Gypsy Magic: The Yoska Frescka Chronicles
Chapter 3: Hogwarts, A History
The only word that pops into Yoska's mind is "magic". For only magic could possibly have created a being as beautiful as the girl in front of him. She flips her long blonde hair, running a pale hand through its endless waves. Her head turns in a way that Yoska can see her face. A sharp, pointed nose is raised as she laughs at a joke made by the mortal next to her. Yoska finds himself bewitched by her violet-blue eyes; a part of him feels like it is falling into an endless sea of color and beauty. Hungrily he examines her entire body, unable to stop his male wired brain from pondering what those slight curves underneath her black robes really look like.
"Merlin's beard, are you really ogling her again?" Oliver asks while shaking his head, "Yoska, give it up."
Yoska is not listening though. He keeps praying that she will look over, see his smile and give him one in return. Every day he wishes just once that she will look his way, just look his way. It makes him ache just thinking about all the times he had come close to the object of his affection. One time she even shared dragon scales with him because she forgot her own.
"So we're just ignoring your big revelation after potions?" Oliver says to try and refocus Yoska's attention, "I guess Snape had nothing important to say."
Yoska begins to walk towards the blonde beauty, his heart pounding in his chest. He runs a hand through his black hair and tries to capture a smile worthy of Gilderoy Lockhart. One of her friends gives her a quick tug on her robes, no doubt pointing to Yoska and his persistent smile. He takes a deep breath and waits for her to turn his way.
"Devlesa avilan," Yoska greets. The girl raises her eyebrows but remains silent. Yoska clears his throat, "It means only God could have brought you here. It's a Romani pick up line."
"Fascinating," The girl responds in a bored voice, "What do you want Yoska?"
"Maybe a date?" Yoska offers his hand, "What do you say Delia?"
Yoska believes for a second that she will say yes. Her eyes look to his hand and they lock eyes. Before she can say anything her friend lets out a shrill laugh. Yoska almost breaks his trademark smile to glare at the girl, a pale woman with a mess of long black hair. Her dark eyes and piercing expression remind Yoska of a Dark Witch he had once seen on an old wanted poster, but the name escapes him.
"A date. With you?" The girl lets out a shrill laugh, "Oh that is rich. Yes of course she would, why not? I mean you gypsies are so well known for your wealth am I right?" She turns to Delia and encourages her to laugh with her in malicious joy, "Hey there Delia, maybe you two can share a caravan!"
"How humorous!" Yoska says through a smile and gritted teeth, "But maybe Delia could…"
"Get away from me," Delia interrupts. She looks away from his eyes, "You filthy little mud-blood. Let's get out of here Asclepias."
With that she walks into her classroom, led by her nasty friend Asclepias. Yoska has time to stutter through one more word before they walk out of sight, Asclepias taking the chance to flip him off. Yoska slumps his shoulders and places his hand on the cool walls of Hogwarts.
"Hey forget about it," Oliver comforts, placing a hand on Yoska's shoulder, "Slytherin girls are all bitches anyways. Not worth your time."
"Not that one," Yoska laments, looking into the classroom longingly, "She's so nice."
"You mean she looks nice," Oliver points out, "But she's a hag mate."
"If I could just get her away from Asclepias," Yoska tries to explain to his lame friend, "I know I could get her to open up."
"Why doesn't anyone listen to the Hufflepuffs?" Oliver sighs. He looks down at his watch, "Blood hell I'm going to be late for Herbology. Last thing my house needs is to lose five points because I had to comfort your sorry ass." He offers Yoska a kind smile, "Just don't hurt yourself mate."
Yoska shakes his friend's hand and makes his way up the stairs to his next class. Charms and Transfiguration pass by uneventfully. Without Oliver to talk to the day begins to drag on for Yoska as fewer and fewer people will even make eye contact with him. He passes Flint trying to dry his robes but they do little more than sneer and call him a "gyppo". At last he reaches his final class and one of his favorites, History of Magic.
