EEEP. Finals. Livvy wanted those points badly.

She made her way from the Ravenclaw Common Room and to the Astronomy Tower. Why were they still having lessons there when "Lord" Crazy Borr wasn't using the History of Magic classroom anymore? Mhm. Where had the man gone anyway? He pretty much went ballistic, not that he wasn't all the time, at the first lesson. And then they received some substitute. And then nothing. It was odd how things were going on around here, but Livvy wouldn't wonder or complain. Things would unfold in good time.

As she entered the classroom, Livvy noticed that it was pretty much completely empty, with an exception of the professor standing in the back. She smiled and the professor, nodded her head, and waved at him. Then she took a seat near the middle of the classroom. It was perfect. Not too close to the front and not too close to the back. Just the way she liked it. Though maybe it was better to sit in the back since the younger students were attending. Then again. The back was for tall people. And Livvy was not tall. Not. One. Bit.

Anyhooo.... the Ravenclaw bent down towards the desk to read the directions on the piece of paper that was on her desk. Oh. That was going to be fun. Noooooott. But it wasn't like they had a choice right? It had been quite enjoyable discussing the topic with the other students last lesson though. But now... she had to speak in front of people. Public speaking for about five minutes wasn't really her thing.

Groaning inwardly and quiet enough so that Professor Truebridge wouldn't hear, Livvy pulled out the notes she had taken from the last lesson and took out a piece of parchment and a quill. Then she walked over to the bookshelf, picking out a few books that she thought could be of any benefit. Livvy made her way back over to her desk and sat back down and reviewed her notes, checking for any points that she would like to use. She lifted up her quill and began... to... wriiiiiite.

Finals!

It would have been an understatement to say that Tiberius was excited. He practically skipped into the classroom before taking a seat near the front. Reading through the directions, it seemed simple enough.

What would he want to ask? Pulling out a piece of parchment and a quill, Tibi began to scratch down questions he might want to ask, as soon as more people got here.

Finals! Wooo.

Evelyn walked into the room, not really wanting to be here. Finals came waaaay too quickly for her liking, and the expression on her face showed it. There were only a few people here, meaning that she was a little early. Dang.

Sighing, she walked over to a desk near the back, slightly away from the Professor, and sat down. Finally noticing the podium up front, her heart began to race at the thought of having to do a speech or something. 'Please tell me we aren't doing that.' Glancing down at the papers, a little confused, she read what it said and gave a sigh of relief and horror at the same time. It seemed simple enough, but every time she thought that, it would end in a disaster.

Taking out her quill and ink, and another piece of parchment, she wrote her name at the top and started to think of what questions to ask. Finals...Pfft...

Time to take those finals!

Hopefully he wouldn't do too badly. Entering the room he saw the podium. Then at the professor sitting near the door. Nodding to the professor he slowly made his way close to the front. Sitting down he looked at the parchment in front of him.

Reading through the instrustions he thought to him self 'good thing he sat in the front, they'll see him better.

Taking out a peice of blank parchment, he started sqruibbleing down his first Question. Then thought he'd better wait for the information, and ask about something they might not have put in.

Feeling distinctly nervous about this, feeling as though he really had to PROVE himself, feeling as though he might faint or be sick, Jake entered the room, nodded shakily back at Truebridge and went straight to the front. Near Tibi. He didn't know whether the boy... it didn't really matter what Tibi knew about him right now, anyway. Jake didn't want any distractions for this... he was already nervous about the public speaking thing as it was.

Gripping the edges of the desk quite hard, Jake read and re-read the parchment in front of him, doing his best to take looooong and slowwwwww breaths. Iiiiiiiin and oooouuuut.

Before he started, Jake crossed the room and grabbed a couple of books he might want to use, but might not need. He had a pretty good memory for this subject. Kind of.

Twirling his quill around his fingers, Jake bowed his head over his parchment and got started.

Giving a nervous smile to the professor, Wesley sat in the back corner opposite to where he was sitting and took a seat.

Oh. dear.

Wesley stared at the paper, eyes wide. Rolling her sweaty hands up in her robes, twisting the fabric and almost cutting off circulation, the small Hufflepuff bit her lip.

