Peony sat sprawled out on her table. She took up almost all of it with her papers, her inks and her quills. Her black hair, overlong as usual and falling straggily to her shoulders with no help whatsoever from gel, hid her eyes. Pushing her glasses up her nose with her big quill, and staining her nose slightly with ink, Peony raised a paw.

"The policy of democracy was first founded by the Greeks who decided that power was too much for any one man to hold. A Government by the people, for the people - as Abraham Lincoln said. Pericles was one of the greatest democratic speakers. But when Rome conquered Greece, the policy was democracy was almost forgotten. Almost, but not quite. It flared up bright enough to lead to Julius Caeser's assination, but died away to allow a succession of Roman emperors, each worse than the last, ending with Nero, the proverbial fiddler whilst Rome burnt, son of Caligula," she said in a small voice that managed to be clear like the tinkling of bells echoing off icicles. "Later, the thread was picked up by American settlers, I won't call them early, since they'd already robbed the Red Indians, Native Americans, of their land. When England increased her hold on the pilgrims, they revolted, unhappy at the presumption of the monarch to govern them, he who had never held a rake in his soft hands. A Government was meant to help the people, not oppress them. Because of their constant harping of this policy, freedom and equal rights for all, America attracted many refugees."

And a one, and a two, and a three, breathe.

Peony ignored the sarcasm. "America is held up as one of the greatest examples of democracy. There are three definitions of democracy. Citizenship democracy which is defined as a government of the masses. Authority derived through mass meeting or any other form of "direct" expression. Results in mobocracy or a government where the lower classes of a nation control public affairs without respect to law, precedents, or vested rights. Attitude toward property is communistic, meaning property rights are negated and ownership is by the people or state. In a true democracy the lower classes of a nation control public affairs without respect to law, precedents or vested rights. Attitude toward law is that the will of the majority shall regulate based upon deliberation, passion, prejudice or impulse, without restraint or regard to consequences of the action.

"Direct demorcary, where everyone is given the opportunity to participate in making all policy decisions. In countries and large organizations, direct democracy is rarely utilized because it would be cumbersome and efficient. No decisions would ever be reached.

"And Representative democracy. This approach entails people voting to elect representatives in a free and fair electoral system to make policy for them under a wide range of checks and balances to help ensure leadership accountability."

Your face is turning purple.

Peony sat down. Was her face really purple? She checked on the shiny surface of her watch. Well, it was a shade of maroon, but that was wearing off. Peony squinted. Her nose was stained with ink, and she didn't have a handkerchief.

Lauren walked into the classroom and sat down quietly. She got out her books and waited for the next questiobn so she could try and get some house points.

:: Lauren wheeled into the classroom and stoped in her wheelchair. She looked for an emty desk and saw one in the back of the room and made her way inbetween the desks to the one in the back. She moved the chair back and wheeled up to the desk taking out any supplies she needed. ::

Anna walked into the room, nodding at the teacher. Looking around the room, she searched for someone she knew. No one. "well..." she said to herself glancing over the room once more to see if she missed any one.

Then, she saw Amaris. The girl Angel had introduced to her at the lake. She decided taking a seat next to someone she didn't know well was better then taking a seat next to someone she didn't know at all, and choose the table next to hers.

"hi" she said waving a bit at the girl. She tied back her hair and got out a quill and some parchment, ready to take notes.

Jen entered the room and moved cautiously between the rows of desks. Spotting a few familiar faces she took a seat behind Amaris and Anna. Offering the girls a friendly smile, she took out her quill and some parchment. Unable to give a more complete answer than anyone else she began taking notes.

luna was sat her desk with the other slytherins, she pondered what everyone else had said and decided that she couldnt add anything else, unable to give an awnser she started to write a few notes down

Anna noticed Jen come in. She smiled and said "hello" quietly, not wanting to disturb that class. She looked around to see if anyone else was going to answer. Thinking to herself that there had been quiet a few people who had answered she decided to take on the next question instead.

Ross took a seat in the middle band of desks, he took out his books and stationary in which to write with. He headed his parchment and noted the few facts that had already been spilled out in the class then sat looking round for a familiour face.

Sara waited for more questions. She needed to answer some.

Alyssa sat down, and as she heard all the answers, she new she couldn't add anything more. She took some notes, and waited for other questions

*Jen started rifling through her books...her classmates already gave out all the answers, but she tried anyway*

"A democracy is a government by the people, exercised either directly or through elected representatives and it is ruled by the majority. It is a good thing if exercised properly; a disaster if abused and misunderstood."

