Why was History of Magic so - so ... complex? Surely all this work he was giving his brain could NOT Be healthy. He was going to have one heck of a headache by the end of class. Hmpf.

So.. their own definitions on good or bad? The Head Boy thrust his hand in the air.

"Good... is good." Good one, Carden. "I mean, the way I sorted my groups was by what it was the groups did." Yeah, sorta like Celandine had said. She was a smarty pants. "Quidditch is good. I love Quidditch. Lots of people love Quidditch. It's good." Therefore it deserved to go in that group.

"Bad though.. bad is bad." Oh yeah, he was so good at these definitions. "Those groups.. they have bad people in 'em.. and they do bad things. Like.. the Death Eater peeps. They killed people. That's not good, it's bad." REALLY bad.

He was a genius.

Rachel, after agonizing over her list for a ridiculous amount of time, looked up in relief as Professor Truebridge asked them a different question. Putting down her quill, she flexed her fingers and quietly listened to her teacher speak.

"Professor, I think that the terms 'good' 'bad' and 'neutral' are extremely subjective to each person. What one person may see as good another might see it as neutral and another might even think it's bad. Also, these definitions are not really absolute, are they? Because good can be many things, and there are a lot of different levels of bad plus most things can be called neutral anyway. What I'm trying to say is that it's really hard to categorize these organizations because the matter is so versatile, so indefinite that it is purely judgmental - without any actual fact," the fifth year said, her hand raised high in the air as she spoke.

It was these things that had prevented her from writing up the lists - she disliked doing anything without actual fact and while occasionally it was necessary, like now for example, Rachel had trouble going through with it. As much as it was weird to admit it, it bothered her. A lot. Plus, she didn't like to categorize things into 'bad', 'good' or 'neutral' - but that wasn't relevant now.

After adding the confederation to the good list, Diane allowed herself to go through some other people's work as she passed hers along, and afterwards felt compelled once more to raise her hand. "The topic of good and evil has been subject to philosophical debate since times immemorials. Others have already mentioned its subjetivity and equivocal nature, but in general terms we just agree to disagree and form social conscience to replace our own individual values.

"Since it's an evaluation made by men, I take it to be an illusory perception. I believe it comes about from the basic reasoning: "this is good for me, this is bad for me" in the same way we say "don't touch that, it burns." In other words, they are a pretty basic egoist concept that by chance turned out to be the basis of supposedly altruist notions.

"We will certainly never find an end to the debate, I believe. See, within the most prominent ethics thinkers there's, for example, Kant. To him, true good was that which came from acting completely selflessly. So, if you were to save the person you love, that would hold no merit at all... I'm not saying that I agree with him entirely myself, but there's value in that perspective."

"I find," she said finally, putting somebody else's work parchment aside, "most are the opinion the favored side in a war constitutes the 'good'. As for me, to use a very overused phrase, past is written by the victorious."

"Professor I think that everybody has their own opion on Good and evil. Like I don't believe that all Slytherins are evil, like the sterotype makes us believe. And I don't believe that all Gryffindors are good and brave. But I beieve that when it comes down to it everybody has an idea of what good is and it usually is the same. Looking down at her paper Ash also raised her hand to speak her mind

"But I also think that somebody who is docile does not make history so people who think that good is usually the more popular side and that the "bad" side is the less popular side.

Will thought about his answer and those around him. everyone had their own mind, something he knew already. "I think professor that everyone is entitled to their own mind. Good versus evil has been around for decades battles have been waged because of it." He paused then continued, "If everyone had the same values and morals then this world would not be interesting to live in. We'd all be robots or zombies or something like that. What's good for one person may be bad for another. I mean, we can't tell people what to think so what's the point in trying? That's how wars are started." He finished, not really understanding what it was he was saying.

Varius cleared his throat and raised his hand, "Good is when you give away free candyfloss. Neutral is when you pay for your candyfloss and bad is when you steal your candyfloss! I hear candyfloss theives are real common in Sweden! I'm pretty sure there is even an organisation for it... Swedish Candyfloss Theives, I believe."

Daniel scratched his chin and raised his hand, "Professor, it is indeed a subjective opinion on how we think the organizations are categorized as good, bad or neutral." he said and cleared his throat, "A problem though is that if we categorized it as the three that like we did, we will be like generalizing the organization as a whole. What I mean is, we categorize the organizations based on our knowledge on what they have done or what they stand for."

He paused a moment and then continued, "But at times, we used to put them in a category based on the one bad thing that they did and we will never look for other things that they did." he again cleared his throat. "For example, an organization is doing a good job on protecting goblins or squib for example, but a mistake they did had resulted to a nasty thing and caused a great tragedy, from then on the people will categorize them in the bad category for that one thing and will not consider the other good thing that they did.

“So, Cy says that good is when someone tries to help people or do things that make others happy and Chris points out that a person’s idea of good or bad depends on who they are affiliated with. Excellent points.” Ethan nodded, listening carefully and summarising what his students had to say.

“Anna’s quoting Shakespeare at me –Nice Anna, I do like Hamlet-- but it is a very apt quote. 'There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so.' And our experiences and the gossip we hear and spread affect our thinking. And Abby makes a good point, often when people are trying to ‘help’ they can be so blinded by their own ideas of what is ‘right’ they miss that they are often wronging the affected parties.” Ethan stood up and slowly began walking up and down between the groups of desks.

“Copernicus makes a good point about how our definitions of good and bad can have surprising results when we apply them. Helena agrees that personal opinion is the major contributing factor to how we distinguish good from bad and that our own experiences influence those opinions, perhaps even selfishly so?” Truebridge asked rhetorically.

