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First Years: Lesson 2; *Archived* Hufflepuff & Slytherin
Topic Started: Mar 3 2014, 07:25 PM (405 Views)
Jonathan Spenser
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HoM Professor | Ravenclaw HoH
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"Good Afternoon class!" Professor Jonathan shouted to the room of students as he entered; their voices died down. "I hope everyone is doing well today!"

He walked around to the back of her desk and picked up a few pieces of loose parchment. "Right, now, I'd like all of you to take notes on today's lecture." He paused for the students to pull out the parchment and quills, before he continued. "Today we are going to talk about the Salem Witch Trials. The trials took place in 1692, in Salem Massachusetts. There is a grave site which serves as a memorial to this terrible disaster. I have a picture here, hold on a moment..." Jonathan walked to the board at the front of the room and pulled on a little wire which displayed a picture.


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"Now on to the facts. Salem Village had a very colorful history before the famous witch trials. It was not exactly known as a bastion of tranquillity in New England. The main reason was its 600 plus residents were divided into two main parts: those who wanted to separate from Salem Town, and those who did not. The residents who wanted to separate from Salem Town were farming families located in the western part of Salem Village. Those who wanted to remain a part of Salem Town were typically located on the eastern side of Salem Village--closest to Salem Town. The residents who wished to remain a part of Salem Town were economically tied to its thriving, rich harbours.

"Many of the Salem Village farming families believed that Salem Town’s thriving economy made it too individualistic. This individualism was in opposition to the communal nature that Puritanism mandated. Thus, they were out of touch with the rest of Salem Village. One particularly large farming family who felt that Salem Town was out of touch with the rest of Salem Village was the Putnams.

"The Putnams were the leaders of the separatist group primarily because they owned the most farmland in Salem Village. They hoped to solidify a separation from Salem Town by establishing a congregation unique from it. So in 1689, a congregation was formed under the Rev. Samuel Parris and began worshipping in the Salem Village Meetinghouse. However, the congregation only represented a select group since over half of its members were Putnams. If this action did not further strain already weakened relations between the two factions, the events concerning Parris’ contract did.

"Contracts for ministers during this period often provided them with a modest salary, use of a house, and free firewood. Parris received this and much more. He not only got a modest salary and free firewood, but the title and deed to the parsonage and its surrounding land. Needless to say, this was a very uncommon perk to be included in a minister’s contract during this time. This perk especially angered the residents who wanted to remain a part of Salem Town. The Salem Town supporters showed their opposition by refusing to worship at the Meetinghouse and withholding their local taxes. This latter action was of important consequence because the local taxes helped pay the minister’s salary and provided his firewood.

"In October of 1691 a new Salem Village Committee was elected that was comprised mostly of Parris’ opponents. This new committee refused to assess local taxes that would pay Parris’ salary, and also challenged the legality of his ownership of the ministry-house and property. These actions by the new committee caused Parris and his family to rely solely on voluntary contributions for sustenance. The Putnams were now worried of losing Parris and the sought independence from Salem Town the congregation would help bring, and Parris was concerned about his job and providing for his family.

"The Rev. Samuel Parris had a relatively small family. He was married and had a nine year old daughter, Betty, and a twelve year old niece, Abigail Williams, who was an orphan. Abigail was expected to earn her keep by doing most of the household chores, and also care for her invalid aunt. Betty’s poor health prevented her from helping with the household chores, so much of the work feel on Abigail’s young shoulders.

"After chores were done, there was little entertainment for Betty and Abigail. Salem Town was eight miles away, and Boston was a twenty mile journey over unforgiving roads. Thus, Samuel Parris only visited these places when business required it. He also opposed the girls playing hide-and-seek, tag and other childhood games because he believed playing was a sign of idleness, and idleness allowed the Devil to work his mischief.

