Toujours Pur | Euphemia Black

Chapter 11 | Explosions

1K READS?!?! WHAT?! Thank you all so much, this means the world to me <3

November and October have always been months of celebrations seeing as events such as Halloween and Bonfire Night took place, hence why the excited spirit that had been running through Hogwarts didn't disappear after the Halloween feast, as Euphemia had expected.

In fact, the fifth of November was quickly approaching and so everyone was just looking forward to Bonfire Night.

Which, to Mia's surprise, was not only a magical event but also apparently some sort of festival that had actually spread to the muggle world.

It had started off in the wizarding universe, as it was a celebration amongst pure bloods of the night on the 5th November when one of their kind, Guy Fawkes, nearly blew up the Houses of Parliament in London.

It had been a planned terrorist attack amongst the wizarding community for a while to get back at the muggles for burning all the witches in a most ferocious manner.

So that was why Euphemia knew of it, because her family celebrated it every year - poking fun at the 'stupidity' of the muggles.

Therefore, it had become an annual celebration that was also celebrated in the muggle world as they set huge bonfires and set off fireworks, often burning a straw model version of Guy Fawkes, honouring the day that the man died.

Complete polar opposites if you asked Euphemia, one community celebrated the downfall of a man who had nearly blown up a great landmark and the other community remembered when they triumphed over muggles.

Hogwarts was abuzz with excitement yet again as this celebration approached and the Slytherin house was especially thrilled to be enjoying the magical firework display that Hogwarts was rumoured to be putting on in honour of the attack.

However, because of Headmaster Armando Dippet being half blood, the fireworks were more to honour the event happening rather than celebrate the explosion that rocked Britain's history books for decades.

Euphemia couldn't help but look forward to it, after all it had been a tradition in the Black Family household for centuries and they had often held some sort of party or set off some fireworks in the garden of the Black Manor, with all the family invited over for a dance and a drink or two.

She had never really enjoyed the balls that they had thrown because they were so often plagued with dirty jokes about muggles and horrible, dark stories of what they would do to the muggle community.

Ever since she had come to her senses (after meeting Clover and Justin and a few occasions before that), Mia had normally sat on a window seat in her posh party dress, looking out at the city of which she had a great view, due to her house being on a hill that overlooked London perfectly.

She didn't really know that there was anything wrong with it when she was younger and she had enjoyed Bonfire Night ever since she was old enough to truly appreciate the art of the fireworks and the joy of the party.

Little Mia never understood why they were celebrating the day that they nearly blew up one of the greatest landmarks in Muggle history but, like anyone else, she had loved the party and enjoyed the whole process of dressing up in pretty dresses and waltzing around the ballroom with her various cousins, aunts and uncles. Until she grew older and started to realise the flaws in her family's beliefs, that is.

Of course, there were half bloods amongst the school who would've grown up with a completely different tradition on Bonfire Night, the night where they would set alight a fake Guy Fawkes or wander around asking 'Penny for the Guy' with a straw replica, as Minerva soon informed Mia when the two girls were talking about it on their way to Astronomy, one of the only other subjects that Gryffindors and Slytherins shared, along with Transfiguration and flying lessons.