Closed A Step Towards Unity Group 5

AngelFyre was absolutely NOT expecting her fellow to be as amorous as he was in that moment, but she would never be one to fight him on such things. She had long ago given in to the notion that this was part of their draw to one another and a vital part of their dynamic. Some folks might think it a bit much, and she could understand that... she truly could.... but what those same folks had absolutely NO clue about was how very hard the two worked at... and mostly succeeded at... not parading their PDAs out more often. Even so, they both knew there was a time and place for everything, but in a school where people could be ripped to shreds in front of you by a Hag doll at a school sanctioned Ball, the sight of two kids kissing seemed pretty darn innocuous by comparison.

So AngelFyre did what she would always do in such a circumstance and she happily kissed him back. Before he could pull away, she whispered teasingly before nibbling on his earlobe, out of sight of everyone, "Love, I am pretty certain this is not the type of Unity the organizers had in mind when they conceived of this idea, but just so you know... I am all for it. Find me in the Common Room later if you would like to carry on further diplomatic relations," and she giggled as he sat up and pulled her up along with him before he scooted some distance away from her on the sofa.

Sigh He may be out of reach but he was definitely not out of mind.

Now sitting up and doing her level best to act as if nothing had happened, knowing very well she was smiling and probably looked like a starry-eyed dimwit, she cleared her throat quietly as Simon began to speak. He mentioned waiting just a few more minutes for anyone else to show up and that he would start things off.

She could see what appeared to be a least a couple of looks of relief on that score, and waiting a few extra minutes paid off a dividend as one other girl entered who introduced herself as Mahlioz. What a beautiful name AngelFyre thought. She nodded to the girl and smiled to her and it was then that Simon somehow managed to once again tease her with a playful jostle as he reached across and over her for his satchel. Her smile grew wider, but she just shook her head a bit and rolled her eyes. The boy absolutely knew what he was doing and it was simply all kinds of enticingly distracting.

But it was now time to concentrate on the business at hand. Once Simon reached into his satchel and brought out copies of last April’s newspaper article in the The Daily Prophet, penned by a pureblood making the case that ONLY purebloods should be allowed to cast magic, let alone co-mingle with the Hogwarts student body at large, her concentration suddenly became laser focused.

He handed her a copy but she did not need to read it. She had read it easily a hundred times already, and each and every time her blood boiled. She sat as everyone read it, and debated with herself how raw or how diplomatic she wanted to be on the subject. She decided, as she almost always did, to go the honey route as opposed to the vinegar route.

Her puppy love demeanor had now vanished only to be replaced by her serious, analytical side. “You ask how it makes me feel? It makes me proud to attend a school that values inclusion rather than exclusion, at least on this particular subject for starters. I guess I would have serious questions about the real reasons behind such a thing being written. That article touts nothing but systemic prejudice with little to no facts to back up its specious claims.”

She was on a tear now and she looked to Simon, thinking there would be a shrouded apology he could see in her eyes as she hijacked the discussion, but she realized there was no need for one. Of course there was not. The apology should have come from the newspaper’s editorial staff out to all of its readers last year for printing such tripe.

“All this is," and she waved the parchment in her hand, “is a privileged, wizard-class tossing rumors, half-truths, and innuendos onto the wall to see what sticks. Making all of us, or trying to make all of us, fearful of the “other” is simply a tried and true gambit to keep and maintain the power and control dynamic that some purebloods feel is slipping from their grasp.”

She had been casting her glance around her group as she spoke, trying to gauge how what she was saying was landing with them, but she rested her stormy blue eyes on her fellow for a few moments.

Her tone softened as she continued, “It is folly and the work of small minds, not to mention small-minded people, to paint anyone, let alone a whole class of people, with such broad brush strokes as if what they, meaning some pureblood wizards, said, simply because they said it, was the gospel truth according to Merlin.” She took a breath and ended with, “I would wager there is not a one of us in this group right now that would not be shocked to learn that one, or maybe more, of our friends or classmates may be a half-breed. Assuming your relationship had been positive up to the point of learning such a thing about them, would such knowledge change your mind about the person? And if so, why? Other than knowing something you previously had not known, how would the relationship be manifestly different in any way? They are who they always were.”

“If no threat had been waged in your direction, then perhaps the wisest thing to do to in such a case would be to deal with everyone on a case by case basis first and foremost while remembering the wise words by Maya Angelou, “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.”

She stopped altogether and blushed at her speechifying. “I have so much more to say on this, but I will keep my powder dry for now and listen to each of you and your thoughts.”

And then she relaxed her posture and sat back into the sofa, eager to hear what others would now hopefully have to say on the matter.

