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!
"Alright, Emil, you ought to hurry up," Sean O'Keeffe told the student sitting across from him while he himself was trying to shovel the last few bits of pattie supper into his mouth and wash it down with whiskey. "The clock on the wall is about 9, and O'Connor will have my hide if we aren't back by 10. " Not that Sean cared a lot what his colleagues thought of him, but Emil here still had an exam or two in front of him. Sean remembered well his own N.E.W.T. period, and to put it lightly, Emil needed his sleep.
"We've still one more place on our list, if I recall right, it was the Ring of Brodgar, " he continued, pushing his empty plate away and letting out a hard sigh as he got up from his chair. "We'll have to apparate there, it's quite a few miles from here, but no fear, that's why I'm here. You finish up your meal, and I'll go pay for it. Meet you outside in a few. Don't forget your papers."
With that, the young man got up, leaving his star student at the pub table. He walked to the bartender, struck up some idle chatter with another bar patron, paid for their meal and hurried out of the rather crowded pub. Who would have thought that a place as remote as Orkney would have so many people? Then again, he hadn't been out of Hogwarts in months, and the real world felt a little bit foreign. Sean was looking forward to the summer break, away from all those sniveling little shits that didn't know how to sit quiet during class and--
No, he was not going to ruin his mood by thinking about them. There was no need for that. He was here with one of the rare students that had more than a spoonful of brains, and he was going to enjoy it, goddamnit.
"Ready to go?" he asked Emil once the two of them had went into a side street, away from prying eyes.
lived like you told me how, look at me now/the whole world's bringing me down
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Post by EMIL ZALEWSKI on Jan 19, 2020 2:20:24 GMT
It had been quite a while since Emil had been off the Hogwarts grounds--and despite being eighteen and the Head Boy, the only reason he was able to do it now was that a professor had taken him to do it. Of course he hadn't tried to sneak off himself. Emil had rarely been the type to break rules, only a handful of particular times coming to his memory when he tried to remember. Persephone and the boat, Matheus and the party...
But this had nothing to do with either of those things. He was here to study, the notebook he'd brought with him already full of bullet points and sketches from the sites they'd already visited. With the help of Apparition, they'd been able to see most of the major sites already, but they had still wanted to cram in one more--one that wasn't quite Stonehenge, but still one of the more important henge sites in the country. Emil had read that the Vikings called it the Temple of the Sun, like they'd called the other henge the Temple of the Moon, the one they might be able to walk to if there was time. The sun was starting to set now, but he was sure it would still give enough light to examine this last location before they needed to return. It was May, after all.
"Ready," he told Professor O'Keeffe as the man returned from paying for their food, pushing his plate away. He followed the professor away from Muggle eyes, linking their arms together to prepare to Apparate. Emil, who had only gotten his license the previous year, didn't entirely trust himself to Apparate to a location he didn't know perfectly without help, especially as he'd had very little practice while still being at Hogwarts.
The sensation was familiar enough from classes though, and Emil kept his eyes shut tight as the spell squeezed him through space and time, landing them on the soft grass in the middle of the circle of stones.
"Here we are - Temple of the Sun!" Sean announced, gesturing around them. The stone circle was on a sliver of land between two lakes, in the middle of a lush green field. The stones were a good few feet taller than both of the men, standing there like ancient, mute guardians. What did they guard? Sean didn't know, historians didn't know... Would anyone ever know? Maybe Emil would figure it out one day? He could only hope.
"Now, we should probably not trample these... Hm, their name eludes me," he pointed out the purple plants under their feet. A few feet both ways from the stones was green grass, but the inside of the circle was overgrown. Was it just a decorative decision by the muggles? Or was there something more to it? Oh, all these questions, they set Sean's eyes ablaze with excitement.
