After listening and letting her mind wander around the subject being brought up, Fionn tapped her fingers against her thigh. What kind of laws would be best to change, in case of uprising protesters? Honestly, any law to get more werewolves in check and elemental ghosts to deter their harmful ways would be good, then again, most people really didn't think of those when law making or changing were involved.

Licking her lips, her eyes wandered from each co-worker as they spoke of ways to help with the Crup issue. They were creatures that didn't like Muggles at all. "Maybe the best way to deal with the selling of Crups in Muggle living areas is to not sell them there at all." Realizing her voice was rather low, she cleared her throat. "Selling them in areas where they are within Muggle eyes, they would be at risk for harming them as well. Selling them in Diagon Alley or someplace more secluded in Magical marketplaces would be more fitting." Thus ruling out the possible crup-muggle-attacks and having to cut off their tails.

Moving in her chair, she crossed her feet at her ankles and gave a soft smile to everyone in the room. "The owners would then be at liberty to get the tails removed if they are at risk for being caught by a muggle with such a.. strange animal." Try telling that to a muggle! That would be quite something.

James looked around wide eyed at his colleagues, then back at his parchment, writing something down distractedly. He wanted to give his opinion, but his stutter and his painful shyness was so crippling to him that it held him back. He bit his lip, took a deep breath and felt his cheeks colour as he began to speak, surprised by how calm and level his voice sounded in his own ears.

“T-to me, it's frightfully unfair to keep crups around muggles. Their natural instincts are to-to attack. If these wizards are going fuss over the re-removal of their t-tails, the only other option we have is to make it illegal to keep them around muggles.” Cue deep breathe. “But what of the thousands already out there? A mass cull? It's preposterous. ...We're at an impasse. I think we need to promote understanding, r-rather than change any r-rules.”

“Th-there are spells... potions that could be used to keep them placid, of course.. b-b-but surely that is cruelty of a different kind?”

And back to Ms Erica's other question..

“Fwoop-Fwoopers are sold with a silencing charm. Repressing their song could possibly be con-considered cruel by these protesters..”

And deeeeeeeeeeep breathe. He looked down at his hands to find his knuckles white and that he'd nervously ripped at the corner of parchment as he spoke. He let go and folded his hands in his lap.

Carley nodded in agreement as the man finished.

"Exactly, though there are probobly things we could put in place- rules, regulations- the numbers of them that are already out there are simply to massive for it to really have any direct impact." she stated. She leaned back in her chair and stared up at the ceiling. Hmmm.

Really, she couldn't think of anything other than what had been mentioned, however... She looked in the direction of the two that had mentioned freeing house elves. "Freeing house elves or paying them would create more harm than good. For centuries they've worked knowing witches and wizards as their masters and having no pay. It's what they're used to and what they like." Carley paused, taking a deep breath. "It would also create outrage among anybody that owns a house elf, then we'd be in trouble."

As nice as it would be to have free house elves, she didn't see it happening. They're already happy with what they do, why bother changing that?

"It may seem unfair by many, but it is very possible that existing animals can be grandfathered in." He looked over to James. "There are several instances in the past where a law or rule went into effect, and it only affected those coming into the rule. For instance, a wizard can keep his crup where ever he lives, however he cannot adopt or purchase another crup, nor breed his, unless he moves back to a wizarding area. If he does so, he cannot move back into a muggle area until he no longer owns a crup."

He looked back over to Erica. "A muggle precedence is the ferret in one of the states in the US. California put into effect a law that ferrets could not be purchased, sold, or bred in California. Doing so incurred a fine and possible time in prison. However, if you already owned a ferret, you were allowed to keep it."

He attention looked to those who discussed house elves. "It is true, 'removing' current house elves would do more harm than good. But this is a behavioral issue. It has been evidenced that it is possible for a house elf to go against that demeanor. It would seem cruel at first, but raising young house elves without that mentality could move towards a different kind of house elf. I cannot make guarantees on the repercussions of that, however. But sadly, this would have to be a wizarding choice, not a Ministry choice, or you're right, there would be an outrage."