"Puritans believed in witches and their ability to harm others. They defined witchcraft as entering into a compact with the devil in exchange for certain powers to do evil. Thus, witchcraft was considered a sin because it denied God’s superiority and a crime because the witch could call up the Devil in his/her shape to perform cruel acts against others. Therefore, in any case when witchcraft was suspected, it was important that it was investigated thoroughly and the tormentors identified and judged. Unknown to Samuel Parris, Mary Sibley ordered Tituba and her husband, John Indian, to bake a "witch cake" in order to help the girls name their tormentors. A witch cake is composed of rye meal mixed with urine from the afflicted. It is then feed to a dog. The person(s) are considered bewitched if the dog displays similar symptoms as the afflicted. The other girls soon spoke and named Sarah Osborne and Sarah Good.

All three women were prime candidates for the accusations of witchcraft. Sarah Osborne was an elderly lady who had not gone to church in over a year, and poor church attendance was a Puritan sin. Sarah Good was a homeless woman who begged door to door. If people failed to give her alms, she would utter unknown words and leave. Residents would often attribute her visits to death of livestock. They believed the mumbled words she spoke under her breath were curses against them for not showing her charity. Since Tituba was Parris’ slave and well known to Betty and Abigail, it is no surprise then that her name was the first to be called out by Betty. The negative reputations and low social standing shared by these three women clearly made them believable suspects for witchcraft."


Jonathan paused and looked at the clock. "I see we don't have much time left. I'm terribly sorry for the long lecture, but I hope you all took notes, because some of these facts may come up in the final exam. For your homework I'd like you to write an essay on anyone associated with the Salem Witch Trials. "A History of Magic" is an excellent source. You can find this book in the Library. Thank you very much for your cooperation today! I'll see you next class!”
Homework Assignment:


RP: 10
Essay: EC

I'd like you to choose anyone from the Salem Witch Trials and write an essay. This essay should be at least 150 words long. I will not put a limit on the length, but don't get carried away. Once you have posted your essays, it may be wise to read some of the other essays posted on the person you did not do your essay on. I will be using various people from the Salem Witch Trials in the exam, so it would be helpful to check out ones that you didn’t do. I would like all work to have resources; I do not allow plagiarism and if I find someone who does, they will get an automatic T=0. Good luck, these will be due next week.
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Saffron Ironsong
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Duelist ~ Not fond of natural hair colours ~ Socially Clueless ~ Holder of the Iron Song
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Saffron wore the hood of her cloak up which meant that she would much rather be left alone at that moment. Saffron had gotten a rather disturbing letter from one her brother and didn't want to talk to anyone. She was sure that her mother and father would fix everything for him but it still bothered her. She had eaten breakfast by herself and then made her way into History of Magic with her head down and her face hidden by the darkness in her hood. She took a seat right in the front of the class though she felt a little off she still wanted to be up front and center for whatever the professor said. Saffron took out her quill, ink and parchment and got ready to take notes. She was the first here which she was momentarily proud of. as the class trickled in she heard chatter of what had happened that afternoon and which she really couldn't care less about.

The lesson started and Saffron started to take notes. The Salem Witch trials. The very subject had humored her on more than one occasion not because she thought the deaths of all those people where funny but because it was the perfect example of the damage human paranoia could do to a person. If people had through logically about what had happened they would have seen that none of the people the condemed where actually witches. At best it was an exsersie in what would happen if someone had yelled "Voldamort" in the middle of a crowded ally. Still Saffron never got tired of hearing about the insistent and the people in it. The most curious to her had been the dark skinned slave woman who had been named and wondered whether or not the woman had had any real ability but it had just been overshadowed by her situation.

Saffron finished the notes when Professor Spencer finished his lecture feeling quite satisfied that they where organized enough to study later on. She looked up and listened the professor as he gave the day's lesson. After jotting it down, she packed up her things and removed her hood. It was warm and her mood had improved by hearing about one of her favorite events. She found a nook to herself and started on the day's assignment, her history book on her lap.


Homework
 

Saffron Ironsong
Slytherin 1st year
History of Magic lesson #2

Tituba: The Black Witch Of Salem?

