A History of Magic (by Bathilda Bagshot)

Early Magical Communities: Asia: Asian Steppes

Magical historians did not care much about the Huns, a group of Asian nomads, until the late 1970s. Previously, magical historians had thought that the Hun society was too crude to have had any magical presence. That all changed when one magical historian, Robert Meddleweb, stumbled across a Muggle historian's account of the Huns, which described a strange phenomenon: 'Some believe that the Huns just appeared in the Eastern Asian steppes. Of course, that's impossible. However, archaeologists have been unable to find any artefacts explaining where the Huns came from', wrote Anna Zakowsky.

Meddleweb quickly interpreted these findings to mean that the Huns had Apparated from some other area of China, leaving no trace of their travel — at least, none that Muggles could understand. Other historians doubt Meddleweb's theory, including Harrison Byproo: 'Apparating is not something that just happens by accident. Think about how difficult it is for sixth years to Apparate. Suggesting that an entire nation could Apparate successfully is outrageous.'

To this, Meddleweb countered, 'Think of magic as an animal. Right now, we've managed to domesticate it, make it respond to certain words and behave predictably, more or less. Back then, it was far more uncontrollable but also significantly more powerful. We've toned it down to make it safer.' Thus, the magic of the Huns allowed the entire community to spontaneously relocate. Of course, this incident would have also led to a great deal of adverse effects, for which Meddleweb has located substantial evidence.

Much of the remnants of Hun skeletons show significant signs of deformation. Muggle archaeologists explained this away as 'the wear of time', but magical historians understand these irregularities as signs of Splinching. However, the most impacting effect of the botched Apparition was the resulting magical hyperactivity from which the Huns suffered, as the Apparition had adverse effects on their intellectual and magical capabilities. Magical hyperactivity is a condition that has endured to this day, causing magic folk to release their magic in strong, uncontrollable bursts. This explains the brute force of the Huns as they invaded and destroyed neighbouring territories.

As time went on and the Huns mixed with surrounding people, magical potency decreased in their communities. While magic became a rare talent, the Huns continued to respect those in their community who could perform magic. In fact, Atilla the Hun, the most notorious leader of the Huns, a Squib himself, surrounded himself with a staff of magical advisors and valued magic folk within his community. Atilla even went so far as to reconsider murdering the people whom he encountered if they performed a magic trick for him.