The word final alone seemed to shut off any brain activity that had been going on previous to entering the classroom. She couldn't think. Her mind was a blank slate.

She was going to fail miserably.

Unrolling one shaky hand, she pulled a quill and ink bottle out of her bag, and, dipping the writing utensil into the black ink, posed it above the piece of parchment. Thinking. Thinking hard. Thinking very, very, very hard.

Delana walked into the classroom... maybe more nervous than she should have been.... But this was her worst subject after all.

She read over her instructions and took a deep breath... Maybe this won't be sooo bad... She tried to remember what had been discussed in class... She remembered nothing. or maybe I'm going to fail miserably...

Damon walked into the classroom and noticing the professor by the podium nodded in his direction. He went and found one of the empty desks and sat down in the seat. He got out his quill and started looking over the assignment.

Celandine was sure that after the OWL exam for History of Magic, the Final itself would be a piece of cake. It was nice seeing the Professor in class and not a proctor. They had noooo sense of humour!

She took a seat near the front and read the instructions. Oh yay! Talk about stuff she knew and be the centre of attention!

Yay!

Cela flipped her hair and got to work recalling her notes from the revision class and building it into a short speech as best she could. As soon as she'd finished, Celandine bounced up to the podium, cleared her throat and began in a cheerfully confident voice.

"There are a number of connections between the Wizarding media and Dark Wizards throughout history, one of the earliest form of media that is an example of this is the periodical called ‘Warlock at War’, which was edited by Brutus Malfoy. Malfoy was of the opinion that "Nothing is a surer sign of weak magic than a weakness for non-magical company". This periodical was at its greatest distribution around the year 1675, fourteen years before the Statute of Secrecy was first signed and seventeen years before it was passed. Along with the known reasons for the statute being passed, this indicates that popular opinion alongside propaganda distributed by Dark Wizards, may have had a significant contribution to the wide acceptance of the statute by the wizarding public." Celandine paused and beamed around encouragingly.

"The later part of the 20th Century has the best examples of how Wizarding Media, particularly in the form of propaganda, is fundamentally connected with Dark Artists. 1997 was the year where the propaganda against Harry Potter and in favour of Lord Voldemort were in wide circulation. The catalyst for this was the murder of the Minister of Magic, Rufus Scrimgeour. A deatheater used the Imperius curse on Pius Thicknesse who became Minister of Magic and a puppet of Lord Voldemort. Voldemort controlled the Ministry and deatheaters were able to take over the Wizarding Wireless Network and the Daily Prophet." Background. It was important. Cela thought so anyway.

"Harry Potter was labeled Undesirable No. 1 and the WWN and Daily Prophet were both used as a vehicle to push this message, a clear example of the ‘name-calling’ method of propaganda. The Daily Prophet also published false research papers which were created by the Voldemort-controlled ministry, which stated, "…Recent research undertaken by the Department of Mysteries reveals that magic can only be passed from person to person when Wizards reproduce…" This is an example of both the ‘Card-stacking’ and ‘Glittering generalities’ propaganda methods." Aww she was done? Cela huffed a little, she had soooo much more to saaaaay on the topic! Oh well.

Questions? Anyone?

The first question that came to mind once the girl finished her speech was if it was possible that she could repeat everything she just said, because Evelyn sure was confused. Taking a deep breathe, and going over the information that somehow managed to stay in her brain long enough, for a moment she couldn't think of one question to ask. 'This is...insanely difficult.'

Staring at her parchment, tapping the corners of it with her quill so little ink dots were popping up, she suddenly had something she could ask. Eh, it wasn't an all that great question, but she was curious. "You mentioned the Daily Prophet and the WWN as the sources for promoting Harry Potter being Undesirable No. 1. Were those the only sources they used to get the message across? Or were there other things such as, I think it was called The Quibbler, or something." she asked, after raising her hand.

Mina made her way into the Observatory and noticed the podium in the front. Now that is different. Noticing Professor Truebridge seating in the back, she smiled and give the man a nod, before finding a seat. Me thinks this is going to be...wait. FINALS

She had forgotten finals were approaching and apparently had now bitten her in the end. Walking toward the front, she found a seat and dropped her bag beside it. Oh, I have a bad feeling about this. She sat down and looked at the parchment in front of her. She wasn't feeling at all prepared for this. Don't start hyperventilating. You'll do fine. Like her inner voices knew anything. Picking it up she read over the instructions and sighed softly. You're a Ravenclaw and brilliant if you want to be. So time to use it.

