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!
Leo quickly shoved all parchments and books into his bag, then ran up to his dorm to change out of his muddy quidditch robes. He had promised Ryker to join her in the empty Transfiguration classroom to do some much needed Charms revision in just five minutes! He cleaned himself up as fast as he could, then raced back down the stairs and out of the common room. As soon as he was jogging along through the corridors, his mind wandered.
He would spend all evening with Ryker alone in a room. Now, it might not be such a big deal for others , study buddies slaving away the night in an empty classroom. But for Leo it was a huge deal. He would spend time alone with the Ryker Young, one of his best friends, with not even the librarian to disturb them. And this might still not be that much of a deal, if only his friend wasn't so damn sexy!
He'd had the hots for her ever since he had found out about the existence of girls. But here was the real problem. The rational part in him knew very well that he would never have a chance with her. And that was not because she was 'out of his league' or 'too attractive'. It was simply because she had a girlfriend! Leo knew that of course. She was his friend after all and she wasn't hiding it either.
But then, in his more desperate moments when he lay in bed, thinking how unfair it was, yearning for her, he managed to convince himself that maybe, just maybe, that whole girlfriend business was just a farce, a play Ryker played to get rid of the not inconsiderable number of boys would give up their wands for a day in exchange for a date with her. Surely this wasn't a real relationship. Or maybe it was but it was just a phase she was going through. He would fall asleep fully convinced that if he was patient and tried hard enough, he maybe stood a chance.
Then, a few days later, he would face reality again and it would crush him once more.
But most of the time he was trying his best not to think about it. This was not a time to dream about romance. He had no time to imagine dancing with Ryker in the Room of Requirement so very close to him, her legs wraped tightly in those leather pants of hers which basically clung to that glorious butt of hers. He would NOT think of that. He had exams to study for and ace!
He breathed in through his nose and out through his mouth to calm himself. It would end up getting him in a very tight spot if he went for an ‘intimate’ study session with the girl of his dreams while thinking these thoughts.
He could make out the classroom at the end of the corridor and prepared by messing up his short curls artfully. He was ready to focus, he told himself firmly. With determined steps, he quickly reached the classroom and opened the door.
“Hey Ryder, I’m sorry, I….” Leo froze in the doorframe at the scene before him, his mouth open in mid-sentence, gaping.
And while you are sitting indoors waiting for the storm to pass I will be outside dancing in the rain
❧
Ryker was a girl with needs and honestly she had been wanting some attention from Morgan before her study time with her friend. Soon she would be an adult and she would need Morgan to come visit her in Hogsmeade instead of spending every day with her here, the few minutes they could be together before the next class.
Luckily Morgan had time before her own class and Ryker used it all to her own advantage. The brunette grinned as she pulled Morgan into the empty classroom she was gonna use to study with Leo thinking she had enough time for some loving before crawling into her books.
"Mmm I missed this." she hummed pulling her girlfriend in a kiss. Did she know that the kiss would make her lose track of time? Nope. Did she realize Leo would be here in any second? Nope. Ryker broke out of her dreamy mindset when she heard his voice and grinned a bit.
"Oops!" she said and stroked Morgan's hair to make sure it wasn't too messy.
"Hey Leo! You look great! Ready to get to work so soon?" she asked and looked around for a clock.
Ever since the death's of her parents, Morgan wanted to spend every waking moment with the people she loved. Dallas wasn't around Hogwarts and her little brother was in class with his little friends. Now it was just her and Ryker in an empty classroom due to them not having in class and Morgan didn't want to be alone one more minute. Girls in her dorm didn't understand what pain Morgan was in, and only a fair few knew what had happened during the summer holidays. She refused to talk about it - refused to relive that moment in her life. Ryker made things better, the moments their lips would connect would just make her forget every horrible thing that had happened.
These little moments were everything she lived for. Was she afraid to die? No. To be honest she wished she had died the night her parents were killed. She hadn't told anyone that. Not even her girlfriend. The desire to die, the desire to be with her parents again was there everyday.
Her legs were wrapped around Ryker's waist, her hands in her hair as the heat went up in the room and she had wanted more but knew that they could be caught and last thing she needed was to be caught by a professor. When a voice spoke, Morgan's heart jumped in her chest fearing that it was a professor but by the sound of Ryker's greeting - she knew it was the friend for the study date.
Morgan quickly adjusted her robes, and tilted her head back to look at Leo. Ah, yes Leo. The teammate and housemate of her girlfriend. "Greetings Leo. Don't just stand there, come in." she said and unwrapped her legs from around Ryker. "I think it's study time."
