An American Professor

The next thing Erin knew she heard a gentle voice calling her name. She groaned and rolled over muttering something sounding like a plea for five more minutes. She heard an impatient voice hiss. "Please wake up, you're going to be late!"

Erin suddenly remembered where she was and opened her eyes and shrieked. She was practically hanging off the side of the bed and Flitwick's face was mere inches from her own.

He chuckled. "Not exactly the reaction a man ever hopes to get."

Erin gasped. "Sorry! What time is it? Sorry I slept so late!" she said in a rush as she pulled herself out of bed and stood up to stretch.

"It's alright, it's only 7:30, but I'm assuming you'll want to get dressed."

Erin looked down at her plaid pajama pants and Corona t-shirt. "Are you kidding," she joked, "I'm already ready!" The look on his face was worth a million as he wasn't exactly sure she was kidding until she told him, "I'm just kidding, but would you mind waiting in the other room so I can change?"

"Certainly," he said looking relieved that she was planning on changing and turned to leave the room shutting the door behind him.

Dashing to her wardrobe, Erin stood in front of it trying to figure out what she should wear. Surprisingly, only five minutes later Erin appeared in the sitting room. She had pulled on indigo washed jeans, a long-sleeved black T-shirt and black boots. She left her blond hair loose and it fell to her shoulders completely straight aside from the ends that naturally curled under to frame her face. She hadn't bothered to put on any make-up, but she had spritzed on a little of her favorite apple body spray. She looked at Flitwick questioningly. "Do I have to wear those robe things again?"

He had been gazing at her transfixed before conceding. "I'm afraid so."

Erin sighed and flounced back to the wardrobe. "Black or blue?" she asked holding up her only two sets of robes. She had been surprised to find her cardigan transformed back to itself. She decided it must have been a weak spell and silently was thankful it hadn't transformed back in the middle of dinner the night before.

"Well, I'm not sure that I can be impartial exactly," he began. Erin remembered that blue was one of Ravenclaw houses' colors.

"Right," Erin said, "black it is," and she slipped them on. "I'm still not fastening them, though," she said with a smile.

"Ah, no one would expect you to." Flitwick chuckled.

Erin picked up her black shoulder bag and put some parchment and ink in it. She also placed the two books she'd need for her afternoon lessons. She looked around her room and wondered if she should bring any visual aides for her first Muggle Studies class. Deciding against it, she looked around the room one final time. "Let's go!" she said.

They made their way to the Great Hall quickly. Erin was surprised to find that it was already quite full with students. As she and Flitwick made their way to their seats, Erin felt several pairs of eyes on her. But she noticed with relief that Snape wasn't at his place. Well, this day seems to actually be starting off ok, she realized feeling a little surprised.

She took a muffin and a few pieces of bacon and put them on her plate. She picked up her cup and said "Coffee," and then waited expectantly. When nothing happened she turned to Flitwick. "Why isn't it working?"

"The elves probably don't have coffee," he explained.

"No Coffee!? Oh my, this is NOT good." The day was suddenly spiraling downhill.

Flitwick looked extremely worried. "What about tea?" he suggested helpfully.

"Tea just isn't the same," Erin whined, but realizing she didn't have much of a choice she picked up her cup again and said, "Tea," and the cup filled instantly. She added some sugar and gulped it down. She said, "Tea," again and the cup filled again. She devoured her muffin realizing that she was very hungry. She was reaching for another muffin when a snide voice interrupted her. "So, you do actually eat? I guess I can wipe vampire off my list of possible reasons why you shouldn't be teaching here." Snape had arrived at breakfast.

"I should think that you are the last person to want to go around accusing people of being vampires since you closely resemble one yourself," she sneered back. She decided to ignore the last part of his comment about him trying to find a reason the she shouldn't teach at Hogwarts. Her snide comment had put him at a temporary loss for words. She finished the food on her plate and looked up as she noticed Ron approaching the table.

"Good mornin', Professor. I've got your class first thing this morning, so I thought I'd walk you to it, that is unless you already know where it is."

