History of Magic
N.E.W.T.
Tuesday, September 20^th @ 10:00am

Attendance
☑ Grimwold Jorkins
☑ Eli Park
☑ Blake Knight
☑ Kelvin Watkins
☑ Kyson Cavanaugh

For the past two weeks, the N.E.W.T. History of Magic students had been delving into deep detail about encounters between Magic folks and muggles throughout history. The sort of encounters where the actual nature of the witch or wizard was not known to the muggles, the existence of a Wizarding community unknown.

The History of Magic classroom was finally settling in to the way Professor Greyfriar liked it, warm and heaped in reference material. Braziers burned brightly above them, cool blue light peeked through leaded glass windows from the drizzle-y day outside. The tight tiers of seating surrounded the little dais with the ancient podium, against which the old bear of a Wizard leaned.

"And these encounters often represented a supernatural breaking of muggles' understanding of nature, and attempts were made to explain the phenomenon. From your reading last week, from the collections of encounters you've been gathering - how have pre-industrial muggles explained our magic?"

As the Professor had facilitated and exploration in class, he'd assigned his older students to find as many examples as possible and document them. He'd even had the help of the Hogwarts librarian to bring in muggle primary sources - old newspapers, journals, muggle books on their idea of the supernatural magic, religious texts. The trick was, of course, trying to find the analog Wizarding account. The comparisons had been fascinating.

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For more background, see the History of Magic Curriculum. Please feel free to improvise whatever examples seem fun.

Note: Will post a link to the text Blake references when I'm not mobile.

Professor Greyfriar had easily become Blake's hero since presenting the curriculum for NEWT students in History of Magic. Greyfriar probably had no way of knowing but his selection ensured that the Ravenclaw would be attentive and productive all yearlong.

Already he had spent a good portion of the first month of school pouring over tombs in the library. The slacker in him had been quelled for the time being and his passion for learning ignited.

Just the night before he lounged in the Ravenclaw common room with his nose stuck in one door stopper of a book, like days of old when he was at the peak of his intellectual performance.

This allowed for Blake to be one of the first to raise his hand to respond to the question Professor Greyfriar posed.

When called on, Blake eagerly shared, "In one of the texts I read, there was a lot of mention of something that still has a certain amount of weight in modern times. Luck and Superstition. Many cultures had what they considered lucky and unlucky days of the month based on well known common occurrences. And I'm sure those early cultures had their version of wearing a piece of clothing repeatedly because not doing so would tempt fate and something bad would happen."

Blake paused and looked down at the notes he had neatly prepared for class. "I found this one quote to be very interesting," he said before beginning to read: "Though cultural variations exist in the specific application of predicative magic, a recurrent structural theme is present throughout the preindustrial-urban world: magic is employed to to help one accommodate to the day-to-day struggle for existence."

Blake looked up again and blinked. "I think magic, on some level, gave them peace of mind. An explanation for what could not be controlled."

Professor Greyfriar nodded.  Blake had impressed him early on as a thoughtful, diligent student with a lot to contribute to the class culture.

"Very good. Five to Ravenclaw. Did everyone take note? Cervantes[1] tells us that the most influential magic is and always has been home magics. That's perhaps the other side of the coin of the fantastical demonstrations that make it into muggle legend."

He raised his gaze to the rest of the room.

"Do you, or certainly anyone else, have an example of a Magical individual leveraging this in a surreptitious encounter with muggles? What becomes of those who seem to be luckier than others? How have non-Magical communities reacted to people who seem to have some advantage in the cosmic lottery?"

1.	Just some magical historian Knox is quoting

Grimwold knew that high marks in History of Magic was needed to pursue what he wanted to do - become a Cursebreaker - but sometimes he had a hard time focusing. This terms curriculum however, with reading into how muggles were affected by magic, was something he had a hard time concentrating on, and he often found his mind wandering towards the lives of the witches and wizards who had produced amazing feats, rather than the muggles who saw it. He tried hard, he really did, but something about it just didn’t suck him in as much as he wanted to.

But he was there, books prepped up on his desk in a chaotic manner, and his quill hovering over the piece of parchment in front of him. He glanced over at Blake’s desk next to him, and gave a silent sigh of how neat and organised it seemed. They had only been there for less than ten minutes, but Grim’s desk was already looking like a battlefield.