In most history books, when one looks up the person known as Tituba, she is painted as the person who made one of the biggest contributions to the tragedy that came after. Tituba though may not have been entirely to blame for the uproar that her confession caused. There are no solid records on the woman because of her statues of a slave. Some said that she African American while others say that she was Indian still others described her as half and half. Also because of her slave status there is no record as whether or not she had a particularity for so called witchcraft. Most of what is known about her and her life is through her confessions in trial. Confessions that let her survive the year.

There is no record of her having confessed to having taught the girls who where 'affected' by witch craft the fortune telling that lead to the hysteria that they threw themselves into. Though she did confess to other acts of 'witchcraft' while being beaten by her master. While she may have not started the event all together it is agreed that her confessions ingnited the spark in courts when she named Sarah Good (who was clearly mad) and Sarah Osborn. In all accounts to me it looks like Tituba's is a case of a woman doing what she needed to do to survive.

Source: Tituba
HNZ Sims: A Blog ~ A new Sim 04/17/2014
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Isabelle Beaumont
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Socially Awkward - Intelligent - Ambitious - Daring
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Isabelle had woken up fairly late, and had ate alone in the Hall, finishing her toast and chocolate quickly just before the bell rang. Isabelle calmly walked to class, sliding into the seat and getting ready as Professor Spencer strode in. As the Professor warned the class to take notes, Isabelle drew her notebook towards her and began writing as the Professor started.

The Salem Witch Trials. They had interested Isabelle for a while now. She felt sorry for all those involved really, it was just another example of the human race exaggerating things and over-reacting. She wasn't too sure what had happened though, as she'd never had the chance to read about the events that took place. Isabelle was the first to admit she was horrible at taking notes, and only managed to get the main bulk of the lecture down before her hand began to cramp up and she was forced to stop. When the Professor ended, she listened attentively to the homework and wrote it down. Packing up her things, Isabelle upped and left. Wandering the castle a few minutes later, Isabelle found a little nook up in the top of one of the towers, behind a painting. She sat down, and relaxed back against one of the many cushions. Deciding to do it there and then, she reached into her bag, pulled out her History book, and began.

Quote:
 

Isabelle Beaumont
Slytherin First Year
History of Magic Lesson 2


Abigail Williams: Was she honest, or a liar? From history we know as solid fact, we can tell she was an orphan, a Puritan, lived with her uncle Rev. Samuel Parris, and at the age of 11/12 played one of the most prominent roles in the spectacle that was the Salem Witch Trials. She accused 41 people of witchcraft, gave formal testimony in 7, and was involved in 17 capital cases.

As far as history tells us, Abigail and her 9-year-old cousin, Betty, began showing illness in January 1962, and by the end of February had experienced several erratic fits, described as being bitten, pinched, and twisted this way then that. They both formally accused 3 people: Tituba, Sarah Osborne, and Sarah Good, of witchcraft on 29 of Febuary 1962. This lead to many more accusations, often of respected people in the community. It is not known why Abigail suffered fits; some think for attention, others believe witchcraft. So, do you think Abigail was telling the truth? Sadly, with no further historical evidence, we can never know.

Source: http://salem.lib.virginia.edu/people?group.num=all&mbio.num=mb33
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Rhys Graves
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The Brotherhood of Magic | Student Defense Association | Alternate Chaser
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Rhys Graves was in a particularly bad mood today. His sleep had been terrible the night before, and just as he had managed to finally fall asleep after tossing and turning for hours on end, his alarm had gone off and he had very grumpily rolled out of bed. He sat there in class now, red eyes and struggling to focus on anything for more then a few seconds. He was slumped in his chair and had his head resting in his hands, his elbows the only thing keeping him upright as they sat on the desk. Rhys never handled not sleeping. He enjoyed his sleep. He had never even been a morning person, as he all to often enjoyed sleep ins. Hearing the Professor enter the room, Rhys struggled his hardest to drag his eyes around to focus as much as he could on the teacher. He had hoped that today's lesson wasnt too hard.

Listening to Professor Spenser speak, he wearily reached down into his bag and withdrew his notepad, quill and ink. Scribbling notes down, he felt himself wake up a bit more as he took interest in the subject they were discussing. The Salem Witches. He recalled watching a muggle movie with his mother once on this exact subject. He found it intriguing, discussing something that he had once believed to be made up and just a movie, to actually be a part of history.



