Chapter 1: The Lack of a Quality Education

I had never thought to write down my history before, but as things have changed and become so very different in these past few years, I feel it is my duty to record a history of my life and my legacy to share with our world. I would have never thought that my life would have mattered so much, to anyone, but I see now that it has been of great importance, and so my story must be told. It is in these pages that I will tell of the history of my magical life and the life that lead to the prosperity of many of my kind. This is to be my last testament to what I have done and what I have failed to do, and if there is anything that I could have done to change it, I must apologies, for I could not have know how the end would have been. And so I leave it to you, dear reader, to judge for yourself if the actions of my colleagues and I were right and just, for if it has done anything, it has save lives and made the lives of our kind worth living.

In the beginning, when confusion reigned in the world and fear was a governing power, many felt lost and desperate for answers, but the answers were not easy to find. We lived in a very dark and trouble time. A time which is now behind us, but that we would like most to forget, and yet it is to be the beginning of the end.

At one time we were held in high esteem by kings and queens. Placed in advisory positions and openly seen in a positive light. We worked to heal the sick and protect the kingdom, giving advice and helping to make the lives of the non-magical easier. We worked very much in unity and in equality with non-magical people trying to integrate both of our ways and trying to learn from each other. If you were lucky enough to hold a position with a high noble family then it was safe for you to practice your arts, and keep your family in good and proper conditions. It was under these circumstances that I taught to be a Witch, and as my parents grew old, they taught me just how important education was. I learned from two of the greatest wizards alive, but I was one of the lucky ones, for up until a certain time there wasn't any education in the magical arts. It was passed down from generation to generation within the magical bloodlines, and though many may not believe it, there were many, many well respected and brilliant witches and wizards in those days. We were very proud back then, as we have become proud once more, but there will always be darkness and we all must pay for the actions of those who thought that they could use their magic for power, rather than good.

Unfortunately, the actions of a few of our kind painted us all as negative. The believed themselves the superior being to those who did not hold fast to our arts. The trouble with this assumption was that the non-magical beings also had their arts, and their technologies. We are not so different from the non-magical beings and they knew our weakness was just like their own. And so we were hunted like beasts, murdered en masse, and turned into the greatest evil that covered the land. Non-Magical beings vowed to destroy us, and they were quite successfully in brutally killing many of us. We were forced to hide and to act like them. There began to be much resentment among the magical community. The violence that had grown against us resulted in extensive hunts and many deaths, mainly young witches and wizards that did not know how to use their powers. We had to split up, leave behind the communities that we had built together with our friends in the non magical world, because as their ideas of us changed so too did their willingness to help us. We were betrayed by those whom we knew and whom we trusted, and out of fear whole families were destroyed. It was a shame, and we saw many of our families, our friends and even our traditions fall pray to the witch hunts.

It was at this time that my life becomes interesting. It's odd how it happens sometimes. I had lived a long life up to this point. I had held a position with a wealthy family, not a nobility but members in good standing and of high rank. I worked with their families and protected their children, and as such, mine grew up with theirs and there was friendship and understanding among us. We lived simply and in a way that many non-magical people lived, the only difference was that magic made our lives just a little easier, and to help our friends we used our magic to make their lives easy. I had settled into this beautiful life that had been built around me. I had a husband who was a charming man, handsome and of magical blood, but for whom magic had not been easy. He lived more as a man of the non-magical world than as the wizard he was. He had not had the education in magic that I had, and together he and I had four children, all of whom I had great and brilliant dreams for. They would all learn my magic as I had learned it and be just as prosperous as I was, and as their grandparents before them. But it was not to be.

The day came when the darkness had fallen. Some wizards, those that believed themselves better then the non-magical, became power thirsty and attacked and killed for the sake of land, lust and power. It was a sad time and many of us, who lived peacefully with the non-magical people, tried to help to bring the dark wizards and witches under control, but it was impossible to stop them and soon anyone with magical abilities were seen as dark and evil. We were treated unfairly by those whom we trusted. We were never given any trials, but sentenced to death simply for practicing what came naturally to many of us. I was forced to flee with my family. My children were young and unable to control their powers, as the children do now, and so they were easy targets, and though my husband fought and saved them when he could, he too fell to the witch hunt.

I could not get away fast enough, I was too well known, and so I was caught up in the thick of it all. I watched as my children and the children of my friends were rounded up and killed. We cannot stop death, nor can we reverse it, and so the thing that ties us and makes us like the non-magic, is that we will all die. If the heart stops beating then the brain dies then so does the body. Magic flows through us like our blood, and if our hearts stop and our brains die then there is nothing left and we return to the dust from whence we came. Many a time I had to watch as children died and I wished with all my heart that I could have died with them, but I also knew that I had to fight for them and their rights, as living beings, to make it right for the future. So that is what I vowed to do. One day I knew that I would be a part of something great. I would stand up with my fellow magical beings and prove that we could live and be productive, but at that time, it was hard to be optimistic about anything. I had lost everything. There was a lot of hate against the non-magical community that had done this too us, and I could not be as forgiving, in those times, as I am now.

With the wide spread hunt and mass murder of many of the young and uneducated witches and wizards there came a need for a safe place. Small settlement were set up all across the British Isles and the elders and most advanced witches and wizards began to cast protective spells to keep the magic from being seen. It was in one of these places that I took refuge and with my advanced abilities I became one of the few that were able to protect and teach the few young that had survives. It was in this time that I realized what would really make a difference was education and I vowed to live out the rest of my days as a teacher of witchcraft and wizardry. Little did I know that dedication to children would become my life and my passion; that I would become one of the most well known Witches in history and that children for years to come would honor me by take my name as there own.

I am Rowena Ravenclaw and this is an account of my life.