"I'll admit that Druidism has never been my topic of choice," he told Emil as they made their way closer to one of the stones, "But I must say today has been very insightful. You've done a very good job at collecting information, Emil. Now, I'd love to hear what you've found out about this place!"
lived like you told me how, look at me now/the whole world's bringing me down
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Post by EMIL ZALEWSKI on Jan 19, 2020 6:09:27 GMT
"Well, I've always found it interesting, the way people lived during those times." Emil couldn't say exactly what it was that drew him to ancient Europe so much, but he'd always loved it. Perhaps it was the way people managed to make magic part of their everyday lives, in a way that he felt like he never could, as a Muggleborn wizard who always had to return home and pretend that nothing had changed over his years at Hogwarts. He couldn't imagine wizards being able to make something so large and significant as this in such a public area nowadays.
Kneeling next to one of the stones, he traced his fingers over it, feeling as if touching it brought some sort of connection to those who had set it here all those centuries ago. "I know plenty of signs of a settlement have been found in the area," he said, "especially arrowheads and such--but nobody has excavated the center of the circle, right?" He glanced to where the professor was standing next to the thick purple foliage in the middle of the circle, where it seemed as if nobody had even walked for years upon years. "The Vikings are the ones who called it the Temple of the Sun when they arrived--they worshiped Odin here. I think, if we look around, we should be able to find Viking inscriptions." Emil moved to the next stone, absorbed in the search. "I'll make a rubbing of them, if we manage to find it."
@seanokeeffe
kasia's unlucky overachiever // 5'10" // single (future: damian belanger) // born in england // lives with the cotswolds
"Indeed, things were very different back then, both for us and for muggles. When mages were revered and sought out, not considered a relic of the past made up by minds not fully functional," Sean said, carelessly leaning against one of the stones. Despite it being the evening, and not a terribly warm one, his back didn't feel cold. He turned around and faced the stone, putting his palm on it. Indeed, the stone emitted heat. Not a lot of it, but enough for Sean to become thoughtful.
He watched Emil hurry around, looking for the graffiti left by the Vikings as his own hands roamed the surface of the standing stone.
"They're right to not dig here." Sean said after a few minutes, "They wouldn't find anything. At least, not anything muggles could understand. There is something special about these stones, about this place...Emil, have you ever heard about ley lines? Muggles call it a pseudoscience, but me and you, we know better, that magic does exist."
He stepped away from the stone, his palms immediately going cold, making him shiver a bit. "Places like this...They hold power. The sad part is that us, modern mages, have forgotten how to harness such power. If I could find the time and the funding, I'd gladly spend my life researching ancient places of power, it would be far better than working at Hogwarts. Alas, our Ministry is too busy doing other things to spend any money on science."
lived like you told me how, look at me now/the whole world's bringing me down
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Post by EMIL ZALEWSKI on Jan 19, 2020 16:25:35 GMT
If only the Ministry focused its efforts on science, perhaps many problems could be solved. As it was, as far as Emil could tell, the only people who seemed to care about research were professors at Hogwarts. And yes, he had been hoping for a Ministry position, but perhaps someday he could return to Hogwarts, if Professor O'Keeffe ever left. Perhaps he could be doing this for some student someday. With careful eyes, he scanned up and down each stone around the circle, searching for the runes he'd heard were there. He hadn't taken Ancient Runes at N.E.W.T. level, simply because there were only so many classes he was able to take, but he was sure he could remember how to translate them.
At the same time, he had to pay attention to what the professor was telling him. "Ley lines. Yes, I've heard of them, the areas of power that connect important locations throughout the world, although I'm not sure exactly what they do." It wasn't as if he'd had the opportunity to visit too many ancient places in his life, until now. Sighing, he pressed a hand against the stone he was standing next to. "I wish Muggles understood. I feel like I'm not allowed to explain everything, and then they can't understand..." Emil doubted the professor was Muggleborn, so he didn't know if he would understand the frustration.
He moved on to the next stone instead. This one was laying down, and Emil remembered reading about the lightning strikes that had downed two of the stones here--this must be one of them. "Was there a reason for the lightning to strike this one in particular, or was it simply random?" he mused, looking over at the professor.