Blake went into an explanation and re-reading of something he had found, and Grim instantly felt overwhelmingly underprepared. He had a sinking feeling that he might have misunderstood the subject, or that he had, per usual, gone down a rabbit hole and ended up with a load of information that wasn’t applicable to the situation. As Professor Greyfriar handed out five points to Ravenclaw, and went on to ask questions to the class, Grim quickly rumbled through his papers, trying to find something that might seem relevant.

There.

With a sigh of relief, Grimwold withdrew a paper from the bottom of his messy pile and hesitantly raised his hand.

“So, there was this woman. I think it might’ve been in Shropshire…” Grim began, trying do discern his own scribblings.  “Yes, that says Shropshire. Anyway, there was this woman who had been given a pendant by a wizard who was in love with her. And he had done some kind of charm on it. Like a lucky charm!”

Grim looked up from his papers for a second, trying to see on the Professor’s face if he was on the right path. When he realised that he couldn’t, he turned back to his papers and continued.

“So, this woman’s family was always the healthiest, and her cattle never fell ill, and when a harsh winter came her crops were the only one to survive the winter. So the muggles in the town, well, they burned her and called her a witch...” Grim ended feebly and put his papers down. Hopefully he wasn’t completely off track.

Kyson leaned back in his chair, watching the Professor move around. He was fiddling with his quill without much thought, jotting down a note here or there. His attention however was rapturously caught by the massive bear of a man. He couldn't help himself. Knox Greyfriar was a well accomplished wizard, he looked healthy and boisterous and he had an obvious love of teaching. In previous years Kyson had struggled with History but kept with it, feeling he would need it in his future as an Auror. Knowing History helped one not to repeat it. Greyfriar had helped him stay focused on the subject, if only for the sole fact that he was a werewolf. A fully functioning member of society, werewolf. Kyson was blown away by his very existence.

When Grim talked about a woman that was burned as a witch Kyson nodded along and added in, "Muggles used to revere Wizards. They were put in high places, made advisers, confidants. Kings, Emporers, Rulers - you were hard pressed to find any powerful Muggle that didn't have at least one Witch or Wizard in their life. Until the Religious took over and started calling us all evil."

He had no references to call out, even though he had been reading as much of the course material as he could manage. Then again he preferred talking from the hip, speaking from experience as it were. Facts were boring, experiences were the kind of Historical Knowledge he preferred. There was no denying that Magic was present in almost every ancient society of Muggles, even if it wasn't real. 

"Good, good," Professor Greyfriar mumbled encouragingly as Grimwold Jorkins managed to deftly pull some content from his chaotic stacks of books and notes.

"That's an illuminating example - our Shropshire wizard had ostensibly good intentions, yes? He fell in love. But the consequences were disastrous. Good."

It was an excellent example of the ethical conundrum and the relative power at struggle between Wizards and muggles, and men and women. What responsibility do Magic folk have in cases like these? He didn't want to stop the momentum of the class, however. Kyson Cavanaugh looked ready to contribute - a good day for them all indeed.

Quietly, Knox Greyfriar marked down a few points for Gryffindor.

The Professor listened again but not without a small smile. Kyson came at History differently than some of his classmates. His essays so far this year had illustrated that. It wasn't a bad way to do things - conclusions first, facts later - Mr. Cavanaugh would just need to develop the latter.

"Those are quite the claims, Mr. Cavanaugh! I don't doubt they could be supportable, but you'll need to back it up."

Even though he was putting Kyson on the spot, he stepped away from the podium and began a lap around the dais.  The floor was still open.

The contributions from Grim and Ky were enough to fuel more thoughts in Blake's mind that he was eager to share. But he didn't want to hog the floor and he wasn't one to want to be a teachers pet. He just enjoyed the topic.

Seeing that Greyfriar was putting Ky on the spot, Blake thought now would be a good time to jump in and try to help. Maybe if he just threw some information out, it would jog the Slytherin's memory and Ky could take off with it.

