An Uncertain Visit

James slowly crossed the hallway, glancing left and right in search for Professor Vega's office. After a few moments, he spotted a door indicating "Care of Magical Creatures Professor", and hesitantly approached. The note the teacher left on Ravenclaw's Common Room Noticeboard was a bit vague, mentioning his performance in class and the annual project. Even though he couldn't remember doing anything wrong during the lesson, he couldn't help feeling somewhat anxious about this visit. After all, this was the first time that he was told to meet a professor in their office, and he had heard that this often happened when students caused trouble. Raising his hand, he timidly knocked on the door and waited for a response.

Selene sat at her desk, planning the next lesson.
"Phoenixes or Valcores?" she wondered out loud. She wanted to keep her students interested, but she didn't want to introduce them to all of the great creatures on their first year so that she could have other things to teach for the her upperclassmen. Her concentration was lost at the sound of a quiet knock on the door. Leaving her work as it was, she opened the door.
James Riddle stood on the doorway timidly.
"Oh, Mister Riddle. Glad you got my message. Come on in." she said with a smile, inviting him.
She walked over to her desk and asked him to take a seat. Shuffling papers around in order to clean the space, she finally decided to magically put it all into a pile.
"Don't worry, you are not in trouble." she said, noticing his concern. "I asked you to come over because I want to know how you feel about being in my class? This is not about the class itself, but more about your feelings about it. Do you understand James?" she asked, "Oh, by the way, are you okay with me calling you James?"

"Oh, Mister Riddle. Glad you got my message. Come on in." Professor Vega invited him with a smile upon opening the door. James followed her into the office and stopped in front of her desk while she was regaining her armchair, unsure whether he should take a seat. Noticing his hesitation, the teacher asked him to do so, and he silently sat down, still somewhat concerned about the reason behind this meeting.

"Don't worry, you are not in trouble." Professor Vega reassured him, and he felt his shoulders relax a bit. "I asked you to come over because I want to know how you feel about being in my class? This is not about the class itself, but more about your feelings about it. Do you understand James?" she then explained. James remained silent for a moment. That wasn't what he had expected at all. "Oh, by the way, are you okay with me calling you James?" the professor quickly added. "Yes." he confirmed, still thinking about what to respond to her other question, wondering why he was the one whom she invited to talk about this with. "I thought the lesson was really interesting." he started quite quietly, fixing the pile of papers on the desk. "As you may have noticed, I'm fascinated by muggle myths and legends, and seeing that the creatures they describe are real was truly... amazing."

As Selene listened to the Ravenclaw boy, she noticed a certain uneasiness.
"Don't worry James. The reason for this meeeting is to help you improve your performance in my class and also to improve my teaching, since you know, this is my first year. I'm not saying that you've done something wrong, because you really haven't. In fact, I will do this with each and every single one of my students." She told him, brigning her hands together on the desk. "Why did you sign up for my class?"

"Don't worry James. The reason for this meeeting is to help you improve your performance in my class and also to improve my teaching, since you know, this is my first year. I'm not saying that you've done something wrong, because you really haven't. In fact, I will do this with each and every single one of my students." Professor Vega kindly explained. "Oh, okay." James replied, a bit reassured.

"Why did you sign up for my class?" she then asked him. Slightly changing his position on the armchair, James thought about it for a second. "Well, when I arrived here, I knew almost nothing about magic." he admitted, still staring at the desk. "So I figured that joining as many classes as possible would bring me a full understanding of it."

"Well, when I arrived here, I knew almost nothing about magic." the boy said "So I figured that joining as many classes as possible would bring me a full understanding of it."
"Well, that's a great reason." Selene admitted, she understood what he meant, as she had been raised as a Muggle-born, despite really being Pure-blooded.
"You know, when I first got my letter for Hogwarts, I thought it was a joke. Nobody ever told me I was a wizard." she confessed. "When I first read it, I laughed and threw it away. But more and more letter kept coming, and I finally asked my mother about it. It turned out that my parents were both wizards. My mother always thought she was strange, and that she should be ashamed of what she was. My father, well, he embraced his abilities, but his parents didn't. The repressed his magic and up until now he's never dared try a spell." she paused for a little, observing the boy's reaction. "I guess you could say I was raised as a Muggle-born, which is why I know that taking as many classes will eventually pay off." she added with a smile.

James listened to Professor Vega's story with attention, as she seemed to have experienced many of the things he did before coming to Hogwarts. Just like him, she had no idea of the existence of the wizarding world before receiving her letter, and just like him, she couldn't believe it was all real at first. However, he could never have imagined that someone coming from a magical family could be in that situation, and was really saddened to hear about why her parents didn't tell her she was a witch.

"I guess you could say I was raised as a Muggle-born, which is why I know that taking as many classes will eventually pay off." she added with a smile. And despite not knowing anything about magic, she had succeeded in becoming a professor at one of the most famous wizarding schools in the world, James realized with admiration. He deeply wanted to thank his teacher for sharing this with him, but he was never good at expressing gratitude. All he managed to do was return her smile. "Is there anything else you wanted to ask me?" he then added.

The boy smiled at her, "Is there anything else you wanted to ask me?"
"No, you're free to go. Thank you, James." she told him. "Take care."
After the boy left, she gathered her papers and kept working on her lesson plans, now with a greater idea of what to do to make them better.