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~11am

It was only Wednesday and already it seemed to be shaping up to be a long week.  His writing had at least being going well, but mostly because it gave Isaac a much needed distraction from a week of dealing with the latest round of issues caused by his father’s failing health.  Starting Monday night there had been a series of owls back and forth between Isaac and his mother when his father had to be sent to the local Muggle hospital in Portree after what certainly sounded like quite a display, renewing his belief that she could not simply handle it all on her own.

He had been away from Hogwarts nearly the entire day on Tuesday, helping to settle things a bit.  Thankfully his Tuesday schedule was relatively light and it had not been a problem.  It seemed the only bright spot in the day was the brief time he had taken while searching for a coffee and an escape from paperwork and medical jargon that he never truly understood to continue on with his correspondence with Jacoba.  The rest of it had simply caused him to have a massive headache by the time he returned to Hogwarts the prior evening.  At breakfast that morning, Morrigan had commented that he looked tired.  The fact that an uncharacteristic third cup of coffee was currently sitting on his desk in the classroom should have been clue enough to anyone who truly knew him that he was indeed exhausted.

Taking a sip, he stood, moving around his desk so he was in front of it, before leaning back and resting some of his weight on the surface behind him as he said, “Good morning.  Let’s find our seats and get our parchments and quills out please.”

The second half of the third year of Muggle Studies and much of the fourth year had consisted of focusing on a Muggle view of European history and how that had influence culture.  However, in the fifth year of the class, while studying South American culture, in the more modern Muggle sense and the tribes that were his specialty, he tended to take the opportunity to show how subjective history could really be, especially the widely excepted slant it placed on exploration and discovery.

“We learned a bit last year about the period of exploration and colonization in European history as we looked at how Muggle society has progressed to where we find it today,” he began, pausing to take another sip of coffee before setting it back on the desk.  “We’ve also started to take a look at research that’s been done on various tribes in South America and we will be spending a bit more time on that before we look at what might be seen as the ‘modern’ Muggle life style and culture in South America.  First, I was to re-examine a bit of what we already know based on our previous studies and how it affects modern culture.”

He crossed his arms over his chest before continuing, “The French Emperor, Napoleon Bonaparte said, ‘History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon.’  Colonization and exploration we’ve learned did bring many vast improvements to the Americas – infrastructures were built, economic and trade relations were established, and through the use of a common language many groups of people were brought together.  All of this had vast influence on the culture and the Muggle way of life in the Americas.”

There was a pause as he switched gears for a minute from, and he added, “I can remember the first time I went on a research study to the Amazon.  On our off days, the team I was with would take trips into some of the major cities and it was truly two very different worlds.  In the jungle you can find people who have never had contact with anyone outside their tribe and know nothing of the contemporary world.  In the cities that way of life, the old traditions are virtually forgotten and buried beneath the heavy influence of modernization.

“So, I’d like to look at the opposite side of the positive influences of colonization, the side that sometimes gets ignored by the version of history usually presented to us in an attempt to form a well rounded understanding of it all.  Based on the reading that was assigned, who can tell me some of problems the indigenous people of the Americas faced when the European exploration began?” he asked, reaching for his coffee letting the usual round of discussion begin.

Since Sasha's return to Hogwarts and in the wake of Halloween, Muggle Studies had become even more of a safe zone for Sasha.  His week with Dreogan at the Ministry and getting back in touch with his muggle sister had only reaffirmed his devotion to the subject, even though his own personal interests were beginning to develop more firmly and shift.  There were no real lies anymore - he didn't have to edit his comments or second guess whether his opinion held too much personal information. 

He had always done quite well in the class but all in all, in many ways, he was coming into his own in Muggle Studies. The relative lack of purists and muggle haters helped.  He still spent a fair bit of time in the library but he'd taken to studying more in the herbology greenhouses and muggle studies classroom where he was shielded from curious glances, whispered questions and inquiries about his real studies.  Of course, the trip to the Amazon had also increased his enthusiasm considerably, despite the excitement it brought.  He hoped the unfortunate events wouldn't impact his ability for future trips - he knew he wasn't supposed to go off the trail but ... the voices!  And, in the end, it had been Aleron Wilhelm of all people - a man he'd been looking forward to for months.  A justifiable and understandable reason, right?

And, Neely - well, that was entirely unplanned and unpreventable! 

Sasha's desk was arranged carefully and he was hunched over his parchment, his quill scratching out notes feverishly.  When the question had been transposed on the parchment, he looked up. 

"There's lots of small things.  Disease, - well, it's not small.  Of course.  But, it was one single concrete impact.  One big impact is the change in their understanding of the world.  It's like being raised to think we're the center of the universe and then you run across some alien who says he's from the other side.  Everything you understood - everything you knew is now wrong.  Mythology, religion."