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!
The holidays were ending soon and the family was back in the cabin enjoying a hot chocolate but Dallas was spending his time for now outside, with his guitar and a small fire keeping him warm. He hoped the holidays proved to Skylar and Morgan that they were doing just fine. His girlfriend announced that she was carrying his child and Dallas was just over the moon with the good news and the holiday spirit lifting his soul up into the sky.
Dallas played a song on his guitar he wrote when he was a child and just looked up at the sky as he did so. Over time a lot had changed, his family was mostly dead and Dallas became a werewolf.. unlike his siblings who were undamaged. At least physically. The sound of footsteps didn't make him stop playing, Dallas didn't want to think of his siblings needing to go back to Hogwarts soon.
Dallas kept looking ahead and once the song ended, silence had fallen upon him and the footsteps had stopped.
when there's nowhere else to run/is there room for one more son?
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Post by SKYLAR REID on Sept 27, 2019 3:33:38 GMT
Skylar didn't want to go back to school. If the first term had been bad enough, which it had--the only bright spots he could think of were the Quidditch game and meeting Dio--the next could only get worse. School meant having to go to all the classes he couldn't focus on, barely having time to see Morgan, dealing with all the awkward things that had come up, like how Alex had kissed him in the library or how he didn't feel like he could be friends with Clary anymore.
The sound of Dallas's guitar was comforting, like none of the summer or the autumn or really any of the last two and a half years had ever happened. Skylar ventured out of the cabin toward it, like a moth to a light, sitting silently across from his brother by the fire, his eyes closed. If he closed his eyes, he could pretend things were alright. That they were just sitting outside at home, having a chill night together as they had so many times before.
But then the song ended, and he had to open his eyes again, reminding him of where he was. Without the music, it felt like the cold outside of the fire was hitting him harder. Here they all were, in hiding, in a cabin instead of home, where his sixteen-year-old brother was supposed to get married and raise a child while being a werewolf?
"Hey big brother." Skylar smiled, even if he wasn't sure it reached his eyes. "I missed the guitar. I'm glad you still play."
Dallas knew his brother always enjoyed the music. When they were kids Dallas would play for his siblings and parents, it was like the most peaceful moment he would never forget. Dallas missed his parents, his mother's soft hugs and his father's jokes. Dallas ran a hand through his ginger locks and started playing a soft tune while he looked at his little brother. Skylar suffered as much as Morgan did but maybe in a way even more.
He always had both his big siblings to back him up and now he didn't even have his brother to confide in. Dallas returned the smile with one of his own. "Have you enjoyed the break from school here?" he asked hoping that Skylar actually enjoyed himself. Maybe he could come by more. Dallas hoped that him and Artemis got along, got to know the little family they created.
"I will never stop playing." he told his brother and hummed as his fingers moved along the strings. "Why would I? Music always has been the one thing I'm best at." he said and grinned a bit. "Do you wanna play?" he asked and stopped playing, holding the guitar out.
when there's nowhere else to run/is there room for one more son?
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Post by SKYLAR REID on Sept 30, 2019 1:38:11 GMT
"Yeah, it's been nice. It's been--" Skylar paused. It was one thing to admit to Morgan how much he was having trouble with school this year, but another to burden Dallas with it. He had his own stuff to worry about. "School's not great, but it's okay. I had my first kiss. And we won the game against Slytherin." Those were a couple of good things he could say. "I'm sure Artie's happy about that one. Wish you two could have come and watched." There were so many reasons why they couldn't, but it would be cool for them to watch. Skylar realized with a jolt that Dallas had never actually gotten to see him play at Hogwarts--it had been over two years ago now, and Skylar had only made the team last year.
He reached over to accept the guitar from his brother, happy to have something else to concentrate on. Music had never been his biggest talent, but Dallas had taught him a few chords when he was younger. Did he remember them now? He bit his lip as he set the instrument on his lap, sliding his hand down the neck of the guitar. E minor was an easy one, he remembered, but when he strummed it, it sounded so sad. Not at all like Dallas when he was really in the groove. Still, he continued to strum a bit, feeling just a little bit more connected to his brother this way.
After a little bit, Skylar stopped the strings with the palm of his hand, looking up. He'd just remembered what he'd intended to ask Dallas the whole time he was here--he just hadn't had a chance to talk to him alone before. "I have something to ask you," he said. "I've been talking to some people, and I was wondering--have you ever considered joining a pack? Do you think you might be safer like that? All of you?"
Dallas hated feeling like this. He hated feeling like the absent asshole that wasn't there for his little brother when he should be. Society took that away, tore their family apart when they most needed each other. The redhead eyed his brother and cocked his head a bit, his eyes not leaving the features of Skylar who told him about school and quidditch. "I'm glad you won. I remember teaching you how to fly.." he said and nodded. "I'm proud of you little brother." Dallas added and sighed.