"You make some good points about the containment of house elves. I would see no probablem with it If maybe they were treated better or atleast taught a different way then what they have to." She replied to the man "Not a Ministry choice. Is this not what we are here for to help the creatures of the wizarding world.?" She asked "You are right as am I that it could cause an up rage in some wizards and witches. "

Elinor, her eyes darting to each person who spoke in turn, finally spoke up on the subject of the House Elves.

"But not all house elves are treated badly. When m..my husband was alive, we, in fact, owned a house elf that lived with us nearly as comfortably as any wizard would. It is simply a matter of the owners of the house elves--not collective treatment of them. I agree that it is the nature of the house-elf to serve wizards with only the payment of shelter, but that dosen't mean that they need to be treated as inferiors. Which is why so many people oppose the use of them, because they believe that it is cruel, when, in fact, it is simply instinctual to the house-elf to serve."

She looked back to Miss Radley, occasionally glancing back at her coworkers. "I know the idea before, in years past, has been bounced around that there should be requirements for owning a house-elf, but there's so many of them, and, in fact, so easy to get one, that that may well be impossible. But I think the subject of house-elf treatment is such a touchy one that, perhaps, there can be some sort of...compromise."

Erica listened intently as her employees discussed the crup matter, though she HAD intended to talk about that issue later, for now she had more important issues to think about. They had some great ideas however, maybe the Blonde just hadn’t explained the question right. “Thank you for all your ideas, they’re all very helpful but we will come back to the crup issue later, there are other issues I wanted to speak about now.” And she needed their ideas for this one so it was important they got this over and done with first.

“I think the main reason behind this protest wasn’t completely to do with the way Crups are treated, after all they are not the only species in the Wizarding World that do have, what we are considering protection, behind them. We..” or rather the people that made up these regulations, Erica was not part of the original team, besides SHE had other ideas now didn’t she? She had to keep these protestors quiet, happy even. “…believe that these regulations are designed to both protect, ourselves by not breaching the statue and the Muggles, if they were to know of the existence of these creatures who knows what havoc and harm it may cause, not only to the magical creatures, but if they are harmful creatures, to those muggles as well” the thirty-two year old continued. “So that is what I’m asking, whether you can think of any rules that we have that would give those protestors something to complain about..” she stated.

She was glad when a few people made a point, she smiled at them and graciously nodded her head once. “House elves are a debatable one. Yes, many do treat them unfairly, without respect and we could go into a whole other debate about them..” But as others had already stated, not everyone mistreated them and it would be incredibly unfair if they were to change the regulations on them again and again. “But they’re not really linked to the point I want to get across here, these people are protesting against what we have done to stop creatures from being discovered by muggles that can be considered cruel or unnecessary.” Otherwise there would be an awful lot that the Department would have to discuss and the meeting could go on for days. There were other great points too, all of which Ms Radley was incredibly grateful for, but it was the small details she needed.

Which was why a huge smile appeared on her face as one employee stated exactly what was on her mind. Her blue eyes flickered immediately over to the one with the cute stutter, James yes? “Exactly! Thank you James” the Creatures head nodded her head at him thankfully. “Fwoopers are another we could discuss in more detail. Although this rule isn’t entirely for the sake of Muggles, Fwoopers are indeed sold with the silencing charm placed on them, all because of a regulation by this Department. Yes we could argue that this rule is more for our own sake, the Fwoopers song is said to drive the listener insane, but its still something the protestors could argue as a case of unnecessary cruelty against them. Is it really fair that we should be the ones deciding to cut off their only.. voice really” For a song was like talking wasn’t it? Their means of communication. Strange still that she wasn’t mentioning who was doing the protesting, well it wasn’t important was it?

“We’ll stay on the Fwooper matter for now…” Because it was a perfect example of what she was trying to explain. “What ELSE can we do to stop these protests, peacefully of course, we don’t want to anger them further. The creatures Department is important for stopping cruelty and maintaining a perfect regulation, if we were to end up in violence and this Department to go down who knows what will happen…” But she didn’t want to ignore the protests, she wanted to keep everyone happy and if that meant changing a few regulations here and there then that was what she would have to do. “What can we change so that both we, the Muggles and the Fwoopers are all kept safely” Did that make sense of was she talking a load of codswallop like she felt she was?

