The Pacifist Necromancer of Hogwarts

Professor Anthony, why do Muggles use steel to build ships? one student asked. Is wood very expensive for them?

Before the use of steel, people did use a lot, a lot of wood to build ships, Anthony said. Does anyone have any guesses about the reason for this change?

Because steel is stronger? said another student. Maybe Muggles will use steel to defend themselves against... well, you know, sea monsters, krakens, troll octopuses, that sort of thing.

The student in the corner said doubtfully: I heard that the International Confederation of Wizards has regulated most sea monsters that reveal magic, just like fire dragons.

Yes, but some still come out from time to time. The student who proposed using steel to resist sea monsters said in defense, Also, during the last practical activity, I saw some books in the Muggle bookstore saying What about this matter!

Seeing that the topic was about to turn to Bermuda and aliens, Anthony quickly shifted his focus back to the ship: Yes, I also think that sturdiness is one of the reasons. On the other hand, I would say that steel is easier to shape into various shapes than wood. It has a different shape – that is, it’s more malleable – so it’s more suitable for building cruise ships.”

It makes sense. The student who asked the first question said thoughtfully, Besides, steel is more fire-resistant than wood.

His seatmate scoffed: Why would you want to be fireproof on a boat?

Muggles don't know how to use the Clear Water Charm—

You want to sail on fire? Isn't there water all around them? said the student. Muggles just use their - well, pumps - to pump the water up and rinse their boats like showers. ”

Anthony said, Speaking of which, ships do need to be fireproof, so I guess that's probably one of the benefits of steel. If you refer to the 'Transportation' chapter...yeah, that's right, he glanced at the podium. The next student opened the textbook, That's it. You can see that the reason why Muggles can make heavy ships float on the water is not because of any advanced magic, but purely because they carefully designed the ships. Structure.

I heard Durmstrang has a big ship, one student said thoughtfully, Are they using Muggle principles too?

Probably not. There was some disgust in the tone of the classmates beside him, Isn't that a place to train dark wizards? Those people in Slytherin are always Durmstrang, Durmstrang that...

Krum is also a student of Durmstrang. A student whispered. Anthony glanced in that direction and saw that it was Cormag Brottai, a loyal supporter of Wood's training program (although he was not a member of the Gryffindor Quidditch team at all).

who?

Viktor Krum, last year's Quidditch Rookie of the Year! He also goes to Durmstrang.

Did he join the professional Quidditch team while still at school?

Anthony leaned on the podium and couldn't help but smile helplessly as he watched the students suddenly become active. After entering fifth grade, this group of students faces much greater academic pressure. Almost all professors will emphasize to them that this is the O.W.Ls school year, and they are about to face the first important exam after entering Hogwarts, an exam that may be more important than N.E.W.Ts.

Professor McGonagall would certainly not allow any student to disrupt the discipline of the classroom, and the same was true for Snape - who might be even worse for Gryffindor - Professor Sprout would use a lot of herbal names. , their efficacy, and various busy practical operations left students no time to be distracted, and Anthony had just heard the story of how Professor Flitwick dealt with classroom disturbances.

For this group of students, elective courses may already be regarded as some kind of opportunity to relax. They can take it for granted that they don’t have to think about the questions left over from the required courses, and because the test questions are relatively simple, they don’t worry so much about exams.

He shook the jar of coconut sorbet and was pleased to find that it caught the students' attention.

I'm sorry, Professor Anthony. Cormag apologized quietly.

It doesn't matter. Anthony turned back a page of his lesson plan and decided to skip the review session for the time being and talk about something new first. So, Mr. Brotel, do you know anything about Muggle geography?

Komag scratched his head and said hesitantly: Well...

Don't worry, I don't think I've gone into that in depth before, said Anthony. Let's change the question. Does anyone know what shape the Earth is - or what the Muggles think the Earth is?

Spherical! Cormag shouted, looking relieved. Like a Quaffle or a Bludger!

Yes, spherical. Anthony nodded approvingly, Does anyone know how Muggles can prove this?

Planes? Cormag continued to speculate animatedly, Ah, and rockets! They saw it with their own eyes!

Anthony smiled: I guess rockets can indeed do it - but I am not very confident that an airplane can also see the spherical Earth. I think its flying height may not be high enough. This is a more dangerous answer, Mr. Brotte .

Also, Muggles can now see with their own eyes that the Earth is spherical, but before they could fly freely, some people pointed out that the Earth should be spherical, and others proved it before they could fly away from the Earth.

He glanced under the podium, where the students were looking at him curiously.

Anthony raised his finger: You can guess three times, and the person who guesses correctly can get two pieces of coconut sorbet.

Hmm... They asked a wizard for help? I mean, we have brooms, maybe we can take them beyond the Earth.

Anthony said: Let me repeat one of the knowledge points mentioned in the first half of the class: Generally speaking, airplanes fly higher than broomsticks, and rockets fly higher than airplanes.

He nodded and interrupted a student who wanted to speak: I know that there was once a wizard who was drunk and rode a broom to chase the plane. The student sneered, A classic case of the law of secrecy, right? But we What we are talking about here is the overall situation... Looking at the smiles of the students below, he added with some concern, As far as I know, the questions in the O.W.Ls exam mainly examine the overall situation. I Of course I agree with you to write down special cases, but be sure to remember to explain which situation is more common.

