With the capture of Verandi Farley and several high-ranking Trossach members, the British wizarding world has finally caught a break. The rate of rogue werewolf attacks have started dropping at a steady rate and, hopefully, things will stay that way. The Ministry is starting to loosen some restrictions, like not arresting werewolves standing on the street for loitering, however there’s still an obvious power imbalance between wizardfolk and werewolves.
The Cotswolds pack are continuing to advocate for the rights of werewolves and petitioning to change the legislation that has been set in motion by the current Minister for Magic, whilst the remaining Trossachs members are trying to stay out of the spotlight and keep a low profile… for now.
Whilst the British wizarding world seems to have calmed down, the same cannot be said for over in Northern Europe where a rebellion of magical creatures has risen. The state of things has gotten so bad that the European Ministry has enacted protocols to protect those under eighteen whilst their adult witches and wizards fight to keep control of their countries.
Students from Durmstrang have been sent to Hogwarts to keep them safe and those not old enough to attend school have been sent to live with relatives or designated British Ministry officials outside of Europe for the time being.
Will the low rates of werewolf attacks in Britain continue? How long will Durmstrang students stay at Hogwarts? Will the creatures usurp the wizardfolk in Northern Europe? Only time will tell.
SEPTEMBER 2019 It's been a very long, eventful summer in the wizarding world. A baby was stolen, several high ranking Trossach members were imprisoned, and werewolf attacks have drastically dropped as a result. What will happen now school has returned?
MAY 2019 An attempt to capture the beta of the Trossachs has been launched. Were the Aurors successful in their mission? Go read more here!
Folding her hands in her robes, the redhead strode out, glancing at the path ahead only occasionally. Chiefly, she focused on the water alongside her, enjoying the patterns which the wind brought about on its surface. At times like this, she was dragged back to summer evenings sitting by the burn, taking shelter from the incessant plague of midges and laughing with her sisters. Always laughing; that was what she remembered best about Isla and Mairi. There were other things as well, of course, but they tended to come to her uninvited; brought on by some random sight or smell or sound with which she associated them. She could always remember the laughter, though, and that was... fitting, in a way, though it sometimes occurred to her that she deserved far worse.
She'd often been told that there was no sense in dwelling on things; that the past was in the past and that it was beyond all human agency to do anything about it. It had been her mother's chief philosophy, though Skye suspected that that was largely to prevent her from asking questions about history, which had not been the older witch's strong point. Still... It was nice, sometimes, to remember happy times that had been. At other times, of course, every memory was a torture instrument.
Morgan had decided that today of all days she’d sit outside by the Black Lake, stare out at the waters with her arms hanging on her knees. Sometimes she’d come out here to think of what to do with her future after Hogwarts. The redhead had the rest of this school year, plus the summer holidays and her entire seventh year to figure all that out - but her future was soon. When the summer starts, she was going to plan her wedding and her brothers because she promised she’d help. The proposal was unexpected, and Morgan had been playing that moment through her head a bunch lately.
Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard footsteps nearby, causing her to turn her head to look at the person nearby. Skye, she noted. Another adopted child of the Jones family, another person she should see as a sister. The Jones taking the Reid’s in was nice, but Morgan didn’t trust them 100%. Not with her life.
The redhead blinked, stirred out of her innermost thoughts by the sound of a voice. It was probably a good thing, she had to admit; there were thoughts which could act as quicksand, whirling around and around and dragging her further and further into misery and depression. Not a good position to be in, to say the least, but then Skye had been in all kinds of bad positions up until now, and could safely say that she was well used to it, though that was hardly something to boast of.
"Hey, Morgan," she greeted the older girl with a slight smile; about all that she felt up to producing at the moment. "Doing all right?" She'd never been entirely sure what to make of the Slytherin, and she still wasn't, but it didn't bother her a huge amount. It wasn't as if they were the closest of friends, despite being sort of technically relatives.
Was Morgan doing all right? Honestly, Morgan had no idea. The redhead had been under stress because of the upcoming exams and her thoughts of the future. She was worried about Ryker might be up too after they go their separate ways once the summer would end. Part of Morgan wanted to drop out, be with the love of her life but Dallas and Ryker had both protested, said she needed to get her education - something Morgan needed to figure out. Her grades were fine, but they weren’t great and if she needed help for next year, she had her fiancee to lean on.