The dark skinned boy must have looked a real idiot standing there gaping like a fish out of water, but he couldn't help himself. There was Ryker with her girlfriend's legs around her waist! And there were kissing! This was definitely not two friends giving each other an innocent peck on the lips either! Leo blinked. The Slytherin girl's hand was tangled in Ryker's hair in a way Leo wished his own hand were allowed to be and he had to swallow hard to keep his cool. This was fine. Ryker had staged this, right? No, she couldn't have. She wouldn't be kissing the girl like that if she didn't mean it.
He found his throat entirely too dry to answer his friend's questions and instead of a coherent sentence, only a few garbled words came out. He cleared his throat laboriously and would have blushed flaming red if his skin tone had allowed it. But it still must have been obvious despite it. His eyes flickered to Morgan for a second when she spoke. Were they... were they inviting him in? Ryker had surely staged this! She had wanted to draw him in! There must have been heat radiating off his face he was blushing so deeply and he had no clue what he was supposed to do now! "I, eh..." His eyes went from one girl to the other and back. "You... want... uhm... I ... fish" He had no idea what he was saying or what he was even trying to say. Here was his one opportunity and he was messing it up royally! He would want to hit himself later for it, he was sure already.
And while you are sitting indoors waiting for the storm to pass I will be outside dancing in the rain
❧
Honestly she didn't understand what was up with guys and their wild imaginations but she was sure Leo just had the show of a lifetime. He just probably tried to be polite here? Ryker rose her eyebrow at his words, it was like a child trying to learn to speak for the first time and her red painted lips were curled up in a smile.
She turned to look at Morgan and wiped some off her lips before looking at Leo again. "You.. fish? Good to know mate." she chuckled and motioned to the empty tables and the chairs.
"Go! have a seat and let's get our asses to work. Charms isn't gonna do itself." she thought for a moment about her own words and laughed ever so slightly. Inside joke?
Ryker sat down beside Morgan with a grin.
"Now.. we know that you fish.. what charms do you need help with?"
Morgan tried to hide the smirk playing on her lips as soon as she heard the guy try to speak actual words. For some reason he sounded like her ex-boyfriend when he spotted her and Ryker together and tried to get involved saying that he had dated both in the past, what could go wrong? Morgan's mind flashed back to the moment she slapped the idiot thinking he was gonna get them both together in his bed and the shock on his face when he was turned down hard. Her eyebrows were raised when she got herself comfortable beside her girlfriend, and she let out a small chuckle.
"Oh I think I know what he has in mind babe." she said as she curled a lock of her own hair around her finger smirking at Leo. Look at how red he was! This had amused her - it had been so long since something like this happened. She was so going to write to her brother later about this. He needed something to laugh about later, she was sure of it.
"We don't bite. Hard." she teased and eyed her girlfriend.
Leo didn't know what to think anymore. Ryker was acting as if nothing out of the ordinary was happening. As if he hadn't seen how she had, seemingly casually, wiped the lipstick off her friend's face. She teased him and he couldn't even think of a proper retort.
Charms - they were here for Charms! But was she? He moved further into the room, hesitantly, in case this whole scene would shatter in front of his eyes if he moved too hastily. "Charms... right," he agreed lamely, still rather befuddled. He wasn't sure if this was too good to be true or just waiting to turn into a nightmare.
The seventh year's eyes widened at the look the redhead was giving him and he gulped once more. The innuendo definitely hit home. "Sorry, I'll just..." He made a vague gesture with his hands, "Gimme a mo..." With that he turned around and fled from the room, only to close the door and drop against the wall right next to it. Holy hell, what was that! What was he doing here?! Why had he run away?! He had been struck dumb by two, admittedly super hot, girls just now. He got up again, determined, and slapped his own cheecks twice to get himself out of his stupor. He'd make the best of it now!
With more confidence this time, he opened the door once more, standing tall. "Sorry 'bout that. I was a bit... surprised there. Aanyway, what do you wanna do?" he asked, as lightheartedly as he could muster after his shock, approaching the desk Ryker had chosen.
And while you are sitting indoors waiting for the storm to pass I will be outside dancing in the rain
❧
Why was Leo acting like he just watched someone get murdered? Most guys would want to join in for a threesome not bable and run off. Leo did exactly that, babble and run. It left Ryker with her eyebrow arched ever so slightly and her legs crossed one over the other. Her brown eyes looked at her girlfriend and then the door, what was his problem?
"Seems like he is either a virgin or he never saw girl on girl action." she teased a bit while he was gone. She was sure the guy would be fine, he needed to be if he was a Gryffindor. Balls of steel wasn't just a catchphrase.
"There he is!" she said and smirked again, round two?
"Well there are no charms I haven't managed to perform, is there any charms you guys have a problem with?" she let her nerdy side come out a bit. "It is often just the way we pronounce them not even the idea that we actually cannot perform the spell."
