All this, over a book? Open Closed

“You know, I think I’m going to create a club. Where we can have conversations just like this, start movements, initiate change —free from the rude interruption of ignorant second parties.”

OOC: Ack! I’m so sorry for the late response! I’ve been inactive for the past couple of days and I probably will be for a few more, so I’m gonna wrap this up here lmao

also: @Savannah Rose @Tatiana Crane @Dale Kurt, and @Elizabeth Gillan

Maggie had her suspicions about the girl before Elizabeth had walked up to their table, but after she had, Maggie’s suspicions had turned into, well, not-suspicions? She couldn’t think of the right word for them at the moment, but she knew one thing: she was outta there.

“'cuse me Tatiana I would love to continue to 'ave this conversation with you, but it seems that we will just be continuously interrupted by rude ," she spat the word out as she turned to face the blonde girl, rising out of her seat as she did so. "--little," she neared ever closer "mutts." Savannah hissed temper boiling.

Savannah continued to torment the poor girl, spitting one insult after the other at her. The steady stream of cruel words streaming out of the girl’s mouth made it impossible for Maggie to interject, though she definitely wanted to. The Ravenclaw girl proved to be perfectly capable of taking care of herself, however, which was no surprise to Maggie. She couldn’t help but snicker as the girl snapped back at Savannah sassily, feeling like her favorite football team had just scored against its opponent.

Suddenly, a familiar face made its way into the scene. Dale Kurt, a shy Slytherin boy Maggie was friends with, had appeared, and Maggie couldn’t tell if she was to feel good about this or not. More and more of her friends were getting close to this girl, who, in Maggie’s opinion, wasn’t the best person to get close with. She knew her friends could handle themselves, of course, but she still couldn’t help but feel protective of them.

After Dale had spoken, it’d seemed as if the tension in the room had ebbed to a mere discomfort, and Maggie grinned at the boy proudly. It was impressive, to say the least. She’d always known him as a bit of a shy character, and she was happy to see him breaking out of his shell.

Elizabeth apologized for her outburst, though Maggie thought it was a rightful outburst, at least in her opinion. Savannah, however, didn’t seem to be over it yet, and she continued to act like a snobby little prick as she started to discuss a club, inviting Dale to sit with her and Tatiana. Maggie took that as her cue to leave. She didn’t want anything to do with Savannah, but her friends being there as well were holding her back. She’d wanted to storm out of the place as soon as Savannah had started talking of Dark Magic, but she was also worried.

“I— I, uh, I’m gonna go.” Maggie announced, fully aware that Savannah didn’t care. “But I just wanted to make sure we,” Maggie nodded towards Savannah as she spoke, “were clear with eachother.” Maggie was painfully aware of the five-page-long rant Savannah was going to give her after she spoke, but maybe the girl would surprise her.

“I don’t like you. I know you probably couldn’t care in the slightest, but I wanted to make that clear in case we ever run into eachother again.” she held her head high as she spoke to the girl in a surpringly cordial tone. “I also wanted to let you know that they,” she nodded towards Dale and Tatiana, “are my friends, and though they’re both perfectly capable of taking care of themselves, I can guarantee that if you ever try anything with either of them, I’ll make sure you’ll regret it.” she was looking Savannah in the eyes, a glare on her face as she stood before the girl. She shot Savannah a sarcastic grin, turning on her heel and walking, well, more like storming, out of the library. The tips of her hair were flaming red, and the color was spreading up to her roots as her anger festered and grew. Before she left, however, she turned towards the table.

“She’s not a mutt, by the way— Elizabeth, I mean.” she glanced towards the Ravenclaw girl, who was walking out of the library. “but if being a mutt means standing up for what you believe in,” she shot Savannah a proud grin, “then you can go ahead and add me to that list.”

Maggie Parker has left the thread.

Tatiana smiled sheepishly as Savannah expressed her vote of confidence in her future humanitarian plans. It felt like quite the honor coming from such a bold and resolute young woman such as herself. Her interest peaked as the girl began discussing dark magics, and the taught biases wizards had toward them. She leaned in closer, her elbows resting on the table and tucked closely to her chest, watching as she picked up a quill and began scrawling notes across her parchment as she spoke. Her blue eyes followed the black ink line form across the page as Savannah explained how she believed magic existed on a spectrum, and why it was unreasonable to view it as simply black and white, good and evil. Tatiana nodded in agreement, even in their first year Defense Against the Dark Arts course they'd learned that not all spells commonly considered 'dark' are inherently evil.