She looked out across the table waiting for an answer.

Crups now Fwoopers?

"We definetly can't keep them in cages that's for sure." Emmy replied, thinking about all those poor creatures who already are. Seriously! Who do those protesters think they are? Nothing can be perfact! Silent charms can't hurt anything! It would be even worse without them!

"I think that protestors dont know the real harm that Fwoopers bring to wizards as in exposing us to the muggle world." She replied "I Would just try and limit the number that are sold so as not to show what is really happening"

"I think the answer should be simple. Don't keep them. Wizards and witches seem to love owning things that are dangerous and need strict regulation for the protection of ourselves and others. Using the fwoopers as our current example, why should anyone keep an animal at all that can drive you insane? That's almost as bad as keeping a dog with a thirst for blood that is muzzled. You may never have problems, or you might be one of the unlucky .001% that falls prey to your beloved pet." He shook his head. "Only time to keep a pet is when the gain outweighs the risk. Certainly these pets do not do that."

" I really don't think we should ban wizards from owning magical creatures. For some wizards the raising and selling of fwoopers is a big buisness and if we ban it then it will only create a lot more work work for us and make it criminal to do something thats been done for centuries with no problems except from extreme protesters. Silencing a fwooper is not hurting them. Our only other option would be to create a sound proof sanctuary just for them but we could never locate all of them to put them there so it really would be a waste of time.", responded , with a huff.

Violet sat forward. "Well, I believe that anything you could do to any sort of animal, even if it's another human being, could be considered cruel from some point of view," she said. "I see no reason why wizards should be prohibited from keeping them as pets. It would be akin to telling a Muggle that they weren't allowed to keep their puppy because it couldn't learn to hunt for itself (its natural instinct) in such an environment. As for the matter of whether or not to remove the second tail from the crup...genetic mutation is quite common. I think we might be able to pass it off as such to Muggles." She paused. "As for the Fwoopers...it's possible that we could cast a spell that prevents us from hearing the song, but that isn't performed directly onto the bird. Muffliato could be an example." She paused again. "Also, I believe that when the pets have such an effect on humans, such as the Fwooper song, it would be more dangerous to have them loose in the wild, where they can essentially reach anyone." She sat back. Perhaps none of these had been valid points, but she felt as though she knew what she was talking about. Being the Head of the Beast Division and all.

"I think a problem we're eternally going to run into is that there is no such thing as perfect regulation. Someone will have something to protest about. If we stop the sale of fwoopers, with an exception of those who have permits for various reasons, we get an uproar. If we stop selling them with silencing charms, we get an uproar. If we leave things as we are, we get an uproar."

Drago stopped writing and looked directly to Erica. "You cannot please everyone, and you shouldn't try. All you can do is act in what you believe is the best interests of the wizard, and if possible, the animal. The good of the many outweigh the good of the few, which means that in protecting wizards, look for what benefits the mass majority. You are certain to upset someone along the way. The question then becomes how powerful are the people you upset? Because they might do a lot more damage and cost the Ministry a lot more than a few bleeding-heart protesters."

He went back to writing as if his point had been casually made. "What about creatures which are kept primarily for potions use? These animals are normally not well-cared-for, with few exceptions. After all, they are simply tools, ingredients... Or others that are kept as training tools?"

His red coffee mug sat abandoned in front of him as he digested everything that was being said with a slightly puzzled expression. The twenty-seven year old had many opinions about crups, but other had thoughts clouded his mind, preventing him from giving him a response. Something about this general topic just didn't sit well with Nikos.

When the topic changed to fwoopers, his frown deepened and he lightly scratched his lightly stubbles cheek. "I agree with Drago," he finally spoke, head inclining slightly towards the man though his eyes were on Erica. "It's impossible to please everyone. Our job is to protect both the creatures and humans, magical and non. Its not to please protesters who....we don't even know who they are unless they've sent you some sort of formal complaint." He didn't think so as she hadn't shown them the letter, unless she didn't want to show it to them. Hm. His voice remained level though his Greek accent grew a little thick.

