The Job
Oliver Smith didn't come under the guise of this being his dream job. In fact, he already had his dream job. However, being a professional magizoologist doesn't always pay that well, and he's got bills pay. This wasn't exactly his first choice, but he needed a job and Professor Dumbledore offered.
It was strange to walk the halls once again, he felt almost naked without his old Gryffindor uniform. He nervously picked at the collar of his t-shirt, wondering if he was dressed to casual, it was his first real day after all. He could really use some of that Gryffindor bravery right about now. He was dressed in faded black jeans, dragon hide boots, faded Poison shirt, and a red flannel, part of him still wondered if he should've dressed up a little more. He fiddled with the sleeves of his flannel as he sat on his desk. He was given a classroom and a large outdoor area by Hagrid's hut.
He planned for the first day to be an introduction and a basic safety lecture before they really got into anything. He was mainly nervous as his very first class held nothing but Slytherins. Which wasn't bad per say but he knew what their immediate thoughts would be.
The door slowly opened and a couple of Slytherin first years slowly trickled in. Oliver let his eyes bleed green as he felt his students' heartbeats. They all looked confident (with a few exceptions) but they all felt at least a little wary.
"Alright, I see everybody's here so lets get started," Oliver clapped his hands together, staying seated on his desk, his students all looked up at him. "My name is Oliver Smith, I'm a magizoologist. I primarily work with dragons but I have experience with many other species. I was a Gryffindor and I'm an Elemental," Oliver smiled, letting his eyes turn red as he summoned a small flame in his palm before closing his fist, killing the flame. He smiled at the poorly disguised awe on their faces. "Any questions before we move on? Ah, yes Pansy?"
Pansy's hand dropped slightly, her eyes wide in shock. "Well now I have two questions,"
"Ask away,"
"How are you an elemental when they all died out, and how did you already know my name?" she asked.
"Elemental magic isn't passed down through families, it's more like the magic chooses you, sort of like parslemouths. As for your other question, how about a game? Everyone gets to participate. If any of you can figure out exactly how I already knew your name before winter break I'll award Slytherin house one hundred points. All of the houses will be in on it. So, how about it?" Oliver teasingly asked, a smile on his face.
All of the Slytherins looked at each other before murmured agreements broke out.
"Alright! No telling anyone older, this is strictly between the first years. With that over, lets move on to what I was planning. We need to talk about basic safety procedures. There will be a quiz on it tomorrow and you won't be able to participate in practicals until you pass it," Oliver went on to explain the basic safety procedures and why they needed to be followed.
Oliver sighed, he was finally done with his first day It went about as expected, Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs acted fairly normal in response to a new professor. The Gryffindors seemed to think that they could get away with more once they learned about his house (they were swiftly corrected). The Slytherins were wary to have another Gryffindor professor. Which was understandable, Oliver saw how biased all of the professors were when he was in school, and he doubted it got any better.
"So what do we think of Professor Smith?" Blaise Zabini collapsed into one of the arm chairs scattered around.
"He seems rather nice," Pansy hummed.
"Yes, but do you remember the warning from the upper years right?" Theo Nott asked, he sat poised on the couch.
"Yeah yeah," Pansy waved her hand in front of her face. "Be extra careful with the Gryffindor professors because they think we're evil incarnate," she rolled her eyes. "What do you think Draco?"
Draco looked up from his chess board to his friends and sneered. "The class is useless, why do we even have to take it?!"
"While I agree with you, that's not what was asked," Theo relaxed into the couch, staring at the ceiling.
Draco rolled his eyes. "He seems an okay professor for such a useless subject,"
Theo hummed in agreement. "I agree that it's useless. Besides, animals don't like me so I'll probably fail,"
"Why would you fail?" Blaise asked.
"It sounds like practicals are going to be a pretty big part of this class," Theo explained.
"Well I personally think he's alright, and the competition is rather interesting," Blaise butted in.
"Oh yeah, anyone have any ideas?" Theo asked, lifting his head to look at his friends, sliding down the couch.
