S.C.A.R-y News Finished

☁ Interacting ☁
@Dealla Prince

Shaved head Willow was a new person out on the town. Or... school really. And by new person she was crying a lot less. Shaving her head seemed to relieve a lot of some of the stress she was feeling. She knew the feelings would come back, the confusing and at their base, completely dizzying feelings. But for now... she was ok. She was trying to be an active friend again, and active person in her own life instead of a background character.

Breakfast was usually the least chaotic meal, everyone was slowly waking up and becoming aware of their surroundings. Willow usually took the opportunity to fill up on fruit and some toast, occasionally some sliced ham or pancakes. French Toast was her guilty pleasure, but Hogwarts never quite matched her mom's breakfast. She knew the house elves did their best. Her robes were tidy and freshly clean, her tie crisp, and her prefect badge in sight of the students. Most of the time she forgot she had it, until someone addressed her like she was a prefect.

As her eyes sweeped and swooped the tables seeing if there was anyone to talk to, she saw a fellow Duelling Captain and Prefect, Dealla Prince. Reading a newspaper like her dad did. Well, her dad read the news on his iPad. Sometimes he would find a particularly funny comic to show to his sapling. Dealla also looked particularly upset, something that her dad would also do when he read the news and would show her mom something in hushed whispers.

Willow took it upon herself to possibly do some cheering up and approached the fellow captain. "Good morning Dee~ You know, my dad says the newspaper being used to deliver bad news is a waste of trees. What's got you so upset?" She peered across the table, trying to read the article but ultimately came up short. She was not yet an expert in reading upside down, try as she might.

Dee was absolutely prepared to just storm over to the next student she saw holding the Daily Prophet, but was pre-empted by someone sitting down across from her, addressing her cheerfully. She blinked, taking a moment to recognise the Hufflepuff on the other side of the table. "Willow! Your hair..." She trailed off, cocking her head, trying to adjust to the drastic change. It didn't look bad, just... odd when you were used to seeing her with long hair.

Willow's question distracted her from further comments and she looked down at the newspaper, the scowl immediately returning. "Uh... It's..." She frowned. She had wanted to know what other people would think, reading the article. Better to just let her read and ask then how she felt about it, Dee supposed. She slid the newspaper over to the other prefect, opened on the article about the half-breed pure-blood conflict and alleged riots. "Here, you can read it?"

Narrowing her eyes slightly, Dee regarded Willow. She wasn't sure what the other girl's blood status was, she didn't think it had ever come up in their interactions, and if it had, Dee had forgotten. Not that they had talked that much, their interactions had mostly been concerning duelling or prefect duties, although she liked Willow well enough. She didn't seem like the I'm-better-than-Muggles-pure-blood type though. "I like your hair," was all she said, finally, before giving Willow a moment to actually read the article. She resumed her hunt for other newspaper readers in the meantime.

@Willow Anderson

@Dealla Prince @Willow Anderson

Opeila's subscription to the Daily Prophet was rather new, but nothing she regretted. When living with her parents, the young girl had never asked, as there were enough tensions in the house without her asking for entertainment of magical nature- as her father would have put it- but with them gone, she had quite some galleons to spend. Of course she wouldn't, for that Opeila was too intimidated of the amount. Pocket money was one thing, a vault filled with money that could keep a family up for quite a few years something entirely different. Spending even one galleon of it made her feel like she was doing something forbidden really.

Today was extraordinary. First, Opeila had slept in, longer than usual and not joined Flash for their usual morning jog. Instead she had decided to treat herself with a large breakfast, something she usually didn't do either. In front of her was a plate filled with scrambled eggs, bacon and crumpets, next to it a glass of orange juice and a mug with hot chocolate. And Opeila didn't feel the slightest bit bad for eating and drinking all of it, no one would comment on the amount of calories in her breakfast here.

The Slytherin managed to catch the newspaper that a barn owl dropped over her plate- thank god she caught it- and put it to the site at first, only briefly glancing at the front page. Opeila had to look a second time when she saw the title. More catastrophes? A dead muggle family near Hogsmeade? Next to the sadness she felt regarding those news, Opeila dreaded that these news would lead to new restrictions like the early curfew. The trips to Hogsmeade were an escape from the dull routine and she really would be sad to miss them, so short after the privilege had been extended to her year.

