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 postal service had slipped a rather large envelope through Zoe’s muggle apartment letter box on Friday - Zoe had received the notification on her phone the moment she was off the school grounds on the Saturday morning. It didn’t take long for the woman to read the contents, her cheeky smile growing wider by the minute before turning to the last page. Tears fell from her eyes without warning and she promptly disaparated back to Hogsmeade - she was lucky that she was in good shape because it took her almost no time at all to arrive at the Castle.
Alex, meet me in my office as soon as you can, please. Xoxo Zoe.
She sent the note flitting off after the teenager; surely he’d be up by now given it was closer to lunch than brunch on a Saturday? Zoe opened up the windows of her classroom to let in the beautiful weather on this marvellous spring day - was it just her or were the birds extra chirpy as they rested on the window sill, enjoying some grain that the teacher had put out for them. While she waited for Alex, the woman took a seat on her desk and tried to center herself. It was unsuccessful. The documents that she kept eyeing every now and then were also sitting on her desk and she couldn’t wait to share the news with the boy.
”Alex! Good morning - how are you? I hope I didn’t wake you up... or well I don’t think you’ll mind too much. Look what I have,” Zoe reached for the big yellow envelope and wiggled it in the air between them. ”I ... gosh ok I didn’t really think about it i was just too excited and wanted to share the news with you asssssssss soon as possible. Look!” Zoe carefully extracted the last page. The most important page.
It was a certificate of official adoption of Alexander Greenway by Zoe Savage.
Post by ALEXANDER GREENAWAY on Nov 14, 2019 7:38:11 GMT
When Alex had heard the tap, tap, tapping on his window pane, he had only just been stirring awake in his bed, wearily rubbing his eyes. He'd suspected the letter had been for Nico or Archie or literally anyone other than him but when the window had been slid open, he'd found himself accosted by a rather… determined owl who'd flown straight onto his bed covers, staring him dead in the eyes in the creepy way only owls did, until Alex had finally bothered to pry the letter from him.
Alex, meet me in my office as soon as you can, please. Xoxo Zoe.
Immediately, Alex's stomach filled with dread. She'd signed it 'xoxo' but the words meet me in my office made him think the worst - but then again, that was always the conclusion he drew, wasn't it? That the worst would always happen. Tugging on his baggy jeans and his loose knitted jumper - hand-me-downs from the group home, ones from a boy who was much larger than he was - Alex made his way towards the Muggle Studies office with his tummy twisted in knots.
"Er, no. I was... up and at 'em this morning," Alex said, blinking at the onslaught of cheerfulness from Professor Savage. Merlin, she was trying to sugarcoat everything to soften the blow that she wasn't going to adopt him after all, wasn't she? Shit, he knew this was going to happen. "If, um... if you've changed your mind, it's okay. I've gotten used to -"
But then Professor Savage whipped out a page and Alex's eyebrows furrowed. Taking a step forward, Alex gingerly took it between his fingers... and then forgot to breathe entirely. What the... he was adopted. She had... "I never thought... I, um... I never thought this would happen," he said, a lump in his throat forming. He had given up hope months ago, with it dwindling every single time a foster family had said those words: 'he's just not a good fit.' The last time he'd heard those were just before starting this year at Hogwarts, which had culminated in him... but he didn't want to think about that.
Sinking down into the chair near Professor Savage's desk, Alex buried his face in his hands, trying his best to hide the fact that hot tears were prickling in his eyes, threatening to spill over. After a moment or two, he raised his head just to check, "You're not taking it back, right?" His words were quiet, and so was he for another few seconds before he realised that she didn't know... he hadn't told her that... "I'm... I... I'm gay, so if you don't want to - but you should know, before... before I move my stuff into... your place. In case... in case you're not o-okay with that."
