Had to wish for a controversial topic. Way to go Cambridge. Nothing was more controversial than this and she hated this sort of debate for obvious reasons.

"Our best bet isn't integration and dropping magic. There's nothing to say that knowing we exist means they'll be able to find our 'large communities' and wreak havoc for the obvious reason that we've got magic. Magic that makes muggle technology go wonky. How will they find things we hide with charms? There are a few charms that make it entirely possible without giving up our way of life and going to the extreme of "only to defend". I don't wanna only use magic to defend when it's got so many other uses" To be sure, most all her experiments would have to be put on hold forever.

As for Kitty.

Kitty Kitty Kitty.

Wasn't she in enough hot water without making it even clearer that she was the one doing all the magical bashing in these strange notes being left at the scenes of crimes?

"Why don't you go take away your own statute. Tell the Prime Minister of Britain about yourself. Go on. Have the press and media show up. See how long it takes for them to string you up to machines and run tests through you til you can't even see straight let along think coherently enough to regret your horrid choice." Because she was so keen to think that all we had to do was TELL them and it'd be okay.

"Wait for them to expect more and more of you or hate you completely because you can do what they can't. It's not a muggle vs. magic thing, it's human nature. Human beings on a whole tend to destroy and despise what they don't know or can't themselves possess. They exploit. They make choices out of fear. We see this with so many of the senseless laws that have been enacted in the past. We see it all on a whole through different points of history. Times change but humans haven't proven they change with them." It was called a History book, she needed to pick one up and have a read of it sometime.

"Nat and Etta are right, it keeps us safe but Derf is too because we have our own kind. Ones we don't fear, ones we understand who are like us. It's a sorry thing when you have to remove most of the magic in your life because you've got nosy neighbours peaking in through your kitchen window. You don't worry about that sort of thing in a community of your own."

Wait.... what?!? Why were you bringing her into this, Kitty Valentine? Yes it led to close-mindedness, but that didn't mean she wanted the statute gone or any of the other things the Head Girl had suggested. And if there were close-minded witches and wizards, equal to close-minded muggles, then didn't that stress the importance of separate communities even more?

There were bad wizards yes, but there were bad muggles too. And ultimately, it came down to not really trusting very many people. She did have those whom she trusted, of course, but it was easy to be skeptical. Surely they shouldn't just throw trust out willy-nilly?

Also, why did Marchand think it was okay to bring up such a topic? And to ask for advantages and disadvantages? Of course there would be fueled emotions.

Kitty couldn't take this Ronan kid. He just kept accusing her of being in the Cult, and he was so obnoxious about it that she was starting to be more annoyed by him than Katy - her other rival. But being Head Girl meant it would be immature to lash out.

No, she wasn't going to lash out. But she wasn't going to take it lying down either. "I won't answer any of your accusations of my being behind the things happening in this castle. If it were true, do you really think I would be able to fool all the staff and Headmistress Hawthorne? Am I such a formidable witch that I've deceived them all? Your inflammatory accusations are cruel and have no place in this debate and I request that you stop them at once." There! And she wasn't even going to address his other points since he continued to personally attack her.

Turning from Ronan to Jessa, she replied in a calm and collected tone. "It would be nice if I could make that choice, but our laws prevent me from even trying. If I revealed myself to the Muggle Prime Minister, I would be arrested by Magical Law Enforcement and sentenced to who knows how long in Azkaban. So I have to worry about MY Ministry before worrying about theirs. And besides, the Muggle Prime Minister is one of the few Muggles who knows about us." She felt like drinking water at that moment. Her throat had gone kind of dry. Hopefully she wasn't about to get a cold. Clearing her throat as inconspicuously as she could, she continued. "I know there would be some difficulties at first, but if you agree that Muggles are equal to us, then isn't it a desirable goal to end the Statute someday?"

Patrick's eyes got really large. Maybe his parents had the right idea sending him to muggle school until he was old enough to go to a magical school and to integrate himself into muggle society. It seemed like this was pretty intense. He watched as each of the older students went back and forth on the topic afraid that something really heated was going to arise again in class like when they had talked about the great battle.