Even an "O" student like Yoska will admit that it has nothing to do with the teacher. Professor Binns can test the patience of any Ravenclaw with his constant drone. The sixth year class only contains about a dozen students who had opted to continue their studies in this field, many being forced by their parents. For Yoska though the choice to continue past fifth year had been a no brainier. Delia takes this class.
He takes his usual seat across the room from her, surrounded by empty chairs. Not surprisingly Asclepias takes advantage of her free period to protect Delia's maidenhood. Yoska dodges a quick hex due to his offering of a friendly smile towards the venomous Asclepias before Professor Binns begins to droll on about pre-Hogwarts history. The spectral professor finishes writing notes on the board and turns to face the class. It was a well kept secret that the advanced History of Magic course actually had the deceased Professor addressing the class.
"So ladies and gentleman, today we are going to be discussing the event that led to the founding of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." Professor Binns dryly tells the class. "It may interest several of you to know that had this event not transpired our wonderful school may not have ever formed in 1000 A.D."
Yoska can feel his ears growing hot. Several of his classmates turn to him and scowl, as the story was well known. Most parents taught this particular bit of history to even their youngest of children. Yoska tries to smile at his now hostile classmates.
"I am talking of course of the Great Romani Uprising of 999 A.D," Professor Binns says without emotion.
To Yoska's classmates it is enough to give him another round of hate filled gazes. The Slytherin girls in particular seem to want to rip Yoska to pieces.
"Now as you all know before the Ministry of Magic there was the British Isles Confederation of Warlocks. All over the world similar organizations existed in modern day Germany, France, and various other world powers." He pauses for a quick scribbling of notes, "Beyond Europe though was another Confederation, the Romani Sorcerer's Army. The Romani populations of Europe comes from India and this so happened to be their Wizard equivalent."
"The Romani wizards were seated members at the international peace keeping conferences. In the 998 A.D meeting the council voted on several prototypes of our modern wizarding laws. It decreed that magic was forbidden in the Muggle community and also created the Wand Decree." Professor Binns lazily looks around the room, ignoring Yoska gripping his desk, "The Wand Decree stated that the use of wandlore was to be practiced by all the major wizarding powers. However the Romani, who at the time were a very powerful nation, spoke against these two decrees. In the Romani culture wands were considered a sign of weakness. Their particular magic had developed along a line that did not require the use of wand. It was also common place for Romani wizards to use magic openly even around Muggles."
"Sounds like a bunch of ignorant savages," Asclepias says, not hiding her sneer directed at Yoska, "Probably didn't like using the civilized method because it only gave them one hand to pick pockets with."
Yoska forces himself to keep smiling. He heart beats against his chest and his blood calls for him to avenge Asclepias's last dishonor. The young Roma takes a deep breath and uses his notes as an excuse to not say anything. Still, he can not help himself from looking at his own wand with a twinge of shame.
"Very perceptive," Binns agrees, "The British Warlocks agreed with you. There was a dispute between the Romani Sorcerers and their European counterparts, ending with the Romani withdrawing their membership from the council."
Yoska stops writing notes and just begins to count to ten over and over again. Ever since he stepped into King's Cross he's had to carry the stigma of this particular stain on history. Say this for wizards; they never forget and never truly forgive.
"Moving on. For a few months all seemed to have settled over. Then in the November of that year the Romani Wizards appeared in Europe." Professor Binns takes a second to clear his throat; but for the life of him Yoska can not imagine why he would ever need to do this. "They brought fifty wizards. Within a matter of weeks the countryside had been devastated. Using their unique brand of Romani magic these wizards were able to move virtually unopposed through the Continent. Countless wizarding communities were destroyed by the time they arrived in England."
"Worst of all though was the destruction of the older schools. Most of the Wizarding institutions you see in Europe were built or rebuilt after the uprising. In fact the old wizarding school for the British Isles was destroyed during this time period.
"So much for a bunch of peace loving musicians egh Frescka?" Asclepias taunts from her side of the room, "Your people sure screwed up."
