Incentive Program
At half past six Harry heard an alarm clock go off. He looked around a bit disorientated until he remembered he was in his room at Hogwarts and the alarm clock was probably Rick's. Soon the alarm was turned off and he could hear Rick climb out of the bed. Harry looked around and saw that the sun was just rising over the mountains he could see from their window. So their window was pointing east. Not a bad thing to get out of bed in the mornings. He heard Rick walking and a door opening. So Rick was probably going to shower. Well, as he was already awake he could use the time to unpack his trunk. He took out his clothes from the wardrobe compartment and placed them in the proper places in his wardrobe. The robes, pants and dress shirts he hung onto a pole on the left side to be sure they didn't wrinkle, it always looked bad on you if you went to classes in untidy clothes.
The wardrobe had seven partitions and two drawers on the right, which were separated from the pole by a plank, where he sorted his shirts, pullovers, jeans, socks, underwear, sportswear, winter equipment and shoes into. He changed the trunk compartment to the library part and took out the books he had and placed them in the bookcase. Last he turned to the storage area compartment and took out his towels and toiletries and placed them in the wardrobe as well. He decided the potion ingredients would stay in the trunk for now until he knew more about properly storing them in his room. Rick could probably give him an idea as he had already been here for a year.
When Rick left the bathroom after fifteen minutes, Harry went inside. He took a shower, brushed his teeth and went to the loo, which was separate from the shower and sink. Obviously space was no issue in a magical castle.
When he went out into the dorm again, he saw that Rick was nearly ready to go down into the common room.
"Morning, Harry, I hope you don't mind me getting up at half past six in the mornings?" Rick asked.
"No, I normally worked out in the afternoons after school, but I can adjust that to the mornings. When do classes start?" Harry asked.
"At nine. Breakfast is served from half past six. I just can't concentrate well late in the evening, so I do some of my homework and studying in the morning." Rick explained.
"Okay, good to know. By the way, those adjustments to the room Penny talked about yesterday; do you have to earn them anew every year? I mean if not you got a bad hand with rooming with me."
"No, you're right. To keep us on our toes, we have to prove that we have earned the improvements every year again. Of course the things we need to do get more advanced the further we are in our studies. But Professor Flitwick will explain it to you firsties." He said. He took his book-bag and walked out of the room.
Harry took out one pair of his black pants, a white dress shirt and a robe and placed them on his bed. He took off the t-shirt he had worn in the bathroom and started dressing. The last thing he did was putting on the blue and bronze tie. Thankfully Mr Miller had shown all the boys on the football team how to properly knot a tie. He had said every boy had to learn it sooner or later and for their secondary schools they would all have to know it. Harry looked at his wristwatch and saw it was a quarter past seven. He went down to the common room and saw that Anthony and Kevin were also already down as were Su Li and Sylveena Esmeraude. Their year of Ravenclaws consisted of six girls and five boys. He knew that Terry and Michael Corner shared their room, so probably Su and Sylveena were also roommates. Now they only needed to wait for Padma Patil, Lisa Turpin, Mandy Brocklehurst and Morag McDougal as he saw Terry and Michael just coming down the stairs.
Once they were all assembled, they only had to wait for a few more minutes for Professor Flitwick to come into the common room.
"Good morning, everybody." The small Professor greeted.
"Good morning, Professor Flitwick." Everybody answered, including the ones working at the tables.
"Ah, good to see all our new Ravenclaws fresh and ready to start their first day of school. I want to tell you a few things that you will need to know to have a successful time here at Hogwarts. Firstly, I'm sure Professor McGonagall informed you about the house point system. I expect all of my Ravenclaws to show proper behaviour towards their teachers. If there is a difference in opinion with one teacher or an argument, you will tell me and we will work on a solution together after the class. I also want to tell you right from the beginning that especially Professor Snape has high demands in his class and as it is a dangerous subject, he doesn't tolerate any foolish behaviour. If you want to avoid problems with him, be polite and respectful and prepare every lesson beforehand. The preparation will help you in all classes, but in that one it is especially important. Professor Snape doesn't hesitate to deduct points if he finds any point to justify it." Professor Flitwick stressed.
"We are the house of the intelligent students that have a love for learning. Over the first four years your grades will be expressed in the percentage you reached on your essays and at the end of the year the exams which will decide if you are moved up a year. From fifth year on the teachers will grade you following the OWL guidelines. OWL means Ordinary Wizarding Level and they are taken at the end of fifth year. The passing grades are A for Acceptable, E for Exceeds Expectations and O for Outstanding. I expect each of you to at least achieve at least an E in all your classes when you take your OWLs. The equivalent to an A is reaching at least sixty per cent. An E you get for at least eighty per cent and an Outstanding for ninety five per cent and above. If any of you wonder how it could be possible to get over hundred per cent, for especially good answers that extend the requested minimum extra credit is given. You have seven subjects this year, Astronomy, Charms, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, History of Magic, Potions and Transfiguration. After the first month of getting used to the classes, I expect each of you to at least get A's in all classes, after the Christmas break in all but one class E's. I know that you nearly always have a weak class, so as long as you pass it, there won't be problems. If anybody doesn't reach that requirement I will arrange tutoring for the student so he or she can reach that level.
