The Order of the Dawn Open

Perhaps it was the fact Gem was distracted, but when he heard a new voice, his eyes lingered on the new speaker for a little too long. His mouth opening and closing like a stupid fish, eyes bulging- well, if his face hadn't been used as an example of the dictionary's definition of 'pathetic', he'd wonder what poor soul was taking that place-- because Christ be it, he certainly had to knock sense into himself with a cartoon hammer. He was always pulled in by the usage of bigger words and people who were able to speak well- this Slytherin was no exception. He swallowed, doing his best not to choke and die on his words, just this once. He looked at James, then back over at her, his face probably as red as a ripened apple.

"Y-yeh, don' see why not." He mumbled, shaking his head away from his miserable attempt at communication. Jesus, was the general male stupidity kicking in a bit early? "Good advice. Boot, uh... we're talkin' about a different group ov arseholes," He reached behind himself, pulling up another chair in an empty spot at their table. "See, these... these people, we don't quite know who they are yet, tha's wot we're trying to figure out; how ta find them, and stop 'em immediately." He stopped for a moment, holding his hand out with a polite smile-- at least it wasn't that ugly lopsided one he usually had. He was pretty proud of himself.

"Gem Stuart. This would be the part where I name my importance ta this, but we're all joost as important. An anarchy, if ye will... an orderly one." He winked, turning back over to the group of people. "Our works against the Dark Witch Society... tha's going ta be a more long term project-- we have no reason not ta believe they've got as much enthusiasm, stubbornness, an' determination about their project as we do... tha most we can try for, for now, would just have ta be keepin' an eye out." He glanced at James, Charlotte, Lark, and Logan, his eyebrows rising high on his forehead. "...Any objections, or are we goin' ta be able ta do more plannin'?"

James felt himself well up with pride for a moment as Lark offered herself up as bait. They may have been Ravenclaws, but this may have been the bravest bunch of people he’s ever met.

But he knew Lark was not an option.

“No,” he said firmly, “Surely, these guys know who’s a Muggleborn and who isn’t, and I’m the only Muggleborn here since Clem got flakey, so it’s going to have to be me.”

His attention was drawn to the doorframe as a mysterious figure appeared in it. Margo White. He’d seen her around before and asked her name of a prefect in the halls. He thought maybe he’d sent her a prank letter with a dirty limerick in it at some point but he couldn’t be sure.

After Gem said his piece, or perhaps, more accurately, dribbled out his piece, James decided to address the new comer. He didn’t like the idea of the group having any formal leadership, and he certainly wasn’t going to let this thing play upon his ego as Savannah had with the DWS, but he had in some small sense taken the position as defacto leader of the group.

“Yeah, Gem’s right. We don’t go in for this whole ‘prove your worthiness’ bull that the DWS is all about. You want in? You’re in. Everybody’s got value.”

He grinned at the girl.

“Really it’s a pity you’re not a Gryffindor. Honestly, I feel that’s the house that produces all the bad eggs. But there must be at least one or two Slytherans mixed up in either one of these groups.”

^{Interacting w/ @James McMurtrie @Gem Stuart @Margo White}

Picking nervously at the hem of her gray skirt after James had replied to her offer with a more stern sounding 'no', Lark looked up and noticed a girl with wavy hair had standing off to one side. She had done a rather good job of remaining on the outskirts of the group, Lark hadn't even realized she was there. She felt a bit bad not having noticed her earlier.

“I want in, if you’ll have me.”

Of course she had heard things about Slytherins, but this girl seemed genuine. Not to mention right on point with her thoughts on dealing with the DWS. Definitely a welcome ally for sure! She nodded alongside Gem as he seemed to ..... stumble through an greeting... acceptance? What was the poor boy saying to her? Lark felt her eyes glaze over as she watched her friend explain the situation.

"...Any objections, or are we goin' ta be able ta do more plannin'?"

Shaking her head Lark smiled at the girl. "Not from me!" Waiting for James to introduce himself and speak to the new comer, Lark smiled as he spoke about everyone having value. Standing up from the chair she walked over to the girl and offered her hand. "Nice to have you with us, I'm Lark."

