#periculumplot

[theliongrant]

The Pains of Growing

Grant had been working towards attending this event for the whole summer. Soon after term ended, Bellamy had told Grant about the Witch Weekly Festival- an exclusive event, you had to be invited or a guest of someone invited just to know where the portkey was. When Grant had read the pamphlet, he’d almost passed out from excitement. Two days of stalls from all over the country, skincare and pampering tents, demonstrations, music, raffles, giveaways… And the second day! The second day sounded even better. All of the biggest names in music were going to be there.

After the excitement wore off enough for him to really think about it, Grant realised how… Impossible attending such an event seemed. He’d been to Diagon Alley only once, and even then the sounds and sights and people felt like it was crushing him. Only Tami’s soothing presence helped him through that. He was so excited about the idea of going to this festival. But with how many people would be there, plus a fireworks display… It just seemed unrealistic.

Ever the stubborn Slytherin, Bellamy wasn’t going to take ‘no’ for an answer. He spent the entire summer working in collaboration with Grant, Polly, some Muggle medicines and Grant’s parents to slowly acclimate Grant to larger crowds and spaces.

By the time the last weekend of the summer had arrived, Grant was asking to go to the shops to buy a nice outfit for the festival. His Mum had nearly fallen out of her chair.

Grant used the portkey all by himself to get to the festival grounds, hidden away in the Lake District and surrounded by wards and spells to keep Muggles away. Immediately on arrival, Grant was given a goodie bag filled with treats and samples, which folded neatly into a purse that could fit in one’s pocket, and an outline of the events for the day. He ended up  planning his whole day out meticulously, down to the minute.

First up was attending a Love Potion demonstration. Grant had always been curious about them, and he’d skipped Potions when they covered it in class, so he really was impressed. They passed around a vial of Amortentia, and to Grant, it smelled like the gentle smoke of a warm fire, of dust blown off from old pages, and… Sweat. It confused him at first, but then he remembered just how hot and bothered he got after Bellamy got back from a long practice. Grant grinned to himself for pretty much the whole demonstration.

Next, he tried some delicious sodas, brought in from America just for the event. The grapefruit one was so yummy that Grant bought another one to sip throughout the day.

He had his palm read after that. The woman who read his palm was all sorts of lovely, with frizzy, long blonde hair that she held out of her face with a scarf. Grant had always been a bit nervous about Divination given how much Professor Trelawney scared him, but this woman gave him nothing but good, warm feelings. According to his palm, Grant was going to have a long life, with a strong, healthy relationship. He would know pain and loss, but apparently the other lines on his hand made up for that. Grant found it all rather fascinating and gave the lovely woman a nice, warm hug.

He made some friends at a pampering station, sitting in an enchanted chair while someone massaged his feet, his jeans rolled up his legs. Grant knew now why his Mum went to the nail salon every other week- this was pure luxury. Halfway through falling asleep in the chair, Grant resolved to go and get a pedicure with Bellamy as often as he could. Maybe they could help Bellamy with stress.

Eventually the sun set and Grant was exhausted. He sat with his newfound friends in front of a music tent, picking at the last of his dinner- which had been served to him on the most beautiful plate that was actually edible. Environmentally-friendly spells were apparently the trend of the year. They were waiting for a fireworks display to start. Grant smiled to himself, completely content and happy. He leaned back, looking up at a flagpole nearby, where Polly sat. She wasn’t close by, but she was keeping an eye out. Just in case.

Grant closed his eyes and gave a happy sigh.

And then the screaming started.

And it didn’t. Stop.

Grant was pushed to his feet when the girls around him stood- some of them apparated immediately upon looking in the direction of the screams, which seemed to come from the forest next to the festival grounds. Grant couldn’t see anything, really. People were running in his direction and pushing and there was just so much screaming.

He frowned, turning to follow in the direction the crowd was running, when he heard another sound, louder than the screams. A howl. Grant’s blood ran cold, and he felt as though his stomach was rising up, pushing out his throat. Not again. Not again, not again.

Grant managed to push himself to run with the others. Where was the Portkey? There was so much going on that he didn’t remember what direction he came in from, let alone the Portkey location. He just ran. As fast as he could, as far as he could. He couldn’t differentiate the sound of his own feet touching the floor and the blood pumping through his body, echoing in his ears.

Then, another sound. A growl.

The wind was pushed out of Grant as he was knocked to the ground. The force of whatever hit him felt like a ten tonne truck. Perhaps an elephant had knocked him down.

And then the pain. The wolf atop Grant had him pinned, and tore down his side with its teeth. Grant cried out, immediately trying to curl up to stop the pain, but the wolf had already moved on, launching on to its next victim. Ripping into them.

On his side, Grant could see more of the carnage. Not many people were running now. Through blurred vision, Grant could see wolves. So many of them. More than he could count. Some of them ripped further into their victims, some of them dragged screaming girls into the forest.

He trembled, feeling as though his body had been dunked into ice cold water. Grant trembled, wanting desperately to get up, to get away, but he couldn’t move. He was stuck there.

Panic set in when he realised this, his breaths quickening, eyes widening. No. He had to get up. Had to get up or- or- or bad things would happen. Breathe in and out. In. Out. In. Out. He managed to curl his fingers around the grass, warm and sticky from… Blood. Was it his own? Probably. Probably.

The festival grounds were starting to get quiet now. The occasional cry out for help. Sometimes another whimper. Not Grant though. He couldn’t manage it. He could breathe in. And out. In, and out.

He could feel the warmth of the evening summer air. He could feel the air swirling through his body, with nowhere to go. And he could feel himself slip further and further into the earth, pulling him down peacefully, as if he were sinking below the grass and earth. In. In. In. And then, nothing.

[soledad-archer]

Tight fists and white knuckles pressed against her thighs as Sol walked into the Alchemy room. Normally Sol was quite put together, but not today. Sleep had been avoiding her and she had been avoiding food so she was definitely looking frail and worse for wear. She had been wanting to get a chance to talk, or rather yell, at the aurors but now that she was there she was finding it hard to find that same fire. She hated this. She didn’t want to be answering questions when they should all be out looking for Tami. Sol would much rather be out there helping look for her than be answering questions but she had to remind herself that maybe something she knew could help them. Sol sat down at the chair offered. She glanced up at Professor Slainthorpe because as much as Sol put up a tough front she was nervous as all hell. What if she couldn’t give them any good information? What if they never found Tami? What if she was already dead and they were looking for murders rather than kidnappers since there was no way she would have wandered off on her own. Sol was in her own head as the worries and anxiety built up the tension in her muscles when she was interrupted by someone speaking.

“Sorry to have you here on this matter Miss. Archer, but you are obviously very close to Miss. Naruse and we need to know as much as possible,” said Auror Scott.

 “Well ask what you’re going to ask already because you need to be out there looking for her rather than up in this castle.” Sol didn’t know the exact statistics, but she knew that the longer it took for a kid to be found than the higher likelihood of them already being dead. She needed Tami found alive because the alternative was just too hard to bear. She already lost so many other people in her life and she couldn’t lose Tami too.

 “Alright I will get to it. Did Miss. Naruse tell anyone her plans for Hogsmeade before she left?”

 “Yeah she was going to go get her birthday cake. I was going to go with her but I had to finish some homework before Quidditch practice….” Sol hit her thigh with her fist in anger. She blamed herself. If she had just gone with her then maybe she would be okay. Maybe they would have been none the wiser to any plot to kidnap her and they would be happy right now as life went on as normal.  

 “Okay, so what kind of mood was she in when she left?”

 “What? Do you think maybe if she was upset she would runaway? Because she didn’t. She wouldn’t. She was perfectly happy. I mean she was on her way to get cake for fucks sake!” Sol felt Professor Stainthorpe place a gentle hand on her arm as a reminder to stay calm. Sol grunted and leaned back in her chair as she rolled her eyes and awaited the next question.

 “You say she was happy when you saw her last, but is there anyone Tamiko has a bad relationship with? In school or outside of school. Perhaps someone that would change her mood?”

 “Tami is friends with everybody.” Sol was the one who had trouble making friends and if anything had more enemies than friends. “I guess there’s Artur but nobody likes him. He’s an absolute creep.” If Artur had anything to do with Tami’s disappearance she would kill him.

 “You say this student, Artur, is a ‘creep’ so if Miss. Naruse wanted to feel safer, outside of Hogwarts, where would she go?”

 “First of all, Tami wouldn’t just go disappearing without telling me just because she talked to Artur, if she even did that in the first place. She wouldn’t just leave. Tami’s not like that. Tami-“ Sol was breathing a little harder. She was freaking out and needed to calm down as the tears started to sting her eyes. She looked down at her feet as she dug her nails into her legs as she tried to regain control of her emotions. “She wouldn’t just runaway…” Sol murmured. “Tami mentioned once that she liked the British Museum but I’m pretty sure she’s not there.” Sol had this terrible gut feeling that Tami was scared and hurt. Certainly not at a museum that she enjoyed.

 “Did Miss. Naruse personally know any victims from the attacks?”

 “No, I don’t think so. She’s a protester and advocator for Veela rights of course but I’m not sure if she actually knew anyone who was killed.” Though Sol thought that maybe she would now be the one to know someone who was killed by those monsters… The thought made Sol start to freak out again but this time Professor Stainthorpe spoke up.

 “Now I think that is enough questions for now. Young Miss. Archer has been very cooperative but I think this should end now.” The professor began to get up and she motioned for Sol to join her.

 As Sol started to stand up she looked angrily at the aurors across the table. “You better find her. You assholes are sitting here when you could be out there looking for her. Hell you probably could have found her by now if you weren’t just sitting here on your asses asking stupid questions. You should have ended this last year. You are terrible at this job.” Professor Stainthorpe started to pull her out of the classroom before she could continue but Sol managed to yell out one last thing, “Her blood is on your hands!” She was breathing heavily as she stood outside of the classroom with the professor. It took all of her will to not punch the walls again.

 “Are you alright Sol? Do you need a minute? Maybe you could go to the Hospital Wing so Madame Longbottom could help you? Have you been sleeping alright? Eating?” Professor Slainthorpe worried about her students and Sol was incredibly vulnerable right now.

 “I’m fine. I’ll be okay as soon as they find Tami alive and bring her back to safety.” With that Sol left. She needed to figure out a way to launch her own investigation. “Y si no, mato a todos,” she mumbled to herself as she walked away.