A few curious faces gathered around the perimeter of the table as she spoke, some approaching, and others leaning in, but pretending to be minding their own business. It wasn't every day that such interesting, albeit controversial, topics were heavily debated or even discussed in the library, or elsewhere for that matter. Any curious ears that fell upon this conversation would be tasked to turn away from such irresistible topics. If Savannah had noticed the inquisitive glances circling as she lectured, you'd have never known. She continued her spiel, further explaining how each person contains a magical core capable of growing as their knowledge does. In such practical terms, it was hard to deny what she said made sense. If one's knowledge was limited to simply one side or the other, there were bound to be gaps, and gaps meant weaknesses. And weak was one thing Tatiana surely wasn't going to be. She didn't care if it required personal studies outside of her schoolwork, she was determined to learn as much about magic as her brain was capable of.

Just as Savannah was providing context for her statement by using Dumbledore and Voldemort as examples, a small first year girl turned around the corner of a nearby bookshelf, obviously bothered by the words she'd just said. The passionate Gryffindor, though unhappy to have to abruptly cut off her lessons once again, was quick to bark back at anyone who had the audacity to not only interject themselves in the conversation, but to object to her ideology as well.

After a few brief instructions on proper manners from Savannah, and an offended quip from the new Ravenclaw girl, Tatiana saw a familiar face approach- a boy she'd met briefly a few times through Maggie and summer camp. As he neared the table, Tatiana's nerves yielded a bit, her tense muscles relaxing. She couldn't pinpoint exactly why, but him being around seemed to calm her. Oh no, Dale, she thought. He could have no idea what sort of ring of fire he was so bravely stepping into, though he managed to keep his comments neutral, in an apparent attempt to mediate the interaction.

Whatever calming energy he had about him appeared to effect the other girls as well. After a few closing remarks from both parties, the new girl went on her way, leaving almost as quickly as she'd arrived. And Sav, in her usual fashion, immediately picked up on her philosophies just where she'd left off, as if the interruption had never happened. She returned to her seat, extended an invitation to Dale to join them at their table for the discussion, and proceeded to inquire about his own personal opinions on the disputed matters. Tatiana got the impression that the whole ordeal had only inspired the girl further, as she suggested forming a club of like minded individuals, making a note of it as she did.

But if Tatiana was feeling inspired by the girl's words, they'd had the exact opposite effect on her other, equally as fiery, Gryffindor friend. Clearly both unimpressed and made uncomfortable by the ideologies that were being shared, she made a move to exit. But before she left, Maggie made a point to share her utter disdain for Tatiana's new friend. Going as far as to imply that she would stir up trouble for Savannah if she ever 'tried anything with either of them'. The sentiment was sweet, and it touched Tatiana that her friend obviously cared for her so much that she'd go as far as to threaten other students. But Maggie was also right when she'd said both her and Dale were capable of fending for themselves.

She would never have chosen to sit with Savannah if she'd thought her to be just another bully, but Tatiana didn't see her like that. In fact, in her opinion, it was everyone else who was misunderstanding Sav. Everyone who had interjected with opposing views had come in on the middle of discussions, and automatically assumed she was holding a prejudice against Muggles. But if they'd taken just a second to hear her out, as Tatiana had, maybe they too could reason why erring on the side of caution when it came to sharing information about the wizarding world with the muggle world was just, well, practical. Tatiana, being a half blood herself, loved and respected the muggles in her life, especially her father. And to go a step further, she spent eleven years of her life thinking she was one, being none the wiser. If anything, she felt that made her a particular expert on the matter- especially considering her mother's sole reason for not telling her about her wizarding blood sooner was fear of retaliation from the muggles in their community if her secret had gotten out.

Nonetheless, she hoped one day Maggie, and others like her, would be willing to sit down with her and afford her the opportunity to explain more in depth the wary perspective Savannah had introduced. She truly believed that a guarded mind toward muggles, and a more open mind toward the greyer areas of magic, could be beneficial to all. But that conversation was one for another time. She smiled kindly to Maggie, and waved at her friend as she departed, turning her attention back to Savannah. "So, what was this about a club?" she asked, a gleam in her eye. She'd been disappointingly uninvolved since she'd arrived at Hogwarts, but this was finally something that was actively feeding her curiosity. And if Savannah was leading the charge to form a group of dedicated, ambitious individuals, she would be the first in line to join.

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The neatly typed serif font spanning page top to page bottom of 'Unforgivable Curses and Their Legal Implications: Volume 3' seemed suddenly overwhelming as Astrea's no longer exclusively focused on absorbing the information, her own looping sentences and bullet points of knowledge unreadable without proper attention. The dark-haired Asian girl knew full well that her stack of parchment was perfectly fine- consistently smooth and easy on the eye to those who knew how to read high cursive with any level of understanding- but the dark ink felt like an eyesore as she stopped to think about exactly what she was doing for the first time in perhaps hours.