He glanced over at Professor Marchand hoping that this would all be stopped soon enough and the reason for the topic would become clearer because he felt that as a first year he wasn't as qualified for the topic.

Zoryn had nothing to say on the topic of this debate. She was still upset that they wouldn’t get to watch a movie today, BUT also excited over the prospect of getting to watch one in the future. She knew that Professor Newton would say yes. The lady was much too nice for her own good, it was almost disgusting.

As for the rest of what was going on in class. Zoryn learned one thing and one thing only: Everything that had happened was exactly all Kitty’s fault. She just PROVED it.

“No offense, but that’s a weak defense,” she shrugged. If the girl was gonna lie about it, she should’ve lied the right way. What kind of alibi was ‘do you think i’m smart enough?’ “Professors aren’t that hard to trick.” (((No shade, Professor Newton). Take for example how Zoryn had implanted the idea of watching a movie during a HoM class in Professor Newton’s head. The woman had eaten it up SO quickly. “Tom Riddle was a kid when he set a basilisk loose in the castle. Just sayin’.”

Not that she was trying to point fingers here (even though her mind was definitely already made up on the matter). Zoryn was just pointing out the facts AND loopholes. Really she was helping Kitty.

You’re welcome.

Whoa.

Whoa.

WHOA.

Rosalyn's eyes widened as the lesson moved from answering questions about wizarding communities to a heated discussion with accusations being thrown around. "Okay, that is enough, guys. I will not have us crossing the line again. Calm discussion is always welcome, so are disagreements but we are NOT going to continue with this line of talk. And no more accusations will be thrown around about students." If anyone chose to go on with this, there WOULD be consequences.

"In this lesson we are discussing wizarding communities and wizarding communities ALONE."

OOC: I'll reply to the answers in my next post tomorrow, for the moment I'm just addressing the heated discussion. There are still 11 hours left to get answers in.

"You were caught red-handed, literally! Or have you forgotten?" Because he hadn't. And if she couldn't take him, it was only because he could see her for what she really was. "I'm not going to pretend to know what Headmistress Hawthorne's thinking was behind making you of all people head girl. And how ironic that you use the word cruel when all the stuff going on around here, at least some of which was done by your own hand, has a good portion of this school to the point of worry, some even losing sleep." He pointed out the dark circles under his own eyes as proof. They weren't solely because of OWL study, though that was certainly part of it.

All of the stuff that she was saying now? That was pretty much a duh. And an admission of sorts. "You might want to be more careful what you say, Valentine. Because what you just said, that 'so I have to worry about MY Ministry before worrying about theirs'," he started, mimicking her tone, "is basically an admission, at least that your ultimate goal is to repeal the Statue, if not that you're the one behind all the stuff going on this term." He was smirking a 'gotcha sucker' style smirk now. Book her, Dan-o.

"I'd love to see you try to get rid of the Statue. Just as much as I'd like to be the Auror who arrests you when you eventually screw up." Totally serious there.

Of course, if Hogwarts was a normal school, Professor Marchand would be marching Little Miss Cultist's butt to Headmistress Hawthorne's office while calling for the Aurors. But since this was Hogwarts, which didn't follow any of the normal rules and today was a day that ended in 'y', they were all being chastised for being off topic instead. Honestly, if the professor didn't want that kind of debate, she really shouldn't have asked for their opinions. But she had and now here they were. Either way, Ronan turned to face front again, arms crossed.

...Had she failed to make herself clear? Apparently so.

”That will be 10 points from Gryffindor, Mr Carter. We are welcome to discuss issues, but we will NOT become personal. This is how feelings are hurt and problems arise. Discussions are welcome, but not when they become heated.” Did she make herself clear? ”We can certainly discuss things further later on, but for now we are focusing on Wizarding communities.”

OOC: There is still about 6 hours left until we move on in the lesson.