Looking up, she noticed Cela at the podium. Listening closely, she jotted down possible questions. Raising her hand slowly, she had a feeling this lesson was way over her head. "Wizard media is usually thought to be trustworthy and dependable, do you think this might be the main reason why Dark Artists use it?"

Wesley listened to Celandine's speech, mouth open slightly.

That girl was smart. And nice. Wesley remembered. Because Celandine had shared her book.

Though it took a while for the Hufflepuff to digest Celandine's words, she finally managed to get what she hoped was the main idea, and wrote down the first question that came to mind.

Then, looking around the room, she shifted uncomfortably in her chair. Wesley didn't want to be the first one to ask a question. Asking questions out loud was scary.

But. But. She had to. She had to do well on the final, because everyone was counting on her. Prefect Dominic had said he BELIEVED in her. So Wesley believed in herself.

Okay, maybe not.

But still! She was supposed to ask a question, and so, very tentatively, the tiny girl lifted a shaky hand in the air,

"H-how d-does th-the WWN and Daily Prophet m-make s-sure th-that b-bad stuff w-won't happen a-again? H-how do th-they make s-sure w-what they r-report isn't p-propaganda?"

She gave Celandine a small, bashful smile, wondering if her question was okay and made sense. Wesley thought it was all right even though it was more of a present day thing; she still thought it had to do with history. Somewhere she had heard that you learn history so you won't repeat it.

Gah. So many people had asked questions before he could. Raising his hand anyway, he cleared his throat.

"If you don't mind answering my question, too? I know you have a lot." Tibi paused before continuing.

"What about after the propaganda is exposed? I mean, do people who believed it change their minds? Or is the damage done?"

Ooooer. Questions!

"Right. The Quibbler originally printed the truth about ministry corruption during 1997, But the editor, Xenophilius Lovegood was targeted because of this and deatheaters kidnapped his daughter. That was how the Quibbler was coerced to support Voldemort and resulted in articles published supporting capture of 'Undesirable No. 1'." Celandine answered cheerfully.

"I think its partly that and partly because it is the easiest way of spreading the message to the masses. Like you said about it being trustworthy, using the Daily Prophet and the WWN is an example of two standard kinds of propaganda methods. 'Testimonial', which is where the testimony of an independent person is seen as more trustworthy, and 'Transfer', which is where you associate the leader with trusted others." Celandine was working almost straight from the notes she'd written in the last class and now she was super glad she'd made them.

Celandine beamed excitedly at Wesley, partly because she was glad for the question and partly because she still totally thought that Wesley had a COOL name.

"Well see, not all propaganda is bad. There is always propaganda in the media. Like with the elections and there are articles supporting one candidate more than another and stuff, it isn't necessarily bad it just is. I think thats why professor Truebridge taught us about propaganda a few terms ago, so we knew how to recognise it and then we can sort of make our own more informed decisions about the information that is presented."

"Sure!" Celandine tipped her head to one side and listened carefully.

"Well, it sort of depends on the person you know? Sometimes the damage is done, like for example with the werewolf stuff, some people will always have prejudice because of the exposure they've already had, while others will change their mind when they get new information. It also depends on how it is presented, you know? Some people get embarassed and act like they knew all along and stuff. If you know how to recognise it, then you are totally less likely to be fooled by it."

Blink.

Was that sense making?

Cela figured she'd better sit down now. She gigglesnorted and waved at the other students then returned to her seat to write stuff up.

(ooc. Late Late Late >.<)

Delana sat and listened carefully as Cela gave her speech. She jotted down some notes on spare parchment. She thought of what kind of questions she should ask, but could only seem to come up with opinions and she didn't think that just getting the opinions of other students would go over very well... She sat and waited, hoping she'd come up with something by the time the next student gave their speech.

Ohmerlin. Time to go up to the podium.

