"It'll be good not to have to do side-along." It would also be good to do apparition legally as well. But nobody needed to know that. Mia looked at Destiny and raised her eyebrows when her friend went to say something but then the Ministry fellow spoke and she also turned her attention to him.

Were they supposed to raise their hand when they answered a question? She supposed it was a lesson of sorts, so Mia raised her hand in the air. "Well there's enchanted muggle transport. Like when Beaubaxton and Durmstrang came here a few years ago. They came by a magical boat and magical carriage."

Merlin. It did no good to procrastinate in answering in this class now did it. Marie put her hand in the air before anyone else could answer and leave her with repeating what someone else already said. "There's the Knight Bus." A form of transportation she herself had used a few terms back.

Isabelle raised her hand as she listened to all the other answers. To bad most of hers had been taken. Then she remembered a magical creature. "Aren't Thestrals a form of magical transportation with the downside of these magical creatures aren't seen by normal witches and wizards. Only those who have seen death can see thestrals so others may feel uncomfortable riding something they can't see," Isabelle explained. She knew she couldn't see them and wouldn't want to ride one then.

Marilyn beamed at him as he showed the same enthusiasm right back at her. She couldn't help how excited she was, seriously...It'd be SOOO much easier to travel and not have to worry about that throw-up feeling one got with portkeys or getting filthy with floo powder.

Raising her hand, "I once read in a History of Magic book about someone owning an enchanted motorcycle during the Potter Era...Sirius Black?"

All the purbloods were related somehow...meaning he was probably a distant cousin of hers...or someting.

Enchanted muggle transportation? Magical transportation?

Well...it was not like Josh did not know any of them but every single thing he knew about magical transportation and muggle related ones, like broomsticks, were already mentioned. Those and beyond...thanks to Destiny whose words made him laugh.

As he listened to others, the Gryffindor boy wrapped an arm around Evelyn's shoulders and leaned towards her a bit yet when an idea of AN AWESOME WAY OF TRANSPORTATION hit him, he jumped on his feet and spoke rather enthusiastically;

''DRAGONS!!!'' then he looked around ''Umm...well...i am not sure if they are used for transportation currently but...i would love to ride a dragon.''

Hehehehehe...

Marilyn looked at Josh...trying not to laugh.

O.o

Raising her hand again, out of habit more than anything..."Oh, and the Hogwart's Express...I believe that's one of the more important ones."

Dear? He was calling her a DEAR?!

o_O

Now THAT was something she wasn't used to! Maybe that's what he called everyone? But... boys men don't say that. Do they?

Meh.

Kita brushed off the thought of the use of a simple word and instead focused on the man's request. Sit down? She looked down at the desk next to her and then up at Mr Recard. "Er, sure!" she chirped, taking a seat at the desk near her. Why she hadn't done this before, she didn't know.

The brunette looked at Mr Recard and listened in to what he was saying. Introductions... works for the Ministry. Her eyes flickered to the woman. Miss Spades was it? She could remember that.

Now. Time to answer the question. "Broomsticks!" she said, rather excitedly.

Ahem!

"Don't the first years come to Hogwarts across the lake? On those little boats?" That was a way of getting from one place to another right?



Bliiiiiiink.

Was that... no... BUT IT WAS! Treyen. Boy, it had been AGES since she last saw him. But then again, they weren't exactly friends or anything. They just knew each other from Quidditch last year.

And speaking of Quidditch, the boy hadn't signed up, had he? His name wasn't on the list, which was weird considering the fact that there's no way HE would have failed tryouts. Heck, the only time that would happen would be when she, Kita, decided that she didn't like shopping.

... It hurt just to think about it.

She had kind of been mad at Simon when he told her that he wasn't going to be on the team but... she couldn't do this to Treyen. No. He might get glares from Isobel, who knows. So that's why she smiled at the boy as he came to sit near her. At least she wasn't the only Hufflepuff in the room.



Kita turned her attention to the front and decided to look at who was coming through the trapdoor. Who knows, maybe someone else she knew might enter the room. Maybe someone she was close to? It would certainly be better to do this with a familiar face.