”I’m fine. Enjoying the fresh air. What about you? You seem to be in another world…” she said as she patted the place next to her. Maybe she should bond more with her extra siblings. Unlike her real sibling who was off doing god knows what.
Skye shrugged, assuming the place which Morgan indicated to her with some slight degree of trepidation. Sitting and talking was what she needed just at present, as she knew very well, but that didn't make it any more desirable as a prospect; what she wanted to do was to spend an hour or so in solitude and soak in a little of her own misery. Such an experience might be said to be balm to the soul, though the frequency with which Skye was inclined to indulge in such pursuits would render it more in the nature of toothpaste.
"It's... Well, it's just been a long few days." Weeks... Months... Something of an oversimplification, to be sure, but the redhead did not consider this either the time or the place to start opening her heart, especially to someone with whom she had not been accustomed to share confidences in the past.
Morgan eyed her sister for a few seconds before glancing out at the lake. Sometimes she was tempted to dip her toes into the water, but would never do it because she didn’t want to risk stepping on something sharp while barefoot. The female could remember the one time she tried it while at the cabin, near the water and Dallas had to carry her back to their parents. They healed her feet and told her to be careful - it was a memory she would hold dear to her. God, it was hard being in a world without her parents to be there to guide their children.
”Yeah, I understand that. Just wait until OWL’s and then you’ll have that to worry about…” she said as she glanced at her once more. She wasn’t going to make Skye talk to her. It was hard to get people to open up to her, especially her brothers. They think they’re helping her but they’re not.
"Can't wait," Skye murmured wryly, although to be fair it had to be said that with the way all her professors kept going on about it, she was really looking forward to them being over. Not to the process of doing them, of course, but she supposed that she had to get through that bit one way or another in order to reach the promised land on the other side. Generally, the redhead tended to do quite well in exams, but that didn't make them any easier to deal with, and especially not when she felt as if, for every new piece of information which she crammed into her overflowing head, two or three older pieces disappeared into the abyss, never to be seen again by living eye. "Is it as bad as they say?"
Morgan knew no one was looking forward to their OWL exams or NEWT’s because of how much the professors would cram everything they needed to know until the last possible minute. She remembered studying for her exams when her girlfriend and planned on doing it in the next couple of years. Even if Ryker was going to graduate from Hogwarts in the summer, she was going to use Ryker’s brain to help her for the last year of Hell.
There was a low chuckle from Morgan as she glanced at Skye. ”Oh, yeah. I remember staying up for almost two days straight, studying last year. It was not fun. Especially when one runs out of coffee….”
The redhead nodded. "It gets worse; I don't drink coffee in the first place." Tea, she drank by the gallon and as often as she could, but coffee had never held much attraction for her, and so she was forced to rely on rather less concentrated caffeine than many of her peers to get her through her late night studying sessions, trying to get through revision on top of the seemingly endless amounts of homework which her professors seemed to have suddenly decided that she really needed in order to totally round off her year.
"So, I was thinking..." She paused, surprised at herself. "This summer, did you want to go and get lunch or something? Just... There's no one I really talk to, and I guess us redheads have to stick together?"
Morgan raised an eyebrow at Skye who said she didn’t drink coffee. The question Morgan wanted to ask her is; how? why?. Perhaps maybe she wasn’t in a position to judge her foster sister because she knew some people don’t drink coffee for many reasons. She wasn’t going to list them all because it was a rather long list, so instead she looked toward the lake for a second and back at Skye when she was asked one question she was never expecting to hear. Someone wanted to spend time with her? Did Skye hit her head?
”I’d love that. I have nothing big to do this summer besides visiting Dallas.” she said with a small smile. ”Maybe we should start an army of redheads….” she joked.
"All the way to Texas?" Skye queried with a slightly wry smile. Herself, she had to admit that she hadn't left Scotland until the age of eleven, when she'd had to go down to Kings Cross Station to catch a train... back to Scotland. She'd certainly never left the UK, but that wasn't so much of an issue as far as she was concerned; the redhead did not exactly have an adventurous soul, and she was quite happy to carry on spending her time in the places that she knew and loved already.
Nodding solemnly, she began to relax a little. "You can never have too many redheads. But that'd be great. So, what do you fancy; anything in particular?"