Essay
 
Rhys Graves
Slytherin 1st Year
History Of Magic, Lesson 2

Elizabeth 'Betty' Parris and Abigail Williams had begun practising fortune telling using a type of mirror called a 'Venus Glass'. During some of these such practises, the girls would try and view their future social statuses, or see what their future husbands would look like, or would do for work. During one of these times, the mirror showed the girls a horrible specter of a coffin, which was said to have led to a 'diabolical molestation'. Betty later began developing odd natures of acting and speaking, which were often labelled as afflictions. She would forget to do errands and chores, would lose concentration during prayers and made odd noises such as barking like a dog whenever her father rebuked her. She would scream and carry on when the lords prayer was voices around her and one believed to have once thrown a bible across the room. Often, she would cry and mutter than she was 'damned' under her breath after such episodes. She had seemed certain that her damnation was upon her because of her practising of fortune telling.

Rev. John Hale described Betty as looking like she was being bitten or pinched at the skin out of thin air, as if there was an invisible man doing so. Her arms, neck and back often turned in odd ways, and then suddenly snapped back again as if they were not doing it themselves. They all but ruled out the possibilities of Epilepsy, or any other forms of disease. The local Physician William Griggs diagnosed Betty as being afflicted by the 'Evil Hand', which was more commonly know as Witchcraft. Betty, along with Abigail, later went on to name and accuse Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne and Tituba as being witches. Betty testified that she was tormented by spectral visions of all three women. During the trials, Betty would suddenly scream and fit whenever either of the three accused so much as moved. After the trials, Betty was sent away to live with her fathers distant cousin, Stephen Sewall. Not long after she had arrived though, she claimed to have been approached by a 'Great Black Man', who had led her to believe that is she were 'ruled' by him, she would have anything she ever wanted for, and would go to a 'Golden City'. Stephen's wife told her that it had been the Devil who had come to her, and to never speak to or of him again.


Source: Source of Essay for Betty Parris

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Thankyou Sammy!
| Rhys's Background! | Rhys's Relationships! |

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Daniel Crawford
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| Hog's Head Bar Staff | Hogwarts Dropout | Mysterious | Agressive | Jokester |
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Daniel was calm. He was sitting in his seat, listening carefuly to the teacher, however, no matter how much he heard, he didn't bother processing them. His mind was still focused on the regret of the hat's decision for him to join Huffelpuff. He swallowed his disapointment, as he caught up with the lecture.

After quickly scribbling down some notes, he tries to pay close attention to the class, but a tad too late. He decided to write down what he could, bit disapointed in his first class.


Homework
 

Daniel H- Crawford
Huffelpuff 1st Year
History of Magic lesson #1 #2

Sarah Good - Insane, or a witch?


Her life before being accused

Sarah Good, born and raised by Elizabeth and John Solart, was mainly a beggar, and eventually homeless in 1692. After inheriting the debt from her deceased husband Daniel Poole, she was forced to begging for food, work and shelter.

Sarah's 'witchcraft'

Sarah was first accused of withcraft on February 25, 1692, when reverend Samuel Parris asked "Who torments you?", Abigail Williams and Betty Parris eventually shouted out the names of Tituba, Sarah Osburne, and Sarah good.

She was first tried for witchcraft in 1692, March 15th. She was accused of rejecting the puritanical expectations of self-control and discipline when she chose to torment and “scorn [children] instead of leading them towards the path of salvation". Her accusers fell into a fit, and began rocking back and forth, moaning, due to Sarah being arround.

A lot of people also claimed they've seen her fly on a broom, having the Devil's mark, attacking people with a knife, talking to the devil, and various other activities.

Final Fate

Sarah was later convicted of witchcraft, and sentenced to death, along with her daughter, Dorothy Good.

On July 19, 1692, Sarah was hanged. She claimed she was innocent the whole time, until the end. One of her last words were:

"I'm no more a witch than you are a wizard, take my life and God will give you blood to drink."