Nervously but anxious to just get the whole dealio over with, Livvy stood up from her seat and held the piece of parchment in her hand as she made her way over. She told herself to be calm and as she stood there, she took a few deep breaths before she began to start.

Who knew such a spazzy person could have such difficulty with public speaking?

But Livvy spoke up and hardly felt the nervousness any longer. Guess it was just the pre-talking jitters. "There are several connections between the Wizarding media and the Dark Wizards throughout our history. The media is something that we all rely on for important details and for events that occur, whether they may be true or false... we buy them because it lets us better understand what may or not be happening at certain places, such as Hogwarts. People relied on the media so much that it became an important factor towards the rising of the Dark Lord. It brought more fear to people for many reasons. One... the media itself may have twisted around the facts and details just to suit their own personal interests and so that it would sell. And two... it was because Lord Voldemort realized that the media had much power in controlling the public, he decided that taking over the media one by one would cause more fear of him." Breath. Stare. Continue. WHEE.

"After the sense of realization of how powerful the media was overcame Voldemort, he set out a plan to take over the media one by one. By the year 1997, the Dark Side had taken control of all the media with an exception of two which was the Quibbler and a secret radio station called Potterwatch. All the most popular media sources were taken over and the Dark Side pretty much controlled all the news," Livvy said, pausing for a moment. Bummer. "Such media sources included the Daily Prophet and the Wizarding Wireless Network, also known as the WWN. Now the only media sources that supported famous Harry Potter was the Quibbler and Potterwatch, like I said before.

"The Quibbler was run by a man named Xenophilius Lovegood. The issues were often looked down on for its rubbish and nonsense, but stayed true to Potter. That is until the Death Eaters allegedly kidnapped his daughter, Luna Lovegood, and because of this... he was forced to publish an issue naming Potter as Undesirable No. 1. Though if such an issue had actually been published, is unknown. Death eaters were known for blackmailing and threatening people, which is how they won their way with Lovegood, which is also why Potterwatch broadcasters had to be careful. They were the people that supported Harry Potter and reported real news. If the Death Eaters were able to get a hold of who the broadcasters were and where they were being broadcasted, they'd be able to put an end to it and control all of the media. But the Potterwatchers were smart. They went by nicknames, used passwords, and broadcasted from various different locations. To sum it up... The media was definitely very important and very powerful. So important and so powerful that the Dark Lord wanted to control all of it and convince the public that there was no hope in defeating him."

Okay. DOOOOOOONNE. Now that wasn't too bad now... was it?

Tibi considered the older girl's presentation for a bit as he scrawled down notes from when Celandine had answered his question.

Raising his hand, he chewed on his lip. "YYou can answer this if you want, but someone else can, too, if they'd rather. You mentioned taking direct control and then also intimidation and blackmail. Are there other ways propaganda makes its way into the media?"

Dropping his hand, Tibi waited for a reply, quill poised above his paper.

Kay was ready for finals. She went to sit and took out her parchment and quill. She listened to the speeches and wrote down her first question.

Question One: With many of the Wizarding Madia under the control of Voldemort. Did the public get sucked in by all the lies? Or did most of them have away to listen to PotterWatch even without a code?

Kay hoped it was a question they would answer.

Evelyn quickly wrote down the answer to her question that Celandine gave and a few other things before becoming distracted and started drawing dragons everywhere on her parchment. She was brought back to reality when someone else stood up and started to speak. 'Really? How long was I not paying attention for?'

Listening to the other Ravenclaw's speech, she listened carefully to the part about the Potterwatch. 'Neat and clever idea.' Aaaand another question. "Since the Ministry was taken over by all the dark wizards and such, did they ever report anything that didn't have to do with Harry Potter? Since he was the Undesirable No. 1 and Voldemort was all obsessed with trying to kill him and bringing down anyone who supported him..." Well, that was a random question. 'Aw well, good enough.'

Fyo had sat in a quiet corner, ears alert as Cela continued to make her speech. A fine orator, there. Besides, she couldn't be not cool if she liked scorpions, right? Those were his favourite animals -- and, as he had learned the quirky term before, hers too.

