Chapter Text
Harry hated teachers who did not teach. He hated Quirrel and Lockhart. Binns made him fall asleep. Snape made him grind his teeth. And really, having teachers who do not teach three subjects was enough.
Part of that hate was that he valued his education, but part of it was that he was not much of a studier. He learned from doing, that was how he learned maths and chemistry, and the times he had been forced to give speeches at school were the times he remembered the subject most. Which made having to self-study for three subjects hellish.
Now, he was in a bit of a conundrum because while it was all well and good to hate Trelawney, who he did not know, it was horrible to hate the first ever adult to care about him.
Hagrid was a great man, but it turned out that he did not know the first thing about teaching. Maybe that should not be a surprise, he did assign a book that bites after all, but it was, and an incredibly unhappy one at that.
So, after a disastrous first lesson where they were taught something that Harry had later researched and found was not on the curriculum, Harry decided to help both himself and his friend.
He, Hermione, and Ron were intimately familiar with reading and studying off of the ICW standards for various classes, they even knew that if you sent a galleon for each class with each request, you would get it in a day or two, rather than a week or two.
He decided to experiment and sent two galleons and he was pleased to find that he was right and got it that very evening. The library had copies, but they needed their own.
It took longer for the book Harry had owl ordered on how to write lesson plans to arrive and it came back with the extra galleon they had sent it with, which meant the bookstore could not be bribed to go faster, which was a shame.
It took Harry three days to get through the bloody book and another few days of practice before he felt confident enough in his work to try to teach it to someone else. The only good thing to come out of having to wait was that Harry discovered that they would not have to teach themselves Defence this year, which was nice.
On the Saturday after he received the book, he went down to Hagrid’s hut without Ron or Hermione. They were both great, but of them, they all agreed that Harry handled the older man best of them. Hermione did not quite understand how to read facial expressions and Ron became flustered with adult incompetence too easily.
Hagrid welcomed him in and offered him tea and rock cakes. The tea was vile and the rock cakes too hard for him to eat, so he dropped a rock cake in the tea to soak and hopefully become edible, then said, “So, Hagrid, I love you, you know that, right?”
Hagrid puffed up and turned red, “That is a mighty fine thing of you to say.”
“It’s the truth but– well– sometimes when you love your friends you have to step in and tell them when they are doing something wrong. It’s the kind thing to do really, because otherwise someone else, possibly someone important, is going to come in and say it in a much meaner way and possibly with bad consequences.”
“I have to do it with Hermione all the time because she wants to write ten feet essays which is just cruel to the teachers who assigned a foot and a half long essay. Ron, well, Ron gets too hot headed sometimes and I often have to drag him away, let him rant, then dress him down. Do you understand what I am saying?”
Hagrid frowned as he processed that before he said, “You think I’m doing something wrong.”
“I’m sorry, Hagrid. If I could say it another way, I swear I would, but you need to know the truth,” Harry said with genuine remorse.
Hagrid grimaced and said, “I understand. What do you think I am doing wrong?”
Harry hesitated because he had been planning this for a week and a half and still was not sure what to say, but he asked, “Have you heard of the ICW teaching standards?”
“Yeah, Dumbledore gave them to me when I started. Seemed bloody boring though,” Hagrid said unhappily.
Harry said with feeling, “Oh, they really bloody are. Trust me, I know. I have been teaching myself Defence, Potions, and History off of them for two years and I will have to teach myself Divination off of them this year too. The problem is, well, I can’t really just ignore those standards. Do you know what OWLs and NEWTs are? And I’m not talking about the animals.”
“Of course I do! They’re the tests you’ve gotta take at the ends of your fifth and seventh year!” Hagrid said, sounding offended.
Harry said placatingly, “I never really thought you didn’t, I just wanted to get you thinking about them. See, those standards that they gave you? They guide what is on the OWLs and NEWTs. The students need to learn what is in the standards, because otherwise they will fail the tests. Do you know what would happen if they failed those tests?”
“They would have to retake them,” Hagrid said uneasily.
“Well, sure, but see, Hogwarts only gives them two chances at the OWLs and one chance at the NEWTs. After that, they are on their own. OWLs are standard exams that every student in the country has to take, and most schools charge their students the full price of them, not Hogwarts though. The full price is two hundred galleons, Hagrid,” Harry said.
“Galloping gargoyles! Why do they make them so bloody expensive!” Hagrid exclaimed.
Hermione had all kinds of theories on that, but Harry did not get into that right then. Instead, he said, “I don’t know, but the point is that unless the student is rich, they only get two chances at the test, and even rich people would shy away from giving them a third shot. The NEWTs? Well, that is not a standard test that all schools give their students because most schools’ students can’t afford the cost. OWLs get you a standard job, though, while NEWTs give you specialty jobs. Can you guess how much the NEWTs are?”
Hagrid looked horrified as he asked faintly, “How much?”
“A thousand galleons. That’s why Hogwarts only offers one chance for its students. Again, they don’t ask the students to pay for it but doing that more than once is too much even for Hogwarts,” Harry said severely.
“Dear Merlin!” Hagrid gasped, clutching his chest tightly.
Harry nodded and said, “And the horrible thing is, if the students don’t pass that OWL or NEWT, then entire industries worth of jobs are completely blocked off to them. It doesn’t matter how much someone wants to be a dragon handler, if they can’t pass the NEWT, they never will be. That’s why those tests are important and that’s why those standards are important. They are miserable, probably not half as fun as whatever you have planned, but we have to learn that stuff and most people won’t bother to teach it to themselves if you aren’t going to.”
Hagrid buried his face in his hands and moaned pitifully.
Harry patted his arm and said, “Cheer up! I am here to help! See, I read a book on planning lessons and homework, so I can help you. I bring my knowledge of lesson planning, and you bring your knowledge of animals. It works!”
Hagrid slowly sat up and said with shining eyes, “That’s mighty kind of you, Harry.”
“I told you, we’re friends, and friends help friends,” Harry said with a smile.
It was hard work planning lesson plans, but before the end of the day, they had the next two weeks planned out completely. They spent Sunday planning out the next four months completely and agreed to meet again during the winter break to plan the next six months out.
On Hagrid’s behalf and with Hagrid’s blessing, Harry wrote to the ICW Education Department and requested copies of each year’s suggested test rubrics for both semesters. He did not tell Hagrid that he included ten galleons in his request in the hopes that such a thing would get them there in a timely manner.
Sure enough, within the month, they arrived, and Hagrid and Harry streamlined the lessons further.
Hermione thanked him with tears in her eyes after the first lesson and Harry just smiled and said, “Now, we need to teach ourselves Divination.”