January 17, 1979: Bartemius & Lily (Unimpressed)
Before Lily discovered her passion for writing, she always thought that she would go into teaching. Journalism never really entered her mind as a possible career choice, and she had gone so far as to enquire about the requirements to gain a teaching position at Hogwarts, she had daydreams about filing into the Great Hall and siting at the head table, having her own classroom and office and having the ability to inspire and motivate students, as she had been by her own professors. More than anything, she wanted to teach the subjects that were often seen as boring or pointless, and find a way to instill relevancy and interest into them. It was easy enough to dismiss a class like History of Magic because it was dull - no thanks to Professor Binns - but it irked at her that so much important, fascinating information was being lost because of lackluster delivery. Although she knew that most people didn’t care about the class, she was always intrigued to hear how past events shaped the present, and who influenced the way things were now.
This was especially relevant in times like these, when these was so much erroneous ideology and supremacist thinking flying around and influencing usually logical people. Lily knew enough Muggle history and political science to be able to identify the sort of propaganda fueled extremism that had been tried, tested and proved highly effective in the past. The saying went that those who don’t know the past are doomed to repeat it, and Lily just thought it was a shame that so few in the wizarding world paid attention to the mistakes that Muggles had already made. There were undeniable comparisons to be drawn and lessons to be learned from the blunders that were committed in the not-so-distant past, but they were flagrantly ignored by a largely disinterested and rampantly oblivious magical population. And so Lily always vowed that if she became a teacher, she would make a point of educating her students about the mistakes in both worlds, and to highlight all the fallacies and bring truth and understanding to an era and a generation that was being blindly led into prejudice.
But then, of course, Lily never did become a teacher and instead transferred her passion for unveiling truths to journalism, where her outspoken ideals and blunt compositions often made her a very unpopular member of the community. Most people were much more comfortable in simply ignoring what was going on, but Lily was never comfortable with that kind of silent compliance. So even though she was continuously maligned for expressing her opinion and exposing facts that most people would rather not acknowledge, she never censored her work or shied away from writing unflinchingly about the state of their world. Luckily, the Prophet did afford her a degree of protection against her more fanatical opponents, but that couldn’t stop the Howlers or threats that came through the mail. Lily carried on despite it all, and still loved the fact she could have this kind of impact. To her, the response she got, especially the negative, meant she was getting through to people on some level, at least.
Nonetheless, when she was invited to fill in temporarily at Hogwarts, her devotion to journalism couldn’t quell the excitement she felt, and she took the job eagerly, without a moment’s hesitation. The moments before her first class were nerve wracking and it did take her a bit of time to find her stride, but her students were equally thrown when they walked into History of Magic to see not only a different teacher, but one with the expectation that they be active participants in their learning, and not merely listeners.
She delved into the misconceptions surrounding blood purity almost immediately, and the class reaction was mixed. Some students were interested and some seemed shocked, others furious, and of course, there were those who were disengaged. One boy in particular caught her attention, with his pale skin and dark hair reminding her vaguely of another seemingly distant young man who eventually turned out to be quite brilliant. In an ideal world, Lily’s lesson would have reached and affected all her students profoundly, but she knew that in a time where faction lines were heavily drawn and family politics featured prominently in a young person’s outlook, it was far more likely that her class and its focus on critically breaking down and analyzing the components of blood purity theory would fly by a handful of students and offend a great number as well.
She couldn’t help herself, though, and when class ended, she called up the student in question. A quick glance at the roster told her that this was Barty Crouch Junior, which only made his disinterest more bewildering to her. With a father so passionately and heavily involved in the Ministry, she would have assumed that his son would be equally steeped in activism. Instead, she was faced with a distant, disengaged, disinterested boy, who seemed bored by the mere concept of being confronted by a teacher. Gnawing on her lip slightly, Lily moved to the other side of the desk and leaned against the corner, crossing her arms and looking over at the boy, trying to puzzle him out. After a few awkward moments of both of them standing there and neither of them talking, Lily finally cleared her throat and chanced a small smile. “So...Mister Crouch. Do you not like History of Magic? I couldn’t help but notice that you were...distinctly unmotivated this class. I usually get a favourable response when compared to Professor Binns, but I must say that you seem thoroughly unimpressed.”