Hello and welcome to your very first course in History of Magic. I don’t imagine many students are thrilled 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!

As to my personal background: I was born in the United States, more specifically the state of Florida. I am a muggleborn with a whole host of brothers and sisters - all of whom are older than me! Of my family, only my twin brother and I have magic. We attended Ilvermorny, where I was in Horned Serpent house. After graduating - with NEWTS in History of Magic, Mythology, Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, and Charms - I decided to attend a Muggle University, as most of my siblings did. Truth be told, despite my Outstanding NEWT in History of Magic, the subject never greatly appealed to me. In my first semester at University, though, I had a professor who taught me how amazing History could truly be. The key - which I hope to impart to you, as well - is to focus more heavily on the stories, and the lessons we can learn from them. Memorizing some names and dates is important, but it shouldn't be the primary focus. Anyways, I quickly changed from a single major in Education to a double-major in both Education and Anthropology. I actually spent ten years teaching History of Magic at my alma mater, Ilvermorny, before I decided to travel the world, exploring countries and immersing myself in as many cultures as possible.

However, one cannot travel continuously with no income, as I quickly came to realize. I was coming to the end of my travels, having saved the best for last - yes, I'm speaking of the United Kingdom. My ancestry traces back to this glorious land, and I cherished the opportunity to come here and learn more of my ancestral history. Anyways, I bumped into Headmistress Oshiro in the Three Broomsticks one day. She told me that the prestigious Hogwarts was in search of a History of Magic professor. Truth be told, I wasn't ready to head back to America, and I had come to greatly miss imparting my knowledge to the younger generation. I submitted my application, and the rest is history! (Please, forgive the pun. I promise to try not to make a habit of them.)

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

Classroom Procedure:

Since we are online, there aren’t any specific classroom procedures, but I would like you all to remain as active as possible in completing assignments. Treat each other with respect, and participate actively in the learning process. 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. I'm a person, a professor, and knowledgeable about my subject material, as are my PAs. If you can respectfully defend your beliefs, I will be happy to review your assignment. However, if you are rude, use inappropriate or rude language, or are in any way indelicate, I will not only give you a ONE on the assignment, but you will not be allowed to retake it. Also, do not plagiarise, or claim other people's work as your own. This includes copying and pasting information word for word from lessons as well. Be proud of and passionate about your own work! Again, plagiarism will earn you a ONE on the assignment, and you will not be permitted to retake it.

Speaking of my PAs, allow me to introduce the professor's assistants (also referred to as Prefects) for the History of Magic course. You may owl them with questions at any time if you would prefer to chat with them instead of me. 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, broken up by year, is located to the right of each lesson, in a tab above your list of assignments or the list of lessons. Please ask someone on the HoM team first rather than leaving a note in the assignment that you didn't understand something. If you have a question, ask myself or the PAs first, then submit your work!

As a related note, if you have a learning disability or if English is not your first language, please do feel free to put "LD" or "NES" (respectively) at the top of any essay (though be sure to also do those assignments in English - you can use an online translator, if necessary). This ensures you do not lose points for spelling or grammar issues.

Finally, I also encourage everyone to take (and keep) notes on each lesson. Otherwise, many of these names, dates, and places may start to blend together. You certainly wouldn’t want that to happen on your final exam, or even on the homework.

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:

Lesson Number, Topic, Assignments
Lesson 1, Intro to History of Magic, Essay
Lesson 2, Magical Beginnings, Essay and Quiz
Lesson 3, The Americas, Two Quizzes
Lesson 4, Asia Part 1-Early Civilizations, Quiz
Lesson 5, Asia Part 2-Steppes and China, Midterm Exam
Lesson 6, Africa, Quiz
Lesson 7, Ancient Europe, Quiz
Lesson 8, Australia, Quiz
Lesson 9, Magic and Religion, Final Exam, Evalution, and Research Paper

I’d like to start off by saying that there are many facets to magical history. It is deep, and there is a lot to cover. Over our nine weeks, we will skim the surface and what I want you all to really get out of this class isn’t the dates: it’s the people and their stories. I want you to understand how people have shaped history. I want you to be able to look at events in history, and as long as you know around when they are, I’ll usually not ask you questions on specific dates. It’s not as important as the ideas, the people, and the messages; that’s what’s important in 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.

I cannot begin to explain the many reasons why history is important. In attaining my N.E.W.T.s in History of Magic, I had to take a class called “Importance of Magical History”. It was a twelve-week course that had three sections that were all mandatory. The first was “Importance in Everyday Life”, the second was “Importance in a Macro View”, and the last was “Micro Theory of Historical Importance”. Essentially, over those weeks, I studied concepts and theories as to why history is important. And now I am expected to explain to students in one lesson why they should care about this “old stuff”.

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 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 everyday and wars breaking out every second, because we just wouldn’t know.

I’ll leave you with a short introductory lesson and one assignment to complete. Next week we will begin with the big stuff: the beginnings of magic! Good luck!