Source
Edited by Daniel Crawford, Mar 4 2014, 01:03 PM.
It's gonna get a lot more fun in here.
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D E V E L O P M E N T

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Mason Greene
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Clumsy • Optimistic • Smiles • Chuddley Cannons Chaser • Former Puff Prefect

[justify]Mason Greene walked into the History of Magic classroom, stifling a yawn as he did so. He was not having the best morning, because he did not get to sleep last night thanks to him eating a bunch of candy. He did not sleep for more than three hours at a time, and he was just tired. He took his seat, and waited for the other first years to arrive. It would not take too long, right? Mason wanted to get this lecture done and over with since he wanted to do a lot more things at the school! He wanted to see his brother too, was that too much to ask for? Probably since he was not even in Gryffindor! Which was lame, but the hate was right, he did see a lot of pretty girls in Hufflepuff too. Mason liked looking at girls, but he did not want to date them or anything. He was much too young for that. Mason briefly wondered if he had to take notes today or not.

Mason jumped a bit when Professor Spenser shouted to the class. Now, that was really rude! Well, it sure did get his attention for the day. The Hufflepuff boy reached into his bag and he pulled out his quill, ink and some parchment so that he could get down to his notes. He loved taking notes, and today they were talking about the Salem Witch Trials. However he did not really care about the town but he wanted to know more about magic, not history with muggles. He had enough of that when he was in school with the muggles. The lecture was very long, and he thought that it was somewhat boring, but what could he do about it? He shrugged and he packed his things once it was time to leave. He thought that it was a good class anyway. He then left the classroom once the professor dismissed them.
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Ivaylo Zhefarovich-Dolohov
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Protector - Supremacist - Callous - Zhefarovich Family Viscount - Professional Duelist

[justify]The second week of lessons meant that things were starting to pick up. Ivaylo Zhefarovich-Dolohov slipped into his Slytherin robes so that he would be suitable to look for a class. The first year Slytherin looked forward to some of the lessons, but most certainly not all of them. He needed to come around to liking some of the lessons, but most of the time, he did not. So, it was only a matter of time before he would just not have any interest. He sighed, as he walked into the classroom once more. At least he was a little earlier than the last week, when he could see a few other first years opposed to seeing many others. He preferred it to be this way. He found his seat and he waited for the rest of the students to arrive. Once they could arrive, the lesson could finally begin since he was anxious for it.

Ivaylo looked up at Professor Spenser when he shouted to the classroom, looking over to the other students that were shocked by the shouting of the professor. He got out his quill, a bottle of black ink and then his parchment so that he could take notes over whatever they were talking about, and apparently it was the Salem Witch Trials with the burnings of those that were accused by muggles of being witches. Then again, he wondered if any muggles were led by fear, and had something else against them other than just suspicions. They were told a lot about the Salem Town, and he doubted that he was going to have to listen to this for too long, but he knew that there was a Salem in the United States, and they celebrated holidays religiously. However, that was all he knew, until now. He made sure to get the facts, and then he heard about the witch cake, which did not make much sense at all. The lecture was very long, but he got everything down. He packed his things, and he left the classroom.
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Biography & Relationships
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Lucien Snow
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Quibberon Quafflepunchers Chaser Cursed | Former Prefect

[justify]The second week of lessons rolled around, and that meant that the classes were getting down to business. Lucien Snow, on the other hand, did not get down to business at all. He was still recovering from being at home all of the time. He did miss France too. He wondered how his mom and his step-dad were doing. It was somewhat odd that his mother married his uncle, or his dad’s brother, but he could not really complain. She was happier than ever. Lucien walked into the classroom and he found where he sat at last time. Lucien did not feel like he could pay much attention to anything. Well, he might as well. It would probably bother his siblings if he got the best grades and the best everything. He was the firstborn of them, but not out of the entirety of the Snow siblings. Still, Lucien wanted to be the best of the four.

