At the Professor's instructions, Michael pulled out some parchment and made it into a name.

Quote:

Michael Toussaint

1st Year

Gryffindor

Once that was done he raised his hand to answer the questions. "History of Magic or even just history itself are events that happened in the past that shaped our world to what it is today. We study it so that we can gain knowledge from those past events so that we either don't make the same mistakes and so that we can improve and move forward in the future. That sounded about right.

Theoman.

She saw him and she returned the smile, happy that at least some things hadn't changed. It was nice to have her History of Magic partner back, okay?

Moving on...

The blonde listened to Professor-only not really-dude's introduction and nodded when he asked that they make their name tags. She grabbed a piece of parchment and scribbled her information down before folding it so that Vinteren would be able to see.

On to questions. "Professor, History of Magic is the study of wizards, their history, and the history of the magical world." Y'know, the big important events and such. "We study history so we better understand why things are the way they are." Or something like that.

Annabeth took a piece of parchment and did what the teacher had asked to.

Mr Vinteren seem to be an annoying person and it scared her. But she needed to reply his questions, then she raised her arm and said:

"History of Magic is one of the most important subjects we must learn at the school. All the stuff about the wizarding world is taught in this matter, as the wars and laws. We must learn it because... well... when we born we don't know anything about anything, but everything is already going on... so... kinda... There is no need to keep on reinventing the wheel ... although it's important to know that someone had already done it and it's important to us to know the methods and means to reach the goals. That's all." She grinned. Yeah, it should be enough.

Wade then took out some parchment, to get his name tag done. It had become mundane after a few times, but no complaints from him.

Mr. Vinteren's accent did seem to catch Wade's attention, for it was very familar.. was he.. Scandinavian too? It had been a while since he had heard it, mainly back at Durmstrang from some of the teachers and other kids. Wade's British family were the main reason his own accent wasn't all that noticeable. Hmm.. well, back to finishing that name tag.

Afterward, Wade seemed distracted as he stared at nothing in particular while furrowing his brows.. Nope, he was just thinking again. He rose his hand once he had an answer, "History of Magic gives us a detailed summary on past events and how relevant they are today.. Dates, important people, and discoveries.." Now as for why. "Well..it's important to know what ever mistakes were made don't happen again.. and know the reasons behind them."

Was it just her or did this man have a very close resemblance to her Professor Christiansen - who died protecting them, he was a hero, yep he was, bless his soul - not only in appearance but by the way he talks too? Although, Christiansen's accent was still the bestest.

Mister....Professor Vinteren. It even rhymes with Christiansen.

What if he *is* Professor Christiansen? His soul that has just taken up a whole new body? That can happen, right? Right! So...slight squinting at you, Professor. We're suspicious.

New to the castle? Pssh. But Beezus still obliged when they were asked to provied a nametag.

There. Now, to his question. Or questions rather.

Hand up. "Professor, History of Magic....from its name is 'his' and 'story' is the story of how our magical world came to be. It provides us the the facts." Not all the time though. "...and significant events that contributed to why things are the way they are now." Pauuuuse. "And we study this because history is a window into the past that provides understanding of the present-day." Mhmm.

Listening to the Professor Tag got out a piece of parchment and did as he was asked. He wrote down in very bad chicken scratch writing

SPOILER!!: Name Tag

Tag Kildare
Fourth Year
Gryffindor

"History of magic is the study of magical history" That much was pretty self explanitory, thought Tag. He then continued to answer the second portion of the question. "We study the history and try to learn from past events as to why people did such things or reacted in certain ways and learn knowledge from them. If we, present day, were put in a similar position of a past even, maybe we'll be able to understand what's happening to us and react better to it this time around. Because we have a basic understanding of it already?"

Jory reached into his bag for parchment and a quill. He scrawled the required information onto the parchment after folding it in half.
Jory now raised his hand. "Professor, History of Magic is the study of past events that have occurred in the past. It deals with facts. We study these events have have taken place in order to understand the present and possibly the future. We may also use the past to prevent or lessen the intensity of any repeat of destructive events.'' He seriously hoped that he made some sense there.

Nigel like Botros idea better for casting the name on the desk instead of using a simple name tag thing.

But it was Vinteren's class. So Nigel started to write his nametag.



Once it was done. Nigel could start concentrating on the question asked. Though it was hard with his awesome accent. What is History of Magic? That was a good question. Nigel raised his hand and answered.

"Studying Goblin Rebellions"

Nigel knew there was more to it than that. But it was an answer.

Name tag first. That wasn't too hard. Penelope grabbed a piece of parchment, folded it in half, and quickly scribbled down her name, house, and year.

