Gwen stood at the front of the quite large classroom. As she would have to interview every single student at the school, she needed both the space and the time. By the time lunch was lain out for the students, she will have to have run every single one of them through the exercises and come up with recommendations for her brother and his friends. And then from there, she was going to have to...well, there was a great many things she was going to have to do but it all started with awaiting all the students arriving from breaking their fast.
After breaking her own fast, she had set up the classroom, organizing the four long tables to stand parallel to each other. Though there were at least forty chairs, the count Godric had given her was around twenty. Thus, she had the house elfs remove the extra chairs, instead putting a bit of space between each student's seat to give them a little privacy. Once that was organized, Gwen laid out twenty pieces of creamy, blank paper as well as matching quill with ink well in front of each chair.
When she finally opened her door, ready to accept her students, they streamed in slowly. When it had been quite a few minutes since the last students had wandered in (and it seemed like she had a full count from what Godric had given her), Gwen walked over and closed the door. Turning back, she smiled sweetly at all the students, wondering what they were thinking. A few of the faces looked rather close to her own age; perhaps a few years separated them at best. It would be hardest to teach them. Younger minds were much more easily molded, from what she'd learned during her previous years of 'teaching'.
"Good morning to you all. I am your teacher, Lady Moore and this is Reading and Writing class. I know that some of you may know how to do one or the other or even both quite well. And if that ends up being the case, you will be excused. For those of you who are not, however, we will be working together to change that. If there are no questions, we will get started."
Zoticus felt a lot of nervous energy now that the morning meal was over and he was walking through the doors of his first official class. He was here to learn how to be a proper wizard. True his father had sent him, his bastard son, here to get the experience necessary to take his name someday, but Zot was here for his own reasons. He wanted to become a proper wizard, yes, but he saw this as the adventure of a lifetime. This was something he wanted to do for himself not his father's wishes.
As he passed, he nodded to the woman who later identified herself as their instructor and took a seat on the far side of the room nearest the windows. He liked being closer to the outdoors, the sunshine, and the fresh air. It kept him calm and focused. It was something he had learned from his father's small castle (which was completely dwarfed in comparison to this grand place). He didn't like feeling confined indoors.
Zot probably had his stepmother to thank for teaching him at least the basics of reading and writing since he was a small boy. Though his father had taken him in shortly after his birth in the off chance his wife-to-be didn't produce an heir to his name, he hadn't shown a lot of interest in his rearing until he had started getting older and stronger. It was his stepmother after his youngest sister was born that realized what had to be done to insure the future of the Drake name, though begrudgingly so.
While it was pretty obvious that the woman resented Zot's existence she did the proper thing and saw to his education. She knew that if he was officially recognized by her husband and given the Drake name, he would then be a voice in what ultimately happened to her daughters. He would get an opinion and that could spell disaster if he continued being an uneducated roughean. Thus she taught him his letters and numbers, and how to write and read at least simple texts. She had been about to hire a proper scholar to further his teachings when this opportunity came about at Hogwarts. She had been the one to whisper in her husband's ear that Hogwarts would be the perfect place to send his son for furthered education. The reasoning was two-fold: he would get the learning required to take on the Drake name but he would also be out of her hair for a while.
Zot just hoped he knew enough to not have to take this class long-term. He could probably use a little help here and there but he didn't want to take away from the other students that needed it more than he did.
Cara was grateful last nights feast had been as grand as it had been and she had given in to let herself enjoy it a bit too much. This morning her stomach had been in a knot and she hadn't the desire to eat anything as her nerves made an appearance, her usual method to rid of such a feeling hadn't been within reach or at least she hadn't thought it was. If she'd had the chance to go outside and shoot a few arrows maybe it wouldn't have felt this bad. No, even if she had managed to slip outside and gone through an entire quiver this feeling would have remained. It was the first real day at the school and it was a mystery at what awaited her today, something she wasn't fully fond of because she couldn't prepare for it as she liked to do. Cara couldn't even rely on the moral support of her bow strapped to her back as she was told she couldn't take it with her to classes. Today was suddenly feeling like it was going to be a very long day.
She silently followed the small stream of her fellow students to their first class of the day. Cara wasn't sure what to expect first, her mind racing with different idea from everything between how to hold a wand to something more advanced like few spells she had seen the noble woman doing time to time. From the little she had come to learn from the noble woman, it could be just about anything.
