Beyond The Darkness : RP: Board Meeting

Entry tags:

* august 2005, - complete, draco malfoy, minerva mcgonagall, neville longbottom, theodore nott

RP: Board Meeting
Date: 31 August 2005
Characters: Minerva, Theo, Draco, Neville
Location: Hogwarts
Private/Public: Private
Rating: PG
Warnings: None
Summary: A meeting of the Hogwarts board of Governors convenes, with some interesting suggestions
Completion: complete

Minerva watched as the self dictating quill finished writing notes of the mundane and routine board meeting. As to be expecting, nothing out of the ordinary had happened - budgets had been set and approved, safety for the school had been approved, some of the older members continued their own posturing, and Minerva sat there with her usual look of distaste.

They came to the last item on the agenda, and Minerva glanced at Draco. "Mr Malfoy," she said with a look of curiosity. "I believe you had a matter of a new class that you wished to raise? I believe you've spoken privately to a few others." She looked at him with more than just a hint of curiosity. It was always good to have new blood on the school board.

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bd_neville
2007-08-31 17:02 (link)

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Neville was at the meeting, to be sure. He wasn't going to miss the first board meeting. Though through all the financial records he took notes and listened, but found it hard when his mind wandered to the night before - he and Ginny saying goodbye for quite a long time before she had to go away on a mission.

Biting his lip, he snapped out of his pleasant stupor when Minerva addressed Draco in regards to the class they spoke of at Verity's wedding. He did think it was a good idea, a way to teach understanding between students.

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bd_draco
2007-09-01 06:09 (link)

Draco looked at Neville and Theo, and then straight at Minerva. "I was proposing a mandatory class that would teach the students pure-blood and Muggle traditions. The class could be graded or not. I don't think that's really the point. The point would be to have the children appreciate both traditions." Although as far as Draco was concerned Muggles traditions were to be used to one's advantage, pure-blood ones were to be respected.

"As much as I believe that Muggle heritage should be studied, I think emphasis should be given to magical traditions. There are so few of us left, that soon enough they will disappear if we don't do something to prevent it," he finished, knowing that this would be the harder part, convincing Dumbledore to emphasise their history. "Considering the ... highly controversial nature of the class, I believe the board should have control over the curriculum, at least at the beginning."

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bd_theodore
2007-09-01 06:31 (link)

Theo was a tad surprised to hear the changes to the idea Draco had brought to him, but he assumed they were amendments made to get the idea through the board.

Nodding, he glanced around the table seeing people both nodding in approvment, frowning in distaste and shrugging their shoulders.

'And how would we know this is just not a play to make muggleborns feel as if they don't belong?' Mr Langston called out. Several nodded.

'You mean they're not now?' Theo thought in his mind, inwardly rolling his eyes. Seriously, most of them didn't belong, not with how they were acting.

When he spoke, however, his voice was as pleasant and reasonable as the smile on his face. 'I think we need to consider the fact that Muggleborns today are already feeling that. They are entering a wold filled with traditions and ways they know nothing about, but that they are expected to know without guidance. That is not even mentioning that they're entering as a world in war. A war they never heard about and cannot possibly comprehend. We need to give them the tools to understand what is going on if they are to even have a chance of feeling as if they belong.'

He'd let Draco argue the value of the traditions, it was usually best not to battle on two fronts.

bd_draco
2007-09-01 07:10 (link)

Draco stared back at Langston. "As I believed I already mention, there will be Muggle traditions taught to the pure-bloods, which would diminish the tremendous mistrust that exist." Not that anything would change the fact that they were mudbloods, but at least a few pure-bloods would learn how to work in the Muggle world and how to hide their dislike for them.

"Two, Muggleborns have never been welcomed at Hogwarts. Even under the great Dumbledore, the school might have had a policy of inclusion, but they knew nothing of our world. They might have had good grades, but they were playing catch up to the rest of us." As far as he was concerned, they never caught up, but he could pretend that did. "This is about creating a new generation of wizards that can appreciate who we are. It's not about separating them."

bd_neville
2007-09-01 07:50 (link)

Neville was listening to everything being said and he felt he needed to speak up. He caught phrases in Draco and Theo's points that bothered him: '...given a chance of feeling as if they belong'... 'there will be Muggle traditions taught to the pure-bloods'...'playing catch up to the rest of us'

Neville had known plenty of muggle-borns and half-blood wizards, but maybe it was just him thinking that some of the comments were a little more insensitive, thrown in with a lot of other well-meaning, flowery words.

