Muggle Studies ((All years!))

[leon]

Leon thanked the girl, who he remembered as Katrina. Then he sat down, took out his parchment and ink, and looked up. The professor stood up, welcomed the class, and then asked a question about why wizards and witches should know about muggles.

Thinking for a few moments, Leon slowly raised his hand. He looked beside him and noticed Katrina too had her hand up. He hoped she was chosen first, and got the correct answer.

[Flo Murvac H4]

flo looked up, and saw Ryan speak to her. "Hello" she whispered back. Flo looked at the door, as more students arrived.

Then she looked at the Professor as she started to talk. Flo had always wondered what her muggle friends might say, if they knew that Flo was taking classes, to learn about them. So then as Professor Hardy asked why it was so importaint to study muggles, and their way of life, Flo put her hand up. She had a pretty good idea about it.

[Professor Amaryllis Hardy]

Amaryllis smiled slightly as gradually she got a respectable show of hands from around the classroom, glad to see that at least some people had an idea why they were taking Muggle Studies. Looking around at the raised hands she called on those who had volunteered first. "Yes, Miss Hardwick, tell us why you think studying the Muggles and their way of life is important. And Miss Becket, once Miss Hardwick has finished, feel free to add anything you think is important." Settling in the standing position she had assumed so that she could listen without moving around at all, Amaryllis waited to hear from the two girls.

[cleo]

Cleo smiled contently feeling rather glad she was called upon. She wasn’t completely concentrated on her studeis always, so she tried to earn points with answering fairly simple questions like this one. Sending a doubtful glare at Kris whose arm slipped away from her shoulder to rest around her waist, Cleo shifted a bit warily but started to answer anyway.
„As the total number of muggles living in the world is much larger than the number of people with magical powers, wizards and witches have to get into contact wiht muggles one way or an other,“ A smile stretched onto Cleo’s face as she tried to swat Kris’s hand away. His fingers had slowly started to move tickling Cleo’s side. Giving a slap to Kris’s hand under the desk Cleo tried to continue with her answer.

„For example the Quiddtich World Cup – the tents wre set up in the muggle territory and wizards and witches, not knowing how to dress and act like muggles did arouse a lot of...“ A chuckle escaped Cleo’s lips as she was ticklish. Finding her wnad Cleo used a mental curse watching with satisfaction as Kris’s left hand flew to his cheek while the tickling ceased.
„It did arouse a lot of suspicions. Also the Ministry of Magic and the Diagon Alley are both approachable from the muggle world. Acting unnormally for muggles can create a lot of hassle, not to mention fines from the Ministry. As for Slytherins,“ Cleo landed her elbow rather harshly in Kris’s ribcage while smiling sweetly, „the saying ’know thine enemy’ might work. As we have to deal with muggles one way or an other we must understand their way of thinking and their lifestyles and how they live without magic. We must know it even if we want to know how to better make sure muggles don’t find out about magic, until they are able to accept the fact they live next to it. Personally I like muggle authors and music, not to mention some of the simply gorgeous sights and whatever else. In order to properly enjoy all of those things, I must know how to act around muggles without looking too eccentrical.“ Cleo managed to suppress one more chuckle as Kris was back tickling her side and she smiled at professor Hardy showing she was finished as Kris’s hand glided upwards again to rest once again on her shoulders.

[joanrabbit]

Katrina listened to Cleo's answer and then looked at the teacher.
"Well, as I don't want to repeat anything all I can add is the possibility of one of us marrying a muggle. As most people know the amount of muggles marrying wizards and witches has shot up over the past century. Muggles do have a very different life style to us and it would help if the spouse would know what is going on in there spouses' life. Also, things in our life style may be considered taboo and visa versa so we know how to talk to muggles.
Muggle studies isn't just so we can know about them, like in care of magical creatures where we know about there habitat, they are humans so we also have to know how to behave around them."

Katrina stopped, she wasn't convinced her answer had made complete sense but she did try not to repeat anything Cleo had said.

[ernie]

Ernie made sure that he was never early, nor that he was ever late. Time management was something that he liked to consider himself rather skilled at, and he always made sure that he was exactly on time. This particular day as he made his way to the Muggle Studies classroom and settled in his chair only moments before the professor called their attention only assured his perfect timing.

As he was settled he gave a quick glance around the room, seeing that there were a few Hufflepuffs here. And he nodded at the fact. It was good for the pureblood Hufflepuff witches and wizards to learn about muggles. After all, the way to end intolerance was knowledge and understanding.

