Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. Beta: Heart of Spellz (I'm VERY grateful to you). I like reading about Africa and its culture, as well as reading HP fanfiction. Well, I combined those two interests in this fanfic, in hope to create something interesting – we don't know anything about the magical education in countries other than England.
"The African Letter"
Hello, Hermiona. I found the letter from you in the "Penpal Friends" in "Witch Weekly". You are writing in it that you'd like to know a student of your age from other, Hogwarts- like schools of magic in other parts of the world, to learn more about magic and how it's taught in schools other than Hogwarts. So well, here I am. My name is Nkuba Kabile and like you, I'm twelve. Though I'm only in my first year of school, education seems a bit different in England than it is here in magical Zair. You start magical education at the age of twelve and end it five years later, just as it is with Muggles here. Before, you are taught magic at home and it was also with me.
You should really see my home in the very heart of the Ituri rainforest and meet my grandma. She's a really great witch, knowing everything about African magical plants and Divination. It's thanks to her that I'm one of the best students at our school, about which I'll tell you in a moment. My younger siblings, Chinawezi and Konde, don't like listening to grandma's stories, unlike me, though. Actually, Konde isn't interested in anything but for the Tanzanian Sumbawanga Sunrays Quidditch team. It's a very well known team in Africa. Yes, Quidditch is popular not only in Europe. But I'm not sure if you are interested in this great game because you are a girl, so maybe I won't be saying much about it. Chinawezi in turn, is very interested in magical animals, especially snakes, out of the venom of which grandma can make elixirs. But I'm not surprised here, just by her name you can guess she must like those animals, ha, ha. Chinawezi is the name of a goddess from our mythology, the cosmic serpent and her husband had the name I have, Nkuba. It means "thunder". Konde in turn was their son.
It was Mom who gave us those names. She was always interested in African mythology. She takes care of our home, which is Unplottable and can't be seen by Muggles. Which is good, given that here non magical folks do believe in the existence of wizards and often kill each other, believing they killed a wizard. So we must be careful, even if no one can see our house. Any Muggle would see just the jungle. The clearing in the midst of it, with our house in, would remain unnoticeable to them. It's surrounded by a magical enclosure for the protection from tebos which wander around. I remember Chinawezi being the animal lover she was, once wanted to catch a baby tebo for herself when she was younger. Luckily, she didn't find any but she had a close encounter with a huge stroller (we have loads of them here) and got quite burned by its venom. Grandma had to give her potions so she could get better.
But let me tell you something about the school I attend now. I started it barely a month ago but I already know I like it. Zair Wizarding School. Zair – like Zair, the old name for Congo, the main river flowing through our country. Besides the Somali University of Magic and Sahara Witchcraft Institute it's one of the most famous wizarding schools of the continent and even folks from the other African countries attend it. It's set in what Muggles know under the name of the Salonga National Park in my country which in turn is known as Zair by wizards and Democratic Republic of Congo by Muggles. It's a very big country covered with jungle all over and it takes a whole lot of time to get to the other side of it from the other one. Last year, when we decided to visit my Aunt Ibola who lives in magical Kinshasa, it took us the whole day to get there on broomsticks.
I would like to tell you a bit about my schoolmates, with whom I share my dormitory. There are seven of us, taking one dormitory. Hassan and Hussain, the twins of Nigerian origin, are the other ones besides myself. They are named like that because those are names for twin boys in their culture. In Nigeria there are many twins born and no one knows why. Wait… the Muggles don't. The real reason behind this is the magical potion which many centuries ago was poured into Niger, the river in this country by one wizard who, after becoming a happy dad of twins, decided that everybody should have the chance to experience this double happiness too and… well, poured a huge cauldron of the potion made by him to the river. That's at least what the legend says. I'm not sure if I should believe this – it must have been one hell of a huge cauldron and so on but this is at least what we are told. Never mind. The twins also have a set of 'twin sisters who are two years older and attend our school. And an older brother who graduated last year. And six younger siblings who will start school here sooner or later. Here, families are often large. I, with my just two siblings, am rather an exception. Deo is the fourth of us. He's a son of a shaman, very respected in our country. Burhaan is the fifth one and he's actually an exchange student, from Somalia. He can't stop complaining that the air in here is way too humid, unlike in his school in Somalia in the desert. He's always complaining. And lying. He claims he once saw a nundu, can you imagine? He wouldn't have even survived. Ze, the sixth boy, is from a Muggle family and before he got the letter from school, was almost killed for witchcraft by Muggles – well, you know yourself how it is when you don't know how it is to be a wizard not knowing about what you are , when weird stuff happens around you. Cephu is the last one and a Pygmy. Pygmy wizards are the most powerful ones. His dad is one of our teachers here. He teaches Divination which is one of my most favorite classes here.
So far, I like all my classes. I get use to school. We wear school robes resembling our national African clothes. They are colorful and their color depends on the House we are in. Yes, our school is divided into four Houses, just like Hogwarts and each of them is named after, not like in case of Hogwarts, the founders, but after one magical animal, typical of Africa: tebo, fwooper, nundu and erumpent. I belong to the House of Erumpent and my school robe is grey, like the fur of this animal. My wand, made of ebony, has its core made of an erumpent's strand of skin too. My friend Eliki, who is in the House of Fwooper, complains he has to wear his robe as colorful as the feathers of this bird and after all, he's not a girl to wear his robe that garish. But he's never glad of anything. Not even of his runespoor pet he keeps. And so many boys would love to have it as a pet. Unfortunately, my parents think it's way too dangerous to keep one and will only allow me to get a Crumple-Horned Snorkack. And it's such a boring pet. Very, very boring. I heard in Europe many people don't want to believe in the existence of them but I think that's not true. After all, everybody knows they exist. They're so common. They are everywhere. I begged my parents for a Blibbering Humdinger at least – nothing special but at least less common - but they didn't want to agree.
Well, so far that's all I wanted to say. That's everything I want you to know about myself and my schoolfriends. I hope I'll get a letter from you too, soon. Bye.
Nkuba Kabile, 12.