Honestly? Derf really just wanted to leave. He was uncomfortable on so many levels, starting with the tension between his classmates and ending with them all being set UP for this sort of emotional charged discussion and were then being punished for it.

And it happened EVERY time this came up. Without fail. Every single time.

It caused a shiver to run up and down his spine and reminded him of the icy looks he had received over 'not being over' what had happened his first year. How could the grow...if they weren't validated for their feelings in some way? How could understanding be reached without it? It was like telling an occamy it had to fit into a matchbox and forcing it in there rather than let it shrink itself down to the necessary size because it UNDERSTOOD.

So it was that Derf sat in his seat, ruffling his hair and looking vacantly down at the cover of his textbook.

"....common rooms...Hogwarts houses...also wizarding communities...social constructs..." he muttered mostly to himself.

Uhhh…

Why did History of Magic lessons have to be so dramatic. Juni just watched Kitty and Ronan. Welll… Juni was there when Kitty had wrote the message on the wall. She might have been the one doing the writing but she didn’t think that Kitty had done it on her own accord. This was Hogwarts after all. So who knows.

Anyway she didn’t really have anything to add to the discussion at this point. So she just sit back and laid low for now.

Eyes widening in STUNNED anger that Ronan was mimicking her voice and continuing to accuse her, she merely crossed her arms and closed her eyes. Deep breaths. She was not going to dignify him with a response. He was being disrespectful to her badge and to Professor Marchand and she saw no merit in continuing to debate him. She was so angry that she barely heard Zoryn's (admittedly reasonable) argument that evil students had fooled the staff before.

Slightly calmed now that Ronan had been disciplined, Kitty opened her eyes and focused back on the lesson. "I love the wizarding community I live in, professor. Most of the people are nice." It was a simple answer, but her mind was still clouded by what had just happened.

That mess out of the way, Rosalyn felt that it was safe to address the topic that they were supposed to be discussing. Hopefully there would be no more harsh accusations lodged against students, because that was something she did NOT tolerate. She took a deep breath, and instead focused on writing things down on the blackboard. "Very good, Miss Cambridge. They certainly did form in order for wizarding people to avoid persecution. In order to keep magic secret through not living among those who could do so." That was basically the heart of the matter.

Advantages and disadvantages started pouring in, and Rosalyn nodded her head and praised every student, pleased with the wonderful reasons they were giving. Smiles were sent to those who remained silent. "Okay, wonderful job, everyone," she said; there certainly was a decent list here even though most were positives - that was completely fine! "You have all certainly each giving great reasons as to what is both good and bad about living in wizarding communities."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blackboard

Advantages:
- wizarding people are comfortable and safe sticking together
- gives a sense of belonging
- can use magic without being caught by muggles
- mean that wizarding folk don't have to hide
- sense of connection (kindness among people)

Disadvantages:
- possibility of sizable populations maybe being attacked if communities are discovered
- not necessary when there are wizarding people who hide in plain sight among muggles
- possibility of hurting others using magic without breaking the statute
- may lead to close-mindedness and being unaware (fear of muggles)

"And to answer Mr Ashburry-Hawthorne's question, you CAN consider Hogwarts to be a wizarding community for that very reason. The same can be said about any wizarding institution that provides social norms, identity, or values." So that was very good, and also led them towards the next part of the lesson. "On that note, what are some examples of wizarding communities? When listing them, try to think of some information about them, even if it's something small." As she spoke, she wrote 'Hogwarts' on the board, as it could certainly be considered a community given the reasons that Derfael had mentioned.

OOC: Sorry this is a bit short, I'm honestly feeling sick and sleep deprived right now so my brain isn't at full functioning... BUT we have gone through each post and I don't think any answer was missed - if so I am sorry. It was not intentional. Me and Rose loved all responses that were given. We will be moving on in the lesson again 36 hours from this point.