"Don't agree with fwoopers being sold with silencing charms, which is also why I don't think they should be sold as pets at all. The law is there for a reason. Their songs DO drive wizards insane. Either we silence them or render ourselves incapable of hearing with a charm, I personally think they should be returned to their natural habitat if its not inhabited by humans." Nikos ran a hand through his wavy hair, his eyes softening a bit when he realized just how frustrated he was getting with the subject at hand.

He had dealt with wizards who protested against the laws for creatures in his previous jobs, and it usually was human kind that suffered. So her asking them to find a way to please more protesters was bringing back a bit of quelled frustration.

"I don't think we should be attempting to please any protesters, or do any sort of compromising unless they give us a valid reason to do so, and from what you are telling us, it seems that they haven't." Leaning back in his chair, he sighed inaudibly. Compromising with protesters, ridiculous.

Well at least her employees were most certainly alert and on the ball today. A lot of them had answered her questions and were discussing it amongst themselves, for which Erica was truly thankful. She valued their opinions; it wasn't like the blonde would be able to do this all by herself, she needed to know what others thought before taking any immediate action, and it seemed that holding this conference was a very good idea. She was getting more out of others then perhaps she would not have thought of herself, or ideas that she could expand on, work with, together they would be able to manipulate or reshape the rules. She wanted to please everyone, she wanted to please the protesters.

The Department Head turned to the first person that spoke up. "That is certainly not within my intentions, there is no way I want to be cruel to these animals, I honestly think it is OUR responsibility to look after these creatures, we have the powers to protect, don't you all agree?" she looked out across the entire table. "If we were to cage these animals up it would cause riots among those who aren't even protesting in the first place. I do not want to show any cruelty to these animals and it is within MY best interest to put their rights first.." whether others agreed or not. As Department Head of Magical Creatures, she was supposed to focus on the animals best interests not muggles, not Wizards, just the creatures. Which is why in a lot of ways, her mind was swaying towards that of the Protesters. She felt sympathy towards them.

"As I have said, these people haven't actually argued the case of the Fwooper yet, just the crup issue, which is why I will come back to that later. As for now I'm just trying to think of other issues they may have a problem with. Ones that we could resolve before they actually get the opportunity to protest. I don't particluarly want further trouble, it looks bad for our Department, if others were to take note and listen, they would blame it all on us.." she stated. "I know its not personally our fault, I'm pretty certain NONE of you were around when these regulations were originally put in order we've just followed them, which is why I think its time for a change." The Thirty Two year old scanned her eyes across every employee hoping that they agreed or they understood.

Erica looked at the Spirits head, Drago was it not? She smiled a little, understanding what he was saying but not totally agreeing. "That would be a simple answer. If we were to ban any one from owning such a creature then yes a lot of the issues behind how dangerous a creature could be would be resolved. But what about those that already own one? We can't just ignore them. Yet still they'd be in danger if we were to lift the silencing charm law. And don't you think this could cause more rioting. People love the opportunity to own an usual pet, I have a Phoenix, he's probably my most prized possession. There are people like me that do treat the animals with respect, that don't harm them or injure them in any way and are in fact looking after and protecting them like us Wizardkind should be doing" the woman spoke with more passion as she continued on.

She nodded with what the next employee said, taking note of their opinion. They spoke the truth. "Yes, exactly. Banning people from owning them wouldn't be a totally outrageous idea, it may be something that we do have to consider in the near future, but I think for now we want to satisfy both animals and Wizard kinds needs" she smiled weakly, her tone now going slightly softer and her voice quieter. She continued on with this employees ideas. "That would indeed make more work for us as a Department. I think we should move on from Fwoopers, if the protesters are to make an issue of this, we may have to look back into it again" the Blonde returned back to her usual tone.

Her beasts division head had good ideas and she smiled as she acknowledged them. "That could work, however it may be a bit of a bother, you'd have to cast these charms every time you were in the room with them. It could be easy to forget..." she challenged their ideas. It wasn't that she didn't agree, these ideas were fantastic, she just needed more options.

