"How can you already have an opinion on the new History of Magic professor? We don't even know how he looks like!" Hermione scolded as she strode through the hallways along side her two friends.

"Hermione, he didn't even show up to the Great Feast! If you ask me, he's a boring lazy ass. I bet he's a stuck up snob like Malfoy." Ron answered before dodging a thick leather bound book that was on a collision course with his head.

"The new professor wasn't there because of a sudden illness in the family. Don't you remember? Dumbledore said so himself." Hermione said as she tucked her book back into her folded arms. "The Kirklands' are a powerful family, and I hear that their private library is bigger than any other in Britain. A family with that much knowledge wouldn't send an incompetent teacher."

"Yeah, but what kind of illness kept him from the Great Feast? They've got plenty of money, so why not hire a healer?"

Hermione Abruptly stopped in the middle of the hallway, causing Harry to bump into her. The girl sent the tall red headed boy a long, and exasperated look.

"Of course they would get a healer. And the Professor probably stayed home to Help take care of the sick and provided emotional support." She lectured. "It's quite noble of him, really."

"Still. Missing the Great Feast like that is a pretty big deal." Ron grumbled.

"That doesn't mean that his teaching skills are going to be subpar."

"Either way, He has got to be better than Binns." Harry spoke up, and the other boy snorted snorted.

"Everyone is better than Binns." Ron said.

"Except for Lockhart." Harry grimaced, remembering the terribly incompetent Defense teacher from the previous year.

"Except for Lockhart." Ron agreed whole heartedly.

"Glad we're all in agreement." Hermione finished just as they reached the door to the History of Magic classroom. The trio exchanged a quick glance with each other. Despite all that the Hogwarts rumor mill had to say about the unknown teacher, the golden trio wasn't quite sure what they were expecting on the other side of that door.

No one really knew who this Professor 'Minty' was.

Of course, everyone knew he had a rather ridiculous name. Ron nearly choked with laughter when Dumbledore announced that along side Professor Lupin become the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher and Hagrid becoming the new Professor of the elective Care of Magical Creatures, one Professor Minty was going to take over for Professor Binns.

Honestly, who in the right mind would grace their child with the name 'Minty'?

Especially considering that this Minty person would grow up to be one of the wards of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Kirkland. A family that has been around since before the founding of Hogwarts. Something that very few people could claim to be a part of.

As of now, there were only five members of the House of Kirkland. But even that number was disputed. The Kirklands were some of Wizarding World's most illusive wizards.

Despite having a vast amount of power and wealth to potentially buy out the whole Ministry of Magic, no wizard or witch from the House of Kirkland had shown their face in public since before the rise of Grindelwald.

In a way, everyone in the wizarding world knew them. Even the incoming muggleborn students were entertained with fantastical legends about powerful wizards from the Kirkland family. And yet, no one really knew them at all. Even the correct names of each individual Kirkland was heavily disputed by the general populous.

In fact, the only reason why anyone even knew that the line had died out was because the Kirklands were notorious for taking in seemingly random wizards that couldn't have possibly have any connection to the Kirklands.

These wizards who had somehow gained favor with the Kirkland family were known to disappear off of the face of the earth before reappearing out of thin air with an important task they needed to accomplish.

These tasks could range from anything from making an official statement of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Kirkland's opinion on certain political arguments, or submitting a news article to the Daily Prophet that made fun of the Spanish Armada, written by the head of the House himself.

In these particular articles, the head always referred to himself as 'Captain Kirkland, the greatest fucking pirate ever to sail the seven seas.'

Both Harry and Hermione didn't quite believe Ron when he continuously asserted that that had actually happened a few years before he started his schooling at Hogwarts. That is, until Ron finally dug up an old copy of the Daily Prophet and was able to confirm that, yes, one of the most politically powerful people in all of Wizarding Britain did indeed write an article about how the Spanish navy could go eat a bucket of lemons, and that the quote 'Spanish bastard with a serious tomato addiction' would never be on the same level of greatness that the United Kingdom was.

