Sitting at his desk, looking at the stacks of parchment that nearly filled the entire surface, Evans took a deep breath.
Finally.
His historical studies were finally about to be completed!
The manuscripts on the desk were roughly divided into three parts, with a few sheets set aside separately, covered not only with notes but also numerous annotations.
Medieval magical history could be roughly divided into five parts according to major events, but Evans had only fully mastered the latter three.
That is, the three separate manuscripts concerning the founding period of Hogwarts, the Black Death period, and the witch hunt period.
The historical materials left from the earliest two periods were insufficient. The events of the Arthurian period only remained as legends, with no actual evidence to support them. If not for the appearance of too much wizard-related information in the legends, many historians wouldn't even include these legends in official history.
And the other period... was called the Dark Ages.
The history of that period seemed to have been completely erased. The entire magical history contained only fragments about that period, knowing only that many, many wizards died, and that period didn't end completely until the establishment of Hogwarts.
But because there were no historical records, everything about that period remained a mystery. Even the most learned historical scholars couldn't answer anything about that era.
Thinking of this, Evans recalled his conversation with Miss Bathilda Bagshot from a few hours ago.
That lady's condition wasn't very good. Her consciousness was already somewhat confused, and her perception of time had long been chaotic.
But when asking history-related questions, she could always give accurate answers. She truly loved these histories that carried the weight of years, even though everything in this world was gradually leaving her.
But even she couldn't explain anything about the Dark Ages. No ruins or books specifically described that period. During that time span, even Muggle historical records were more detailed than magical history.
However, at Miss Bagshot's place, besides history, Evans also heard her tell quite a bit of interesting gossip. For example, amusing stories about Dumbledore's childhood, and his relationship with Grindelwald.
However, Miss Bagshot's memory seemed to have stopped before Dumbledore and Grindelwald's falling out. She would occasionally mutter that Grindelwald hadn't visited her in a long time and was a bad boy.
Shaking his head, Evans sighed softly.
He hadn't learned much about the story of Dumbledore and Grindelwald in detail, but he knew that these two famous opponents had once been the best of friends.
However, Newt seemed to know a lot about these matters. If there was a chance, he could gossip with him about it.
As for now, the most important thing was naturally to organize these manuscripts and establish a clear timeline.
This way, when he went to the seal tomorrow, the probability of meeting the conditions would be higher.
Arranging the stacks of parchment by category, Evans took out the three most important historical materials and placed them in front of him.
The first was a true record of the witch hunts, which described in detail most of the specifics of the witch hunt period, including some ways Muggles executed wizards and how wizards abused Muggles.
This manuscript came from Miss Bellance. Besides the manuscript, Evans had also taken many notes through that lady's oral accounts, greatly enriching his understanding of the witch hunt period.
However, Evans still had some doubts about certain details of the witch hunt period.
This manuscript vaguely recorded some things—under certain special circumstances, Muggles seemed capable of threatening wizards.
But those matters were recorded too vaguely, only mentioned in passing in certain corners.
And apart from this manuscript, the entire magical world had no records of such situations. Those historical materials only recorded the number of wizards who died during the entire witch hunt, but never mentioned how they died.
But when he asked about this matter today, that lady only smiled faintly and gave no explanation.
Looking strangely at that manuscript, Evans shook his head slightly.
This bit of vague information shouldn't prevent him from passing the seal's test. As for those questions... he could only wait and see if there would be opportunities to understand them in the future.
The second manuscript came from Bathilda Bagshot. It focused on explaining the history related to Hogwarts from its founding period to the present and other magical schools. As the oldest academy in the wizarding world, Hogwarts' status in the Middle Ages was self-evident.
Before the founding of Durmstrang and Beauxbatons, wizards throughout Europe could only receive complete magical education at Hogwarts, rather than having a half-baked wizard train an even more half-baked apprentice as before.
Moreover, many things were inseparable from Hogwarts. Many humanoid creatures also established friendships with wizards during this period. Goblins, house-elves, centaurs, merpeople—during Hogwarts' founding period, wizards had quite good friendships with these creatures.
Unfortunately, those friendships didn't last until now.
Goblins were strictly supervised, managed as inferior beings running banks and vaults.
House-elves were reduced to slaves, with servility carved into their blood, unable to escape for generations.
Centaurs' habitats were continuously squeezed. Apart from the Forbidden Forest, there were few centaur communities left in the world.
There were still many merpeople, but these creatures didn't have a good relationship with wizards. Even the merpeople tribe in the Black Lake rarely interacted with wizards.
Compared to wizards, they seemed more interested in Muggles.
Shaking his head regretfully, Evans looked at the third manuscript.
Among the three manuscripts, this one was the most precious.
The other manuscripts were either passed down or summarized through archaeology. There would always be omissions during transmission, and errors were inevitable during archaeological processes.
But this one was a firsthand account that had just been written.
This was a precious manuscript sent by a wizard who had completely experienced the entire Black Death period and survived to this day.
The manuscript still retained some ink fragrance. If you slid your hand over the writing, you could even smudge some ink marks.
The handwriting was somewhat chaotic—that old man's health wasn't very good—but all the historical materials were recorded clearly. This was very carefully prepared material.
Looking at that manuscript, Evans's heart was filled with emotion.
Although nominally he had exchanged his research on magical creatures for this manuscript, he knew very well that having Nicolas Flamel personally recall and write a history and reflection on the Black Death period couldn't be obtained with just those few research manuscripts.
Only by leveraging Dumbledore's connections could he possibly obtain such important material.
Actually, Evans had always maintained deep gratitude toward Professor Dumbledore.
He had caused quite a bit of trouble during his student years, and each time it was Dumbledore who helped smooth things over, allowing him to escape.
After graduation, Dumbledore had also personally taught him many paths for scholars to become famous in the magical world. Without his guidance, he would probably already be hiding in some remote mountains and forests, becoming a notorious terrorist in the eyes of those nature reserves.
It would be even better if the headmaster could stop keeping secrets from him when fishing.
Stretching, Evans leaned over the table and began carefully organizing the manuscripts in front of him.
Tomorrow, he could finally start breaking that seal!
[Chapter Complete]
***
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