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"What's the Muggle Studies professor called again?" Fred asked his brother.
They'd just been liberated from Potions class. Snape's temper this term was abysmal. Angelina had merely added two ounces less moonstone powder, and he'd flown into a rage, docking Gryffindor ten points.
If Fred hadn't mimicked Snape's expression while scolding her so perfectly, Angelina might've argued with Snape on the spot. But when a Weasley with the exact same scathing expression stood behind Snape, the furious professor became comical.
"Five more points from Gryffindor." Snape glanced warningly at her deskmate suppressing laughter and said without turning around, "Detention, Weasley."
"But Professor, I didn't do anything!" George protested.
Students behind him gasped. Snape turned around and stared at George darkly.
Fred had sat down before Snape turned. The Slytherin Chaser glared at him. He stared back provocatively, gripping an invisible bat and swinging an air Bludger at him.
"I meant the other Mr. Weasley." Snape hissed. "But you've successfully earned yourself a detention too, Weasley. Five points from Gryffindor!"
Fred and George high-fived under their desks.
...
George checked his schedule. "Anthony. Henry Anthony. We're already late, but he looked fairly reasonable at the Start-of-Term Feast."
"Muggle Studies." Fred shrugged, strolling through the castle corridor with his brother. "I mean, it's just an elective. Poor Professor Henry Anthony... Strange, I don't remember seeing him before the feast, but his name sounds familiar."
"I was thinking that too." George said. "Let me think... Wait... Mum! He's that pen pal Mum found for Dad!"
Fred had an epiphany. They broke into a run.
The Muggle Studies classroom was on the first floor. They leaped up the stairs two at a time, knocked on the ajar classroom door, and stuck out their breathless heads. "Professor, sorry we're late."
"We got detention from Professor Snape." George looked extremely anxious and guilty.
"Come in, Mr. Weasley." Anthony smiled as they found seats at the back of the classroom. "By the way, next time remember to pretend you haven't caught your breath yet after sitting down."
Someone snorted with laughter.
"Yes, Professor." Fred said graciously.
"Since everyone's here now, let's continue where we left off. I've already introduced myself. Your turn." Anthony thought for a moment, walked down from the platform, and sat in an empty seat in the first row. "How about this—more people took this class than I expected. Let's do a survey first. Why did you choose Muggle Studies?"
He looked encouragingly at the freckle-faced girl beside him.
"I... I'm half-blood. I want to learn how to communicate with my grandmother..." The girl said quietly, her face flushing.
"Very good. The willingness to understand is the most crucial step." Anthony said gently. "Anyone else?"
"I'm interested in Muggle sports! They don't use broomsticks—a bunch of people run on the ground, and I heard there's only one ball!" A tall student said eagerly.
"I know nothing about Muggles, so I thought taking a class might help..."
"I was dragged here by him."
"I was also persuaded by friends to take this class." Angelina said.
"I think Muggle music is interesting. My grandmother was a Muggle-born witch. When she was alive, my family played Muggle Christmas carols every Christmas."
"We think things Muggles invented are quite interesting—" Fred said.
"—Dad insisted we take the class—" George said.
"—And we need about the same number of certificates." Fred added.
"My roommate is Muggle-born. She invited me to her house for Christmas." A girl said. "I need to prepare for that."
...
After everyone had spoken, Anthony clapped his hands, drawing students' attention back to him. "Good. Let me summarize. Interest, friends' persuasion, and padding certificates, right?"
Low laughter and murmurs of agreement rippled through the students.
He stood and walked back to the platform, writing these three reasons on the blackboard.
"What would you think if I said Muggles have already predicted your reasons?"
He put down the chalk and looked at the students below. "This class is called Muggle Studies. Wizards study Muggles, and Muggles also study themselves. For our first lesson, let's use a theory Muggles developed about themselves as an example. By the end of this class, I hope you'll discover Muggles and wizards aren't so different. This is the key point of my course."
"This theory is Muggle research on human behavior—students who don't understand what 'human' means in the Muggle context can refer to Chapter 9 of the textbook, 'Muggle Terminology,' and Appendix 2 at the back."
Above the three course selection reasons, Anthony wrote in capital letters: "MUGGLE THEORY: THEORY OF PLANNED BEHAVIOR."
"Like magical theory, Muggles have developed various theories to explain their behavior. This theory is one of them. Just as magical theorists tinker with magical theory, Muggles also revise their theories based on reality. So I don't know if this theory will be corrected into something else in the future or proven false, but currently..."
He wrote below "Interest, Friends' Persuasion, Padding Certificates": "Attitude, Subjective Norms, Perceived Behavioral Control."
"Attitude refers to your own attitude toward doing something. Because you're interested in Muggle Studies, you have a positive attitude toward taking the class, which promoted the course selection behavior."
Several students began nodding.
"Subjective norms refer to how you think people important to you view this matter. Friends want you to take the class, and he or she is important to you. This also promoted course selection behavior—ahem, some of you, why are you blushing?"
"Perceived behavioral control refers to how difficult you think doing something is. Taking an easy class and passing the exam easily—you think this isn't very difficult and you're certain you can do it, so it promoted course selection."
"Through the combination of these three factors, you ultimately ended up sitting here." Anthony concluded. "Welcome."
Fred whispered to George, "We hit all three."
"We're interested." George counted on his fingers. "Dad strongly insisted we take the class, and half the Quidditch team is here. We also think this certificate is easy to get—think of Charlie."
"Oh, Professor, this is just a Muggle clothing decoration." Fred mimicked Charlie's tone. "Like cufflinks. Muggles hang clothing prices out to display their wealth and status."
They both bent their heads laughing.
Anthony glanced in that direction several times, hesitating whether to establish new professor authority or let the Weasley twins slide—they were already much quieter than expected.
The tall boy interested in Muggle sports scratched his head, interrupting Anthony's gaze toward the corner. "But Professor, this doesn't make sense. Even if I have all three, if this class schedule conflicts with Quidditch training, I'd definitely abandon Muggle Studies." Angelina elbowed him hard. He belatedly realized. "Uh, they don't actually conflict. I mean, I took the class. What I meant was... sorry."
Anthony smiled and told him not to worry. "Interest, friends, and exam difficulty are just examples of the three factors. Muggles are very flexible. They work hard to make their theories include as much as possible, so when you want to find fault, you'll be dizzy with confusion."
"For instance, now the schedule conflicts with training. This affects all three factors. For example, from subjective norms, your teammates don't want you to take the class. This hinders course selection behavior.
"Even if other friends are still persuading you to take the class, you can tell them, 'If I take the class, my teammates will kill me,' right? All three factors are multi-dimensional combinations."
He nodded.
Anthony awarded five points to this Gryffindor for active thinking and enthusiastic participation, then raised his voice. "Alright, that's it for theory. Perk up, boys and girls. Next we'll do some practical exercises."
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