abcnovels
Chapter 614
Chapter 614
Chapter 614: Unofficial History
Ilvermorny’s library occupies the centre of the west side of the castle complex. From the outside, it extends in all four directions, with four corridor-like exits.
The interior of the library is a spacious, circular room that is divided into three levels, somewhat similar to the architecture of Sword Castle. The ground level is a spacious reading area, with neatly arranged tables and chairs in the middle of the main lobby, surrounded by compartments divided according to different categories of activity. Going up a circular staircase, there are rows of brown bookshelves standing on the second and third levels, with a very extensive collection.
Felix had spent the last few days looking through them.
It is summer break, so the library is not crowded most of the time, and if he is tired of reading he will simply stroll between the shelves, again and again, capturing the residual emotions of the Ilvermorny students, which often bring him new and fresh experiences.
For example – despite never having met in person – Felix has got to know several Ilvermorny students. They always sit in the same seat, their thoughts as they read transformed into long-lasting and beautiful sights for Felix to admire.
When Felix described what they looked like to enquire, it was no surprise to find that these were some of the best students.
Jura was amazed at his ability.
Felix had visited the libraries of three wizarding schools in total – Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Ilvermorny – each with its own unique characteristics, distinguished solely by the style of their decoration, Hogwarts lofty and ancient, Beauxbatons elegant and comfortable, and Ilvermorny much more modern than the rest.
This is probably because Ilvermorny’s library was built in the seventeenth century using many Muggle libraries as references, so it is better organized in terms of space and book indexing, and probably has two or three times more books than Hogwarts.
Of course, compared to Hogwarts, which was founded around the tenth century, there are fewer ancient books here, but Felix did find a small section where he found research and records of indigenous magic, which brought him a lot of inspiration.
The development of magic in North America took shape much later than elsewhere.
Felix went through the history of this region and developed rough facts in his mind. Before the invasion of the European Muggle colonists, the magic of this region was represented by the native Indians, who had no wands and used magic in a primitive and rude way. Moreover, because of the tribal way of life, magic was concentrated in the hands of only a few, and because of the poor communication – there were about 160 languages and 1,200 dialects – there was a complete lack of unification and development of the local magical civilization.
Nevertheless, there is still considerable redeeming value.
The founders of Ilvermorny had initially only wanted to establish a place to provide a home-based magic education, but in order to satisfy the wishes of their two adopted sons, they came up with a similar structure modelled on Hogwarts – which Felix found interesting to read about, as Isolt Sayre had never attended Hogwarts, and all the common knowledge she knew was told to her by her evil aunt, Gormlaith Gaunt, who had described Hogwarts as a “dangerous place full of mudbloods and egalitarians” and had personally torn up the Hogwarts admission letter that had been sent to Isolt, which made the whole ‘Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry’ a concept that had only existed in the imagination of this Ilvermorny founder.
And what’s even more interesting is that the curses and insults that came out of Aunt Gormlaith’s mouth, not only failed to work, but made the young Isolt think it was heaven.
She told her two adopted sons about her imaginary Hogwarts, and the family was all enthralled, thus resulting in the ‘Ilvermorny’, the four plausible Houses, the Sorting ceremony, and most importantly – the Wand. They did a decent job with it, and the nearby native people came to the school, which finally allowed the whole Ilvermorny school to get rid of the embarrassing situation of not being able to fill the four houses because there were only two students (although they didn’t care), and Isolt personally with her two grown-ups adopted sons tried to combine the native magic with the European magic to form a unique Ilvermorny version of it.
Much of that native magic – such as primitive magical rituals, hunting battle songs developed by imitating the roars of magical creatures, and methods of casting spells using magical plant and creatures materials and organs … there are many plausible elements, but Felix still recorded them, intending to save them for later experiments.
He created a sound-based spell based on the Parseltongue and the song of the Fwooper. It is different from the Amplifying Charm, and more similar to the Parseltongue curse that Voldemort had used on him, and Felix also attempted to incorporate the theory of sound waves from physics into it.
Carrying magic power in sound waves is not only faster but also more stealthy …
For example, once the bat’s ultrasound is combined with thinking room magic, it allows Felix to quickly construct the real environment around him within his brain and overlay it with illusions. The effect of this magic is terrifying: when faced with Felix, enemies may never be able to tell what is real and what is an illusion.