[meredith-halliwell]

To my lovely Meredith,

 I hope you are doing well my dear. After everything that has happened in the past year I have been uneasy. I keep telling my sister that she needs to lay low. An auror is no position for her right now when veelas are being so obviously targeted. Perhaps you can talk some sense into her, but for now I want you to remain as safe as possible. I have a bad feeling. I just cannot believe that Mr. Dufort managed the murder at Hogwarts all on his own. If that person managed to get on and off campus without being noticed then they are still a threat. I do not know who this person is or if they even truly exist, but I just have a bad feeling. You are a smart girl, get it from me of course, but you still need to be cautious. If anything for your parents. They love you so dearly and even if you are not blood you are still connected to veelas. Who knows who these bastards will target next, but we must be ready for them. I will remain vigilant here in France, but you and your family must do the same across the water. I miss you my little bird. Come visit me as soon as you can.

             Love, your dear aunt Marie

[jeremy-lockhart]

London Plan || Loxley and Jeremmy Drabble

Jeremy ran into Loxley as he was heading up to McGonagall’s office, “Did she call for you too? Do you think it’s about the family? Or maybe just the trial?” Jeremy hadn’t really known why he had been called for when it was just him, but with Loxley involved it had to be one of two things.

“When you say ‘the family’ it sounds like we're in the mafia. It's for the trial, definitely.” Loxley hadn't actually considered that it might be for the Lockharts, but he was sure it was for Prof Foley. Miri would have sent an owl otherwise, though Loxley was already doing a pretty good job keeping her updated. He wanted to see the twins while he was in London. They'd already grown so much.

“I just want this all to be over with and for Professor Foley to come home with us.” Jeremy wasn’t sure if he would be able to handle it if the professor was wrongly convicted and he hadn’t been able to stop it.

The inside of McGonagall’s office was nothing new to him. She added a couple of little trinkets since he was in first year, but the general feeling was the same. She greeted them warmly and Loxley was relieved. He had wondered if they'd get in trouble for all of this. Tami was really loud when she had a cause like this.

Jeremy was excited to hear from McGonagall that she had received a letter from the Vampire Tolerance Society suggesting they’d be willing to give evidence in support of Professor Foley. The more people they had on their side the better.

“While you do have permission from your guardians to testify at the trial that does not mean you must. You can decide to remove yourself from the trial if you wish to without question. I know you both are doing this for the professor, but I remind you that you will be under oath and must say the truth.” McGonagall was just making sure her students were prepared and aware of everything they would have to do.

“So what are we supposed to do on the day of trial?” Jeremy asked.

“On February 13th you two are to meet in my office after breakfast. Please make sure to dress nicely as to give the best impression. Professor Parry and I will be escorting the two of you to the ministry through the floo network.” McGonagall took a breath and readjusted her glasses. “Now I don’t know the routine for a trial such as this, but I imagine they will keep you two separated and under surveillance until after the trial. Then once the trial ends, no matter the outcome, the two of you will be returning to Hogwarts.”

He accepted eagerly when he was asked to go to London. He'd been expecting it, of course, and he couldn't live with the guilt of knowing that he knew something that could save an innocent man. Besides that, it was a really good excuse to keep an eye on Jeremy, who was already a mess.

Jeremy was taking deep breaths to calm himself. He knew he needed to go through with testifying for Foley’s sake, but that didn’t mean he was any less worried about reliving that night in front of a bunch of ministry officials. Jeremy stood up to take his leave with Loxley when McGonagall spoke again.

“And boys, please keep as much of this to yourselves as possible.”

“Fucking ties,” He muttered, tugging at Tyler's too-tight knot. He was extra mad that his friend didn't get to come along. Loxley was anxious about being in London without Tyler, though he reminded himself that he was going to be with Jeremy the whole time, and Jeremy was pretty good at defensive spells at least.

He also tried to feel safe knowing that he wouldn't be around any muggles, except that his uncle was a pureblood, and could easily travel to London. He'd done it before.

Jeremy had been unable to sleep much the night before, the bags under his eyes helped show just that. At breakfast he barely took a bite of a piece of plain toast, but he was so nauseous he couldn’t finish it. He wanted the day to be over already and for Foley to come home with them. The only good thing he could count on was being able to see his family, if only momentarily.

“Stop messing around with your tie.” Jeremy helped Loxley adjust it so it would be neat but not so tight. “Are you ready? Let’s go.” Jeremy certainly wasn’t ready, but then again he wasn’t sure he ever would be.

[salvavasiliev]

the plunge

when: the weekend  where: hogsmeade  summary: salva texts caleb 

          Although he knew that he couldn’t always bother the Ravenclaws when it came to him wanting to text Caleb, he didn’t want to just wait until the weekends when he could visit Hogsmeade. He was going to have to find a solution to this other than just sending him letters. Because that partially felt lame and even if they were sent magically would take forever to get down to Italy. Plus there was the whole magically sending letters with an owl and explaining that. Salva wished that school would just be over at this point because he was tired of being at the school. So far no one seemed to have given him any real help with Caleb and he was just plunging down the rabbit hole of attempting to figure out if Caleb liked him or not. Since Tyler had mentioned Hogsmeade was a good place for reception, Salva made sure that the professors knew he would be going on the next trip into town. It seemed like a long wait until the weekend, but finally it was time. Salva bundled up in warm clothing and headed out of the castle. He felt nervous. 

          The moment he got close enough into town that he could use his phone, he pulled out the device. Technically, the shops were still a ways away, but he felt the small device buzz. 10 unread messages. He felt his heart thud in response. Two of them were from his mother, who told him to study hard and that she’d see him soon, but 8 of them were from Caleb, saying hello, complaining about school, and one even saying that he missed Salva. That was a good sign. Honestly, this might be easier than he originally thought. He didn’t have to be careful at all. Caleb missed him! His brain was going absolutely wild because he had missed the boy as well and he really wanted a relationship to work out between the two of them. 

SALVA: Hey. Just getting to leave and go into the town where we have service. How are you?

          He forced himself to believe that a reply wouldn’t come right away and walked quickly into town. Salva didn’t have much money to buy a bunch of different things in town mainly because his father had cut him off and he was stuck with the small amounts of muggle money that his mother gave him. At least there was a place to convert it. The Hufflepuff made his way to the shops. Looking down at his phone the entire time, Salva wasn’t paying attention to where he was going and narrowly missed running into someone as he approached some of the first shops. He looked up to see a youngish looking man with dark hair and blue eyes and dressed in ordinary clothing. Salva glanced away quickly feeling like a stupid teenager. “Sorry!” he exclaimed, and then went on in the direction he’d been heading, towards some of the middle shops. 

CALEB: Hey, dude! I’ve been doing good. Busy with school.  SALVA: That’s good. Being busy I mean. Things have been weird here.  CALEB: Weird how?  SALVA: I don’t know. One of my friends has been acting like he’s smarter than me, there’s this boy that won’t leave me alone, and I kinda just miss mum. But at least my step siblings have quit bothering me.  CALEB: Maybe your friend is just looking out for you? And he won’t leave you alone how?  CALEB: Also, that’s good about your step siblings. And your mom misses you too. SALVA: Yeah, I guess. I don’t want to get into it. I just may have hooked up with him a few times and I think he sees me as an easy target and easily swayed into wanting the attention. But I want something real.  CALEB: Oh.  SALVA: Yeah.  CALEB: Hang on, my mom’s calling from America. Give me ten minutes.  SALVA: Okay. 

          Salva felt the chilly air. Even though it was spring, the weather still wasn’t entirely warm. Sometimes it was better than others, but sometimes it wasn’t. Salva found a quiet, less bustling part of the village and sat outside. He sent a quick message to his mother and knew she wouldn’t reply until later, but he still wanted to let her know that he missed her. Nervously, he fiddled with the edge of his cloak and people watched for a moment. There were usually odd people hanging around Hogsmeade and today was no different. He spotted a pink haired wizard walking into Honeyduke’s and a tiny witch that looked like she was already drunk even if it wasn’t even near the end of the day. No one else seemed to stand out among the crowd, but he wasn’t really looking for people either. A woman in plain clothing seemed to be walking around, not interacting with others, though she wasn’t the only one -- since there were a few Hogwarts students on missions to buy candy or quills or have a butterbeer. He paid no mind to anyone else, silently sitting there with a growing worry that he’d said something stupid to Caleb and the boy was going to think he was a freak. Ten minutes went by, twenty minutes, almost a half an hour before his phone buzzed again. 

CALEB: Hey, sorry! She talks a lot.  SALVA: Like you?  CALEB: Hey!  SALVA: No, it’s fine. I like hearing you talk. CALEB: Really?  SALVA: Yeah, you have nice thoughts.  CALEB: You should talk more.  SALVA: What do you want to talk about?  CALEB: Tell me more about your school.  SALVA: I mean... it’s a pretty normal school. Except, there’s not any cell phone service.  CALEB: No, I mean what’s it like? Classes and your friends. What’s life like for you there?  SALVA: Oh, well. I guess. There’s four houses that we’re divided up into. I actually really like mine, it reminds me of my mother. Warm and cozy. I’ve got a couple of dormmates that aren’t all that bad. One’s just loud and the other’s pretty cool. I actually don’t have many friends mainly because I don’t like talking to people, but I’m friends with the head boy of the school and he’s nice enough. Everyone else here is just annoying. Especially that boy I was telling you about. I’m pretty terrible at school too. My classes are hard and I hate most of them, but the school is honestly not that bad. I enjoy it, I guess, but it’s school.  CALEB: I think that’s the most you’ve ever said to me. Wow.  SALVA: Stop.  CALEB: No, I’m not making fun of you. I like it. I wish you’d talk to me more in person.  SALVA: I can.  CALEB: How?  SALVA: Call me? 

          He didn’t expect the phone to ring, but it did a second later. Salva couldn’t see his own face, but he knew he had to be grinning like an absolute moron. Tyler was wrong. He was good at this texting business. Now if only he could keep it up on the phone. Salva answered the call. 

          “Hey,” he said in greeting. 

          “Hey.” 

          “You rang?” 

          “Yeah. I missed your voice.” 

          “I missed yours,” Salva responded, kicking the dirt on the ground and feeling his heart racing inside his chest. “Hey, so. I’ve been wondering this... since we never talked about it before, but... why are you in Italy?” 

          “Oh. It’s kind of a long story. Do you really want me to go into it?” 

          “Yeah.” 

          “Well, I was actually going to college in America and I was dating someone at my school. I thought it was going well. Like we hung out all the time and it just seemed to be perfect. Or so I thought. I must have been an absolute moron not to realize that he was hooking up with my roommate. Which was a problem for me and I expressed my concern, except apparently we never were actually official and I just... assumed. It was so embarrassing that when my school offered me a stipend to study abroad in Italy, I took it without hesitation because anything was better than running into him. I’m a bit of a coward. Italy’s nice though and I met your mom and you, so... it’s been pretty good so far.” 