She lowered her head just enough so that locks of ebony hair drifted down to cover her face and closed her eyes firmly, the sudden darkness of shadow cast by her own head only brightened into a warm red glow under her eyelids by a nearby flickering candle floating around. The Slytherin second year let out a deep breath she didn't know she had been holding since she had realized how long she had been tensed up and pouring over the law books, each getting larger and more detailed with every volume as the years stacked on. Though merely a blip in comparasion to the combined family history of her own main combined bloodlines, the study was still proving to be mentally exhausting even for her after nonstop absorption.

As she allowed herself from this extremely rare moment of exposion, Astrea took the time to focus less on the task in front of her and more on the settings around her. As she had studied dutifully, she had carelessly lost herself in the books and her own mind instead of staying at least partially vigilant. She was getting sloppy- a few years ago she would have never let herself drift without securing a private and discreet corner hidden away before conducting any sort of research. Distantly, the girl wondered how her father would react to this easily correctable infraction.

Turning this thought over in her head a few times, Astrea cut the rest short as she raised her head once more with a few rapid blinks. Her slightly relaxed posture strung itself tight once more, and the vulnerability her face might have once possessed in the middle of her brief duck out of learning was quickly stashed away and replaced with a learned mask of passiveness. She turned herself back toward the opened black leather-bound textbook, stack of papers and ink dipped quill, the uncorked inkpot sitting innocently in its place to her top left.

And yet her attention was no longer upon the first page- if reading off a few sentences before quickly becoming mentally fatigued told anything, only to turn to distracting herself into eavesdropping on the conversation near her told her that- and it was to her dismay that her mind ran far too wild with their colourful words to even think about continuing the reading elsewhere. Even if the case of her brain being comfortably numb enough with absorbing information was to happen, choosing to pick up the heavy textbook and careful notes written upon pages upon pages of parchment in a setting such as the grounds seemed unnecessarily complicated- such a pity as well, for perhaps a familiar haze of indifference could have done better for her head.

Instead, the heir was briefly lost in a prediction of imagined 'routes' of action and their possible outcomes- most ending in either flippant disregard or interest driven by self-advantage. Perhaps she shouldn't use her parental figures as role models for such presumed reactions, they tended to end up badly. Or maybe that was just her- No matter.

In between two swirling scenarios her mind had concocted, she pulled herself off of the chair smoothly and walked the short distance to stand slightly apart from the group behind a free space. Unfortunately, it appeared that near all of the members currently huddled together in conversation seemed to be almost intimidatingly taller than her own short stature- which gave her sheer presence evn less of the seriousness Astrea attempted to convey. "Good afternoon. Astrea Neptune-Chou at your service." Her head bobbed shallowly in a bow of greeting and the subconscious that controlled the natural deliverance of her words crisped her accent even further than normal in some unintentional attempt at appeal, expression kept carefully indifferent.

"I hear of the creation of a plausible club. Is there space for another to join this discussion?" Her head cocked to the right in question, a spark of interest making itself known in her gunmetal grey eyes.

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Clem was perusing a back shelf, trying to get a handle on what wizard literature was like (beyond textbooks and comics) when he overheard them. Really, it was hard not to, what with the ruckus everyone was causing. Didn't they know the cardinal rule of libraries? Don't be loud, or if you have to be, don't get caught. The last bit was the most important, and was more broadly applicable to life. He traced the spines of the books in front of him; it was the one thing his parents hadn't taught him, the one he had learned for himself. But soon, the confrontations faded back into the quiet rhythm of library murmurings, a simple steady beat that filled the vast space, a near universal experience of any library, the carpet padding the noise, making everything dull and muffled.

However, the presence of this calm shocked him out of his reverie. Whoever was at that table had quieted down, settling back into their work he supposed. Still, the snatches of arguments he had heard earlier niggled at the back of his mind, hitting at his concerns about Hogwarts, about the Wizarding World as a whole. As much as he was loath to admit it, they had a point. There were some points of contention, he thought, a grin spreading across his face, but you never could reach useful scholarly inquiry without some debate. That was one thing his parents had taught him, if their dinning table debates over t.s. eliot and Lewis could be considered lessons. Really, he was curious more than anything. What would they do? How would they do it? What drew people towards this idea, this young witch, like metal scraps to a magnet? Was there something there, some burning discontent in the belly of young wizards that spoke to a need for this kind of radical change? It was something he had to know, if he was being honest with himself.

He huffed, pinching the bridge of his nose. This wasn't a good idea. In fact, it was an outright terrible one. But curiosity won out, as it always did. He strode from his row, towards the small table, dust puffing out of the carpet the wake of his firm footsteps. Sticking out a hand to the witch, and smiling at her and her compatriots, he said "Hi, I'm Clem. Uh- Clem Larch. What you're doing is um- well it's fascinating honestly." He waved his hand to emphasize his interest, "But I have a few comments? If you wouldn't mind. And yes, I know it isn't polite to listen in, but frankly, it was hard not to. If you're planning on causing upheaval in wizarding society, you ought to plan it in a place that's a bit more, well, private?"

