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!
Rodrik ran through the corridors and staircases of Hogwarts, hair wet, old t-shirt clinging to wet skin, laces of his sneakers undone, eyes bloodshot and face swollen. He'd just gotten out of the prefect bathroom where Grace Longbottom had run into a very naked and very sad Rodrik, but after a few moments of comforting she'd given him a sense of direction. He knew what he had to do to help Vaughn, he had to write some letters and notify Damian and their parents and he had to do it now, before the pressure of it all crushed him once more.
He yelled the password to the Gryffindor tower as soon as he could see it, causing the Fat Lady to berate him for being unnecessarily loud and frenzied, but he didn't care. But as soon as he stepped into the common room, he crashed into something or, judging by the yelp, someone.
"Uh, shit, sorry, sorry," he muttered, looking down at his housemate, "are you- Zoe! Are you okay? I didn't mean to topple you over, really, I'm just kind of in a hurry right now, here, let me help you up!"
Zoë, as a rule, did not get up early (except for when she was forced to, which was most days, but that seemed beside the point). That was why, on a day when she didn't have any classes in the morning, she was on her way to sneak a late breakfast from the house-elves in the kitchens instead of the full meal she'd missed. Most of the school would be going to classes now, though, which was why she wasn't expecting anyone to run directly into her in the common room.
"Hey! Watch it!" she snapped, fully expecting to have to make a joke about someone's height and their inability to see her in their way, but as she focused her eyes on the culprit, she discovered it was just Rodrik. Ah. Well. That seemed fairly normal for him, even if the wild look in his eyes told her that he'd probably had some new half-brained idea to change Lyuba's mind on the girlfriend thing or introduce mandatory bagpipe lessons to the school or something. All things that she wouldn't put past him.
"Dude, breathe. Whatever idea you've got isn't going to disappear into thin air if you don't run into your dorm right this instant. What's got you so wound up? Accidentally stumbled on Valentino and Longbottom in the prefects' bathroom?" She tried to keep her tone light, although she couldn't help a little bit of bitterness. She'd heard the rumors, and as strange a pair as they made, they were just another happy couple in the making, she was sure.
"I don't have-- Wait, what?" Rodrik's brows furrowed as he stared right at his friend, "Grace and Valentino? No, there was only Grace in the prefect bathroom right now, what does Valentino have to do with anything?" Rodrik didn't really talk to Aiden, but there was an odd vibe to the Ravenclaw that didn't sit well with him. But then again, it was none of his business who Grace liked, just like... Just like Grace had no business knowing Rodrik and Wolfgang had slept together. "She could be in there with you for all I care right now, " he blurted out before leaning down to Zoe's level and whispering in her ear.
"My brother Vaughn is a bloody werewolf, and Rowan is my bloody cousin, and bloody Lyuba of all people told me this last night, so I really must go," he said before tapping her on the shoulder and making his way towards the staircase, overflowing with anxious energy, fingers fidgeting. First I'll write to Damian-- Or wait, should I write to that Teddy guy? Or do I write to Vaughn? Or to my parents? Think, Rodrik, think!
"Oh, alright--wait, what?" Maybe, Zoë thought, she should be more upset that she wasn't a prefect, since apparently they were all hanging out in the bathroom together on Friday mornings? Or at least Rodrik and Grace were, and come on, why was Rodrik getting to take a bath with her when Zoë was stuck awkwardly upsetting her about kissing and stuff. Well, she knew Grace had definitely had a few kisses now--she'd been one of them, at that party--but she hadn't exactly been expecting her to jump right into bathing with Rodrik. That was entirely new. "You didn't tell me you and her were a thing! Not fair, I still wanted to snog her." She smacked Rodrik gently on the arm.
What Rodrik replied to her, though, didn't seem like it had anything to do with Grace Longbottom, and Zoë's face got even more confused, eyebrows coming so close together they could've been a unibrow. Clearly there was something major she'd missed while sleeping. "Hey, you. Come back here. I'm so lost," she said, grabbing his arm as he tried to walk away again and tugging him back to face her. "What's this about Rowan and Lyuba and werewolves?"
When Zoe implied that him and Grace were a thing, Rodrik couldn't even find anything to stutter out -- his expression turned into one that just screamed 'What the actual fuck is wrong with you?' -- eyes wide, eyebrows furrowed, lip corners upward, baring his fangs. She knew full well that Rodrik would never even think of doing anything with Grace, they were just friends. "She walked in on me! We didn't do anything, just...Hugged. And my towel fell off--" Shouldn't have said that -- "Twice." Goddamnit dude, shut up!
Of course, Zoe Valeria wasn't going to let him go all that easily, tugging on his arm like a toddler at a store. Rodrik sighed, turning to her and leaning down once more, ignoring the strange looks the few other people in the common room were sending at the two. (In everyone else's defense, they were in the middle of the common room, making faces at each other).
"Listen closely, because I won't say it again," he said, his tone hushed as he lifted an open palm up in front of her. "First of all, my brother Vaughn is a werewolf," he folded down one finger, "Second of all, Rowan Howard is my cousin, " he folded the second one, "And finally, I found this out late last night from Lyuba. Capice? Because I don't know how to tell you it all in Italian."
Zoë blinked--once, twice, three times. She'd said some odd things in her life, but this seemed beyond her own powers of coming up with shit. Alright, so Rodrik probably wasn't lying, because how did you just make that stuff up, although maybe there was some dangerous leak in the prefect bathroom that had caused him to believe weird things and show his junk to Grace Longbottom? Maybe she should write a report to the Headmistress or something. Although that would probably make Rodrik have to have some weird and awkward conversation with the old woman, so maybe that wasn't the best course of action. Never mind that, then.
Rendered rather confused about how to respond--a rare thing for Zoë Valeria--she settled on replying first to the one thing she could at least process at the moment. "I don't speak Italian, you know that. Unless it's like, spaghetti, cannoli." Sure, the one thing she knew about her dad was that he'd been Italian, but she would definitely have heard of it before if languages were hereditary. Her eyes narrowed as she continued to think through whatever logic might be in Rodrik's hushed phrases. "Okay, so werewolves and cousins. Why does Lyuba know all this? Are you talking to her again? Is it since you and Grace, you know--"
"Lyuba knows this because-" he started, but then cut himself off mid-sentence to give Zoe a look of 'ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR BLOODY MIND, WOMAN?!', hands thrown up in the air, exasperated sigh escaping his lips.
"Me and Grace? Do you even hear yourself, Zoe? We're friends, for fucks sake, and you said it yourself, she's got something going on with Valentino! I would never!" Grace was nice and all, but Rodrik had never considered her anything more than a friend. She deserved someone with their shit together, not the wet rag Rodrik felt himself to be at this moment.
"Lyuba knows this because Rowan told her. HER! And not me, his bloody cousin and roommate! And since he wasn't going to tell me, she decided to do it herself. Now, I have to go, write a letter to... To Damian, or to Vaughn, I don't know, I have to do something to help Vaughn, and this," he gestured first at Zoe, and then at himself, "This isn't helping! So I'm going!"
And with that, he turned around once more, rushing away to his dorm to try and make sense of things on his own terms.