          “That sucks. Not about meeting me, I mean, but the other stuff.” 

          “Yeah, I guess. It sort of has my hopes down for an actual relationship anytime soon. I want to focus on myself?” 

          “Oh.” 

          “Yeah. I thought you were going to talk.” 

          “Sorry?” 

          “Don’t apologize. Was there something you wanted to say?” 

          “No... I guess not. I just... I have to go.” 

          “Wait. Did I say something to upset you?” 

          “Not intentionally.” 

          “What do you mean? Salva just talk to me.” 

          “I just... I kind of felt a connection between the two of us and I... thought maybe you did too. But I guess I was wrong. Anyway. I need to go. Bye Caleb. I’ll... I don’t know. I probably won’t talk to you again.” 

          “Salva wait!” the other boy protested and he could hear the worried tone in the boy’s voice, but Salva pressed the end call button and pocketed the device. 

          He stormed off in the direction of the castle and tried not to be angry, even though he was. He felt his phone buzz in his pocket, but ignored it. He decided to take two seconds to calm down so he wasn’t angry or crying by the time he got to the castle. The Hufflepuff sat down on the ground and stared at the people. Maybe it was just his imagination or paranoia about not fitting in himself, but he could have sworn that he saw a person that didn’t exactly fit in with the town -- a man dressed in plain clothing, just walking about, almost aimlessly. And it struck him funny. Not that it mattered. He was just projecting his feelings on to someone else, he was sure about that. Since he’d always felt like an outsider among all the wizards. Instead of going straight back to the castle, he stopped in for a few butterbeers waiting until the last possible moment to go back to the school so he wouldn’t have to face Tyler and how right the Slytherin had been about this whole Caleb thing. 

          Salva’s phone buzzed once more as he walked back towards the castle and for some reason he decided to check his messages, somehow hoping that it was his mother and not Caleb trying to make him feel better. It had been buzzing for about an hour after Caleb’s call, but eventually the noise had stopped. Salva almost dropped his phone in response to the message, but there wasn’t time to reply because he needed to get back to the castle before he got into trouble. 

CALEB: I like you too. Please text me back. I don’t want to lose you. 

[leamoreira-blog]

Lea was making her way toward the entrance hall, hands dusting at the front of her sweater to brush away any spare crumbs from the croissant she’d just consumed.  It was late Sunday morning and Lea had finally pulled herself out of bed.  Seeing as Liv didn’t make a habit of waking her on weekends, she’d had to find her own sustenance, much to her chagrin.  She really had no plans for the rest of the day other than fitting in a yoga session somewhere, but she wasn’t worried enough about that to ignore an interesting looking conversation Professor Babbling and Professor seemed to be having up at the staff table.  Lea was nothing if not a sucker for gossip, and the Hogwarts profs were always talking about some student or other.  Stopping by the end of one of the long tables, just within earshot of the two, Lea picked up a spare copy of the Prophet that was lying around.  Opening up to a random page and pretending to read, she perked her ears in order to hear what was being said.

“Did you get to meet Miss Hardy Martel, Billie?” Professor Babbling said.  Lea immediately assumed they were talking about the attractive French diplomat that had been seen about the school.  She’d briefly considered going to the woman’s talk just to drool a bit, but she already had her plan in place and politics was not it.  She’d make her changes in other ways.

“Briefly, she seemed much more interested in the students and I considered that a good thing, after all she was very vocal about the future of our world lying in their hands.”  And the students were very interested in her, if the conversations in the Gryffindor common room she’d heard this morning were anything to go by.

"You make us sound old!” Babbling exclaimed, earning a quiet snort from Lea that she immediately hid by turning another page of the Prophet.

“I got the feeling she thought we were. All these changes in the International Confederation of Wizards, which I don’t entirely disagree with, seem to have cropped up out of nowhere and now Raula Hardy Martel, barely settled in her new position, has taken it upon herself to usher the next generation into political positions. They’re children, Bathsheba!  Perhaps some more than others, but when half of them are struggling to just keep up with their studies it seems ridiculous for her to be putting ideas in their heads,” Stainthorpe said.

“I agree, they’re young and many of them easily influenced still, and we’re not the only ones.”

“No?”  A curious tone from Stainthorpe.

“Strictly between the two of us,” and me, Lea thought with amusement, “a friend of mind in America let slip that after her trip to Ilvermorny there was a protest in the school, both of staff and students. Not everyone appreciated her trip, it seemed, and suggested the whole purpose of her going to the schools at all was to advertise herself and gain support for her cause.”  Well, yes.  Wasn’t that the whole point?  Hardy-Martel wanted to effect change in her position, that was rather transparent.  Didn’t seem like the kind of thing that necessitated protesting, at least not to Lea.  Maybe she was missing something.  Professor Stainthorpe didn’t seem to think it was worth analyzing too deeply, continuing on.

“Protests? And no word in the Prophet?”  That was actually curious.  Lea turned to the index on her copy of the Prophet, finding that there was indeed no mention of any protests at Ilvermorny.  That was the type of 'scandal’ that the Prophet writers would jump all over.

“She must have a rather good team in place making sure incidents like that don’t make it out to the public,” Babbling said, confirming Lea’s thoughts on the matter.  The question was why would Martel try to suppress that knowledge?  Wasn’t that the kind of thing that she was encouraging in young minds, to be active in politics and speak out?

“France, they’re main priority on equality for magical beings? Does that really need more support, I was under the impression that this year the laws were already on the verge of changing, one final push and no doubt her cause would be a priority everywhere.”

“Perhaps she’s cautious,” said Stainthorpe, her shrug almost audible.

“Or knows something we don’t.”  Honestly most of this was over Lea’s head, she wasn’t sure what to make of what she’d overheard.  Regardless, she was quickly losing interest. 

“Honestly, Billie. Worrying will make you older, you know?”

“Worrying is part of the job, Bathsheba.” 

Clearly the conversation was over, though Lea lingered a few more moments just so that she didn’t look overly suspicious.  She skimmed the gossip column, not really retaining anything she read, before setting down the Prophet again and getting up to leave.  Her yoga mat was calling her name and she was sure the Liv would have more thoughts on the matter once she inevitably shared what she’d overheard.  

[loxley-blair-lockhart]

"You can stop fussing, this isn't the first time this has happened-"

"I know, I apologise. This will be the last time." At first Loxley had thought they were kissing. He'd never actually seen a vampire feeding before. An instinct, perhaps, kept him quiet. Having ducked away from the grave digging for a private wee, his zip was half way down. Loxley was frozen with his dick in his hand and not for the first time.

"You don’t need to say that, I don’t mind."

"I mind."

"Because you blame yourself for this- for what you are. You need to feed and that isn’t your fault, it’s stupid of you to wait so long between feeds and become this week, you know you only have to ask and-"

"Rudyard, we’ve talked about this. Whether you would volunteer or not is beyond the point, to feed here at all puts everything at risk, I will find another solution." Right. He remembered now. The Professor was Forbidden from feeding on the grounds of Hogwarts. It seemed a bit extreme really. If Professor Parry was consenting to the whole thing he didn’t see why it was anyone's business. Loxley was vegetarian, but he didn't expect everyone to give up meat for his sake.

"Professor Foley-" "Rowland, for Merlin’s sake, we’ve talked about that too. Let us be clear on both points, such formalities make me uncomfortable so please drop them and no matter what you have to say on the matter this won’t be becoming a regular occurrence. Leaving the grounds to feed is not an issue, I’ll be more careful not to miss feeds from now onward but if you continue to offer yourself up like some sort of snack, I swear to Merlin…" "I’m not offering myself up like a snack!" "Shhh, quiet a moment."

He impulsively sucked in a breath. He really didn’t want to get caught. His family had had a bad run with memory charms and he really didn’t want to be on the receiving end of any.

"Pardon?"

"Keep quiet for a second."

The professor wasn't looking at him. In fact, he appeared to be looking in the opposite direction. "Go back to the castle, I need to go."

"Rowland?"

"Back to the castle already."

With the professors distracted, Loxley quietly moved back to the dig. He'd forgotten about his bladder.

[narusetami]

25.04.15 ( day six )

Yesterday, things had been strange. Things had been different. There had always been three present when they question her; the ringleader, Cam, and the anonymous third party who kept her steady; but yesterday there had been four. The allusive Tor had joined them. They’d spoke about him a few times, as though he was the key to everything and perhaps he was, yesterday he’d done a very good job of showing off his unusual talent.

“You should feed her something more substantial, her thoughts are all over the place.”

He’d said that and it had confused her until throughout the questioning he’d spoke aloud the things that came to mind, reciting her fleeting thoughts to the room. When she was angry he spoke of it, when she only had the energy to hurl mental insults he recited them with a tone of boredom- he really took the fun out of it, if she were being honest. It didn’t take her long to realise he only had to look at her to see into her mind, if she concentrated she could almost feel him there, like a whisper, a niggling thought at the back of her mind she couldn’t shake. It had been odd but not so bad, the worst thing about it was realising she couldn’t control what she thought, she’d read about legilimens reading current thoughts but it wasn’t something she’d ever witnessed and definitely not something she’d dealt with.

It would’ve been impressive if it wasn’t happening to her.

But yesterday had been easier, she hadn’t been knocked around as much, having her thoughts read was hardly ideal but her head was all over the place, she doubted her monologue of insults aimed towards them was the sort of information they were hoping to get from her. So when they showed up again, all four of them, she sighed. The routine made it worse, she knew when it was coming and counting down the hours was agonising, you’d think the unknown would be worse but she hated the creeping feeling that came along when she knew enough time had passed and they’d show up again. It all felt endless and pointless, there was nothing they could get from her, she didn’t know what they thought she did but they tried to take from her still.

“Good evening, Tamiko.”

She didn’t say anything, of course.

“Now, yesterday wasn’t quite as productive as we would’ve liked, today we’re looking for a little more cooperation. Our talented friend here, is going to try a more delicate method of working with you today, it’d be to everyone’s benefit if you could be on board with this.”

“I don’t know anything you want to know, no method is going to change that.”

“I see, well we’ll soon find our, won’t we?”

Yesterday Tor hadn’t stopped pacing, he’d stop for a while on one side of her and them move across the room, pausing again as he recited something, as if he were chasing thoughts as they came or went. Today he moved to stand directly in front of her and something was different, she didn’t quite know how except it just was, there was a tension in the room that hadn’t been present yesterday and for whatever reason they were nervous. Even the man before her, he stood still but when she looked him over she noticed his hands were shaking, fingers tapping at his side in some erratic rhythm that made her gut twist.