Thank goodness that drama was over. It was not good for learning, and this was her OWL year. So learning was really important. Hattie tried to ignore what was going on, and began to write down the things that were on the board. She wanted to know that she had everything written down. Wizarding communities were pretty interesting, and she was interested in finding out more. Now to think of a wizarding community. Ooh. She knew one, and nobody had answered yet, so she knew she could say it first! That was great. She liked being first.

The blonde put her hand into the air and smiled as she spoke. "Hogsmeade is a wizarding community. It is known as the only all-wizarding village in the country, which means it must be a pretty safe place for the wizarding world"l It must have been safe if they got to visit there. Though, she wasn't too sure. A lot of unsafe things happened around Hogwarts. "The village was founded around the same time at Hogwarts, and we sometimes get to go down there. It has a great sweet shop" Though that was more her opinion rather than fact.

Etta carefully noted down the advantages and disadvantages, completely ignoring the tension between classmates. She wasn’t sure why History of Magic lessons always ended up being so stressful but she was used to it by now. She considered the professor’s question for a moment before raising a hand.

“What about Diagon Alley, Professor? Since many of the wizarding kind buy their school supplies there.. which makes it a wizarding community, yes?” Short and sweet. She leaned back against her seat and waited for the professor to move on, also hoping that another argument wouldn’t break out in the middle of the lesson.

Well obviously they were not allowed to discuss issues at Hogwarts, at least not without getting punished. Which was counterproductive to the purpose of a school, that being to prepare them for the real world. And he was pretty sure that people were allowed to have discussions, heated or otherwise out in the real world.

At least the head girl had been stunned into silence finally, since the professor didn't seem to want to address the bigger problem here.

"Godric's Hollow is one. That's the village that the Potters lived in when they got attacked by Voldemort. Also, the same place Harry Potter and Hermione Granger got attacked by Nagini, Voldemort's basilisk." And proof of his earlier point on the dangers of grouping together in communities like that.

This was not the class for Edward Jay Blaze to be in nor any Blaze if they got right down to it. Their views on the community and allowing muggleborn into their community was very much etched into their very DNA for years and years. Even the few adopted in were made very aware of their stance on the family views.He sat quietly though he held a smirk on his lips as the head girl was getting heated about her stance, of course, she was one of those. He couldn't help but think it was obvious.

" I have to agree with everything Ronan says professor... everything." He glanced towards a few in the room, especially the ones that truly knew his feelings towards everything they were discussing. Go ahead and call him out on it, he didn't care. His family was right and he knew that his Uncle knew more than half these professors. Books only got you so far so unless you lived in the world and saw what mixing groups and different communities were like he wouldn't believe things that professors said.

Jessa was about two seconds from telling the Head Girl how impractical and nonsensical her response had been when the Professor called an end to things and began taking points. Right, of course. Spark such a heated topic of debate then use force to end it. Jessa shuffled uncomfortably in her seat, wishing the lesson itself would be over because as far as she was concerned, the woman had just justified all Kitty had said and it gave the young girl pause when it came to her History of Magic Professor.

"Our quidditch leagues are a sort of community too." A sports community brought together by a sport she was positive at least some muggles would find barbaric. Bludgers being swung, cracked skulls and shattered knee caps, knocking each other off brooms at the risk of being sent off by the ref but costing the other team a valuable playing making it worth it.

Quidditch was doing fine being kept a wizarding secret through the statute, no matter what a certain Ravenclaw may have had to say--as was everything else that was offered up as well.

Her thing was...it wasn't broken--it'd made things better--so why try to 'fix' it?

Right, onto the REAL purpose of the lesson.. whatever that was. No more arguing at least. In Natalie's opinion, the two rude arguing students should have been send out of class and probably to the Headmistress' office, but... at least they stopped fighting. For now.

Wizarding communities. Natalie knew of a few, so she raised her hand. "There's Ottery St. Catchpole, Professor. That's where the Weasley family lived." Somebody else had mentioned where the Potters lived, so she was going with the HISTORY trend.

