Hogwarts is a Second Home Open Closed

september 15th, 2024		sunday, evening
wc: 430		dhampir | terrible presence
interacting with: @Emily Shephard		mentioning: @Colin McCoire

"Yeah, Colin. What a weird guy. I hope I don't see him again for the rest of the year, but like I probably will." If she was being only a little honest with herself, she might've admitted to being just a little bit intimidated by him. Though she couldn't place her finger on exactly why- there were a million excuses she could give. He was older (and taller) than her, so he was kind of physically intimidating?

But that really wasn't it at all, was it?

No, it was actually his confidence that made Scout slip her tongue between her teeth. Someone like him was so similar to the girl she was just months ago, someone much brighter than the person she was currently. It made her stomach churn in all the worst kinds of ways, why couldn't she be as eccentric as him? What had changed? She was going four for four on the midlife crisis's at age twelve, that was for sure.

"I really hope that girl listens to the prefect. She might get in trouble and have to clean the Great Hall... which reminds me..." Of when she had to do the exact same task, she'd hate to do it again. She didn't mind the actual cleaning part, though. It was fun, and it maybe would get her out of this slump! She should see if there are any of her friends that want to do some early school-year cleaning of their dorms, that would fix all of her problems. "Why are people howling, by the way? Is it to show support? Do werewolves actually howl...? I don't think I've ever hissed even though I'm a vampire..." She whispered the last part to Emily.

"Come on, Em, we should go before a fight breaks out." Scout muttered, tugging her friends arm loosely. She was more interested in leaving before she could think more about the situation. The howling- the support for someone who was not human, someone who might've been as much of a monster as Scout was- was making her head hurt, too. Why was it that when her thoughts pricked her, her stomach and head would hurt? They were her thoughts, they should stay in their lane!

She decides to sneak out from the Hufflepuff table, regardless of if Emily follows her or not. She needs to think (though she doesn't want to), and it's hard to do so when there's so much chaos going on.

scout exits the thread.

September 15th 2024
Speech: #cfa120
Thoughts: Italics
Showing Fangs with @Scout Fu-Hai
Mentioning: @Colin McCoire
A Quick Interaction with: @Tesla Stone - @Iris Athanasiuo - @Cassius Eden - @Pericles Dralt

Hoo! That felt good!

Emily got back down on her seat after her howl, a look of pure satisfaction written on her face. It didn't matter how many people heard her - if they even did since others in the room outshined her energy - but all of a sudden Emily felt lighter, and dare she say refreshed. That ought to be a new slogan; A howl a day keeps the worries away!

So in part, she had to thank Colin for the outburst.

"What a weird guy. I hope I don't see him again for the rest of the year..."

Emily looked quizzically at Scout before bursting into a small giggle. "Colin's not that bad. He's just a bit of a wild card, that's all. And even in spite of that, he's actually a pretty nice and funny guy when you get talking to him...!"

Oh hang on. Scout doesn't know we got talking in the... Ah.

Yet she wouldn't deny there was still so much about him Emily couldn't place her finger on. Everyone had their own individual flare that made them, "them," but Colin was in a whole league of his own. Scout would be crazy to try and ignore that.

Do werewolves actually howl...? I don't think I've ever hissed even though I'm a vampire..." Scout had whispered to the Huffie. Emily gave a small, polite shrug and whispered back, "I always thought wolves did. Isn't it a thing? That they answer to the call of their kind and stuff...? I did it to show support. Maybe the others did too...?"

But the gnawing feeling in Emily that lycanthropic students were in hidden about in the Great Hall was getting bigger. If werewolf teachers were a thing, then students couldn't have been an exception. And when some of those howls were more enthusiastically charged than others - in other words, louder and more brilliant than Emily's - then that just might give Emily more to work with as part of her little investigation. Even now, her eyes were following some of the other howlers, curious to dig deeper into what they were thinking. Werewolf or not, they were proof people could open up to magical beings. They were too good to show disdain for them.

Emily caught a small earful of a conversation near the Ravenclaw table as she began to follow Scout out the Hall by her request. She tailed her a few paces behind her to listen in to what they were saying. Her ear pricked at the words of a fellow Hufflepuff and a Ravenclaw, seemingly at odds with each other over this whole affair.

Even now it still sounds like people still want to keep their guard up. Assuming they have been friends with werewolves this whole time and they only just found out today that they were as such... Would they still want to keep that boundary up? Emily hoped not. What difference does a little uniqueness in someone make anyway? Scout had fangs. She doesn't hiss at people (though the two of them would probably laugh about it afterwards if she did). And Scout was still Scout at the end of the day. Was it such a crime to be a bit of both worlds?

As they walked past the commotion, Emily gently said a little something to them, no malice behind it."No one is a monster. Only our hate." And she left it at that. She left a small, sympathetic glance to the Hufflepuff girl as she walked off. She was free to take it as a sign of having her back, but if any of them had noticed Emily's howl from earlier, then they would all know where she stood on the matter regardless.

Magical beings were cool. Werewolves were cool. Hate is not.