They were greeted by the Ravenclaw Head of House, and then they were told that they would have to take notes on the lecture. Ugh, he hated notes. The subject itself made him want to roll his eyes. Salem Witch Trials. He heard some tales about how crazy the muggles were at the time. It was something that made Lucien wish that muggles did not exist. They were informed of all of the Puritans, and Lucien was taking notes like he should be, even though he hated this all. Everything about the lesson was boring, and he fought with all of his might to stay awake. He did wonder if the women that were burned were really witches or not, since he did not know for certain. However he was glad that they were dismissed. Lucien gathered his things and he left the classroom.
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BIOGRAPHY
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Avie Mitchell
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peter pan

[justify]Avie had not really liked the first week of lessons. It had been pretty boring, and that wasn't really what he'd wanted from classes, but he thought perhaps that the second week of classes would be better. But, really what he'd discovered upon having simply forgotten to go to bed that night because of the work he'd been doing in the really easy books attempting to improve his reading, was that it was simply a bad idea to have not slept. The first week, had shown Avie that he would have to work hard to get slightly more literate. He struggled with complex texts, and there were just some words he barely knew how to read. Hogwarts brought with it a whole set of words and phrases that he would struggle to understand. Which was why he'd spent a lot of his time reading, but he couldn't tell if it had helped. He was then incredibly tired as he went around getting ready for the class that he had, which wasn't something he had been looking forward to, but he was going to attend. He had fought hard to go to school, he wouldn't not go to the classes. But, he just hoped it would be interesting.

The class was not that far from his dorm, which was good. The young boy yawned loudly as he made his way into the class and sat down in his usual spot. Well, usual, the spot he'd taken the previous week. He pulled out the history book, and just leaned against it. It wasn't too long after that, that the professor got started, telling them that they would need to take notes for the lesson. That it would be a lecture class. Well, because of this, the boy just ended up drifting off to the sound of the professor's voice. It wasn't that it was particular quiet, but in his exhausted state the boy was lulled to sleep. He knew as he fell asleep that it wouldn't be the best thing, he had no idea if this lecture would be important. He at least knew that his family wouldn't be too happy that he'd just fallen asleep. Avie was awoken when the class appeared to be packing away. He was startled awake, and his head shot up. People were scribbling stuff down and others were leaving. Avie, had no idea what was going on. He looked around confused, but just decided that he would just leave. Figure out everything later.
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Development | Biography | Relationships
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Esme Lancaster
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• only the good die young • chronomancer • seer

Esme shuffled quietly into the HoM Classroom with the other students and took a seat toward the back, rubbing her tired eyes as she sat down and let her bag fall to the floor with a muffled thud. She'd had a late night, a sudden migraine keeping her from sleeping. She'd tried to get up, but every movement worsened the pain, and there was no chance she'd have been able to find her way to the Hospital Wing, still not completely familiar with the school's layout. Especially since she'd never had to visit the wing before, nor did she know if a nurse was awake at such a late hour. So she had lain in bed for hours until the migraine finally passed and she drifted off. With very little sleep, she wasn't sure she could stay awake for the rest of the day.

     With a yawn, Esme took out her writing equipment and messily spread it across her table, before folding her arms and resting her head as the Professor dove straight into the lesson. She was surprised to hear him talk about the Salem Witch Trials, and breathed a small relieved sigh. Her family had lived in Salem for a portion of her life and she'd been told, albeit not in too much detail, about the Witch Trials that had occurred there. She grabbed her quill and lazily scrawled down key notes to fill in some of the blanks and minor details she didn't know, namely dates.

     As the lesson progressed she became more focused, especially amused by the Muggle's beliefs of witchcraft. Entering a pact with the devil? Baking a "cake" to help find out if a person is being afflicted? Ridiculous. The lesson only managed to further spur Esme's contempt for muggle people, no matter how long ago the trials had taken place. There were still plenty of people not far from their stupidity and superstitious ways in today's society. The rest of the lesson consisted of her daydreaming about being in the trials, a real witch, and teaching the crazy villagers a lesson until the bell rang and brought her back to reality, unsure if she'd fallen asleep or not. She packed her equipment back into her bag and hefted it over his shoulder, heading out to take a short nap in her dormitory before starting on the due essay later that night.