Very good students many of you are correct. For their expansive essays I will award 10 points each to both falling_from_grace and Meandering. Here is a definition:

Democracy - government by the people, exercised either directly or through elected representatives.

Democracy is how the majority of muggles live today, while some totalitarian societies still exist most developed countries have adopted a democratic way of life. Perhaps the most defining characteristic of democracy is a single person in the 20th century Adolf Hitler.

Can anyone tell me when Adolf Hitler was born?

Alex raised her hand. "Adolf Hitler was born on April 20, 1889, the fourth child of Alois Schickelgruber and Klara Hitler in the Austrian town of Braunau. Two of his siblings died from diphtheria when they were children, and one died shortly after birth. Alois was a customs official, illegitimate by birth, who was described by his housemaid as a "very strict but comfortable" man," she said. They were learning abour Hitler now? She knew a little about him, mind you, she read a lot of Muggles books. She was fascinated by Muggle History in general.

Jen actually knew the answer to this question. She raised her hand and said, " Adolf Hitler was born April 20,1889 in a small town called Braunau am Inn, Austria. His mother had previously had 2 children but they died in infancy."

She thought this was the correct answer. At any rate it was what she had learned at her muggle school.

Christy raised her hand to respond but other students had already did it, so she took notes of their anwsers.

Jenna nodded in agreement, as there was nothing else she could add.

Alyssa answered the question and said "Adolf Hitler was born April 20,1889. He had a very young mother who was very caring and a father who was rather abusive. Adolf was a messenger in the Great War (WW1)" She hoped this was the right answer.

Iphigeneia scribbled furiously onto her parchment, trying to keep up with the Professor.

...Perhaps the most defining characteristic of democracy is a single person in the 20th century Adolf Hitler (April 20, 1989 - 30 April, 1945).

Iphigeneia paused. The most defining characteristic of democracy - a person?? How could that be? She raised her hand.

"Professor, I don't quite understand. How can a single person be the defining characteristic of democracy, when democracy is characterized by the voices of several people?"

Adz, who was not quick enough to answer before the others got in, just nodded and smiled. she had answered the first, and didn't want to appear too bossy.

Noel looked puzzled at the professor's statement. Adolf Hitler was the world's most evil dictator, what does he have to do with democracy? she thought. She wrote down his birthdate, although she was unsure why he was being mentioned. Then she finally decided to raise her hand, "Professor, not to be rude or anything but didn't Adolf Hitler rule a tyrrany?"

Hippie quickly took down notes. I can't remember when he was born! she though while racking her brain to get the answer.

Peony sat up straight, her eyes lighting up. She knew that the other members of the class might feel slightly put-off that Adolf Hitler and democracy were put in the same sentence, but this stank of an interesting debate and discussion. She was eager to know why exactly this was.

Kellie quickly wrote down the answer to Democracy. She couldn't believe that she didn't say anything because she knew the asnwer. She also knew when Adolf Hitler was born. She was upset set with herself because she was too slow in responing. She sat quickly and waited fr another question so she could answer.

Rosa wrote down the answer and looked in her muggle book to find hitler's birthdate when she heard a discussion go on about why he was such a defining characteristic of democracy. she raised her hand. 'didn't his political party, the NSDAP get their power by democracy?' she asked. 'he won the elections in 1933 and became the leader of the government. on a fair and democratical way, however, when Marinus van der Lubbe, a dutch man who wanted to give a signal against the nazis put the german parliament, the reichstag, on fire, Hitler used that as an excuse for two things. He asked the president to announce the state of emergency, which gave him dictaorial powers. and even though marinus van de lubbe had denied it, hitler said the putting fire to the building was a communist conspiracy. he then arrested a lot of communists, even those in the parliament, which was against the constitution and some socialists. not a week later the new elections had been scheduled and because people were afraid of the communists, lots of them voted for the nazis. then he asked the parliament to give the nazis the total power for 4 years. the communists were all arrested, a lot of the socialists were into hiding or had decided to stay home and he made the catholics a promise he broke. only the socialists didn't agree with him and they weren't with enough to stop that decision. and on that way hitler got the total power thanks to democracy.' rosa paused. 'another reason why he might be interesting is because the greek and romans too had their tyrans and dictators, who'd get the total power for a short period when the state was in war or emergency.

Adz vaguely wondering what relevance this was, wrote down the answer in her notebook. Easy....