"I'd like to interject if I may." Neville sat up straight and addressed the board. "I know I'm a new face here at the board but I have every confidence that my opinion will be regarded in such respect as Mr. Malfoy or Mr. Nott's would." Pushing aside the bit of parchment he'd been taking notes on, he continued.

"While I agree totally that there should be a mandatory class teaching both Muggle-born and Pureblood traditions, I have a few questions and concerns.

Mr. Malfoy mentioned that Muggle-born traditions would be taught to the pure-bloods. It sounds as if the class would be divided, the pure-blood being addressed apart from the Muggle-borns. I could see how the muggle-borns would be a bit bored being taught their own traditions. The same could be said for the pure-bloods being taught what they already know. But I feel that if they're both taught, in the same room, being regarded the same way, it would create a sense of understanding rather than ... it feels like 'tolerance' to me. And while tolerance is good, in some aspects, in this form I think it would be detrimental, saying more 'I can tolerate you but I don't need to understand your plight.' on either side."

Neville collected his thoughts, thinking of what he wanted to say next. "The war should be a counterpoint yes, and taught to the pure-bloods as well. Much is shrouded about what is going on and what's happened in the past. It would make everyone feel included and I'm sure the pure-bloods would learn something as well. They are muggle-borns and pure-bloods to us bur really, aren't they all students, wizards in training? Surely they can all be confident that they belong to that group altogether? Avoiding segregation in that class should be top priority, otherwise there'd be a problem. If all the students are taught properly, then there shouldn't be a feeling of 'catching up' to the 'rest of us'." Neville made a point of emphasizing 'catching up' and 'rest of us' because he thought it important.

Draco's idea was a good one, but if the board passed the motion, it would have to be carried out and taught very carefully. He sat there and waited to see how his comments would be addressed.

bd_theodore
2007-09-01 08:19 (link)

Theo sat back and listened, and more so observed. Langston was still dead set against it but some were starting to come around. Others were still uncertain and a lot became uncertain by what Neville was saying.

'While I don't know what Mr Malfoy (Merlin that was a weird thing to call Draco) had in mind, my understanding is that that they would be taught together. Merlin knows there are a lot of pure-bloods - or half-bloods for that matter - in need of learning our traditions as well. Not everyone has the luxury of growing up in homes where we learn these things - especially with the war.'

He glanced around at the board. 'Do we even know how many wizarding children are being cared for by Muggle orphanages these days?' he asked.

He turned his face back to Neville. 'In the end this has less to do with blood and more to do with how a child has been raised.'

The fact that Muggle traditions couldn't possibly compare to the value of their own went without saying. Or at least so he thought.

bd_draco
2007-09-01 08:35 (link)

Draco looked at Theo and snorted at the title. "Keep saying that and I'll start thinking my father is in the room, and none of us would really want that, would we?" he said, keeping a pleasant smile on his face.

"Neville," he said, looking at the other man. He had no intention of getting lost on formalities. "Theo is right. I was thinking about having an integrated class. Too many pure-bloods don't know our traditions, half-bloods as well, and the Muggleborns are only eleven. I'd say that they don't know all about computers and Nazism either. I think everyone will benefit from this."

bd_neville
2007-09-01 08:59 (link)

Neville knew that referring to the children as pure-bloods and muggle-borns, just as everyone else had been addressing them, was a mistake. Everything he'd said was meant to help and show the board that it was a good idea, if it was taught in the right way.

"No, Draco...I agree, I guess I'm still not very good at articulating. I just wanted to make sure that you still intended it to be taught to everyone at the same time." He paused for a moment but continued, referring to Theo's statement about how it all has less to do with blood. 'Good...because it's only blood.'

