Chapter 15
~ Fascinating studies! ~
The Queen and Luna are walking towards their second to last class of the day. It's one of the two minimum electives that they were required to choose, out of five total.
"So, Moon, what class are you having, right now? Because I think we might be going our separate ways for now" The Queen asks.
"Care of Magical Creatures" Luna answers.
"Ah, I was right"
"Mhm, what's yours?"
"Muggle studies"
"Why choose them?" Luna inquires.
"Not to brag... Never mind full-on bragging. That's the only subject I barely know anything about, so I wanted to see what's it all about"
"Mhm, what else did you pick? I chose Divination"
"Ha, very fitting, I did too"
Luna looks at the Queen for a few seconds "If we, as third-years weren't asked to pick the subjects this year, I would've had a thought of you picking it just for me"
"Unfortunately, if I knew it before this, I would've taken Magical Creatures, too. But, no, that didn't happen. There were Arithmancy and Ancient Runes to choose... But they both just sound tedious. And frankly? I am not that interested in the creatures. Therefore? Divination was left as the last choice by default and I think that talking about the future can be pretty interesting"
"I do agree with the remark about Divination... However, why no interest in the creatures?" Luna asks the Queen.
"Pretty simple actually, I've read about most of them, my family has quite a lot of books about pretty much everything, so hearing about them again isn't my cup of tea, and seeing some of them in person wasn't enough for me to choose the subject"
"I understand... But I still think you're wrong"
"Hmm... Now if I could fight them... Then I would've chosen it straight away"
"Why would you want to hurt them?"
"I wouldn't hurt them, per se... Just rough up them a bit" The Queen says trying to ignore Luna's piercing eyes gazing at her.
"Okay, then it's good that you didn't take the subject, they didn't do anything wrong to be hurt"
"Yes, yes, they did nothing wrong, only be extremely dangerous to those around them, but aside from that? They are golden" The Queen sarcastically remarks.
Luna chooses not to say anything to that.
"Though, I guess anything can be dangerous and most of them are just trying to survive, well whatever. We can talk about this later, even if I said that being in a class about them, wouldn't be interesting, it doesn't mean I wouldn't like to talk to you about them" The Queen says.
"Mhm, okay"
"Well, it seems that we are going different ways from here, see you back in Divination"
"See you!" Luna answers back.
"Oh and do tell, if there are some nargles I need to... Look out for, after the class, wouldn't mind seeing them myself"
"Okay, will do"
The Queen nods and turns to go in the direction of Muggle Studies, while Luna goes outside to her own class, she's excited to see some creatures.
The Queen makes it to the class, as she steps inside, most of the students there go quiet, surprise and confusion are seen on their faces, nobody expected the self-proclaimed Queen to choose Muggle Studies.
The Queen doesn't pay any attention to them and just goes and sits down in a random place this time instead of going for the most optimal spot, not much point in showing off when there's nobody important there to see it.
The Queen looks around the place and out of her eye sees somebody stand near her table, she's too lazy to socialize with that person and just continues looking around, while waiting for the class to start.
"Ahem..."
She hears from the person, great, when she wants action, she doesn't receive it. When she wants peace and quiet, she also doesn't get it, why does nothing go her way.
"Yes?" She says turning her head lightly to face the person, internally annoyed. Seeing a brown-haired boy.
"Hello, the name's Oliver Mason"
He introduces to the Queen, not spending the time to pull his hands out of his pockets for a handshake... Not that the Queen would've taken it either way.
"The Queen" Luna introduces back.
The boy's expression breaks a little "Um... You're supposed to introduce yourself by name..."
the Queen looks at the boy for a second, thinking that he may not be the smartest individual "I know... But my title is sufficient enough"
"Ah... Right, anyway, is this seat free?" He asks after jumping over the topic of the name.
The Queen again looks at the boy, but this time she knows that he's not the smartest person.
"Excuse me, but I have a quick question" The Queen states.
"Okay? A little bit random, but go ahead" The boy says back.
"Are you perhaps a little bit stupid?"
The boy blinks, not expecting such a question.
"I don't think so?" The boy is forced to question this whole conversation at this point, out of pure confusion.
"Yeah? Well, I think otherwise... Because you just asked me, if a seat is free... When it's empty"
"But... That was just out of manners"
"Right... manners, of course..." The Queen rolls her eyes out of pure reflex "No, no, it's still stupidity. Would you have asked me the same question if there were four free seats instead of one?"
"Uh... No? I would've just sat down" The boy obviously answers.
"Exactly" The Queen finishes and turns back, ignoring the boy.
The boy hears a few chuckles and giggles from the few students that were close enough to hear his attempt, he gets embarrassed, so he just goes to sit down, without asking this time.
But he gets stopped by the Queen.
"Sorry, but the seat is not free anymore"
The boy again blinks in confusion, looks at the seat "But it's empty?"
"Oh, is it? Because I can clearly see 'manners' sitting there, so there's no more place for you and... Whatever it is that you wanted to do in the first place"
The boy hears even more giggles, this time from more people. So he just leaves the Queen alone, while walking to a different table with his head down in shame.