With half a smile at that thought, the fourth year raised his hand. Because, of course, he had a question for her. "I wanted to ask a question about earlier media, Cela," he said, hand in the air out of habit. "Would you agree that the media played, during the Second War, a very one-dimensional role? There were the initial times, when it only sought to place Harry Potter in a bad light; and then there were the later times, when it only sought to hush the majority of matters up. Surely, there were well-educated people behind the papers - then why were things in such a plight?"

He could hazard a guess at that answer himself, but he wanted to hear her opinion. He didn't doubt it would be a well-thought-out one, too. He resumed his earlier position, in wait for her answer.

Oh yay.. Questions. Shoot them at her. BLEH.

Smiling, Livvy nodded her head as she listened to the boy ask his question. Well... she was SUPPOSED to answer questions wasn't she? "Well yes. Though it's considered to be a more malevolent method but still rather effective. The Imperius Curse of course. It was also used to take over the Ministry. As stated by Cela earlier on, after Rufus Scrimgeour had been murdered, the Imperius Curse was casted upon Pius Thicknesse to do Lord Voldemort's bidding after he became the Minister of Magic. I believe the Imperius Curse had been used many times during that time period," she said, nodding her head.

Next question? Mhm. She then turned her head to glanced over at the other student that had also raised their hand.

MEH?

"Well you see... the only way that any witch or wizard would be able to tune into the radio station was if they had the password. Those that knew it would simply tap their wand on the wireless and say the password. If they didn't know the password, there was no possible way they could tune in. The only known passwords today from the station was integrated with the names of members of the Order of the Phoenix," Livvy paused for a moment, thinking.

"So in answer to your question... most of the public did in fact get sucked into the Ministry's lies since many didn't know the password. Those that did, had to be careful of who to entrust the passwords to."

OHEEP. She felt like a professor right about now. Oh joy.

"Well there wasn't exactly anything more important than what was going on with Harry Potter and the Dark Wizards. If... ya know what I mean. The Death Eaters and Lord Voldemort had taken control over the media one by one... then the Ministry... and then Hogwarts. They wanted to report the real news and really the only things that the Dark Side would want to have printed was that they were powerful than Harry Potter. As for the whole obsessiveness and bringing down supporters... that's why they broadcasted at different locations, went by aliases, and used passwords," she said, simply. Livvy added in a little winks at the last sentence.

Kay was happy that Olivia had answered her question. "Thank you Olivia for your answer." Kay said. She wrote down the answer and some notes to use later. Kay listened to all the other answers and started to write her second Question.

Fyo had been listening intently, once more. It was clear the students of the Advanced Class had researched their matter thoroughly - the ease with which they provided answers was quite something even though the fourth year thought, secretly, that most of the queries they had been asked were not too challenging. Save a few, of course.

Ah yes, that brought him to his second question. Fyo raised his hand once more. "My second question is for you, Livvy," he said politely. "You mention Potterwatch, one of the few outlets of the media that supported Harry Potter during the Second War. Why do you think there were not more people who utilized the media to present the correct side of the picture? Surely, there were more than a few who saw it, and who also possessed the means to start papers, or set up stations, of their own. Why do we have no real records of pamphlets or other quick reads, that could have been mass-produced with ease, and delivered from house-to-house to help correct misconceptions? It was, in a way, a time of revolution; but it seems to me like the people on the good side did not utilize the full power of the media."

Maybe that was why it had fallen into the hands of the "bad guys," and why the majority of people had sided with the more prejudiced accounts. Yes, that figured. He lowered his hand, contemplating.

Another question. Fun fun. Livvy listened to Fyo as he asked her his question, trying to keep up with everything he said. He talked a lot. Then again... so did she. Meh.

"Well... Fyo... at that time, people were too scared of Lord Voldemot, the Death Eaters, and their power. They were scared of him before his fall and they became even more scared after for they thought he had been gone for good. I do believe that many people wanted to or maybe many attempted, but Lord Voldemort's objective was to have the entire public practically at his mercy. Of course he wouldn't want someone printing out the truth. If he found about such a pamphlet, he'd dispose of the person and many were afraid of that. That's probably why many were hesitant to do so," she said, nodding her head once more.

BLEH. Neck hurt from all the nodding. Fyo asked a VERY good question. It made her think. Smart kid that one. But weird.