The Head paused when she noticed the Spirit Head looking straight at her. She knew herself it was impossible to please everyone. Different people had differing opinions and she respected that. "That doesn't mean I'm not going to try" she spoke back, as determined as ever. When there was a will, there was a way. "Surely as the Creatures department we should be putting the animals best interest first. I hope I'm not alone with this, but shouldn't the strong over rule the weak. Although thats not completely true in some circumstances and don't get me wrong on this, but creatures can be considered the weaker species. Many can't defend for themselves and we as Wizards and Witches have the ability and the strength and the RIGHT to protect and help them in as many ways as we can..." she looked across the table again, passion clearly evident in her eyes.

She returned to a completely professional and serious face as who or the strength of the protesters was mentioned. Whether they had the ability to cause damage to the Ministry. "That matters not. You can't underestimate their power. But in some ways they are right to protest, and if they are truly as passionate as they seem, I think we should listen to them" she tore her eyes away from the people present in the room.

But it seemed people were clearly not agreeing with her, that is should be in their best interest to listen to the protesters as well. "But what if what these people are saying IS in the best interest of the creatures? I haven't received a formal complaint as of yet, I don't think these people are willing to just sit down and talk professionally like we are doing. It seems as if they want action immediately. I've simply kept a look out. I feel that we should listen, because a lot of what they are saying IS true. What if the docking of the crups tail DOES hurt the creature...What are we supposed to do then?" she asked rhetorically. She wanted no answer to that question as of yet.

"I think the protesters should be taken out of the equation entirely, then." He set his quill down, leaning on the table, his chin balanced on folded hands. "You're not genuinely interested in them, are you? You are concerned with their ideas and their implications. Namely, that there are issues in the wizarding world affecting these creatures. You can't base this entire thing on what the protesters are saying. That will only confuse you further, and you're going to get conflicting opinions. Some say it is better to let an animal roam free, others believe they are safer in captivity. For instance, some think that endangered animals, though they are being hunted to extinction, should be left to fend for themselves in the wild. They want these captured animals set free. Others believe the very survival of the species depends on taking and breeding these animals in captivity so as to not lose the entire species. Who is right? Who is acting in the best interest of the animals? Both? Neither?"

His head lifted, his fingers steepled as the tips of them tapped against each other. "Some of you may know that felines are not my favorite of any creature, so to speak highly of one is rare. However, I do remember the story of a cat, not a kneazle, named Olympia. This is a story from the muggle world, understand. A man found this cat as an adolescent kitten and took him to a veterinarian to be looked at. It was diagnosed to have feline leukemia. For those who don't know, this is a retrovirus which affects cats and can cause cancerous blood cells. Sometimes it can be fought off, but if it progresses far enough, there is little that can be done. Especially in the muggle world. The vet told the man that the leukemia had progressed past the point of no return, and likely the kitten would not live into adulthood. The recommendation was to have the cat put down, for its own sake."

He paused, not for any other reason than the thoughts and emotions turning about in his own mind.

"The man refused. He was moving out into the country, and decided he would bring the cat with him. His reason was that the cat would get to hunt and run to his heart's content, and die as a 'real' cat, whatever that meant to him. The cat not only lived into adulthood, but would hunt down and bring home jackrabbits, a type of wild hare. Often they were as large, or larger than he was. The man who owned him told me that Olympia once was bitten by a rattle snake. His head swelled up and the cat disappeared. A few days later he returned as if nothing had happened. When they moved to the city, the cat was seen one day chasing a dog down the street."

Another pause, but this time to be sure everyone grasped the true strength of this cat.

"The cat lived to be 15 years of age, remained a loving companion, and was later humanely put to sleep when something had crushed his hind legs, and he could no longer walk. And yet even when that happened, he tried to keep going, without complaining. And perhaps would have continued to try and do so, if not for that bit of mercy."

Drago closed his eyes, then, looking peaceful though filled with turmoil. "Who was this man to think he was doing the right thing? Feline leukemia is painful and horrendous in latter phases. And there was almost no chance for this cat to live, as far as he knew. Far from the reaches, or even influences of magic. But to know the entire life of this cat, that nearly didn't have a chance to live, one must think that it would have been cruel to take that life away."

