A/N: So i got a review about my A/Ns, so i will do it this way. Anything with no relation to the story or rats you can (and most people will) skip goes at the beginning. Anything I want to insert in between the flow of the story will go like (1) and then you will get a (1) and some text to correspond at the beginning. So that way you can skip to the end and read the author's notes in between the flow, or it looks professional like many real books have notes in the footnotes. Also if you're in the app, there's a button in the bottom left hand corner that if you click around it fades in (and then if you don't use it out) of view, and you can use that to go straight to the bottom. Unnecessary, but i would have liked to know this when i first downloaded it, so i'm putting it out there. But yeah, a lot of people were excited for the debate, but i will warn you, when the debate starts, it will be just quotes, no description, because a lot of people read like me and just skip over description during intense dialogue, so i don't even bother writing it.
So here goes.
"Good. Anyone else? Alright, Miss Black, your opening statement. Class, please refer to the reading you should have done in the books you should have bought about the structure of debate." The book, The Structure of Debate by Hermione Ravenclaw (1).
"Thank you professor. As I have said, my main points do mainly align with what is considered to be traditionalist. Traditionalism, however, unlike what many will want to say, is not bad, evil, dark, or outdated. My first point is that to be a mage, a term for a magical who deserves to wield their power, and has enough to wield, should always have two magical parents. That would mean that they are either born and raised by two magicals, sometimes even including a squib, believed to have been not blessed by magic but carrying its power inside themselves, or even another species, such as professor's flitwick's goblin ancestry, or the groundskeeper's giant blood. Secondly, marriage to muggle or having children with them should be strictly prohibited. There have been numerous records of muggles, who can only find out about magic after the marriage due to concerns about the statute of secrecy, fear it and class it as unnatural, Those muggles are often recorded to then either abuse their vulnerable children, which results in a majority of obscurus cases, or their spouses, which due to Professor Dumbledore's recent laws tightening the restrictions on muggle baiting and the trace, does not allow the children or spouses of those muggles to then fight back, as much as a stinging hex will be classed as muggle baiting, the lightest of which carries a day in Azkaban. And magicals born or raised solely by muggles are much the same, they end up either as obscuri from fearful muggle parents, or abandoned to the horrors of muggle orphanages or churches, whose founding priciples are the murder of magicals of any kind. Anyone with muggle parents should be obliviated and have their magic bound, as their magic is both a danger to themselves and they risk the statute of secrecy, which muggle parents are not bound by until their child starts Hogwarts. My last point is that magical traditions have stood for millennia, since the days of merlin and the founders, why should we change them just because some muggle raised, uneducated in our waays, think that their muggle ways, unfit to sustain magic, are better for us?"
"Thank you, Miss Black. Mister Brown, your turn."
He nodded at the professor. Black was a decent opponent, but he knew he was right. "I claim that we should discard the intolerant ways that have plagued the magical world for millennia. Who is anyone to control who my family is, or who I can marry? The magical world needs freedom, not more and tighter regulations. And the rubbish about"
"Mister Brown"
"The inapplicable argument about muggle parents harming or abandoning their children is wishful thinking on the racist blood bigots"
"Brown, that's a point less,"
"Ideas that anyone would harm their own family is untrue. Family is family, and they always love each other. The fears of what they do not know are centuries in the past for muggles, if any of you would even look past wards to actually see the muggles. Just this year, an anti-discrimination law on basis fo what people cannot control such as race, or ethnic orgin was passed (2). The equivalent of that should be passed in the magical world as well. After all we are all the queen's subjects, and should no longer be stuck in the victorian era (3). MAgic is a right, not a privilege, and we should be allowed to use it if we have it. Furthermore, what is wrong with celebrating christmas or halloween? Who needs yule, or any of those other old holidays, the rituals for which have been banned due to blood usage? We don't, and we should be celebrating the harmless fun holidays and not the old and banned ones."
"Miss Evans, your turn."