There were two things that instantly caught Zoe’s attention when Alex came into the room - his late 90s early naughties fashion sense - was he going for a Marshal Mathers white rapper look on purpose? If so he was awfully missing the mark with a knitted jumper like... Zoe had to stop herself from giggling at the thought of Slim Shady wearing a knitted anything on the 8 Mile as if he didn’t already have the wrong race to overcome. The second thing - and arguably more important for sure - was the slumped, defeated affect of the kid. Of course it hasn’t even occurred to her that he might be feeling dread about coming to her office this morning - silly , optimistic thing that she was just put it down to teenage lethargy and possibly being down-and-out for years at a home.
”Oh wicked - so you’ve had breakkie already? Well there goes my bright idea of a brunch with just the two of us hey?” she said with a cheeky smile, letting him know that she was completely kidding. ”I guess I’ll just have to have my cuppa Milo all by myself...” she clicked her fingers then and there was a clatter as the self-stirring cauldron she had commandeered for brewing tea and milo instead of potions stopped working its magic.
It took everything within Zoe to keep quiet as Alex stepped to grab the certificate she had dangled. Literally keeping her mouth shut by pursing her lips as hard as she could, leaving her bright blue eyes big and round and searching the young man’s face for clues about what he was thinking in the lifetime it took before he spoke. When he finally did, Zoe’s heart almost broke in half and a tear fell easily down one made-up cheek. ”I’m so sorry that it took so long Alex... there was so much paperwork and interviews...” honestly, if the government made it half as hard to adopt a child as they did to make one, the exponential population growth of the human world would plateau the fuck out. But that’s a train of thought for another time.
Of course Zoe wasn’t entirely sure how a kid would react to being adopted - the agency had vaguely mentioned a few things but Zoe hadn’t paid that much attention because she could see down the woman’s shirt to the lacy top of her black bra anddddddd she might have gotten a bit side-tracked. Needless to say, when Alex slumped down into the chair in front of her, the Head of Hufflepuff slid off of her own desk and straight into a kneeling position beside the boy. ”Alex, I’m never taking it back,” she assured him, her hand reaching out to gently rest on his knee in the moment the boy fell silent.
He’s gay. Zoe’s heart did a small somersault in her chest and she squeezed Alex’s knee gently. ”Well, shit Alex. This has put me in a bit of a pickle...” she sighed heavily and she used the hand that had been on his knee to readjust her hair over her shoulder for a moment. ”You know, you should’ve told me before I spent all that time and energy on making the room nice for you. Now I have so little time to make it all sparkles and rainbows,” she ended with a big smile and her tone playful as all heck. She opened her arms out for him, the universal gesture that you’re gonna get hugged and after a second or two of warning she enveloped the boy in her warm embrace.
Resting her chin on his shoulder, Zoe said to the boy, ”I’m a little bit gay too. If you’re okay with that? I like men, women, men who were born women and women that were once men and I think I’ve been with someone who were both at the same time. And don’t worry, I was only kidding about the rainbows and sparkles. Unless you want them of course?” Zoe knelt back so her bottom was resting on her ankles and left her hands to rest on her own knees. ”I’m glad you feel like you could tell me about being gay. It takes a lot of courage to admit, but please know you can tell me anything, ok Alex? We’re in this little family together now, yeah?”
Post by ALEXANDER GREENAWAY on Dec 21, 2019 5:18:38 GMT
On cue, Alex's stomach let out a large rumble at the mention of food because... of course it did. "I... I can always have a second breakfast. Like the Hobbits in -" Did Professor Savage even watch Lord of the Rings, or was she one of those people who thought it was lame and not a cinematic masterpiece? Alex wasn't sure, and so he quickly drew to a stop. "Brunch is - that's a fancy way of saying between breakfast and lunch, right? We don't - didn't - have brunch at the group home. It was either get your arse out of bed and eat breakfast at a normal time, or wait until lunch." Of course, that didn't stop some of the boys who shouted until they were red in the face at the caregivers until they got some food for their belly, regardless of the time. "A cuppa... what's Milo? That's, uh... is it a type of tea or something?"