[Professor Amaryllis Hardy]

Amaryllis nodded as she listened to Miss Hardwick's answer, giving a sharp glare in Mr. Graas' direction as he appeared to be causing a distraction. If this continued she would have to ask him to leave the class, and that was something she didn't really want to do. But he wouldn't see the glare of course anyway. She wasn't going to have him harassing a student during her class at any rate. But Miss Hardwick was well able to stand up for herself and completed her most satisfactory answer. Amaryllis nodded at the answer, smiling slightly since it had been a good one, despite the interruptions, before sending her a glance with her eyebrows raised which she meant to quite clearly indicate that the Ravenclaw was to get the sixth year beside her to desist. Since she suspected that would probably involve some sort of physical action she kept her eyes steadily on the third year Gryffindor as she gave her answer, not glancing to the side at Miss Hardwick and Mr. Graas.

"Excellent, both of you!" she said when Miss Becket had finished making her point. "Well done Miss Hardwick - you made a good point when you mentioned the Quidditch World Cup. We do need to understand Muggles to be able to hide ourselves from them. And yes, there are many elements of Muggle society and creativity we stand to benefit from by looking into. You raise good points too Miss Becket - it's necessary to understand Muggle spouses. And as you said Muggles are humans too - that's very true and very important." Amaryllis nodded in approval before saying, "Very good points there from both of you, 10 points to Ravenclaw Miss Hardwick, and 5 points to Gryffindor Miss Becket."

Amaryllis pondered for a moment before saying, "Does anyone have any further points they feel important to share?" She waited for a small show of hands and nodded to the first person that had raised their hand to indicate that they could proceed with their answer.

[ernie]

He listened carefully to the answers that his fellow students gave. They were all very reasonable explanations for the importance of studying the way that muggles lived and he nodded in agreement, if only to himself. He then looked back up at Professor Hardy, who after awarding her points asked if anyone had something they wished to add. He thought for a moment and decided that he did have something to add--and perhaps, it was something only a Hufflepuff would have thought of first. After a brief moment of contemplation he raised his hand, and after the Professor gave him a nod he started in with his answer.
"The importance of Muggle Studies goes beyond simply understanding their lifestyle and how they get on with out magic. Ignorance promotes intolerance, which is something we have all experienced in recent years. It is for that reason that learning about muggles, how they are different and how we are similar is extremely important. Generally speaking, many people, whether they are magical or muggles, fear what they do not understand, and sometimes, when something is feared enough, those who are afraid want to destroy that which they are afraid of."

[leon]

Leon listened closely to Katrina, smiling at ther when she got a correct answer. Then, as the Professor asked for any other answers, he raised his hand again. After Ernie answered, he too spoke-

"If any witch or wizard unable to apparate finds themself in a Muggle area, with no Portkey or any way to get back to magical surroundings, they will need to know the basics about 'surviving' with a muggle habitat. Although, the situation would be very rare." Leon finished, hoping what he said was right.

[Professor Amaryllis Hardy]

Amaryllis nodded in approval at the Hufflepuff's answer, waiting for the other students to have had time to take in the point he had made. "That's an excellent point, Mr. MacMillan," she said. "Well done - 10 points to Hufflepuff." She listened to Mr. Harrow's answer too, deciding not to comment too much on the fact she had not strictly given him permission to speak, since her permission to Mr. MacMillan had been non-verbal, adding, "That's a valid point too Mr. Harrow - while hopefully we would be interested in studying Muggles for the interest of it, if we do get stranded in the Muggle world at any point it would certainly be useful to know our way around it. Good; 5 points to Ravenclaw, but please in future wait to be called on before speaking."

She took a few paces to the left before moving the lesson on, looking round at the students to check that they were all paying attention and trying to ensure that they didn't all look extremely bored. She would hate for them to be finding the lesson dull so early on. She would hate for them to find the lesson dull at all! but classes weren't the most fun thing possible in your life. She had done her best to make today's lesson have some variation though.
"As Mr. Harrow suggested", she started, "We need to be able to know the basics of the Muggle world. At some points in our lives we often need to be able to enter the Muggle world and get around in it. Being part of the Muggle world first hand is certainly one of the best ways to understand it. A rather important thing to know about if you want to get around in the Muggle world is Muggle money. The Muggles in Britain don't use Galleons. They do use coins, and they also use pieces of paper they call bank-notes, which are worth more than the coins in Muggle money - the lowest value being £5. They started out as a promise from a bank for money, just like Gringotts, written out on a piece of paper and promising to pay the bearer a certain amount of money on demand. The notes still promise to do this today, but Muggles use them nowadays just as much as they use coins and we use coins - so paper is worth money for the British Muggles. I have some of the British Muggle currency, which they call 'pounds', here, if you'd like to pass it round." Amaryllis had picked up the number of coins and notes as she was speaking and now she placed these on the front row of desks on one side of the room so that the students sitting there could look at them and pass them round the room. She waited for them to have started on their journey around the classroom before continuing, "That's just British Muggle currency of course. Can anyone tell me the names for Muggle currency any different countries around the world use?" Amaryllis looked around the room, waiting for people to raise their hands so that she could call on them.

