Author's note: My tumblr dash has been having a series of fantastic Harry Potter conversations today and I wanted to contribute. So I wrote about the muggle born revolution. Please note that I know shamefully little about actual revolutions and I am deeply sorry if I got it offensively wrong. And yes, the ending is probably something of a cop out. My lack of knowledge caught up with me as did my lack of attention span and I didn't want to let this sit for three days and have the conversation peter out. My apologies.
Disclaimer: Harry Potter is the property of JK Rowling. No money is being made from this fic.
It started on a Thursday.
Really, it started long before that, started long before anyone can remember, started before Voldemort and before Grindewald and before the Statute of Secrecy and before Salazar Slytherin. It started when some wizards decided they were better, purer than other wizards, started when one group decided that it was better than another simply because of an accident of their birth. What happens on that Thursday was that someone started making noise.
History books will say that the person who started it was a muggle born witch named Eileen Townshend. They will say that she was a Hufflepuff with average grades who was denied a job at the Ministry of Magic and put up a fuss claiming discrimination based on blood status. They will report that she had to be escorted out by three aurors and forcibly removed from muggle London to Diagon Alley before she broke the Statute of Secrecy in her anger. Some will even mention that her complaints were not unwarranted.
They won't say that she was not alone, that this was not the first job for which she had been rejected despite her qualifications, that one of the aurors splinched her arm off during side-along apparation and refused to take her to St. Mungo's for treatment. History will forget that it was not Eileen who threw the first pave stone at the gleaming headquarters of the Daily Prophet, and it will skate over the fact that the stone was thrown only after aurors started stunning protestors to get them to clear out.
Books will remember that the protestors threw stones instead of spells but they won't remember why, will remember the protestors blocking Diagon Alley but not that ministry forces threatened to imprison them if they didn't disperse. History will remember them making a statement but it will be less clear on what that statement actually was.
This is not about history. The story, the true story, goes like this:
Eileen Townshend did indeed apply for a position at the Ministry that Thursday morning and she did indeed refuse to accept being turned down. The position was entry-level and low-skill, a paper pusher in the Department of Judicial Affairs who only needed to know how to alphabetize by last name and copy out addresses. There was little possibility for advancement or promotion and only a very low salary. Eileen was one of two applicants, the other being a former Gryffindor pureblood just out of school with lower grades and a note on his record stating that he did not pay attention to details.
When told that she did not meet their required qualifications she was understandably confused and suspicious. The years since the 2nd War had seen anti-discrimination laws pushed through the Wizengamot, after all, and corruption within the ministry was now harshly penalized. She had perfectly acceptable NEWT scores and a clean record. When she pointed these facts out to the wizard conducting the interview he called the aurors to kick her out of the building, claiming threats to his personal safety. Eileen went quietly, determined not to let the matter go but unwilling to risk her own safety by resisting the aurors.
She had plans to meet a friend for lunch after her interview. Her friend had come by early and was waiting outside the Ministry. When she saw Eileen's predicament she demanded to know what was going on and was charged with breaking the Statute of Secrecy for saying the word 'auror' in a muggle street. She protested and both women were forcefully apparated to Diagon Alley and fined 100 galleons each with the threat of arrest if they violated the Statute again. They would have objected, but Eileen was bleeding and her friend was scared and so they left. It was not until several hours later that the true protesting began.
It started with Micheal Beech, a halfblood who'd managed to make it and had seen Eileen being led out from his cubicle. He pieced together the full story and, that afternoon, flooed his friends to tell them what had happened. A group of them gathered in front of the headquarters of the Daily Prophet, intending to let ordinary witches and wizards know about the violation of laws happening right under their noses. Word spread and soon more and more muggle born and halfblood witches and wizards came to Diagon Alley, some with homemade signs that flashed slogans in bright colors. Eileen and her friend were among those who came, Eileen having had her arm reattached and been supplied with blood replenishing potions. By nine that evening hundreds of protestors, most of them under 30, had gathered in front of the Prophet's main office. Among them were Dennis Creevey, well known activist for muggleborn rights, and Miriam Sparrow, the first muggleborn to be sorted into Slytherin in living memory.
The protestors stayed put overnight, chanting slogans and ensuring that no one in the Alley could help but know what was going on. People apparated home and made food which they brought back to share and a group of protestors clubbed together and bought butterbeer and firewhiskey for everyone. The atmosphere was determined but ultimately peaceful; the 2nd war was still too clear in the protestor's memories to want more violence.
