Fairy Tales or History? PV Dennis Tumberton Closed

It had been some time since Dennis hung out with Nellie and he was very happy when she had invited him to study in the library. He made his way from his dormitory, recounting some of their memories. He had first met her, in fact, in the library on the hunt for Dragons. He wondered what new grand adventure she had in store for them. He was wearing his Ravenclaw sweater and some black sweatpants, he hadn’t really bothered to change. It was just Nellie after all, and he figured she wouldn’t mind a more casual look.

He entered the library and found who he was looking for. It seemed she was already be deep into a book on the table. A big one by the looks of it. Well, the bigger the book, the bigger adventure. So long as he didn’t have to put it away!

He plopped down on the other side of the table with a smile, “Ello, Nellie!” He wasn’t exactly sure what they were going to be studying or looking for today but wanted to let her finish what she was doing. He resisted the urge to take the book away from her, not that he could judging by what he imagined must be the heaviest book in the world. He was sure whatever Nellie had in store would be so exciting so he leaned back in his chair, folded his hands over his middle and waited for his friend.

@Nellie Lam

Oftentimes, Nellie had tunnel vision when she read. She tended to pay no attention to the world, missing things she should have noticed. Things like the motion before her as the Ravenclaw took his seat. She didn't notice till he plopped down, immediately followed by the greeting. "Denners! You scared me." After the fact, she laughed, though her heart still hammered in her chest over the start he'd given her. He would have nothing to wait for, though as he now had her full attention. The only issue was she'd not put much thought into how to present the story. Would he find the muggle story mundane? Or perhaps wizards could be charmed by something that had no magic? Could something like magic lose it's charm with familiarity?

"I..." Her fingers brushed over the pages. "I found this book. It's a story about a king named Henry. Since we were talking about stories and fairy tales and stuff in class, I thought you might like to hear it." As she spoke, her cheeks flushed. Perhaps this was a silly idea. Though it was an idea formed from wanting to share a bit of herself with her friend, she was now aware how silly she might look. "He had six wives. All at different times, of course. And he started his own religion and umm... he-he killed two of his wives." Sensing that she was beginning to ramble, she sighed and voiced her thoughts outloud. "Maybe this was stupid."

Nellie seemed shocked that he had sat across from her. It was a little amusing as she had been the one to invite him to the library. She greeted him with the customary ‘Denners’ which always made him grin. It reminded him of family and being in such a huge place as Hogwarts, the feeling of family kept him calm and comfortable in the ever changing environment. Of course this isn’t the same for everyone. He had met quite a few people since they were in class together, that had problems with family that the reminder would just sour their thoughts. Not so for the always upbeat Dennis.

He nodded in recognition and waited patiently for Nellie to say something, really anything else. It seemed like she was bouncing between throwing up and burping for a bit. Or she could have just been contemplating not telling him what she had originally wanted to tell him. Dennis was never good at reading people. Had he done something wrong? An even more frightful thought, had Nellie done something wrong!? Finally she spoke. So it was about history. His heart sank a bit, wishing she had burned down the girls lavatory or something.

However, the story was not like anything Dennis had heard. A king with six wives and not only that but he killed a bunch (2) of them. He had never heard of such a thing. He even started his own religion? “So…this King Henry…” Dennis started trying to wrap his head around all of it. “He started a religion around having wives?” So close, Dennis, so close. He looked incredulous but in an amusing way. “I can’t tell if this is real life or a fairy tale, I’ve never heard of such a thing.” He found himself growing further invested in the story Nellie was trying to weave.

@Nellie Lam

There were many things in history that Nellie would likely not discuss with someone that was feint of heart. As the daughter of a history teacher, however, she'd been spared none of it. However, this was a story that had just enough to keep you at the edge of your seat while not quite enough to turn your stomach. "Yes! I mean no. Kinda?" She seemed hopeful that maybe she'd not made herself look as sill as she'd feared. "Let me start from the beginning."

She closed the book, trusting herself to know the story well enough to not need the assistance. "Once upon a time there was a boy. His name was Henry Tudor. He had a father named Henry and an older brother named Arthur. Henry's father killed the king and took the crown of England for himself. He became the first Tudor king. Arthur was supposed to be his heir. Henry's father was obsessed with making sure he had grandkids so that the Tudors would stay in power. So he made Arthur marry a princess from Spain, Catherine of Aragon By all accounts, she was fierce. Both of her parents were great commanders and warriors." She leaned in making the story dramatic as she told it. "But then something happened. Arthur died before he ever took the throne. So Henry became the heir. England didn't want to return the Spanish dowry, so... Henry, Arthur's little brother, married Catherine next." She left out quite a bit here regarding those that had tried to wed Catherine before Henry VIII but, some things didn't always need discussed.

This is where she paused to make sure he was still interested, waiting for any questions the boy might pose.

@Dennis Tumberton

Dennis listened, or tried to listen, with as much attention as he could give his friend. History definitely wasn’t his thing though. He got distracted by thoughts of Defense Against the Dark Arts. He had a test coming up and all he wanted to do is get his wand out and practice on one of the class dummies. Or Charms. Professor Fresnel was always so entertaining in her lessons. He had just learned the levitating charm. Oh! He never had to lift a heavy book again! He could just use magic now! What a wonderful thought, he had while he looked at the big book on the table.

Oh no! Nellie had stopped talking. He looked over to see her looking at him as if waiting to see if he had been listening. Think, Ravenclaw, think! “Well…” Dennis closed his eyes trying to concentrate. Arthur. Henry. Catherine. Yes. Got it. “Henry married his brother’s wife? That’s really gross. Wouldn’t that mean England and Spain are…the same country!?” Nailed it this time. To be a Ravenclaw was awesome sometimes. “I don’t remember that being the case. What happened next?” Dennis crossed his fingers under the table but smiled at Nellie. How close was he actually. Hopefully she bought the fact that he hadn’t caught most of it because he was thinking about magic. He would try to pay closer attention if there was juicier details.