@seanokeeffe
kasia's unlucky overachiever // 5'10" // single (future: damian belanger) // born in england // lives with the cotswolds
"I hope you'll excuse me for this, but my knowledge of ley lines is very theoretical. Then again that seems to be the general state of this subject in general. Ley lines have been said to harness force of the Earth, they're like a net across the world," he paced around as he spoke, "And in places where they cross, you get objects like this ring. I've no idea how these lines are truly laid out in the world, or how large they might be. Some think it's a regular net, like latitudes and longitudes on a globe. I don't think that's quite right, I mean, the Temple of the Moon is barely a mile away."
"Some say that you can use these lay lines to apparate safely, which can come rather handy, but if you put your mind to it, you can learn to apparate safely anywhere, as long as you aren't drunk," he offered a smile to his student, "So I think that's far too simple of an explanation. Who knows, truly?"
"Perhaps it is the best that muggles don't know. Don't need everyone running to us to solve their every problem, or have them hunt centaurs so that they can keep them locked in labs and such," he added, his tone a bit sharp. The Statutes of Secrecy where there for a good reason -- and Emil knew it. After all, he'd learned about witch hunts in class.
"Hmm? The lightning?" he asked, scratching the back of his neck and looking around. Any way he looked, the only thing he could see was a lush green flat and dark water further away. There wasn't even a single tree as far as the eye could see. "I think it was an accident. Lightning aims for the tallest thing, and so," he gestured at the rocks.
"You know, it is getting quite late, but I'd really like you to look at the Temple of the Moon too. It should be no more than fifteen minutes by foot, I'd rather not apparate again on such short notice. Let us hurry up -- exercise after a meal is good for you, too."
And with that, the two of them were heading to the road that lead back into the town they had had dinner at mere minutes ago. They had to get over the bridge and then walk across the field, and only now Sean considered if, perhaps, it would have been less of a hassle to have gone to the other circle first, but it was far too late to change things. All they could hope for was that nobody would catch them sneaking back into the castle. Sean had forgotten to mention the small detail that he'd never asked permission for their little trip.
lived like you told me how, look at me now/the whole world's bringing me down
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Post by EMIL ZALEWSKI on Jan 19, 2020 17:44:20 GMT
Like the number of times he'd broken major rules, Emil was sure he could count the number of times he'd been really drunk on one hand. At least that boded well for his Apparition abilities, if Professor O'Keeffe was correct about the ley lines. "Maybe someday, someone will take it upon themselves to research them, then." That would make a good Chocolate Frog card out of someone--Emil felt it might be too much to hope that it would be him. There were a couple other Ravenclaws he'd known over the years that he felt had more of an ability to travel the world--there was Persie with her boat, there was Damian with his postcards. But maybe he'd get the chance...
Emil looked nervously at the dimming sky, but as the professor seemed to think that fifteen minutes wouldn't be an issue, he nodded his assent to taking a walk. The road was narrow, perhaps just wide enough for a single car, but two people side-by-side posed no problem, especially with how flat the landscape was. The sun was setting behind them, in the direction of its temple, its last faint rays painting the landscape in gold, while the moon was rising ahead of them above their destination, beginning its slow ascent through the sky.
"Is it true that people used to bring bones to the Temple of the Moon for rituals?" he asked as they walked, trying to think back to all he'd read in his research before their trip. This henge had been a site for worshiping Odin as well, although the main stone had been broken back in the 1800s. A shame, really, as there had to be so much magic imbued in the stone.
@seanokeeffe
kasia's unlucky overachiever // 5'10" // single (future: damian belanger) // born in england // lives with the cotswolds
“Oi, lads, I’m off, this coat of plates has been chafing me all over.” the young man said to his two companions before turning around and waving ‘goodbye’ to them. With every step he took, his hauberk rattled, the rows of chains hitting against each other. His entire outfit was ill fitting - the Tourism office of Kirkwall couldn’t afford to get their performers proper outfits. Not that it mattered much -- Pascal wasn’t planning to play the role of a Norse warrior after tonight. No, tonight he’d finally get to begin executing Verandi’s (and his!) plan.