It was then that Skylar asked the obvious question and Dallas moved to sit next to his brother. He looked at the cabin and poked the fire for a moment. "There are three sides to this little brother.." he said and looked at Skylar. "There is the side of the wolves who want to fight, try to change the minds of people through fear and terror.. the side of the Greyback's and their followers." he said and frowned.
"Then there is the side of the wolves who try to make a difference with kindness, activism and no violence." Dallas eyed the cabin again. "I am not going to hurt people.. but I do have to protect the ones I love." he nudged his brother's shoulder gently. "Remember when we were little and you came to me whenever someone tried to fight and I fought instead?" he asked and smiled.
"I can't protect you, Morgan, Artie or the baby.. if I am out there with a pack fighting. Artemis isn't a fighter... and this cabin gives her every luxury our parents could give her." he sighed. "This is my pack and I am keeping them away from the war for as long as I'm able." Dallas never used to be this humble but now he is. Now he really is.
"You should take this with you." he said and eyed the guitar. "I can get a new one but you.. you can take this one to school." he offered.
when there's nowhere else to run/is there room for one more son?
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Post by SKYLAR REID on Oct 6, 2019 20:55:47 GMT
Dallas... was right, wasn't he? It was a different world out there for him. When they were kids he'd always been the one to protect Skylar and Morgan, getting in the way of anyone who thought they might want to mess with them. "I remember," Skylar said, "I can't forget that." Dallas was always the strong older brother. But now?
Now Morgan and Skylar were the ones out in the middle of everything, needing to make sure things went smoothly. Morgan was in charge of so much--managing the money, making sure Skylar and Dallas were provided for. And Skylar? He couldn't ask them--either of them--to protect him like they used to. Not when Morgan had so much to worry about on her own. Not when Dallas had to live out in a cabin in the middle of nowhere like this just to avoid getting killed. Because he was right. If he went out there fighting, what would Artemis do between her wild brother and trying to raise a baby? What would Morgan do without her twin--because, Skylar knew, no matter how jealous he could get of how close his siblings were, they would each be destroyed without the other.
Now, it seemed, Skylar had an obligation too. Dio's words echoed in his mind. Your brother is not in the wrong. It's the Ministry's fault. Maybe spending so much time away from Dallas had made him too worried. Too afraid, like he'd been all the way back in first year when the attack had happened--but then, he hadn't been prepared. Now--could he fight for the ones he loved?
"Then you should stay safe, out here, where they can't find you," Skylar said firmly. "And maybe I can be the one to help change the Ministry's mind."
He brushed the guitar's strings lightly once more, looking up when Dallas suggested he could take it along with him. "Are you sure? You've had this one for so long." The guitar was so mixed with his brother in his mind that Skylar felt somehow wrong taking it and leaving the brother behind. "If you're sure--could you give me a lesson? Before I have to go?"
Of course his brother would think they were the safest in a pack, more wolves together, the more protection but sometimes it was the opposite. Dallas just had different opinions on the matter, he believed that the more wolves together, the bigger the bulls eye on his back. Dallas wasn't going to let that destroy his family, to let the wolf inside destroy his family. The redheaded male watched his brother with the guitar and smiled a bit.
He will leave something behind, a legacy of sorts. He hoped this christmas even with Apollo's asshole moments, had a good impact on his brother. "I'm sure you will take good care of it." Dallas said softly and smiled a bit. "It will help you through the moments when you're sad or upset.. just grab that guitar." he said and nodded for a moment.
"It's been my therapy." he added and knew Skylar was going to need it more than him. "Of course, how about your favorite song?" he asked and grinned. "Or do you prefer the lullaby I used to play you when you were little?"
when there's nowhere else to run/is there room for one more son?
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Post by SKYLAR REID on Oct 20, 2019 16:22:45 GMT
Skylar wouldn't dream of not taking good care of the guitar. Even if Dallas never asked for it back, it was still the one item that he associated with his brother most of all. "I will. I'll play it too. Maybe I'll get good at it for once." He wasn't sure how his roommates would feel about him playing the instrument all the time, but did it really matter, as long as it made him feel better? They didn't have dead parents or brothers on the run.
And fixing all that wasn't really possible. You couldn't bring a person back from the dead and the best you could do for lycanthropy was the Wolfsbane Potion. There was no cure. Skylar knew it, and it was something he'd agonized over a lot when he couldn't sleep, trying to figure out if the brother he loved was gone forever or not. Some people said that people's minds got affected by the wolf, that they became dangerous at all times.
But Dallas, dangerous? With the guitar? And after spending the holidays together? Skylar had been avoiding his brother a lot the past two years, but he'd listened closely to Dio's advice to help him when the world was like this, and maybe, just maybe, his mind was changing--making him want to change the world. To change the Ministry. To bring his brother back.
"My favorite song, I think," Skylar said. He was a fan of the Bent-Winged Snitches, who had caused some commotion at one of the World Cups but were a lot more interesting than most of the ballad-singing witches. The lullaby might bring back memories, sure, but he wasn't a little kid, and he would rather learn his favorites now.