Blake raised his hand with an extended finger in a 'point of information' movement and when it seemed like he wasn't going to butt in on another's thought, he offered, "To piggy back off what Ky was suggesting, there are individuals in history like Nostradamus and Da Vinci and even more recently Rasputin who held great esteem in the courts of European royal families due to the talents and the powers they possessed. Maybe Ky can elaborate on how they were received by both their monarchs and common folks. Or," he said, hold his arms put in an 'I don't know' manner, "Maybe there's someone else more exciting than guys who are known as prophets, artists or holy men."

Kelvin had always enjoyed history of magic.  Between his historian parents and curse-breaker brother history had always been a topic of discussion and interest to him.  Granted most of that was before he'd moved in with his brother and only saw his father occasionally on holidays.  Before his mother disowned him.  And normally that still didn't factor into his love of the class.  But now they were covering areas that were his mother's specialty.  It was difficult to do the necessary research without bringing up memories of books, and exhibits, and research trips that prominently featured his mother.

He listened thoughtfully to Blake and Grim's examples and managed not to snort when Kyson just offered generalizations that'd they'd been taught in first year history of magic. Surely someone had told him he didn't have to take the class anymore.  Kelvin himself was much happier not taking potions.  Of course, Blake also tried to bail Kyson out.

"Paracelsus," Kelvin added, not waiting for Kyson to get another chance, "managed to use magic to advance muggle medicine.  He was driven out of multiple cities by muggle healers because he challenged the conventional wisdom of the time.  And that was before the statute of secrecy.  He was an alchemist too.  But it seems like everyone, muggle or wizard, was at the time."  At least anyone who had the money to throw at making themselves richer and immortal.

The mention of Da Vinci by Blake and Paracelsus by Kelvin jogged something in Grimwold’s memory, and he once again scrambled with his notes trying to find what he was looking for. He knew there was something related to Da Vinci, something he had come across in a book he had randomly opened about Italian wizards. When he finally found it, he glanced over at Kelvin, making sure the Ravenclaw had finished, before he spoke again.

“There’s also this witch named Cecilia Gallerani,” he began, trying to sound as convincing as he could. “She apparently used to bring loads of high-up muggles in Milan together to discuss philosophy, amongst other things.”

He felt he started to get a hang of where this class was going, and was kind of surprised by how he managed to keep up. Going into a class with two well-read Ravenclaws discussing research they’ve done wasn’t really a situation that he had hoped to find himself in, but he would try his best to be on (if not exactly, then something close to) the same level.

“She supposedly helped the muggles change their philosophical view of death from her discussing it with ghost that she’d met. But, see, here’s what I don’t understand,” Grim continued. “If this Cecilia lady had ghosts to speak to, why would she discuss this with Muggles? Surely, death would be more a more interesting subject to discuss with them? Also, how much does ghosts know about death? Do they remember dying?”

Without him noticing that it was happening, Grim had done what he usually did - float away from the subject. To him, discussing what and what not ghosts knew was a far more interesting topic to him, and all thoughts of muggle relations slowly trickled away from his mind. This was textbook Grim.

Kyson simply smirked when Greyfriar responded to him. Of course he wanted him to back up his claims. Although this was a case of where should he start? Ancient Egypt, Rome, Greece - societies that were practically infused with magic before their respective Empires fell. However he wasn't going to get much further without reciting at least a few facts. Not while taking the class with Ravenclaws anyways. At least Blake was being helpful, Kelvin on the other hand was being . . . well a Ravenclaw.

As Kelvin added his own quick addition to the discussion Kyson leaned over and opened his bag to retrieve a book, all the while humming Boney M's 'Rasputin'. With his book in hand he placed it on his desk and started to leaf through it 'til he found the passage he had been looking for.

Kyson narrowed his brow at Grim's question about Ghosts, "Do they remember dying? Have you never talked to Sir Nicholas?" The Gryffindor Ghost was rather talkative about his own death when it came down to it. Then again Kyson couldn't blame him, made for a fun little spook when he explained his nick name to the younger students.