"None," Pansy whined.
"It's obviously something magical," Blaise pointed out, sitting up slightly.
Draco rolled his eyes. "Obviously,"
"I bet it has something to with him being an elemental," Theo mumbled.
"What makes you say that?" Pansy asked, twisting in her seat to properly look at Theo.
The shrugged, sliding down the couch even more. "Just a hunch really,"
The Slytherins all easily passed the safety test, so the class could now officially begin. The four Slytherins sat in the second row, parchments out, ready for class.
"Okay everyone," Oliver clapped. The four Slytherins observed that he was once again dressed in muggle fashion with a blood red short cloak. "Can anyone tell me about the Golden Snidge? Yes, Draco,"
"It's a gold bird that used to be used as the Snitch," Draco haughtily answered, smug smile in place.
"Correct, ten points! Now, can anyone tell me why we made the switch from Snidge to Snitch?" when no hands went up he continued. "It was for a variety reasons. But the main one was money. You see, what costs less money, one snitch or the care of multiple birds?" Oliver let out a soft laugh at the grumbles the students let out. "Well, to everyone who's mumbling you are correct. Food, medicine, and for multiple birds at that," Oliver slowly paced at the front of his classroom, gesturing with his hands. "Now, lets talk about the ethics part of this. Just bounce ideas around, why is it more thical to use a snitch instead of a snidge?"
"A-animal cruelty?" a blonde hair, blue eyed Slytherin named August Brooks, stammered.
"Yes! But why? Why is it cruel?"
It was quiet for a bit until Theo tentatively piped up. "You couldn't guarantee the birds wouldn't be hurt during the game,"
"Absolutely, any other reasons?"
"The stress of the birds is really high because the only time it gets to fly is during a game," Pansy continued.
"Yes, and to clarify a bit on what Pansy said, these birds' only time they get to fly outside was when they believed their lives were in danger. Now for the reveal," Oliver cast a quick locking charm on the door before walking behind his desk and placing a birdcage on top of it. He opened the cage and coaxed the golden bird onto his hands. "This is a Golden Snidge, anyone want to hold her?"
August hesitantly stood up and walked over to Oliver. Oliver felt his heartbeat through the ground, it was pretty erratic. Oliver took August's hand, turning his palm to the side before coaxing the bird onto his finger.
"Good, now try to stay still. Her name is York, and she's only three years old. Golden Snidge's can live for roughly twenty years, depending on how well you take care of them. You can pet her if you want, just be gentle," Oliver watched as August gingerly pet the top of York's head. "Anybody else want to hold him?"
Draco pushed himself up and sauntered over to the desk and attempted to quickly reach for York. Oliver snatched Draco's wrist mid reach.
"Tell me if I'm wrong, but I'm confident part of the safety lecture was to move slowly when approaching creatures was it not?" Oliver raised an eyebrow at Draco's pout.
Draco ripped his wrist from Oliver's grip with a snarl. "This class is stupid anyways," he grumbled.
Oliver arranged Draco's hand and nudged York onto it. "You sure have a lot of teenage angst for someone who's not even a teenager," Oliver smiled. "Who here believes this class is stupid? Don't be shy, you'll never get in trouble in my class for sharing an opinion,"
Most of his students hesitantly raised a hand while Draco smiled smugly, believing he made his point.
"Okay, now Theo, what do you want to be when you grow up?"
Theo jerked slightly in shock at being called out. "I want to be the person that decides if new laws should be passed," he timidly answered.
"That's a fine profession to get into. Now, imagine you get a law in, it proposes that unicorns should be domesticated and kept on farms in order to make harvesting for wand and potion materials easier. Should it pass?"
Theo seemed to panic for a second before quietly uttering his answer. "I don't know,"
Oliver smiled softly. "Which is why you take this class, so you can learn and then know. Okay this is what we're going to do. Everyone is going to write a minimum of half a piece of parchment on what job you want and how this class can help you prepare for it. It'll be due on Monday. Now, we only have five minutes, who else wants to hold York?"