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Interacting with @Simon Kincaid @Charlie Jacobsen @Adya Oakes @Aurora Griffith @Mahlioz Evethisawe

Word Count: 1,091

@Charlie Jacobsen, @Simon Kincaid, @AngleFyre McCubbin, @Aurora Griffith, @Mahlioz Evethisawe

Within some split seconds, a brunette joined her. Despite the small greeting she received, Adya could sense the displeasure in her facial expressions. Is that because she is a muggle born? Or is it because she belongs in Slytherin? Neither is painted on her face though. What might be the reason? Never mind which. Everything she wants to know now is whether this girl isn't a fully human person.

Biting her cheeks in an attempt to hide her tease smile "Hi", Adya stared at the girl's face. For whatever reason, sullen people always seemed funny to her eyes. Maybe it was her parents' moodiness if not, her sister who inherited their moodiness was the reason behind this certain attitude of hers. Adya by all means not going to ruin her chance just in case the brunette wasn't an entirely human kind of person, by laughing at her.

In a little while, there came a boy- a handsome looking boy! A boy who she found cutely gentle as he introduced himself. Simon looked somewhat familiar but Adya was perfectly sure that it was their first meet. Her face stretched into a slight smile, "Happy friday, handsome- by the way, my name's Adya Oakes" as she reached to shake his extended hand.

Then a cheerful girl made her appearance. "Hi Aurora, I am Adya Oakes-" the ebony haired offered her usual slight smile to the girl sitting across her. "- I believe we have a few classes together?" Her eyebrows crooked as she scanned through her memory. Within a few minutes, another girl joined, seemingly a second year Hufflepuff who appeared to be handsome's friend... At first. Oh oh! Adya's mouth dropped open and her eyes darted away from the couple. However, it doesn't hurt. Her mind and heart are already occupied with the cutest Gryffindor.

Finally! Someone she already knew arrived, Mahlioz, a fellow Slytherin. Adya greeted her with a smile. Which is when she realised the moody girl isn't moody after all. Adya was supposedly the only person to receive this special treatment. "Hey honey, I didn't get your name yet" her eyes darted back to the brunette, still controlling her laugh.

As the copies of the daily prophet were displayed before her, Adya grabbed one quickly murmuring thanks and started skimming through the words. It's full of discrimination against half breeds and muggle borns- or anyone that's not pureblooded. Adya sighed exasperatedly as she read to the last word, "This is- the writer is- everything about this paper is bullshit!" And placed the paper back. How much ever she believed that it was wrong on their end and not hers, she couldn't control her mind from thinking what-ifs. As a matter of honesty, being a muggle born bothered her more in these kinds of situations. If she was someone from a pureblooded family, she wouldn't have had to deal with all this. Does she?

Adya was awstruck by the words of AF. The dark-haired already started admiring the Hufflepuff. But she had nothing to say, nor did the previous thoughts erased from her mind.

wc- 346+514= 860/800

Rita was late to the discussion group, like super, super late. As a non-human enthusiast, the Second Year Hufflepuff is naturally drawn to other special races besides fully human, such as werewolves, dhampirs, seer, part-goblin, part-giant, and so on. Even though as a muggle-born wizard, she barely has any idea about those special races, if not no idea, she is always interested in learning about those different races and the differences between herself and others being fully human and wizards of those races. She believes wizards should never be discriminated because of their blood status and race, and she thinks learning about the special qualities of those wizards with special races could help her understand those special races better and support those races better. So, when the second year Hufflepuff with short black hair heard that there was going to be a discussion group activity for wizards of different blood statuses to get to know each other better in the rehearsal room on Jan 27th after class, she did not hesitate to join.

However, that afternoon, she was quite late to the discussion group in the rehearsal room because she got some questions to ask the professor about the content of that class after class. That particular class was quite difficult to the Second Year Hufflepuff, so she found it hard to understand the content and ask the professor some questions after class. Thankfully, the professor explained the answer to the Hufflepuff with short black hair carefully, and after a bit of digestion, the Second Year Hufflepuff finally understood the content and left the classroom.

"I know I must be late to the discussion, let me just rush to the rehearsal room as quickly as possible, there must be a lot of discussion going on there, and I don`t want to be too late and miss all the discussion! Let me just run as quickly as possible to the rehearsal room now!" Rita thought as the black-haired second year Hufflepuff quickly ran to the rehearsal room.