Slowly lifting his eyes from the certificate to Zoe who was crying, a tear dripping down her cheek, Alex's throat was thick with emotion himself. It was surreal, knowing that he now had... he had a family now. A real one, something he'd been missing for the last decade. "That's not - I didn't - I meant..." Alex took a step forward before practically launching himself at Zoe in a hug, wrapping his arms around her middle. He wasn't a hugger normally, but it felt right to celebrate something so momentous in his life with one. "You don't have to be sorry, I just meant that... I've been waiting for years."
Alex had unwound himself from the hug at some point to sit in the chair, and he nearly jumped out of his skin as the warm weight of Professor Savage's hand rested on his knee. "I'm really happy you're not taking it back," he said - well, choked out. The lump in his throat was only growing, and the tears in his eyes were starting to blur his vision and - then Professor Savage said something about rainbows and sparkles to try and make him laugh, but he let out a sob instead, overcome with relief. She wasn't giving him up, she... she was making jokes which meant she was okay with it, and then she... was hugging him.
This time, Alex's face buried in the soft silkiness of her hair, hot tears finally falling as his shoulders shook with quiet sobs. He hated crying, especially in front of other people, but it was... it was a lot. Being adopted, and being accepted, all in the space of twenty minutes. "I... I'm okay with you being a little bit gay. I... do you have a partner?" he asked, voice trembling a little from emotion, when he finally felt he could talk again. Rubbing away the remnants of tears as Zoe moved backwards, Alex nodded as she spoke again. "I... I, yeah. It's... fuck, I don't want to cry again - it's just... it's really nice to know that I have - that we're a family."
"Oooh I think your tummy's decided you're a hobbit after all, Alex, though I must say you are the tallest hobbit I've ever seen," Zoe replied with an easy laugh. She wasn't a fantasy geek but her primary school teacher - before her wizarding schooling - had used 'silent reading' time over the course of the term to read The Hobbit to the class and various details had stuck with her for a time. She was glad that the information finally proved useful - who could've ever predicted that it would help her bond with an orphan in England that she'd adopted. "I think the fancy term for a meal between breakfast and lunch is morning tea," Zoe affected a rather posh English accent - one stolen directly from Ariella Tyrell - as she said it and waved her free hand a little like the Queen of England. "But yes, when you wake up too late in the morning for breakfast but you're waaaay too hungry to wait for lunch... you have brunch! So ... sleep-ins are acceptable at the Greenaway-Savage Maison, ok? Milo is... like Heaven in a cup but most definitely not tea. It's a malt drink we enjoy at home - either hot or cold or sprinkled on ice cream or straight from the tin. Would you like to try some? I won't be too personally offended if it's not your favourite thing in the world, don't worry. It'll grow on you."
The hug that she got from Alex was surprising and a wave of happiness flooded the witch that was far better than any cheering potion. Was there such a thing as a soul-kid? Zoe's hug around his shoulders was tight and the love that overflowed from her heart... she was almost certain that it would spill from her chest directly into the kid himself. She had no words to share as he said that he'd waited so long, other than a muttered, "it just took that long for me to find you."Fuck, when did she get so cliché? Probably when Roo was writing her wedding vows. Sorry not sorry.
Then, on her knees with a sobbing teenager, Zoe hugged Alex as tightly as possible. She rubbed his back and held him, resting her head firmly against his on her shoulder. "Hey hey... these better be happy tears ok? sad tears don't clean up so well," she attempted another joke, her small smile pushing her own welled tears out from her eyes. "Thanks, kiddo. I'm glad we got the gay sorted, it could've been a big shock to you ... so wow, this made things so much easier thank you," Zoe was genuinely pleased because it had completely slipped her mind that her sexual appetite would... eventually impact the boy in some way or another. This was an incredibly easy way to have the conversation so he wouldn't be caught unaware. "No partner - I'm single as a pringle, to coin a phrase from a friend of mine,"or a friend of Roo's she said as she sat back so her blue eyes could search the reddened ones of Alex.
