Torolf Gundersen was not a man known for his patience. He was a man known for his distinct lack thereof and his controversial views on blood purity, politics, and proper educational techniques. Since coming to Hogwarts he had noticed their aversion to discipline and the way students ran amok through the halls. Meals were even worse than regular day. As such, Torolf had decided to impart his first bit of wisdom upon the youngest students at Hogwarts. The best way to curtail such horrifying behavior was to nip it in the bud. Besides that, young minds were far more impressionable and easy to mold to his particular point of view and way of thinking. He was unsure what level of success he would have, but if Torolf could manage to persuade even a single student off the path of stupidity and self righteousness, he would have done his job properly.

He stood at the front of the history of magic classroom, arms folded threateningly across his chest. His bright blue eyes threw daggers at every student who entered, his intent to start the intimidation right away. "Take your seats!" he barked. "Do not talk amongst yourselves. We have many important topics to cover in the small amount of time allotted to me for this class. Be aware that my status as a visiting professor does not hinder my capability to assign detentions and deduct points. If you think detention with your standard professors is a nightmare, you do not wish to cross me."

As soon as the clock struck two, he flicked his wand. The door flew shut with a loud bang and the lock slid into place with an audible click. "Good afternoon. My name is Professor Gundersen. I am a visiting instructor from Durmstrang. I will be teaching your lesson today. I am unaware of how lax your typical professor at Hogwarts may be, but let me establish a few rules of my own first and foremost. You will not speak unless spoken to. You will raise your hands and wait to be addressed. If called upon, please introduce yourself with your name and house so that I may aware and deduct points appropriately. You will behave as young gentlemen and ladies- not as rambunctious children. You will treat me with the utmost respect, or I will eject you from this classroom and assign a detention. Are there any questions?" It was obvious from his gaze that there had better not be any questions- at least, not any stupid ones.

Still not entirely in her own mind, Alexandra walked into the classroom by herself; not among her friends as she normally did. After the last full moon, she had retracted from her usual chipper and sassy behavior that made her who she was. She barely even noticed that Professor Jowd was absent from the classroom as she took her seat towards the front of the room.

She hadn't bothered with contacts that day, so her piercing golden eyes were unhindered by the milky green contacts that she typically adopted. Silently, she set herself up for class. It was at this time that she noticed the visiting professor, obviously Durmstrang by the way he held himself up. Briefly, Lexi wondered if she was better suited for a school where she could have a rigorous schedule and a set of professors who instilled respect and discipline into their class.

Lexi realized that Professor Gundersen was trying to intimidate them, but after the past few weeks, she wasn't easily intimidated. Maybe this would be the first History of Magic class where she would actually thrive and accomplish something besides near-boredom. Typically Professor Jowd wasn't terrible, but it wasn't his fault that the topic he taught was boring.

She bit her bottom lip slightly, letting go the moment she registered pain; and then she pushed herself up to sit up straighter. Maybe she could impress this professor, and show him that not every Hogwarts student was crazy, as the Durmstrang professors seemed to have thought. At least, that's what the older years had been telling the younger years.

Alice hurried into the classroom, her smile quickly fading. History of Magic was her favorite class. She liked to learn about the dates and the things that had happened. It all interested her so much! But as she walked in, and caught the different professor's piercing glare, she suddenly felt scared. It wasn't that she typically screwed up in the class, but today, she was much more afraid to do it than any other day.

She took her seat towards the front of the class, as the teacher began to give the rules out, only intimidating young Alice some more. This man was frightening to say the least. Once he finished speaking, she quickly rushed into her bag to withdraw the things she needed for class, an inkwell, a quill, her book, parchment. She placed each thing quickly on her desk, not wanting to disturb the professor at work, since he seemed like a no nonsense guy. On the top of her parchment, she wrote the date, her name and a little note reminding herself to say her name and her house when standing up to speak.

...If she could even build the courage to do that.

Lucas walked into the room with his bag thrown over his shoulder. His undershirt wasn't tucked in and his hair was messier than normal. He barely even noticed the new professor, only giving a wave as he made his way to his seat. His mind was still so occupied from the events that happened during holiday that he couldn't focus on anything. He looked a bit distant, like he was on auto pilot. He was happy to be at school and all. He hoped it would provide a pleasant distraction. It was still hard though because he felt like classes were interrupting his healing time. Then everyone asking him if he was okay and what was wrong. It all seemed like too much and he was wondering if he could even handle it. 

When he sat down, he got his things out of his bag and laid them on the table. He crossed his arms and put his head on them. He was still getting use to going to class again. He felt like if he had one more week before school started he would have been much better. He popped his head up when he heard the door slam and it finally registered he had a new teacher.