((Please bear in mind that this is being RPed in 1998 so you should use currencies that were in use in 1998 in your answer (eg. not the Euro.)))

[Cassandra Blackfire G7]

Cassandra couldn't help but be a little bored in the class, but, honestly, she had spent most of it looking at Liam sheepishly. Snapping back to the lecture when Hardy mentioned Muggle money, she raised her hand into the air, eager to earn more points for Gryffindor.

[kris]

Kris felt Cleo’s fingers curl in his hair so he was mentally prepared for the harsh yank that brough his ear in level to Cleo’s lips as the Ravenclaw 5th year hissed into his ear as to not bother the professor who had turned to talk with other students.
„You idiot, not tomention the glare Hardy just sent you, you just have to spend your time annoying me, don’t you?“ Cleo hissed into his ear and Kris had to force himself to keep the smile away from his lips.
„Of course, sweetheart, what else should I be doing in this castle to entertain myself?“ Kris answered in a casual and just a bit amused tone, lowering his own voice to the exact same level of colume as Cleo had.

Feeling the fingers unclench from his hair Kris sat upright once again as Cleo removed her hand from his hair and drummed a random tune on the table-top in front of him while catching Hardy’s words with only randomly. Right now the topic seemed to be the muggle money. Right now the pounds and coins Muggle-Britain sed. Kris sneered in front of himself at the question if someone knew any other muggle money-types.
„Pureblood or not – a wizard – or a witch,“ Kris made a half-bow towards Dana and Cleo, knowing that both girls might be scowling towards him, if she dind’t add the witch part to the sentence, „Everyone should know how to handle muggle money. You can’t very well apparate over the sea to an other continent. Portkeying that far is not only difficult as ministries have to co-ordinate such port-keys and it’s not easy to charm strong enough port-keys to take you the whole way. Not to mention the pressure it would put on a human organism causing nausea, head-aches, smaller cut and bleeding and whatever else not to mention heart-damage if such port-keys are used regularly.“

This time Kris didn’t bother to lower his voice as it rang clearly over the classroom in the familiar drawl so characteristic for him. Tugging gently at a strand of Cleo’s hair Kris sent a half-smirk towards where Hardy’s voice had sounded from the last time as he turned his head a little. He hadn’t bothered to raise his hand because how would he see him being called upon. Besides he was merely stating an opinion – even though the opinion was true – not answering Hardy’s question really.
„I would like to see someone who would dare to doubt the strength of the Graas family pureblooded family line. But even as for that I usually take muggle planes to reach my manor during summers, so obviously I orientate well enough in muggle money to travel freely in the world, not only in Europe,“ Kris raised two fingers on Cleo’s shoudler in more of a gesture for Hardy than in real intention of answering the question. Hardy could read out politeness and desire to be called on from the momentarily raised fingers if she wanted, but Kris had alreayd said what he wanted.

[dana]

Dana chuckled quietly with her head bowed low over the book in front of her as she listened to the quiet bickering taking plac between Cleo and Kris. Reall,y hadn’t they noticed yet that the only person who acted this way around either were the toher? Sometimes Dana pondered abouthte possibility of locking them both in some small broom-closet and charming the door closed. The only problem with this would be the fact that Kris was stronger than Dana in magic. And after blasting the poor unfortunate broom-closet both would come after her.

Sending an amused glance towards Kris at his comment, Dana muttered a quiet warning to him. „Play nice, Kris,“ Dna muttered. Hardy had been unbelievable patient so far in the class, but even Kris’s luck could run thin. Sure, professors had let him get away with practically everthing this school year, but that dind’t change the point.
So as whole-heartedly as Dna agrred with the opinion Kris had voiced, she herself dind’t voice her agreement. But she had travelled enough in the world to orientate in the muggle money as well as Kris. So Dana raised her hand calmly signliazing professor Hardy that she could answer the question.