He had been given a task, a very important one at that, and it included him getting the trust of the Cotswolds pack, to get close to Teddy Lupin and his band of lap dogs. Pascal had been wracking his brain for a few weeks now, trying to figure out a way how to gain their trust. Sure, he could just turn up as a werewolf in need, but...It was too simple. And what if Teddy Lupin had seen him before? What if he’d recognize him? Pascal didn’t know what Lupin knew, but what he did know was that Lupin need not--
Hm.
In short, ‘simple’ wasn’t going to cut it. ‘Simple’ wouldn’t be satisfying, not to him, nor to Verandi. This was his time to shine.
The answer to his prayers fell upon him in the shape of a rather tall and lanky 7th year, walking in tow of his professor. See, Pascal had been working in Orkney for a few weeks now, clearing off from the mainland to somewhere no Cotswold would come -- or, at least he hoped so. They were way down south! He was convinced this was a safe place.
Working as a guide, dressed in a set of armor not measured for him, he played the role of a Norse warrior from around 1200. And today, among all the muggle tourists and their questions he’d overheard a single word.
Hogwarts.
It had been spoken by a scraggly looking man the age of whom Pascal would put anywhere between 20 and 40 -- he was thin and his hair was a bloody mess, in the direction to a lanky teenager who followed him around like a puppy on a leash, scribbling down in a notebook. Pascal had been onto them like a fly on a pile of shit. Sometimes they disappeared from his view, apparting away, but the older one was a chatterbox, so by noon Pascal was aware about every single place they would visit.
It was a bit past 21:00 now and the duo had left the pub to go to the ring of stones. While they had been stuffing their guts with potatoes, the actor had devised a plan.
He’d noticed that he had an uncanny resemblance to the student, whose name, as he had overheard was Emil Zalewski. Pascal didn’t have time to do any background checks on the boy -- he only had one shot at this.
One shot at turning him into a werewolf.
He’d turn him and then make sure he joined the Cotswolds. He was sure a panicked student would try to get back to Hogwarts, and Pascal had heard whispers of a man sympathetic to werewolves in the town. And since nobody had told him about any allies the Trossachs had that close to the school…
It was a lot of guessing and a lot of hoping from Pascal’s side, but he’d go through with the plan.
The sun was setting, the full moon was rising and Pascal was counting the seconds until his hauberk would begin to split apart, metal rings flying to the sides as he’d turn from human to wolf. In the distance he could see the two young men approaching.
“Come on.” He muttered, bracing himself. Any moment now he’d only feel pain and hunger. But tonight he’d bite something better than his own flesh or forest critters. Tonight he’d feast like he was at Valhalla.
"Why, it might even be you, Emil!" Sean told the student, his voice full of excitement. "You've already got the love for all things pagan magic, don't you? I'd gladly gift you my corpus on these subjects, I've got a little bit too many books on myself as it is." It was true -- his magically extended cupboards were tiny libraries, in which, if ever the need arose, Sean could crawl into. In truth, he'd had to do it at least once, when he'd misplaced his wand. After that he'd expanded the insides of the cupboards, as getting his shoulders stuck in between tomes that weren't very reliably stacked...Well, it was a nerve wracking experience at some moments.
"Of course it's true. I reckon it wasn't just bones, Emil. They probably brought live animals, like lambs or sheep to the altar, for sacrifices. Though I've never read in any respectable magical literature that animal offerings in any way strengthened magic, but you know, " he shrugged," muggles believe a lot of errant things."