Just when that thought entered her head, a blonde head popped up. One that made Kita grin. This was definitely going to be an easier process. And she knew she'd be able to giggle her socks off later with the familiar girl.

The grin still stayed on her face as she watched the girl come closer to her. "Hi Caroline!" she said, trying not to squeal. This was a classroom, after all.

It was funny how they had matching grins on their faces.

Lexi nodded in greeting to Mister Recard and momentarily wondered if the man knew Mister Gevrik since they both worked for the Ministry... hmmm. Perhaps she would ask him later after the lesson. Anywhooo... yeah. Angst was NOT about apparition at all. It was about her so called boyfriend and his need to TOUCH other girls and ogle old hags. HMPH.

Whatever.

Raising her hand after a moment of listening to her classmates she said, "Well we went to the party for Lord Borr in flying limousines that the Ministry provided for us. History also tells us that Arthur Weasley had an enchanted car that flew." Modified Muggle transport for the win, yo. Lowering her hand she went back to ignoring Sal and smiled at Mister Recard.

... hadn't he been AT the Borr fiasco? Ewwwww. He was one of his minions wasn't he?

"That absolutely correct. Athought flying carpets are extremely popular in other regions of the world, particularly the Middle East and northern Africa, they are indeed illegal here in Great Britian." He added the Slytherin Head Girl's answer to the list on the board.
Oh one of his favorites, "Yes Portkeys are a very common way we each get around, thank you." He added her answer to the list under 'Flying carpets'.
This girl could be an employee in the Magical Transportation department. He answer was spot on for the basic meathods of magical transport. "Good answers, those three in addition to Apparition make up the four divisions of my department at the Ministry, and are the most common methods policed here in Britain."
Oh the Muggle box, such a great invention.

O___O

Armen listened as the girl spoke and he was becoming more and more confused as she went on. Umm, they all sounded about right. "Yeah, um certainly there have been cases of enchanted bicycles here and there. And magical creature is absolutely a method commonly used throughout time including the Abraxen." Yep she was on to...somthing at least.

He had never seen anyone ride the Giant Squid but maybe somebody did for this girl to think it was possible. Strange kid.
This girl was thinking a tad more outside of the box, which was a good thing on a question like this.

"Great point," he said with a nod at the Hufflepuff. "two of the International institutions use their own forms of magical transportation because just like Howarts, each of their schools have their own protections in place in order to keep their students and staff safe, which render more common forms of transportation uselss inside their walls. Good."

The giant Beuxbatons carriage really was quite a site, Armen had seen it himself once.
He was waiting for this one.

"That's correct! Perhaps the most membrable of all the 'other' styles of magical transportation!" He added the magical bus to the list.
Oooh by far the creepiest form of transportation, well scratch that. Armen really destested the Ministry's floo-type toilet flushing system that he had used once to get into the Ministry atrium. Never used that again.

"That is also a correct answer. Although they are not used as commonly as some of the other creatures, because of their limited living grounds, but if you know where one is and are kind and respectful enough they will let you ride them." Well it would also work alot better if you could see the thing.

Recard added it to the list.
Oh students payed attention in History of Magic these day? That was impressive.

"Of course, yes. Sirus Black the once notorious mass murderer who was then proven innocent did in fact own an enchanted motorbike." Armen nodded, adding it to the list. That must have been a pretty awesome way to get around, he couldn't lie about that.
O___o

Recard was taken aback slightly by the boy's sudden outburst of the word dragons and had to resist the urge to look behind him swiftly through the window to see if there had been one out on the grounds. Which was impossible dragons hadn't been near this region in hundreds of years.

"Oh, umm. Well that's a tricky one actually." Armen said trying to see how that would work. "Well I mean you could technically ride one if you were not ripped to shredds or burned trying to get on one. But seeing as dragons are endangered animals and highly dangerous, I would not condone ever rididng one."

Let alone getting near it. Seriously did that boy wish to be burned to a crisp?
The Sirius Black girl spoke up again, and Armen was wondering if she had something wrong but she actually had another answer.