“Let’s start with Novus, shall we?”

“Again? I told you I don’t-”

What was that?

The feeling came over her quickly, some invisible veil that draped over her thoughts and for a second everything was blank, she saw nothing but she felt panic running wild in her nerves and suddenly- pain. A quick thud, not anywhere one would notice, it was inside her head, as though something had tried to ram it’s way through her skull. It was a strange, sickly feeling, one second she couldn’t think at all and then it felt as though she had nothing but thought. Everything was her. She was in the room, trapped in one physical space, then swiftly pushed back into a place that held her even tighter captive, forced to revert into herself until all she could see was endless memories crashing into each other. It hurt like hell. There were so many walls, trapped within a space and it suffocated her but the only way out was to fall deeper and each time she did she took him with her. No- he forced his way through, clawed and dug through barricade after barricade as if scraping the scalp off her skull. She wasn’t falling, he was dragging. He was crashing through her mind, heaving her behind him to places she didn’t want him to go. She could see her whole life, her parents and her home, snippets of them distorted and warped as they tried to pass by and she could feel him grasping at them- searching for information she knew she didn’t have.

And she didn’t want him there.

In her head, digging through her life, scrutinising everything she knew and cared about.

Being drawn back into the room felt like being dropped, she hadn’t moved an inch from the chair they kept her but she jolted where she sat, her bones ached as if she’d been plucked from the space and then came crashing back down into it. Her head was spinning, stomach churning, she closed her eyes tight to stop blotches of colour taking over her vision, she didn’t want to faint and be sucked from the room again. Her breathing was heavy, her hair on end, she could feel sweat running down the back of her neck and running a trail along her spine. She was glad it was over, though she didn’t know why it had stopped, not until she opened her eyes again and found Tor kneeling down in front of her. He was gasping for air, hands gripping into his thighs as he tilted his head down at the floor. If her legs weren’t bound she might’ve kicked him in the face. Instead she found herself glaring at him, half in anger and half in confusion, she wanted her gaze to bore down through his skull so she could scoop out the innings of his mind and see all he tried to see in her.

“She doesn’t- She doesn’t know about them. They haven’t told her anything yet, there’s no use digging through endless bollocks to find nothing, it takes too much out of me.”

There was a moment of silence and then from the chair opposite her the ringleader sighed.

“I see, let’s move on then.” One of his underlings, the taller one whose knuckles were bruised from having made contact with her face countless times, stepped to the man’s side and handed him a small pile of files. He silently glanced at each of them, one at a time, before he cleared his throat. “We might as well get some use out of you, you’re not entirely barren of information after all. Do these names seem familiar to you, Tamiko: Dahlia Chen, Piper Oliver, Ares Kane and, we can’t forget about the mutt, Bellamy Adler.”

What?

The files were opened and each one tossed onto the floor a foot or so away from her, close enough that should could read the names on the files. There was no denying what she’d not wanted to think about, that these people knew about more than just her, that they had access to information that put other people like her in danger.

She fell away from reality quickly this time, more aware of what was happening to her, finding that when she was consumed by the darkness of her own mind she didn’t feel the same as she did before, if anything she was more frightened. Of what she might know, of what they might find, how much information she’d tucked away in the back of her mind and not cared to think about until suddenly it might be on display to this invader. It was strange how she couldn’t see him, she could feel him though, a looming presence in her mind that began to stir a gnawing pain under the surface of her skull. This time was different too, he knew what he was looking for and when he dug he didn’t have to dig for long, tapping into recent memories that bubbled up about her and left echoes in her mind. Scenes overlapped and replayed in her head over and over again, those first interactions when passing conversations had left her with an undeniable knowing, the vibration of energy that ran through her nerves when she met more of her own kind. She could feel him latching onto it, reading the memories over and over, each time they threatened to be swallowed up in the mass they were dragged forward again and somewhere distant she heard voices.

“It’s as we’ve always suspected, they can sense each other- the boy too, they know their own kind through some kind of energy reading.”

No.

That wasn’t there’s to know.

She panicked, physically lurched back in her seat- she felt the ache in her muscles when she strained against her binds- and then she tugged mentally. The memory resurfaced and as soon as it did with whatever strength she had she slammed it back down, it sunk away from her and she could feel it slipping, getting lost in the maze of her mind... then he growled, she heard it far away, pain burst into her head and set her body rigid. It was unbelievably sharp, like a knife through her brain, cutting deep where she tried to bury things down and yanking them back to the surface. His presence loomed over her, perhaps not physically but the energy he gave off was impossible to ignore, it bore down on her and made her want to vomit.

“The Oliver girl, she hides what she is. The boy too. Sneaky brats, it’s not surprising.”

Stop it.

“The dog’s a difficult one, she doesn’t know much, she can’t sense him like others of her own kind. Her knowledge is limited.”

“As we expected.”

He was holding on tight to the memories, she could almost feel the physical grasp around them, it made her mind scream to have them held in place when she was trying to pull them away, trying to let them go and keep them buried. This information, the things she knew or things she thought, weren’t for anyone else and certainly not them.

“She- She’s resisting.”

He sounded panicked. Exhausted. She remembered how he’d been brought to his knees, in a gasping mess, when he tried to seek information from her mind and how nervous they’d all been before hand. He wasn’t good at this, she realised, he didn’t have the calm superiority of the previous day when he’d read fleeting thoughts.

“Get whatever you can today, there’s more time.”

“I won’t be able to do this again so you’d better take notes.”

Her head was spinning. She was really going to pass out. The intrusion into her thoughts was unnatural, her mind was a place just for her yet he clawed his way into it, broke down the walls she tried to put up. Things moved so quickly this time it was like whiplash, a clash of memories and thoughts pulled together, she couldn’t make any senses of them. Her family. Her home. The office in London. Hogsmeade. The castle grounds. Inside the walls. Overviews of her clubs, of her classes. Dahlia. Piper. Ares. Bellamy.

“The Adler family have history, connections, the other families are all but useless. At least from what she knows.”

She was glad now that she wasn’t so close to any of them. Glad that when whispers of Bellamy went through the halls she rolled her eyes and didn’t bother to seek him out and ask for the truth of it. Glad that Ares didn’t speak much about what they were, let it be left unspoken, glad she didn’t force her curiosity and want for more. Glad, perhaps even just a little, that Piper’s want to remain hidden had so often felt like a barrier Tami couldn’t cross. Glad that Dahlia was new to her still. And for the first time she was glad she knew little of her gifts, was unable to understand them and refused to use them, decided long ago to shut them out and get by differently, glad she had always been a little bit scared of what she could do.

Because she was tired, this was exhausting her, the physical energy it took to try and push him back when he sought more information. She was glad he couldn’t keep this up much longer, she couldn’t either.

It didn’t come fast enough though.

Her mind was a mess, by the time she noticed the forming attachments it was too late. She didn’t know much about any of the people she spoke of but that didn’t matter, when she thought of any of them at all she couldn’t help the whispers that surrounded them. Sometimes the most important things were the ones that felt like nothing.

“These might come in handy, I hope you have a pen. Loxley Blair. Grant Abergel...”

Wait.

“Niles Morandi. Meredith Halliwell...”

No, stop.

She might have spoke aloud that time, or maybe not, she couldn’t tell. It didn’t matter. She felt it and she thought it, she hoped she’d screamed it. It hurt, her wrists and her legs, the binds were cutting into her and even lost in her mind she could feel it burning at her skin.

“Soledad Arch-”

“STOP IT!”

She did scream that time, her lungs ached with it, and her thoughts screamed with her. She had been angry before but not like this, this was something new and it ripped at her chest, made her heart hurt and hands shake. She was done with the grip he decided he had on her, tired of not being in control of anything that happened, claws clung into the memories she wanted to bury deep and if she needed to she’d tear them out of her. If someone could split their skull, pull it apart, yet still survive she was sure this is what it would feel like. He did have a hold on her and it was a strong one, she could feel him in her head, twisted into her thoughts but she was done with that. She’d needed to be angry, she’d needed to truly hate him that much, otherwise she wasn’t sure if she’d find the strength to slam him out. For a moment she wasn’t even sure she had, she could still feel her mind muddled, but she was back in the room. It was spinning, her whole body shaking, there was a ringing in her ears that wouldn’t go away. Just enough though, it had been just enough, he wasn’t just knelt this time he’d stumbled back and was gasping for air as if she’d winded him, gripping either side of his head and cursing. She hoped she’d hurt him because he’d hurt her, not just because he’d pushed his way inside her mind and dug through her memories, but because he’d pulled pieces of her life apart and singled out the people she cared about the most. It had taken a lot out of her, almost everything. She shut her eyes tight but it didn’t change the fact that at some point she’d began crying, tears were still hot on her cheeks and streaming down her face, sweat clung to her and made her shiver. There was blood in her mouth, the taste made her gag, it streamed from her nose over her lips and down her chin with no sign of stopping.

But they ran to his aid, of course. She heard the scuffled as they dragged him from the room, his legs dragging across the floor, Tami wasn’t sure what she’d done but if he wasn’t practised in this kind of thing it was his own fault for trying to invade her mind.

She thought she was alone until she heard the last remaining person stand, she could’ve sworn she could see the smug look on his face when he spoke.

“Interesting.”

The door slammed shut, trapping her in again, truly alone once more. She had been hurt a lot in the past... she wasn’t even sure any more, time felt different here, her attempts to keep it had fallen behind. Her face was swollen, she was bruised and achy, the skin on her wrists and ankles worn away by her binds. Tami had never been hurt before, not anything like this, but up until this point none of it had broken her. Now she couldn’t help it, tears were streaming and her lip quivered, despite her best efforts it didn’t take long before she was sobbing. She couldn’t do this any more, she wasn’t strong enough to keep this up, a difficult truth but one there was no choice but to accept. If she didn’t get out of there, if she didn’t do something, they’d wear her down until there was nothing left.

[theliongrant]

Round Up The Usual Suspects

Grant enjoyed Muggle Arts Club. Having time every week, away from Bellamy, away from most people, to sit back and appreciate the finer things calmed him down. They were watching an old black and white film called Casablanca that day, powered by a spell that moved the reel around, projecting the characters on the screen. Casablanca was about action and secrets and difficult decisions, but most of all, it was about passion.

 Eventually the film ended, and Grant gave a happy sigh, putting his bag up on his shoulder and pushing himself to stand, leaving Professor Sauvage’s class for the evening. 

He only got to the end of the hallway when he realised that he’d left his sweater behind- he’d spent months making it, Grant didn’t want it to be left behind or swept away by some eager house elves.