Great. This guy looked like a hard one. He was so not in the mood for this. If this guy thought he was going to get to Lucas, he would be in for a surprise. Any other time maybe, but not right now. Not today. He simply leaned back in his  chair and crossed his arms behind his head.

Sophia, being the absolute model student, and perfect lady sat like a porcelain doll in the very front row. Not a single hair was out of place, and tied back in a beautiful ribbon of white. Her uniform was perfectly pressed, and clean even with it being so late in the week. She sat silent and waited with her paper and pen out ready to take notes. She would not smile at the Professor, but she didn't let her nerves show either. Instead, she was absolutely ready for this, that was until Lucas walked in the door with his shirt untucked, his hair a mess, and circles under his eyes.

Ok. That was enough of this. She needed to intervene and quickly before Gunderson noticed.

Sophia hissed under her breath at Lucas who was a few rows back, and gave him him her sternest look possible. It was clear she was channeling her inner Tarron Knight, at best she could, but if she could cut through the boy with just one look had yet to be determined.

Annette threw herself down at her desk, not thrilled to be in this class, whatsoever. Professor Jowd normally made class bearable, but with a Durmstrang Dictator at the front of the class, Annette was ready to put a wand to her head. She had enough crap from her dad over break, she didn't want another pushy older man telling her what to do and how to act, but for the sake of her house points, she remained silent.

She pulled her textbook and her other assorted writing tools from her tornado of a bag. Nette grabbed a quill that was stuck in her bun of messy dirty blond hair she had thrown together earlier that day, and plopped it into the inkwell, sending a few splatters of black ink onto her slightly wrinkled parchment. She wanted to be respectful, but she wasn't really feeling it. She sat up a tad and crossed her legs.

Apparently, she wasn't the only one who was a mess this afternoon, Trumble seemed a little out of it as well. Anni grabbed her quill and started doodling badgers on the corner of her paper, not paying attention to anything but the shape of the creature's head, and certainly not giving two unicorn turds about the upity visiting professor.

Rico walked in, a little more together than he had been in the past few days. He sat down at his desk, his hands folded in front of him. His father had almost sent him to Durmstrang and Sadie to Beaxbatons, but he decided not to split them up. Rico was glad for that, but he still hat utmost respect for the school, and the fine educators that it's walls held. Rico was actually a little excited about this class.

Jowd was an okay professor, but this was going to be an extremely awesome class. The male Posada twin was all for free spirit and occasional messing around, but sometimes, he liked everything to be strict, and orderly, and for everything to run as planned. This would be a good chance to show he wasn't all crazy and musical.

Michael let out a slight yawn when he took his seat in the middle of the room for History of Magic. So far, he had found this class particularly boring. He had walked into the room, not even noticing that they were having one of the Professor's from Durmstrang. Instead, he  took out some pieces of parchment, his quill, and an inkwell from his bag and placed them on the desk messily. He wasn't exactly the most organized student out there.

It was only after he laid out his supplies, that Michael let his eyes drift up to the front of the room. What he saw was the visiting Professor looking rather sternly at the first years. Apparently, they must have done something to make this guy mad. What was it? He had absolutely no idea. But, with the way that he was barking out rules, it sounded as if he didn't trust them. With a short sigh, he rested his chin in his hand as he waited for the class to actually begin.

Jack walked in, these last few days have been tough returning to Hogwarts. He just wanted to be left alone, maybe with some friends. He's been skipping a few classes and just sitting in his bed, flashing back. Only when he had the courage and strength to make it to classes was ever present.

When he walked in he heard a different voice, this was not good. He could hear the cold, dark voice coming from the professor. Jack didn't want to deal wit this, so he turned to leave. Too late. The doors shut and he rushed to his seat, covering his face. After the whole peal Jack just sat there, face covered and holding back tears. This was going to be a rough class.

Torolf watched as the young children in. He arched an eyebrow at the dissheveled appearance of the albino boy, but being unfamiliar with the details of Hogwarts dress code opted to say nothing (for now). If the boy managed to be less trouble than he looked, then Torolf would allow him to wander about looking a mess. Most students settled into their seats without a fuss. One girl turned to glare at the albino boy... And another young boy turned for the door after getting a good look at Torolf. The visiting professor watched him rush to his seat and hide his face. Torlf arched a brow with a bemused smile. But nobody had any questions, so it seemed as though they understood he was a man who meant business.

"Good. Since there are no questions, we will get straight to the lesson. Today we will be examining the hardships wizardkind has faced throughout history for practicing their craft. There was a time, long ago, where wizards lived among non-magic kind in peace. However, history shows us over and over again that those lacking magical capability are often afraid of those gifted with it. To begin, I want to gauge your current level of knowledge of wizarding oppression throughout history. Can any of you give me examples of the ways witches and wizards have been victimized in recent and ancient history?"[1]

There. That ought to be subtle enough. He had yet to go on a tirade about how the muggles had repressed wizard kind for hundreds of years... Leaving out the word "muggle" all together made his lesson seem a bit less judgmental and prejudiced. (But these children- they had no idea what was in store for them for the duration of this nasty little history lesson.) He stood at attention at the front of the room, waiting patiently for hands to appear in the air. Hopefully they were not as dunderheaded as he expected them to be.

