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!
It was 8 am, and the Prefect bathroom was already full of steam. The reason -- Rodrik Belanger, who was sitting in the hot water, leaning against the side of the pool, his blank gaze directed somewhere into the void. He hadn't even bothered to add any scented bubbles in the bath -- it was just him, sitting in the bath, and the only signs of life were the occasional blinks and the steady rise and fall of his chest as he breathed.
He'd had a hell of a night. Around midnight Lyubov Kareva had told him that, first of all, his eldest brother Vaughn was a bloody werewolf, secondly, she'd slapped him -- and he was fully aware he deserved it, and thirdly... He'd had a hysterical breakdown, that left him completely spent. When he'd woken up on the common room couch, poked by one of his housemates that he was missing breakfast, Rodrik had gotten up without saying a word and went straight for the Prefect bathroom, looking like a ghost.
Some part of him wanted to just be alone. To just fall asleep in the bath until he woke up, completely soggy, but rested. And some tiny part of him wanted to fall over while he slept and become the next tragedy of Hogwarts.
Post by GRACE LONGBOTTOM on Jan 5, 2020 11:22:14 GMT
It was early morning, and as Grace headed straight for the prefect bathroom, a great big smile was plastered across her face. She'd just went for the most marvelous run and she was pumped full of endorphins. Even though her legs were somewhat sore and aching, it was nothing a little steam bath couldn't solve - and it was the perfect time of morning for it because nobody was ever in the bathrooms early, usually too preoccupied with breakfast.
Carefully making sure that nobody else was nearby to overhear, Grace said the password. Not one second later, the door swung open and she stepped into the room, fingers already gripping the bottom of her shirt to peel it over her head when she noticed she wasn't alone. No, there sat Rodrik looking miserable and... and... and he was completely - "Oh shit!" Grace shrieked, whirling around with her hands flying to cover her eyes because that? That was not what she wanted to see at this - at any time - of the day. "I'm sorry. I didn't - I'll just... leave. You in peace to... uh..." Be sad and naked. "Is... are you okay?"
He would have sulked there for hours until his stomach would have devoured itself, if not for a sudden shriek in a very familiar voice, that tore him out of his melancholy, eliciting a yelp out of him. His head snapped towards the door -- it was Grace! -- while his hands hurried to cover his unmentionables. His face was flushed red, as he stammered out an apology after an apology, trying to get out of the pool without using his hands.
"Ah, sorry, sorry, I didn't think anyone else would be here, just, give me a moment," he rambled, looking for a towel -- thank the gods, the magic in the bathroom always provided one when needed -- and wrapped it around his waist. After a good ten seconds of fumbling, the adrenaline had settled down and Rodrik finally managed to wrap his head around what had just happened. Grace had cursed. On a good day, the thought alone would have split his sides, but his brain was more focused on the other thing she had asked -- was he okay?
"You can turn around now, Grace," he said, "I'll... I'll leave you be, I've just had a, a bad night, that's all." Rodrik was terrible at hiding his feelings. Someone after 'just a bad night' didn't walk around like a ghost, their eyes bloodshot and devoid of any glint of happiness. They'd be grumpy and sluggish, yes, but... Not like this. "I.. I've got a lot on my plate, but I won't make you suffer through that," he continued with a weak laugh as he reached to grab his boxers.
Post by GRACE LONGBOTTOM on Jan 5, 2020 13:03:34 GMT
"I should have knocked. Oh my Merlin, I'm so sorry. I didn't see any - well, I mean, I did but nothing... and I'm sure it wasn't anything bad, I just - I don't think we're at that point in our friendship where I can see you - uh, naked." Grace was well-aware that she was babbling badly at this point, all of her insides squirming because she didn't want Rodrik to think she'd walked in on him on purpose or that she completely lacked manners by just... waltzing into the prefects bathroom without a second thought.