She was a Slytherin, since when were they class overachievers?! What was wrong with Hogwarts these days? "Yes the Hogwarts Express is an excellent example of magically enchanted Muggle items. The Ministry of Magic, ummm recieved the train in order to allow for a more collective and safer way to get the students to Hogwarts each fall."

He didn't want to go into all the messy details and letigations of the exchange and so he just added it to the list.

Ok the girl he thought had been a Ravenclaw turned out to be a Puffs, so what? Armen was allowed to be confused from time to time. Even though the light hitting the yellow on her badge had taken him off guard when it happened.

"Broomsticks, yep those are fairly common wouldn't you say so?" he was just about to address the next hand raised when the Puff spoke up again. "Oh interesting choice. The boats used by Hogwarts Castle are regular boats but they are charmed to move on their own. So I guess they would fall under the title of enchanted muggle items." If the Durmstrang boat counted.

He added that one to the list.
This child had gone to Borr's welcome bash in Diagon Alley? She must have been one of the children who had joined them up on the stage to sing. Hmm.

"Yes those are two examples of Muggle transportation being turned into Magical transportation; as opposed to the broom to the broomstick or a boot into a Portkey. Very good."

Added to the list it shall be!

------------------

"Great answers everyone!" Armen said as he sat the chalk down. He preferred to write with his hands, the Muggle way, because his writing wasn't the neatest by magic. "Now to talk just breifly about a few of these things mentioned. First off the magically enchanted muggle items. In order to use any of these or before you even try to create something, you must check with the correct department and division in the Ministry in order to get permission and the correct patents." Armen said to make sure that was clear to everyone in the room, they couldn't make a flying mop just because they wanted to.

Now for the second point, which was a bit weird for Armen since he never really chose this form of transport often. "Magical creatures is a tougher subject. You obviously can't jump on a centaur's back and expect him to give you a ride." he eyed the Slytherin girl who had mentioned the Giant Squid. "We must educate ourselves on which creatures we can ride, and ride safely." Dragons were a no no.

The next question was a bit harder and required a bit of explaining. "So as I mentioned a few of these forms are illegal or looked down upon in our society today here in Great Britain, why do you think this is? Why is there so much regulation on the use of dragons, flying carpets, or un-patented flying cars?"

Jumping slightly at Josh's enthusiastic answer, Evelyn grinned and tugged him to sit back down. How she herself would LOVE to ride a dragon! Was one of her goals in life to do. It will happen!

Yet what didn't have her grinning was the ministry department dude going on about everything BUT apparition. She wanted to learn how to apparate! Not why flying carpets were banned in Britain or why they couldn't ride on dragons. The Slytherin girl was already becoming a tad impatient yet she tried to answer the question anyways. Make him talk faster and get to the good parts. "Soooo...the ministry has less to worry about?"

Made sense.

Raising her hand, Marilyn sighed. "I suppose it's got something to do with the danger involved in most of these modes of transportation..."

As a Slytherin with pureblood-crazy parents...Well, they got up in arms about anything really. Scratch that point. "The Ministry..." doesn't want to make themselves look bad "...wants to make sure that we all get from point A to point B in the safest possible way we can..."

The Ministry guy was giving her a weird look...The blonde imagined her enthusiasm was a bit much...but whatever. She'd been waiting for this for a VERY long time. She was allowed to be smart.

Hmm.

Oh, heck yes. Ellie was good at this transportation stuff. She deserved brownie points for her spectacular answer. Or just brownies. That'd work too. Now, why not ride Dragons and stuff? Ellie raised her hand again before answering. "Most likely to keep things more organized with just a few ways of simple transportation. Also, to ensure the traveler's safety, because if they got hurt riding a dragon, they may try to blame the Ministry for allowing such... dangerous ways of transportation." Ellie nodded. She sounded so smart.

Why would anyone want to ride on a dragon? That was what Vashti wanted to know. Riding on flying carpets and in flying cars was one thing, but a dragon? That thing could EAT you! Who wanted to be flying to a friend's house and never make it because you were EATEN by your mode of transportation? Hmm? Who?