She smiled at her professor. "I have to say, I disagree with Brown the boat so far. Black's logic is sound, but slightly impractical. I say that while the magical world isn't perfect, it's the magical world, not the muggle one for a reason. I do have muggle parents, but I also know that magical traditions are important. They are not like muggle holidays, which have just developed into either the devout practice of a religion, a structured belief system which has one of its key points around the destruction of magicals, (4) or simple fun for no reason. Furthermore, blood rituals have been banned only in public places; the celebration of rituals on yule and the like is still allowed, and from my experiences does truly enhance magic. Furthermore, marriage to non-magicals should not be banned but strictly regulated, marriage to a non magical who already has knowledge of the magical world and is accepting of it, such as a squib or the sibling of a muggle-raised should be allowed, as there should be no problems with attitude towards the magical world. But some muggles are not accepting, so any muggle-raised who wants to should be allowed to be blood accepted by ritual into a magical, or pureblood family, especially a ffmaily that may not have as many children as they wish to. But this is the magical world, so anyone who can wield it should be allowed the chance, only being expelled if they wish to go back to being a muggle or if they cannot abide by the magical world."
"Good. Now I will open the floor. Anyone who wants to speak, will be able to do so as long as their team leader allows them to or if you want to form a team. I will have a dictaquill here that has been recording so far and will keep recording the rest."
-Switch to dictaquill format-
Brown: Those are good ideas about preserving traditions in theory, but those traditions don't that lead to harmful practices and discrimination should be bannd. Also, everyone should be welcome in the magical world, Magic is a right, not a privilege.
Black: That's where you're wrong. Anyone who wants to leave for the muggle world can be obliviated and their magic bound.
Brown: But it's wrong, it's abuse!
Black: Your parents are muggles, you should know what is and isn't abuse.
Ravenclaw: Black, this is a debate. Don't insinuate unless you can prove.
Black: Yes, professor.
Brown: And what did you mean by that?
Black: About half of all muggle raised, and many more who have muggle parents who know about magic are abused by their muggle parents because of the magic. And Due to Dumledore's recent stricter anti-muggle-baiting laws, fighting back could get you in Azkaban, and annulling the marriage is illegal unless the muggle agrees without any magical influence.
Evans: that's true, and these laws should be relaxed. I know a person who will remain anonymous who has a muggle parent who hates magic so much the parents hits, kicks, yells at, and starves the person on a regular basis. If the students or their magical parent were to fight back against the muggle parent, it would be classed as muggle-baiting, and could get the student expelled, wand snapped, magic bound and sent back to the muggle parent for good, and the magical parent up to a year in azkaban, as they could not pay the fines. Furthermore, I, personally, have squib parents, but a muggle sister, and if, Merlin forbid, my sister were to have a magical child, or if I were to have magical children as she were let near them, that child, if it were to survive the first year, would be beaten. Starved, and abused. Because blood relation has no control over these things. I believe squibs are muggles without magic, while Muggles are exactly what they're said to be, afraid of anything they cannot explain, and destructive of that which they are afraid of (5).
Black: See, brown? Evans even gave us a real life example, beyond statistics.
Brown: But not all muggles are like that. My parents are perfectly normal people, and they're not magicals.
Evans: Brown, legally they're squibs. Anyone within two generations of a magic without magic of their own in a squib, and cannot be obliviated without a ministry permit, and can be shown magic and use magical items. If, say, you have a non magical third cousin twice removed without magic of their own or close magical relatives they are squibs.
Brown: But doesn't your precious Ministry of Magic have laws against abuse?
Evans: They haven't been instigated, but they should. And all of us here are under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Magic, so it's not yours, or mine, it's all of our official government.
Black: No magical parent has been recorded harming magical children under their jurisdiction in the last century.
Brown: Yes, but we still need to keep up with the advancements of the time, why celebrate Yule which has a tradition throwing food in the fire (6).
