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!
Humming he was trimming one of the few trees he had planted on Hogwarts grounds without letting anyone know, not even the herbology professor or the groundskeepers. No one would notice a few more trees a slight distance away from the lake and the forest, or so Richard had reasoned. No he was in his fourth year they had had a bit of a chance to grow, along with his passion for becoming a wandmaker when he was done with his studies. That and maybe a housefather in the end, that more or less depended on what would happen with him and Flora, or any woman he would be involved with in the future.
If he was able to perform his craft from home, that might be an option, or if she made such a truckload of money that he didn’t have to work. He would likely still be practicing wand crafting, but more as a hobby than his job. Spotting the glint of metal from the other side of the tree he froze. He knew what he was doing, but he didn’t trust anyone else near his babies, trees, projects, whatever they were to him. ’’Step away from the tree and no one loses any limbs…’’
April showers brought May flowers, perhaps, but Skye didn't remember anyone ever saying anything about wind, which, in her view, was the more defining feature of the weather today. On stepping out of the castle, she'd practically been blown down the path towards the lake, and though things were dying down a little now, she still maintained the conviction that she must look as though she'd been dragged through a hedge backwards, which, when it came to it, wasn't actually all that far from the truth. She'd been doubting her decision to come here for most of the journey, convinced that the wind would be even worse across the open water, but the surrounding trees seemed to shelter it better than she had been expected, and that being the case, she felt safe in ducking behind a trunk and pulling out her silver-backed compact mirror- a present from her mother when she'd turned thirteen.
Oh, dear Merlin, she looked a sight, and the redhead spared a moment to wish she'd brought a hairbrush as she set about trying to untangle the bird's nest which seemed to have been suddenly woven on her head. She was, admittedly, somewhat distracted by the threat on her person that suddenly emanated from the other side of the trunk, but she spared a few seconds to finish off trying to set herself to rights before snapping the mirror shut with a firm click and stalking around to the other side of the tree to see just who thought he could get away with threatening her. "Excuse me?" she demanded.
Richard didn’t care one jot that he had just threatened someone, as long as they intended harm to that tree, he would gut them like a fish and feed the guts to the giant squid. Seeing the same glint as before followed by a firm click only made his ease his stance ever so slightly. Wand in his right hand, pruning scissor in his left hand. With the person stepping from behind the trunk he could see it was a young woman, around the same age as himself. A woman who apparently took offense to his words and actions, not that he gave a crap at that moment. That was likely to come later, but not then. The somewhat indignant question had him smirking.
’’I said step away from the tree and no one loses any limbs. I don’t recall speaking any other language than English and the removal of the metallic object does nothing to make it less conspicuous.’’ You could say he was a bit nuts, you wouldn’t be wrong, but it would not be very nice. ’’So what were you trying to do to that tree? I finally have it near the wand wood quality it needs to be and no one is going to ruin that, no one.’’ He had seen bowtruckles more and more in the branches of the tree, knowing that they preferred to live in wand wood quality trees he had decided on a final pruning and checkup before that would be taken care of by them. Richard also knew that he would have a long way to go before he would be ready to make any wands himself, but if he knew how to grow trees of the right quality before it would save time.
Skye shook her head, mostly in disbelief. The boy seriously thought he had any chance of doing anything serious to her? She was no brilliant duellist, but she was quite capable of protecting herself, and although she hadn't the faintest idea of who this boy was other than that he was evidently a Hufflepuff, she was pretty sure that he was younger than her, which meant than unless he was some kind of child prodigy, she was going to be more competent than him. So his threat, which was ridiculous to start with, lost any semblance of seriousness, and as she had been to begin with, she was more irritated than afraid, especially since, to her certain knowledge, there was no rule against carrying metal objects in the vicinity of trees.
"I'm sure you and your tree have a very close symbiotic relationship, but I still don't appreciate being threatened," she began curtly. "I certainly don't have to explain myself to you, and I don't intend to either, but perhaps you'd like to tell me why I shouldn't report you to your Head of House for threatening me with a wand and a sharp implement?" One eyebrow raised, she indicated the badge glinting on her chest. "Care to reconsider your attitude? I object to the smirk, more than anything else." It was an expression that she had never appreciated, and in these circumstances, she liked it even less than she usually did.