Quote:

Penelope Greenwell
Fourth year Gryffindor

And now...a couple questions. Also didn't seem too hard. Penelope thought about them for a few seconds then raised her hand. "What it is is pretty obvious from its name. History of Magic. Basically the history of the wizarding world instead of the Muggle world. Though I guess sometimes we can do both? But mostly we study things that happened to wizards or witches in the past, or things that they did, or things goblins did, and all that. And we study it because we're required to here." Probably not what he was looking for, but hey, it was the truth. "But also I guess because lots of things that happened in the past still happen now, so it helps to deal with it, I guess. Like...when the train stopped couple terms ago, we had a lesson about the train and other times it stopped before." Okay, now she figured she was done. Her hand went back down.

Garrick did as he was told and made his name tag, not at all tidy writing like everyone else seemed to have. Nope. Not at all.

And well that was the way any HoM class was supposed to start, yes. Raising his hand Garrick offered this: "As the others have said it teaches us about the Wizarding World's past and all that, but I like to think it is a tool to teach us not to make the same mistakes twice. I mean, if we don't look at the events of the past and LEARN from them then we are doomed to continue making the same mistakes over and over." Lowering his hand he scanned the room for a certain person... Where was she?

A name tag for himself, eh? That didn't sound too bad. Ryan took his time as he reached down into his back and clawed around for a free piece of parchment. Preferably, one that wasn't scribbled on or had been chewed in the corners. In the end, he managed to find one that was slightly smaller than his hand, Ryan folded it in half as best he could. Then, he wrote the following:



And then there was that question to answer. Ryan scratched his head a bit and then cleared his throat.

"History of magic is...well, it's the history of magic. Like, what's happened in the past and how magic has evolved over time. We study it so we don't make the same stupid mistakes wizards made before us."

Eliza filled out a piece of parchment like the new professor had asked and sat it on her desk, folded up so he could see it from the front of the classroom.

Quote:

Eliza Dawnsel
Ravenclaw, Third Year

This was another example of only good looking people working at the school. Although, this man sort of made Eliza a little uncomfortable. He’d never done anything to make her feel that way but he just had something about him that felt..different. Maybe it was just his sharp blue eyes or his rigid demeanor. She couldn’t quite place it. He seemed to be starting the class politely and slowly for the first years to catch on though, and he was pretty modest about his personal introduction, so maybe she was reading him all wrong. She put a small smile on her face when she raised her hand to answer. “History of Magic is basically the study of important things in the history in the world of witches and wizards. Unlike a general history class, this one of course focuses on magical happenings so that we can better understand our past to hopefully make our future better. But we don't always study things from a long time ago; sometimes we learn about things that have just happened - because that's history in the making.” She was pretty sure she’d heard that said about history somewhere. The question was extremely basic, so she felt her answer had done the job, but it wasn’t anything very noteworthy, so she’d almost wish she just would’ve let a first year give it a try instead.

Mo patted his own tie, a standard part of the Hogwarts uniform, as a reflection of the motion the professor had made, and then he fell back into his chair as he waited for class to start. Quietly, he obeyed their first instructions from the man-with-the-hard-accent. A name tag.

Now then... what was History of Magic? Shouldn't the professor know that one by now? Since he was teaching it and all. "Knowing the historical record of events helps us understand where we've been and informs our present day actions and decisions. It also honors those who came before for their part in shaping the world as we know it."

Quote:

Jake Keller
Gryffindor, sixth year

While he was making his name tag, Jake listened to a few of the other students answer. They were right... what they were studying was obvious by the class name. And that made Jake wonder briefly if Vinteren was really just talented at faking his ability to teach because that was sort of a dumb question to ask. But... there was no way he was going to say that out loud, of course. So he raised his hands like a good prefect and gave what he thought was a nice answer.

"History of Magic is basically the history of the world... or recorded history, at least, from a wizarding point of view. We learn it because it's good to know about the past... and where we come from. So we can appreciate how the world is now. We don't necessarily have to learn from their ways or whatever, I don't think. I think we just need to know what happened. Simple as that."

West went ahead and did the nametag thing (adding his house and year since apparently that was a thing) as he thought about the question and observed everyone and all of that. There was a lot he could say, but West wasn't interested in spitting out some textbooky answer.

He put his hand up finally. "History of Magic is the study of the accounts of our magical past as written by the winners. We study what we're told to study, and what the Ministry approves for us to study. Mostly its facts and stuff but not all of it, some of it is just what we're supposed to think is fact. For instance Goblin Rebellions would be a whole lot different to learn about if the Goblins got what they wanted or if they wrote the history books."

Just one example of many.

Minerva listened as the professor or governor man began class. He was new to the castle, so Jory and her thoughts were right about him, he had never attended Hogwarts, which meant attachment to things probably wasn't there. Hmm interesting Minerva thought as she began to write on her parchment and making it into a name tag.