Grant turned on his heel and padded back to the classroom, sure not to run because he would almost certainly trip.

He was about to turn into the classroom when he heard Professor Sauvage’s voice cut across the relative silence: “Why don’t we cut the small talk, Rowland, and get to the real point of your visit.” He said something else, but Grant was preoccupied with the difficulty it took to stop him from choking. The whole situation made him anxious. He couldn’t enter in case he was breaching a private conversation and he couldn’t walk away in case they heard him. He froze, heart racing.

Professor Foley spoke in response. “I apologise for that, I thought it best you take over the class without my input, if you needed something I was sure you’d seek me out. But you’re right, I’m not here to talk about my job, I’ve heard you’re doing a good job on that side of things.”

Professor Sauvage did not seem... Pleased. Neither of them did. His temporary professor said tersely, “That side of things?”

“Yes, assuming you’re not only here to teach my class.”

"Presumptuous though not entirely wrong. What would you like me to say, Rowland? You should know better than most that I can’t release information to outsiders, the only reason we’re talking at all is because, since your release, you’ve not been my concern.” Grant was pressed against the wall, frozen in fear, his knees practically buckling underneath him as he slid to sit on the floor, arms wrapped around his stomach.

“So you were sent here, originally, to keep an eye on me?”

"So to speak. You were arrested, it couldn’t be said for sure whether or not you were guilty at the time but it was decided someone should step in and keep an eye on things, just in case.”

Foley did not seem like he believed Professor Sauvage, and after a pause, said, “But I’m no longer your concern?”

A sigh. “Let’s not play games, I knew within a few days of my arrival that you weren’t the one involved in the incident, I investigated not only here but in your private quarters and, of course, the crime scene itself. Aurors are not the be all and end all in the detective department.”

“So you knew it was Dufort?”

“Not exactly, his scent is unfamiliar to me but it lingered, had they sent one of us in to do the job in the first place you never would’ve faced arrest.”

“Somehow I doubt that.”

“Always so suspicious, Rowland. You may struggle to see the truth but you should know we mean you no harm, Novus isn’t an organisation built on violence.”

Novus? What was Novus? Grant, who was trembling, put his hand over his mouth. He couldn’t summon Polly. She was too loud and would give him away.

“So who was it, Isane, who ripped Dufort apart?”

“That-” Professor Sauvage cut off when Grant gave a whimper, barely audible for them. Both of the professors went silent, and quickly, quicker than he could have managed alone, Grant whispered a Disillusionment Charm, silent as a mouse, and sunk back against the wall, still gripping his wand. Professor Sauvage strode forward, stuck his head out the door to look around, and then closed the door once more.

Foley continued. “You people often speak of your wisdom and control but that is far from the case and we both know it. Dufort was a guilty man but he was also the key to finding out who else took part in the crimes but rather than accept the situation was being handled someone was sent to tear him apart. People like you always say you mean no harm until it suits you and then violence becomes your greatest weapon, the moment one person gets out of line you send the dogs to-”

“Watch your tongue, Foley! You speak as though we make enemies of the world when we are the ones trying to befriend it, Novus does not condone wars between the races and we strive to make the world a better place for us all.”

“Then who killed Dufort?”

“We don’t know! The actions taken against Rapier Dufort were not authorised by the High Council, I knew nothing of the attack until you did, it has yet to be seen whether the attack came from within our own.”

“Your people have inside information, only they could’ve known when he was being moved.” The conversation was getting increasingly tense, slowly louder with every syllable.

“We weren’t the only ones, of that I’m sure, wolves of that size couldn’t so easily be taken down by two aurors and a weakened vampire. Someone else was there, they showed no mercy and if they knew where to find Dufort they must-”

“Have people within the Ministry.”

“And possible access to school records.”

“Student records. You’re here for the students?” Foley sounded like he didn’t quite believe it. 

“A handful only. First veela, now a handful of werewolves, they were all killed with calculated ease, if they got that close to the castle once then who’s to say they couldn’t get even closer next time? I cannot say for sure the incidents were connected but you saw the message yourself, Rowland: not in our schools. Whether we like it or not there are people out there who know how to hurt us, these children do not have your strength and they do not have our numbers.”

“There are more of you here?”

“No but within reach if I need them.”

“And the boy? He hasn’t noticed what you are?”

“No, I’m rather good at disguising it by now. He’s still a pup, all things considered.”

Grant’s eyes widened, his breath quickening. Werewolves. Pup. Boy. Bellamy. He could barely breathe. 

“But you’ll keep an eye on him?”

Sauvage sighed, sobered. “Yes, Rowland, on all of them.”

Grant closed his eyes, his hand still on his mouth as tears pricked in his eyes from the sheer stress of the situation. What had he just heard? Who did he... Who did he even tell about this? Bellamy. Tell Bellamy. But... But what if they found out he told?

The professors left the room, walking right past the disillusioned, distressed Gryffindor sitting right by the door. He sat there for half an hour, if only to determine that they were truly gone. Then, and only then, he cast the counter charm, letting his hand drop and giving out a panicked whimper. Where was Bellamy? He had to warn him about Professor Sauvage.

[sondermink]

He had a new trick and he was trying to find Caldwell to show it off. The pureblood boy always seemed so impressed. Sonder didn’t know if it was because Caldwell was so stupidly smitten or if he was genuinely amused by muggle magic. Sonder didn’t care. Either way, he wandered into the greenhouses with his white dove on his shoulder, ready to show off.

He walked in on a rather adorable conversation instead. Sonder wouldn’t have called himself nosey, even if it completely suited him. He pet Sebastian quietly while listening, eyes downcast, listening and not announcing himself for fear of intruding on such a sweet moment.

Madam Longbottom leaned herself casually against a work bench, much as Sonder had done on occasion, watching her husband work. The contrast almost made Sonder giggle gleefully.

“You went to the first talk then, I take it?”

“Someone had to make sure everyone was on their best behaviour, we know better than anyone what kids can be like at their age, plus some of us have our weekends free and- ”

“And some of us are stuck in work, dealing with more casualties. You don’t need to tell me what kids are like, I deal with one every other day who’s come in because of an injury someone else caused- tell me we weren’t ever that hopeless with magic?”

“Do you remember me in school at all? Merlin, trouble used to find me just about everywhere back then.”

“Mhm, no need to remind me, I am aware I married both Neville Longbottom the serpent slayer as well as Neville Longbottom the dork-”

“Hey now-”

He very nearly lost it. Sonder had always thought Neville Longbottom would have been a bit of a dork, but the confirmation was so cute that he felt like he might die.

“My point is, Nev, I’m less interested in why you were there and more in what she had to say? Raula Hardy-Martel, isn’t it? Feel free to tell me it was boring and painful and I should be glad I couldn’t go.”

“It was… Interesting. A lot of information, really, which I suppose was good to hear and to have a better understanding of. She was very professional actually and clever, she knew what she was talking about.”

“But..?”

“But for someone who gave the pretence that this talk would help any of those students have a future with the International Confederation of Wizards she spent an awful lot of time just talking about already taken roles, positions that take years to reach. As for actual opportunities for students post-school, she didn’t say much at all, it was very… self-orientated.”

Funny. Sonder agreed with him. He had been so wildly interested in the talks to begin with, and now he was considering not even going to the Sunday one. The confirmation that Professor Longbottom felt the same way was both a relief and disheartening.

“Merlin, of course it was. Think carefully now, Nev, when have the ICW ever not taken the opportunity to make themselves look good? They’ll do just about anything to seem useful when in fact half the time they spend so much time arguing that any decisions made aren’t relevant at all. Our own Ministry, by itself, accomplishes more every day than the bloody ICW do in a year. When was the last time they actually made a relevant decision that made a difference to our lives? None of them are interested in helping each other-”

“That’s not what she said, in fact she emphasised the importance of countries- or states, as she called them- working together in the ICW to make big changes.”

“Big changes? Please. They argue about things constantly, all eager to make their issues more important than anyone else’s, because in the end none of them are interested in helping each other but they all expect help from everyone else. I don’t remember those two hundred or something countries- or states, whatever she calls them- rushing to aid us when Voldemort was up and about causing chaos again.”

Madam Longbottom was right too. Really, when it came down to it, the ICW did nothing. It was a figurehead organisation and nothing else. It was just such a waste of resources. Sonder obviously hadn’t been around when Voldemort had been, but from what he had learned, that whole thing should have been an international emergency. The fact that no one had even bothered to come to their aid. Our aid…

“Are you feeling bitter today, by any chance?”

“No shit, Sherlock. It’s been a rough day and it pisses me off, people like her wandering in and putting ideas into those kid’s heads. She doesn’t know what opportunities will be available for them when they graduate, maybe if they went to France but what does she know about employment in our Ministry? They’re bright kids, Nev, and she comes all the way here just to talk about her own importance? It’s shit.”

“I agree… So I’m assuming there’s no point in going to the talk tomorrow?”

“No, you’re obviously going to go and tell me everything afterwards, I need something good to vent about and I can’t really vent about kids getting stupidly injured when I’m married to you.”

Their voices suddenly got flirty and Sonder knew that he couldn’t listen for a moment longer. He knew the kind of stuff some couples got up to in the greenhouse, and while he doubted that faculty would go and break the rules so recklessly, he had to be certain he wasn’t there if they did.

“Professor!” Sonder burst in from behind a shelf, startling both the Longbottoms. “Matron, do you want to see a magic trick?”

[narusetami]

19/04/15, hogsmeade

It was her birthday tomorrow. Finally. She was excited about being seventeen- not just because she could now belt Dancing Queen and truly feel as though the song was about her- and all that being seventeen would bring. She doubted she’d feel older, of course, but after half a year of studying apparition she was excited to have the freedom to apparate whenever she liked, she could learn to drive too and the trace would be gone so, to some extent, she felt as though the world was getting just a little bit bigger for her. Which was brilliant.

Her parents gifts would probably arrive by breakfast tomorrow but before that her birthday would be a day like any other, Mondays were hardly her favourite day of the week but she was more than a little determined to make her birthday a good one- maybe just a little bit because Sonder had predicted it wouldn’t be. She did rather enjoy celebrating herself on rare occasions. Hence why she was in Hogsmeade, while the elves were excellent with all things food they couldn’t be expected to make cakes for every individual student on their birthdays, and Madam Puddifoot was kind enough to take requests for those who bothered to ask or were willing to pay for the service. They were damn good too, this year Tami had requested a red velvet cake, it was a single tier with tiny white buttercream leaves decorated around the cake’s edge, and the top presented the message ‘Happy Birthday, Tami!’ in the centre, iced in a pale pink with sugar cherry blossom petals framing it. A little more elegant that last year, for she thought the situation called for it, but regardless it would taste amazing and make a wonderful breakfast.