@Nellie Lam

She was losing him. The girl recognized that far away look in his eyes. Yes, he was paying attention in that he could repeat back to her, but he wasn't super invested. At least not yet. But the story had just begun.

The idea of the two countries being the same made her laugh as she shook her head. "They aren't. The women tends to become part of the husband's life, not really the other way around. At least in those days. So she became Queen of England, but she gave up claim to Spain. Anyway, not important." She was getting side tracked. "Henry's dad was obsessed with the blood line and passed down this obsession for having boys because in those days, girls didn't really inherit thrones. But some people that believed in the religion of England at the time, Catholocism, they believed that Henry and Catherine were cursed because in their book, the Bible, it says you're not allowed to marry your brother's wife. But.... Henry did" She leaned forward as she spoke. "They were married for a long time. Catherine got pregnant nine times, but all of them died. Some were even born and died a couple weeks later." She lowered her voice to a whisper in attempt to add to the mystery. "Every single boy she had died. One child lived. Mary. But for Henry, that wasn't good enough so he started to look for solutions. Henry wasn't faithful... at all. In fact her had a few boys outside of marriage but none of them could inherit the throne because they were born out of wedlock and were called," she raised her hands for air quotes, "illegetimate. He had a mistress, Mary Boleyn. She had a boy, but then he met Mary's sister. Decided he liked her, too. So... he started to court her. Anne Boelyn. But she was smart. Told him she wanted to marry him. But he was already married. As a Catholic, they didn't allow divorce then except in specific situations. Henry tried a few different ways but the church wouldn't let him divorce Catherine. So he made his own religion and sent Catherine to a convent. He married Anne. Anne would be the first wife he kills. Chopped her head clean off." With that, she paused both to guage interest and wait for questions.

@Dennis Tumberton

Dennis nodded along as Nellie continued to describe an intricate web of intrigue and violence. He understood what she was getting at but didn’t really understand any of the context. She was really going so fast. Babies dying, needing a boy, being cursed. “Did someone at least try to break the curse? It seems like he should have had someone break it for him instead of try 9 times…” Dennis was really trying his hardest to follow along. Being married and having a mistress was far above his own comprehension. “What exactly is a convent? Is that like Hogwarts?” He asked. So many new words for the young boy to try to comprehend at once.

Then she finally got to the cool part. “Oh, this sounds like that muggle story…’off with your head!’” He said, a little bit too excited as he karate chopped the table. He recoiled and shook his hand. That really hurt. “So he doesn’t kill his first wife, but kills his second wife? It doesn’t seem like he is a very stable person,” Dennis asked after taking a moment to digest the rest of the story that Nellie was telling. What would happen next? Did he ever get a boy? Would a girl finally become a ruler by herself? Dennis didn’t understand a lot of the story but he found that he needed to know how the rest of the story went.

@Nellie Lam

This was going to be more complicated that Nellie had initially thought. There were so many terms and ideas that didn’t carry over between the two world. “Oh. A convent is for nuns.” And then she realized her probably didn’t know what a nun was, either. “Um… it’s a religious place for women closed off, mostly, from the world. They’re never allowed to get married.” Not being Catholic herself, she hoped that explanation would suffice as that was really as much as she knew.

“Right so Anne Boelyn was wife number two.” She paused and turned the pages until she found a picture in the book of the woman in question. Turning the book, she’d slid it his direction so he could see it. It didn’t move, however, Dennis might recognize the girl in the picture as very similar to a portrait that hung near the second floor landing of the Grand Staircase at Hogwarts.

"She was considered very beautiful in her time. But history is kind of hazy with how many miscarriages she had. They think she had three. The one baby she had was a girl, too. Elizabeth. They do know, though, that after Elizabeth was born, Anne lost another baby- a boy. Most people think that was when King Henry decided he was done with her. His attention turned to one of her maids in waiting, a girl name Jane Seymour. Anne’s rivals took advantage of the situation and kind laid it on thick. Anne was really social. She loved parties and art and flirting. So they told the king that Anne was um.. unfaithful.” She coughed, blushing. Why had she picked a story that was so scandalous? But she knew the answer. Scandal caught attention and held interest. “They also told him she’d used witchcraft to force him to love her. Of course Henry, selfish jerk that he was, used this to get rid of Anne. So, he had her beheaded.” Nellie drew her thumb over her neck. “A lot of wizards think she was actually a squib. But then that brings us to Henry’s next wife. Jane Seymour.”

@Dennis Tumberton

If he wasn’t lost before, Dennis was way out of his depths now. Scandals and miscarriages and secret lovers. Why did a man need more than one wife? Dennis also wasn’t very clear on what a miscarriage actually was or how it happened. He got rumors. But he wasn’t really clear on why someone who was having trouble carrying babies to term would not just have used magic to fix the problem if she was really actually a witch. “Why does one person care about who someone else is married to? She can just get another person.” Dennis said finally. It seemed bizarre to have two people fighting over one person when there are other people in the world. “What happened to Elizabeth?” Dennis asked, noticing that the story moved on to the next wife, but this woman shared the same name as his sister. “Also, was killing your wife or sending them away to the woman place, the only way to get a new wife back then? Did they not invent divorce yet?” Dennis wasn’t really interested in the love stuff, but he always appreciated a good beheading and nodded when Nellie made the gesture with her thumb. Finally something he could understand.

@Nellie Lam