"What we should not be asking is anything about these protesters, but what should we consider to be cruel? You may find very different opinions. But the other thing one must ask is how far can you treat an animal, magical creature or not, as human. It is fine to say that they should be treated as well as we treat each other, but we also cannot teach them to fend for themselves the way we would our children. An animal in care may forever need to be in care, and they may need to be altered for that sake. Is it cruel to spay and neuter stray feral cats, or is it more cruel to have feral kittens freezing to death in the cold of winter, or killing each other for scraps of meat? Is it better for them to be put down? Some say it is better to have lived than not at all, and others say it is better to never be born if it may be into a cruel life. So, the question is, where do we stand on those matters? Where do we draw the line between cruel and necessary? What if an answer we must choose is both?"


ooc: True story. Olympia, or just Oly, was my father's cat, and I grew up with it. Very friendly, very strong cat.

"Fwoopers are usually kept in cages correct?" Adjusting that tall hat atop his head, Warren looked rather amused. "So why charm the bird when you can charm the cage?" Tapping a fingertip against his temple, he smiled.

"It should not be a stretch to expect an experienced spellweaver to be able to find the Fwooper's counter frequency, and enchant the cage to resonate at that frequency. I could probably do it myself. For the right price, of course."

Violet pressed her lips together, mulling over the turn that the conversation had taken. "I agree with Erica," she said finally. "The rights of these creatures are more important than pleasing everyone. It's not just Crups and Fwoopers, either. I'm not sure how, but maybe we could try and pass something which umbrellas the rights of all the magical creatures that wizards keep as pets." She took a breath. "Since we cannot communicate with many of them, we can't know for sure what causes them pain or what contents them. That is mostly guesswork, and I think that that lack of communication is a big part of the problem. However, I also agree partially with Drago. If we try to keep us wizards happy and also shelter the animals out of complete harm as well, we will never be able to come up with a compromise." She turned toward Warren. "If we are going to keep using the fwoopers as an example, I think that charming the cage is an excellent idea, but it also has its setbacks. What if the bird somehow escapes from the cage?" she said.

"I had the same thought, though I cannot think of a better compromise. I think as far as fwoopers go, we have very little we can do. Either silence them, or keep people from owning them."

Listening to the comments of her co-workers, Drago's comment made the most sense or mabe it was just alot of talkng but it made sense to her. The cat story was really intresting and who could imagine a cat like that. She dabbed her quill into her ink and took some notes and decide on what she would say in her comment.

"Drago comes to a good point. Although we cannot ignore the situation all together but maybe we should look at what is really cruel to the animal and not so much on what is being protested. People are always going to have a problem but the thing is when is the problem worth taking seriously."

She stooped and took a breathe.

"If we are to actually help then it has to be for reasons that we know are right and safe for all. There are only a few ways to go about it as mentioned before either silence them or do not sell them."

Warren smiled politely, though there were the hints of a grin playing at the edges of his lips. "Good question." Leaning back in his hardwood chair, the chair bent like rubber to accomodate him. "Theoretically, the fwooper would only have to be within earshot of the cage for it's song to be canceled out. Perhaps some sort of proximity, or tethering charm, could help prevent the creature from getting any further than that."

Leaning forward once more, he placed his fingertips on the table, slowly tapping one of his index fingers on the surface. "If this were made to be the official regulation, it would raise the market price of fwoopers. It would no longer be a cheap gift, bought impulsively. Each cage would have to be built, and charmed to ministry standards."

Pausing for a moment to let his words sink in, Warren finished. "Something similar could probably be done with Crups', using some sort of illusionary collar when within proximity of muggles, but it does not seem as practical as simply lopping off a bit of tail. Personally, I have no problem with the practice, nor the silencing of fwoopers, but I'll offer alternatives if they are of interest to the ministry." And his own interests, of course.

She was still going to try, and that is what Nikos disagreed with. "Your not alone in the belief that we should be putting the animals best interest first," he said after she had finished speaking her piece. "But I don't agree that they are weak in any sense of the word. Far from it in fact. If we were without wands or magic then some would strike fear in more hearts than they do now, and kill double that." He paused to nod his head in agreement. "I DO agree that we should watch over and protect as many as we can in any humane way we can." Even though he disagreed with some of what she was saying, he could tell she was passionate about defending the creatures, as was he.

