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!
This would be their first Christmas dinner without Catherine. Since her death he tried to fill the void with strange life decisions. How had he ever thought he was better suited as a teacher? Graham was a born politician. After the recent attack at Hogwarts where thankfully nobody died, he got a wake up call. As much as he enjoyed teaching, his call was somewhere else. Graham also realized he had been too overprotective when it came to the kids. He realized they could take well care of themselves at school and the staff had their best interest towards them. Life would go back to normal after the break. He probably should inform them he would leave Hogwarts in a few days. He would return to the Ministry at a different position. Which was for the best, Graham knew he made mistakes during his last months as an auror. Office work was more suited. Eventually he planned to fight his uncle in the run for the next elections. Slowly he wanted to do something against the werewolf restrictions. Not for all of them but for the ones that proved to be decent citizens. Enough good people were denied a fair existence.
Work would have to wait until after the holidays. Graham had managed to get a empty room for themselves so they could have a little family dinner. Tomorrow would be the big one with all the students and teachers. Graham didn't do well in crowds and he didn't want to bother the kids when they were spending time with their friends. So this little evening was perfect to still have that family feeling.
Gifts took him a long time to find because Catherine was usually in charge of that. Graham eventually found something for his own kids but for Gabriel’s girlfriend he resorted in a gift card for a clothing shop. The elderly elf Pomme had prepared them a delicious meal together with the Hogwarts elves and everyone was already scoping up their meals.
“I hope everything is as you like it. Pomme worked really hard on this. Oh! Before I forget there are some presents by the tree. Do you want to open them now or wait after dinner?”
It was going to be so much fun! A family dinner and Gemini was wearing a pastel yellow dress and had tied up her messy curls as well. She was wearing a 50's style dress that made her want to twirl around a lot. This was the first Christmas without her mum and though it made Gemini sad she found an angel ornament for in the tree. A part of her hoped this one night everyone would get along. They all went through a lot during the dance, lots of chaos and fear but this was Christmas dinner, this was not going to scare anyone and make people upset... hopefully.
"Don't get your ties twisted!" she called out once she got to the empty room her father managed to arrange and sent her dad a bright smile. "Tada! Look it grows when I spin!" she said pointing at her dress before spinning around and taking a seat at the dinner table. Pomme always did such a great job when it came to meals and Gem licked her lips as she looked over at the food and then the faces of her brothers, Gabriel's girlfriend and the older sister of Charlie and then her father.
"Presents! Why wait!" she bounced a little and eyed the others. Please let them agree that presents are supposed to be given now!
Gabriel didn't handle disaster as much as he would have liked. If he were going to become the youngest Minister for Magic one day soon, he really needed to work on that. He hated that he was only a kid, still learning, still screwing up... not able to get his girlfriend out from under a tree. Honestly, it was embarassing and frustrating just to compound the other problems that arose from the attack: Ollie's broken arm, his worry for his brother's PTSD... the fact that his favourite suite had been ruined until he'd sent if off to a magical tailor and he was anxious to have it returned. You know, the important things.
He would have liked to have worn said suit tonight, truth be told.
Gabriel had paced like a dancing bear tied to a stick while he had waited for Olivia to arrive. In his second best suit. When she did arrive, he'd give her a gentle kiss on the cheek and assist with hanging up any coat or cloak before escorting her through to the family dining area. "Good evening, Olivia," he was calm on the outside, but inside he was a mess of nerves. "I believe you all know Olivia from school," Gabriel began as he pulled out a seat for her. His palms were sweaty on the old wood.
When Gem called out that she wanted to do presents first, Gabriel's taught smile pinched in a little as he tried to weigh up what he'd prefer. "I don't know Gemini, will you be able to focus on the dinner after presents?" he asked playfully, though she was only a little younger than himself... he still saw the little girl that he used to dance with on his feet. "If we do presents now, the food will get cold. And Pomme put so much effort into it,"and as a foody, I want to tuck in like five minutes ago, Gabriel thought.
Post by GREYSON AVERY on Sept 3, 2019 12:10:17 GMT
Greyson was, to put it nicely, fucking toasted right now. He didn't want to do this, sit through a dinner and 'play nice' and pretend like this wasn't their first Christmas since Catherine had been murdered. Everyone had her on their mind and the thought that she wasn't here after so many Christmas together? Well, it was miserable, and he'd needed to down half a bottle of firewhiskey to make it through the night. Maybe then this wouldn't blow so hard.
Unashamedly stumbling into the room, the first noise that met his ears was Gemini squealing about... something and Greyson immediately looked over to his brother, about to pull a face, when he realised that she was here for their 'family dinner.' "Did I have a shit ton of billywigs and forget that we have a new sister? Shit, man, that's messed up. It's like... incest, Gabe. Rank. Can't believe you stick your tongue down the throat of our new sister," Greyson said, voice growing obnoxiously loud already. Merlin, weren't his family in for treat for the rest of the night? He turned to Graham, eyebrows raising. "Wasn't this meant to be just family or some crap?" Plus... didn't that chick have a literal house full of kids? Couldn't she spend time with them?
Without bothering to answer the question of presents or food first, Greyson raised his cup of water to the house elf. "Cheers, big ears!" he said before devolving into laughter, shaking his head because house elves did have big ears, didn't they? Huge bloody suckers on the side of their head. Once his giggles subsided a little, he grinned at Pomme. "Nah, you're a beast - er, a... champ. Champion. Top notch house elf, good ol' Pomme." With that delightful sentiment out of the way, Greyson dug into his plateful of food.
TAG: @graham , @gemini , GABRIEL AVERY , OLIVIA JONES NOTES: errrr Greyson probably got them all gift cards. Graham to a nerdy bookstore, Gemini to a clothing shop, Gabriel to a fancy pants restaurant, and he wouldn't have gotten Ollie anything.
A dinner with Gabriel's family. What could possibly go wrong? Ollie's writer cackles knowing damn well something is gonna go wrong and she was right. Ollie was ready to meet his family and could see from the start how nervous Gabriel had been about it. Honestly she didn't expect anything of him or the dinner. This was something that Ollie would treat as normal because there was no use in being nervous with Gabriel already stressing enough for an entire living room full of people.
Ollie had arrived on time because Gabriel might choke the life out of her if she didnt, this is a joke by the way she doesn't think he'd do that, and handed him her coat before looking at her dress. "Hey! Do I look good?" she had no idea what to wear and Gabriel was wearing a suit like usual which made her always feel underdressed. Ollie walked with him to the dinner area and took a seat when he pulled her chair out.
"Thank you, hello Mr. Avery and Gemini you look beautiful." she said which was responded by a thank you as Gemini stared at the presents like they would magically open if she focussed hard enough. Ollie turned her attention to Gabriel with a smile and then Greyson who arrived.. drunk? Was he drunk? This was exactly how her brother was like during the holidays.
Ollie didn't understand what he was talking about and looked with a confused expression at Graham and Gabriel hoping for some clearance. "I ehm.. hello Greyson." she said and bit her lip. There were so many questions she could ask but she didn't want to look silly in front of everyone so she just fumbled with the material of her dress.
NOTES: Ollie got everyone handmade leather bracelets, Greyson one with red dragons, Gabriel one with golden paw prints, Graham a stylish black one with swirls and Gemini a pink one with unicorns.
