Unworthy

Third Year - 9

There's a thunderstorm outside, as predicted. Only it seems worse than was originally let on. The Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs seem more irate than usual and moreso at the Slytherins than at the weather. It's not like the Slytherins caused the weather of course, but the Gryffindors hate that they've found a way to slither out of today's game and the Hufflepuffs wouldn't have had to take the game today if the Slytherins didn't switch up.

To add insult to injury, Malorn and Draco have been teasing both the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor captains all morning.

"Hey, guys, excited for the game today?" Lucille asks, taking a seat between Malorn and Erica.

"Of course!" Malorn grins. "Seeing as how we won't be playing in that apocalypse outside." He turns to the other Slytherins. "Who've you voted?"

"Gryffindor's gonna win." Blaise says. "Hufflepuff's not aggressive enough."

"I vote Hufflepuff because I hate the Gryffindors." Draco says. "And I hate Potter."

"If Gryffindor loses, then our chance at winning the Cup this year is solid." Miles says, snatching a grape off of Theo's plate. "So I really do hope they lose."

Erica hopes so too. Not because she hates the Lion House, but because perhaps Gryffindor losing will put Marcus in a much better mood than usual.

The Slytherins at the table all jump and yelp as Luna comes out of nowhere and slams a huge, old, heavy book down onto the table, right beside Erica, then flips it open. The surrounding students look over in irritation.

"I found it, Erica!" Luna muses. "See, I went digging in Hogsmeade for books on persecuted witches and I found this one. It has a list of witches who were executed, and those who were ran out of their homes."

Erica blinks, looking over at the title of the chapter that Luna has stopped at, confused.

"Hellsang: Most Macabre Massacre of a Muggle Settlement"

"Go ahead, read it!" Luna bounces up and down excitedly.

Hellsang, was known to be one of the strongest witches belonging to the African region. She was known to be a healer of others with great healing capabilities herself, and wielded very disastrous magic in such a gentle way that others envied. She lived in a secluded village in the previously known French Sudan, which is currently known as Mali. The well established village practiced Astral Magic, ancient to us now, but commonly used at the time.
One day, her village came into contact with the Muggle French settlers that were exploring, and many soon went missing, including her own family. She was engulfed with an anger powerful enough to destroy an entire French settlement, even after the settlement was gone, she went further, calling upon the stars and casting a curse upon the land that was once her village, preventing muggles from stumbling through, lest they die a slow and painful death. This area is believed to still be cursed, and is now a government protected site. Reckless muggles still go in, and they still come out sickly and weak... some don't even make it back out.
Alas, at the end of this story... she was never reunited with the ones she killed hundreds for. She soon ended her own life a few years after.

"Er..." Erica looks at Luna. "...Why am I reading this? You still haven't given me an explanation, Luna. Um... Luna, hello?"

"That's not all, look!" Luna points at a large picture of an African witch. "Look at that!"

Lucille cranes her neck to look. "What exactly are you showing us, Lovegood?"

"Look closely!" Luna practically squeals. "It's Erica's face!"