When Rita finally arrived, she quickly ran to the group she was assigned to and found out there has been some heated discussion going on in the group. She looked around and found out she knew four people out of the six people already discussing enthusiastically in the group, there was the new leader of the Musicians Corner Club, Charlie Jacobsen, her nice friend and fellow Hufflepuff prefect, Simon Kincaid, the friend she made on the journey back to Hogwarts, Mahlioz Evethisawe, and the fellow First Year Hufflepuff she met in multiple occasions, Aurora Griffith. As for the other two, she remembered one of them from the group thriller dancing back in the Halloween event last October, the other one, she did not really know. Anyway, the Second Year Hufflepuff decided to wave to the group and ask them what they were discussing about that enthusiastically.

"Hi, you all! Charlie, Roro, Simon, and Mahlioz! Fancy seeing all of you!" The Second Year Hufflepuff waved to the group with a warm smile and turned to the girl she remembered from the Halloween event, "By the way, I think I`ve seen you before in the Halloween event and in class, but I don`t really know your name. Anyway, my name is Rita if you don`t know, and sorry I am late to the discussion. I was just asking the professor some questions about the content of the last class in the classroom just know, so I left the classroom late. So, it seems that you all are having a heated discussion. Could I possibly ask what you are discussing about and could I also join the discussion? I hope you don`t mind my interruption." After Rita finished speaking, the Second Year Hufflepuff gave a friendly smile to the group and hope that the group of six did not mind her joining in the discussion group.
Word count: 650/800
Interacting with: @Charlie Jacobsen @Adya Oakes @Simon Kincaid @Aurora Griffith @AngelFyre McCubbin @Mahlioz Evethisawe

More people started coming in as time went by, including an older Hufflepuff who I might have seen around from time to time in the common room, and a girl who I recognized from the Golden Explorer club. Wasn't her name Angelfyre, but she went by AF? "Hello!" I said simply Then there was a girl named Mahlioz who asked to join. "Of course!" I said, smiling.

Then Simon started talking about an article in the Daily Prophet about some pureblood wizard speaking against halfbreeds after handing it out. I read the paper from beginning to end and clutched it so tightly that my knuckles were beginning to turn white and I nearly ripped the article. Even though I was(mostly)sure I wasn't a halfbreed, a part of that really hurt. This guy has to be a jerk. Who said that halfbreeds couldn't learn magic. I felt my eyes well with tears but I quickly wiped them away.

So...for those people who thought that halfbreeds were abominations, they were wrong. I wasn't sure why I was feeling so passionate over this article of crud, but I was. I set the paper down on my lap and took a very deep breath. Then I let it out. Then AF spoke sharing her opinions on the topic. "I agree wholeheartedly," I said, surprising myself a little. "I believe that this school is doing the right thing by being more inclusive to all types of people, and halfbreeds are no exception. I believe that Hogwarts should be a safe haven for all wizards, no matter who they are. And I also believe that all the nasty things in this article are a pile of stinking crud."

It wasn't much, but it was enough for me to surprise myself. I sat down again, not realizing that I had stood up. Other people, like the dark-haired girl I was sitting by, whose name was Adya, shared their opinions too. Then Rita came in. "Hi Rita," I said. "You can certainly join us! We were just talking about this article," I said, holding up the paper. "We are talking about why this article is wrong about halfbreeds and that we should support each other and lift each other up, and listen to people's opinions. We want to prove that Hogwarts is doing the right thing by being more inclusive to everyone, somebody please correct me if they need to..."

I surprise myself more every day. I'm not shy and meek, but I'm no activist either. It felt really, really good to share my opinion and what I thought with the whole group, even if it was new and it did leave me a little riled up with my heart still thumping in my chest as if I had just run a mile. I really couldn't wait to hear what everybody thought on the whole subject, which was something I didn't even know that people actually debated until recently. Plus, the whole "pure wizarding line" thing was stupid, anyway, and I felt much better now that I had said so.

Rita paid a careful look at the group members and suddenly she realized the girl she remembered from the Halloween party was the same girl from the Golden Explorers Club, named AngelFyre, if she remembered correctly, and go by AF. She also overheard the other girl she had not met before introducing herself as Adya Oakes. "Oh, you are AngelFyre, go by AF. from the Golden Explorers Club, right? Sorry, I nearly forgot you introduced yourself before. And your name is Adya? Nice to meet you, Adya! I hope you are all feeling great today!" The Second Year Hufflepuff with short black hair apologized and greeted to the girls with a friendly smile, hoping the two girls did not mind.

Then, the Second Year Hufflepuff was greeted by Roro, who started to talk about some article being wrong about half breeds, we should support each other, and Hogwarts doing the right thing by being inclusive to wizards of all races and blood statuses. Rita smiled as she listened Roro`s speech, which she could not agree more.

