3 November, 1893 — Muggle Studies Classroom
Merlin help him.
The whole school had taken one day off classes, and Muggle Studies specifically had taken one day longer — whether that was ostensibly for the students to mourn their professor or just literally for Ben to get his shit together was anyone's guess. It had not been a sufficient amount of time to get his shit together. He had no idea what he was doing. He'd gotten into the classroom early and written his name on the chalkboard, then sat there drinking coffee and meditating on how bizarre that looked and eventually erased it. The classroom had been only partially sanitized of Professor Pembroke's things — Ben had spent part of yesterday boxing up the odds and ends from his desk and delivering them to the Deputy Headmaster to be sorted to and shipped off to his family, but the larger items in the classroom still remained, shoved vaguely towards the back of the room.
The first students that arrived hovered awkwardly around the door until Ben noticed them and waved them in. This was it, he supposed.
"Um, right. So — I'm Reuben Crouch and I'm the flight coach," he started, when the students had taken their seats — only to be interrupted by one of them who tentatively raised a hand and pointed out that class had not, technically, started yet. Ben checked his pocketwatch and discovered she was right. Well. Off to a great start. He put his hands in his pockets and leaned on the front of the desk.
Three and a half minutes later, with more students at the desks, Ben took one last sip of his (now cold) coffee and tried again. "Hello, everyone. For those of you who haven't met me I'm Coach Crouch, and I'm going to be filling in for —"
You could not fill in for someone who was dead, could you? It wasn't as though he was coming back.
"— I'm going to teach —"
(teach was perhaps a strong word)
"— Muggle Studies, until Headmaster Black finds a replacement for Professor Pembroke. So — hopefully only a week or two, but we'll see. Uhm. So first things first," Ben said, pushing himself off the front of the desk and moving around so that he could see the piece of note paper he'd left on top of it. "I, ahm, I understand you each had an assignment due November 6th, from Professor Pembroke. In light of recent events we'll consider that paper optional. If you've already done the assignment and would like to turn it in as scheduled it'll be for additional credit. Not turning it in won't affect your grades one way or another. So, uhm, any questions about that before we get started?"
OWL LEVEL. Invitational: Wren Burroughs Anne Moony Cordelia Best Draconia Yarwood (these are the only ones I saw on the spreadsheet but obvs open to anyone who takes it)
The whole school had taken one day off classes, and Muggle Studies specifically had taken one day longer — whether that was ostensibly for the students to mourn their professor or just literally for Ben to get his shit together was anyone's guess. It had not been a sufficient amount of time to get his shit together. He had no idea what he was doing. He'd gotten into the classroom early and written his name on the chalkboard, then sat there drinking coffee and meditating on how bizarre that looked and eventually erased it. The classroom had been only partially sanitized of Professor Pembroke's things — Ben had spent part of yesterday boxing up the odds and ends from his desk and delivering them to the Deputy Headmaster to be sorted to and shipped off to his family, but the larger items in the classroom still remained, shoved vaguely towards the back of the room.
The first students that arrived hovered awkwardly around the door until Ben noticed them and waved them in. This was it, he supposed.
"Um, right. So — I'm Reuben Crouch and I'm the flight coach," he started, when the students had taken their seats — only to be interrupted by one of them who tentatively raised a hand and pointed out that class had not, technically, started yet. Ben checked his pocketwatch and discovered she was right. Well. Off to a great start. He put his hands in his pockets and leaned on the front of the desk.
Three and a half minutes later, with more students at the desks, Ben took one last sip of his (now cold) coffee and tried again. "Hello, everyone. For those of you who haven't met me I'm Coach Crouch, and I'm going to be filling in for —"
You could not fill in for someone who was dead, could you? It wasn't as though he was coming back.
"— I'm going to teach —"
(teach was perhaps a strong word)
"— Muggle Studies, until Headmaster Black finds a replacement for Professor Pembroke. So — hopefully only a week or two, but we'll see. Uhm. So first things first," Ben said, pushing himself off the front of the desk and moving around so that he could see the piece of note paper he'd left on top of it. "I, ahm, I understand you each had an assignment due November 6th, from Professor Pembroke. In light of recent events we'll consider that paper optional. If you've already done the assignment and would like to turn it in as scheduled it'll be for additional credit. Not turning it in won't affect your grades one way or another. So, uhm, any questions about that before we get started?"
MJ made this <3