A small splash met her ears, signalling that Rodrik was most likely getting out of the water, and then he told her that it was safe to turn around. Painstakingly slow, letting her hands drop from her eyes, Grace nearly choked as she saw that he was still half naked, smooth chest glistening with water. It made sense that his towel was only wrapped around his waist, given he had no reason to cover his chest like she did, but her eyes flicked to his face and stayed glued there nonetheless. She didn't want him to think she was staring and being inappropriate. "I don't - no, you don't have to leave. You were here first."
The reveal that Rodrik had had a bad night was enough to have Grace stepped forward toward him, shaking her head. "You can talk to me, it's not... I'm happy to listen. It's really no bother," she insisted.
There he was, a white towel hanging from his hips, hand clutching a pair of pink -- they used to be red, but they washed out -- boxers, with water dripping down his body and pooling on the floor. He was looking right at Grace, and she was looking right at him, an odd intensity to her gaze. Even though Grace was telling him that he didn't have to leave, judging by the reaction she'd had upon walking in, if he did stay, he'd have to spend the entire time sitting on the cold floor and staring at the wall, which he wasn't feeling up to, at least not during this morning.
The invitation to explain himself tugged at Rodrik's heart. Sure, he'd spent the evening crying into Lyuba's arms, but that was frenzied, overwhelmed crying. Those were tears of panic. Now? Now he could fear heavy tears forming in his eyes, and a huge lump blocking his throat. He opened his mouth to answer, but the words just wouldn't come out. Then his cheeks became hollowed as he started biting on the inside of his mouth, trying to gather himself.
"I found out that," he started, his voice already breaking, "that my eldest brother Vaughn is a werewolf. And...I can't help him."
Post by GRACE LONGBOTTOM on Jan 5, 2020 15:52:43 GMT
There was a flashing of pink out of the corner of her eyes and it quickly dawned on Grace that yes, Rodrik was clutching his underwear in his hand and now she knew what he colour knickers he wore under his school pants. For a split, hysterical second Grace wondered if she needed to make things even and show him her knickers but that was an absolutely insane idea and she zipped her mouth.
Grace's intense, burning gaze on Rodrik's face meant that she didn't miss the emotion that played out on it for one second. Something was tearing him up inside, she could tell that before he started talking by the wet gleam in his eye and then she heard what he had to say. His brother was a werewolf. Immediately, Grace's extreme nervousness about, well, the nakedness was forgotten and she was launching herself forward, engulfing him in a hug. "Have you spoken to him yourself? Is he safe?" she murmured, her chin resting over his shoulder as she squeezed him firmly around the middle.
Grace's sudden embrace knocked air out of Rodrik's lungs, and he immediately wrapped his arms around her, still clutching the underwear in his fist. He melted into her arms, never mind the fact that he was soaking wet. He needed this.
"No, I haven't," he said in return, voice frail, barely keeping himself together, "He's... He's somewhere in Scotland, but I can't send him a letter, not when the Liason Officer is reading them. I don't want to get him into even more trouble." He was about to continue, when the boy realized that his damn towel was sliding off from his waist. "Uh, Grace," he pulled back from her embrace, grabbed her by the shoulders and spun her around, ignoring any complaints she squeaked out. Then he dropped the towel on the ground, kicked it to the side and pulled on his underwear.
"Sorry, sorry about that," he muttered, pulling on her shoulder to motion that she could turn around. Then he embraced her into a hug once more. "I don't know what to do, Grace. How do I reach him? How can I even help him? We can't..." his paused, his voice getting quieter, "We can't afford to get him wolfsbane, and I hate to think about the pain he must be in every month. I don't know what to do."
Post by GRACE LONGBOTTOM on Jan 6, 2020 4:21:59 GMT
There was residual wetness from Rodrik's chest soaking against her shirt, but Grace didn't care because with the way Rodrik was folding into her, one thing was crystal clear: he needed this. He needed to be hugged and to be held, and she was happy to oblige. Reaching up, Grace petted the back of his head, fingers skating through his short-cropped hair as he spoke. "I can talk to Teddy, maybe? He may know where he is, he's good like -"
All of a sudden, Grace's shoulders were being seized and she made the tragic mistake of looking down just in time to see - not again. Thankfully she was being forcibly turned before she tried to gather wits. "This is - I mean, it's - this is a lot. I mean, not your - uh, just this whole..." Grace's face had turned a magnificent shade of red as she tried to articulate just how she was feeling about seeing more of Rodrik than she bargained for but she was failing miserably.