Anthony made sure that all the students nodded, then relaxed and continued to ask: Do you have any other guesses? He glanced at the chalk writing behind him that had not been erased.

Ship? A student guessed, observing Anthony's expression, Huh? Is it really a ship?

Anthony said firmly: Yes, a ship, but not the steel cruise ship we mentioned before. A wooden sea ship. He unscrewed the coconut sorbet jar, floated two pieces of sorbet, and placed them on a blank piece of parchment paper. , handed it to the student, People came up with a good idea after they suspected that the earth was round, and they actually verified it hundreds of years ago - more than four hundred years ago, if I remember correctly. idea.”

He pulled the world map out of the lesson plan, enlarged it and hung it in front of the blackboard.

Here we are, he said, pointing to a tiny dot on top of Britain, or at least something like that. Hogwarts is indeed unplottable, but Muggle Britain is not. When the scale is staggering enough, everything is Can be turned into a tiny dot. So, ladies and gentlemen, here we are. Has anyone else seen a map like this?

One student said hesitantly: I tried to decipher the map of Britain... I thought about taking my family to visit the Muggle world last holiday.

Anthony was a little surprised: Great. What do you think of the British map?

The Muggles have made a mess of their rail traffic, the student said firmly.

Anthony smiled: Besides that? For example, do you understand how this map should look?

The blue part is water, the green and yellow parts are land. The other party said, The one in the corner is the scale, which Muggles use to calculate distance. The sun in the upper left corner represents the direction, which means this picture When placed like this, the top is north.”

I can't think of a better explanation myself, Anthony exclaimed. Very well, I'm impressed by you, Miss Serach. Would you like a whole jar of coconut sorbet?

Serach shook his head wildly, and two pigtails almost hit his deskmate's face.

Okay. Anthony said with some regret, Let's go back to the map. This is the world map. At least, this is the map of the entire earth that Muggles can observe. As Miss Selach said, green The yellow part is the land, where we humans live.

But more than four hundred years ago, with such a big ocean separated, a person living here would not know what was on the other side of the sea. Some people would think that there was nothing on the other side of the sea, or that there was a huge waterfall. , all the sea water flows down from there.

After someone suggested that the earth might be spherical, like the moon or the sun, people who thought the earth was spherical and those who thought it was a flat plate argued endlessly. So it was suggested that if you follow the compass, you will be steadfast. Moving forward in one direction——

Anthony moved his finger down a little, starting with Spain and moving to the left.

You may go a little south or north, but you definitely don't go east—

Continue left, around South America.

You keep driving towards the west, and keep moving forward on the sea with the help of the fleet -

My finger reached the edge of the map. Anthony paused, lifted his finger, and dropped it to the rightmost edge.

Continue sailing westward... He hesitated in the middle, not mentioning the story of the sponsor being killed after participating in a dispute between local residents. Keep sailing westward... and then you find yourself back where you started. What have you proved?

The student murmured: The earth is spherical.

Another student frowned and said, But, professor, what if the earth is a cylinder? Or a cone, like an ice cream cone? He made a gesture of rolling up the map, I mean, it's just Returning to the starting point does not mean that the earth is round.

The student sitting in front of him said: That at least means the earth is not flat?

But what if he was just flooed? What if they were about to fall into that waterfall and suddenly someone - or some magical animal - Apparated with the entire fleet?

They are Muggles! his deskmate retorted, Muggles cannot manifest themselves!

Can Muggles use floo powder?

I don't know. One student said gloomily, I have never had Muggle friends, let alone invited them to my home.

Anthony had to admit that after the initial dullness, the Gryffindor student was still the most active of all his classes - in other words, the noisiest.

…

It took Anthony a while to convince the students that the Earth was most likely not an ice cream cone - at least Muggles and O.W.Ls markers were unlikely to think it was - and then predictably found that the rest of the lesson was gone. too much.

He quickly explained to the students several continents, several oceans and several major plates in the eyes of Muggles, and his enthusiastic students started shouting as soon as he finished speaking.

“Aren’t all the oceans connected together? Why give them different names?”

What do you mean by drifting? Are we drifting now too?

Anthony looked at the time again and gave up on reviewing the knowledge points.

Yes, yes, we are also drifting now. Anthony said, The plate that carries us, the land under our feet, is slowly moving on the soft stones. From this perspective, you can also say We are in a ship, floating on a sea of ​​magma.

The student seemed to still want to ask questions, but the bell had already rang. While packing up the things on the podium, Anthony said: If anyone is still interested in this topic after class, you can come to my office to discuss it. In addition, before the next class, we will learn about Muggle transportation and basic Muggle geography. Take the in-class test.”

The students wailed: What?

Anthony said with a smile: I wish everyone good luck. I will refer to Professor Bubaji's test questions to ensure that the questions are approximately O.W.L. difficulty.

He decided to draw on the teaching experience of senior professors. Professor McGonagall's method of in-class testing is very good, especially when used to threaten students' revision - especially Gryffindor students.