Even with the simplest echolocation function, spells such as the Disillusionment Charm, Invisibility Charm, or items like Invisibility Cloak would be almost useless, not to mention the damage that could be inflicted on the body by large-scale infrasound.
Felix reckoned he would rarely get to use it, but the fun of solving puzzles and constructing a new discipline kept him hooked. He found time only to make a trip back to Hogwarts to give Professor Sprout the snakewood branch.
“It is extremely rare to find such a plant that retains vigorous vitality while remaining under the influence of powerful magical force for an extended period of time.” Professor Sprout said excitedly, wishing to hug Felix and kiss him twice.
“Can it be grown successfully?” Felix hurriedly changed the subject.
“It will survive easily, but to retain its magical properties it will have to be carefully taken care of, and it may take a year or two of nurturing to grow big, which will be quite a challenge for me,” despite saying this, Professor Sprout was smiling without any trace of worry, “I’ll have to go and find Severus, I’ve found him to be very talented in this area, which Charity can testify!”
She left in a hurry.
Felix re-enforced the defences in Classroom Seven before returning to the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry once again. In the meantime, the Ilvermorny Headmaster gave an interview to the outside world and revealed a ‘dusty history’ for the first time.
“The snakewood wand represented a childhood tragedy for Lady Isolt Sayre.” Headmaster Zekaraiya said solemnly, “Her evil aunt held this wand and killed Lady Isolt’s parents and tortured her with cruel punishments – until she had the courage to escape.”
“Even though this wand had helped Lady Isolt Sayre when she fled, she eventually chose to bury her past with her husband and welcomed a life of happiness together. I am always grateful when I look back on this history: because her choice not only created a new Ilvermorny but also left us with a magical tree with powerful healing properties.”
“Lady Isolt Sayre must be more pleased to see this change than the shadow cast by the wand – it is not violence we need, but medicine that can heal the heart.”
“Also, I would like to thank both Mr. Hap and Mr. Dumbledore …”
The impact of those words was far-reaching.
At least the members of the Steward family who had been jumping up and down and acting as victims of oppression for the past few days had finally quieted down, and the end result, as Headmaster Zekaraiya said, “the evergreen snakewood tree will stand forever in front of Ilvermorny Castle as a witness to the friendship between the two wizarding schools … ”
Jura also managed to become a head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement due to the role he played in this event. Although there is still a long way to go before he reaches his dream of ‘changing the circumstances of the wizarding society in America’, he is at least on the right track.
And the first assignment he was given was to represent the Magical Congress of the United States of America and accompany the Warlock, Mr. Felix Hap. (What title do you think I should use for a powerful wizard at Felix level? Grand Sorcerer or Warlock or Archmage?)
The two men took the opportunity to talk a lot about the political circumstances within Congress. Probably as a result of gaining a deeper understanding of the operational logic behind the vast magical powerhouse known as the MACUSA, Jura’s approach became more observant and pragmatic.
It is a change in perspective.
In the past, Jura, and even the other members of the Revolutionary Society, could only ask questions, find problems, and become discontented and indignant at the fact that the MACUSA was comfortable with the status quo, but now their thoughts changed to how to solve problems.
“It’s tricky.” Juria sighed, “There are many practical reasons for the isolation of the magical community and the harshness of the laws in the United States. The more I dig into it the more I get a headache.”
Felix listened silently.
“The MACUSA placed restrictions on wizards from muggle families out of worry that there would be a repeat of what once happened with the Puritans and the Scourers…”
This is another piece of dusty history. Felix thought with a nod, simply put, the Puritans were religious extremists, they were muggles. They had a history of zealously accusing others of using witchcraft, and the attitude of such individuals towards wizards could be imagined.
It is worth noting that when Ilvermorny’s founder, Isolt Sayre, came to North America, the ‘Mayflower’ ship that she sailed on carried a fair number of Puritans, who were persecuted on British soil, so they turned their heads and persecuted others in the New World.
And the Scourers are Wizards. Or rather, used to be wizards. They were first a group of wizarding mercenaries brought together from different countries for profit, who would even sell out their own countrymen for bounties, such as selling wizards to be burned by the Puritans.
