HOM-101 Lessons

The students walk into a dimly lit room littered with stacks of books and trinkets. As the Professor enters, the curtains are drawn to reveal moving stained glass with light that dances around the room. He gracefully raises his wand toward the chalkboard where 'History of Magic 101' appears elegantly in cursive. After walking to the front of the room, the Professor takes a deep breath, turns towards the class, and grins.

Hello and welcome to your very first course in History of Magic. I don’t imagine many students are thrilled about having to take this class, but I’d like to think that, in some way shape or form, I can make it as enjoyable as possible!

Before we begin, I think it's important that we get to know each other. My name is Professor Valeris, and I was born in Hayman Island, Australia, though I am a proud Hogwarts alumnus. After graduating, I worked at the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes and the Department of Magical Education here in the UK, until I finally settled into the position of Head of the Charms Department at Danunda Magical Academy, the main Australian wizarding school. A dear friend of mine, your Charms instructor Professor Laurel, contacted me to come and teach Charms class for a few months. However, I soon fell in love again with Hogwarts, and couldn't resist applying for the position of a course very dear and near to my heart: History of Magic!

Now, enough about me, let’s go over class procedures and this year's curriculum, before moving on to the invigorating material! 

Classroom Procedure:

Firstly, I would like all students to remain as active as possible when completing assignments. Treat each other with respect, and participate actively in the learning process. The best way to do this is to join the History of Magic classroom at our Discordian Castle through here. Note: You must be 13 or above to join! I encourage discussions about assignments, the class, etc., but these things will all be monitored - so keep it appropriate.

I welcome students to appeal their grades if they disagree with a certain answer. If you do appeal a grade, however, be sure to remain kind and respectful.  If you can respectfully defend your beliefs, I will be happy to review your assignment. However, if you are disrespectful, use inappropriate or rude language, or are in any way impolite, I will not only give you a 0 on the assignment, but you will not be allowed to retake it. Additionally, do not plagiarise or claim other people's work as your own. This includes copying and pasting information word for word from lessons, copying off of another student, or using AI Generative tools to create your assignment. Again, plagiarism will earn you a 0% on the assignment, and you will not be permitted to retake it. Be proud of and passionate about your own work!

Finally, I'd like to mention my PAs (Professor's Assistants) for the History of Magic course. You may owl them with questions at any time! If they, for some reason, do not know the answer, they will get in touch with me and find out for you. The list of the PAs for this course is located to the right of each lesson, in a tab next to your list of lessons. If you have a question regarding an essay or assignment, please ask someone on the HoM team before submitting it, rather than leaving a note in the assignment that you didn't understand something. 

As a related note, please write at the top of your essay LD if you have a learning disability, or NES if you are a non-English Speaker or if English is not your first language. This ensures you do not lose points for spelling or grammar errors. Additionally, please make sure you submit all assignments in English. You may do so by using an online translator, but ensure the translator does not use generative AI, as it will lead to your assignment getting flagged for plagiarism. Any assignments not submitted in English will be given an automatic 0%, and you will have to translate and resubmit them.

Looking Forward

I highly encourage each of you to take notes for this class and others, as they will aid in your ability to grasp the material presented. While note-taking is not a strict requirement, you will likely find that you learn more and will have an easier time when it comes to the final exam in this year and future years (not to mention your O.W.L. and N.E.W.T.)

This class is split into nine weeks; here’s what you can expect for each one. If you have any questions, feel free to owl me and I will try my best to answer them:

Over our nine weeks together this year, we will skim the surface, and what I want you all to really get out of this class isn’t just the names and dates: it’s the people and their stories. I want you to understand how people have shaped history. I want to be able to explore the themes and lessons buried beneath thousands and thousands of years of history.

And with that…

An Introduction to History

Some of you may have noticed that there is indeed a book in the library titled A History of Magic that was written by Bathilda Bagshot, but it is not entirely necessary for this course. You are welcome to read it, however! I never discourage outside reading, and it is certainly home to some valuable knowledge. But you should understand that magic has changed over the centuries, and some of the information may not be current. Should you come across a disagreement, always defer to the answer provided to you in the lesson. If you would ever like to discuss something you read, feel free to owl me.

History is important to us because we are living it, because we are in it, and because we are going to make it. It is our past, our present, and our future, all happening at every second, minute, and moment in time. Consider a timeline; there is not one moment in time where we stand still for two seconds. So, basically, we are creating history this very moment as you read this sentence. 

History is also important to us because without it, we cannot possibly hope to survive. If we as a wizarding society didn’t study history, we wouldn’t know that there was a Statute set forth to separate us from Muggles. We wouldn’t know that those underage cannot use magic outside of school. There would be laws broken every day and wars breaking out every second, because we just wouldn’t know.

And with that, our first History of Magic class comes to an end! I'll leave you with a short assignment to complete for our next class, where we will start to look at the beginnings of magic. Good luck! 

Original lesson written by Professor Jæcob Balog
Image credits here and here