[Sita Mehadi H7]

Sita smiled happily as the Gryffindor invited her to sit down and took the seat, pulling out her books, quills and parchment from her rucksack school bag before placing the bag down on the floor underneath her desk. Teachers at her old school in Mossley had always used to be angered by bags being left in places where people (especially they) might trip over them and Hogwarts wasn't any different, after all. It was a magic school rather than a Muggle school, but people could still trip over bags that were in the way. She wasn't sure that the witches and wizards she knew both as regarded her relatives and those she'd met at Hogwarts weren't far more careless about looking where they were going than the Muggles she knew from in Mossley. Maybe magic gave solutions that were too easy, so that magical people simply didn't bother any more about looking out for non-magical hazards.

"Thanks," she said quietly in a smiling reply to the girl she was sitting next to. "I'm afraid I don't know your name though - I'm sorry but I don't remember it from when we were Sorted. Would you mind telling me?" Sita gave the other first year another bright smile as Professor Hardy started the class, people stating their opinions on why it was important to study Muggles. Sita didn't raise her hand - she'd heard all about this before from her parents and she wanted to hear something new. They did have some new things to say too. Professor Hardy was explaining the Muggle system of money now. Having grown up in the Muggle world thanks to her parents' line of work, Sita knew quite a lot about it already, but she still took a glance at the money which came round before sending it on. She'd never had many notes in her possession - certainly a £20 note was a very rare occurence. As the Professor asked about Muggle money which countries other than Britain used, Sita raised her hand in the air to stay there alongside those of the bigger students. She had studied Geography at her Muggle school so she might as well make some use of it and earn her house some points.

[kaddy]

"No problem." she whispered "My name's Danielle." She sat thinking. 'What are currencies? Maybe she means money, yeah that's it money! I love money. Danielle raised her hand hoping to win some house points.

[Professor Amaryllis Hardy]

Amaryllis waited as a number of students raised their hands to give people a chance to think before she called on them. However Mr. Graas took the opportunity to state his opinion on the matter in no uncertain terms. Amaryllis did not interrupt him, but listened to what he said until he had finished. She looked around at the raised hands, and replied, "You make a valid point, Mr. Graas, but you are not excused from common courtesy. Kindly wait to be called on in future." Amaryllis looked at the number of raised hands in front of her, and called on the first three people she had seen volunteer. "Yes, Miss Blackfire, Miss Coran and Miss Mehadi. In that order, if you would like to tell us a few currencies each. And what countries they're used in, of course." Amaryllis nodded to Cassandra Blackfire to indicate that she should begin.

[Cassandra Blackfire G7]

Cass collected her thoughts and then addressed the class. " Well, first of all, there is the American dollar system. It is very universally known and is traded in many countries. In the country of South Africa, they use a currency called the Rand. Most Latin American countries and Spain use the Peso."

[dana]

As Cassandra finishes speaking Dana leaned a little back in her seat and while turning her head to look at Hardy as her voice clearly rang over the classroom. „I think a country that shouldn’t be forgotten – mainly due it’s size and number of people – it Russia most certainly with the roubles and copecks used there with 100 copecks equalling 1 rouble. Russian currency isn’t very trong however. 1 pound here in England should be about...“
Dana turned her head looking at Kris to ask a quick calculation question that was answered immidiately just as quietly.
„Yes, 1 pound equals about 16 roubles.“

Leaving a short pause Dana let her mind slip over some other countries who played a major role in the worlds economy market. „Perhaps Japan should be mentioned as well and the yens they use because with technology for example and it’s prices Japan influences the whole world and also the Chinese yuan. The Japanese yen’s value should be about... Er... Kris?“
„2.50 yens for 1 English pound,“ came the cool reply to Dana who nodded and repeated the answer.
„2.50. And naturally France then. We use francs there and the level of money is about 1 pound being equal with 10 francs. And perhaps also the Scandinavian countries. Sweden and Estonia for example use krons and sents. I don’t know about Sweden, but I think 1 pound was worth 22 Estonian krons.“

Smiling calmly at professor Hardy Dana turned her head to look at what the young first year would add to the currencies already stated. She had given out some exampls – from the country Dana still considered home in most ways and some influential countries. While Estonia she had simply liked.


((I hope I got the money-levels about right. I looked at the currecny-differences in 1998 and calculated everything through Estonian kron, so if something is wrong, then it's completely my fault.))