In the morning an entire squad of aurors ordered the crowd to disband or face immediate arrest. Dennis and Miriam stood firm and, following their example, so did most of the crowd. The aurors drew their wands on the crowd and attempted to force them to leave by magical means. Dennis Creevey followed suit, proclaiming for all to hear that he had not fought the war for this, and even as the crowd roared its agreement three of the aurors attempted to stun him simultaneously. The spells never made it to him, instead hitting seventeen-year-old Dorothy Chen who threw herself in front of him at the last moment. The protestors reacted immediately and furiously, enfolding Dennis, Miriam, and Dorothy and attacking the aurors.
The aurors beat a hasty retreat, only to be replaced with nearly the entire force, dressed for battle and armed not only with wands but also top of the line charmed clothing and muggle-style truncheons. Despite their advantages they were heavily outnumbered by the protestors and were driven back by a shower of spells and thrown objects.
The first pave stone is thought to have been thrown by 20-year-old Georges Gaillard, a recent transplant from Paris, in an attempt to show the people of Britain how this kind of thing was handled in his home country. The others in the crowd enthusiastically followed his example when it became clear that standard shield charms did not hold up against physical projectiles. Even amidst the growing violence more and more people flocked to the cause, muggle borns attracted by the promise of action and equality and even some purebloods shocked at the auror's hostility. Hermione Weasley was notable by her absence. Once again the aurors were driven back and the protestors set about attending to their wounded. Dorothy Chen had yet to wake up, and she and the other injured were taken to a nearby second-hand robe shop whose owner was sympathetic to their cause.
At noon that day Dennis Creevey made what would be the first speech of many. Contrary to popular belief he called for protestors to remain as peaceful as possible, resorting to violence against people only if they were attacked first. Nor was it he who advocated damage against property. That call came from Eileen herself, called up on stage by friends and strangers alike to give her opinion. It was she who turned her voice towards the staff of the Daily Prophet and threatened to force them to tell her story if they would not do it of their own volition.
The first stone flew through the air the moment she had stepped down, smashing through the windows. Others followed and almost as one the crowd rushed the building, forcing open the doors and taking control of the printing presses. Those who did not go into the Prophet headquarters spread out across the Alley, filled with enthusiasm and burning anger. Windows were smashed, shops vandalized, slogans blasted into walls. The protest, only loosely organized to begin with, grew out of any one person's control, having already become too large for one person to stop.
When again the aurors and their allies tried to break their spirits, this time armed with permission to use Unforgivables, they were greeted with jeers and thrown objects and curses. What had begun as a protest had become a full-scale revolt, a violent stand by those who were done waiting for the world to change and become determined to break the system entirely. Death tolls climbed high, people falling on both sides in a scene that reminded older people of the senseless violence of the 2nd war only a few decades before. Dennis Creevey is reported to have screamed, "My brother didn't die for your comfort" as he turned his wand on an auror attempting to duel several protestors into submission.
Inside the occupied newspaper headquarters protestors were busy compiling a list of demands, taking inspiration from the signs carried by their fellows and by their own personal experiences. Equality in the workplace, penalties for hate crimes, better treatment of muggle relatives, proper initiations into the wizarding world, fewer barriers to living in both worlds at once... the demands were simple and radical, a list of fundamental rights that should have been theirs without a thought and instead had to be fought for with blood and violence.
History knows the rest, knows how the Ministry refused to cooperate and how the protestors would not leave Diagon Alley and how the stalemate stretched on for nearly a week before tensions escalated to breaking point and the Ministry was attacked and the Minister forcibly deposed. History knows about the provisional government headed by Miriam Sparrow and about the pureblood counter attack. History also knows about the breaking of the Statute once and for all, about how Acting Minister of Magic Sparrow told the muggle prime minister of their civil war and asked for his help in keeping the families of muggle borns safe from retaliation. History knows that no shield charm in the world can stop a drone strike.
History will speak about the atrocities done to wizarding culture and wizarding people, about the inhumanity of muggles, about the disproportionate retribution exacted by muggle borns. Some histories will call these necessary, some will call them barbaric, few will remember that the dissolution of the existing system was never the intended goal of the original protestors.