That's right. No one.

That didn't answer the question the Ministry guy asked though.

So Vashti raised her hand. "It could have something to do with the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy. The larger and more conspicuous your chosen mode of transportation is - like a dragon - the harder it is to actually conceal from Muggles, especially for those wizards who live near and around Muggle homes. It's much easier to use something like a broomstick or Floo Powder because those can be hidden or they look enough like something Muggles use to avoid drawing attention."

Dragons..... Really who in the whole entire world besides that crazy guy would want to ride a dragon. Really. Dragon equals scary. Period. End of story. Isabelle raised her hand at the next question. "Is it because of the Statute of Secrecy sir. Dragons for example could be seen by muggles and that is a break of the Statute of Secrecy, plus they are just plain dangerous. And an example is when Harry Potter and Ron Weasley drove Arthur Weasleys flying car to Hogwarts they were spotted by a couple of Muggles which was bad news."

Mia was actually having a little chuckle about riding dragons and giant squids and almost missed the next question. She raised her hand in the air. "Perhaps it's because you're trying to use something that wasn't designed for magical transportation. We all know that the carpets and cars are muggle products, so to speak and they're not meant to fly in the air or go through walls or whatever they have been charmed to do. They're being manipulated to do something they're not supposed it. A bit like dragons. They are ancient, magical creatures and they are too grand and full of wisdom to be used as people carriers." Was that too much information? Was that even what they were looking for?

"Oh and because we don't want the muggles to see us, otherwise they'll all want one." Not so much a dragon but probably a flying car or carpet.

Lexi raised her hand once more and said, "If any of the so called Muggle Artifacts were to fall into the hands of Muggles it could create an incident between the Magical and Muggle worlds. This is why the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts division of the Ministry exists. To ensure that things that have been enchanted or tampered with are not discovered by or used to harm Muggles." She COULD be wrong... but that made sense to her. Heh.

He'd given Vashti a smile when she greeted him. And was perfectly relieved to see other sixth years making their way into the room.

But now the man had started to talk...and it was time to focus on whatever it was they were going to be hearing from the Ministry people standing in front of them. Then...dragons, flying carpets, flying cars. They could try and find that flying Ford Anglia that he so believed was still roaming around.

Yes, after almost a hundred years, the car was still around.

"Travel as light as possible, Sir." He said, after having raised his hand moments before. "Plus, we wouldn't want to be seen by Muggles either...and whilst trying to conceal a car or a carpet is easier than concealing a dragon...the other methods are certainly faster and not as messy." Salander had been awful while trying to fly on a carpet that one time Vindictus taught other flying things.

But the 'travel as light as possible' he took from his Muggle travels. Airports were better if you'd packed only what was necessary for you to carry away from home.

His head turned sharply when Lexi suddenly shifted her seat away from him. Uh oh. This does not bode well for the Slytherin lad nuh uh. He looked back at the Apparition instructors, hooked a finger up as if to say to excuse him a moment then hop-scooted his seat right after Lexi. If she plans to keep scooting away from him he'll just keep scooting right after her. You can say it follows the scope of the lesson, as they will no doubt demonstrate in living color how to get from point A to point B. All over the classroom.


Huh.... why is there so much fuss over those? He raised his hand and replied "Uhm.... well cars are a Muggle invention and they're kinda meant to stay on the ground, not up in the sky, so I guess its the Ministry's way of making sure we dont catch unnecessary Muggle attention." That much he knew, the whole hullabaloo with the Statute and all "As for flying carpets, I actually tried riding one..." he aint saying Vindy where or how "... and they gotta be regulated 'cuz they.... got no seat belts." or seats for that matter. "And some of them are real ugly." Some would say that alone is enough to keep them out of Wizarding skies.

Oh and nearly forgot about this one "And dragons have got to be regulated because..... they eat people." Or maybe just him. Then again he didnt want this to turn into a discussion about himself.

OMG. Why was he FOLLOWING her? What.A.Creep. HMPH.