[Sita Mehadi H7]

Sita smiled as Professor Hardy called on her and waited, listening carefully to what the other two older girls had to say. She didn't want to repeat anything they'd said already. Hopefully she would have an opportunity to earn house points here. After the Sorting Ceremony on the first day, she'd heard an older student making a passing remark to one of their friends, something along the lines of "I hope that's a good batch we've got this year." Sita had realised then that even though she was only a first year she could make a contribution to her house's points as well, along with the great and good. Just by answering questions. So when the other two older girls had finished (one of them was a Ravenclaw Prefect, how daunting!) she answered as best as she could.

"Well Germany uses marks and pfennigs. And 100 pfennigs is equal to one mark." Sita glanced uncomfortably at the Ravenclaw prefect, wondering whether she was supposed to give the same level of detail as she had. "I think there are about four marks to a pound... and a pound is... well there are about £5 to a Galleon." Sita paused, checking her sums. She had grown up mainly in the Muggle world due to her parents' line of work, but they had explained to her when they first introduced her to the wizarding world the approximate value of a Galleon in terms she knew already. Though of course there were different things to buy in the wizarding world. "The Vietnamese use the 'New Dong' now, and I think that's worth a hundred xu. I don't think the currency's very strong though. And the Irish use the punt; a hundred pence equals one punt." Sita fell silent, hoping that her answer would satisfy the teacher. She did want to earn points for her house and she had been able to draw on her knowledge of the Muggle world to answer that question.

[Professor Amaryllis Hardy]

Amaryllis nodded at Cassandra's answer, listening carefully to it, and replied once the fourth year Gryffindor had finished, "Very good Miss Blackfire! 5 points to Gryffindor. Spain in fact uses the peseta, but that is a very good answer." She fell silent as Miss Coran began her answer, which proved fairly extensive, allowing herself a little amusement at the interaction between the relatives. She was glad that they seemed to be so close, especially after Kris' eyesight had been taken away from him. The Hufflepuff first year gave her answer, which was pleasing coming from such a young student. Amaryllis gave her a smile, wanting the young girl to feel appreciated, before replying, "Excellent, Miss Coran! 10 points to Ravenclaw! And 5 points to Slytherin for your contributions, Mr. Graas. 10 points to Hufflepuff for you, Miss Mehadi - that was an excellent answer. Very well done."

Amaryllis paused for a moment, regarding the set up of telephone apparatus before addressing the students as a whole, "Now, knowing how to use Muggle currency and how much it's worth is very important, but another thing it’s worth taking a note of is how Muggles communicate with each other. They can’t use owls to send letters to each other; nor can they, for example, have conversations (putting head into fire). They do have other ways of sending letters to each other though, as well as communicating with each other instantly. Muggles are exceptionally ingenious – they have become more so because they have to find ways of doing things without magic. They can’t defend themselves against spells or magic, but they can find ways of doing things that we do by magic by other means. One of the ways they can hear what the other has to say instantly is by telephones. These work by converting speech into electric pulses. Those electric pulses are conducted down a wire to the other end where the other person is listening and a device called a speaker changes those electric pulses back into sound.” Amaryllis walked over to the place she had set up the telephones, giving the students time to write down any notes they cared to. Once she was certain the studious ones had had a fair amount of time, she spoke loudly to ensure she had the class’ attention as she summoned them.

“Now then, everyone over here. There’s some telephones set up inside these two little rooms, each of which links to another telephone on the other side of this partition which I’ve sound-proofed. You’ll need to pair up with someone and then take a pair of telephones. One of you should pick up the handset,” (here she picked up the handset on the nearest telephone to show it to the class),“and dial - that is, press the buttons with the correct numbers on - ‘zero one’. Your partner’s telephone will then begin to ring and they will need to pick up their telephone handset. You will then be able to hear each other through them. This is not in fact the chance to have a nice chat but to speak down the phone to your partner as many ways you can think of that the Muggles use to communicate with each other. The telephone is just one of them that you’ll be using to start them off. And you may find there’s a reward if you’re particularly good at thinking of different types of Muggle correspondence. So everyone, find a partner, decide which one of you is going to be dialling and which picking up the handset of the ringing telephone, find yourself a pair of telephones and follow my instructions.” Amaryllis watched as the students started to find people to work with, interested to see who would approach the task with enthusiasm and whether they would be interested in the telephones. Each telephone had a different ring, some old fashioned and some quite modern. Some people scoffed at Muggles so hopefully any students holding those sorts of views would realise just how ingenious they were to cope without magic after trying out a telephone for themselves.

((I'm terribly sorry for the amount of time this has taken me. I haven't been particularly well, and still am not. But get ahead and posting now and I'll try to get to this lesson again as soon as I feel up to it and have the time. )