A Wizarding History of Britain from Earliest Times: Excerpt 1

A HISTORY OF WIZARDING BRITAIN FROM EARLIEST TIMES

Note: The background to the book from which these excerpts are taken is obscure. It has a class mark relating to Muggle Studies, but how it avoided passing into the hands of Hermione Granger, and how it found its way to a second-hand book stall in Manchester are a mystery. The simplest solution is that it travelled there via L-space, possibly in order to avoid her.

When found the cover was battered, part of the spine missing and all that was legible was "History" and "Britain". The fly leaf was missing, giving no further details of the title or the author. However, I subsequently found it, being used as a bookmark half way through, by which time I was not unduly surprised to see that the book's full title was "A History of Wizarding Britain from Earliest Times". I was, however, more than a little surprised to see the author given as "P. Binns, Posthumous Professor of History, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry"; it was just as well that I had not known who the author was before I started reading or I might have been reluctant to do so. This would have been a mistake.

I am unsure how he physically wrote the book; presumably by whatever means that he uses to mark his students' work. A quill of the kind used by Rita Skeeter springs to mind, probably with a style setting of "Late Victorian", though fortunately with the Bulwer-Lytton option disabled.

Although as an archaeologist I was most fascinated by the earlier chapters, particularly those dealing with the earlier (rather than later) use of Stonehenge, I felt that a wider public would probably be more interested in the situations and events leading up to the birth of Merlin, the truly extraordinary events during his career (I hesitate to say "lifetime") and their repercussions on the founding of Hogwarts.

The footnotes are mine but the references are the author's.

BOOK 3: UNDER THE NAILED BOOT

CHAPTER 1: THE RISE OF THE WOLVES

The Golden Age (or Age of Druids, as it is sometimes known) came to an abrupt and bloody end, though the danger signs should have been spotted earlier. This beneficial coexistence of wizards headed by their druids and Muggles headed by their kings was the standard pattern in Western European society, and in order to understand the events in Britain that destroyed it, it is necessary to digress and consider the history of Italy.

The Druidical Peoples in Northern Italy had had close dealings with the brilliant Etruscan wizards, from whom they learned the use of runes and the art of haruspicy, and contact with the enigmatic Pythagoreans in the south of Italy who had revolutionised ideas of what happened beyond the Veil.

Situated between these groups, however, was a small band of maverick wizards whose threat to the world was not initially recognised. They claimed descent from one of the original Greek Superwitches (see Book 1, "Wizards and Superwizards"), but the original core of their magic was a small group of witches who directed the oft-attested power of virginity into working for the benefit of the tribe. This took the form of what Gaudeamus Battle has described in his instructive work as "right hand sexual magic". They also took advantage of what Aegidius Pratt has termed the "Henge Effect", the ability of circular structures to augment magic performed inside them; one of the most important functions of their round building was the provision of fires for the hearths of the tribe and ashes for travelling between them (1). However, the presence of voluptuous and nubile maidens in their midst was a sore trial to the natural urges of the sturdy young men of the tribe and considerable magical energy had to be exercised to protect them from their lusty would-be swains. Despite this, and despite the most stringent prohibitions, both magical and non-magical, the inevitable happened and one of their number, the delectable Rea Silvia who was no less attractive in her Animage guise as a wolf than she was as a maiden, was beguiled by a stranger who claimed to be a Superwizard and allowed herself to be seduced; he was already a skilled practitioner of "left hand sexual magic" into which he initiated her. He maintained indeed that he had been initiated by her ancestress, who claimed (though this is disputed - for details see Gaudeamus Battle) to have been the first to develop it, and this quasi-incestuous relationship served only to augment the powers she acquired.

When the effects of their dalliance became all too apparent, her craven paramour fled by disApparating, a skill not at that time known to her people, leaving her to suffer alone and unprotected the opprobrium of her family. Imprisoned and abused, unable while in a delicate condition to transform herself, she was in due course delivered of twin boys, These were taken from her and as is customary to avoid the use of the remains of Wizarding infants for necromantic purposes (2) they were placed in a basket to be committed to the same Tiber by whose banks their parents had spent so many idyllic hours. Fortunately for the children but unfortunately for their great uncle (the author of this attempt on their lives) the river was in flood and the banks could not be reached. They were indeed placed in its waters, but as the flood subsided they were left high and dry.

In the meantime their mother had taken the opportunity to transform herself into wolf form and set out on the scent of the minion who had taken the precious basket. We can imagine the delight with which she found them safe and sound, and the maternal care with which she nurtured them. Aware however that she was still in danger as her uncle knew of her abilities, she carried them gently to the home of a humble shepherd, who together with his wife reared the pair. She then removed herself to some distance from her home and established herself as an expert in her new skills, in which manner she performed invaluable services for numerous men in the vicinity. The skills taught to the menfolk, most of whom had residual magical abilities (see Book 2, "The Golden Age"), were appreciated by their wives, but not the manner in which they had been imparted. It is probably better to pass over the sudden and dramatic improvement to be found in the breeding stock of the sheepdogs of the area.

Carrying in their blood the double heritage of Animage and Superwizard, and having learned "left hand" skills from their mother, the boys' powers were already redoubtable. However, as we have learned alas to our cost all too often, ties of blood are no guarantees of affection or even safety, and in due course their deep-seated rivalry culminated in the slaying of one twin by the other. Represented by Muggles as simple murder, the matter was in fact more complex, as Romulus, the survivor, needed the death of a powerful wizard to consecrate his new foundation, a city that would seem to Muggle eyes to be a simple settlement but in fact represented the most powerful centre of magic in the West since the construction of the so-called "Temple of Hyperborean Apollo" in Britain as described in Book 1.

The new settlement drew in wizards from the surrounding countryside, including a surprising number of Etruscans, but was further reinforced by an influx of Sabine witches. These were abducted and initiated into "left hand" skills which they found so much to their taste, not only for the powers that they conferred but also for their pleasurable nature, that they strongly resisted any attempts of their relatives to "rescue" them. This was an important development, as like the inhabitants of Lappland the Sabines were an entire tribe of wizards. The influx of this bloodline increased the proportion of wizards born, and families descended from them in a traceable line had greater powers than was usual even for their compatriots.

From Romulus the inhabitants of the new city inherited a greater than normal propensity for Animage abilities, invariably taking the form of wolves and in sufficient numbers to provide an entire procession each year in his honour and his mother's, followed by widespread celebrations in honour of the techniques taught by his father, initiating nearly all of the young women of nubile age - all, that is, save a small number who continued with the "right hand" practices as guardians of the hearth that was so important for communications and travel.

Having established his city and having begun to suffer the embarrassment of those whose aging process is inordinately delayed, Romulus decided to leave. It is a gross calumny, spread mainly by Muggles, that his people completed the act of dedication by sacrificing him to follow his brother; the true story is that he disApparated to try to find his father. This he succeeded in doing, and was taught the final skills to raise him in turn to the level of Superwizard, at which point he returned to inform a kinsman that with the protection and support of the two Superwizards, the new city of Rome was destined to dominate the world.

The stage was now set for this people to spread through Western Europe like a plague, destroying the Golden Age and poisoning forever relationships between Magicians and Muggles.

(1) It would appear from this that Floo powder, like cement, was one of those items that the Romans used, were lost, and then rediscovered. It certainly makes sense of widespread ceremonies involving dousing fires and re-lighting them from a central hearth

(2) This is a chilling thought. There are suggestions in Muggle literature that Muggle infants can be used for such purposes, but I had always thought of this as hyperbole and a libellous attack. It would appear from this that use of wizard-blood remains would make for even more potent Dark magic.

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