"All the more reason for them to learn just about everything they can be taught about both worlds and the history behind them. Whether priveleged or not, they should still have the knowledge to understand each other."

Neville looked around at some of the puzzled faces at the board, wizened people who were still on the fence. "All I'm saying is that they're students...and I for one would have loved a class like this when I was attending. I have a lot of friends that are muggle-born and half-blood. To understand their way of life better back then would have been very good. Merlin knows that they were probably thrown right into the wizarding world. It's enough to make anyone dizzy trying to learn and adapt in that manner. I think maybe we owe it to this generation of wizards to give them that opportunity... especially with the war going on in the wizarding world, and I'd bet there is some kind of war being waged in the muggle world as well."

Neville looked between Theo and Draco, over to Minerva and the other members of the board.

bd_draco
2007-09-01 09:11 (link)

"Oh yes, I think it's important that we work toward integration," he answered with a smile, although his own ideas of integration weren't exactly the same as McGonagall. Wizards were wizards, and Muggleborns would have to adapt or go back to the own world.

"Besides, I'm sure that there must be some Ravenclaws on this board who can appreciate the beauty of knowledge for its own sake." Of course, he wasn't one of them. Learning was always useful because one never knew when it might become useful. "In fact, I was thinking about a Ravenclaw to teach the class."

This was the hard part as far as Draco was concerned. He didn't like Dumbledore. He would never like anyone with that last name and he hated the man on a personal level as well as a purely intellectual level, but he could touch the class in a world where very few could, and no one, on any side, could complain... or better yet, all sides could complain because Aberforth was a prick, but he was a prick with everyone. "I'm sure there will be some clashes between the board and Mr. Dumbledore, but at least, no one can say that he is against anyone, and it would help not having a former Gryffindor or Slytherin teaching the class. I have spoken to him already, and he would be willing to teach at Hogwarts."

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bd_minerva
2007-09-01 13:04 (link)

Minerva sat back and listened to Draco's plan. A lot of thought had gone into it, and she let the board members argue out the finer points as she waited for him to explain it in full.

"Classes in pureblood traditions were once held at the school," she said finally, remembering her own education. "But someone who was 'forward' thinking on the board many decades ago decided it was not necessary to teach it at school - that it become the responsibility of the parents." She tried not to keep the derision in her voice, but she looked at Langston, who still didn't appear convinced.

"It would appear that all parents did not get that memo, and did not carry out the teaching." She gave a smile. "But even as we have Muggleborn students who do Muggle Studies, I do think it is important that a class like this not be exclusive, or divisive."

She did raise her eyebrow at the fact that Aberforth had been approached to teach it. Her mind raced through the possible candidates she could think of, but she realised he was most likely the best suited.

"How often do you think these classes should run?" she asked, ignoring Langdon's protests. If it could fit into the timetable, then his voice wouldn't matter. It wasn't a unanimous decision, just a majority needed.

"Do you have a copy of your proposed curriculum?"

bd_draco
2007-09-01 13:36 (link)

"I believe Mr. Dumbledore wants... leeway. I think it might be useful to let him submit one and have to board decide on it. It's probably the best way to go about." He was sure that if he had submitted a curriculum, Aberforth would have opposed it on principle, simply because he hadn't been the creator.

"I don't think this should be a long class, maybe a two hour long per week, especially if it's taught for seven years. The older students will be at a disadvantage, but we have to start somewhere," Draco said.

bd_minerva
2007-09-01 14:55 (link)

Minerva nodded. Of course Aberforth would want his own flexibility.

"Very well then, all that is needed is for the board to vote on this matter. All those in favour of the implementation of a class in 'wizarding traditions', please raise your hands."

She looked around the room, seeing the overwhelming majority of members were for it. "Very well, let the record of this meeting show that the majority voted for the introduction of this class."

Turning to Draco she gave a small smile. "Well then I think we can inform Professor Dumbledore that he will be expected to be here for classes. I'll have some times scheduled for it, and see what he needs in way of resources."

Looking around the room she saw that there was no other business for the meeting. "Thank you, gentlemen, this meeting is adjourned. Thank you again for your time."

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