Harry Potter : Chapter 22: Routine III
"Because before Hogwarts there wasn't an actual sense of community of wizardkind, was it?" the realization struck me like lightning, children growing together, learning together, was bound to have massive effects on society.
Before Hogwarts, magic was likely either self-taught, passed from master to apprentice, or kept within a single bloodline. But it was a fragmented knowledge, likely intermixed with half-baked ritualisms that didn't actually affect the magic itself, or that outright limited it.
Riddle's youthful face turned towards me with something akin to respect plastered on his features.
"There was not."
...
I could picture it easily, in a younger world, one in which Human Rights weren't a thing, power was dangerous whenever it wasn't firmly grasped in your hand. That meant that families of wizards hid even from each other, at least until they felt capable enough to face a threat.
But then again, there would be a family capable of Transfiguration, one capable of Potions, and so on. The sheer magnitude of Hogwarts' founding hadn't hit me yet.
Historically, the creation of a community, that then evolved into the concept of 'magical people' was monumental.
"How old is Apparition? Or the magic of Portkey?" I frowned heavily as another piece of the strange world I was into fell into its place, before downing the first gulp of the alcoholic beverage I had chosen from my brews of the previous year.
It was a silvery-white concoction, smooth and sweet: I remembered brewing it focusing moonlight into milk enriched by the tiniest amount of whiskey.
"Why do you ask?" Minerva turned her head sideways at my non-sequitur.
"Because what sense of kinship there can be between unknown families of magic practitioners when they're not limited to a single area?" I asked, noticing that Riddle's eyes shone with an understanding that had no place on the face of a 14 years old kid.
"There are, and likely were, many ways to travel large distances." he cautiously replied, "Even before wizards called them Apparition or Portkey. Why, there are many stories of doors that didn't lead anywhere in the vicinity."
"Before Hogwarts there wasn't an actual sense of community of wizardkind." I repeated dully, "Don't you see? This school changed the very world!"
"How?" Minerva sat on a freshly transfigured stone bench, letting out a discreet *yawn* before returning her attention to me.
"Because after voices of Hogwarts traveled across the world, wizards and witches everywhere, that by that time were at most of the dimension of small covens, were either envious or fearful of the implications.
With adult mages to keep watch and instruct the children, the parents were free to attend their own business, to claim territory..." Riddle's voice explained the line of thought that I had just stumbled upon like it was obvious, revealing a terrifying insight into the workings of social groups.
Here's the wizard that turned the purist sentiment into the purist Movement. My brief bout of admiration for Tom died immediately as I thought about the war that he would eventually unleash.
"So they built their own schools, mostly because at the time the more influential families of wizardkind were intertwined with the local muggle government.
So there was an interest in forging the equivalent of a potential militant force capable of holding back invading wizards. It's no coincidence that the Roman Empire, at least the western one, fell in 476: by then the knowledge of wands was somewhat widespread, and the local provinces of the empire were eventually subsumed by local lords, which may have collaborated with a local branch of wizards."
"The Bizantine Empire fell almost a thousand years after that though." Tom's frown briefly displayed the effort he was putting in piecing together the history of the world in a different way than the methodical one depicted in books.
"And merely two hundred years after that we have the Statute of Secrecy." Minerva managed to catch up with our reasoning, displaying once more why she was a fucking badass.
"Between 990 A.D. and 1692 A.D. enough communities of wizards formed around the world, and learned to communicate with each other enough to establish an organization to decide in the interest of the witches and wizards of the whole world."
"Liechtenstein isn't a member of the ICW." Tom noted with a smirk, explaining at once why my baffled 'why the fuck is it not?' had stolen a snort out of him.
"The magical community of Liechtenstein protested because Bonaccord wanted to ban troll hunting and give rights to trolls. A tribe of Mountain Trolls had been causing a lot of trouble in Liechtenstein, so their wizarding community contested Bonaccord's appointment, and refused to join the Confederation as a result."
"Goblins too aren't members, are they?" I asked curiously, receiving a disdainful scoff from Minerva.