Even though the Kirklands themselves never seemed to leave the safety of their homes -or if they did, they did so under a pseudonym, an assumed name- these periodic visits from the wards was enough to reassure both the magical world that yes, the Kirklands were still alive and well. And no, their wealth and power was not up for grabs.

But these visits to the outside world never lasted for more than a week. Then the wards would hurry on back to one of the many manors that were owned by the Kirklands. Which was why it was so surprising that the Kirklands would actually send one of their wards for a whole nine months to teach in the place of Professor Binns.

Even Dumbledore had been surprised when he had received a response from them after he had sent a round of last minute letters to prominent historians and families, practically begging for a replacement for the old ghost.

Two week before the students were supposed to step on to the Hogwarts Express at platform 9 3/4, Binns had simply disappeared. One minute, he was sitting quietly at a staff meeting, getting ready for the new school year with the rest of his co-workers, and then the next, he raised his head up to the ceiling and said,

"Looks like my time has come."

And then faded away from existence.

Naturally, all of the professors had gone mad searching for the missing History of Magic professor, before they finally resided in the fact that Cuthbert Binns had finally moved on to the after life. Even though no one knew the reason why Binns had moved on at that particular time.

But that left the professors of Hogwarts in an interesting predicament. They had to find a replacement for professor Binns before the start of the term.

Clearly, this was no easy task. Hogwarts had no need for a new History professor for hundreds of years due to Professor Binns's near immortality as a ghost. And it wasn't as if there was a plethora of magical historians just waiting for the moment that a position would open up at Hogwarts that would require their interest in the past.

That is to say, not many people actually had the qualifications to teach the subject in a higher institution. And those that did lived abroad, or had no valid connection to Hogwarts, or simply flat out rejected Dumbledore's requests.

Then, out of the blue, one of Dumbledore's many letter got an answer from a majestic barn owl. A member of the House of Kirkland agreed to send one of their students for a whole year to take over the empty position. The letter claimed that the person who was being sent was perfectly qualified, and perfectly competent.

The Hogwarts rumor mill went haywire after the announcement of the new history Professor. Stories circulated of the heroic deeds done by Professor Minty, such as fighting of a hoard of vampires that were terrorizing a defenseless muggle baby. Or about how the new Professor was able to tame a ferocious dragon. According to what the trio had heard, this new Professor was kind, fearless, a warrior, and as Gryffindor as one could possible get.

But still, that didn't stop Hermione, Ron, and Harry from pausing hesitantly in front of the closed door.

Finally, Harry reached out and pushed the door open.

The Trio held their breaths.

There was nothing.

No teacher.

Just students milling around, and chatting aimlessly. The desks were all organized the same way as the previous years. The chalkboard was completely spotless. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, other than the fact that class started in less than a minute and the teacher still hadn't arrived.

For some strange reason, Harry felt oddly disappointed.

He wasn't sure what exactly he expected. Maybe some kind of flamboyant display to welcome in the students. Or maybe something calm and casual that would put any anxious minds at ease.

Anything really. Just not nothing.

Harry shrugged his musings off and shuffled over to an empty seat. Hermione and Ron soon joined him on either side. The two boys began a heated discussion about Quidditch, while the girl pulled out her Hogwarts: A History book and began scanning it once more as review for the class.

"Hey, where's the professor?" Someone asked from the back of the class.

Hermione looked up from her book and glanced up at the clock. The new professor was officially five minutes late to class.

"Not a very good first impression, being late to class." She observed.

"Maybe it's the family illness again." Ron said, taking a wild guess.

"Or maybe, he's just running a little late." Harry mused.

Hermione paused for a moment. "Did you hear that?" She asked. The two boys blinked owlishly at her.

"Hear what?" Harry said.

"That noise. It sounds like a little bell."

"I don't hear anything."