"Additionally to the traditional classes this year we will give you the opportunity to learn muggle subjects as well. Those subjects are voluntary, but the exams you sit in them will fully count in the muggle world if you want to apply for a job there or should you decide to continue your schooling after Hogwarts at a muggle university." This surprised many, especially the older students who listened closely now. "The headmaster and the heads of houses have decided to arrange those extra classes every second Saturday morning for the whole morning. Which means from nine in the morning till two in the afternoon you get the chance to either continue or start on your studies in muggle subjects. The teachers will be two muggleborn witches who have degrees in their subjects from Oxford University as far as I was informed. For those of you who aren't familiar with that name, it is one of the most respected muggle universities in the whole of Britain."
Many whispered what the classes might entail and if it would be beneficial for them to go there.
"As I know that you are all at different levels this won't be strictly divided by years, but you will be given a test to find out your current level and then you will be given fitting topics to study. A lot of the work will be like projects, but some will be like lectures. The classes that will be covered are English Literature, Maths, Science, Politics, History and Economics. You will be able to either do them all or choose those you are interested in. For those interested in taking Arithmancy in third year as an elective might profit from taking the Maths class and I can assure you that muggle literature can be very inspiring." Flitwick said. "The sheets to sign up will be at the notice board after lunch.
"I hold monthly meetings for all the members of my house. Those meetings take half an hour and we can discuss problems, wishes for furthering your studies, your achievements for the house and other things that come up then. Which brings me to the next point. I'm sure Miss Clearwater already informed you about the Ravenclaw incentive program. I don't believe that students should just be given certain things, but that you have to earn them. Therefore each year gets a list with things they have to achieve to improve their rooms. It doesn't matter how fast you do it or if you do it, but you can ask your older housemates and they'll confirm for you that the effort is well awarded. At the beginning of a new year you start at zero again. Those improvements can be carpets in the rooms, curtains, plants, for the higher years more comfortable and bigger beds, in the rooms for the younger years there simply is no space for them, more furniture and so on. And trying to do the improvement spells yourself won't work, the rooms are spelled to only accept house elf magic and the Hogwarts elves will only do those improvements on my instructions.
"I advise you to build study groups, they have proven to help students to easier understand the material and split up the workload so that you all have more time for yourselves. Once you have passed a flying test given by Madam Hooch, you can borrow the school brooms from her and fly in your free time at the Quidditch pitch as long as none of the Quidditch teams is training there. As I know that many of you are Quidditch fans and I hear the question if you can try out for the house team every year, I'll tell you this. If you manage to prove to Madam Hooch that you can handle a broom properly, you can go to the tryout. Daniel Barkaim, our Quidditch captain told me that he will hold the trials in the third week, which means you will have had your first flying lesson already. Normally the older students that try out will be better than you, but I don't want to discourage any of you from trying. If in the improbable case one of you is really chosen for the team, we will have to get permission from the headmaster to get that person a broom which will be held by Madam Hooch outside of your team training to not have you abuse the privilege. But a student making the team in first year hasn't happened in over a hundred years, so please don't get your hopes up too much.
"I will hand out your timetables when we are finished. On the back of the timetable is a basic map which shows you the routes to the classrooms you need to get to. We can't have the prefects escort you, as they have to get to their own classes, but this map will help you find your way. So don't lose your timetables. Always eat enough during the meals. You will spend more energy than you are used to, so you need to replace it. The same goes for getting enough sleep. Only a rested body can help you achieve good results. Okay, now I think I've talked enough, if you ever have problems that need to be solved soon, my office is on this floor, when you leave the common room turn right and then it's the last door before the staircase on the left. Okay, please come here to take your timetables." Professor Flitwick said and started handing out the pieces of parchment.
Every student also got the list of things they were tasked to achieve. There were mainly some spells, an essay about two potions that needed to reach a certain quality, finishing an Astronomy chart and if they managed to reach the O equivalent in a class before Christmas that would also count. Harry thought this list was well manageable. The extent of the muggle classes was also very encouraging. Having the chance to work on project at his own pace would help him a lot. And perhaps he could sway some wizard raised students to at least see what the classes were about. He was sure that the muggleborns would at least choose one or two of the subjects. He waited for the others being done and then they went with Penny, who also had a timetable in her hand down to the Great Hall.
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