Elizabeth walked into the library and noticed a rather large group of Ravenclaws and what looked like to be one Slytherin. Elizabeth got closer and his behind a bookshelf eavesdropping. From what she heard they seemed like they were trying to stop attacks on muggle-borns. Elizabeth knew this was the right opportunity to tell them and ask for them to join her club to stop attacks.
Elizabeth emerged from the bookshelf and bravely stated "Hi my name is Elizabeth Smith, I am a first year Gryffindor and I have been attacked many times by Slytherins who hate me, one for a particular reason but it seems the others attack me just because I am muggle-born. I have had a sprained wrist, black eyes, and broken nose. Also because of them I got deep cuts into my skin because of branches. I am building up a club and already have a couple of members. This club is to fight injustice and prejudice.
I am waiting for more answers but I need as many people as possible to join." Elizabeth said all of this boldly and then said "May I sit?" Elizabeth got so caught up in talking that she didn't even notice the slytherin watching her from a distance. Elizabeth knew that he didn't hear anything but this was the chance that they get to take her and beat her up again. He walked over and pulled her arm and then said "Come on mudblood, leader wants to see you if you come with me without a fight then I will tell him to have mercy on you." Elizabeth looked back at the group and noticed them all starring and hoped they would do something.

Elzabeth looked over her shoulder at the new voice, surprised to see that it was Margo. It had been a few days since their meeting in the Owlery but it was good to see her again, especially now that it was evident Margo wanted in on the Order.

Once Gem started speaking Elzabeth waved at Margo, sending her a friendly smile. Although they had only spoken briefly before, Elzabeth wanted to seem welcoming to the Slytherin, she knew how scary it could be trying to join in on a group.

"...Any objections, or are we goin' ta be able ta do more plannin'?"

Elzabeth looked at Gem, shaking her head. "None here." She was ready to get back to work and stop whoever was harassing the muggle-born.

"Nice to have you with us, I'm Lark."

Elzabeth watched as lark introduced herself to Margo and smiled. The more members they had and the more diverse their groop became, the better. If they had eyes all around the castle it would be a piece of cake if they ever needed to take action against something.

Elzabeth looked back at her group, already excited to hear what they were going to come up with.

"STOP!" James said, moving cautiously around the table, "She doesn't have to go anywhere she doesn't want to go... so just relax or else we're going to have a serious problem, Yeah?"

He slowly walked toward the two with his hands raised as if he were taming a wild animal.

"Also, we don't use that word here, so you're going to apologize to our friend here, and then you're going to leave us all alone, ok?"

He offered a hand to the Gryffindor girl, "Do you want to stay with us Elizabeth?" he said

James clenched his fists, ready to fight if he needed to, and gave a sideways glance to Charlotte. If there were any more of these thugs, they'd need a little bit of muscle to back them up, and Charlotte was their best option.

He wasn't expecting an altercation to happen this quickly, but it was almost serendipity that these two had wandered into their little meeting so brazenly. He wondered if they could get the chance to speak to the Slytherin boy, he may be able to shed some light on the situation regarding the Muggle-Born attacks.

He wasn't sure about this girl's group, he felt a twinge of Loyal Jealousy, as she suggested that the Order of the Dawn join her.

Charlotte jumped when she heard James burst out, looking over to the situation at hand. This could possibly be their first task as a group to stop this madness, and boy was she down for it. She was filling to fight for justice, if you catch her drift.
Leaning back in her seat, Charlotte started picking at her cuticles, seeing how the situation was going to play out. There were two options; the Slytherin was going to go away and leave Elizabeth alone, or the Slytherin was going to get beat up and THEN leave Elizabeth alone. It was his choice, but it seemed like he was going to go for the latter.
The Slytherin boy stepped closer to the table, grasping Elizabeth's arm and tugging her behind him. After this he cracked his knuckles, Charlotte tilted her head, starting to size him up. She obviously had the lower hand physically in this; he was much taller than her (but everyone was at that point) but no one ever expected her to do anything... After all, what could a little girl possibly do? A lot apparently.
"What could you possibly do to me?" He looked down at James, an obvious size difference between the two of them.
At the thought of James- or any of her friends for that matter- getting hurt because of some petty loser infuriated her. She stood up, walking over with a straight back, smiling up at the older student. Promptly, she jumped up and punched him in the jaw, the collision hurting painfully against her knuckles, but the adrenaline nullified the pain in the moment.
She watched him fall to the floor, looking at him with hate in her eyes. She started to turn to walk away, before swiftly kicking him in the groin, hearing him grunt out in pain, his face going even more red. Squatting down to his level, she looked him in the eyes before putting on a fake smile.
"If you ever try doing something like that again, I will make your life a living hell.," She paused, looking down at him, barely feeling bad about the damage, he could go to the hospital wing if anything bad actually happens to him, "Get up." She pushed herself away, pulling him up with her by the collar of his shirt.
"Leave." She said lowly, pushing him away from her, her fist leaving his collar.
Charlotte huffed and walked back to her seat as the boy scampered away, satisfied with herself, but also thoroughly pissed off.
"Well, we actually have our own club, it's what we were just discussing." She raised an eyebrow at the Gryffindor, rubbing her undamaged hand over her freshly bruised knuckles, now leaning back in her chair.