Lex turned and gave him a haughty nose turn up the likes of which Neptune Bott would be proud of. Mhm. Stradivarius Salander meet Lexi Kennedy's cold shoulder.

Dragons eat people? Great answer Head Boy. Lexi snorted slightly and looked back at the Ministry person before scooting her chair over juuuuust a tad more.

Sam didn't have to think too hard about this one. "Well I think some of those are a little different. But at the same time, all of them could be easily spotted by muggles without regulations." He knew he had to keep going. "I say different because a dragon is also dangerous since it could eat you, start fires in the countryside, or do any number of unpredictable things. Carpets and cars can also be dangerous because if you don't do the right spell they could malfunction in the air and crash, hurting you and possibly muggles." He thought that was a pretty complete answer. He was wondering if they would actually get to try anything practical this lesson or if he would have to wait.

Teaching at Hogwarts was not as nerve-wracking as Armen thought it would be. He had arrived at the Castle and had immediately felt unsure of his teaching abilities but he was rethinking that now, the students seemed to be learning alot so far; which meant he hopefully would not run into them doing things they were supposed to be doing with modes of magical transportation.

Hmmm...this girl was certainly on to something, and Armen agreed the powers that USED to be in charge of the Ministry would have fit that bill perfectly. "Well, that is not entirely correct, but a good start." he said with a nod.
"Well, both great points yet not exactly what I was looking for." She was certainly right though. The Ministry wanted to avoid people getting hurt from outdated and dangerous mode of transport and he agreed with that for the most part.

But yes, good answer nontheless.
"Not exactly."

These guys should know this answer, it had only been beaten into their heads from the time they new they could do magic. "Not really, no. We still have many forms of magical transport, like we mentioned before," he said pointing to the board. "and even though Apparition, Portkeys, brooms, and floo powder are the only modes we have a whole Division specifically set up for, does not mean the others are not watched."
And then they had a winner! If only he was allowed to give house points.

*siiiigh*

"That is exactly right Miss! We do not want to bring too much attention to ourselves whislt travelling in the open, for fear Muggles will see our magic." he would elaborate more later, but good job for the Ravenclaw.
This girl was right in a few different ways, and even hit on the answer he was looking for towards the end of her little ramble.

Armen nodded and then spoke, "You are right. Although we do regulate pretty strictly the muggle items allowed to be bewitched as travel aides, we don't discredit them against completely wizard created modes." He smiled. "And with dragons and certainly centaurs, we do not ride them either because of the fact that they are dangerous or because they have human-like thoughts and actions. When chosing a creature to ride you must certainly use discretion. And like you said, we do not want the Muggles to see us." Just yet at least.

"Right on the head!" Armen beamed at the girl he now recognized to be part of the group of Hogwarts students to be brought forward during Lord Borr's welcoming party in Diagon Alley. She seemed pretty smart, this one.

"If a muggle somehow got ahold of one of out broomsticks rather than their own, huge damges could be done, the Muggle may harm themselves or others, and it breaches the International Statute of Secrecy."
Good, good.

"Both great advice and a good answer. Like I mentioned to some of your classmates already, travel must be well concealed from Muggles or else it would breach the Statute of Secrecy." Now the students were becoming more on the ball.
"Yes, Muggles seeing us would not be good would it?" he nodded, not that he agreed with this. Soon after the Cult had fully taken over, that would be corrected.

O__O

"You rode a flying carpet? My boy, where on earth did you do this?" he wasn't going to get him in trouble, he was just curious. Armen had never even gotten to do that yet.
Good answer.

"That is correct, dragons are both a dangerous creature and a very noticable form of transport." Not very ideal for a group wanting to stay in hiding.

------------------------

"Ok so as many of you remember, the International Statute of Secrecy was established in 1692 by the International Confederation of Wizards to end the mass witch burnings across the globe." It always sounded so grim when he thought of that, and certainly some of the students may not have heard all of this history before.