So the Queen having had some fun with a passing student, resumes her gazing around the class. While she does that, she feels somebody sit down near her, she doesn't turn around to look at them, for she doesn't care, she only has an interest in the class and the teacher.
And the person seems to understand that, maybe it was due to the previous boy's embarrassment, or they themselves don't want to interact, they actively ignore the Queen, which the Queen appreciates, but only a tiny bit.
"Students, hi, hello, I see a new face in the class, I am Professor Charity Burbage and would you please stand up and introduce yourself to everybody?"
The Queen blinks for a moment, then with some confusion swirling inside, tilts her head to the side.
"I see that you're confused, but don't worry, it's a tradition in Muggle-based schools, people there introduce themselves one by one to everybody on their first day in school. They say their full name, a few sentences about themselves, for example, what you like, what are your hobbies and things like that. And because you're new here, I'd like for you to do it as well... I would ask everybody else to repeat it, but I don't know if they'd appreciate doing what they did last week"
The Queen's confusion disappears and she smiles, standing up.
"It's no big deal, Professor, I don't mind introducing myself and there's no need for everybody else to re-do it"
The Professor stares at the Queen for a moment, thinking that she's different than the other teachers said, smiles at her, and nods.
"This is quite an interesting process" The Queen lightly comments on it, before continuing "Hello, I am Luna Crimson, previously a Princess, now a young Queen of the deceased Crimson Family. I like training, both physically and mentally. Therefore I really like dueling, games of any kind to kill my boredom. Oh, and I also like women" the Queen finishes and sits down, looking up to the Professor silently asking if she did alright.
"Wonderful introduction, Ms. Crimson" Charity compliments.
"Thank you, Professor" The Queen humbly accepts.
What were Filius, Snape, and Alastor talking/complaining about? This new student is a delight, muses Charity in her mind.
"Now that, we've met our fellow student, let's get right into the topic of today's class," The Professor says and goes behind her desk, opens a drawer, and pulls out a device, that the Queen has never seen before. So she starts feeling quite excited and hopes that this mystery won't let her down.
Charity takes the device and puts it on her desk for everybody to see "Can anybody tell me what this is?" She asks aloud. She sees a few raised hands.
"Yes, Mr. Patton?"
"It's a Rotary dial, right?"
"Indeed it is, 5 points to Gryffindor"
The student nods, quite happy with himself.
A rotary dial? But it barely resembles a circle... Only one part of it, actually, thinks the Queen.
"So, I have enough one for each table, please stand up and go take one from the back"
The Queen stands up and walks to the back along with the other students, but she's confused, why not just make them float to the tables?
"We don't use magic in this class, Ms. Crimson... Unless it's necessary, but that hardly ever happens"
Professor Charity says to the Queen, seeing her confused expression.
"Oh... Thanks, Professor" The Queen answers back, understanding the situation.
After getting one rotary dial for her table, she goes back and sits down, putting it on the table and looking all over it in intrigue.
"Now, some of you may not know, but this device, lets Muggles talk between themselves from long distances"
The Queen looks at the device in a different light "So it's just like the Amplifying charm?" She asks the Professor, with an elegantly raised hand.
"Great question, but not quite. It's a faster version of our owls sending letters"
The Queen's eyes slightly go wider at that, this is amazing.
"Now, students, you will be tasked to 'call' each other, for those who already know how to do it, you will have to wait 5 minutes before doing it, I want others, who don't know how it works, to test it out first. But if your table partner can't seem to be able to do it, you can help them. A sequence of numbers should be seen on a paper that's attached to the device, it's what you need to write for you to be able to call somebody"
"Oh and for those who know and may realize that they aren't as authentic as the ones the Muggles use, you see, it doesn't have something called a 'cord' that uses electricity, we, unfortunately, don't have electricity here, so these devices are magically charmed, but besides that, they work and act just like the originals"
The students nod and go to work... Well, those that actually see this as work, which, unfortunately, includes the Queen. For she is completely out of her element. Neither did she have anything like this in her previous life, nor does she have books about it back in her manor. But she is glad that she chose this subject. There's almost no way that she will find anything boring in this class.
The Queen looks at the device for several moments, thinking where to begin, so there's only one circle, which includes the numbers, then there's some... odd-shaped stick which is connected to a loopy line and the whole thing is like a box or something... weird...
The Queen puts her fingers on the circle, feeling it spin to the side, she hums quietly after she sees this happen. She continues to spin the circle, until it stops and can't do it anymore, so she releases her finger from the circle, not expecting it to quickly spin back after making a clicking sound. She spins the circle again until she can't anymore and releases it again, only for it to spin back.
The Queen hums at that, understanding a little more about it, so there are numbers she needs to write it in for it to work, so she checks the attached numbers. And slowly starts spinning the circle to the place the number is and lets it go, she types all 10 numbers... and waits for something to happen. But nothing happens. She gets a little bit confused.
