Hogwarts Year 7

Chapter 3:

"You have been lied to," Alecto Carrow said to the students in her classroom. Many of the kids looked around quizzically at each other as she spoke. Her voice was strangely soft and sympathetic.

"You have been told that Muggles are people just like you and me. This untrue and unfair to you as witches and wizards. Muggles are simple and beast like creatures that have no place is wizard society. They are known to lie, cheat, steal, and fraud to get whatever they require in life."

Alecto looked at the class as a mother who was warning her children about the dangers of the world.

"But Muggles are not to be feared or hated, they are to be pitied. You must learn the nature of Muggle existence in order to fully understand where they are coming from and why they are the way they are. A Muggle cannot help being a Muggle any more than a beast can help being a beast. It is what they are."

Neville and Ginny exchanged disgusted looks with each other.

"Muggles are not capable of inheriting magic it must be stolen from a proper witch or wizard. But the real question is why. Why would they commit such an atrocity on another person?"

Neville scanned the room, he noticed many students paying attention with wide eyes. Not because of fear but out of curiosity and anticipation. Are they actually buying this? Neville thought.

"Imagine," Alecto raised her index finger as she continued her lecture, "Imagine that you had no magical power whatsoever. You are crippled of doing even the simplest of tasks and you live in a society of people equally as miserable and crippled as you."

Alecto froze as she stared at the back of the room at no one. Her face lit up as though an angel were present,

"And then you see it," Her voice more excited, "A wizard, proud and strong, a capable and competent individual like which you have never seen before in your life. Yet he cares not about you or your plight, he goes on living in his own world, confident, smug. You think that he neither appreciates nor deserves the power that he has."

Now her voice was soft almost to the point of a whisper,

"So you wait until his guard is down, until he least suspects it and you take it from him!"

The students shot back in their seats as she suddenly yelled the end of her sentence.

"And with that stolen power, you live as he lived in a world that you don't understand a world that is not yours." Alecto seemed to come back to reality as she then said,

"It is not entirely a Muggle's fault that they are so conniving and malicious. Their poor existence almost conditions them for it. Once they learn of the possibilities that are open to a proper witch or wizard, the need to acquire it is almost irresistible."

Some of the students nodded in acknowledgement, and not just the Slytherins.

"What about Squibs?" A second year girl from Hufflepuff suddenly spoke. Muggle Studies was now a mandatory mixed year course, so students of all ages were in the room. The girl continued,

"If magic can be…"

"Raise your hand!" Alecto suddenly barked at the girl. The young girl's eyes went nearly as wide as quaffles. After a few seconds, she gingerly raised her hand.

"Yes?" Alecto said, returning to creepy, sweet voice she had been faking.

"Um er… I was going to ask…" the girl spoke much a quieter and more intimidated tone, "If magic can be stolen from a wizard, would a Squib also try to take it… maybe… I just thought…"

"An excellent question," Alecto said with a smile, the girl blushed and hid her face in her book at the compliment, "Which brings me to my next point. Witches and Wizards are made of much better stock than Muggles. Although Squibs are crippled without their magic, they are still part of Wizard world. They may be a disgrace, but magical theft is above even the lowest of pureblooded wizards and witches.

Before Neville could even think about it, he was on his feet,

"How do you know?" Neville demanded. Alecto turned to glare at him,

"I thought I made it clear that students are to raise their…" but Neville interrupted,

"Many Squibs manage to recover their magical abilities, how do you know they didn't steal it from another wizard?"

Alecto's face was red with anger but she didn't reply to Neville's question so he continued,

"In my first years at Hogwarts I was crap at magic, absolutely terrible. I was almost a squib myself, but I'm a lot better now. How do you know I didn't steal my magic from another witch or wizard?"

"Neville Lonbottom," Alecto said, trying to regain her composure, "You are a pureblooded wizard from a noble family, you shouldn't suggest such ridiculous things as…" Neville interrupted her again,

"Yeah it'd be pretty embarrassing if a pureblood wizard was nothing but a lowly magic thief, no better than a miserable Muggle. How would the Dark Lord explain that?" Neville and Alecto stared at each other for a few seconds, then she walked closer and closer to him until they were standing face to face. In a low and barely audible voice she said,

"You are just a breath away from a very long detention session with me young man,"

Neville was about to respond but he felt Ginny tugging gently on the back of his robe. He obeyed her request and sat down quietly. Alecto returned to the front of the room to continue her lecture.

"In this first chapter we will learn the basics of primitive Muggle history and culture and then we will learn how to calculate a witch or wizard's magical potential based on how much Muggle blood is in their family lineage,"

Neville couldn't resist, he stood again. Even with Ginny actively pulling on his arm and robe he was undeterred this time,

"How much Muggle blood is in your family?" Neville shouted. The class looked back and forth from Neville to Alecto horrified as to what he just asked. Alecto ran over to Nevilles chair and kicked it out from under him. Neville fell to a heap on the floor as Alecto pulled out her whip from its leather holster on her hip.

"You!" CRACK

"Shut!" CRACK

"Your!" CRACK

"Filthy!" CRACK

"BLOODY!" CRACK

"Mouth!" CRACK

She whipped him with each word she spoke. Through blurry, barely conscious eyes he managed to look about the room. He saw the distraught faces of his fellow students. They showed deep pity as they looked at him and angry contempt when they looked at Alecto.

Good Neville gave a bloody smile on the floor that no one else saw. He did not scream as he was whipped this time.

I win he thought.

He knew that Alecto had nearly recruited more than twenty future Death Eaters today, but with her whip, she portrayed all of the beast like qualities that she had attributed to Muggles. Neville knew the students, at least of this particular class, wouldn't give a grain of salt to anything she would ever say.