"Please let the professor continue with the lecture," Yoska quietly says so that his voice is but a whisper across the room. He forces himself to smile, "This will be on the exam."
"Now the British Warlocks knew that the Romani Sorcerers had an unorthodox magical style. So the Warlocks came up with an idea; a duel to decide it all." Professor Binns points towards the Hogwarts seal. "The chosen combatants were four greatest witches and wizards of their age. You know them as Godric Gryffindor, Rowena Ravenclaw, Helga Hufflepuff, and Salazar Slytherin."
"It's because we had honor," Yoska chimes in. His classmates roll their eyes. Yoska drops his smile and looks directly at Asclepias, "We were tired of fighting against wizards who could only do cheap parlor tricks. My people were likely looking for an honorable fight. Something to tell their grandchildren about."
"Well we'll see if they got the chance," Asclepias answers with a dark look, "Surely you know how this story ends don't you Yoska?"
"Yes," Yoska mutters darkly, "How could I not? It's not like any of you will let me forget."
"And so in the summer of 999 A.D the duel began. The Romani used a variety of magic ranging from enchanted metal work to elemental magic. All without wands mind you. In fact Godric Gryffindor used his sword for the first time in this battle, rallying the other four founders who had begun to lose ground. His battle between the leader of the Fifty Romani was a sword duel of all things, each trying to best each other with their skill with a blade. The battle ravaged the countryside, destroying the local Muggle villages until there was nothing but a crater and the fields you see today. The residual magic of the duel is believed to have settled within the foundations of the castle and in the Forbidden Forest, leading many historians to theorize that this duel is the reason that powerful magical creatures like unicorns and centaurs are drawn to this area in such large numbers." Professor Binns checks the clock and sighs, "So naturally the Founders won and built Hogwarts on the very spot of the battle. Partially to celebrate their victory and partially to replace the old schools lost in the Romani Uprising."
"Please tell us what happened then Professor," Yoska calls out. An odd fire is in his eyes, "If I recall there's a part two."
"The British Warlocks of course retaliated," Binns says with a somber tone, "Those Romani that survived the battle fled to India. The International Council agreed that the Romani could never be allowed to become a threat. Led by Godric Gryffindor, an international task group descended on the Romani nation state. Despite fighting to the end, all Romani with wizarding blood were eradicated."
"All of them?" A Gryffindor student asks in a nervous stutter. Yoska deduces that the student is in shock that the exulted Gryffindor house could not have any possible connection to genocide.
"Down to the last child," Binns nods.
"That's not right," Delia suddenly says. She looks apologetically to Asclepias, "I mean they should have done more."
"The calculated step to remove all traces of wizarding blood from the Romani peoples is one of the many reasons that the Muggle-Romani Diaspora began. This is the reason Romani are universally persecuted by both Muggles and wizards."
"By the time the last spell had been cast at least twenty percent of the wizarding population of Europe had been killed and one hundred percent of the Romani wizard population had been eliminated. On both sides the loss of Muggle life was in the thousands."
"Not all of them," A Slytherin boy jokes, turning hi shead towards Yoska.
"Ha!" Asclepias laughs.
The bell rings. Yoska graciously accepts it, moving out of the classroom without so much as glance from his peers. Delia looks like she wants to say something but Asclepias stops her.
"If you ask me the same should be done to the mud-bloods," Her nasty friend comments while looking directly at Yoska, "At least you don't have to worry about ruining things like your horse stealing ancestors. Your nothing but a mud-blooded carnival reject. How you even got your powers is beyond me."
Yoska says nothing but looks to Delia for any sign of support. The Slytherin girl gives him the same cold glare as her friend. They both call him a mud-blood and briskly begin to make their way towards the Slytherin common room. Visibly shaken, Yoska makes his way to the Ravenclaw locker room; determined to take out all of his frustration on the Snitch.
AN: Hey guys, I know Romani history and social standing is pretty complicated, so if anyone found anything really offensive in this chapter please feel free to PM me.