“Celandine tells us that good intention doesn’t necessarily mean good result and vice versa and mentions that the methods are as important as the message yes? Raiden agrees with this and defines good as something that only benefits people. That really limits what can be defined as good then doesn’t it?” Another rhetorical question. Ethan looked around the class.

“Clifford sees Good and Bad as very black and white. Hurting people is bad. Quidditch is good and Rachel makes a very good point in saying the definitions are not absolute. Our opinions can change. And Diane has a very good point, social conscience does often replace our own individual morals.”
Ethan raised an eyebrow at Ash. “I’m glad you don’t think all Slytherins are evil. Ash makes a good point that we do, on a fundamental level, have a similar idea of what constitutes ‘good’. And Will, you are right about how differing opinions on the matter makes things interesting.”

Truebridge looped around the class and headed back to his desk.

“Varius likes candyfloss… though it is a fairly apt metaphor I suppose. Ah, yes Daniel. ‘We categorize the organizations based on our knowledge on what they have done or what they stand for’ And truly, we don’t always have the full picture do we? How many of you classified one of the groups or organisations on the list without truly knowing what they stand for?"

He was pleased by the critical thinking skills his class were showing.

“We’re going to move on now. I need four volunteers.”

Eh. Volunteering in History of Magic was always a bit of a gamble, but Kiri hadn't had much to add to the ongoing discussion - by the time she got her thoughts in order on any of those difficult questions, her classmates, some of them with very profound knowledge, had already answered them. It would be the Basilisk's lair of standing in front of the class, then.
She raised her hand, a little anxious. "I'd be willing to, Professor," she said, not at all sure she really was.

Varius raised his hand slowly, not sure what he would be volunteering for... Maybe he would get to attempt to eat a ton of candyfloss in less than ten minutes. That would be fun!

Natka raised her hand rather hesitantly, wondering briefly whether volunteering now would be a good idea. But then again, what better way to participate in class than to volunteer? And she did really enjoy History of Magic.

"I can volunteer, Professor," she said.

Linda raised her hands and asked 'Can I volunteer too,professor?'?

Herminny raised her hand knowing she was the 5th to ask but hoping mabe he could used a 5th and raised her hand and asked, "Can I vollunteer too?'.

Rachel raised her hand as Professor Truebridge asked for volunteers. "If you need any more, Professor, I'm willing," she said, a small smile crossing her face as she remembered that last History of Magic lesson she had met Reid through volunteering.

Helena smiled very slightly when she was mentioned, it being the first time it ever happened in a class, but she chose not to volunteer. Her smile remained slight as she watched the others, interested in what they were volunteering for.

Kita raised her hand. "Professor, can i volunteer?" she asked. She liked to volunteer for things and she knew that something good will come out of it.

Chris Potter smiled and nodded his head as Professor Truebridge agreed that he and the other students had said good points on the matter. He was also glad that he went over all of them agian and summerized well so Chris could make some notes. He waited paiently as other students began to offer themselves as volenteers. He sat in his seat, finishing his last notes, to see what the demostration would be.

Okay, so a ton of people had already volunteered to come forward, but Anna still thought it'd be fun to volunteer anyway. Raising her hand, she said, "Professor Truebridge, I'm willing to volunteer if you need me." Hmm...four volunteers? One good, one bad, one neutral, and one unsure? Maybe so...maybe not. It'd be cool to see what was going to happen, regardless.

...far too late, Raiden put his hand in the air to volunteer. There were already more than four hands up, but... well. Oh well. It wasn't like it mattered anyway; volunteering in this class had led to mental catastrophe last time, hadn't it. He would do well to learn to keep his hand down!

Diane shrugged with a smile. Since the professor had ended his walk near her general area, she did not need raising her hand very high to answer: "A good number of the more unknown organizations' names are self-explanatory, like the S.S.S. I guess we all thought the category "unsure" was for those things we didn't know where to place."

She kept her hand up in case the professor looked for more volunteers, but for the most part was sure that was not the case... she didn't wish to take the opportunity away for those who were more enthusiastic about participation.

Satine put her hand in the air and them put it down...call her unsure...but she could tell there were tons of volunteers already....she was excited to see what these volunteers were putting themselves through...

“Yes, Kiri, Varius, Natka and Herminny, one from each house. I’ll have you four first… please come up to the front of the class and I’ll tell you what you need to do.”
“Linda, Rachel, Kita and Chris, I’ll have you four next if you still wish to volunteer after you see what we are doing.” Truebridge winked at their eagerness. “In the meantime pay attention and I hope you will join in when we get to the questions and the discussion.”
"I am glad that the 'unsure' category was made use of.' Truebridge noted, "Better to wait to find out about something rather than judging it on heresay or even on something as simple as a name." Much like being a Slytherin really.

“And Anna, Raiden, Satine and Diane, If you are interested after we start, I’ll have you come up afterwards too. Helena too if you like." though she hadn't volunteered she seemed to be paying attention, which he liked.
He stood up and took a few pieces of parchment out of his pockets and waited for Varius, Natka, Kiri and Herminny to come up to the front.

Victoria waited the people walk to the front of the class and wondered what they will have to do.

Rachel nodded in understanding and lowered her gaze back to her parchment. She would, as always, pay attention and attempt to participate, but in a way she was a little glad that she wasn't picked first. Even though she wouldn't have any trouble with going up there herself - there was something safe about being second.

Picking up her quill, she updated her notes on the lesson as the four first volunteers made their way to the front of the classroom. She took extra care in making sure that her handwriting, unlike other times, was clear and readable since she wasn't in a hurry to catch up on anything the professor was saying.

Oh! Varius was picked! He wasn't sure whether or not to be happy about this fact or to be terrified... putting on a smile, he made his way towards the front of the class and stared anxiously at Professor Truebridge, awaiting his instructions.