Chapter 334: Ivan's History of Magic Examination

Unlike the Transfiguration exam where he finished first, Ivan was the last to turn in work on the History of Magic exam.

He wrote for two and a half hours. At the end of the day, the young wizards in the entire class stared at him, stunned. Even Professor Cuthbert Binns was very surprised.

They didn't know how Ivan could write so much, which was beyond imagination.

He could have finished the whole exam in an hour, but the last essay question on witch burning in the 14th century piqued Ivan's interest.

He discussed it with Harry over the last summer vacation.

Recent studies on magic handed down from the Middle Ages had given him a deeper understanding of this aspect.

In general, the wizarding community believed that witch burning was pointless.

Muggles had a special fear of magic and witchcraft in medieval times.

But they were not very good at recognizing magic. On the rare occasions when they caught a real witch or wizard, the burning had no effect.

The witch or wizard would perform a basic Flame Freeze incantation and then pretend to shriek in pain while enjoying a mild tingling sensation. In fact, Wendelin the Weird enjoyed being burned so much that she allowed herself to be caught no less than forty-seven times in various disguises.

These facts were quoted word for word from 'History of Magic', written by magical historian Bathilda Bagshot, and also represented the views of the vast majority of people.

As long as this content was written in the exam, Ivan would get top marks.

However, through recent research, he believed that Bagshot's argument was very one-sided.

The behavior of the Vatican-dominated witch hunt was not as simple as the magical world now imagines. Ivan thought it was a conspiracy.

After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, all of Europe entered the darkest Middle Ages.

Humanity had declined, morality had collapsed, productivity was slowly developing, and Muggle fear of the unknown and fear of witchcraft had reached its peak in history.

The old holy empire was divided into many countries, and magical power was also divided. Much heretical magic of the old witches and sorcerers spread in Europe.

The melee between Muggles also allowed magic, especially dark magic, to develop rapidly. Among them, demonic spells that explored the afterlife or summoned dead spirits used by the newly emerging dark wizards led by the traditional Vatican wizards were the fastest growing.

According to the clues that had been preserved, these two types of magic had in common that they required a large number of souls or human corpses as the basis for reciting them.

Especially the souls and corpses of underage women were the best casting materials.

As mentioned above, in this case, the outbreak of the witch hunts did not result in the death of many actual witches, but it was the Muggle women who suffered extensive persecution.

The campaign lasted for hundreds of years and eventually became an act of terrorism. Many Muggle girls were dubbed witches and sent to religious courts of first instance.

They were executed, but their souls and corpses were secretly collected by Dark wizards.

Ironically, the out-of-control witch-hunting action could not harm real adult wizards, but it had destroyed underage wizards who had just awakened their magic.

Many Muggle-born children were brutally murdered by their relatives just after showing their magical talents. Muggles called it the Devil's Power.

This had led to the number of these wizards dwindling over time, and eventually to their disappearance.

More and more ancient schools of wizards had become extinct because they could not find suitable Heirs. The powerful magic of ancient times was gradually turning to ashes.

The world of magic was sinking lower and lower, and the status of pure-blooded wizard families was getting higher and higher. Three hundred years after the outbreak of the Witch Hunt, with the rise of colonialism and the introduction of mysterious witchcraft in the New World and the East, this terrorist act gradually ceased.

The International Statute of Secrecy, signed in 1689, was considered an important milestone in the development of the magical world. Necromancy and demonic black magic were relocated and could not be studied. All magic books were destroyed and wizards went into complete hiding.

They were no longer involved in the Muggle war, but had developed on their own until today.

Because examination time was limited, Ivan could only sketch his own research results, and could not carry them out one by one. And yet, his answer surprised everyone.

In any case, this was a study of the history of magic that was enough to shake the entire magical world.

Were it not for the taboo nature of the subject of black magic, Ivan might even provide his own evidence for the evolution of hundreds of black magic spells.

Still, Professor Binns was stunned for a long time after seeing Ivan's work.

Too excited, his translucent ghostly body turned obviously pale red.

Other young magicians looked sideways to see what Ivan had written in the exam, which could make Professor Binns become like this.

Because of his great research value, Ivan finally scored 120 points the History of Magic exam, and the extra points were awarded by Professor Binns. This new record at Hogwarts would become the hottest topic in the castle.

Of course, that was all going to happen later. Ivan was walking with Colin towards the Great Dining Hall.

Unlike before, the third years were in high spirits and seemed very excited.

Hermione's earlier prediction was very accurate, and Professor Flitwick tested the third years with stimulating incantations.

Ivan did not see Harry and Ron. Hermione told him it was because Harry overdid it a bit, and Ron ended up in fits of hysterical laughter. Professor Flitwick had to take him to his office and let him calm down before he was ready to perform the charm himself.

Halfway through lunch, Harry and Ron were able to reach the Great Dining Hall.

They looked very haggard, not looking like they had been subjected to the stimulant charm.

"Too bad!" Ron shook his head and said, "Maybe laughing took too much of my energy. Maybe I was too nervous to cast spells. In short, my 'Stimulating Charm' didn't work. Harry just pretended to be happy, Professor Flitwick saw that clearly."

"Don't take it to heart, this magic is very difficult." Harry said weakly, "I felt happy at the time, but I wasn't that strong."

Harry's statement was not convincing. He didn't seem very happy at the time.

"I told you before when you cast the spell that your wand moved in the wrong direction!" Hermione looked at Ron and said, "Obviously, you didn't hear me."

"But when I used this spell earlier, everything went into effect. I thought...," Ron said.

"You should be thankful that Professor Flitwick doesn't give you zero points." Hermione pulled out the Potions textbook and said, "But if you do it again tomorrow on the Potions exam, I'm sure Snape would never let it pass."