Then she was being pulled around again and thankfully this time, Rodrik was wearing his knickers. His pink knickers, that she was probably going to think of by accident every time she saw him now. Before she could come up with some spectacularly stupid about that, she was being hugged once more and the serious tone of things resumed. "I wish wolfsbane was more accessible, it's just not fair and... but I know that Teddy's apart of a pack. A really, really great one and they all take care of each other and they know what they're going through because they're all the same - perhaps he could join them? He'd have a safe place to transform too... less risk of being harmed on the full moon."
One of the many things in this world that made Rodrik Belanger's knees go weak was people running their hands through his hair, and Grace was no exception. This was probably one of the reasons why Rodrik's towel started slipping, because as someone who enjoyed wearing no clothes at all, he'd perfected the "towel around waist" technique, but now it was sloppy and haphazard and as he heard Grace mumble about something 'being a lot', for a split second he wondered if she was talking about what she'd just seen, and not the general situation. Any other day he'd laugh nervously and make a stupid joke, but... There were other things on his mind.
Grace's words made the weight of the world lift off Rodrik's shoulders, even just a little bit. He loosened the hug, looking at his friend as she spoke, his eyes red and tired, and yet he was catching every word and holding onto it for dear life.
"Teddy wasn't with the Trossach's, right? Because the pack that Vaughn is a part of, well, they've got Hugo Hahn. And you know Rowan Howard? They've got his little sister Rue. And the Howards, well, turns out we're cousins." He explained, sniffling. "But...How do we contact Teddy without the Ministry getting in the way? Or...Or maybe I should just go straight to Grimblehawk and, and... Gods, I don't know what to do, Grace."
Post by GRACE LONGBOTTOM on Jan 6, 2020 12:27:16 GMT
Grace shook her head furiously. Of course Teddy wasn't - he wouldn't be. That group of people were responsible for a lot of bad things happening right now or so Grace had heard, and he was one of the good guys. He'd never join forces with them. "No, he's... he's apart of another pack. The Cotswolds. You could just send him a letter, asking him to keep an eye out for your brother Vaughn - there's not truly much Ms. Grimblehawk can do with that information," she insisted, one of her thumbs moving to swipe at some of the tears gathered beneath Rodrik's eyes. Merlin, she hated seeing him so sad.
"You need to talk with him and... and I think you need to tell the rest of your brothers too somehow," Grace told him softly. Back when Teddy was bitten, she'd been worried naturally but the circumstances hadn't been nearly as bad. She knew he had a safe place to transform at Hogwarts with the lockdown facilities, and he had people to rely on to get him through any trying times - herself included. Things were different now. Much, much different, but she didn't say any of that aloud. Rodrik already knew. "You - if you ever need to talk and you're feeling overwhelmed... you know you can talk to me, right?"
Teddy wasn't a part of Vaughn's pack, which only complicated things. Rodrik didn't want to send someone else on a wild goose chase all across Scotland on his behalf, this was something he and his brother's had to do. But, then again, he didn't even know where to start, and if this Teddy was as good as Grace made him sound, then it was Rodrik's best chance to get to Vaughn, but-- Rodrik hated making decisions under pressure, it had always been either Vaughn or Damian who took the lead whenever something went wrong, but now neither of them were here, and it was all on his shoulders and I just want to jump straight into the bath and drown so I don't have to think about it, good God.
But that wouldn't resolve anything.
He gave Grace a tight squeeze before releasing her and grabbing his clothes, pulling them on as he moved toward the door -- yes, this involved hopping around while trying to get one of his legs into his worn out jeans. "Thank you, Grace, thank you. I need to... I need to write some letters and," he stammered out, "and I need to, I need to get myself together. I'll see you around." And with that he was out the door, practically running back to the Gryffindor tower.