Thank goodness Professor Marchand stepped in and reminded them to stay on topic and that they were discussing wizarding communities and to stop with the accusations. Only, Ronan Carter seemed thick which wasn't all too surprising; he was a Gryffindor. Gryffindors, in her experience, usually were thick-headed, if the late and infamous Harry Potter was anything to go off of. As was, of more recent experience, Zoryn Spinnet fit that mold too.

Moving on though, to the topic of wizarding communities, something which Jessa said struck a memory for the fifth year with her OWL studies.

"On the topic of what Jessa said, each of our quidditch leagues are named after actual Wizarding villages around Great Britain and Ireland. Such as Appleby, in North Lincolnshire, or Falmouth and Chudleigh of the West Country." And of course there was way more than just three, including way more than just the ones that had currently been mentioned.

Patrick listened to everyone contributing to class. He didn't really know any of them, these were all new things to him. He wonderd what it would have been like growing up his whole life in one of these areas. Did kids run around doing magical things or did they just act like what his family had acted like? He raised his hand. "Our community wasn't like these where everyone lived close together. We would gather to have meals together or if a kid had gotten into Wizarding school we would have big parties"

He wasn't sure that there was anything really special about his community, but he loved it. He actually really missed it and wondered if his parents would let him visit his friends that he missed so much.

So...outside of London, geography wasn't Sam's strong subject. Not in the slightest. She could muddle up whole countries given half a chance, and a lot of the places she knew had already been said. So for a while she was quiet, trying to think of a Wizarding community that wasn't just a place where one of her friends happened to live. Somewhere in her thoughts she'd starting thinking about the Easter holidays coming up, and visiting people...and whether it'd be warm enough to go to the beach, and then it hit her.

"Tinworth, professor? It's right on the coast in the south west." Devon, maybe? Or was it Cornwall? She had no idea, only having the vague sense they were both down over there somewhere and a long way from London. "It was founded quite soon after the Statute, I think, and is where Bridget Wenlock considered the properties of the number seven."

There. Everything was more settled now. Rosalyn hated docking points from students, but she had to bring some order back to this lesson. It had never been her intention to have the incidents of the school brought up due to the topic they were covering, but it had happened and needed to be dealt with. "Of course, Mr Blaze" Emotions were running high with the students these days and it was completely understandable. Now she addressed the class. "We can definitely discuss what has been happening in the castle... after this lesson is finished and without attacking others." That was something that she did NOT tolerate. "Civil discussions are always welcome." But for the moment they were needing to focus on what she was trying to teach them.

The first answer was Hogsmeade, and Rosalyn was not at all surprised about that. It was very famous and one that students visited quite frequently. "Very good, Miss Paton! Hogsmeade IS indeed almost as old as Hogwarts. It was founded by Hengist of Woodcroft." A wizard that most of them probably had never heard of. Rosalyn had grown more interesting in this community since moving there, though there were many other ones that were very interesting as well. Diagon Alley was another well known community, and was mentioned right after. "Wonderful, Miss Kramer. It certainly does count seeing as it's for wizarding folk exclusively - not to say that muggles have never gotten in there." Something rather unfortunate, though the problem had been dealt with and no damage was done.

"Excellent, Mr Carter. Godric's Hollow is a great example given the great event that happened here with Lord Voldemort failing to kill Harry Potter and in the process turning him into a Horcrux. I'll add that a number of well known wizarding families have resided there." Ottery St. Catchpole was another good mention. "Great, Miss McKinley. I'll also note that the Diggorys and Lovegoods resided there as well." Two other well-known wizarding families.

Quidditch was an interesting answer, and one that Rosalyn was not very surprised to see. She nodded to both Miss Cambridge and Miss Diggory with approval. "You definitely could see Quidditch leagues as communities in a certain way. Players can identify with each other and carry aspects of their cultural identity into their teams. And that is a good point about teams being named after the communities they were formed in - something that is also done with muggle sports teams." Which a number of them were probably aware of but she wanted to reiterate. With a smile, she then turned her attention to Mr Dooley. "Wonderful, Mr Dooley. That sounds like a wonderful place to live." He really did seem to be very fond of it which was a very nice thing to hear. "Yes, good for mentioning Tinworth, Miss Tyler." It was a community that she was sure many people didn't know about. "Indeed. Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour also moved to the outskirts of Tinworth after they got married." So there was another community where Weasleys had resided.

