The Unknowing Squib

History of Magic, Draco's Fourth Year

The History of Magic professor once again babbled on, transfiguring the usually interesting subjects, like wars, into mind-numbing, sleep-inducing ones. At the moment, the boring old magician was discussing the war between the genie summoners and the ring users in Ancient Arabia. As usual, most of the students were sleeping, including Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Draco Malfoy. Hermione Granger, as usual, listened intently and took notes. Neville Longbottom, on the other hand, looked confused.

''I thought wizards only used wands?'' Neville dumbly asked.

The Professor Binns looked annoyed; he had explained that subject yesterday.

''Would anyone kindly explain to Mr. Longbottom for me the answer to that question?" the teacher looked around.

Sigh. No one ever listens.

Right at that moment, the disgruntled teacher noticed a tiny hand waving frantically in the air. The owner of that hand was none other than Hermione Granger.

''Yes, Ms. Granger. Please explain." The ghost looked pleased as he woke up sleeping students by gliding through them, including Draco, who in the future became known as Jacob M. Alexander.

''Over the past century, the wand has become the primary and most conventional tool of spell castors; but, other methods existed such as rings, staffs, and other enchanted items.

''Ancient elf and goblin smiths developed the magical rings. The ancient race deemed the ring useful because it magically enhanced weapons and technologies without the need for enhancing spells. Elves used their rings in magically boosting the strength of their bows and arrows as well as enhancing their natural ability to tap into nature's mana pool, something humans can not do. Goblins, on the other hand, used the rings in increasing their mining productivity as well as enhancing their abilities to tap into the mana pool.

''Of course, humans began using the rings. Though we couldn't tap into nature's mana pool, rings provided certain advantages for certain types of wizards. Seers considered the rings useful as it clarified their vision, allowing them to give more specific, detailed predictions. The rings made it easier for wizards to use runes and make potions. But the most important use of the rings was for magical warfare. Rings do not require the wizards to draw, making them ready for a fight at any moment. Also, rings can not be disarmed unless broken.

''Staffs were the original wands which originated here in Europe. Based on Latin, spells using staffs can be cast the same way we do with spells using wands. The staff provided an advantage to wizards in its heyday because the intensity of a spell cast by a staff is higher the one by a wand. In that case, size did matter, I suppose.

''There are other tools, as anything can be enchanted to perform spells, but they tend to be inefficient or unreliable. Rings and staffs were very popular until wands replaced them entirely at the turn of the last millennium."

''Why were they replaced?" Neville asked.

''Wands did not replace staffs, but did upgrade them, because to be exact, wands are just a miniature version of staffs. Staffs, being so large, lacked the speed wands provided. In battle, staffs are rendered useless by the weaker, but quicker wands. And now, magical technology has developed enough that the difference in intensity between spells cast by staffs and ones by wands is now negligible.

''One can not compare the usefulness of a ring and a wand. Made by elves and goblins, the ring spells are not Latin based, meaning the wizard must learn a new set of spells in order to use one. Ring spells are quite long, so one would expect this to be the reason for its disappearance; but, it's not. Ring provide the greatest technical advantage through its ability to remember and recast the spell cast before. This causes the spell cast by rings to be actually faster than that cast by a wand. One merely has to wear enough rings with the spells already memorized in them to achieve the speed required in a duel or a battle.

''To cast a spell using a ring, a wizard may simply point the palm of his hand at the target and send a mental impulse into the finger with the specified ring. This allows ring spells to be cast at any angle and any position. Cast correctly, the target wouldn"t even know he is targeted. Best of all, ring allows multiple spells to be cast all at once."

''Then why do we use wands?" Neville interrupted again.

''We use wands because all witches and wizards can use them.'' Hermione continued. ''Strangely, no modern wizard has been able to master the art of ring magic. Now, the only conventional use of the ring is to use one as a talisman.

''Merlin was the last known wizard with the ability to fully master the art of ring magic. After his disappearance, no one confirmed his death, ring magic died out.

''Many theories exist on why wizards can no longer use rings. Jonathon Ferry, the late headmaster of Salem Magical Academy, formulated perhaps the most probable theory on why wizards can not use rings.

''He theorized that the mastery of ring magic requires certain genes. Elves and goblins created the first ring, and humans perhaps lost the primitive, most-likely-recessive genes in the process of evolution. He believes that certain genes cause one to be a wizard, a squib, or a muggle. How the genes determine this, he can not explain, because the genes have not been discovered even after the muggle's Human Genome Project. Furthermore, no one has been able to fully theorize how exactly the genes work. If the genes are recessive, since muggles can produce wizards, how can mating between a wizard and a muggle produce another wizard? If the genes are dominant, why isn't everyone wizards? If the genes worked together in a continuum, shouldn't there be a lot more squibs? If the genes worked like neural impulse with a threshold, why are there squibs? Many questions exist on the gene theory, and the wizarding community has been attempting to find an answer to this, especially the American government.

