I just realized something, and I find it strangely interesting.
Hogwarts Legacy takes place in 1890 (we know that due to the date George shows Fig in the intro).
This is during the later part of the Victorian area. King's Cross has been build, and the first photo published in a Muggle newspaper back in 1848, but in 1890, it still fully hadn't caught on in the in neither the Muggle or Wizarding world, with both still finding their footing with them, using them mainly for front covers, with illustrations still being the main way to depict something for the readers.
Newspapers has always been important, for Muggles and Wizards alike, being the main news outlets for many. But for many people in 1890, they would like at the newspaper in their hands, fearing that they would have to read the same headline, that had scared them just a few years before.
Imagine the scene. It's the early morning of the 1st of September 1888, and 13 year old MC - still unaware of their magical abilities - is home, getting for school. MC, sitting with what family they have, reads the newspaper of the Daily News, their eyes landing on a headline that makes their blood run cold;
"BRUTAL MURDER IN WHITECHAPEL
A murder of the most brutal kind was committed in the neighbourhood of Whitechapel in the early hours of yesterday morning, but by whom and with what motive is at present a complete mystery."
At Hogwarts the same day, Scottish Sebastian - who was just about to start his third year at Hogwarts with his sister Anne and best friend Ominis - would hear the news during dinner, the Muggleborn and Halfblood students from the London area talking loudly about it. A murder of a Muggle woman. Sadly, that was nothing new, but the brutality of the murder even took full blood students by surprise, one even asking if; "Muggles truly were so cold blooded?"
On the morning of September the 9th, Sebastian walked into the Great Hall, just as a sixth year of a full blood status was asking a second year Muggleborn, how he get a hold of a Muggle newspaper through owls.
Before Sebastian could wonder what that was about, he found the answer at the Slytherin long table, where a Muggle newspaper was being passed around, allowing Sebastian to read it just as it got to Anne.
In London, MC, would overheard their mother and the woman that came around for tea talk about it. They were scared to go out - not that they ever went out at night, they quickly made clear - but they were scared. Even though they, well to do middle class women, did not live in Whitechapel, nor were prostituts. But notheless, they were scared. Man, woman and children. Everybody was on the lookout, fearfull of Leather Apron out in the dark of London's street at night.
In the evening of September the 30th, once again found themself in the drawing room with their family, when they were shocked with another headline.
At Hogwarts the next day, owls came flying with the evening edition of London Daily Post, having been flying all the way from London to Scotland in the night. Apparently, a witch from Diagon Alley had found a way to earn a lot of many, buying in several Muggle papers, before selling them at a higher price to Wizards and Witches that wished to read them.
That morning, the Daily Prophet started running the story as well, leaving many students moaning and groaning about having spend more money on Muggle papers.
The Ministry of Magic has officially gotten involved in the investigation, fearing that this Jack the Ripper could be a dark wizard, killing Muggle women on the streets of London. But just like Scotland Yard, they had nothing to go on. No magic had been used, and no one had seen him up close.
Fear had started spreading to Hogwarts. It happened from time to time, that Sebastian and Ominis was too scared to let Anne go to Hogsmeade alone, even though it was highly unlikely to find Jack the Ripper anywhere in the area. But the fear was there, and Sebastian didn't want anything to happen to his sister...
October passed by with nothing happening. Some students started cancelling their subscribtions to the Muggle newspapers, leaving the witch in Diagon Alley with much less money in her pockets.
When November finally came, it was as if Hogwarts has forgotten all about the killer in London. Even the students who's families still resided there.
But then it came by owl in the morning of November the 10th, to those students who still paid the Diagon Alley witch, and Sebastian, like so many others, leaned in to get a reading of the headline.
When MC read the headline, they decided not to read further along the lines. They had regretted it last time, and decided that this time, they wouldn't put themself through the suffering of reading the details of such a brutal act of violence.
But after that murder in November, the Ripper seemed to have disappeared. The following murder in December was to different, leading Scotland Yard to believe it was committed by a different person.
Though Jack the Ripper had seemed to have disappeared, the fear of him never did. MC would for long time find themself walking down the streets of London, wondering if any of the men around her, could be the brutal killer.
As 88 turned to 89, the fear still lingered in many, quick to connect any murder in London to Jack the Ripper. People coming out of nowhere, saying that they knew who he was, one after another, all with different names and stories.
So in the summer of 1890, when MC got their letter from Hogwarts, they felt relived in some way. Though they saw London as their home, and felt strangely safe their during the day time, the nights were horrifying. But surelly, a magical school in Scotland would be much safer, right?