Cara felt the knot in her stomach shift a little as she entered the classroom with everyone but she didn't pay it much attention as she found a random place to sit down, not really caring about location as much as just getting through it as quickly as possible. She found it a little odd to see the parchment and quill set out on the table for everyone, something that should have boldly pointed out exactly what this class would be about. It went over her head though until Lady Moore greeted them and then announced the purpose of the class. Cara felt the knot in her stomach turn to iron and sink to the bottom of her stomach, looking down at the table so her expression of dread wasn't visible.
It had to be reading and writing? Of all things to teach it had to be that. While Cara wasn't completely unknown to the subject, she knew very little and unfortunately she doubted it would be enough to get her out of the class. Was it really all that important to learn how to read and write? Maybe the reading part as you would need to in order to make potions but the writing wasn't important was it? The noble woman had tried to make it one of their usual lessons every day but Cara couldn't keep her attention on it as much as spell work. As much as she didn't like to admit, it reminded her of her father and how he had taught her a little. Just enough to read orders and her numbers to calculate the cost for repairs or sales at their blacksmith. It hadn't been easy then but it had been one of their good memories together, at least before he had abandoned her after everything she had done for him, what she could have done had she been able to learn how to use the magic bursting out from her. His loss anyway just like the mother that had abandoned her when she was little and the noble woman who apparently didn't want to teach Cara anymore. Good riddance to all of them then, she was better off on her own. If learning to read and write was what it took to get her closer to being on her own so be it. She wasn't looking forward to it but if the four of the most powerful wizards in the world thought it necessary to learn maybe there was more to it than the painful reminder of the past, She hoped so anyway.
Cara tried her best not to look nervous or rattled despite her inner conversation and attempts to ease away some of her anxiety. She really wished she had her bow on her, just to have it sitting in her lap so she could let it level and console her through this. Instead she gripped her hands in her lap with her face still looking down at the table, doing what she could mentally to keep her calm no matter how nervous she was feeling. She couldn't be the only one struggling with their lesson topic, at least she knew a little bit. It was knowing just enough to make any good use of it that was her downfall.
07-27-2022, 03:23 PM (This post was last modified: 07-27-2022, 03:23 PM by Kimberly.)
Kimberly was one of the last people into the classroom since knew needed to work on getting her breathing and things down. The students here were all like her and needed to work on learning more about the magical world. The truth was that they could not live in this world forever. None of them know how long things are going to stay before all the leaders of the school kick them out. She had already on day one made some of them mad at her she could tell. Kimberly was still more comfortable around the animals than people though. People tended to try and get under your skin. That was the last thing that she needed when trying to stop the magical outburst. She nods gently to Lady Moore as walked in. It was best to work on showing the teachers the manners they deserved.
Kimberly went to fund one of the closest chairs to the middle of the room since it seem those were the only ones that were seen to be left. It might mean that some people don’t sit near the teacher. She had been having lessons with Lady Moore so knew that she would be fair and helpful in any way possible. Kimberly just had to show her that she had been taking the lessons and learning from them.
Kimberly looked at the paper and quills wondering what type of test they would be doing. Is this going to be an easy one that she could pass and get out of with flying colors? Or was this one of those tests that no matter how hard you did were going to fail anyways. There were people out there that wanted to make sure everyone fell but Sir Gryfindor did not seem like one of those people. Is it easy to think that his family would be like him? Was he the only good one in the bag of rotten ones?
Gwen kept smiling, despite the number of faces that went from eager to dismay at the announcement of this classes subject. She had known that this was going to be a tough subject but she'd taught it before and had no problem teaching it again to these students who were going to desperately need it during their tenure at the school.
"I understand some of your disappointment. After all, what do letters and numbers have to do with wand waving, you ask yourself," she said. "Well, it just so happens that there are books that are going to teach you just as much as your teachers will. In fact, there is a whole library awaiting your eager and hungry minds. I want each and every one of you to be at an advantage when it comes to producing the most well read witches and wizards in the country, as do the Founders of this great institution.
"Thus, we will have reading and writing every day to get you all up to where you need to be. If you would like further help or just time to practice, I will be available here in this classroom directly after classes end until dinner time so do not hesitate to come to me. I am always happy to help a willing and dedicated student." She informed them.