_{Word Count: 695}

Emily leaves the thread, unless stopped for further interaction

Stats: Stamina: 7|Evasion: 6|Strength: 6|Wisdom: 8|Arcane Power: 7|Accuracy: 6
Abilities: Non-Human Enthusiast |Cat's Grace

Interacting with @Cassius Eden, @Tesla Stone, @Emily Shephard, @Iris Athanasiuo

┏		┓
	“Perhaps this was in response to the Daily Prophet article,” Cassius had observed, and Pericles cast a glance his way. “It seems the school is doubling down on their position.” A thin smile sprang up as Pericles politely agreed, "It would seem so." A mutually ambiguous statement. Ever since they two had encountered one another at the Dark Wizard Society gathering, they didn't quite seem to know on what side of that opinion they stood. The two pureblood heirs conducted themselves with an equivocation that was almost artful to watch. Half-creatures, the Hufflepuff had accused their fellow Ravenclaw of saying, but Pericles was quick to dismiss it. "Slip of the tongue perhaps." With a one-eyed glimpse at Iris, he continued plainly, "I'm sure she could clear up any uncertainty with our Head of House." When advising they settle any animosity on the piste, he did spare a cheeky split-second squint Cassius' way in time to catch his grin. Duelling was one thing the alumni and captain would always agree on. But then, up came a more egregious matter: "No chocolate...? Well, that won't do." Sounding genuinely concerned for Tesla's plight, the sixth-year eased an aspen wand from his sleeve, pointed at his plate, and incanted "Scourgify." What remained of his expertly sculpted mousse disappeared in a mass of suds, only to be replaced by a generous dollop of chocolate. As he busied himself, he caught Cassius turning to face the girl from the corner of his good eye. “Miss, return to your seat. This is the Ravenclaw table as I am sure you are aware. Quarrel with classmates of your own house.” Pericles piped up, playing the Good Cop as he wagged a mousse-covered spoon at his neighbor's prefect badge. "Don't flash that thing about, Cass. She hasn't had any desert is all." Pericles wanted to keep the peace because the alternative was an inconvenience. Conflict was bad for the digestion. Adding to it, another Puff sniped as she passed by: "No one is a monster. Only our hate." How in the blazes had she overheard them through the Hall's chatter? He recognized her as the girl who had hijacked Eve's forest seminar with an impassioned pro-half-breed speech. Pericles quirked a frown after the back of her head, muttering more to himself, "Grand. Thank you." He didn't care for the commotion around their table and was evidently keen on settling it. That careful smile appeared again as he passed Tesla the plate, with the airs of someone sending a restless child back to bed with a warm glass of milk. "Right then. There you are. All's well."
┗		┛

Casting the Scouring Charm

After the howl, Colin crouched back down onto the bench. He kept a watchful eye on the hall and a keen ear on the conversations around. Lots of kids seemed surprised, even stunned that a professor would make such an admission in front of the whole school. Quite a lot was just excited chatter. A couple responding howls were very heartwarming. But several of the threads of conversation really grated on Colin's nerves.

"If half creatures wish to command respect, the least they could do is act like it."

Colin turned, his lips already curled into a snarl. The comment had come from the nearby Ravenclaw table. Some impertinent little first or second year! His heart leapt, though, as Tes confronted the snarky comment! Tes was usually a very chill and good natured kid, but one should never underestimate even a good natured werewolf!

"Hey. What did you just say? You better not be saying anything bad about my friends."

It only got worse from there as the snooty Ravenclaw decided to press on with he totally unreasonable attack on werewolves! Honestly! If she wasn't trying to insult Tes's friends, she should have kept her gob shut! And the two Ravenclaw Prefects weren't doing much to help matters. Colin's fingers itched towards his wand as it set snugly in its sheath strapped to his right arm. Someone was asking for her tail feathers to be singed!

"Oi Ravenclown!" Colin hissed at the younger girl. "If you can't be civil to our Tes, maybe just shut it?" He nodded curtly towards where the Prefects were seated. "If you've got a problem with what Professor Iwasaki said, or what certain students said in response, maybe take their advice and settle it on the piste?" Colin's fingers tapped his sleeve, where his wand was concealed. "I'll be happy to --- burn some manners into you!"

He turned his brilliant gaze towards Tes, his eyes softening when they met his friend's: "You alright lass? We've got plenty of choco over here at Slytherin! Where people actually respect people! Pfft! Half creatures indeed!"

@Iris Athanasiuo | @Tesla Stone || Mentions: @Pericles Dralt | @Cassius Eden || @Meyra Lancaster | @Jun Mayumi Mochizuki

Interacting with: no one in particular, general statement made
mentioning: @Colin McCoire @Iris Athanasiuo
Word count: 380/200

• past quotes
• speaking
• narration

  
  The young ravenclaw was not ready for such heat to start up around her table. Sure, she didn’t really like the idea of werewolves around herself. She knew there was no danger because of the precautions the school was taking, but it was a source of anxiety for her which she just couldn’t simply get rid off. She actually felt more at ease knowing that her head of house was the one escorting the werewolf students off campus to a safe location.
  
  Part Veela’s is really where her problem started, some of them had the power on that matched with an unforgivable curse. Sure it was illegal for them to use it, but things being illegal has never truely stopped people. Poppy hated magic that messed with her mind and she was at risk of the worst kind partly due to the part-Veela’s around.
  
  However Poppy knew to hold her opinions in, because as the Ravenclaw prefect had implied what’s the point in starting drama if she can’t back it up on the dueling grounds? And to think all this drama started from.
  
  "If half creatures wish to command respect, the least they could do is act like it."
  
  She couldn’t help but somewhat agree with the fellow ravenclaw. If anyone wants more than baseline respect it needs to be earned. She would judge a kid who howled whether it was for, against, or without the cause of werewolf sentiment.
  
  Yet things seemed to be calming down, she didn’t even really have to do anything. Yet she still felt the need to do something.
  
  “It’s Sunday, so we really need to start fighting with a full week of school ahead of us? Like can’t we save the arguments for some other time. It’s barely half a month into the school year, the last thing we need is the student body being divided so soon.”
  
  The young witch said this to mostly herself. It was nice to get her complaints on just how stupid this entire fight seemed out of brain and out there to the world. She was thinking of leaving soon. She just wanted to go read now. At least in the ravenclaw library things are calm.