Keeping it in the Family

Memories of History

"Come on Keira, we're going to be late again!" Neville called back to her, a bit exasperatedly. His legs looked like they were itching to move faster, but Keira was in no such hurry. She was once again absorbed in the dreamland of a book, and was not even looking to see where she was going.

"Hmmm," she replied, not listening to a word Neville was saying.

"Oh, hurry up!" he said impatiently, as he began tugging Keira's arm to pull her down the corridor.

"That hurts Neville, let go!" said Keira, yanking her arm from Neville's grasp and massaging it half with her other arm and half with her book. "What are you in a hurry for, anyway?" she asked. "It's just History of Magic next..."

Neville made a mock sour face. "Well, you can say that since you've studied most all of this already!" he said to Keira, who just smiled a little and shrugged.

"Guess so..."

They reached the History of Magic classroom and Neville hurriedly ran in, only to trip over the leg of a desk

"Ow.... I'm fine, I'm fine," he said to Keira, who had caught his arm to balance him.

They both looked around at their classmates, most of who were giggling at them. Some were already sitting at their desks, but most were just milling around, talking to their friends.

Keira smiled sarcastically and gave Neville an I-told-you-so look. "That's what you get for being in a hurry," she joked. "Come on, let's sit down now..." As she was leading Neville, who was testing his foot carefully, to his desk, Professor Binns floated out of the blackboard, ready to start the lesson.

Sitting at her desk, Keira sank immediately into a stupor, staring vacantly at Professor Binns. All she was thinking about now was the book she was reading. She had gotten to the different types of advanced elemental bolts already... she couldn't wait to try them out secretly... Professor Binns was frowning at her. Keira blinked and tried to make her eyes focus on the ghost in front of them, only to hear him say clearly: "...history of sorcery...."

Immediately her eyes became wider and her mouth fell slightly open in disbelief? "What?" she said stupidly, not quite believing what she had heard.

Professor Binns looked at her severely. "As I was telling the class, Miss Herrenbruck, we will be taking up the history of sorcery beginning today."

Keira allowed herself two glances at her fellow classmates. For once, no one was sleeping or staring off into space. Everyone was eager, alert, and was sitting straight-backed in his or her chair. I'm in trouble, Keira thought. No. How could she be in trouble? They were just studying the history of sorcery, no one could possibly find out something to use against her here...

"I shall give a basic overview today, and in the weeks to come, we will delve deeper into these topics," Professor Binns said in his usual droning tone. Whoopee, Keira thought. Just hearing of studying the history of sorcery with a hostile all-wizard class made her nervous... All around her, people were starting to take out their quills, parchment, and ink, ready to take down every word that came out of Professor Binns' mouth.

The ghost cleared his throat and started. "The branch of magic that is called sorcery had its beginnings in the Middle Ages, just before the peak of the persecution of wizards by Muggles. A renowned witch of the time, Catherine, later called the Insane, unveiled at an international meeting of wizards and witches new magical ways she had discovered, saying that they would revolutionize the 'dullness and sameness' wizardry was getting into, empower magic further, and streamline it. To say that her ideas were not accepted by her peers is the least of it. All the wizards present at the meeting and the Wizards' Council thought her insane. From one of the foremost wizard scholars in the world, she sank in the eyes of her peers to being a madwoman who was not to be listened to or even considered. In her anger, she started a school that taught and used her principles, and there were still quite a few people who did not think that she was insane, and these same enrolled their children in her school."

Keira suddenly remembered Professor Caedwulf's lecture last year at Rosehill on the same topic.

"You must remember the situation the Wizards' Council was in," he had said firmly, in reply to his students' violent reactions to what Catherine had gone through. "Wizards and witches everywhere were being persecuted by Muggles. The wizarding world was in turmoil, everyone was forced to go into hiding, wizards were panicking in the streets. Council officials were quick to clamp down on any sign of nuisance or disturbance, and certainly none of them were inclined to accept any major change at the time. In our time, her ideas seem simple, harmless, and very mild, but to Middle Age witches and wizards, they were dangerous or were dismissed as the ravings of a mere madwoman."

Poor Catherine, Keira thought again, as she had before. Professor Binns was continuing with his lecture.

"One of the main differences between sorcery and wizardry is that people who practice sorcery do not use wands. Catherine the Insane encouraged a back-to-basics view, believing that all a wizard needed was his or her innate magic, sheer will, mental power and emotions. It is not in the nature of sorcerers and sorceresses to use wands, spoken spells, or even magical implements such as Floo Powder and Portkeys. Catherine believed that such interfered with a wizard's natural magic and lessened his or her power. She believed that ideally, one only had to think of a thing and it would immediately happen. For her, that was the ultimate that magic could be, and she entitled her idea 'sorcery', taken from the Latin word sortiarius. Under her tutelage, pupils' minds were conditioned so that they could reach that goal. Her methods were very rigorous and exacting, but they worked. As her pupils grew older, their magical power grew markedly greater than that of many other wizards. This, then, made those same wizards fear them, yet the new sorcerers and sorceresses were of much fewer number than the wizards, so it was easy to take some kind of 'necessary' action. People who practiced sorcery were denounced as traitors, and sorcery was seen as impure and unnatural..."

Here Professor Binns' flat voice wavered slightly, as if he was trying to remember something.