Erin looked at her watch as McGonagall approached placing something into her hand; it appeared to be a class roster. Erin mumbled, "Thank-you." Noticing McGonagall giving her a disapproving once over, Erin grimaced. Deciding to just ignore the hostile feelings emanating from her head of house for the moment, she gulped down her final cup of tea and stood and smiled at Ron. "Thank-you Ron, I have no idea where I'm going and I'd love a knowledgeable guide."

Snape muttered something sarcastic under his breath, but Erin refused to be baited. She leaned over to Flitwick and asked. "Would you mind meeting me after my class to show me where my office is?"

"Actually, my class isn't finished until 11:30," Flitwick explained apologetically, "but I have a surprise for you." Erin looked at him with curiosity. "This is a map of the school. I've enchanted it so that you can see where you are at all times. All you have to do is say where you are going and the map draws out the quickest path in a red line. As you walk along the line, it turns blue, so you'll know if you're going the wrong way." Flitwick sat back looking very pleased with himself.

"Oh, wow, that is so…."

"Clever?" he supplied helpfully.

"Wonderful," Erin breathed and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek causing him to blush a deep shade of crimson. "Thank-you so much, Filius!" Smiling from ear to ear Erin held out her new treasure and said, "My classroom." Immediately a line was drawn on the map from the Great Hall to a room labeled, 'Muggle Studies Classroom.' "Incredible!" Erin gasped. She looked at Flitwick again and gave him another smile, and a quick wink. She turned to Ron and said, "I guess I won't need a guide now, but you're more than welcome to walk with me."

"Okay," he grinned back looking eager to see Erin's new toy.

She gathered her bag, nodded to Dumbledore, then took Ron's arm and strolled out of the Great Hall and began to follow the map. They giggled and laughed as they made their way down the halls. A couple of times they went the wrong way on purpose to see if the map would show it. As it would show them that they were on the wrong path, the two would laugh and back track to where they were supposed to be.

They got to Erin's classroom at 9:15, and she was pretty sure it wouldn't have taken quite as long had they not been having so much fun. As they rounded a corner, Erin caught sight of the students outside her classroom. She was surprised to see about forty students present.

"Are all of you waiting for my class?" she asked incredulously. They all began to nod at once. Erin noticed that a majority of them were male. "And all of you are in your fifth year?" Again collective nods from most of them, but about a half dozen skulked away. "Well," she said, opening the classroom door, "I hope there's enough room!" She walked in and found herself in a most austere and boring looking classroom. I'll go crazy if I have to teach in a room that looks like this! This place needs a 'Muggle touch', Erin decided quickly.

Strolling to the desk in front of the room, she perched on the corner and laid her bag down carefully. "Take a seat. Hopefully everyone will be able to have one," she looked around the room with a smile. The boys seemed to scramble to the front while the few girls settled for the back. Erin decided to ignore this for the moment and instead picked up her class roster. Quickly scanning the list, Erin realized that there were quite a few more students in the room than appeared on her list. "OK, I'll give you one more chance to leave with your pride, if you aren't in your fifth year, please leave now." Amidst some grumbling a few more students left and there were just enough desks for those students who remained.

"OK, so let's get started, as I call your name raise your hand and leave it up until I finish the entire list, that way I can figure out why the rest of you are here." Erin finished the list and twelve of the students, boys of course, weren't on the list. "OK, you guys not on my roster stand up, the rest of you can put your hands down. Alright, let's see, Ron, you told me you were going to be here and you've checked it out with Professor McGonagall?"

"Well, no, not yet, but I didn't want to miss the first class," he said, blushing.

"OK, sit down," Erin pulled out a ballpoint pen and scrawled on the parchment 'Add-Ons' on the class roster and wrote 'Ron Weasley, Gryffindor.' "I know that I should be using a quill, but it takes me too long still. Anyway, let me tell you guys what's going to happen with you since you're not on my roster. You are more than welcome to stay for this class and I'll give your name to your heads of house to get their final approval on your permanent enrollment in my class. You'll know before next class whether or not you are allowed to stay in my class. I don't anticipate any of your heads of house having a problem with your being in my class, so please do the homework." With that said she added three more Gryffindors, three Hufflepuffs and five Ravenclaws.