Then she sat and listened to his first question. He didn't seem bad so far, but not very laid back either, so she wasn't going to judge the class yet. His accent was just a tad hard to understand, but it wasn't the first time she had to listen very closely in a class, thinking of ancient runes *wibbles* Anyway pushing her thoughts back to the question she raised her hand, "Sir, History of Magic is the study of the origin of magic as well as past events that have made magic and even Hogwarts what it is today. Without History we wouldn't have the up to date knowledge that we do today. We wouldn't have been able to learn from experience, or have growth in our world." She hoped that made sense at least.

There was no way Dylan was missing this lesson. History of Magic...Creepy Bond Guy. He'd made a promise...mostly to himself after trailing the new Professor. Dylan just couldn't shake the feeling that something was off about the man...Shifty man was shifty.

The Captain was a Slytherin...and paranoid still about everything.

Moving to take a seat, he went about doing the name-tag thing that was starting to become so popular among Professors.

Quote:

Dylan C. Montmorency
Slytherin Seventh Year
Quidditch Captain and Zombie/Inferi Slayer

That added information was, indeed, important. Just ask anyone...

Also, to answer the question..."History of Magic is...the History of the magical world...Like Salem witch burnings and Goblin Revolutions...It is the study of things that has shaped our world as a whole."

Anya scribbled down her name on the parchment.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Parchment

Anya Phillips
Fifth Year
Gryffindor

Well... that was a boring question. Probably. She had a hard time understanding what the Professor said... still. It was weird to think about though, that she could have spoken like that.

Wait. What was the question again...? She raised her hand. "I agree with West Odessa." she said with a nod. Always agree with West. "History mandates it." Or something like that.

OH. There was only ONE good thing about History of Magic. A clean classroom. So, thanks for that, Vinteren. See? He did say he was no Professor, Lex, so, Lottie wouldn't call him 'Professor Vinteren', nope.

Mr. Vinteren, possibly.

She was faaaaar too busy and bored to answer this question, really. She was like this even when Scabior was around, nothing personal, Mr. Vinteren. So, she took her time making that tag.

Quote:

Lotus A. Wisteria
Third year, Hogwartian

However, West said something that sparked her interest. '...by winners'.

"I think it would be far more interesting to learn from the records of those who lost, since those are the mistakes we shouldn't repeat." Her hand had been raised at the time of her answer, not anymore. This was probably more directed at West as a simple opinion, though, but Vinteren was more than welcomed to take it as a class advice.

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.







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?

After hearing the Professor's responses to answers given, Dylan gave a genuine look of curiosity. Why...was he asking about a former Professor's teaching style? Was it to better understand how they'd been taught as a group...so they could move forward in a productive way? Or was there other meanings...?

Suspicious Slytherin was forever suspicious.

Either way, Dylan had a response. "I remember last term when Ministry people came in to give lectures." Dylan had been so utterly bored out of his mind that he'd fell asleep in the lesson...which was something he NEVER did. Could they be honest? "I wasn't a fan."

"Not to mention the time he took us down into the Chamber of Secrets. Plus, he didn't really appreciate long, drawn out answers. But he did crack down on straight-from-the-textbook stuff so that's something, I guess." Sky added to Dylan's response, with raised brow to his name tag. WAS HE TRYING TO TAKE HER AUNT'S CROWN?! Unacceptable! Ahem. Anyway, back to the lesson. "To be completely honest, he was kind a wild card. Never quite knew what to expect. And he was really sarcastic." Well, Vinteren had asked, right? Maybe not for quite that much information, but she was just in that kind of mood.

Dylan was giving his newest quidditch player cray eyes. He had not said anything bad about Professor Scabior. What was she doing?

SQUINT.

"Professor Scabior was simply a realist, sir." As the Slytherin said this, Carter-Hope was getting more looks. Scabior had been his role model...Bad-mouthing the man would not go over well.

The second year Slytherin stared the whole time at the professor and couldn’t understand WHY the professor liked this lesson, it was HISTORY and history was boring! Almost all the people they would talk about were death of they would be death soon. History was boring and when she listened to the professor she only heard… blah, blah ……….. She really didn’t heard anything interesting for so far and she was afraid that the rest of the lesson would also been boring, she even didn’t tried to answer the question from the professor and leaned backwards in her seat and stared at nothing in particular.

Jory raised his hand. "Professor Scabior thought the subject in a more practical aspect,'' he said.Like that one time when they had that activity about ghosts or ghouls or whatever it was about. He couldn't exactly remember but it had been fun with the riddles and all. Professor Scabor was okay and certainly knew his stuff but he wasn't one of Jory's best Professors.