"Oh! But that brings me to my first point. If you want what you're trying to do to work, it's cliche but, uh, you catch more flies with honey than with vingear? Or I guess in your case, jalapenos. Look," he said, propping one hand on the table,"I've lived with academics all my life. It's a thing you learn. To get what you want from institutions, bureaucracies, others, you gotta play nice. You have to smile and wave and say any vitriolic thing you want to say through gritted teeth in the most sickly sweet tone and it will work. Culture wants you to behave. So you just need to trick it." He paused for a moment, taking a breath. Clem hadn't been lying on that account. He had been raised by academics. His round face might not look it but he had had dinner with Oxford Dons and come out standing. There was a kind of rhythm to this pettiness, this kind of dispute, he had learned. You could find yourself lost in it if you gave yourself enough time.

"And now we're at my other point, the reason I like what you're doing. I've only been here what-" he started counting days on his fingers, "a week maybe? And I don't like the look of my future. Wizards, they, um, well it seems like they expect me to come into the Wizarding World and die in the Wizarding World. And what if I don't want that?" At this point, he started nervously fingering the edge of his robe. "What if I want to do something outside of here? I'd like to be prepared for it. I'd like to have my options open. This seems like as good of a place to start as any."

He paused for a moment, panting as his tirade ended. That probably had been too much. Smiling sheepishly at the people at the table he concluded "So yeah - that's it I think? I might not agree with all of this, I may not know anything really, there's always the possibility of that, but I have a very good nose for research," A little pride never hurt anyone, he thought to himself, it isn't like I'm drowning in it, and it's a true statement. "And I'm curious to see what you all will do. So would it be possible to help, even a bit?" Que sera sera, his brain added. Whatever will be, will be.

Amelia, god bless her soul, had been one of the few to wander over to the table after the arguing had been diminished. She waited patiently for her turn to speak, her eyes sliding over each of the faces gathered here and she made it a point to remember them, even if she wasn't able to match each of them with a name. When two others chimed up, asking to be made a part of the group, she felt the urge to step forward and introduce herself.

And so she did. She smiled softly and tilted her head to the side as she analyzed the others before her, a small smile playing on her features,"I know I haven't said anything until now but... I wanted to say that I'm also interested in this... club."

She wasn't sure how to explain herself as her eyes landed on Sav, watching as she scrawled on the piece of parchment. She wanted to be on good terms with the girl, as she had just witnessed and heard of more than one argument stemming from her, but she was more intrigued than intimidated,"I'm impressed, really,"She murmured as she slid into a chair across from the others,"Its been a long while since I've seen anyone stand their ground for something they believed in like that. I respect that. I respect you, even if I don't agree with every point you make, although that's mostly because I don't know a lot about the subject at hand. I'm sure you could teach me more on the matter." She smiled sweetly as she rambled, the corners of her eyes crinkling as she watched the girl.

She wasn't sure how else to explain herself. The air around the leading girl was something that worked wonders, not only on her but on the others in the area. It was obvious, as most gathered here were either horrified or agreed with everything the girl said. And, as she said, although she didn't agree, she would like to learn.

Realizing that she had nearly forgotten to introduce herself, she smiled brightly, her eyes flicking with stray curiosity,"I'm sorry. I almost forgot to introduce myself! My name's Amelia. Amelia Boux!" It was almost like a switch flipped in her brain, because now all she wanted to do was chat with them; all she wanted to do was learn, but she was almost afraid that the opposing girl wouldn't let her.

Dale was glad he was able to break up the little spat, both parties had seemed to calm, down, the Gryffindor had told him her name and offered her hand to shake, which he did, and said "My name's Dale, Dale K-Kurt." To Savannah, Savannah then continued to go off on the girl, in a lesser voice level. Dale wanted to try to stop her, but he knew nothing about this conflict, the decision to stay out of it. The Ravenclaw left shortly afterward, he felt bad about it, maybe he should've stopped Savannah from going off on the girl. Before he could ponder on that Savannah introduced him to Tatiana invited him to join the discussion, he had no idea what they were discussing before he arrived, but he took the seat next to Tatiana and put down his textbooks down into the table and said "I actually have met Tatiana before" He said. Savannah said they were talking about the ministry of magic and dark magic, Dale knew very little about both, in fact, he had barely even heard of black magic, outside of being warned about it "Sorry, but I know very little of both, but I'm glad to hear out any ideas you have about them." He said with a kind smile. Black magic was a thing Dale was warned about it several times, but his mother had thought him to keep an open mind in everything he did, why should this be any different. Apparently there controversial conversation had attracted quite a few people, and the talk about a club brought even more people, some he recognized some he did not, he was going to ask about the club but Tatiana beat him to the punch. He was, to say the least, very interested in all of this.