*Claire comes in and waits for others to arrive.*

*walks in and gives her tired out professor a smile*

Heya Professor! You look a tad bit disgruntled if you don't mind me saying so... Are you ok?

*takes a seat in the front row and waited for some other Ravenclaws to arrive*

*Cordelia walked into the room and found all the desks and chairs arragned in circes surrounding the stool at the center, where Professor Lainey was seated.

"Hello Professor!"

*She waved to professor then took her seat. She spread her stuff out on her desk then waited for the class to began.

Didymus entered the classroom and sat down at a desk.

Professor Lainey turned to the bright Ravenclaw girl, "Yes Yes, I'm alright. Just some other students...well, nevermind. I have a fab class planned for you all today. Well, it's going to be more like a discussion class today instead of just note-taking. I always enjoyed those kinds of classes when I went here, so I think you all might enjoy it. We'll wait a bit more before I get officially started. "

Nadia sat in the front row to participate - she loved the discussion classes^^

"Hello, professor. Received my homework alright?" Nadia asked as she settled down and took her things. She waited patiently for the class to start.

* Alicia walks into the classroom and asks didymus if the seat next to him is taken, and then sits down when it is made clear that it is not. She then proceeds to take her things from her bag and put them neatly on her desk*

Seeing her class slowly fill up, Professor Lainey stood to get attention. "Ok, let's get started." She rubbed her ghostly hands together and floated around the circle of desks. "Last class, we learned about the people that founded this school. But, " Professor Lainey paused and looked around at all the faces turned towards her, "have any of you ever pondered why Hogwarts was founded?" She began floating around the room again. "Or better yet, why it was founded at the time it was...why not earlier? Let's discuss...feel free, share your opinions." And Professor Lainey perched herself back on her stool to listen to her students.

"I think it was founded at the time it was because I guess the witches and wizards were tired of being in the dark, like the muggles already had a huge community set up and so the hogwarts founders wanted to expand the magical community as well."
*Claire awaits other students answers*

Two points for you Claire for stepping up and going first! Good answer....I believe that did have some part in their decision to build the school too. But there is more to it I think as well. Let's get some more thoughts. Who's next?"

I have a feeling that some of the witches and wizards in the community where having trouble showing their friends and family magic skills and techniques because the muggle population was growing. Also, if the wizards stayed in seclution from muggles, they had less of a chance of finding new friends and future boyfriends and girlfriends, which caused our number to die out. So that would be why it was founded at that certain time, to help gather all of the magically community together.

"Excellant answer Sarah! I think you hit on something there, the part about being secluded from the Muggles. Anyone else care to take try?"

Well, as a matter of fact Hogwarts was maybe the first *school* but by that time there were already magic-teaching! Queen Maeve, a medieval witch, trained young sorcerers in Ireland prior to the establishment of Hogwarts. But I guess Hogwarts was created to reach more students. Think it up: we are talking about one or two wizards teaching in vast areas. They could not take many students without calling too much attention. And by that time is WAS necessary for it to be secret: by that time muggle persecutions on wizards already existed. Magic had to be concealed: how doing that in private homes in the middle of muggle villages without being seen? Plus teaching magic isn't something easily desguised: blastings, flying spells looking like fireworking, etc. What can they do, all those wizard who cannot access it? So a school, Hogwarts, had to be created: a castle away from everything else, large enough to take many, many students, concealed for yet more magic so muggle cound never found them and they could protect their students.... Well, that's my opinion....

Superb answer Nadia! You are almost exactly right, you're only missing one little key detail. Why away from muggle eyes? When did things start to go wrong between wizards and muggles? Well, in about 1000 AD - A growing distrust from muggles for our kind escalated. This factor is what compelled the four greatest witches and wizards of the age to found Hogwarts.

So, because of ever growing Muggle persecution the wizarding world slowly began to distant itself from the Muggle world. Even to this day, we distance ourselves and have an entire Ministry to ensure that we are kept from Muggles. But, my next question is, why do you believe the Muggles persecuted the wizarding world so? Why is it that we live apart?

Well, the obvious answer would be the same as always, the cliché: they were afraid. Afraid of something they feel they couln't explain, afraid of a power they couldn't control. It was against many religions and a hazard to their beliefs. Some people felt the need to associate Wicca to evil, to the summon of demons. And they had something right: magic was almost every time destructive magic. Even moden magic. Many if not every spell can be used with *dark*, illegal purposes. At least potentially. And some people actually DID used it for the purpose we are talking about - many times to frighten muggles especiafically.

It was at this point that Merlin created the Order of Merlin. The purpose of it was to protect muggles from magic and to give notice that wizards should NOT use magic on muggles. Magic was to be used responsibly. Or course, King Arthur's sister and Merlins' rival, Morgana, had quite a different idea on what people should do with magic. But that's another story. The thing is that there were various points of view on how to use magic, so muggles fears were sometime justified, and some times unnecessary...

There's something else I like to add. In Ancient Egypt, before this time, muggles and wizards lived together, but that was probably because the magic developed was so little muggle and wizard could be mised up easily. It seems it was common belief that all humans had magic within themselves, and maybe they did, but that changed. And some times there were false healers that only worstened the state of a person. False prophets, shamans and seers who invented their visions. Many oracles were useless at all. With this notion the wizard and the muggle was slowly divided in two different groups: the ones with magic and the one which didn't have any of it.