"Of course not, it's the International Confederation of Wizards."
"And yet the goblins manage wizardkind's gold." I pointed out, "Be careful of who you're disdainful of." I was still baffled by the mechanisms behind the use of Galleons.
How did it make any sense that a job as relatively 'normal' as a bank fell completely under a single species' control? "Besides, I'm pretty sure that goblins have some kind of agreement with the ICW, otherwise there would be some other bank in Diagon, wouldn't it?"
Tom smiled mockingly at Minerva's reddened cheeks, making me wiggle my finger in his direction in an 'I'm-warning-you' fashion: "You shouldn't underestimate muggles either." I laughed softly while I stared at my Slytherin companion, who seemed repulsed by my words.
"Why? They're lesser in every way that counts, they..."
"They manage the impossible every day without the aid of magic." I swirled my glass with a smile on my lips: "Newton's Law, Electromagnetism... we don't really have to care about those, do we? We only need a little swish in order to ignore Physics. Instead, the muggles figured out how to harness those same principles. You know of their..."
"I know of their planes! I know how they rain fire and death indiscriminately! I know how their machines poison the air and clog the lungs!" he hissed, rage burning deep in his eyes, as the carefree tone of our conversation took a sharp dive for the worse.
"Their progress does appear to come at the price of others, doesn't it?" Yeah, I'm not touching that topic with a ten-foot pole. Fucking hell, the bombings have started this year, have they not? Nevertheless, I refused to give the 'let's kill everything' attitude of Riddle any room to breathe.
"But then again, wizardkind sits upon the back of all the other magical races."
"That's... that's nonsense! Are you talking about creatures now? Maybe half-breeds too?"
"Do you know what defines 'sentience?" I cut smoothly before he could start a tirade to leave my ears ringing. And I really don't want to risk Minerva being seduced by whatever philosophy Riddle can pull off right now.
"What?" Minerva had lagged a bit behind because of our sharp change of topic, but my non-sequitur gave her a comfortable excuse to ask for clarification without hurting her own pride.
Tom, which I knew couldn't care less about anyone but himself, simply frowned and turned his eyes towards the fire burning merrily in the fireplace as he finally stepped away from the wall and sat in his favorite armchair.
My fellow Slytherin remained quiet, most likely because he wasn't willing to let anyone know about his sociopathic tendencies, understandably so. If even he's aware of it. I amended my previous thought. But for some reason, Tom Riddle didn't strike me as a... particularly self-aware person.
"Technically, even a tree is 'sentient', because it senses, in fact, the world around it." I gestured casually with one hand.
"If we need to discriminate among living beings, which is somewhat mandatory unless we want to destroy the very idea of civilization worldwide, then you should focus on 'sapience'." Fucking hell this brew is affecting me more than I thought.
"Why would it be mandatory?" Minerva sat on her armchair next to the fire, eyeing me shrewdly while Tom expertly hid his natural reactions to the topic I had breached.
"We reshape the environment to please us. Both out of convenience, and because we can.
But ants build their own anthills, do they not? In order to have a civilization of any kind, a people must bend a section of the environment, it doesn't matter if the people are nomad or if they stay still, by civilizing a land, the native wildlife pays the price."
"Should we live in mud-huts then?" Riddle scoffed before taking a sip from his glass of wine.
"Don't be deliberately obtuse, that's not the point. The point is, do we need to bend the world around us in order to make space for our civilization? The reasons don't truly matter in this conversation, it may be for resources or simply because it is a convenient location."
I took a long gulp of my tankard, enjoying the buzzing warmth that it carried.
"Yeah, I can see what you're meaning, even if your delivery could use some work." Minerva turned her head to look into the fire, frowning lightly as she considered my words.
"And we agree that it is somewhat of a... pity, or outright waste, to ruin the life of someone else without reason?" I needed them, refusing to let the topic die uselessly.
"What are you going on about now?" Riddle sighed, carefully exuding the right mixture of pandering and annoyance to push anyone into changing topics, lest they appear an idiot.
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