What has been proven is that the genes enabling one to use a ring are independent of the genes that determine if one is a wizard or not. Certain people throughout history have managed to cast a spell using the ring, but without control of what he or she may cast. Not all of these people were wizards; some who managed have been squibs, or even muggles.

''The last person reported to have cast a spell using the ring is..."

The Dark Lord...

''Albus Dumbledore,'' The professor interrupted, knowing what Hermione would say. ''You have been doing some research in the library haven't you, Ms. Granger? 20 points will be awarded to Gryffindor! Now, a picture of the ring can be found in..."

Present Day: October 15th, 2005

''Man,'' Josh McFarley smiled in pleasure. ''That was one thrilling game.''

''Yeah,'' Jake smiled back. ''I thought Lidge was gonna get us killed for a moment there.''

They were referring to the Major League Baseball's National League Championship Series' Game 3 between the beloved Houston Astros and the St. Louis Cardinals.

But, Jake had another reason for being at Josh's house this night.

''Josh,'' Jake began, seriously. ''I don't think we should go to those parties anymore.''

Josh looked at Jake in bewilderment. Josh didn't really care about it, but Jake, of all people, saying so surprised him.

''Is it 'cause of that bust at the pub?'' Josh referred to the under-age drinking pub last week at the Baker"s Pub after a football game, in which Josh's school won, again, somehow."

''No,'' Jake smiled. ''I just don't think it's a good idea anymore. You know? You're going to homecoming with Katy; I'm going with Hermione. For their sake, we should lay down for a bit. I don't particularly want to ruin anything at the moment. I don't think you'd want to either."

And I don't want hear that voice again in my head.

''Wow,'' Josh smiled sarcastically. ''Somebody's getting a conscience.''

''Shut up.'' Jake shoved Josh jokingly.

At that moment, Jake noticed a small glass case on Josh's desk. The case enclosed a platinum diamond ring. The ring looked old, but the diamonds were real and were cut to shape the Sun.

''Oh, yeah,'' Josh noticed the object of Jake's attention. ''I got that from my dad for my 17th birthday. My dad said that on the will of my biological father, he wished me to have this on my 17th birthday, in which he considered me to be of age.''

Draco Malfoy, Jake Alexander to Josh, looked strangely at Josh. Yes, Josh was adopted; Draco had forgotten about that. But that wasn't the strange part.

Wizards become of age at 17

''I know,'' Josh smiled. ''You're supposed to turn 18.''

Draco looked intently at the ring.

That looks like...

Draco tried to remember the little he had learned in History of Magic.

''A picture of the ring can be found...'' Professor Binns had said. This ring is an exact replica of the one I saw in the textbook; it must be a magical ring! That means that Josh came from a magical descent. I've got to find out more about Josh's real parents!

''So, Josh,'' Jake inquired. ''What do you exactly know about your parents anyway?''

''Well,'' Josh put his hand on his chin. ''I know my biological mother died at child birth. My father became schizophrenic right after my mom's death. He claimed that the CIA took away his memory and destroyed his life or something.''

''I see...'' Jake felt sorry for Josh. Though Draco didn't exactly have the perfect childhood he told people about, he realized that it must have been worse to know that you killed your mother and ruined the life of your father.

''Anyhow, the government took me away and I was adopted by my parents. My biological dad died in a mental institution months later.'' Josh continued. ''The government sent my dad a will my biological dad had written before he became schizophrenic. It's strange 'cause it seemed as if he knew exactly what was going to happen."

''So,'' Jake inquired deeper. ''Does this biological father have a name?''

''Yeah,'' Josh managed a smile. ''His name was Jonathon Ferry Jr.''

As Draco, Jake in public, walked out of Josh's house, he continued to think about the ring and Josh's biological father.

"Jonathon Ferry, the late headmaster of Salem Magical Academy, formulated perhaps the most probable theory on why wizards can not use rings..." Hermione had said all those years ago.

Draco froze.

Josh is Jonathon Ferry's grandson!

Draco was bewildered.

How is that possible? If Josh was the grandson of a headmaster, how can he end up like this? He's not even a wizard, or I would be able to tell. Or he would have been notified by the magical community all those years ago!

But as he cleared his head, Draco came to a cold conclusion.

Josh is a squib, a squib who doesn't know.

The whole ring thing will be explained later, and I gotta get back to romance too, lol

Anyhow, review if you have time