The lights at Hogwarts were sparsely lit, just like the night before and the night before that. Yet for many, it was another sleepless night.
The library was exceptionally quiet, allowing Hermione to immerse herself in her current work.
In front of her lay a stack of thick books, about ten open at the same time, but she wasn’t looking at any of them. Instead, she was biting her lip in thought. Clearly, after the Secrecy Act took effect at the end of the seventeenth century, no wizard dared to be active publicly. If one were to look for a place where wizards and Muggles intersected, it would have to be before that time.
Hermione tried to recall what she had read, occasionally pulling a book towards her to read a page more carefully for a little while. Gradually, a millennia-long picture of the wizarding world began to form in her mind.
Though the history of magic, as written by Professor Bathilda Bagshot, only went up to the late nineteenth century, Hermione still managed to gather useful information.
During the First World War in the early twentieth century, the then Minister for Magic, Archer Evermonde, chose neutrality and legislated to forbid witches and wizards from participating in the war to avoid large-scale violations of the International Statute of Secrecy.
Harry's great-grandfather, Henry Potter, strongly condemned Evermonde's decision. As a pure-blood and a member of the Wizengamot, his actions caused a sensation and were widely discussed.
Some fragments of information suggest that the Potter family being excluded from the Sacred Twenty-Eight might have something to do with this. Wizards of the time made their choices—they did not directly involve themselves in the war, violating neither the Secrecy Act nor the Ministry's laws, but that didn’t stop thousands of wizards living next to Muggles from helping them as much as they could, carefully and to the best of their ability.
Hermione flipped through the books and remembered—
In the nineteenth century, the Ministry agreed to let goblins run Gringotts; in the fifties, there was a severe Floo Network accident, and in the sixties, the "Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery" was passed, thereafter, Hogwarts students were forbidden from casting spells outside school; around the same time, the caretakers of Hogwarts tried to capture and control Peeves, without success, instead inciting his fierce resistance;
due to Peeves' unique creation, the then Headmaster made a compromise.
The founder of the Squib Rights Association, Idris Oakby, was also born around this time. Some suspect her experience of being mistaken for a Squib in her youth might have made her sympathetic to the real Squibs; in 1892, the Bigfoot Rebellion broke out in America, and the headquarters of the Magical Congress of the United States moved to its current location in the Woolworth Building; by the end of this century, Albus Dumbledore graduated with honors. He planned a grand tour, which was canceled due to his mother's accidental death, leading to his first meeting with Grindelwald in Godric's Hollow…
Besides, this century also produced some trivial Quidditch news. Oh, Hermione remembered something closely related to her: Witch Eloise Mintumble used a Time-Turner to travel back five centuries and got stuck in 1402 for five days. Eloise died as a result, but Hermione was much luckier…
The eighteenth century saw the passing of the Ban on Experimental Breeding, and the concept of Unforgivable Curses was first introduced;
By then, the Secrecy Act had been in effect for nearly half a century. This law was patched up and perfected over time, but it also made some wizards feel oppressed, leading to some dissent. Gideon Flatworthy founded an anti-Muggle extremist organization, but their method of expressing hatred was to refuse physical labor like Muggles (Hermione thought this somewhat resembled the theory of using magic for everyday tasks proposed by professors), developing a series of practical methods for the Summoning Charm. However, Flatworthy did not use the spells appropriately; he revealed his identity during an attempt to steal from Gringotts using the Summoning Charm, had to flee in disgrace, and was abandoned by his followers in a cave, leading to the organization's dissolution.
Worth mentioning is Flatworthy’s end wasn’t great; trapped in a cave, injured, and without food, he daringly summoned the only source of food within sight—a barn at the foot of the mountain, only to be crushed to death by cows and hay bales.
Quidditch news never ceases; inexplicably, two groups started fighting, the only thing of value being the first appearance of the Repairing Charm.
The Rapaport’s Law was officially enacted…
The seventeenth century started with the goblin rebellions, and eight years later,
one of the most important founders of Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Witch Isolt Sayre, traveled to America; Mungo Bonham also founded St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries around this time;
‘The fact that all magical creatures other than wizards are forbidden from owning wands’ was officially recognized by law, alongside the Werewolf Code of Conduct, but obviously, no werewolf would voluntarily come forward to identify themselves.
1692 was a significant year, as the International Statute of Secrecy was officially enacted. Wizards completely turned to secrecy, and "communities within communities" gradually formed over the next century; the Magical Congress of the United States was established.
The fifteenth and sixteenth centuries were uneventful, with many wizards already voluntarily distancing themselves from crowds, seeking new forms of entertainment. The first Quidditch World Cup was held, followed by an unprecedented collection of fouls, with over 700 types of fouls being used. Hermione couldn't believe she once boredly flipped through a book that recorded them…
The fourteenth century was the source of the Secrecy Act, as the Black Death spread across Europe, anything related to or in contact with witchcraft was ostracized, some openly or semi-openly active wizards were expelled, and this intensified over time, eventually leading to witch burning incidents in some places, forcing many wizards to hide their identities, go underground, or live in isolation.
The tenth century saw the founding of Hogwarts, followed by the establishment of other magical schools.
…
As the night deepened, Hermione lifted her head, hearing a faint sound behind her. She turned around to see Madam Pince standing there, startling her.
“Sorry, Madam Pince, are you closing?” Hermione jumped up in shock. This stern, temperamental woman, who resembled a vulture, had left a strong impression on her.
Madam Pince shook her head, her usual feather duster in hand, now holding a cup of hot cocoa instead. She placed the cup on the table.
Hermione stared at the hot cocoa, too surprised to even say “thank you” before Madam Pince had left. Sitting back down to continue her work, Hermione tried to find a pattern combining non-wizarding history, but to no avail, feeling somewhat discouraged.
The hot cocoa energized her, and she wandered among the huge bookshelves, looking for inspiration. Her gaze slid over the titles, unknowingly reaching an area she seldom visited, where tall bookshelves were filled with all kinds of notes smelling of decay, left by Hogwarts students.
Hermione picked one at random; it was a Hufflepuff student's travel observations, somewhat difficult to understand due to its age. She put down the travelogue and picked up a novel instead.
She read with interest, realizing how time had flown. She put the book down, sighed, knowing now was not the time for this.
But then, her eyes slowly brightened; she had just found a potentially interesting angle.
Today was supposed to be about writing the TV interview plot, trying to present different perspectives on wizards' concepts. Unfortunately, progress was slow, and this chapter was hastily put together, serving as an overall review of wizarding history. The author highlighted a few interesting but plot-irrelevant contents, possibly representing some wizarding thoughts and concepts.
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