"You need to pick up the receiver first" The Queen gets snapped out of her thoughts, hearing a voice to her side, she finally and for the first time looks at her partner. Seeing a Gryffindor boy with glasses and dark hair.
"The what?" The Queen asks back.
"Receiver... This" He points towards the stick that the Queen forgot during her time playing with the circle.
"Oh, the stick" The Queen remarks and picks up the receiver.
"The stick?"
"Yes, it's an odd-shaped stick, well... It's pretty thick and short, but sticks come in all shapes and sizes"
"I suppose so" The boy adds, not wanting to refuse this person before him and actively not calling out what's wrong with such a sentence.
The Queen takes her fingers and starts touching the loopy line, stretching it out as far as she can, then she thinks of releasing the receiver, but knowing that she can't use magic to fix something if it were to break, she doesn't do it, even if she really wants to.
She looks back at the circle and the numbers, just as she starts to spin the wheel, she hears a loud ringing, she looks towards the side that the ringing is coming from, seeing a student, flustered, not understanding what to do, the partner of that student says something to him and after a moment, he picks up and the ringing sound is gone and now she hears two students from different places speaking.
"Fascinating," The Queen says loud enough for a few people to hear, the most notable being the Professor and her partner.
She wants to experience it herself, so she stops playing and gets serious... As if she was going to train... With the receiver in hand, she circles the numbers again, this time something happens, for she hears another device ringing again. But it suddenly stops, for a moment she thinks that it didn't work. But she hears quiet muttering coming from the weird stick.
She puts her ear closer to it, therefore she starts hearing it clearly.
"Hello, hello?"
"Hi?" The Queen says back, taken aback.
"Who is it?"
"The Queen?" She asks back.
"Oh... What a coincidence, my partner is the boy you embarrassed before the class"
"Oh, the stupid 'manners' guy?"
"Yeah, yeah, that's him, but that's a bit harsh, calling him stupid"
"Eh? Fine... Whatever, but he is still dubbed the 'manners' guy"
The Queen hears the person chuckle lightly.
"Okay, 'manners' guy it is, but anyway, let's stop the call here"
"How?"
"Oh... Just put the receiver down where it was"
"Right"
The Queen does just that and the call is over, she stares at the device in awe. She raises her hand, the Professor seeing it, nods at the Queen.
"Professor, this is simply amazing, why are we not using more of these things? What is the point of letters? If there's something like this?"
The students who were trying to do it and the students waiting for their turn stop after hearing the Queen ask the Professor.
The few Muggle-born that are in this class feel quite proud, the fact that something from their world impressed the 'Queen' is enough for them to start somewhat appreciating her.
"I am quite happy that you think the same way, Ms. Crimson... But, unfortunately, the wizarding is quite prejudice towards anything created by muggles"
"Oh... So it's stupidity again..." The Queen says after hearing the answer.
"Pardon?" The Professor asks, interested in knowing this girl's opinion.
"The wizards... They are stupid, instead of making it more convenient, they stick to their 'roots' never wanting to evolve, as far as I know, they took the idea of trains and cars from the muggles and they practically can't live without them, hell, you get to Hogwarts with a muggle invention... So why not take more convenient things from them? And make your life easier... I can't believe how stupid wizards are... But I guess they haven't even grown out of their 'blood' purity problems yet, so they are dozens of years too early to even be able to understand how the muggles are better than them. That's why I hate the ministry and the rule of not showing ourselves to muggles... If you'd combine the two, there are so many possibilities, endless even"
The Professor looks at the 14-year-old girl, impressed, but with some sadness in her eyes, she herself thinks that what she said is a correct way to think about it, instead of hating one another. But, unfortunately, she doesn't know if there's a way to make something like that happen.
"40 Points to Ravenclaw and Ms. Crimson for exceptional thinking"
"Thank you, Professor... But I might've just gotten a great idea"
"Oh?"
"Give me two of these 'rotary dials' after the class, if nobody wants to use them, I will, I won't need letters anymore and will be able to talk to anybody I want to at any time... This is perfect, but the annoying ringing will have to go. I will also charm it with multiple other spells, make it smaller, and recreate it to have multiple copies"
"While I like that you're enthusiastic about it, I can't just give it away"
"Right... You can't, but Dumbledore can, I guess I will just send him a letter after the class... Ugh, I wish I could just call him right now, hehe, I will force him to use one himself, this way I won't need to sit through more of his boring lectures"
Charity looks perplexed at the outlandish statements that the Queen is spewing and finally realizes what the other teachers meant. This girl is something else.
"Ms. Crimson... How sure are you of getting the approval from Dumbledore to receive the rotary dial?"
"A big, 101%"
"Hmm... You can take two of them after the class, I'll allow it"
"Heh, Thanks, teach, you're quite awesome for a Professor, but I guess that comes with the awesome subject that you're teaching"
"Why, thank you" This girl might just turn out to be my favorite student this year... And the upcoming years thinks Charity.
~ End of Chapter 15 ~