"As for today, our job is simple assessment. Those of you who can will now write out whatever you can on your parchment - all that you know about writing. I prefer you start with your name and the alphabet as well as any numbers you may know. But if you can do more, do more. If you cannot do any of this, I will bring a slate to you with the alphabet written on it so that you can begin practicing. You may begin now." She gestured to the parchment in front of them and stepped behind the desk to give them all some space, watching for those who might not be able to do what was asked of them so she could move in to help.
Though he was a little nervous, Zot took the instructions in stride with his usual zeal. He nodded to the teacher before looking over his fresh piece of parchment. He picked up his quill, testing the weight before carefully dipping it in the provided ink. He took in the smell of the fresh parchment as well as the ink, which was a little stronger than he remembered. Perhaps it was a different kind he mused.
Zot slowly began to write out his name, absently pulling his bottom lip between his teeth. For now, he kept it as Zoticus Greyweather, as opposed to Zoticus Drake. He was still his own man as his father had yet to legitimize him and give him his name. And he was fine with that when it came down to it. He wasn't even really certain that he wanted to be a Drake outside of helping to take care of his younger sisters and making sure they had proper lives and were taken care of.
Below his name, he scribbled the alphabet and numbers up through twenty. Though he could definitely write and could understand most of what he read, his penmanship was horrible. His letters were rather crude and shaky and just barely legible. While Zot could clearly understand his own writing, it wouldn't be certain if the teacher could.
At this point, he considered what the pretty instructor said about writing down all they knew about reading and writing. Did she mean actually writing out sentences about how much they knew? He didn't want to overdo it, but he didn't want to undersell it either. He was in general a hard worker so after a brief nibble on his lip, he began to write simple sentences.
I like reading stories to my sisters. I like to write them letters.
Cara's expression paled as she replayed the instructions in her mind. Her hope it seemed had been for nothing and her luck just not enough for first thing this morning they had to demonstrate whether or not they could read and write. One of the things she had so loudly in her mind longed not to be part of lessons at the school or at least not right away. She glanced around at the room quickly, taking note it seemed everyone around the room she could see took the class first lesson unhappily. Maybe then that meant she wouldn't be the only one sitting in this room.
She turned her attention back to the parchment in front of her, staring at the blank page as if expecting something to happen. Cara knew nothing would but one could hope just so she wouldn't have to take some class on reading and writing. Exhaling a sigh she knew as far as today there was no escape from it so she may as well go along with it. Reaching for the quill it took her a moment to figure out how it works, helped a little and very secretively by watching someone nearby. She had used coal at home when she had been learning some of this at first with her adopted father, the noble woman tried to teach her but they had used chalk then as a quill might be too messy at first.
Cara very slowly began to work her name across the paper, her full first name and while she managed to get the letters correctly her writing was sloppy and shaky. Next she made an attempt on her last name but part way through she couldn't remember a few of the letters so it was a toss up if she had even gotten it correct or not. What else was she supposed to put on here again? Letters and numbers or something right? Cara looked down at the paper, her mind trying to grasp at her limited lessons but nothing seemed to really rise up. Well with the exception of a few numbers that did jump up in her mind. At least maybe her few math lessons would come of use when she no longer helped with her father's blacksmith shop. So how did some of those go again? With an even slower hand she began to try and write out the numbers as she plucked them from her memory.
Kimberly was listening to everything that the teacher was telling them to do. She knew that she could work on getting out of these classes because of the fact she already was getting practice before school started. She was worried that the others might judge her if she was to work on turning the stuff into her too fast. She watched others working on starting to write so she was glad that meant there were some that might know what they are doing.
The witch sighed before silently telling herself that she could do this. The practice helped her out lots because she could work on writing her full name. She worked on writing out the different letters of the alphabet both big and small not sure if that was what she wanted. Kimberly then wrote down some of the words she knew like animals and different things from blacksmithing. She was going to wait till others worked on turning things in before going.
Gwen sat at her desk, listening to the satisfying scratch of quills on paper. There really was no better sound, as far as she was concerned. That meant that maybe not as many students were going to need help as she had feared. Kimberly, she noticed, was taking her time but definitely writing quite a bit. It was a relief to see that their tutoring had made such a difference. The girl even seemed a little more confident now than she had when they had first met a month ago.
Yes, she would do quite well here, as long as she worked as hard on her other classes as she had for Gwen.