1.	When posting, please assume Professor Gundersen has called on your character. Remember to state your character's name and house as per professor's orders!

Like many of his classmates, Frank was rendered stockstill and silent by the shockingly mean professor.  And not even nice (but strange) Professor Jowd present to temper the effect.  Frank kept glancing at Professor Jowd's desk for some kind of cue from the wizard who wasn't there. 

Professor Gunderson had called for questions and there had been none, but it wasn't because none existed.  Frank just hadn't unfrozen his arm from his side to raise it.  As much as children might whinge and whine over authority and boring routine, the little buggers they craved it and Frank was no different - he needed to know what had become of their normal professor before he could move on.

Frank had heard and taken in the Professor's opening talk, however, about the oppression magic folk had endured in the past.  It was in their book, not the chapter they were in, but it was in their book and he'd read some of it already.  But he just had a quick question to sort out first...

He raised his hand and waited to be acknowledged. 

"Um...  F-frank Sellaphix.  Ravenclaw, sir.  Where's, um, Professor Jowd?  Because I had a question about the midterm.  And he's not here, so when's he coming back?"

It wasn't as easy talking to the biting, intimidating, angry wizard from Durmstrang as it was their usual eccentric Professor Jowd and every word he spoke he was worried was going to get him hexed!

Young gentlemen and ladies. Finally. A teacher after Dione's own heart.

She sat all the straighter in her chair, feet crossed delicately at the ankle, hands folded over themselves on the desk in front of her. Yes, she was a proper lady, who knew how to conduct herself in polite society. Would the rest of the class be able to follow suit? No doubt, for a number of them, it would be amusing to watch them try.

When the question came she raised her hand with deliberate dignity, refusing to rush, but was beaten to the punch by Sellaphix of all people. And it wasn't even an answer to the question! Dione's mouth thinned to an almost imperceptible line. Honestly, there'd been a moment for that and it was past. Some people had no sense of timing.

She waited until the Professor had answered Sellaphix's daft inquiry before raising her hand again. When she was finally called upon she raised her head to clear the path between choker and professor, the artifact's vaguely feminine voice translating the sounds her hands signed.

"Slither-in. Die-oh-neigh Say-her." Half her life wearing this artifact and she still had no way to make a proper 'er' sound while building words out of fragmented signs. Oh well, at least it made communication a bit faster. She took a slight breath before continuing, her hands flying. The artifact's three gems glowed softly with each word, flickering like a candle against the hallow of her throat and the backs of her hands.

"Witch hunts. Century fifteen to century eighteen in Europe. Continue to this day in isolated world pockets where magic is still seen as threat."

Sophia turned from Lucas with a little roll of her eyes, and sat forward to listen as the Professor spoke again. She was fully prepared to answer first as this was often a topic she spoke a great deal about (especially at home), but she went quiet when she heard Frank.


Really Frank? Did this moment seem like the right time? Everyone who gave their answers seemed to shy away from the talk, and struggle to get their words out. With a smile to Dione, she lifted her hand to be called on,

"My name is Sophia Knight, Sir. I'm a first year Ravenclaw, and I'd like to expand on what Miss Sayer was explaining. In March of this past year, nearly 1,000 witches and wizards  in Gambia were abducted by government sponsored people, and taken to a detention center where they were forced to drink a some sort of poison. And another case is in certain parts of the world, India mostly, men will often label a woman a witch when they turn down advances, or to settle scores that have broken out between feuding families." Sophia sat the entire time like a perfect little picture of what a young woman should be, every hair in place, and uniform perfect.

History was usually one of Rowena's favorite classes, even if the teacher wasn't as interesting as Father and was teaching a lot of things she already knew. She'd read through  Hogwarts: A History so many times already.

This new Professor, though, made Rowena sit up a little straighter and smooth out her skirt with her hands. He seemed very grumpy, which didn't make any sense at all. History was exciting! And she wasn't sure about these Durmstrang sorts, there were reasons her parents hadn't sent her there, after all. Of course, Sophia had gotten to the questions first! At least she asked a good one, unlike Sellaphix.

She lifted her hand and waited until he called on her. "Thank you, Professor. Rowena Knight, Gryffindor. During the witch hunts of the Middle Ages, it was common to burn those suspected at the stake. Flame-Freezing Charms were commonly used to protect from the effects of these fires. Wendelin the Weird is well known for having used this tactic."

There were so many other things to say-but there were so many other students. Mum and Father had told them a little about the wars, though.