A Project PV Opeila Winters Closed

@Alec Mason

When Professor Galim had assigned a group project to her and Alec Mason about SCARAB of all topics, Opeila first had mixed feelings about it. Since her heated argument with Dee in the Great Hall last year, she had avoided talking about the topic altogether. Yes, Dee and her had met up again a little later, discussed the topic more maturely and were now looking more eye to eye, but still. It seemed to be a topic that could easily lead to emotions and Opeila was certainly not excluding herself from that.

After all, she had been in contact with a group that posed as SCARAB- Dee had first made the Slytherin think if that was actually the truth- less than two years ago and had been forced to watch her friends get hurt while Opeila herself had been taken hostage.
So no, it was not a topic Opeila would have chosen herself. A lot of Gryffindors had been present during the attack in 2021, but had Alec been? She couldn't remember, half of that day was a blur- the half that happened after her head had been forcefully been smashed into Katrina Walker's, to be precise.

On the other hand Opeila did see an opportunity to find out more. Lately other things than SCARAB had been occupying her mind, pushing the group to the back of her head really. Now she had the chance to do some research during for school even.
Alec and her had agreed to start by looking through old newspapers, which made a lot of sense. So Opeila had spent some time going through her things to dig up some of her old papers that she had kept, before going to the library where she was going to meet the Gryffindor.

Opeila didn't look good. She hadn't for a few days now, but she looked worse and worse with every passing day.
The jumper she wore was definitely made for cooler temperatures than there were in early September, but Opeila even pulled the sleeves over her hands.While walking down to the library, she sniffed annoyed, pressed her eyes shut for a few seconds, hoping to get rid of the headache and dizziness. A cold. It had to be, right? Maybe a flu. She'd keep some distance to Alec so he wouldn't catch it.

When the young prefect entered the library, Alec was already there. Upon seeing the box of newpapers, she glanced down at the significantly smaller pile in her arms. As he waved her over, Opeila approached the table and dropped the newspapers on the table. "That's amazing. I guess I could have saved myself the effort of searching, you probably have copies of mine in there too.", she commented, her voice just a little hoarse. Opeila bent over the box. "Yeah, same, I only found Daily Prophets, I only subscribed to that one and some random magazines that wouldn't feature any SCARAB incidents."

When Alec asked her where they should start, Opeila looked through her own papers. "Wait, so- Ahh, where is it?" Soon she found what she was looking for. "There." She pointed at an article with the title "Poisoning in the London: 12 Dead", then flipped the page to "LaLa Lagueux Plans to Marry Into Rosier Family". "That's the oldest I could find where SCAR was mentioned, in 2020."

Opeila seemed off... And not off in a normal 'off' kind of way. He didn't know how to describe it. What he did know was that there was something about seeing her like this that bugged him. He was off put by it, and as an average person would be, he was concerned. Part of it was the fact he didn't often get to see somebody 'sick' in person. Magic had brilliant cures, it dealt with these sorts of things easily, he didn't understand why she looked like this, looked this bad, had nobody told her to go to the hospital wing yet? Alec's eyes would stare, watching her and carefully inspecting her, concern glazing the look on his face. Maybe it wasn't any of his business. She'd still shown up to do the project hadn't she?(She really shouldn't have though. Alec thought she should be in bed waiting for a healer.)

Alec's face turned, glancing to skimming the first article Opeila had showed him, his face soured as his eyes quickly began to skim through the article. “I remember reading this one,” the tone of his voice quieted as he spoke this realization, his head tilted as he looked at it. He would eye the paper warily. Drinks laced... Assaulted after the potion took hold. The result was twelve deaths. Twelve deaths. At some point he must have cleared it from his mind, the memory of reading the paper. In an instant it all came back to him. “It's all so gruesome.” Alec grimaced at the thought, imagining how it all must have happened in his head.

For the most part, Alec didn't condone violence, he believed that any kind of war was unjustifiable, that violence was unjustifiable. There were other ways of going about problems. It was hard for him to look back on the article through the lens of the personal life experience he had now. Alec hated the feeling that in someway this happening was the most normal reaction possible. With what squibs have been subjected to for decades it's no wonder something like this ended up happening. It felt like the culmination of years of mistreatment that squibs had been made to suffer through. Alec wasn't allowed to blame it on that of course. You don't just get to do something like that and get away with it. It made Alec wonder though. Had they even tried speaking with the squibs to ask for a motive? To ask why they did it, not who they represent.

Opeila would point out one title before flipping through the newspaper and moving on to the next. LaLa Lagueux marrying into the Rosier Family. The suggestion of barring squibs from taking part in any portion of magical society was a horrendous one. Sit ins... Death threats for the new couple. “I wish we had more,” Alec spoke up, eyes flickering away from the newspaper to Opeila. He ran a hand through his air as he realized he may have needed to explain what he meant. “More news outlets to read from. All the Daily Prophets articles have always seemed so one-sided, it's just annoying because purpose of news outlets is to deliver the news, the facts, I wish their journalists would leave it at that.”