"Yes...In the midst of the furor about sorcery, a famous local witch in a relatively large village lost in a duel to Catherine the Insane. Angry magical villagers surrounded the victor's small house later that night when she was asleep, and burned her to death."

Keira flinched. Even though she had heard that same sentence said in countless different ways, and in voices much more lively than Professor Binns', those words never failed to make the hair on her arms stand up.

"In retaliation, a band of sorcerers and sorceresses burned the entire village to ashes. Driven by the call of many for their blood, the Wizards' Council arrested those responsible and decided to have them beheaded," he said flatly.

Many students were staring at Professor Binns in some sort of mild shock, as they couldn't believe what they were hearing. Their ghost professor, however, continued in his emotionless drone.

"While many sorcerers and sorceresses wanted to wreak havoc on the wizarding world for what it had done, others championed a quiet disappearance and going into hiding instead of fighting openly. The latter group won eventually, and sorcerers and sorceresses generally disappeared from the magical world, but their schools, hidden far from civilization, continued and even flourished, thanks to the diligence of the early people who practiced sorcery. A select group would go to cities and towns, seeking out children with great magical gift and inviting them to study in their schools. The choice was given to the child and his or her parents. If the answer was negative, the sorcerers would wipe the memories of the family in order to avoid the leaking out of the fact that there were still schools of sorcery. If the answer was positive, the sorcerers would take the child from his or her parents, with no guarantees that he or she would ever see them again. And so it went on until the late nineteenth century, when, for the first time in centuries, sorcerers and sorceresses came out of hiding and resided once again in thickly populated cities and villages, hoping that the old wounds had healed and the old names forgotten, but it was not so. Even now, the old insults 'impure' and 'corrupt blood' are still used to describe those who study sorcery."

Keira looked around at the class as Professor Binns finished, and they all looked as if they were raring for more. She again remembered Professor Caedwulf, this time the question he had asked them all after he had finished his lecture.

"Do any of you think that Catherine would still be ridiculed had she introduced her ideas in our time?" he had asked. Most students had shaken their heads, but Alicia, Keira's seatmate and best friend, had raised her hand in the air. "She would have been ridiculed. Some wizards, well, even sorcerers for that matter, are real quick to jump to conclusions and slow to change. I think sorcery and wizardry just differ in the way magic is used, they're still about magic, and there's no need for the two to fight. But I know many sorcerers and wizards who don't think the way I do... Yes, she would have been ridiculed, but I don't think wizards today would go so far as to burn her inside her house."

The only sorcerer-in-training at Hogwarts looked steadily at her desk and tried to control the emotions that had suddenly started creeping up on her. Alicia. Professor Caedwulf.

Potions Lessons. The fifth-year girls. What fun times we had... A lump was growing in her throat, and her eyes were becoming watery. Stop, she told herself, you can't cry here! Professor Binns' mouth was moving, and some students were getting up from their desks already. She tried to move, but her feet seemed impossibly stuck to the floor. The laughter in her mind had given way to screams, moans, and a roaring fire, licking at her robes. She was running, running again... Help me.

"Keira!" Neville's voice suddenly broke through her trance, and she returned once again to the History of Magic room in Hogwarts. It was empty.

"Where's everyone?" she asked quietly. Her hands were cold and clammy, and her heart was beating very fast.

"They left already," Neville answered in a very worried voice. "What's wrong, Keira? Do you want to go to the hospital wing?"

"No!" Keira exclaimed. "I don't want to Neville, I'm fine now..."

She tried to stand up and found, thankfully, that she could, although her legs were a bit wobbly. Neville was looking at her, still worried.

"What was that all about? Professor Binns dismissed the class already, but you were staring into space and your mouth was forming words... Was it about our lesson today?" he asked delicately, as they walked out of the classroom.

Keira shook her head. "It had nothing to do with our lesson today. I've studied this before, last year, remember? It-it-" she looked at Neville, whose face only held puzzlement and worry. She wanted to tell him about Rosehill. She wanted to tell him about her past, about everything- but somehow, she couldn't.

I'm such a weakling, she thought sadly. Aloud she said to Neville in a beseeching voice, "Please, don't ask me about it right now. I'll tell you some other time. I promise I will. Please... let's not mention this anymore..."

"Don't you trust me?" Neville bit his lip, then his face turned into one of acceptance. "Alright Keira, just promise me you will tell me."

"I promise," Keira said hoarsely, as tears started to fill her eyes again. I'm so angry with myself! I trust him! Why can't I just tell him?

Keira... Neville thought, What is wrong with you? I want to help you, I'm your friend! Why won't you tell me everything?

"I'm so sorry, Neville," Keira said, as tears started to run down her face. She bowed her head so no one could see her crying as they walked down the hallway. "I-I just can't tell you right now..."

He sighed, and touched her shoulder with his hand. "I won't say I understand, but that's fine with me, Keira. You don't have to force yourself to tell me if you don't want to."

"Thanks Neville," she said in a near whisper, as she wiped her face on the sleeves of her robes. "I really don't deserve a friend like you." As she said the words, she could feel him giving her shoulder a small squeeze.

"Nonsense," he muttered. "So, do you have time to tutor me in Transfiguration today?"

She looked at him. "You know I always do," she said with a small smile. "Always."