"Exactly, Roro. You are totally right. We should never discriminate wizards of different blood statuses and races, and I am glad that our school is quite inclusive rather than exclusive. Instead, we should support each other, and everyone should be treated equally, regardless of their race and blood status, as well as gender, sexuality, class, things like that. This is the ideal situation. However, discrimination of all kinds is everywhere in reality. It really hurts to know some people believe in blood purity and believe a certain type of race is "superior" than others although I can sort of understand the reason why. It is painful to know that that kind of belief still exists and is actually quite common. What do you all think of that? Feel free to correct me if you have any other opinions. By the way, could anyone of you please pass me that article? I want to pay a look." The Second Year Hufflepuff replied to the other six members of their small discussion group.

Even though the Second Year Hufflepuff is not a half breed, Rita firmly knew the blood purity concept as a muggle born. She knew some people, especially those pureblood wizards, think only the pureblood wizards are the "true" wizards and only them deserve to be in magical schools. She knew by heart it is not that case and it is the same thing with half breeds. Reflecting on her speech, the Second Year Hufflepuff knew she nearly spilled that she is a muggle born in her speech, but hopefully the other members of groups could not grab that from her speech. Now the Hufflepuff was desperate to know what the other members thought. "It seems that the conversation is going in an interesting direction, and I am glad that we are seemingly all on the same page. Even though I am not a half breed, I know discrimination against race and blood status really hurts, and thankfully our school is quite inclusive, and I believe those kinds of discrimination is against the school rules." The Second Year Hufflepuff thought as she waited for other members of the group to further express their opinions.
Word count: 650+541=1191/800
Interacting with: @Simon Kincaid @AngelFyre McCubbin @Aurora Griffith @Adya Oakes @Charlie Jacobsen @Mahlioz Evethisawe

After saying her piece, she sat down, hoping that nothing she had expressed would disrupt the actual peace, but if it had, so be it. Feathers may get ruffled, but honestly, that was not always a bad thing, and if fiery darts were to come at her from any of the group members, she was confident she could handle it. She was not looking to be disagreeable, but if someone did happen to disagree with what she had said, goodness knows she had given them more than enough ammunition to shake some of their own ideas and possible misconceptions loose. And of course she was always willing to listen to the ideas of the others and find herself persuaded…. if their arguments were strong enough and did not collide with her faith. She was a critical thinker and knew enough to know that she did not know everything.

Then there was always the slim chance that everyone here might just be in agreement with what she had said, in which case, that would be wonderful. At least Simon would know that not everyone held such contemptible views of halfbreeds as had been expressed in that bird-cage-lining that passed for ‘journalism’. She cast a glance his way and smiled as his concentration expression was written all over his face, even though his posture was actually quite relaxed. She recognized his expression even in profile because his brows would furrow, but he was not breathing loudly so she knew nothing was upsetting him. She had not for a moment thought anything she had said would upset him. He had heard it from her many times over. Nothing new there.

She relaxed and listened as one by one people slowly started to let their own thoughts out and AngelFyre began to rejoice inside. It was nice to see those who may be nervous about speaking decided that their opinions on the matter needed to be heard. The more the merrier.

AngelFyre smiled at Rita Su as she joined the group, a bit flustered at being late. Rita mentioned that they had met at the Halloween Bash, and AngelFyre nodded. “Indeed we did. I believe I got you to join us for the flash mob dance to Thriller,” and she shot a glance over to “Frankie” and hissed and then laughed. Quickly turning her attention back to Rita Su she told her in all honesty, “You were so nervous but you did a great job dancing like a zombie. Very nice to see you again.”

As Aurora caught Rita Su up on what the group had been discussing, AngelFyre decided the lull in the proceedings merited her best chance at taking a sip of her cranberry juice. One notable member not to speak out thus far was Charlie. AngelFyre wondered if she would be next, but found the answer to be no as Simon began to speak. She listened to him, stopping short of bringing her cup to her lips as he made the group think about halfbreeds sleeping next to them in dormitories and how some may be beyond the help of anger management sessions when riled up.

She smirked. He was trying to stir things up, but not in a bad way. Just doing his devil’s advocate thing, though why her dove would want to advocate for THAT side in any circumstance was beyond her. She shook her head and brought the cup to her lips and began to drink the tart juice. Then Simon spoke again and… well… that is what you get for advocating for the devil because

all

HELL

broke

loose.