Black: It's a Yule tradition that uses intent to temporarily boost magic on the winter solstice, especially on properties sitting on one or more ley lines, such as Hogwarts and many old magical family manors.
Ravenclaw: Alright, good. Good discussion, that is it with class for today, Black Brown and Evans take 20 points each for so many good points raised, if anyone else wants to continue this next class we will, or we may.
-Dictaquill end-
Professor Ravenclaw turned to her class telling them, "Everybody take a copy of thi, it has the entire class' discussion written down. By next class I want at least three pages of an essay, legibly describing either any points you wanted to add to this discussion, how and why your opinion changed during the course of the discussion, or an essay explaining and proving your points during the debate. I don't care how you write it, as long as you prove your dead to me." She then waved her wand, and the dictaquill turned off, then placed stone with runes written all over it on top the parchment. Suddenly, there were two hundred copies of the same parchment where there had previously been one. Every student took a copy, many of them sighing in relief at not having to rely on their own, quickly and often poorly scribbled class then, slowly, from whispers to loud conversation, at least after they ;eft the classroom, exploded into debate about the debate, continuing on in this fashion to the Great Hall for Lunch. Not a single curse was thrown, not a single discussion stopped because of blood status, family, house, or any other factors that usually closed off one group from another.
Hermione smiled. The lesson wa a success.
A/N: Here are the notes in the text:
(1) This is paraphrased from the debate notes my middle and high school history and english teachers would give us every year. This is at the bottom because first off, this isn't fanfiction therefore does not belong in the main body, and secondly can actually be used by some, while others who know the methods of debate may want to skip it altogether. The opening statement is the beginning of a debate. It should include both the points the debater is attempting to prove, as well as a basic summary of evidence. The debater may include key sources, ideologies, or logical deductions that led them to the points they are trying to prove. The opening statement should not be more than a few minutes long, as a very long one will either eclipse the points the debater will try to prove later on, or sound like a filibuster, which only sounds acceptable in (often incompetent or filled with incompetwents) like the wizengamot or the US Congress (A/N: not a fan.). The opening statement will also set the stage for the debate, and the first person to speak will often have a higher chance of winning the debate if they have a good opener. That does not mean the one who starts will win, an opening statement is essential for anyone to win a debate, and proper speaking is essential to win any argument or debate, no matter how inconsequential.
(2) "The Race Relations Act 1965 was the first legislation in the United Kingdom to address racial discrimination. The Act outlawed discrimination on the "grounds of colour, race, or ethnic or national origins" in public places in Great Britain." according to wikipedia. I'm not british, so i can't claim to know these things but for general facts, wikipedia is usually more or less accurate, especially in recent years. I promise i will not go into real world politics, past or current, but some basics that a fifteen year old could possibly know with minimal preparation and no access to the internet in 1965 will be used. My opinions do not coincide with Mr. Brown in this case, these are just the basics used to prove a point. The way I write how each character talks is intentional, by the way, so at this point you might want to start looking out for that.
(3) This entire debate chapter was written by a 14 year old, btw, with absolutely no research except a single google search per paragraph. So fifteen year olds can, and on formal occasions or debates, often do talk like this. Of, and said fourteen year old has no debate preparation whatsoever, jftr.
(4) I have nothing against cristianity, however, it may be used with negative connotations here because of the fact that about half of the characters here are witches. No religion is perfect but i do believe that everyone should be allowed to practice their own religion as long as it doesn't harm anyone else. I'm an american, freedom of religion is one of the three core pillars, the founding principles, of this country.
(5) Considering by this point she saw Harry's memories and knows Petunia… Not surprising. Plus, this is the general attitude of the majority of the wizarding world, well, except the blood purists and the terrorists.
(6) Please excuse me, FFN, I do not have the willingness to make up new magical traditions so I use the ones other authors have come up with, THe credit for this one goes to Jessiikaa15, who is probably my fav FFN Dark!Harry author. Check out their profile.