Originally Posted by Erik Vinteren

The attitude exuding from this older Slytherin caused one of Erik's eyebrows to rise ever so slightly as the boy strutted waltzed into his classroom.

"Student." Erik returned his greeting, not at all mocking him. On purpose.

"Hello and velcome to History of Magic," Erik started promptly. "Before we begin, I vould like to introduce myself." He gave the students a thin smile. "My name is Vinteren, Erik Vinteren. I am not a professor, but you may address me as either 'Mister Vinteren,' or 'Professor Vinteren,' out ov respect. I am currently serving vhe Hogwarts Board of Governors and took vhis post as a favour to your Headmistress." Who was rather short-staffed and frantic at the time, though he didn't add that bit aloud.

"Since I am still new to vhe castle," Erik continued, "if you vould kindly take out a sheet of parchment and fold it in halv to make a nametag for yourself, I vould be most grateful." And it would certainly help him to address them all by the proper names. "While you are doing vhat, you may also raise your hand and answer vhe question, Vhat is History of Magic? Vhat do ve study in vhis class, and vhy?"

As soon as he said that, the questions appeared on the board beside him so that students who might have been better at reading than listening could remember what had been asked. And Erik started looking for hands, to call on people, because he was most interested in their responses.

Originally Posted by Erik Vinteren

Good, everyone was following his instructions to make nametags. This vould make calling on students easier...Erik waited for a few to be finished with their nametags before he addressed their answers. And they were all surprisingly accurate answers.

"Good, good," he replied to the many students who delivered the most obvious answer. "Vhere are many things we can learn from our past failures to avoid repeating vhe same mistakes over and over, but vhere are also many positive things ve can take away from our successes. For example, if a spell got you out ov a scrape in vhe past, you vould vant to use that same spell to get out of trouble again in vhe future. Or to avoid vhat trouble entirely. Vhat is vhy history of magic not only teaches vhat mistakes ve have to learn from, but also teaches vhe principle ov reflection and self-introspection." He would let them think of more specific examples of where such skills could be used; the point had been made.[/textcut]



Yes, studying the facts and events of the past were important too, Erik couldn't disagree with that. However..."Don't forget vhat vhe person writing the history book or teaching your history of magic class brings a certain slant to the 'objective' retelling of vhe past," he warned. "As Mr. Odessa said," since apparently, he was the person to agree with, "you vould hear an entirely different retelling of vhe goblin rebellions if you were listening to a goblin's side of vhe story. So being aware ov bias is an important vhing to do vhen studying history." Which he had, actually, done. There were things you could do when you spoke gobbledegook. [/textcut]



And then he came to three students who had very well-rounded, developed answers...the sort of thing he had been looking for but not expecting to hear.







Here were the students capable of thinking outside the box. Erik appreciated their answers perhaps the most, because they put everything in perspective. One of his favourite words: perspective.

"Excellent," he addressed the three of them at once. "As vhe saying goes, 'Yesterday is history, tomorrow's a mystery,' but it's not, is it, if ve continue to build on our past experiences? It is important to grow from our past, as Miss Wheatborn said, honour those who came before us, as Mr. Branxton said, and make our future better, as Miss Dawnsel said. I vant you all to focus on vhose three pillars this school year as ve study History of Magic. Keep them in mind as you ask yourself vhy are ve learning vhis." A summary of what had been discussed so far appeared on the board beside Erik in neat and useful bullet point form.

Now then, to move on. "I can see vhat you all know vot we study in History of Magic, and vhy, but how does one learn History of Magic? How haff you learned vhis subject in vhe past?" He looked around at them all with genuine curiosity. Had they been taught any spells real historians used and gone on field trips, for example, or was it all lecture by the former professor's son and assigned readings for homework?