Even on a Sunday the shop was busy, the weather was mild outside but within the shop the air was warm and filled with chatter, the atmosphere was always a little overwhelming with all the couples who flocked there. They shared cakes, sipped steaming beverages from delicate cups, gazed at each other across small tables, reached cautiously to hold hands under the table or whisper sweet nothing’s to each other as though the world outside the two of them didn’t seem to exist. It was nice, Tami thought, perhaps a little too cliche to be what she would consider actually romantic but she could see why cakes and tea drew couples in- that and the added bonus of being safely tucked away from the often crisp Scottish weather. She might’ve stayed for a while too, had some tea and spent some time in her own company, but there was homework she still had to do and a quick detour she had to take before heading back to the castle. No time for cake and tea today. So when Madam Puddifoot presented her with a plain pale pink box, with her birthday cake inside, she paid the remainder of her bill and tucked the box away in the bag she’d brought as carefully as possible before thanking and bidding the woman farewell.

It was a nice day actually, not as cold as it had been at the start of the school year, she wouldn’t need the scarf that was at the bottom of her bag, she even felt a little silly in the thick jumper and jacket she’d worn- she could’ve easily exchanged the jumper for a t-shirt and still been perfectly fine- but she was in too good a mood to dwell on such things. Instead she gently swung her bag by her side as she walked towards the edges of town, the roads always crunched more under foot when they turned from solid rock to frosted path and trees began spilling out either side of the route. Tami had always liked it, the quiet of the woods running off from Hogsmeade, the path towards the drop off where the Shrieking Shack loomed in the distance, she had laughed when she heard that people had often believed it was haunted. Tami thought it was magic. In her very first year she’d come trudging down the path and ran to where the fence stopped people from wandering too far towards the slope of the land, she’d looked across to where the Shrieking Shack stood tall, sucked in a deep breath and then screamed at it. A hearty yell, at the top of her lungs, it carried with it all of her worried for that first term of school and she’d felt as though the wind had picked up all those things and taken them to the rotting building to keep. The only thing that haunted that house were memories, people’s pain and frustration, she thought there was something awfully sad about a house carrying such a burden but it had always made her feel better to grasp the fence and shout out to it. She felt as though the Shrieking Shack could hold her pain for her, or at least feel her frustration at the world and bare some of the weight, so of course she intended to yell a lot before her birthday this year.

When the trees began to clear and the path widened a smile broke across her face and she ran the remaining distance, skidding rather than stopping at the fence, colliding right into it and letting out a shaky laugh as the wind was almost knocked out of her. She released her hold on her bag for the time being, pushing onto her tip toes and holding tight onto the fence instead, as usual the Shrieking Shack was standing in all it’s glory in the distance.

“Long time no see!”

Her voice was caught and washed away in the wind completely, lost before it had chance to echo, but she smiled all the same. It was the wind that made the Shrieking Shack shriek these days, all those rotten walls and floors, sometimes the weather was so bad that the whole thing seemed to sway as if it could blow away any second, she knew when it whistled and sang it was nothing more than the air passing through but it still made her smile wider and her hair stand on end.

“I’m going to be seventeen soon! I’m going to be better next year! I’ll make sure to be stronger and shout louder, maybe I’ll come and see you for real some time soon!”

When she said it like that, bellowed it from her lungs, she almost believed it. It was easier said than done, after everything that had happened, she wanted to truly think that things would be different this year and the world would change but waiting was taxing. People would possibly call her impatient but that wasn’t it, it just mattered a lot, when it was young people and your future- your possible children and grandchildren’s future- that seemed to be held in the hands of people who didn’t really care about it.

But she would try to change things, of course, one step at a time.

“I hope I can visit Japan this year! I hope I do well on future tests! I hope my cake is as delicious in reality as it is in my head!” The last one made her laugh, the air in her lungs was so cold and wild that it made her eyes water, her hair whipped about her face and for good measure she sucked in another breath before shouting out a proud warrior cry- a final message for the building that whistled back at her.

She settled back on the ground properly, her feet aching slightly for having been stood on her tip toes for an extended period, and her gaze lingered longingly in the distance even when her grip released from the fence. She watched the Shrieking Shack even as she lent down to grab her bag again, and sighed when she finally, and reluctantly, turn away from the drop off and back towards the path.

She only took a step before she was stilled.

“Thought so, I thought I recognised you!”

“Excuse me?”

“Tamiko Naruse, right?”

He knew her name. There was nothing wrong with that, she supposed, lots of people knew her in the town considering she’d been popping in for six years. Tami was never really shy, she struck up conversations with people all the time, liked to chime in on hot topics and spread information about one of her many causes. She never forgot a face, but she didn’t recognise his. Couldn’t properly see his. There was a scarf wrapped around his face, pulled right up to his nose, and a hat pulled down over his eyes. He was stood where the path still had some shape and there was decent space between them, she couldn’t guarantee she’d know him from the distance even if he wore less. But he knew her, there was no denying it, someone who wasn’t sure wouldn’t be stood the way he was, oozing confidence. He was taller than her by at least a foot, hands tucked into his jacket pockets, feet apart and stance relaxed. That could be any number of people she’d run into in town, it wasn’t unusual for people to be taller than her, it wasn’t unusual for people to wrap up warm either.

Though the day was nicer.

“You are Tamiko Naruse, aren’t you?” He took a step forward then, she noticed fleetingly that the question wasn’t unknowing, he asked as if jogging her memory rather than being unsure of the actual answer. Her hair was still on end. “You’re the kid- the one who staged the protest for that Foley character?”

Oh.

“Sorry, yes, I-”

“I knew it, quite incredible, they mentioned it in the papers. I read about you.”

“Oh, it wasn’t all that impressive, it’s not as though I did it all alone, there was a lot of support so I can’t really take all the credit.”

And she hadn’t. She hadn’t taken any credit, she’d read the article when it came out, it didn’t even mention her name. That doesn’t mean anything. Anyone could ask around Hogsmeade and find out she was the one who organised things, it wasn’t anything new, she was known for this sort of thing so finding out she was connected to the protest would be easy.

Ah, her hair was still on end.

“Still, to put that together for your professor, takes some real guts to do something like that. I was very impressed, a lot of people were, it’d be great to hear more about the work you’ve done- or any future work you have ideas for- if you have time?”

She did have time, of course she did, students headed back from Hogsmeade early from time to time but it would be hours yet before the professors rounded up any stragglers and made sure everyone was back at the castle. If she didn’t arrive back at the castle now, no one would pay it any mind, a thought which occurred to her in a tangle of other thoughts and made her heart rattle against her rib cage. This was so stupid, she was just paranoid, it wasn’t as though she hadn’t talked to strangers before- though her parents had drummed ‘stranger danger’ into her head she had never been worried about talking to people. No, she’d never felt like this, she’s spent her childhood around vampires with blood under their nails and centuries behind their eyes but she’d never felt the need to run.

“That’s really nice of you but I actually can’t stay long, I have plans later so I’m expected back at school.” Was her voice steady? She couldn’t tell, she couldn’t even hear herself, just her heart thudding in her chest. If she was going to lie she’d have to do better. So she inhaled slowly and took a few confident steps forward, laughing as she did and adding lightly, “If I don’t get back soon my presence will be sorely missed.”

There, that was easy. Now she just had to walk, right past the stranger, right back down the path, right back to Hogsmeade. Maybe she could skip? It wasn’t like she wasn’t prone to occasionally skipping, skipping was faster than walking, she could just skip ahead, until she was around the bend, then she could run.

She could do it.

“That’s sweet, and it’s also what we’re counting on, right?”

She’d crossed half the space between them already but his words stilled her, not even his words but the cock of his head, the glance behind her, the rattling of fence that she could’ve passed off as wind had the soft thud of feet hitting the ground not followed. Swallowing thickly she dared a glance over her shoulder and a funny feeling came over her, it wasn’t often her heart managed to jump into her throat and drop at the same time, twisting her stomach up with nausea. She didn’t know the second stranger either, they were dressed similarly and their face hidden but somehow she just knew they were unknown to her, and she knew it didn’t matter. Her legs were jelly. She couldn’t run on jelly legs. She couldn’t do a lot of things, apparently. She couldn’t have seen this coming- except, no, maybe that wasn’t true. People told themselves that bad things couldn’t be predicted to make themselves feel better, as if somehow leaving terrible things up to fate made them less unbearable, but at some point she had known. At some point it had dawned on her, quietly but surely, that this wasn’t a situation she was just going to walk out of. She didn’t need any veela senses to have told her that, though perhaps they would’ve come in handy, maybe if she’d tapped into them more she could’ve read their intentions earlier. That wouldn’t do either, maybe that was worse, she thought back to those broken bodies at Halloween and wondered if they’d felt it all in the end. If the weight of someone else’s hatred had crushed them on the inside, causing more damage than even the outside would show.

No, she was glad she couldn’t feel it, because she needed to focus. She needed to think clearly right now, despite the nature of her people Tami had always preferred to be lead by her mind than her emotions, she prided herself on solving challenges whenever she faced them and this couldn’t be any different. She needed to get back to Hogsmeade and she needed to do it fast, she didn’t have much time and, more importantly, she didn’t have much resources. It was stupid of her not to bring her wand, her wandless magic was unpredictable at best, but all of this was very stupid. She could see that now, how silly of her it had been to walk out of town by herself, without her wand, just months after so many of her people were killed. Tami had been so very determined to not be afraid, to prove she was stronger than the things that scared her, she’d told herself if she could go beyond her comfort zone then she’d prove something to herself but all she’d done is walk right into this.

Into this with no help and no wand and-

She did have one thing.

Fuck it.

She had legs, legs she could use and she had cake. Wonderful, customised cake which was tucked in a box, in her bag, in her arms. There wasn’t time to debate so she didn’t, she sucked in a deep breath and as she did she twisted her grip into the top of her back and lifted it up over her shoulder. Her stance shifted, her arm drew back, and with as much strength as she could muster she launched the bag ahead of her. It gave her the element of surprise, even with so little of his face on show she could see the confusion twist onto the expression of the one who blocked her path, and even if he hadn’t reacted at all her legs sprung into action faster than she could think to tell them to. She couldn’t even feel them but it didn’t matter, there was space both in front of and behind her, she was counting on the idea that the newcomer behind her wouldn’t make up the space in time and the bastard who blocked her path would be distracted. And he was, she could see the instinct kicking in even if he didn’t want it to, her bag launched towards him and he automatically threw his hands up to catch it before it could smash into him- which was good. It was what she needed, only a few seconds, all she needed was his hands to be occupied for just the few seconds she was sprinting past him. And then she didn’t know, Tami had no idea if she could outrun them but she sure as hell needed a head start, she could deal with doubts much easier than impossibilities. The bag hit him before she even got close, of course, smashed into his chest and he grabbed it with both arms, the snarl he made a clear indication that he was not happy with her tactic. She honestly didn’t care, footsteps crunched behind her and even though the bag had already hit she didn’t stop, in fact as she passed she slammed right into the stranger’s side so he stumbled, and cursed, and she couldn’t help the small burst of pride in her chest because she’d disgruntled their plan.