@Margo White
@James McMurtrie
@Lark Flaer
@Logan Berry
@Elzabeth Gillan
@James McMurtrie
@Elizabeth Smith

The Slytherin boy stood up, rubbing his cheek and slinked away under the shadowy protection of the Library’s tall bookshelves. James noticed a small slip of parchment poking out of his back pocket. A note perhaps? Instructions?

He beamed as Charlotte took a seat. “I bloody want to kiss you Charlotte.” he said, taking a seat himself, “That was amazing.”

He turned back to Elizabeth and gestured to one of the empty seats in the room. “Right, Elizabeth, I’m sorry we’ve sort of got our own thing going on here, so we’re not open to joining any new groups right now. But, I hope you’re ok, please sit down.” He smiled, “If jerks like him ever mess with you again, you come straight to us, yeah? Now, can you tell us everything you know about these guys? What was that kid’s name? How long have they been doing this to you? Do you know who he was planning on bringing you back to? -or for that matter where?” He grabbed a notebook and started writing notes furiously. Putting each of his questions as headings across the page.

He glanced up at Margo and nodded to her, “You want in? What can you tell us about our ugly Slytherin friend over there?”

It was like things were calm, and then hectic in the snap of a finger. They'd just introduced a new member, and then all of a sudden, a girl with red hair came to rush in and... say a lot in one breath. And then, in another briefing of confusing fuzziness, there was a Slytherin trying to beat on her, and then James, and then Charlotte had popped up and completely demolished him with a single upper-cut-- didn't those kill people sometimes? Oh well, self defense. It wasn't like it was magic or anything, and she was probably too young to go to jail, so...

It was normal, to see Charlotte resort to violence. That was probably the most normal, least exciting thing he'd seen during the school year-- he'd seen her do worse, it was probably one of the most terrifying things he'd ever witnessed in his life. She was a sadist, especially when she beat some kid to a pulp and set his favorite coat on fire right in front of him because he'd spoken to her the wrong way. He was whipped back to reality when he heard the boldness of her voice, and then James'.



Gem raised his eyebrows, peering at Charlotte's expression in response to that-- was there some growing tension, or was that just him? He nudged her shoulder lightly, winking at her playfully a couple times.
Quickly, though, he went right back to the original topic at hand, treading his fingers together, setting them over the parchment he'd previously been writing, glancing at Margo for a moment.

"Yeh, wot he said. Have you got any information abou' the... well... special ones," he emphasized, careful to pick and choose his words properly. "... In Slytherin?" He spoke quieter, just to be sure no one outside the circle would get offended. "Didn' seem like they meant to do anythin' but directly target her," he gestured at the redhead, "But I can't be sure... none ov us truly can, until we... start somefin' up."

Margo watched, her eyes widening in astonishment, as a girl with fiery red hair interrupted the previously calm meeting. She seemed... upset, and more than slightly prejudice against Slytherin. However, she couldn’t really blame the girl, Elizabeth, because a giant hulk of a snake was indeed tormenting her. No, what really snagged Margo’s annoyance was that the girl thought she could recruit the seven other people in the room to join her own club. She agreed that the form of bullying happening here needed to be stopped as soon as possible, but she was with the Order now and nobody else. 

What really shocked Margo, was the strength of the girl named Charlotte, who easily dispatched the bulky Slytherin from the situation. James seemed to think it was a good idea to kiss her, and that’s where the Slytherin female in the room decided to intervene. 

“Do you want to get punched? No? Then I’d advise against it.” She said, slightly concerned. Yes, Margo had a naturally sarcastic mind, but she didn’t expect it around these, nice people, and it wasn’t the kind of sly humour she was used to anyway. With way James had taken responsibility with the bully, Margo didn’t think that he deserved any physical damage. 

That thought changed, however, when the boy started questioning her on the giant dude who attacked poor Elizabeth (Margo privately thought that she and the girl wouldn’t get on very well). “I don’t know anything.” She said, irritated. “I don’t know his face. There was something about a load of older Slytherin boys being out after curfew, but that’s all I can give you I’m afraid... but I’ll keep an eye out in the future.” She hastily added. Gem had been much kinder about his questioning., unfortunately, James seemed like the leader of the Dawn, and he didn’t seem very approving of her applying. Oh well.

Margo turned to Lark and Elzabeth, smiling in relief at their normal, friendly faces.  She would be wary of Charlotte for quite some time now. “Nice to meet you Lark, and hey Elzabeth, decided to get some action within the first few weeks upon arriving?” She smirked, and hoped the girl didn’t get the wrong idea. This was friendly sarcasm, a thing Margo approved of wholeheartedly.