Standard Fanfic Disclaimer that wouldn't last ten seconds in a court of law: these aren't my characters. I'm just borrowing them for, um, er, typing practice. Yeah, that's it, typing practice. I'll return them to their actual owners (relatively) undamaged. This is an amateur work of fiction; no profit beyond pleasure was derived from the writing; no profit beyond pleasure will be derived from the reading.
1066
based on characters and situations created by J. K. Rowling
by Susan M. M.
The ghost of Professor Binns floated into the classroom. He opened his mouth to begin his lecture. Most of the class readied themselves for a nap. A few set up their textbooks as shields and got out a deck of cards.
"In 1066, the king of England died. His name was -
Hermione Granger's hand shot up. "Edward the Confessor."
"Edward the Confessor," Professor Binns confirmed. "He died without an heir, and the succession was unclear. By bloodright, the king's nearest kinsman was Edgar Atheling, his great-nephew. Prince Edgar was the grandson of Edward's older brother, King Edmund Ironside, or Edmund II, and by strict primogeniture, had a better claim to the throne than his great-uncle."
Harry Potter took a scrap of parchment and pencil out of his book bag and began playing noughts and crosses with Ron Weasley.
"However, as Prince Edgar was only a child, the Witanagemot - please note the cognate to our own Wizengemot - selected the king's brother-in-law as his heir, Harold Godwinson, Earl of Wessex, Earl of Hereford. He was one of the most prominent noblemen of his time, a doughty warrior and an able administrator. The Witanagemot thought he could rule England better than a child like Edgar; more importantly," Professor Binns explained, "they thought he could defend England from the third claimant to the throne. Does anyone know who that third claimant was?"
Again, Hermione's hand shot up faster than a bludger hit by one of the Weasley twins. "William the Conqueror, sir."
"Correct, Miss Greengrass, um, Galloway, um -"
"Granger, sir," she reminded him.
"William, Duke of Normandy, was a cousin of King Edward's on his mother's side, not his father's." The ghost droned on for five minutes, explaining the genealogies of the English and Danish royal families and how they were interconnected. He then went on to explain how the ducal family of Normandy was related to the English royal family.
"This was, of course, before the International Statute of Secrecy. Both Harold and William had wizards in addition to knights, foot-soldiers, and bowmen. The Battle of Hastings would have gone very differently if not for the Battle of Stamford Bridge. Harold's brother, Tostig Godwinson, and the king of Norway, Harald Hardrada, led an army of Vikings who attacked Yorkshire. Harold Godwinson's chief wizard, Magister Athelstan Arthurson, the Warlock of the West Lea, killed a half-giant axeman who held the bridge single-handedly. This half-giant cut down forty Saxon Muggles before the Warlock of the West Lea floated under the bridge in a barrel, and unseen by Muggle warriors, thrust his wand through the wooden planks of the bridge, mortally wounding the half-giant. Contemporary accounts differ as to which spell he used."
Hermione blinked. She glanced at Ron, still playing noughts and crosses with Harry. The Warlock of the West Lea. Weasley. Could it be?
"Three days later, William the Conqueror invaded England. Harold Godwinson marched his weary soldiers south to meet this new threat. Fearing for his safety, Harold insisted Magister Athelstan accompany him on horseback, rather than flying ahead on broomstick. The trip was exhausting; he had no chance to permit his magical core to recharge."
Two-thirds of the class were asleep.
"Much of the rest of Harold's army, including many of his other wizards, stayed in the north with Edwin, Earl of Mercia, and Morcar, Earl of Northumbria, preparing for another attack from the Vikings. In the meantime, William had arrived in Sussex. Along with his knights and infantry, he had with him the forefathers of such Wizarding families as Malfoy, Lestrange, Goyle, and Peverell. A little over a fortnight later, Magister Athelstan Arthurson, the Warlock of the West Lea, met in combat Sieur Abelard Malfoy, William's best warlock, at Hastings. Some twelve to twenty-five thousand Muggles fought, but the real battle was the duel between the Saxon Warlock of the West Lea and the Norman Malfoy."
Hermione was the only one in the classroom taking notes.
"At the end of the day, Harold Godwinson lay dead. Approximately two thousand Normans and four thousand Saxons were killed, possibly more. William, Duke of Normandy, was now William the Conqueror, England's king. And Sieur Abelard and Magister Athelstan were both maimed and scarred. One lost an eye. The other lost his right leg and wore a pegleg the rest of his life. Each vowed vengeance against the other, and swore eternal enmity between them and their descendants."
Hermione waited for him to explain how the Norman Conquest had affected the English language, the English judicial system, and all the other things she'd learned in her old school.
However, Professor Binns declined to explain why Norman overlords ate beef and pork whilst Saxon peasants tended cows and pigs.
"At the same time as England gained a new king, Spain - indeed, the whole of the Iberian peninsula - was divided into petty kingdoms, principalities, and dukedoms, some Christian, some Islamic. At this time the Spanish goblins were deliberately breeding dragons and sending them out against the princelings and sultans, working on a policy of divide and conquer. Each side blamed the others for the dragons' attacks, being completely unaware that the goblins were behind it all. Although the Spanish Inquisition was not officially established until 1478, the groundwork was being laid even then, and most Spanish witches and wizards were learning the importance of minding their own business and avoiding contact with Muggles. The Iberian Protocols predate the International Statute of Secrecy by a full three centuries." For the rest of the hour, Professor Binns droned on about Spanish goblins, Iberian dragons - both the Portuguese Long-Snout and the Catalonian Fireball - how and why Spanish wizards and witches hid themselves away from Muggles before witches and wizards in the rest of Europe did, until even Hermione had trouble keeping her eyes open.
Author's Note: Noughts and crosses is what we in the USA call tic-tac-toe. I realize my description of the Battle of Stamford Bridge doesn't quite match the version given in Wikipedia, but after the Stature of Secrecy was passed, Flavia Weasley altered the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and Obliviated those scholars who would notice the changes.