It was short-lived.

She’d never been grabbed by the hair before but the pain was immediate. It shot through her nerves with a sharp stab, the back of her head throbbing where the grip held and pulled her head back in a burning whiplash. Perhaps she should’ve kept running, ripped her hair out if she needed to, but for half a second the pain was enough to stop her short and in that half a second an arm twisted around her front and pulled. Tami had always been short and her toes barely scraped the floor as she was yanked back, she knew because she kicked her legs in an attempt to find some ground, to find some grip, to claw her way back. She found nothing, her fingers clawed at the arm about her front but it was helpless, her legs kicked and even though she felt her heels hit behind her it did nothing. She filled her air with lungs, it was dawning on her quickly that she was very physically outnumbered, instead ready to scream for as loud and long as she could but the sound was suffocated before she even had the chance to make it. Gloved fingers pressed down on her tongue when a hand covered her mouth, she tried to suck in a breath but choked instead, wheezing and turning her attention from the arm holding her up to the hand stopping her from crying out. They’d done this before. They knew how to keep someone quiet, they knew how to drag someone away, they knew how to hide someone until the moment was right and then she’d end up another body, stumbled upon when it was far too late. Panic was a horrible thing, it twisted so deep in her gut she wanted to throw up, made her thoughts scream so loud that she couldn’t think. And that was bad. She was flailing and, more importantly, she was failing.

She didn’t want to die like this.

Her legs were useless, her clawing fingers weren’t getting her anywhere, but the bastard had his gross fingers in her mouth and if she couldn’t bark then she could sure as hell bite. Tami was in no position to go easy on anyone, she steeled herself against the inevitable twang of uncertainty when it came to hurting someone else, and she bit down hard.

“Fucking little bitch.”

And he dropped her. He stumbled as he cursed, he went back a step and as he did he lifted her off the floor completely, the arm around her front pulled tighter sharply, pain shot along her spine and then she was on the floor.  He’d dropped her and she wanted to scream, wanted her legs to work, her body to move, but her legs had no feeling and she couldn’t breathe. The air had been knocked straight out of her.

“You idiot, you always make things more complicated.”

She needed to move. Needed her legs to work.

“Immobulus.”

Crap.

Even if she wanted to move she couldn’t, the fight was there but the ability was gone, time had stopped where she knelt and this wasn’t something she could just shake off. Had she had her wand, had she come prepared, then maybe she could’ve handled all of this better or at least got far enough away to get help but she’d been foolish.

“See, isn’t it easier when we all cooperate?”

She couldn’t answer even if she wanted to, she wasn’t given time, a hand covered her eyes and no sooner had her vision been covered did a mutter of a charm pull her from consciousness.

Stupid, predictable, terrible birthdays.

[narusetami]

30th December 2014; VTS PARTY

Tami had been looking forward to this for weeks. There would be a good turn out this year, her father had said, and she had to agree the party this year was bigger than the year before. It meant a lot to her, she’d been pushing tickets at school for week, trying to convince as many students as possible to pester their parents to come along and show support. People were always nervous when the Vampire Tolerance Society threw a party, she could understand that from a logical point of view, but Tami knew people just forgot that before they were vampires they were... well... they were just people too. They’d had lives, families, homes and jobs. This one thing couldn’t be left to hold them back for the rest of their immortal existence, it wasn’t fair and every year the party got a little bigger she was pleased to think more and more people were starting to see that.

Even though she was technically a guest she had spent most of the party so far casually talking to people about the organisation and what they did, she was her father’s daughter and couldn’t help herself, whenever she felt as though she could make a difference she had to do it, otherwise every day would feel like a waste. Still, after having the same conversation a dozen times she was a little tired and had excused herself from a crowd of new faces to find herself something to eat or drink- all this talking was thirsty work, she needed something to keep her going of her parents would be carrying her home. Not that that was new, she’d been to parties like this for years, when she was little it wasn’t uncommon for her parents to find her tuckered out in the corner of the room. She’d wake up the next morning tucked in bed, warm and cosy in pyjamas, proud of herself and well-rested.

She moved to the refreshment table eagerly, weaving between tables and being careful not to stand on anyone’s dresses or cloaks- everyone was impeccably dressed, some guests didn’t have the most modern sense of fashion but Tami thought it was sort of lovely to see such a blend of people in outfits from all different eras, if anything she felt rather under dressed in comparison. It was a brief thought, one that dissolved when she was faced with such a display, Honeydukes had donated all kinds of treats this year and she was quick to grab a plate and load it up with all kinds of cakes and sweets, taking a large bite from a cookie that tasted like strawberries and cream- gosh, she did love magic- and was set on scoffing the entire thing in a very unladylike fashion when she spotted a familiar face. She almost forgot her plate of food entirely as she moved along the table and when close enough smiled brightly.

“Professor Foley, you made it!”

“Tamiko,” The professor had probably heard her approaching, she realised, but he still waited until he was called to turn to her and offer a polite smile. He was dressed in fairly modern attire, she noticed, and held a glass of clear liquid carefully in one hand. She wondered what it was but squashed that curiosity when he continued, “I did, I would hardly miss it. It’s been a wonderful evening so far, I’ve yet to speak to your father though.”

“He’s always very busy,” She agreed with a sigh, though was quick to brighten as she gestured a hand to herself and laughed lightly, “I guess I’m the consolation prize, I’ve been talking people’s ears off all night and boring them, no doubt, but I’m glad you’re having a nice time, I think most people are.”

“I highly doubt you’ve bored anyone, you’re well informed and that’s a good thing.”

“Thank you, professor, I hope you’re right.”

“No need to thank me. So tell me, Tamiko, how was your Christmas? Busy I suppose? I don’t think I’ve known a Christmas where I haven’t heard your father is working hard with you by his side, did you at least take a break on Christmas Day?”

“It’s been a great holiday, very busy but we wouldn’t really have it any other way.” It wouldn’t be any kind of Christmas if they weren’t busy but it was nice, bustling would perhaps be a better word, things were non-stop and a little tiring but no days were wasted and she appreciated that. Smiling easily, thinking briefly of Christmas Day itself, she nodded, “We did take a little break, Christmas Day was peaceful enough, did all the usual dinner and exchange of gifts.”

“Is that new?”

“Hm?”

“Your pendant, I don’t believe I’ve seen you wear it before.”

It was new to her but, in fact, rather old. It was a simple design, a silver chain from her neck and from the centre hung a thin silver circle with a ‘W’ in the centre. Half the ‘W’ was gold, the other silver, her mother had a similar design etched into a ring she always wore, her grandmother supposedly had earrings that also matched. Three pieces of a set, handed down through her family for quite a few generations as far as she knew, she wasn’t exactly sure who the set was originally made for but either way she felt a strong connection to the piece. It carried a lot of history, she could feel it, and history was very important to her.

“It was my great-grandmother’s, so I’ve been told. So it is new, to me, but it’s actually rather old, it’s been in my family for a long time.”

“I see,” The professor gave a small nod. “A ‘W’? Does that stand for anything in particular?”

“I’m not sure, professor. I suppose it could, that’s what I assumed, there’s three pieces to the set so I think they must have all belonged to one person at one point but they’ve been passed down again and again, we’ve sort of lost track.” Tami sighed, unconsciously twiddling the pendant between her fingers. It could stand for a lot of names really, they’d have to go back into her mother’s ancestry to find out where they started but her parents didn’t talk about Japan too much but that, no doubt, would be the best place to track information on her family down. “Maybe I’ll have to look into it?"

“Yes, perhaps you should. Will you excuse me, Tamiko?”

“Oh... Sure, of course! Have a nice evening, professor.”

Something was wrong. Tami couldn’t put her finger on it but she just knew it, something had felt off since her conversation with Professor Foley but she couldn’t think why. He’d been polite as ever, as a teacher he’d always been kind to spare her a few seconds of time when they bumped into each other at these things, they kept talk light- despite how curious she was about his life, about how he’d impacted the organisation with his struggle, how much he’d accomplished and what that meant to him- and nothing said in those brief moments together had been out of the ordinary. It wasn’t even what he said, that she was sure of, it was something else. Something she was missing.

It was like a riddle, the answer on the tip of her tongue, when she realised what it was it would seem so ridiculously obvious and she’d likely laugh about it, feel stupid for having not noticed it earlier, it would all come together like perfect puzzle pieces and how silly she would feel for letting this doubt linger over her for so long.

She took a sip of the glass of water she’d fetched herself, lingering by the refreshment table though her eyes wandered the crowd, not looking for anyone or anything in particular, simply trying to keep her gaze moving while she thought so she didn’t end up staring blankly in one direction until this feeling blew over. That was the last thing she needed, to blink herself out of some trance to realise she’d been staring at some important member of the organisation and made them uncomfortable at their own event, which had taken weeks upon weeks of very meticulous-

And then it clicked.

Dead ahead, she caught sight of a gorgeously dressed woman. She wore a modern gown, deep purple wrapped around her frame and clung tightly, highlighting every lovely aspect of her frame while a slit in the material gave subtle glimpses of a pale thigh. Her hair was gathered up and pinned carefully so delicate curls tickled at the back of her neck and, from what Tami could tell, framed a face that would no doubt be as lovely as the rest of her. It was the neck she saw though, a beautiful and slender neck, and at the very nape- just under the fallen curls- was a delicately imprinted ‘W’ in clear black ink.

It could mean anything, she told herself, a single letter could stand for millions of things.

But then there was another. A man to her left, silver cuff-links with ‘W’s’ cut into them. A woman to her right, a golden ‘W’ charm hanging off a bracelet. They were everywhere. Not on everyone, but when she was actually looking for them she could see them printed on various people throughout the crowd; on rings, on pendants, inked into a person’s wrist, inked behind a person’s ear, there was even one clear on the ankle of Songs Eternal’s front-woman. In a room of what must have been over a hundred people, close to a dozen had the same letter somewhere on their person, too many to just be a coincidence. Too many people and she was one of them, she’d absentmindedly brought a hand up to fiddle with her own pendant again but noticing now she was quick to drop her hand away and take a large gulp of water.

