Author's Note:
Written for the Summer 2013 Wizarding Modly Forum Wide Competition of Awesomeness
Challenge 1 (History of Magic)
Option C: Write about a moment - its build up, as it happened, its effects, anything to do with the moment - that could have or did go down in history. Stipulation: write from at least two perspectives. Extra stipulation: as paying attention is so difficult, you'll also need to include at least four of the ten following prompts: sent, century, grand, war, facts, pain, save, end of an era, dry, "Kill me now."
Ravenclaw; Wand (unknown); Full score (PM please)
4th December, 2015. Professor Scrunchy's History of Magic class
Elsie's Journal
Winter has fallen upon Hogwarts with all the swiftness of Death. The sun has not been seen in days for the cover of moody grey clouds; snow falls in regular intervals that at first the majority of students were pleased about, but now, days later, the novelty of building snowmen and having snow fights has died away to a nonexistence. The stone walls of Hogwarts do little to trap in the heat of fires and heating charms. History of Magic is my second class, and I know that my peers will be eagerly looking forward to whiling away the time sleeping.
For once, however, it is too cold to fall asleep in class today. I am inclined to think that the frigidness we are exposed to is entirely deliberate, a sneaky ploy on the Professor's part. I think she knows, though it is rare for her to show or care about it, that the combined power of warmth and her monotonous voice is too much for the weaker of my classmates, and that when the two are put together, my lesser classmates can't ever help themselves but fall into a deep slumber, a sleep from which they are unable to be roused from by nought for the bell.
Others, I know, are physically unable to imagine that such a dull person could be capable of intelligence. They chose to believe that the Professor is too incompetent to light a fire or cast a warming charm, and thus don't realise the simply brilliancy of her negligence. If the Professor successfully keeps the classroom a few degrees below freezing, all of us, whether we want to or not, take in some of what she is saying.
Today her topic of choice is the famous Battle of Hogwarts, a piece of our history we have all been waiting eagerly to hear her take on.
The Battle of Hogwarts is a story we all know something of. Witch or wizard; pureblood, muggle-born, squib or half-blood. We have all heard a least a snippet of it. The lucky ones heard the whole, grand tale from somebody who was actually there, actually had a part, no matter how insignificant, in the Battle. Everybody else was suspect to garbled retellings from sloppy, unknowledgeable storytellers and exaggerators. Classmates or cousins, that uncle you usually try to avoid, the Professor who everybody knows deigned to hide in his classroom during the whole thing, but makes out like he really didn't. The essence, however, is still there, and the ending is always the same.
Coming from a proud, Slytherin born and bred family, the version I heard was far less truthful than usual. Clarence and Ethel were more or less forced to play up their and my cousin's part in it; to make our family seem less like the cowards they were (are) and more like their old rivalries, brave Gryffindors.
Ethel's story of the Battle of Hogwarts, as told by Ethel to Elsie.
Recorded by Elsie in Elsie's Journal, 4th December, 2015
"The Battle of Hogwarts took place on the 2nd of May, 1998, at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Remember I explained Horcruxes to you?"
(Ethel asked me. I was very young, and I thought I knew all. I nodded wisely from where I was curled up.)
"Well, Harry Potter discovered that Lord Voldemort had created them. He had to search Hogwarts to find the last ones. The Lord couldn't die unless they were destroyed. The Lord knew Potter was doing this, so he gathered his army and ordered an attack on the school. None of them expected Hogwarts to fight back. It was a ghastly, awful battle. There were many casualties, on both sides. Lord Voldemort himself fell, at the hands of Harry Potter.
As Slytherins, Clarence, I and some of your cousins were looked as being followers of Lord Voldemort."
(I had looked up at that. I had heard from Clarence and Ethel stories of the horrific things Lord Voldemort did, to hear that they were thought to be sided with him…)
"Elsie, you have to understand. We, by no means, were followers of Lord Voldemort. Oh, no! Our family would never have followed such a weak person. He was, after all defeated by a mere child, again and again!"
(Ethel had looked pleadingly at me, begging me to believe her, but I was an intelligent child. Ethel had shared a desperate look with Clarence, who had shrugged helplessly back.)
"Our courageous, strong family did their part in changing the world, Elsie. Remember that."
4th December, 2015. Professor Scrunchy's History of Magic class
Elsie's Journal
To this day, I can't bring myself to believe Ethel's retelling. I think, however, Professor Scrunchy's shows more insight, and more facts than fiction. Professor Scrunchy was still, as per usual, slow in her beginnings, but she magically, it seemed, expanded her vocabulary. It was almost as though she was trying to ingrain curiosity and apprehension in us with her careful drawl and rolling of her words. I think she was there, but she never specifies.
Professor Scrunchy's version of the Battle of Hogwarts, as told by the Professor to the Ravenclaws and Slytherins.
Recorded by Elsie in Elsie's Journal, 4th December, 2015.
"On the 2nd of May, 1998, Hogwarts almost fell, and the Wizarding world was nearly changed for the worse. The Battle of Hogwarts was a conflict that signified the end of the Second Wizarding War. It took place in the early hours of 2 May, 1998, within the castle and on the grounds of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, after Lord Voldemort's discovery that Harry Potter, the Lord's famously known enemy, the Boy-Who-Lived and only person to have survived all three Unforgivable Curses, was in the castle to locate and destroy one of his final Horcruxes.
Horcruxes are a particularly evil magic that destroys the soul, but makes one immortal, as long as the Horcrux or Horcruxes are not destroyed. Lord Voldemort sent every Death Eater and creature that had pledged loyalty to him to attack the school, in the fear that Harry Potter may succeed and in the hopes of finally ridding the world of Harry Potter, his only living adversary. Hogwarts retaliated, to Lord Voldemort's surprise. Three of the four Houses untied. Gryffindors. Ravenclaws. Hufflepuffs. Friends helped foes. Children fought for the good of their world. Many lost their lives.
Lord Voldemort came close to defeating Hogwarts, but Harry Potter once again saved the day."