Frowning she turned the page and promptly choked on her scrambled eggs, earning her some weird glances from people sitting near her. Opeila had only skimmed the page, but hadn't she just read the name S.C.A.R.? Hastily she looked through it, read the article more thoroughly. Yes, there it was. S.C.A.R. Suddenly she felt cold. Opeila had not heard much about that group, but one memorable event was a man claiming to work in the name of it, just before he had grabbed her. And then beat up Vlad in front of her. Vlad, who had tried to protect her. Who had now died. Opeila dropped the fork onto her plate, suddenly feeling like crying.

Frankly, Opeila didn't understand much of the article. The names were not familiar to her at all and she didn't know enough details to make a connection between S.C.A.R. and halfbreeds. She looked up and searched the hall for other people with a newspaper. It didn't take long for her to find some, she knew both. Someone she recognized as Willow after looking twice and a girl she vaguely remembered from an errand a while ago as well as an activity from last summer camp, was it Dee? The Ravenclaw seemed rather upset and slid the paper over to Willow.
The Slytherin folded the prophet and walked over to the girls.

"Hi", she greeted both of them. "That suits you really well." Opeila sent Willow a smile. It felt strange after knowing Willow only with long hair for years, but it really did suit her. Her eyes wandered back to Dee. "Has anyone of you read the S.C.A.R. article? I don't really seem to understand it." With lightly shaking fingers, she nervously brushed a strand of hair out of her face. She felt a little nauseous but at least wasn't struggling with tears anymore.

☁ Interacting ☁
@Dealla Prince & @Opeila Winters

At Dee's notice of her hair, Willow gave herself a little head rub. "Yeah I chopped it all off~ I needed a change." She set herself down in front of Dee, she might as well spend breakfast here at this rate. Her hands reached out to slide the newspaper towards her, giving Dee a grateful nod for allowing her to borrow it. "You know, I've never actually read the Daily Prophet. I suppose now is as good as time as any to start."

It wasn't long before a ringing started in Willow's ears, and a sudden loss of appetite set in. Muggle Family of 7 Found Dead Near Hogsmeade. Surely- muggles weren't even supposed to get near Hogsmeade let alone murdered in Hogmeade. Any food that remained in her stomach almost came up when reading a toddler was part of the family. Willow's face began to mirror Dee's. "Maybe... this time was a bad time to start." Her voice was soft and wavering, tears threatening the edges of her tear ducts. Sadly she missed the compliment about her hear, now too engrossed in trying to take in as much of the news as possible.

There was mention of an organization called S.C.A.R. that Willow wasn't really familiar with, and a rally that circled around half-breeds. Before she could really try and comprehend any of it, Opeila approached the two. A small smile struggled on Willow's face, "Oh, thank you." She scooted over if Opeila wanted to join her on the bench, so Dee would be centered between them. "Dee did, and uh... I just did." Willow pushed the newspaper as if it was poisonous back to the Ravenclaw in front of her. "You don't think... muggles are being targeted right?" She looked frantically between the two. While she wasn't a muggle, really, she still held deeply to the feeling that she was. "I um... I don't know what S.C.A.R. is. But from what I read I think they support Half-Breeds learning magic? And... a rally went really poorly."

That part of the newspaper seemed to grab Opeila's attention, but the muggle murders had a firm grasp on Willow's mind. "I feel quite a bit dizzy from the first article." A shaky hand found a glass of water and quickly gulped down half of it. "Muggles did nothing wrong... and it seems like neither did the half-breeds until they were pushed too I guess."

@Dealla Prince, @Opeila Winters & @Willow Anderson

Mondays. It was an early morning on Monday; the start of the week and it was already oh-so tiring. Bloom was sitting at the table and grabbed a chocolate chip bagel from the middle of the table. It was already cut in half, but she did not put cream choose on it. Instead, she started to bite into it, primarily trying to get the chocolate chips.

Throughout the table was not only food but it looked like the Daily Prophet. Bloom looked around and saw that a lot of others were intently looking into the newspaper. What was so alarming? She grabbed a nearby Daily Prophet and opened it up to the second page. She saw that there was an article about S.C.A.R., a terrorist group. They have been upping their reputation as being terrors in the Wizarding World, fighting for equality among the PureBlood community.

Bloom was overhearing her peers talk about it. She couldn't help herself and she scooted herself closer to them and tossed the Daily Prophet on the table to catch their attention. "What I want to know is what contest are they going to conjure up to make their point? How many more people need to be injured for them to get what they want?" she said, chiming in. She looked at the others who were talking. They were younger than her and perhaps that was why they could have had a difficult time processing it. "These are the same people who killed most of the Koldovstoretz students in the summer," she said, trying to help them connect the pieces together.