As her eyes strayed, she took note of which students weren't doing anything or else seemed to be struggling. Well, if there hadn't been any, then she wouldn't have a job. Quickly she collected the slates of alphabets she had written out last evening. Getting up from her desk, she distributed them to the students who were in need of them, trying to give them a reassuring smile before moving on to the next. More than one were unhappy about the assignment, which wasn't unexpected. Likely they figured that this wasn't nearly as important as wand waving and cauldron stirring.
Just wait until they got their first work assignments for their classes and realized how important these skills were going to be. The quartet had agreed to wait a few weeks to give the new students time to learn their letters and basic reading skills before starting assignments, thankfully. It would be a lot of hard work to get them all up to snuff in time but Gwen was determined to meet their expectations. Hopefully these students were prepared to do so as well.
Returning to her chair, she turned the hour glass, the sand actually recording a quarter of an hour instead of the expected hour. But she needed time for both reading and writing and another fifteen minutes was all they could afford before moving on. When the last of the sands were about to fall, she stood up again, looking around. Seeing many of them still working, her eyes went to the list of student names.
"For those of you still working, keep at it! Until the end of class, I am now going to call you up here one at a time to take note of your reading and comprehension. When I call your name, please bring me your paper and slate, if you have one. Once you finish with me, then you are excused to return to your common room until your next class." At least that would give some of them a break to relax before their next big challenge.
Looking at the names, noticing that some didn't actually have last names (a very common problem), she decided to go by their Christian name first. "Cara, if you could please join me at my desk? We'll start with you." She gave the girl a hopeful smile before circling the desk and returning to her chair to prepare the various reading materials she had on hand for this purpose.
Cara was struggling not to remain in her seat and her frustration kept inside rather than exploding as she got up and left the room. This was far harder then she had expected it would be. How was she supposed to know or prepare that coming here you had to know how to read and write? Maybe the noble woman had been trying to increase her lessons before she left and perhaps mentioning it one or two meal times but how was Cara supposed to know that was clueing her in to what to expect when she got here? Ok, well maybe it should have but no doubt her stubborn thick mind hadn't seen past the anger of being dropped onto another person again, though I guess in this case it was four people and it was a school not a home but it was about the same thing.
She slightly flinched as something was set down on the table beside her and looked up as Professor Moore offered a smile before moving along down the table. Cara turned to face what was set down in front of her and noticed it was a slate with the various letters and numbers she had been trying to write down. After a quick side glance at her neighbors she took note not everyone had one set down in front of them and that made her heart race nervously. Was this supposed to signal she did something right or wrong? Given the look of her parchment compared to those around her she had a sinking feeling it was the later. Oh course she had screwed something up, she hardly paid much attention to those lessons or just simply couldn't remember.
Cara didn't think her spirit could sink anymore, not until the Professor announced they would be going up one by one to demonstrate their reading ability to her. She had tried so hard to keep her limited ability of reading and writing to herself but here on the first full day of this magical school both would be displayed to the public. She had tried to hide the slate she had been given as she worked on her letters, so worried that she would be outed for not being able to write. Maybe it wasn't that big of a deal but Cara didn't like to be made to feel like a failure or weak and thats what writing and reading made her feel simply because it had been the harder of her lessons to learn both with her so called father and the noble family. How could things possibly get much worse than this?
She sat upright as she heard her name called out first, frozen in place for a moment. While it was the short version of her name it was still technically it and maybe the noble woman had written ahead to explain her odd name and what she preferred to be called? Cara glanced around a moment, waiting to see if any of the small number of students present possibly had the same name and were standing up. Of course after a few seconds no one did, hardly anyone had looked up from the writing task in front of them, only Professor Moore had looked in her direction and offered a smile again. She swallowed the hard lump in her throat and slowly stood up on her feet. It was a struggle to keep her hand from shaking, doing what she could to make them stay still and not crinkle the parchments and slate in her hand as she made her way to the desk at the front of the room.
Cara paused by the desk, tugging back at the nervousness she was feeling and hoping Professor Moore couldn't here her heart pounding in her chest. "Professor Moore. Please pardon possibly this stupid question but on the chance there is more than one Cara you did mean Cara that is short for Caratacos correct?" she asked though regretted it instantly. She had just wanted to be sure but the professor had looked at her so of course it was her. Not to mention no one else had come up in the similar confusion. "Nevermind, that was a silly question. My apologies" Cara quickly added, hoping the whole stupid question hadn't been overheard beyond the professor's desk and held out the parchment and slate she had been working on to Professor Moore.