Salem Witch Trials
 
Martha Corey
During the Salem witch Trials of 1692, was a woman in her 70s by the name of Martha Corey, married to the 80+ year old farmer, Giles Corey. Both were members of the Church and regularly attended. However, the couple was also largely outspoken, which caused Martha's troubles initially.

     An intelligent woman, she didn't believe in the muggle representation of witchcraft, a skeptic to superstition, and thought that the children accusing women of the practice were nothing more thna liars. In response to this, the children in question immediately began to claim, in an obvious attempt to stop their lies being uncovered, that they could see apparitions, or specters of Martha, and that she had harmed them. Further claims had one of the girls insisting that they could see Martha's spirit leave her body and float around, and that she had a familiar in the form of a yellow bird.

     It seems that, during her examination, others joined the bandwagon and feigned fits and afflictions in her presence. At another point, the accusing girls even went as far to mimic every movement Martha made, as if she were controlling them, which was enough evidence for the judge to find her guilty, despite her continued pleas of innocence and insistence that the girls were liars. Her husband, Giles, was at this point also charged with Witchcraft and murdered by having stones pressed upon him over and extended, torturous period of time.

     Martha was hanged days after her husbands death, along with other accused witches, at Gallows Hill.

Source
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Maya Fergusson
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charity worker, persistant, Graeme's best cheerleader

[justify]The second week of classes came and that meant that Maya was going to have to work even harder. Despite the fact that she had a million and one things to get used too, she was determined not to let that get her down. She wanted to do well and if that meant she had to do like a million things at once, then so be it. Walking into the classroom, Maya quickly took her normal seat at the front and began to pull out all the equipment she was going to need for this class. This was one of the classes that Maya hoped she wouldn't struggle too much with. It didn't have much to do with magic physically, so she was hopeful that she wasn't too far behind. Luckily this was one of the subjects she could study during the holidays. It was hard to practice magic outside of the school, she wasn't allowed too, so all she could do was read the books and hope for the best really. Smiling to herself at the revelation, that really wasn't all the much of a revelation, Maya waited patiently for the class to start. She liked learning. Learning was fun.

     As per usual, Maya noted that the Head of House started the lesson off with pleasant greeting. Classes like this one always put Maya in a happy mood for the rest of the day. Despite the fact that this was her only class of the day, and that it was in the afternoon, Maya didn't mind. Being in a good mood was always a good thing, even if it was only for a short time. It seemed that today they would be learning about the Salem Witch Trials. Maya knew about these even having been from the muggle world. Mostly because it was the cause of muggles that allowed all those poor girls to be killed. Though, now that she knew about magic, Maya had to wonder if some of it wasn't truer then she had originally thought. Some of the names that popped up interested Maya and she made a note to revisit them more in her textbook. Maya had no idea that Salem had such a rich history. In fact, as far as she was concerned, Salem started with the Witch Trials and whilst she knew that other places also had the same practice, it was Salem that was the most world renowned. The class ended and Maya packed up her notes before leaving class. She had some things to think about.
[/justify]
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Marcus King
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Loyal | Self-respectful | Friendly | Intelligent
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Late, again, to another class, Marc sat at the back of the room. He didn't care for the history of magic. It was pointless. It's a bunch of people who're dead that created what we are, why do we need to learn it if it's already happened? But Marc had no choice than to attend the lesson so it's better to make the best of it rather than moan.

He took no notes nor listened whilst in class. With his parchment and quill, he drew a delightful stick figure doing rude things with other stick figures which gave him some sort of delight. The lesson seemed to go by slowly and even go to the point where Marc was yawning and becoming increasingly tired. When was lunch? Is it morning yet? His mind went astray. He wondered if Superman was a muggle for a moment.

And, at last, the lesson was over after 101 hours of boredom. Homework?! Wishing he paid attention in class, Marc walked out rubbing the back of his head, thinking about his own stupidity.
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