Interacting with no one

Her hand clenched a little around her glass of orange juice, pressing into it as the other started to scrunch the side of the newspaper it had been holding. The news was something she did not bother to keep up with often. Being in the Headliner team, she had started to learn to - at the very least - skim the titles, so she had a vague idea of what was happening in the world. It was always sad though. Today's was no different. A family of muggles had been murdered, apparently, though she did not really read the details. There was something about flying carpets that would have interested her, in all honesty. However, her eyes were fixated on one article.

Purebloods clamour for a champion...

Serena moved both hands onto the newspaper, gripping the edges as though that would help her read better. She did not really know much about S.C.A.R. or the rally or the people mentioned. Perhaps they were as dangerous as it claimed, perhaps they weren't.

'Dangerous half-giant' was a phrase that had likely been spoken about her best non-rat friend - and honestly, he reminded her more of a teddy bear than 'dangerous'. He had the ability to crush people and his physical prowess was not one she took lightly. But he was not dangerous. A part of her could not help but wonder how accurate this phrase was. Was this Mathias Mulrain guy actually dangerous or was he listed as such simply because of the association between his race and their strength? That was a question that she would likely never get the answer to. She did not know him, nor did she have any inclination to find out.

It was not that line that upset. It was the continuing paragraph. 'The plague of half-breed inclusion'... The plague, they said. Like half-breeds were some sort of sickness in the community, affecting people's health and hurting them. 'Misjudgement to trust half-breeds' as though they should not be trusted at all. It spoke specifically of a wand but if take away their wands and the community was taking away their education. Hogwarts would not allow eleven-year-olds without wands into their premise to learn magic, surely. What sort of shitty people wrote this?

Serena did not think she was particularly talented or skilled but she was aware that she had a gift. For some reason - one that she could not explain - she had managed to learn how to cast wandlessly far earlier than most people seemed to. But that was not something everyone could do, from what she knew. If they took away her wand, she could still cast. But that was not true for everyone. And at the age of eleven? The school could not cater for that, surely! They would have to teach everyone wandless before they even learned magic - and that was not easy. The future generation would either not be educated in magic or they would have to teach themselves - something that would only lead to many accidents and mishaps, surely.

Besides... apparently Hogwarts educating them was 'much to the public's dismay' anyway... It sounded like the magical community just needed any excuse to stop Hogwarts from accepting them...

Despite the silence surrounding her, there was a clear difference in her expression and aura than usual. Serena was silently fuming. Her teeth were clenched, jaw gritted together, a snarl painted on her face in disgust as she frowned intently. First, it would be their wands. Next, would be their education. Render the future generation of half-breeds unable to cast magic, simply because they were never taught or facilitated to. Then what? Take away their status as 'beings'? Disgust filled her to her stomach and she raised a hand to her mouth.

A sense of nausea hit her and the urge to vomit started to surface. She felt sick. This was... disgusting.

There was a reason she did not proudly stand up on the table, pull her hair back to display her 'different' ears and scream that goblin blood ran through her veins... And this article was it. The discrimination in the community was disgusting and filled her with anger. But it also made her afraid. It filled her with a fear that she could not explain, almost as though hope was being stripped away from the future. She did not know who this Claude Avery guy was but... a part of her hoped he was not proven wrong.

Was it really so audacious to claim that a half-breed could beat a pureblood? Depending on the contest, she was pretty sure she - a half-breed - could beat her brother - a pureblood. Yeah, he would win in an arm wrestle but she could definitely create better armour than he could. Hell, she could cast magic better than him and that was what this was all about. His pureblood status did not make him better at magic. Take away both their wands and she would best him without even trying.

She was not foolish enough to claim that she could beat any pureblood simply because of her race but she stood on the same ground as them. She had just as much chance as they did. They spoke of Hogwarts and the quidditch games. It had been a while since she had played but during her time, she had caught the snitch faster than purebloods had. If they were so good, why could they not beat her or her captain's strategies when both were part of this "plague" of half-breeds?

She could hear whispers, murmurs or just general conversation around her. Not that she was paying attention but bits crept in. People were talking about the articles. They were speaking of S.C.A.R. or about the muggles or... she did not really know but there a growing feeling of sickness in her heart. What if the intolerance was growing?

