History of Magic, Lesson One: Third Years

Derek ran a hand over his unshaved chin as he left his office, which was connected to the History of Magic classroom. In his mouth, he chewed on his unlit clay pipe, and under his arm he carried his notes, not that he ever needed them. He had everything memorized already. Another day, another boring lesson with idiot children. And these kids were third years. He much preferred teaching the sixth and seventh years. Those years had much more beautiful women in them...

As he reached his desk, Derek whipped out his wand, giving it a wave. A piece of chalk floated into the air and started writing on the blackboard.

Professor Derek Blood
Third Year History
Silence, please

"Alright, class, it seems you possessed enough intelligence to move on to third year. Congratulations, not that it's really a big thing. I mean, fifth year will be a much greater challenge, after all," Derek said as he pressed his wand into his pipe, lighting it. "I'm sure you all know it, but I'm Professor Derek Blood, you will refer to me as Professor Blood. Is everyone here? If you're not here, raise your hand," he said lazily and sat down behind his desk, waiting to see any hands. In all honesty, he didn't really care who was there or not.

Lizzie walked into the classroom and took her seat. She really didn't enjoy History of Magic all that much, and she would definitely not continue it for NEWTs. Still, she wanted a good grade in her OWLs so she would work hard. The Professor for the subject was rather... strange, too. She couldn't quite work out what it was about him, but he wasn't exactly like the other Professors in the school. She didn't move when he said to raise your hand if you weren't there... after all, she was there and ready to start working!

"Alright, it seems that those who should be here are here, and those who are complete failures predictably failed to show up," Derek said as he looked over his class, sitting down behind his desk. Leaning back, he lifted his feet and rested them on his desk. He had never been too strict a teacher, and he wasn't about to begin now.

Closing his eyes in thought, Derek puffed on his pipe and thought about what he was going to talk about first. This was third year, so they had already gone through this and that, most of the really boring parts of history were already taken care of.

His eyes opening as he decided on something, Derek rose from his chair and made his way around his desk to look over the class. He waved his wand, and an eraser floated into the air, erasing the text from the blackboard as the piece of chalk wrote something else on it.

Herpo the Foul

"Herpo the Foul," Derek repeated what the chalk had written. "Have any of you ever so much as heard of this man?"

Hazel took a deep breath and hurried into History of Magic, clutching her books to her chest. She always hated the first day of classes, still in the habit for summer and, while luckily she hadn't overslept, she had accidently gone to Herbology, which she had this time last year. Realizing her mistake as she arrived to see a group of sixth years, she'd spun on her heel and ran all the way to History of Magic. But, having missed breakfast earlier, she couldn't possibly run fast enough.
Expecting to be yelled at, she put her head down and slide into her seat beside Elizabeth, breathing hard.

Seeing that no one was answering him, Derek opened his mouth to explain who Herpo the Foul was, when the door opened. Looking towards it, thinking it was a faculty member who wanted to talk to him, he was surprised to see a small Ravenclaw girl, who had her head down, silently moving through the classroom to take a seat next to another Ravenclaw girl.

Derek should take points from her, but then again, he wasn't too strict when it came to tardiness. Instead, he just cleared his throat and started talking. "Now, Herpo the Foul was an Ancient Greek Dark Wizard. He is one of the earliest known Dark Wizards and his work is still a lasting aspect of dark magic to date. He is best known as the first wizard to hatch a Basilisk. He is reputed to have invented many vile curses and is one of the earliest known Parselmouths."

Derek puffed on his pipe a few times, and then spoke, "Herpo was known as one of the most powerful and influential Dark Arts practitioners in history. His work was thought by by the Ancient Greeks to have been the work of Hades. Do any of you have any questions about the venerable Herpo?"

"Do any of you have any questions about the venerable Herpo?"

Lumen's hand shot up into the air the second the question was posed. Being a muggle-born, wizarding books interested her quite a lot, so it's really no wonder that she's been doing some reading up over the break. And what she had found in the history books stunned her.

"Professor?" She called quite meekly, though her following question sounded louder. "Is it true that Herpo was the first wizard to successfully split his soul in half?"

"Professor?" a little Ravenclaw girl called, her hand raised. "Is it true that Herpo was the first wizard to successfully split his soul in half?" Derek's eyes widened at that question. Horcruxes were a taboo subject here at Hogwarts, and he wondered just what book she had read that contained that information. But knowledge was power, and with power came rewards.

"Excellent question, five points for Ravenclaw," he said, winking at the girl. He got out of his seat and walked around his desk to lean against it, putting his pipe in his pocket. "Yes, Herpo was the first wizards known to have created a disgusting, incredibly Dark item known as a Horcrux, a process in which one splits his soul in an effort to cheat death."

He looked over his students and saw some grow excited at the prospect, but shot them down immediately. "Unfortunately, the process of making a Horcrux involves horrible methods, and the physical body can still die, leaving you less than a ghost. Personally, I would choose death over such an existence."

The moment those words slipped out of her mouth, she knew she perhaps shouldn't have mentioned it. Truth was, she had read that in a professor's book that was so carelessly left by the library door. Obviously someone left it there in a hurry, not counting on Lumen wandering by and picking it up at that hour.

"Excellent question, five points for Ravenclaw."

At that, Lumen visibly brightened. As he described the process, she gave a nod, having glanced over it in the book. Living forever was not something she was interested in at all, and she looked around in awe and disbelief as she saw other students' reactions.