"Thank you, Alex, for letting us become a family. Now, on a slightly serious note - is there anything in particular you need for school? Or anything particular you'd like for your room? Of course come summer holidays we can go out to Tesco and like.. Ikea or whatever the equivalent is here in England.. and Diagon Alley ... oh I'm not rich, by any means. But I have budgetted for a Happy Adoption present that can help you make your room your own space and fifth year supplies for next year. I hope you don't mind that I'm not like.. rich. Just a middle-class, average Jo-Bloggs," she said with a casual shrug of the shoulders because she never really wanted for anything but realised in that moment it was another... small fact that she hadn't let the kid in on. Oops.
Post by ALEXANDER GREENAWAY on Jan 14, 2020 4:02:51 GMT
"Sometimes, Alex was somewhat... annoyed at his steadily growing height purely because... if he was short, it would be easier to fade into the background, right? Unfortunately, his body didn't take his inward grumbling into consideration when it gave him growth spurts. "I, uh... well, maybe me being the tallest hobbit you've ever seen means I didn't get all the hobbit traits. Maybe my feet aren't... hairy," Alex said, finishing with a grimace. That was one thing that would suck about being a hobbit, that was for sure. He didn't really fancy thick hair spouting out of the tops of his feet, he had to admit.
Zoe's accent, one that was very reminiscent of other people at Hogwarts, had Alex breaking into a small smile. "You sound like Robin from Batman, minus the... deep voice," he told her before nodding. Okay, sleep-ins were all good with her, that was good to know. Alex wondered in the back of his mind if having sleep patterns that were all over the bloody shop were also acceptable with her, but in all truthfulness he knew the answer - if he slept throughout the day, and was awake at all hours of the night, then slept once more in the morning... he'd probably send red bat signals off in her head that all was not alright. So... he had to not do that. He had to pretend like all was good in Alex-land. "Milo sounds... really... uh, multi-purposeful. Maybe I can try some later? I like ice cream." Not that he had it all that often, but the rare times he did... he'd really enjoyed it.
Zoe was rubbing comforting shapes on his back, and it felt good. He hadn't been held and soothed like this from an adult since he was maybe a child and if anything, it made him sob a little harder until finally, he was getting his shit together. "Happy tears, I promise," he choked out, before shaking his head. He didn't think he would have cared if Zoe being a little bit gay was a spontaneous reveal, but it was probably less of a surprise this way. "Single as a pringle... me too." That probably didn't come as a shock to Zoe, but quietly he'd just wanted to say the phrase. It sounded fun.
Even though Zoe had accepted him into her life, into her house (well, eventually, they weren't quite there yet), Alex was still somewhat uncomfortable with the thought she'd be spending money on him. Especially when she revealed that she was middle-class - he hadn't thought she was anything more, given she was on a Professor's salary but... he didn't want to send her broke. "I'll let you know if I need anything," he mumbled, toying at the slightly too big sleeves of his jumpers.
Then standing up from the seat, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck, Alex said with a sheepish expression, "I'm really hungry. I'm, uh... gonna go see the house elves, but... but I'll see you later, right?" When Zoe replied affirmatively, Alex sent her a small wave, slipping out of the room as a great big smile slid onto his lips. He was adopted. He had a family, and this was the best he'd felt in a long, long time.
When Alex had heard the tap, tap, tapping on his window pane, he had only just been stirring awake in his bed, wearily rubbing his eyes. He'd suspected the letter had been for Nico or Archie or literally anyone other than him but when the window had been slid open, he'd found himself accosted by a rather… determined owl who'd flown straight onto his bed covers, staring him dead in the eyes in the creepy way only owls did, until Alex had finally bothered to pry the letter from him.