OOC: Dealla gave me permission to come here and mope around alone without interacting with anyone. Feel free to drag her into conversation if you want but otherwise, she will just leave soon and it will be sort of a solo.

When Opeila approached, Dee gave her a forced smile and then mirrored Willow's invitation to sit down with them. She accepted the newspaper back without comment, eyes automatically straying down again to the articles, skimming the words again, unable to help herself.

She looked up when Willow asked about Muggles being targeted, confused for a moment before she remembered the first article, the one on the front page. She'd barely given it a glance, attention drawn by the mentions of people she knew instead, and suddenly felt a little ashamed. Her grandparents were Muggles, so were her friends back home, their families. But they lived far from here. She hadn't even considered whether they might be in danger. "I don't... think so?" she replied, the words more a question than an answer. The article contained barely any information, not on who they were or where they came from, who killed them or how. It was sufficiently vague that Dee's mind had just skipped over any potential threat coming from this news.

Another girl joined the conversation before Dee could give Willow an explanation about what S.C.A.R was. An older housemate of hers, one she had seen but never talked to personally. Bloom was her name, she knew from their venture near and into the forest last summer. And her explanation was incomplete at best. "You don't know them," she snapped back at the older girl before she could stop herself. Not referring to S.C.A.R as a whole, but to the names mentioned in the article, that Bloom claimed where the same people. "They're not murderers, they're just fighting for their own rights." Or at least they had been, a year and a half ago.

Turning back to Willow, she attempted to offer a more comprehensive explanation. "S.C.A.R stands for Squib Committee Advocating Revolution." Yes, she had done a bit of reading up since then, until the stories of attacks and murders had turned her stomach and she'd stopped. "They want better treatment for Squibs and half-breeds. But..." she shot Bloom another dark look, unhappy to admit she was partially right, "they also committed some attacks. Or said they did. Or people said they did. People died. Was it ever confirmed that they were the ones responsible for the attack in Hogsmeade last year? I know people were saying they were, but..."

She swallowed, trying to clear the way her throat felt swollen. "Professor Mulrain wasn't like that," she added more quietly, her finger tracing the name on the article as she spoke. "And- and Mr Avery. I met them, you know, summer before last. They just wanted equal rights, because they'd been treated badly for being... you know. Part-giants and part-goblins and stuff. Not fully human. They wouldn't have attacked and killed people. It wasn't them." The words were uttered fiercely. "And you want to know what happened then? We - they - were attacked. Someone set the bookstore on fire while we were in there. They weren't doing anything bad." The terror of that moment came back, the first time she talked about it out loud since then. Throat burning from smoke, disoriented in the haze while a hand around her wrist dragged her towards the flames. "There were angry people out front, we could hear them. Mr Avery went to distract them so the rest of us could escape out back. I don't know- I don't know what they would have done otherwise." She shook her head.

"If S.C.A.R did those terrible things, it was different people. Not everyone who agrees with their goal would do that. And this?" Her voice grew louder, increasingly upset. "The plague of half-breed inclusion?" A direct quote from the article and again, she turned to Bloom, accusing. "It was a mistake to trust half-breeds with a wand? You know we have students at this school who would count as half-breeds. They're just using S.C.A.R as a- as an-" Scapegoat was not a word she knew. "As an excuse to tell people that anyone who isn't human is dangerous or lesser."

She pushed the newspaper away from herself as if disgusted just touching it. "I don't believe that Professor Mulrain smashed in a storefront." She crossed her arms in front of her chest. "And you know what? Mr Avery was probably right with what he said." An irrational, generalising claim, with about as much ground to stand on as the opposite claim that half-breeds were lesser. It still felt good to say it.

@Willow Anderson | @Opeila Winters | @Bloom Silverton
If anyone else is looking for an in on the conversation, feel free to assume that Dee's rant was loud enough to be overheard at a distance.