When the Magical Congress of the United States of America was formed, it began to purge and execute these traitors of the Wizarding world, but some escaped punishment. They dared not show their magic again and lived in disguise as Muggles, but the matter did not end with their deaths. Instead of repenting, these Wizarding traitors extended their hatred towards the Magical Congress of the United States of America to the Wizards of North America as a whole and passed on this resentment from generation to generation.
Several of the more serious exposures in the history of the American Wizarding community have pretty much been associated with the descendants of the Scourers. The most far-reaching one, in which the entire wizarding world was shocked and shaken, resulted in the MACUSA receiving a stern warning from the International Confederation of Wizards and led to the enactment of the infamous Rappaport Law, forcing a strict separation between the ordinary world and the wizarding world to prevent such an incident from happening again.
“In this country, some No-Maj families firmly believe that magic exists despite never having seen it.” Juria stated sadly, “It is just that they believe that all wizards should be wiped out.”
Felix slowly said, “I’ve heard Dumbledore mention that the populace of America seems to be more difficult to trick and blinded by magic than people elsewhere …”
“That’s the reason.” Jura said, “But there is much more to it than that – when all of the above is laid out together, the wizards of the Americas have another terrible threat to face -”
“The Muggle government.” Felix said solemnly.
“That’s right,” Jura affirmed, “Wizards are no secret in the eyes of the Muggle government, at least to those at the top.” He added, “Since the Muggle government became independent, there have been several nasty clashes between the two sides. The Muggle government tried to crack the secrets of wizards or force them into servitude, but we resisted firmly and the Congress secretly destroyed the laboratories and erased the memories of some people … In short, there are all sorts of open and secret battles, and at one point we were pushed close to the point of waging a war … ”
“I’ve heard a rumour,” he lowered his voice, “that in 1892 the then President of the Magical Congress of the United States of America and the President of the Muggle government secretly negotiated a non-interference agreement that has lasted to this day.”
“Can I see this agreement?” Felix asked perkily.
“It is not found in the formal historical records at all, and I have learned about it from an old man in the Congress, and I cannot tell whether it is true or not.” Jura shook his head and said, “I remember the textbook saying that the reason for the Fifth Congress’ Headquarters relocation was the ‘Great Sasquatch Rebellion’ … Anyway, since then, the Magical Congress of the United States of America has moved completely away from the Muggle political centre, Washington, D.C., and relocated to New York and hasn’t moved anywhere since then.”
“It does sound a bit odd when you put it like that.”
Felix scratched his chin, knowing that it had only been three hundred years since the Magical Congress of the United States of America had been founded, and in the previous two hundred years it had been relocated five times for various ‘odd reasons’, whereas the British Ministry of Magic had not moved even once.
What happened in 1892?
Dumbledore was only eleven years old at the time and had just enrolled in school, he may not have been well aware of this history, and as far as Felix knew, Dumbledore did not travel after graduation according to school tradition, and on the contrary, Grindelwald, for a while, was ensconced in America in order to develop his ‘career’. Well, it was also where this old man was first caught, and Newt contributed a lot to it…
Neither Felix nor Dumbledore told Grindelwald – the memory body of a certain magical creature lover is alive and well all day in Classroom Seven – they coincidentally chose to remain silent.
Felix left Ilvermorny in mid-August.
The Headmaster of Ilvermorny had stopped him several times before his departure, hoping that he would give a few open lessons to the students of Ilvermorny, but it is summer break, so another appointment will have to be made.
Nevertheless, this incident reminded Felix that, with that international exchange, the influence of ancient rune had expanded to the entire wizarding world, but if he wanted to promote this discipline further, he would have to rely on school education.
Beauxbatons had recruited seven or eight Hogwarts graduates in one go this year.
After returning to the familiar campus, Felix had barely taken a breath when the Ancient Rune Almanac event began, and many students – like Harry, who had just finished his trip – were surprised to find that a number of students who had just graduated a year or two earlier had come together again because of this event.
These students were all deeply branded as students of Felix Hap, having been taught by him, and if one had to find a different group of people, it would be those from the Ancient Rune Society. Harry never thought he would be talking to a group of old men and women about the future of ancient rune.
“Some of them are old enough to be my great-grandfather.” Ron whispered to Harry.
But even though it seemed strange, three days later the Ancient Rune Almanac with their names printed on it became available all over the world.
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