"Me neither." Ron supplied, but Hermione didn't look convinced. Her head whipped around from side to side as she tried to identify the source of the tinkling noise.

"She's gone mad." Ron whispered to Harry. "I bet it's all of the classes she's taking this year."

Harry shrugged in response.

Suddenly, over the cacophonous chorus of chatting students, a low buzzing sound hummed in Harry's right ear. At first he wrote it off as his mind playing tricks on him, and continued on with his conversation with Ron.

But the soft noise didn't go away. It grew louder and louder, prompting Harry to swat away at what he thought was a fly buzzing by his ear. It didn't end there. In fact, the strange noise grew stronger until it didn't sound quite like the buzz of a mosquito.

More like a small bell chiming in the wind.

"What is that?" Asked Ron. It seemed as if he too was finally able to hear the strange noise.

All of the other sounds that accompanied a classroom full of waiting children dimmed down until only soft whispers and chiming bells floated across the airwaves. By then, everyone else could hear it and yet no one could figure out what was making it.

A loud crack ripped through the air, and silenced any and all conversation. The door had been thrown wide open, causing the entire class to jump a foot in the air in surprise.

The eyes of every student were glued to the doorway. Each child was bubbling with anticipation, waiting for the professor to waltz into the room and take over the class with a grace and elegance that someone who worked closely with the Kirkland family could have.

A swift moment passed.

And then another.

And then another.

"Where is he?" Hermione finally caved. "It's completely unprofessional to leave a classroom full of children to their own devices on the very first day."

A low murmur erupted as the third year Gryffindor and Hufflepuff students voiced their concerns. People began standing up, throwing their chairs back in the process. A sense of unease flooded the room.

Without warning, the door slammed shut and heads turned once again to the back of the classroom. The bell was back, ringing as clearly as ever. In fact, it got louder and louder until some kids with more sensitive hearing were forced to cover their ears.

"Can everyone please sit facing the front of the room? Thank you." A soft, high pitched voice said from the opposite side of the room. Silence engulfed the room, and as one the entire class cranked their heads to the front of the room.

For a moment, everyone was too shocked to speak.

"Did that thing just speak?" Ron whispered to Harry.

"I don't know." Harry replied, equally bewildered as his red headed companion. Hermione then cleared her throat, bringing everyone's attention to her.

"Excuse me," she said. "But, did you just talk?"

"Yes," said the stranger who was most certainly not there just a few minutes before. "Yes I did just talk."

"But... But that's impossible!" The bushy haired girl said with wide, disbelieving eyes.

"Well, it must be possible since I'm currently speaking English."

"Are you the professor's pet?" Harry asked before Hermione could start grilling the poor animal. "Do you know where he is?"

The creature covered its little mouth and began giggling. It's laughter sounding eerily similar to a ringing bell.

"I think you misunderstand. I am the Professor! My name is Flying Mint Bunny, but you guys can just call me Professor Minty. I'm going to be you're new History teacher!" The little green bunny with wings chirped from the edge of the professor's desk. "Nice to meet you!" Professor Minty added.

It took a moment for the class to digest this information.

And then all hell broke loose.

Author's Note:

New chapter of a new story on a new account. I've been wanting to write a pottertalia fanfic for a really long time now, but I've never been able to settle on a single plot line. That is, until I decided to merge two of my pre existing pottertalia fics. I had to rewrite a bunch of stuff, but I'm pretty happy with the end result.

In terms of parings, the main one will be PruCan. Eventually. It will take a little while before I introduce Prussia and Canada, but they certainly do play a huge roll in this fanfic. I might add more pairings if there is a popular demand, and it will fit in with the plot, but otherwise PruCan will be the only pairing I will be focusing on.

If there are any mistakes, grammar or otherwise, please let me know. Spelling and grammar are not my strong suite.

Thanks for taking the time to read this story, and if you don't mind, please leave a review. It doesn't have to be complicated, just a simple :) will do.

Thank you again and I hope you all have a wonderful day!

-snowy-maplette-