In her family for generations, her mother had told her, but apparently not just her family.

What exactly did it mean?

The professor’s question played back in her mind: A ‘W’? Does that stand for anything in particular?

She didn’t know, but she had a feeling that Professor Foley definitely did.

[narusetami]

Friday 13th February 2015; Protest Day

The day had finally come. Today, Professor Foley was going on trial and today she was ready to sneak out of school come lunch and protest the heck out of his arrest. Tami had been preparing for a week now, she had made so many things that her fingers still ached and hands were stained with ink but that was the price she had to pay. She was proud of herself too, she’d made badges, posters, banners, signs and even t-shirts, enough to spread around a considerably large group and give out to passersby- perhaps even too much. It was a big dream and she understood that, a part of her was so nervous that she caught herself wondering if she could call in sick, take a day off from life. What if no one came? What if no one cared? But she did. She cared so she would go, even if it was just her- and it wouldn’t be, at the very least she trusted Sol when she said she’d be there to stand at her side- the important thing was she did what she felt was right. Even if no one else could see it. Even if her own people struggled to see it.

“No more of that,” She scolded herself softly as she sat on her bed and did what would be the final count of all the things.

There were so many things but perhaps the most important was the one thing that sealed all of this together, that made it all possible- the thing that had taken her previously sketchy plan and given it a better foundation. At first glance it was just a box, a box that when opened contained a dozen silk scarves in varying bright colours. They were beautiful to look at but she hadn’t dared touch any of them yet, for she knew once one was firmly grabbed she would disappear from the spot she sat and appear in the centre of Hogsmeade instead. They were a gift. A few hours after she’d sent out the notes informing people of he protest she’d come back to the dorm and found the box placed in the centre of her bed, she’d opened it and atop the colourful scarves was a note.

Tami,

I hear you’re on your way to Hogsmeade this Friday. While I’m sure you already have plans in order I thought you might need a little helping hand in getting there, each scarf will take a group of people straight to the centre of Hogsmeade, only one person needs to hold the scarf but those going with them should hold onto said person. Once the scarves have been used they should be placed back in the box, the next time they’re picked up they’ll bring you back to the castle. I hope, at the very least, these make your journey somewhat easier.

Good luck.

That was it. No signature, no name, no clue as to who sent the note or the scarves but Tami was hardly stopping to question it. She had planned on using a rumoured secret passage to get into Hogsmeade, she’d made it half way herself to get an idea of where she was going but she knew it would be difficult, portkeys were going to make it a hell of a lot easier and she wasn’t going to waste time tracking down who’d given her assistance. At least not yet, there was time to be grateful later. For now she just had to get everyone there safely.

Come lunchtime she was nervous, she’d eaten a hearty breakfast so when lunch began she didn’t need to get food, instead she practically ran back to her dorm to gather all the things she would need. She kept her uniform on but ditched the tie and robes, putting her pro-equality badges on full display, and grabbed as much hand-crafted protest equipment as possible under her arms to carry it down to the common room. She made several trips- mainly because the posters and banners were a lot to carry- but by the time she was done she had a decent pile in the centre of the common room.

And then people started showing up. Actually showing up. Coming into the common room, from various houses, taking in the pile of things she stood behind and looking to her expectantly- this was hers. It was funny, all the while she had considered this protest was very much for Professor Foley, that all of this was for him so it belonged to him. But it was hers, she realised then. This final outcome after weeks of planning and hard work was all hers, she’d managed to do this and she had to take the lead on this, to see this through not only for Professor Foley but herself. It was the future she wanted, to be a leader, to take control of situations and make a difference, she’d spent much of her childhood following behind her parents to protests and meetings- so often kept to the side, left to observe rather than take part- but it was about time she start stepping to the front of these situations. It was about time she grow up and start being someone who did what she felt was right, not simply following the work of her parents.

“Hello, I want to thank everyone for coming, for starters, I know it’s a lot to ask everyone to take time out of classes but it’s now or never. For those of you who’re unsure about why we’re doing this- why it’s so important we do this- I can only say it’s in the name of justice. I want to catch the people who committed the attacks on Halloween as much as everyone else here, they were more than just nameless strangers to me, they were my own kind and their loss isn’t something I take lightly. That’s why I have to do this- why we all have to do this- because I know, in my heart and with the confidence other people have given me, that Professor Foley was not responsible for what happened here. Every day he’s been locked up is one less day they’ve dedicated to catching the real guilty parties and until he’s released there’ll be no real chance of them finding who actually did those terrible things.” She took a breath. Her parents had always reminded her to breathe, it was important to remain composed when making a solid point, people didn’t listen to those who sounded rushed or panicked. She had to have control. She had to sound as certain as she felt. “No one has to come along, I don’t expect everyone to take the same risks I do, but the more of us who take a stand the bigger difference we can make. If you want to leave, I fully understand and won’t hold it against you, but if you choose to stay I can only honestly say I have the greatest amount of respect for your choices. If you want to leave, now is your chance.”

And some did. A few people scattered and something tightened in her chest but she steeled herself against it, refusing to let it show that the small loss had knocked her confidence even the smallest amount. Instead she stood up even taller, cleared her throat so those who remained could hear her clearer.

“I want this to run as smoothly as possible. We’ll be going to and from Hogsmeade using the portkey method, I’ve acquired portkeys that will allow small groups to travel together straight to the centre of Hogsmeade. I’ll go with the first group but then return to assist the groups that will follow. Where we land is where we’ll set up our base, all portkeys should be returned to me for safekeeping and I encourage people to stay together in the centre of town so when the time to leave comes we can all arrive back safely. Professor Foley’s trial is today, it should be finished before the day is up and we’ll conclude the protest officially when his trial has come to an end, further action will depend on the verdict that’s made today.” She looked to the pile of things, all her own creations, that lay before her and with a smile breaking onto her face she announced to the gathering students. “I’ve made plenty of things to help spread the word of what we’re trying to do here today, before we set off I encourage everyone to help themselves to shirts and badges, each group will take a few banners with them and everyone will be given posters and flyers to hand out to people in the town. So please, take all you can and, thank you again for coming along!”

[narusetami]

21.04.15 ( day two )

It would take longer if she had energy.

That’s what she’d heard. They’d argued about it for some time the night before, not the one in charge, his voice was lower than the other’s and the only time he spoke managed to quieten the others immediately. From what she could gather they were a floor above her, maybe even two, she wasn’t entirely sure how the place worked or how well sound travelled, only that if she listened closely enough she could hear snippets of their conversations. They’d said they’d be back the night before but they weren’t, they weren’t back until the following evening, which she could only guess because of when they gave her water and scraps of food, three times a day, a few hours apart.

“How are you feeling today, Tamiko?”

The arrangement was different this time too. The ringleader, who she was struggling to find an appropriate code name for- Master Douchebag seemed a little lacking in wit- was sat down too this time. He was a good few feet away from her, practically sat blocking the door, and the other two- whose stance she was beginning to recognise- lingered in the space between.

She hated it when he addressed her like that, as if he knew her, she chose to ignore his rather obvious question.

She was feeling like crap.

“You wear an interesting necklace.”

Ah, her necklace. Was she even still wearing it? She hadn’t spared it a moment’s thought since the first time she put it on. She’d began wearing it at all times, under her uniform during the week and on show during her free time, it had become a part of her in many ways, it felt important though she couldn’t say why. It just felt significant, she had felt better at times knowing it was hanging from her neck, and when he mentioned it now it became very obvious to her that it was no longer there.

“I didn’t realise you had such an interest in jewellery, I can’t tell you where it was made, if that’s what you’re about to ask.”

Maybe it was a bad idea to talk like that, it wasn’t in her nature to not be reasonable, but then there’d been no reason considered when they’d dragged her from Hogsmeade. So screw reason.

“No, that won’t be necessary,” She could’ve sworn he almost laughed, her attitude seemed to amuse him, which annoyed her but was perhaps better, she didn’t know how quickly that might wear off. “I am interested, however, in Novus.”

“Novus?”

“Novus.” He confirmed with a single nod.

“I don’t know what that is.”

“You’re lying.”

The accusation had her stunned for a second, he was so quick to dismiss her answer, as though he already knew exactly what she was going to say and had long decided what he was going to retort with.

“I don’t know what that is,” She repeated, firmer this time.

“You’re lying again.”

But she wasn’t.

She had no idea what Novus was. A place? A person? An object? Tami had never heard of it in her life, at least never enough to take it in, if she forced her memory there’d be little pockets of her mind that picked up the name when it was whispered between her parents and handfuls of their colleagues, but there was nothing more than that. Nothing she could remember, nothing important, if she’d heard of it before today she was none the wiser.

“I don’t-”

“Don’t lie.”

There was no amusement now. Muttered words through gritted teeth.

“I’m not lying.”

“Your necklace suggests otherwise.”

She was lost, completely. Her necklace was nothing. It was a gift, a token, nothing more than a trinket given to her at Christmas. It had felt important because her parents gave it to her but it was nothing more to her than that, it only meant anything to her at all because it reminded her of home, she didn’t even fully understand why her parents thought she’d like it. The letter was of no significance to her, there was nothing special about it, only that having it with her felt like having her parents there.

“The necklace is nothing, it’s- it’s just a piece of jewellery.”

“The truth would be appreciated, Tamiko.”

“I’m telling you the truth.”

“You wear their symbol. You’re rather young to be recruited, let alone to be so intent on lying in defence of Novus.”

“I don’t know what Novus is!”

“I see,” He took in a slow, deep breath. “Cam.”

She didn’t know what to say to defend herself and she wouldn’t have time to. One moment he was sat before her, staring her down, and the next he was blocked from her view as the taller of his helpers stepped in front of her. The shock filled her up so fast that for half a second she didn’t even feel the pain, it burst across the side of her face and sent her head snapping around, her vision blurring in instant tears as her ears rang. The chair almost toppled over, she felt the balance go but couldn’t even worry about it, she could feel the flare of heat exploding across the side of her face, skin screaming where his knuckles had grazed her cheek. The slap left her disorientated, when the chair was caught and set back up she was still twisted awkwardly, the whole sided of her face burned and her jaw was slack, unable to form thoughts let alone words.

He stepped away, hands at his sides, if his hand hurt at all you wouldn’t notice.

He was probably used to this sort of thing.

“As I told you, Tamiko,” She couldn’t even look this time, unable to bring herself to move as the central man took charge once again and reminded her, “This situation doesn’t need to be so difficult, cooperation is really for your benefit.”