And here we come again... Those who didn't, how did they do to defend themselves from the ones with such a power? Fright made muggle create weapons, excuses and intrigues. Lies even. And next we know it was a war. A war which, to be stopped, resulted in the wizards going into hidding of their true nature.

Kay raises her hand. "Professor Lainey, isn't the persecution of wizards by muggles directly related to the power of the medieval church and the feudal hierarchy? Religion was a key component of life during the Middle Ages and the church held tremendous power over the masses (both religiously and politically). A person who embraced "unorthodox" practices (according to the medieval church and society) would be shunned by their neighbors and subject to persecution by both the church and law-abiding personnel. You asked why would these people be persecuted -- they stood out and people were superstitious. Muggles did not think that the magic produced by witches and wizards was "natural" and was not in accordance with the medieval church. Some muggles sought to use magic for their own personal gains and would have a witch or wizard assist them in gaining power. But, as history repeatedly tells us, these muggles would turn on their magical friends when situations got out of control. For these reasons and others, muggles believed it was their right to persecute witches and wizards through stoning, drowning, and burning. With a threat of elimination, witches and wizards realized that they could not live as part of muggle society because they would always be shunned, persecuted, and blamed for problems. For this reason, we live apart from the muggle world, protected by charms and enchantments from the prying eyes of curious muggles."

Wow couldn't of said it any better Nadia. I agree just about completly.
I think they persecuted this world because they probably thought someday wizards would over rule the muggles and destroy their world forever. *hehe.*

"I will have to dissagree with just something of what you have said, Kay. While religious problem was a major cause of much of the politic against magic and *Wicca* at the time, I think you are talking about the Inquisition in your speech, and that was after that time. Religion didn't take matter on their own hands that early. Though many times not opposed to the persecution of wizards, the church didn't directly and publically repudied. The persecution was by common muggle villages mostly... think of Frankestein and Werewolf hunting... But not the church directly, I almost possitive. If that was the case association like the Order of Merlin wouldn't have ever existed."

"Nadia. I am not referring to the Inquisition. It has been well-documented that religion and the medieval church did play a major role in everyday life during the Middle Ages. Plus, people were superstitious! It's an historical fact! People were executed because they were found guilty of witchcraft and the reasons were not always valid ones. I could tell you stories of medieval witch hunts and the superstitious beliefs of muggles during the medieval period. It is well-documented that certain punishments were used on witches during the Middle Ages. For example, a person would have a stone (or weight) tied around their waist and thrown into a river. If they floated on the water, they were definitely a witch. If they drowned, then they were innocent. Another common practice of executing a witch was by burning because muggles believed that a witch could not burn!"

"Mmh... maybe I was wrong to talk about the Inquisition specifically... But it was later, in the Fourteenth Century, that Witch burnings happened. At those times Muggles were particularly afraid of magic but not very good at recognizing it, Wendolin the Weird burned at the stake 47 in various desguised with the aid of a Fire Freezing Charm, as you must already know... But that was very much later, while now we are talkng about 1000 a.C. I might be wrong, of course, but I can't see how there were so many wizards hired to kill dragons of magic was so repudied by the church who, you are righ there, already had a lot of power. The kings wouldn't allow the wizards to exist if persecutions were headed by the governors, I'm guessing..."

Mint decided to speak up " I don't think that it is so much that muggles are afraid of us but that they are a bit jealous. I think that they believe that we may look over them and thin kthat we a re higher then then because we have magic and they don't. Because of this we now have to live apart. The muggles can not accept the fact that we are no better then them. Well at least that is what I think."

"Well, even if jealous, that was not much of an excuse for persecuting us, was it?" Nadia said pondering the matter. "They would need a batter excuse to movilisize so many people against it. Maybe a bit of the two, jealousy and fear. But muggle wouldn't be that wrong - well, apart from the *better* statement, we do have more power and reason for them to feel pretty jealous. It hapens, like the case with Harry Potter's relatives, the Dursleys. But you also have to find quite some courage to face and persecute wizards, who have magic on their side. That courage probably strouted by rage, which came from the frustration of them not having the powers wizards do, therefore feeling powerless and afraid... and yes, maybe jealous...

"... who knows, you might be right. After all that is pretty much the reason why Dead Eaters exists too, eh? The belief that one is better than the other..."

*finally speaks up*
I believe, and this is just my thoughts, that muggles persicuted magic because they were scared of the thought of being in someone else's control due to a force they couldn't see. There were so many things going on that they didn't understand, and it was so much easier to blame them on witchcraft than to admit times were changing and natural misfortunes were happening. And whether they liked it or not they had to change with them. They didn't want this to happen. So, instead of taking up for themselves, they blamed bad happenings on witches and curses and the like. As the "wicked witch" stories grew, so did people's fear of them. It was best for both worlds in the end to split just because of how many innocent people were dying due to this fear. Muggles just couldn't stand the thought of any mortal being more powerful than they.