magician that was involved in the story of King Arthur. While we will mostly be talking about her next year, please make a note of Morgan Le Fey, who was a powerful witch and most commonly known as Arthur's half sister. This may be something to recall for your exam, hint hint," she added, giving a look over the students. She'd waved her wand as she was talking, putting a few dot points to recall from her lecture that would help the students with notetaking, but she'd hoped they'd been listening more than just copying down what was on the board.

"Now, one last thing before we wrap up for the day. I mentioned at the start of the lesson that a majority of witches and wizards we have awareness of come from that medieval period in history. Some of you might be wondering why that is. Well, it's important to note that many records of people such as Merlin come from muggles - perhaps primarily romanticised versions of the story, but muggle records nonetheless. You should all, I hope, know about the International Statute of Secrecy, the laws that hide the magical from the non-magical. This was passed in to law in 1692. I would be a fool to say that that is the only cause of the reduction of records of notable wizards and witches...but it is easy enough to think that it played a major role, yes?" She knew she was pushing for time, but at least wanted to give the students a little more context. "And why do we have the Statute of Secrecy? Well, we'll go in to that in some of your upcoming classes."

The class time was up, and Gabrielle shifted on the spot, not realizing her legs had gone a bit numb. "Well done, you've survived your first big lecture. So, for homework," she paused to have the homework come up on the board, shaking her head at the inevitable groans. "What, you didn't think you weren't going to have to work, did you? For homework, I would like you to write me a short essay on King Arthur, Merlin...or if you want to be really clever, anything you can relate back to Arthurian legend. You could talk about the Holy Grail, or the type of dresses Queen Guinevere wore, if fashion is your thing. I promise, there's so much there to work with and so many fascinating stories from that time you could have a look into. This is an opportunity for you to practice using the library, which you'll thank me for later I'm sure. If you're having trouble, please come and see me, I don't want anyone falling behind this early." With that, Gabrielle opened the classroom doors once again and let the students go with a small smile and nod.

Homework
RP the lesson. First poster to answer the question gets bonus house points. Complete the homework assignment for extra credit. Does not need to be long, one or two paragraphs is fine, please list your sources!

 

[Angelo Dela Cruz]

Angelo was having trouble keeping up. Thankfully, he was using a pen and a notebook instead of trying to take notes with a quill and parchment. They still had to dip in ink. And he would have to dry them. It didn't help that the teacher suspected that even the ones who had just entered this magical world would have heard about some dudes named Merlin and Arthur. Oh and their table. Which would have been a weird thing to learn about and it felt like something that would be said in English class - what is the symbolism for the table kind of thing - rather than in a History class. The whole history was weird though, and well, he supposed history did tend to be convoluted. But keeping up with who's who and what's what was certainly taking him for a spin. And then there was a sword pulled out of rocks. And did she just say mermaids in the lake wait what? "Mermaids?!" he blurted out, quite loudly before putting a hand to his mouth and trying to just sink into his chair. Because of mermaids? Like those ancient Disney movies, his mum watches? Ariel? Maybe he should go swimming during the summer. He was distracted for a little bit but then suddenly a law was mentioned. He was vaguely familiar with it since it was stressed to them that they were not allowed - allowed - to tell that he was anything but a normal boy. Weren't exactly the words used but the idea was there. As the lecture finally wrapped up and the homework was given, he glanced nervously around the room. He didn't know anything about Arthurian legends beyond what was just shared in class. And he didn't have his laptop with him - d@mn wizards and their aversion to technology. Life would have been a lot easier if he could just AI this sh!t. Or at least Google. No, he had to go find books in the Library. How was he even supposed to know which book. And so he approached the teacher. "Mam?" he began, clutching his bag tightly. "I... uh... I don't know Arthur? Is there a book? Like ano... how to find books?" He didn't think he'd even been to a library before.​

 

[Sage Misaki]

Sage was mildly more or less impressed with the school than she'd been before. At least, she was sure at least some people had a little sense of humor. A small one at least. And that made the school slightly- slightly more manageable. It just meant she had a good target. Her mind was racing with thoughts on it, but for now she had to get back to class. She took her usual seat in the back. She fully intended to keep away from Henri where she could afford it, but he hadn't arrived yet and- hopefully- he'd not notice where she sat. She propped her chin in her hand, watching and listening idly to the Professor. Eventually they finished with their lecture so Sage slipped out of class, ignoring the rest of the students.

 

[Daisuke Kaster]

Daisuke listened intently to Professor Moncrieffe's lecture, largely relieved now that he was sat quite far away from his twin. He knew it wouldn't help, but he appreciated that the professor had at least tried. If anything, he was pretty sure this would only make Hachiro more determined. Still, he paid attention and when the professor asked who the most famous wizard of the medieval period was, he raised his hand hesitantly. "Merlin?" he said. He was sure of his answer but his tone probably didn't conveyed that. Still, he'd attempted to answer in class which he thought was big progress. As the lecture continued, Daisuke couldn't help but think about how much Merlin himself affected wizarding history. From Arthur to Excalibur. When the professor mentioned Morgan Le Fey, Daisuke made a mental note to read up on her once he had the time and compulsion to leave the Common Room. It would be interesting since he didn't know much about her but she was a major figure in Arthurian legend. As the class came to a close, Daisuke scribbled down the homework assignment, already thinking of what particular topic he would like to focus on.​

 

[Henri Fontaine]

Henri didn’t enjoy how much time his classes took. He was pretty determined to really not go along to them if he didn’t want to. If the weather was nicer he wouldn’t go. If things were just better elsewhere, he just wouldn’t go along. He knew his sister wouldn’t be happy if she heard him doing that, but Henri didn’t mind. She could have all the issues with it until she was blue in the face he wasn’t going to change. He headed out of the dorm room, knowing he’d decide at the last moment whether he’d actually bother with the class.

Henri walked into the history of magic classroom, a little by accident, he’d had thought that he had transfiguration, and that this was the transfiguration classroom. He sat down and took out his books still, though he also took out the book on the sorting hat he’d found in the library and was reading that over listening to what the professor was saying. He didn’t have much of an interest in merlin and what the man had done. Or the people around him. Instead he remained focused on the book in front of him, reading those things rather than listening. The lesson was eventually wrapped up, but he only noticed because those around him began moving.