There had been some great answers coming in, and Rosalyn was very pleased with her students.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blackboard

Wizarding Communities
- Hogwarts (other wizarding schools as well)
- Hogsmeade
- Diagon Alley
- Godric's Hollow
- Quidditch Leagues
- Ottery St. Catchpole
- Tinworth

"Wonderful job, everyone! We have quite a few examples now, and I will add a few more just to flesh things out further." Because otherwise they wouldn't have so much to work with when it came to the activity, and she wanted to give them a decent amount of variety. There was nothing fun in everyone doing the same thing. Quickly she added these community onto the list:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blackboard

- Appleby
- London
- Upper Flagley
- Ilkley
- Cork

These were all communities within Great Britain and Ireland, so they might be more aware of them as opposed to some of the ones elsewhere around the world. Anyway, it was time for them to move on to the next task. "Now that we have a list, I would like for you to choose two communities from the list and work on comparing and contrasting them. For Quidditch you would be comparing leagues from different countries, and the same would go for wizarding schools. You can use your textbooks for this, and are welcome to work in partners if you choose to, but no more than two people working together as this is not a very hard assignment." She knew that they could easily handle this. "You can show your comparisons and contrasts in a chart, a list, a type of graphic, or an essay." The latter she doubted anyone would do as she was aware of their feelings towards essays, but some people did like to write and she would always give them the option to do that. "If you have any questions or need help, you can always ask me."

Oh, and another thing: "If you want to work with any communities not on the list, you are welcome to do so." She would never say no to that.

OOC: Great job, everyone! Here is the activity. All that is required is comparing and contrasting two wizarding communities within an essay, graphic, chart, or list. You can work in partners if you wish to, and as usual there is no post requirement.

If you have any questions, you can ask me via Skype, VM, or PM, and if your character needs Rose make sure to specify it in the title. You have 72 hours to complete this assignment.

Surprisingly, he had been being civil considering the circumstances. Some people just didn't understand, and that was okay......-ish. He definitely didn't like being labeled as the problem, however.

Well, this was anticlimactic, if that was the right word. Honestly, wizarding communities weren't much different than muggle ones, except for one thing. The differences between them weren't as dynamic nor was that mixture of magic and muggle cultures there to add interest. Plus, none of them were as large or multicultural as Paris or London, so nothing there either. Could this BE a more boing assignment? It was like Professor Marchand had woken up this morning and asked 'What topic could make my students fall asleep fastest?'

Instead of working on any charts or anything like that, Ronan opened up his textbook in order to look like he was working while he was instead staring out into space.

Well this had become really lame, comparing communities to each other. What was the point? Eddie was just glad muggle places weren't on the list. What if they would have had to compare a muggle place to a wizarding place. Was there any real comparison? Obviously, the wizarding place would have been the better choice hands down.

Looking at the list though he had no clue what to do. All those places were pretty much the same grouping of people, weren't they? Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade, two places that had shops and food. What was the big deal to compare them? Neither were as cool as Knockturn....

An idea hit him and he smiled a bit. So he started to write his paper. Did they have to stay here? He would like to go to the library were he could look up a few things,
but if they had to stay here he felt he could still do it.


Grabbing his quill he began to write, Diagon Alley and Knockturn Alley.

Was that all they were doing? Comparing wizarding communities? That was easy, especially if they got to use their textbooks AND a friend. And the friend that Natalie would choose to work with was Derf, to NO surprise. She liked working with him. And NOT working with him. She liked doing EVERYTHING with him.

"Wanna look together?" she asked him as she pulled out her textbook and started looking for the chapters on wizarding communities. "Maybe we can do two that are far apart so we can find more differences." You know, so they could make it easier for themselves.