"Anyway, Blake actually brings up an interesting point with Rasputin. He gained Notoriety in the early 1900s long after the Statute of Secrecy was signed. Being a healer to the Tsar's son could have landed him in some serious trouble, not to mention the claims that he mystified and charmed women into sleeping with him. He had to be secretive about his magic and only use in small doses, mainly to benefit Alexei - keeping the kid from dying. But it was seen as sacrilegious, and the Nobles were not happy with his influence on the Tsar.  He was poisoned and shot, that much can be confirmed through Muggle texts but the story's changed a lot over the years." He ran his finger down the text book until he got to a specific passage, "In fact there's even a few Muggle writers who believed the British Secret Service had him assassinated, which you know could have easily been a cover up by the MLE." Kyson wasn't normally one for conspiracy theories, but he was curious to see if he managed to ruffle any Eagle Feathers. 

The Hufflepuff admittedly felt a little out of her depth with the discussion going on around. She'd actually done her reading. Winnie was a little obsessed with muggles and wanted to work them in some capacity some day- so the current curriculum actually interested her quite a bit. But the other boys in her class were so good at speaking and putting their knowledge into words and meaningful discussion and Winifred worried that she would never be able to keep up with them if this was what the year was going to be like.

But she would try.

"What I think is interesting is all of those examples all come from Europe," she said- hoping that she wasn't about to make a total idiot of herself. She worried what her male peers thought about her more than she should. "Historically in America anything resembling magic or witchcraft has been labelled as evil because of America's deep religious roots. They would hang witches because they thought it meant they were consorting with the devil. And that opinion never really changed. Even now in modern times anything that has a high fantasy element a lot of super religious groups will boycott it and say that it will cause possession or that it's evil or of the devil and stuff. That's an element that hasn't changed since their country was founded."

The Professor shrugged to himself. Only points for textually-supported claims. It was difficult skill to learn, but vital. It may seem tedious, but this is what the study of History of Magic was about.

"Good.  All three - Rasputin, Paracelsuc, and Gallerani - are good examples of Maslaney's archetype Magi Mirabulis."  He paused to write the citation on the board.


It was a hyperbolig title, but that's Maslaney for you.

"I encourage you to reference this as we move forward. Her archetypes can be a helpful starting point for understanding trends in mago/muggle encounters from the past.  Miss Oliver, you might be a touch disappointed in that Maslaney's a bit light on American history so for that, take a peek at Miranda Watkins."

He made the slightest glance towards Kelvin. Miranda Watkins was, in addition to being a respected expert in mago/muggle history, young Mr. Watkin's mother.  And that there was nothing simple about the relationship.

"So let's shift from here. Let's begin focusing on the magical perspective. What have been the reaction of contemporaries? What were the ethical imperatives of the time for magical folk interacting with muggles? Do we have any acknowledgement from these magical interlopers of the affects of their actions?"

Winifred wrote down the name that Greyfriar mentioned to learn more about history of America. She listened as he elaborated more on the topic at hand and her brows furrowed in genuine confusion. She didn't understand what he was asking them now. Ethical imperatives? Reaction of contemporaries? What even was a contemporary? She wanted to do well in this class. Winnie knew that her mom would be glad if she did- but this just kept going over her head. How was it so hard to keep up with this conversation?

She looked around the room to see if anybody else was just as lost as she was after the questions their professor had posed to her. Maybe Winifred was better off just to study and try to do well on her tests and not open her mouth anymore when she clearly had no idea what exactly it was their professor wanted or was hoping to get them to say.

Kyson let himself get absorbed in his book, as the Professor continued to talk. He lost track of the conversation as he talked about archetypes and American Historians. The page in his book - Modern Rebels & Revolutionaries of the Magocal World - was far more interesting. Not just to see how Wix' had beat against conformity but also to see into the minds of those the government saw as criminals.

When Greyfriar' s voice stopped Kyson looked up realizing that he had posed a question to the class. He caught Winnie' s eye but she looked about as confused as he did. He gave her a shrug before looking forward again. More than likely Blake or Kelvin could answer for them then he could get an idea of what was happening.

Kyson closed his book and put it back into his bag not wanting to get distracted again. As much as he loved the subject matter, he was going to have to wait until after class. For now he needed to pay attention and stay on Professor Greyfriar's good side.

Knox Greyfriar's query was met with the most nuanced of blank stares.

"Did the witches and wizards of the time think this sort of thing was a good idea?" he said flatly as he peered over his glasses. He could be a verbose old academic, so he couldn't be surprised if he was occasionally met with glazed-over eyeballs.