HoM Classroom : Lesson 1

[Danika Peverell]

Danika watched the photos change, utterly disgusted with what she was seeing. When Professor Dalton asked a question she shrugged.
"Umm. Was it like suffocation from teh smoke etc. Maybe?" she said, her shoulders still in a shrugging position and her nose scrunched up in concentration as she tried to remember something from anything she'd heard.

[isabellapeters]

Bella smiled as she saw five pictures of the witch who loved being burnt. Personally she found it quite funny that someone would like the feeling of being burnt so much that she let herself get captured 47 times. "Well you could die from the burn damage that was done to your body," she said. She wasn't fully sure, but being burnt at the stake sort of meant that they'd have quite a lot of burns on their body.

[stkay]

Lucien could almost laugh at Danika's expression, but manage to remain serious, death wasn't precisely a funny subject. "Yes, carbon monoxide poisoning was a very common cause when the fire was large" he said, "1 point for Slytherin" he stated, and continue to look at the images, "But what were the causes when the muggles weren't burning a great amount of people?" he asked, before turning to Isabella.

"Of course, but besides that?" he said, looking at her, a rather amused tone on his voice, "A point to Ravenclaw."

[alexablack]

Amelina looked up, "Wendelin enjoyed the fact she was completely fooling them, she found it amusing to think she had the upper hand. She was more powerful in the situation. She'd only feel a soft ticking" She said, thinking back to the charm. "And she probably found it hilarious to escape and get recaught. Probably found the rush exhilarating" Mel said, softly.

[isabellapeters]

"I guess it could be strange sir, but everyone's eccentric in some way as they grow older aren't they?" Bella asked. She was a bit stuck on other things. There was ways on how to tell a witch, which involved the cake test or being dunked in a lake, but they had already been mentioned.

[stkay]

Lucien face turned to Amelina, "Indeed, she did enjoy it, and the soft ticking feeling comes from the flame-freezing charm, but that's not really my subject" he could explain it a bit more, but he wasn't the Charms professor, "A point to Gryffindor."

"She was called Wendelin the Weird for a reason" clearly she had to be a bit weird to like being burned. Lucien cleared his throat before moving on, "So, besides suffocation and the obvious wounds the fire could cause, the victim, if we may say, commonly died from heatstroke, shock and loss of blood plasma" quite a scientific fact, "Not all of those convicted to die on the stake were alive by the time they were burned, some were strangled first or at the same time, and others were hanged before burning" Lucien said, and waited to see if anyone had any opinions on what he said, or the images shown.

[isabellapeters]

"So basically once you were convicted of being a witch, there wasn't really any chance of survival. One way or another you were going to die?" Bella said. Liking the feeling of a freeze charm was one thing, but actually dying from it was a different matter. "If people were so scared of witches and their powers, how were witches able to be caught, strangled, hung or burnt?"

[stkay]

Lucien was glad that someone had a few questions about it, and nodded as Isabella asked, "Well, there were some that were able to escape, however, yes, there were not many ways to survive once you were convicted" he started to explain, "You see, Miss Peters, the muggles had to be kept ignorant of the true existence of our world. True. They somehow discovered there was magic around, but they couldn't know it was real" he said, "Us, as wizards have to sacrifice ourselves to keep it that way" that was a thought he didn't enjoy much, but all in life comes with some sacrifices.

"Also, some of the muggles weren't afraid, some used us for their own gain, and I believe, once they got what they wanted they simply accused the other, it's human nature after all" he continued, as the pictures changed into some priests judging as well, "And you asked how witches were able to get caught? I know that if you were stuck in that situation you'll just disappear, but as I explained earlier, sacrifice and secrecy" he ended, looking at Isabelle to make sure he'd answer her questions.

[isabellapeters]

Bella listened and then nodded. "Right so some people sacrificed themselves just so the rest of us would be able to continue to live alongside muggles." She felt sort of sick at that idea, but at the same time she understood the reason behind those that had been caught. "I guess if given the choice, I'd probably do the same thing," she whispered softly thinking about those who's secrets she'd save.

[stkay]

Lucien nodded, "Good" he said as he listened to Isabella, "I mean, good that you understand" not that it was good to die or so. The images changed times, as they went on to the 17th century, "So, the years went by and it became much worse" he started to say, "As muggle persecutions reach an all-time high, the Ministers of Magic around the world got together to try and find a solution to this crisis".

As he ended to say the last, the images became ones of meetings between the Wizarding World, "From the meetings a new statute came to order by the end of the 1600's, does anyone know which one was it and in what year?" he asked, the said statute was the only one during the end of the 17th century.

[alexablack]

Mel looked up from her notes, "1692..really late 17th century" She said softly.

[isabellapeters]

"Wasn't it the Statue of Secrecy that was made in 1692?" Bella asked, a bit of late night reading had never hurt anyone had it? She looked at the last picture and smiled, it was just like a gossip meeting only with each person bringing bad news about how witches were being persecuted along with innocent muggles... Okay so maybe not a gossip meeting

[stkay]

"Yes, one point to Gryffindor for having the date correct" he said looking at Amelina, and turned to Isabella, his own years as a Ravenclaw past through his mind, "Three points to Ravenclaw" he said, as his face returned to the images, "The International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy, or Statute of Secrecy for short, was indeed created in 1692" he stated and looked back at the students, "Now, what exactly does the Statute of Secrecy means?" he asked.

[isabellapeters]

"Didn't the statue of secrecy meant that they created spells and different manners of protection around the wizarding villages and other wizarding places. Such as if you pass by St. Mungos it looks like a shop being refurbished, or if you're a muggle in London, you just end up walking right past the Leaky Cauldron," Bella said trying to remember places that had protection cast over them. She was pleased about the three points and made a note to tell her brother not to annoy her when she was reading. "Isn't the Underage Wizarding law part of? It stops us from using magic till we're of age so we don't break the statue of secrecy?"

[stkay]

"Very good, Miss Peters, three more points to Ravenclaw" he said, "Obviously, what it meant was secrecy. Considering the muggle situation wasn't in good terms, the only way to reduce the crisis amongst the Wizarding World was to create this law that lays the responsibility on the various Wizarding governments in each country for maintaining the secrecy of everything from Quidditch games to dragons" he thought for a moment about it, "So, we basically got into hiding our community for our bests interest, of course" it was the only way to live with the muggle world as well.

They walked a little further into the corridor, the images showed how the Statute was accepted within the Community, "Of course, the hunt towards the wizards didn't end with that, but we became less noticeable to muggles, so eventually it ceased" it wasn't an exact time, but the creation of the Statute did worked. Lucien waited to see if anyone had any questions before moving on.