AngelFyre did not mean to do it. His words caught her completely off guard and she inhaled mid-sip causing the juice to flow down the wrong pipe. She spent a few agonizing seconds feeling like she was drowning and was balancing that gosh awful feeling with trying not to spray those in her vicinity with cranberry juice. She thought getting up, for some stupid reason, would be a good idea. Alas… it was not.

Poor, Charlie. AngelFyre, now no longer thinking clearly or in possession of complete muscle control, stumbled while attempting to stand. The cup and remaining juice flew from her hand and crimsoned up Charlie’s lovely white outfit, splashing in her hair and on her face as well.

Why did she have to be wearing white of all things?

Still gasping like a fish out of water and absolutely mortified at what she had just done, AngelFyre looked over at Simon and widened her eyes at him accompanied by a “When I get you alone, Mr., I am going to….” look.

Turning back to Charlie, she could only rasp out a feeble little apology as she was still intermittently gasping for air. “Oh, I…” and AngelFyre wheezed “I – am sor…. Sorry!”

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Interacting with @Simon Kincaid @Charlie Jacobsen @Adya Oakes @Aurora Griffith @Mahlioz Evethisawe @Rita Su

Word Count: 828

English | Parseltongue
interacting/mentioning: @Mahlioz Evethisawe | @Adya Oakes | @Simon Kincaid | @Aurora Griffith | @AngelFyre McCubbin | @Charlie Jacobsen | @Rita Su

Della was unsure if Professor Regan had pointed her to a Friday evening gathering because she thought the young Gryffindor didn't have enough friends or if she suspected something more peculiar about the girl's nature. Regardless of the reason for the invitation, Della had found herself moving at a snail's pace to the rehearsal room. They were going to be talking about half-breeds and their place in the wizarding world. She knew she wouldn't have anything cogent to say. She was muggle-born, and she was just getting a foothold on the politics of being thirteen at a magical boarding school; she wasn't ready to think bout the wider politics of the whole wizarding world.

But there was a deeper reason why she didn't feel excited about such a gathering. It had been only a year ago that Della made a terrifying discovery about herself. She wasn't sure if it made her a half-breed or anything, but it would easily alienate her from her peers. From what she gathered, she was something that most witches and wizards feared above vampires, werewolves, and giants combined. A parselmouth — a rare ability usually affiliated with dark magic. How could one contribute to such an honest and brave conversation while lying?

Upon finally arriving at her destination, Della stood outside the door. She could hear talking from within—great, she was late, too. Sighing, she began to stealthily sneak inside, preparing her apologies at the tip of her tongue. But her timing had been impeccable—a Hufflepuff she recognized, AngelFyre, was currently spilling her drink all over another student—and Della was able to slip through the door, beelining for the snack table, quickly pouring her own drink, and acting as if she had been there the whole time. Hopefully, her actions at least looked neat and normal, if noticed at all.

WC: 305

Banner created by the wonderful aurora griffith

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Simon decided to start. He started with handing out an article, which I was not aware of something that was happening, but I accepted it. I read the article, and of course it was about pure bloods and half breeds, and how purebloods were say half breeds were the cause of the schools problems in the past few years. This article was obviously written with some bias, well actually a lot of bias.

I finished reading, and gently held the paper, letting my angry thoughts boil up inside of me. This was bullshit. I let the others share before I butted in. “Clearly the writer of this article is very dumb.” I said as I set the article down on the table. “This article is crap.” I said.

Just then another girl walked in and somehow, she knew my name. I had never seen her in my life, but it turns out her name was Rita Su, second year, Hufflepuff. She seemed nice and actually had a good reason for being late. “Hello Rita. I do not think I have met you before, but whatever.”

The conversation got off topic but I did not care one bit. I sat there in silence.

But of course, something else had to happen. And this was B A D.

AngelFrye, a girl who was definitely not one of my favorites, was taking a sip of cranberry juice. Simon was talking and well… he made her choke. At first I thought it was serving her well, but… of course she coughed and spilled all the cranberry juice on my white pants. Great. Just great. I guess this is why I never wear white pants. I stood up, and of course the juice ran down my my pants turning them more and more red. This was great. She was wheezing and coughing harder and harder and I was getting madder and madder. I had had enough of this. I was done. “Thanks so much. You made my day.” I said firmly and sarcastically. I stormed out of the room, fuming with rage and anger.

I had no idea why I had gotten so mad over just a cup of juice spilled on my pants, one of the pairs I never wore. Was it because I thought Simon was cute? No. Was it because I didn’t like AngelFrye flirting with Simon? No. Was it all of the above? No. Ok, maybe yes, but still. Simon and AngelFrye were already dating. And apparently super in love.

Why did I get so mad about that? Why, why, why?