Morgan watched as Leo stumbled over his words, and she smirked when he quickly left the room. There was a snort of giggles from the redhead as she thought what over what had just happened and she nodded at her girlfriend. "Usually a guy would just want to jump right in. This one is...different." she said before the boy had returned and she snickered up at him as she chewed her bottom lip. Oh, this was fun. This poor guy. Ryker had some interesting friends, and she wondered why she hadn't been invited to hang out with them. Perhaps it was because they were a year apart and in rival houses.
"Mm. Oh Charms. It also depends on how you hold your wand. Don't want to drop it after all, or accidents will happen." she said as she eyed Leo with a slight smirk on her face.
It was as if Leo had entered a roller coaster and nobody had told him what that was. One moment Ryker was acting all alluring and the next she was straigt back to business. He had not thought that him leaving the room and returning would immediately stop the magic. It seemed like it had been but a glamour. But now she asked him, he could not remember anymore what he had come here to practice. It was all so very confusing. Especially as he Slytherin on the other hand was looking at him while chewing on her bottom lip. Somehow everything she said screamed 'innuendo' and Leo was sure he was not imagining things. He still felt his face burning because of it. "I'm sure it's not the handling that's the problem," he replied at a brave attempt at Gryffindor bravado.
"But eh..." He moved hesitantly to where Ryker was sitting. "We were going to do patronusses, right?" he asked. The Gryffindor had decided to play it cool now. He would jump at basically anything they threw at him. And if this was his chance to get closer to Ryker, he would damn well take it. "Or were you thinking of something else with Morgan here?"
And while you are sitting indoors waiting for the storm to pass I will be outside dancing in the rain
❧
Ryker just needed people to get along and honestly she didn't need Leo to die or Morgan to get in trouble so she just bumped her girlfriend's shoulder trying to give her the please don't tease him too much look and eyed Leo who suggested the patronus, something Ryker honestly forgot she was going to help with.
"No no, this is perfect." she told them both took out the right book from her bag, opening it on the correct page.
"So I will show you my patronus first, then follow by example?" she suggested and waved her wand around to make room, the tables that weren't occupied moved aside so there was a large open space.
"Expecto Patronum." she said and smiled as her patronus took shape.
"Just make sure you are steady on your feet, that your body is perfectly aligned." she said softly.
Morgan hadn't been herself 100% but all she wanted was to have fun, and now her girlfriend had given her the look and she shrugged her shoulder. Fine, she'll knock it off and let them do their studying. Besides she thought she was going to be in the way of this, and she just moved her chair back and away from the both of them, grabbing her bag in the progress. Sure, she could leave but now she didn't trust it. Sure, she trusted her girlfriend but she didn't trust the boy. "You two do it. I'll just sit over here. Pretend I'm not here." she said, as she eyed her girlfriend perform her spell.
She had grabbed another chair, using it as a footrest and leaned back to rest her eyes. Perhaps she can have a tiny nap while these two had their fun. No need to spoil it for either of the two. Her arms were crossed over her chest as she tried to focus on her own breathing and can faintly hear the others in the room.
The Gryffindor was still not sure about the whole situation. He was clinging a bit to the normality of a tutoring session, but he was excessively distracted by the situation he had just witnessed and the fact that Morgan was still in the room. He tried to pay attention as well as he could and peeked once more at the page in the book and watched Ryker closely, especially as she pointed out her stance. Merlin, those legs did not help him right now.
His head snapped around to the Slytherin when she declined the offer of joining. He had almost forgotten for a moment that she was still there. "Alright," he said, scratching his neck rather self consciously. Now he had to perform in front of the two girls too?
"Ok, here goes," he announced before giving it a try. Nothing but some white vapour appeared.
And while you are sitting indoors waiting for the storm to pass I will be outside dancing in the rain
❧
Ryker was all for studying. Even though she had the looks and body and even the athletic skills, she was also a huge nerd and she wanted to do good in school. The girl was very much interested in learning new things, learning more things. She even wanted to learn wandless magic at some point, all she had was the coin so far.
"If my patronus pokes my girlfriend awake, I am going to laugh so hard." she chuckled and leaned in to kiss Morgan on the head before letting Leo try this. She watched him try and smiled a bit when nothing but some white vapour appeared. "Are you thinking of the happiest possible memory in your life Leo?" she asked him and smiled a bit.
Leo got a bit flustered again when his attempt at a patronus failed. He had never been able to conjure one. Ryker was kind and friendly and patient most of all. She always was when a spell caused him trouble. But a patronus was so intimate, so close to him. And then there was still the actual issue that he just could not do it. "Well, I guess..." he replied doubtfully. He didn't actually know what his happiest memory was. It wasn't for lack of happy memories, certainly. He found that he laughed quite often, but he just couldn't get them to work for him. He inspected his toes. "Well, I was thinking of when my brother Liam first came to Hogwarts with me," he admitted in a small voice. It was quite embarrassing, really.