"No need to fret though kids, if they caught any real witches or wizards they were able to fix the flames to not hurt but to tickle or cool them and then feigning death afterwards. The real harm was the fack that man Muggles were confused for witches and were killed instead." he paused. It was definately not a good time to live in, very bad. "One of the biggest reasons was the fact that the Muggle community was constantly pestering the witches and wizards in there towns to teach them their magic, which is impossible."

And now it was time to bring up the real stuff. "Now, some claim that the Statute is a necessity still and to this day many of our kind are hesitant for an repeal. But there are a few inivators that think we should challenge the old ways and come out into the open once again!" Armen voice was rising with emotion now, he was of course extremely pro-Cult of Walpurgis, being a part of it and all.

"Our wonderful Minister of Magic Lord Borr has made some effort in the each Department to begin ways of testing how this will go including slight intergration expereiments of Muggle and Magical transport systems." And now that he had given them a bit of his Pro-Cult sales pitch, back to the lesson.

"Now that we have named a few of the main types of magical transportation and talked about how NOT to do some of them, I would like you to each pick one of the four main types: Apparition, Brooms, Floo Powder, or Portkeys and tell me a little of what you knwo about them. Just pick one."

Oooh which one to talk about? Mia had tried all four modes of transport and she only really liked one of them so she'll talk about that one. She raised her hand in the air. "A portkey is an object of your choice. It can be anything from an old boot to a tea pot and has been charmed with the 'Portus' spell to make it a mode of transportation. It can take you to your destination straight away or it can operate at a special time. All you have to do is place just a finger on the object and it will transport you from the place you are currently at to your desired destination."

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight...

Josh could remember this Statute of Secrecy thing. During one term, he coud not remember which, probably because he had never paid much attention, it had been mention in almost every class. Some people found it annoying and some found interesting. Josh, on the other hand, did not care about it at all. Yet that was during that time. Now it seemed like he had his own ideas. ''Sir...'' so he said rising from his seat ''...i think it would be nice if we did not have to hide ourselves from muggles and live together with them in peace as equals. But this is like a...fantasy, is not it? Because we cannot tell what every single individual's reaction would be and it can lead to bad things.''

Yes, this was his idea about this topic and well...he just wanted to point it out. Now to answer the man's questions.

''Dragons....'' *ahem* okay no dragons. ''...my favourite among them would be brooms, sir.'' not to mention it was the only one he knew about ''They are charmed stuff, are not they? Y'know. Normal brooms as muggles know them can't be used to fly. And it is pretty much fun to use a broom. But...i suppose, regarding what Mia has just said, it must be taking much more time to arrive to the destination with a broom. Plus it is not the best choice when the weather is...bad.''

Well Marie was going to talk about portkeys since she had used them on a few occasions, but she didn't want to sound like she was copying off Mia. So instead she decided to go with floo powder.

Raising her hand she gave her answer. "Sir, Floo powder is used by wizards to travel and communicate using fireplaces. It is a powder that sort of looks like ashes from a fireplace except this powder... glitters. It can be used with any fireplace as long as it is connected to the floo network. In order for the powder to work you must throw it into the fireplace that has the fire going in it. Once the powder hits the fire it will turn a shade of emerald green. The witch or wizard can then step into the fire without getting harmed and all they have to do is state their intended destination. They MUST say their destination in a clear voice and say it with purpose. If this is not done then they could very well end up in a place they didn't want to go to."

Wow, that was a mouthful. She could go on about how you could also use floo powder to communicate with one another but she would leave that for someone else to tell.

Not exactly correct...

Well Evelyn though it was mostly correct. Besides the whole keeping themselves hidden from the muggles, that was like, the second best option! The ministry guy was probably just paid to say that to them. Josh's comment about everyone living together peacefully though had her thoughts drifting off somewhere else.

Until the ministry dude continued on again....

"Wait, sir." she said a little loudly, sitting up straight in her seat and she tried to understand just what exactly he was talking about. "I may have misunderstood but, you are saying...that our own Minister of Magic is just one of the people who are trying to put us out in the open again?" Is THAT what he was saying? Forget that other question! Had they all not been tortured enough in the past!?