Alec took a few steps away, walking over to some of the parchment he'd set out on the table. Reaching for a quill he would dip it in ink and begin scribbling words away and onto the parchment, speaking as he did so.“I know we don't need to go this far back but I figured since were on the subject it would be a good excuse to do a deep dive.” Alec spoke, in his head listening off the facts listed in the articles that he'd wanted to write down, hoping they could get some sort of timeline from it. Alec would look up in the middle of his writing, “you don't mind, right?” he asked, he looked at her, eyes scanning over her features as if trying to read a book. Alec wasn't looking for resentment because he was pushing an unnecessary amount of study to people in order to curb his own personal curiosity. Having a study buddy would make getting through all the information ten tines more bearable.

When Alec had finished writing he set down his quill, reaching into the box he flipped through the newspaper. Pausing, and slowly pulling the newspaper out when he found the one he wanted. “2020, the March edition,” the remembered the one as clear as day. Alec let a sad sigh escape out of his lips as he flipped through the newspaper, stopping on one article in particular. He would point to the headline, "Dangerous Terrorist Group Forms in London". Alec squinted as he stared at the headline, followed by him shaking his head. “This article is so confusing, half of it makes me want to mock the writer,” Alec spoke as he skimmed through it. They had a quote that made the article somewhat better, all in all though, “Is it- ... Is it just me or does it feel like the writer is picking sides?” Alec asked, then using his index finger to point to and underline certain quotes within the article to try and show what he meant.

It was this one "A squib organization called S.C.A.R. found their way into the home of a pureblood family in the heart of London last week. Their ancestral home of Darkwood Manor as set ablaze around 3:42 in the morning. There was nothing left to the Yaxley homestead, due to the high heat produced by an incendiary device and an accelerator." Paired next to this next quote that caused him to want to raise an eyebrow at this article. "S.C.A.R. has denied any involvement in this theft and states that they are unable to identify the two dead." They denied any involvement and claimed they weren't able to identify the dead, which offered at least a bit more proof the them not doing it. The article starts with the claim they did it. When had it addressed the proof? He supposed there was more frustration in him caused by the use of the word 'explaining' when claiming that the members of S.C.A.R appeared to be mentally unstable, you know as apparently 'many squibs are'. Yet the use of the word 'claiming' for what Alec considered the only decent quote from a person within the article.

Alec turned to look at Opeila, he would gesture towards the newspaper. “What do you think about it?” Maybe she had a more informed take on the subject than him. Maybe he was looking too deep into the article, was it that simple? Was he taking sides? This was when he eyes met hers again and he would pause, “hold that thought,” he spoke frowning, really she didn't look or even sound alright. “It isn't my place, but you don't look well, Opeila. It might be a good idea to put this off for when you're feeling better?” Alec suggested. The jumper in this kind of weather was another thing that concerned him, he couldn't tell if it was just an unusual fashion choice for Opeila or related to everything else. “Have you gone to the hospital wing to get looked at yet?” Alec asked, tempted to offer to have them leave the newspapers there and walk her down to the hospital wing to make sure she was getting looked at and that it would be taken care of.

@Alec Mason

Alec's stares would not remain unseen by Opeila- and not uncommented. "Don't look at me like that, I'm fine.", she said, hoping that her voice sounded as lighthearted as she meant to. The Gryffindor looked like he was going to tell her to go to the hospital wing, like others had before. It probably would be the most reasonable course of action, but... she didn't want to. No, more than that, the mere thought of talking to the new nurse about her situation made her feel sick with fear. Maybe it was cowardly of her, but she really didn't want to hear that it was more than a cold.
Could anyone blame her for seeking some kind of peace of mind?

Alec didn't address the topic immediately, and inspected the collection of newpapers with her instead. They were both eyeing the same paper, speaking about poisoning and death... twelve deaths. Was that what the train compartment had been meant to look like on the day in January 2021? Had the plan been to take all the wands and leave a pile of dead children? For a second Opeila could almost feel the harsh tug on her hair again, her arm hurting from squeezing her cat almost too tightly in order not to drop him. Did they all survive by luck? Vladimir certainly had. Opeila too maybe.
She nodded at his claim that it was gruesome. "Certainly is."

The Slytherin turned her attention to the next article her classmate pulled up, published in March of 2020. "Yeah, I suppose it is... I mean, since this paper is entirely written by magical folk, it' only too easy to write from the own- Oh my god!" With wide eyes, Opeila would stare at the image next to the article. "He is their spokesperson?!" She looked up at Alec, he face showing shock, only followed by confusion. "Wait- that... that makes no sense..." The prefect frowned and read through the article again. "This... doesn't make any sense at all!"

Opeila turned to Alec again, who probably hadn't a clue what she was going on about. "Were you there, during the attack on the train last year in January?", she would ask him. "This man... he came to save us after an attack by a group of people who claimed to be S.C.A.R. The group took me hostage and beat this man's son nearly to death when he tried to protect me. And... he also told them that I was pureblood."
Actually there was one explanation for this and it was the one that Dee had first made her consider: That the attackers were pretending to be S.C.A.R.

Suddenly he told her that she didn't look well and hell, she could imagine it. Opeila wasn't feeling her best self, had kept a low profile in classes lately and dear god, she didn't even want to think about when she trained for duelling the last time. Her energy was at what felt like a constant 20% level and this topic... it was just burning it away.
But this- This was new information. Suddenly this was more than a school project, it was a puzzle. One that she had a particular interest in putting together.

"Don't worry, I probably caught a sickness bug or something. I'll be fine, I'm just...", she reached behind herself to pull a chair closer, "... going to sit down."