"I'm not underestimating their power, just stating that its virtually impossible to compromise with protesters." Especially when it was about something that was meant to keep muggles safe and ignorant to the magical world.

Brow knitting together, the man strongly considered Erica's words. It was possible that what they were saying was in the best interest of the creatures, but only if the cropping of their tails harmed them. And from what he knew, it didn't. Though there was no one hundred percent guarantee on things like that. Nikos let out a soft sigh. "Then how can we even consider doing anything with them if they refuse to sit and have a civilized conversation?" If they really cared about the creatures then sitting down with the ministry wouldn't be a problem. "Sounds like they're demanding things we can't guarantee." He paused, considering her words. "There's no harm in listening if they speak the truth." Erica was his boss, and if she wanted him to listen, even if he disagreed with it, then he would.

Nikos silently nodded in agreement with what was being said by the other creature workers. Well, most of them at least. "Isn't tethering a fwooper or keeping it within earshot of its cage, even if it doesn't physically harm them, still cruelty? Not only would they not be able to fly around, but they still wouldn't be able to sing. Seems like we would be doing more harm than help to me."

"Raising the price wouldn't stop those that wanted a fwooper from getting one, just stop those that can't afford them." He paused. "And even that wouldn't stop them for long if they truly wanted a fwooper." Nikos shrugged his shoulders indifferently. "The collar idea doesn't sound bad, though they should already be wearing collars around muggles. And having one doesn't take away the need to crop their tails."

"A bit on the collar note, collars can often be easily slipped. If a crup were to get out and lose their collar, it could be trouble. Admittedly, it's not as likely as with a cat or fox, but it is still a possibility. Though honestly, a crup loose around muggles is a large concern to begin with."

Erica listened to everyone again. They really were coming out with some interesting points and she was pretty certain the notes were exceeding a few pieces of parchment by now, but there were ideas she needed to get across but she wasn’t sure people were understanding her fully. The Department Head rested her head on her hand as she watched them talk amongst themselves, challenging their own ideas and also supporting others. She was thankful for this, it meant that all she had to do was conduct the meeting and this being her first one, meant that she was glad of that.

She turned to Drago first. “No, I don’t think your understanding me entirely, I think its both. I’m not entirely sure who these people are, all I know that is if they are that angered, I’m pretty certain that they could cause some damage. We shouldn’t just ignore them for who they are” she stated, completely straight faced. “But being the creatures head it is all more to do with what we can do to prevent any further harm to come to the creatures, and prevent any further protests. As I said earlier, it looks bad on us doesn’t it? Especially if people start agreeing with what is being said” her voice started to show signs of being agitated. The thirty-two year old listened to his story about the Kneazle and nodded, it was interesting but not particularly relevant, didn’t mean it couldn’t be used as an example though, it could be helpful in other meetings.

“I want to take everyone off of Crups and Fwoopers for now. Could I ask for any further examples you people can think of, ones that could be used against us?” she asked looking at everyone. She feared they were taking certain small issues too far. A change of subject was in order, certainly before they started asking more detailed questions centered around whom the protestors were, or delving into details in which Erica could simply not explain. “Once we have compiled together a list of creatures we think could be discussed and only then will we look into changing our regulations and rules regarding them” she stated clearly. She wanted no further opinions on what could be done, she needed examples first.

Her Department were doing so well and the discussion was turning out to be better then she thought it would be. Erica took a sip of her tea and looked down at her own notes she had written, not the same as were being produced, but ones she’d already made on the situation, creatures whom she had come up with, ideas on what could be done. She would store the meetings notes in the filing cabinet later. They were incredibly important after all.

Examples well that seemed to be easy. She listen to the Department Head and took down notes, but Erica seemed like she was getting really upset or at least irrated with the comments that wer being voiced.

She looked at the department head, "What about the incdent a few years ago with the hippogriff and the student at Hogwarts? It was accused that the hippogiff attacked the student and caused major uproar. It went to court and the creature was sentenced to be executed." She replied surely she had heard of the incident. Just then she had heard of another.

"There was another that invloved cockatrice when it went on a rampage at the triwizard tourtament. They locked up a few that was not stunned or killed" She said