Youssuf heard an older Ravenclaw ranting about S.C.A.R, a couple tables away. He kept perusing his Daily Prophet calmly, stopping at Purebloods Clamour For A Champion.
He read it through with eyebrows which were increasingly getting raised, until they actually started cramping. 'A fair battlefield'? 'Any pureblood'? Hardly phrases that showed a wanting for peace among all races and breeds. A foolish claim indeed.
But he certainly didn't agree with the writer about half-breed inclusion. Besides giving half-breeds a chance to become equal with wizards, it promoted interspecies cooperation, he supposed. And he knew a few half-breeds who were right handy with a wand. Huh! 'Burden of magic'. Bloody nonsense.
Youssuf folded up his newspaper into a neat square, tucked it into his robes and headed over to the other table, where he'd heard the Ravenclaw talking.
To his surprise, he knew only the Slytherin, Opeila Winters. He'd duelled against her. No hard feelings, though; those were all directed towards Dmitri Jones.
He bowed to everyone at that table (two Ravens, a Puff and Winters).
Youssuf said to the Raven who'd spoken about S.C.A.R. so loudly, "I'm Youssuf Baid. Nice to meet you. Anyway, I heard what you were saying about S.C.A.R. from over there. I quite agree with you, except for the last part. Mr Avery would certainly have known that his pronouncement would incite a riot of sorts, he couldn't possibly have been so foolish as to overlook this. And there's no chance such a statement was right, no chance in a million years. Hell, he made no mention of magic being used; a part-giant could best a human easy in a physical fight, while a wizard might be able to best a part-Veela in a duel. A quite impossible calculation."
Once he'd spoken his part, Youssuf smiled easily at everyone. "May I sit down? And what are your names, by the way?"

@Willow Anderson | @Opeila Winters | @Bloom Silverton | @Dealla Prince

On this Monday morning, Emerald trudged in the Great Hall, taking a seat at the Hufflepuff table. She scanned the table, wondering what’s on the table for breakfast: French toast, cereal, fruit, and toast. After a couple seconds of eyeing the four options she poked at two pieces of French toast with her fork though really, she isn’t craving French toast… or really any of these options. Lately, she’s been craving her favorite snack Gyeran-Bbang, a Korean food that she hasn’t been able to savor. It’s been over a year since she moved from South Korea to London moving when she was 10. Her father got an opportunity to work at the Ministry of Magic. Ever since their move, she hadn’t been able to savor it.

As the tired Hufflepuff picked up the maple syrup from the table, a loud THUMP filled her ears. Next thing she knows, The Daily Prophet is sitting perfectly on top of her French toast. She took a look to the left of her plate to the little delivery owl waiting for his payment. Emerald sighed and dug into her robe, putting the required five knuts into the pouch that was tied to the owl’s leg. Emerald picked up the newspaper, curious on what’s written today. Her brother recommended to her and her siblings that they should subscribe to the Daily Prophet, so they can keep up on what’s going on in London.

When she picked up the paper, the first page was covered in a bread shaped grease stain from the French toast. Emerald sighed again and muttered to herself,

“Really? On my French toast? I hope I can read this.”

Emerald took a minute to read the titles of whatever was interesting. One was interesting: “PUREBLOODS: Clamor for a Champion”.

“Tensions between varied factions of wizards has been ongoing for years, however at a recent rally in London Claude Avery made the audacious claim that a half-breed could best any pureblood given a fair battlefield. The concept has been mocked by a vocal group of wizards and the incident devolved into a scuffle where S.C.A.R. sympathizer Claude Avery and his allies Mathias Mulrain, a dangerous half-giant who was accused of bashing in a sto-“ But the grease stains smudged the letters on the remaining article, and she couldn’t read the rest. Emerald knew a little about this. S.C.A.R advocates for half-breeds, and something about them being too violent to show their anger was all she knew. But it seems like someone else, a Ravenclaw was talking about it. She wanted a better understanding of what she was talking about so she wanted to approach the table. But she didn’t want to see m like she was intruding, or seem creepy if she were to just join. Before she knew it, her legs were making way to the sea of blue. She didn’t realize she was already up to the table, until she stood next to Willow, the Hufflepuff prefect, someone she knew about (of course, she’s the prefect…everybody knows their prefect) but most likely Willow doesn’t know her.

“Oh, um.. hi, I heard you guys were talking about this?” Emerald lifted up the illegible, grease stained, news article about S.C.A.R.

“As you can see, I can’t read the rest of the article. Do you guys mind telling me what’s going on? ” Emerald giggled a bit but she continues, “Um, I don’t know much about the general situation, except that I know S.C.A.R advocates for Half-Breed rights and they supposedly did some…things.” Emerald didn’t know whether to say “violent” or “crazy” but decided to choose neither of them… just in case it was rude. It was awkward as it already is to just come up to the group and she didn’t want to give them the wrong impression. She smiles awkwardly, waiting for an answer.

@@Dealla Prince, @Willow Anderson, @Opeila Winters, @Bloom Silverton, @Youssuf Baid