"OK, now one last thing, how many of you were raised in Muggle families?" About six of them raised their hands. "So, does anyone what to tell me what they, having been raised in a Muggle family, expect to get out of this class?" Silence greeted her, so Erin added, "I'm not going to tell you to leave or anything. In fact, I'm sure that you'll get a lot out of this class, anyway. I'm going to give you my take on American Muggles. I'm sure that all of you are from this side of the pond, so it adds something to the curriculum. Now anyone want to admit to being raised a Muggle until they were eleven and tell me what you're hoping to get from my class?"

She looked around the room, and still not one soul wanted to answer, but they were all staring at her transfixed. Well, at least I have their undivided attention, she thought, I just wish that they would quit acting like zombies. "Well, alright then, that's our homework for this class. I want an essay that discusses whether you were raised in a Wizarding or Muggle family, and what you want to get out of this class. Your essays will help me determine this class' curriculum. I want teach the things that you are interested in. Of course, there are going to be some basic items that I will have to teach, but I will incorporate your interests. So, please be aware that your opinion does count, and I'll try to honor your suggestions to the very best of my ability. Also, please include in your essays; a little about yourselves, like why you were put into your respective house, if you could be someone famous who would you be and why, talk about your interests, your family, pet peeves, whatever makes you interesting, there's no limit to what you can write about. I don't have a particular length in mind, so please make your essays as long as you need them to be to include all of the things I mentioned, and then some. Oh, and make it long enough to get a good grade on it." She finished with a smile and a wink.

"Now, all of you who thought that this would be a cake class, feel free to leave if you want and I'll cross your name off my roster, no hard feelings." She waited looking at them expectantly and they looked at each other checking to see if any of them was going to abandon the class. "So, no deserters, eh? Well, good then let's begin! OK, so since I am asking you to tell me about yourselves it seems only fair that I tell you all a little about me.

"My name is Erin Worhli, Professor Worhli to you all. I'm from Miami, Florida, I'm not sure that I was born there. In fact, I am really not sure that I was even born in America. For all I know I could I have been born in Antarctica. Nuns found me on the steps of St. Patrick's Cathedral three days before Christmas. They thought that I was about a month old, but weren't exactly sure. Even the hospital couldn't really tell, so they used their best educated guess, and my birth date is listed as November 22nd, but obviously, I've never really been sure that that is the day I was actually born.

"I went to Muggle University when I was eighteen, paying my way with academic scholarships and by working crazy hours at a coffee shop. That's where I developed my caffeine addiction. Do you all know what caffeine is?" she asked seeing their confused faces. Most of them shook their heads, but the rest of them continued to stare at her transfixed. "OK, caffeine is a drug, a completely legal one, but pretty addicting. It kind of works as a wake-up drug; it elevates your mood. It became almost absolutely essential for me, especially in the mornings, which is why I am going through withdrawal right now.

"So, anyway, for about three years now I've been working as an archeologist's assistant, you know, doing research in libraries about excavation sites. Trust me, that's pretty boring, and you don't want to hear about that, so let's move on.

"I found out about eight months ago that I'm a witch. That means for twenty-four years I've lived as a Muggle. Of course, unexplained things happened to me when I was growing up, but it seemed easy enough to explain the incidents away." Erin checked their faces again. She still had their undivided attention. So, looking at her watch she realized that they had forty minutes left of class. "So, that being said, I'll answer any questions you guys have, and if you don't ask questions I'll start asking you questions." Erin laughed out loud as nearly every hand in the room shot into the air.

She spent the rest of class answering questions about herself, America, Muggles, and anything else she could. When the bell rang none of the boys moved, but the girls gathered their things to leave. Erin smiled at the boys and asked, "Don't you guys have somewhere you have to go?" They continued to stare for a few seconds until she began to gather her own things. Gradually, they began to follow suit, and one by one left the room reluctantly.

Ron rushed to her desk. "Professor, are you going to your office?"

Erin, feeling a little unnerved by the rapt attention that all of the boys had been paying to her in class, answered cautiously. "Uh, yeah, Ron, why do you ask?"

"Well, uh, I thought, that, uh, well, maybe we could go together, I mean if you want, you could write the note to Professor McGonagall and I could take it to her for you," he suggested helpfully. Erin felt suspicious about his true intentions, but let him accompany her to the office. She opened the door and gasped.