And so they walked and talked, leaving the Temple of the Sun to submerge in the golden rays, heading to the Temple of the Moon with the silver disc as their guide. All would have been well, if not for a strange figure standing in the middle of the bridge. At first, Sean didn't think much of it -- as much as he found people annoying at the best of times, there was no law for someone to be standing on the bridge, as long as they didn't get in the way of any vehicles. But as they moved closer, he could see that the figure was staring straight at them.
And then, as the moon rose, it started shifting, becoming shorter--
"Oh, fuck, no." Sean muttered, scrambling to get his wand out of his jacket pocket and leaning down to pull the knife out of his boot. It was the same knife Dio Greyback had noticed during the first History of Magic lesson. It was the same knife he'd plunged into the chest of the werewolf that killed his sister in front of his eyes all those years ago.
It would be the knife that would cut this mutt's throat, too.
lived like you told me how, look at me now/the whole world's bringing me down
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Post by EMIL ZALEWSKI on Jan 19, 2020 18:29:59 GMT
What--what was that? Emil squinted into the distance, trying to understand what the man on the bridge was doing. Something strange--was it magic? Muggles lived around here, he knew, but not very many of them, and with all the ancient magic laying under the monuments, it wasn't much of a reach to think there might be other wizards around.
And then his eyes shifted up, up to the moon that was fully visible now, silvery and large and a full circle, and his stomach dropped into his feet. He knew, somehow, instantly, that what he was seeing for the first time in his life was a true werewolf.
He'd been around when Hogwarts was attacked, of course, but at that time he'd been safely in his bed, up in Ravenclaw Tower, and hadn't seen it actually happen. He'd been taking Defense Against the Dark Arts for seven years now, but in class there was only pictures and diagrams, as of course there was no way possible they'd get a demonstration of what to do while sitting in a classroom.
Drawing his wand, Emil took a deep breath. Next to him, he could see a glint of silver as the moonlight glanced off of a knife that was suddenly in the professor's hand. Muggle technology, familiar enough. If he wasn't afraid for his life at the moment, he would have asked if Professor O'Keeffe had ever lived in the Muggle world. As it was, he kept a death-grip on his wand, trying to think of every defensive spell he'd ever learned, as the figure bent onto its four legs, clear of whatever it had been wearing before.
Get the kid and then get out of there. Get the kid, get the kid, Pascal, get the kid and go. Pain seized every fiber of his body, every cell of his being, as his bones shifted and shaped into those of a large wolf. The seams of his costume were ripping apart, and the links of the cheap mail weren't able to resist, making it all fall apart. The pain, as every time before this, was almost unbearable. Almost.
Get the kid. In just a few seconds, his mind would be controlled by pure instincts, and the only way to make sure he achieved his goal was to drill it in, to make it a primal urge.
He inhaled. There was the scent of rotting plants, the scent of a duck that had waddled across the bridge a few minutes ago, there was the scent of sweat and fear.
Hunger. Hunger! Must eat! Must bite! Must!
He snarled, showing the two men his fangs, his legs bending, preparing to leap-- And he made a few steps-- And with a growl he jumped right at the taller human, trying to sink his teeth right into the arm that held that pointy stick with lights coming out of its end.
The bloody werewolf had the audacity to stand in front of them, dressed in armor, like this was some kind of dramatic scene. No, the most it would be was an original of one of those Grimm fairy tales. And the bad ending? For the Big Bad Wolf, if Sean had any say in it.
As the wolf transformed it was if all of the world had just...Stopped. He couldn't hear the gentle splashes of the lake waves, nor could he hear the waterfowl that had been quacking with such delight mere minutes ago. No, all he heard was the bloodcurdling growl of the creature in front of them.
Blocking their path was arrogant enough, but it grinned at them, flashing its yellowed teeth and red tongue, and then it leaped--
For a split second Sean considered what to do. For a split second he doubted his next move, not being able to decide between the Killing Curse or simple Petrifying. The Killing Curse would solve their problems at the blink of an eye, but Emil was standing too close to Sean, if he'd miss, he'd have more problems than he could deal with.
And that split second was enough to miss his cue, as his spell flew right over the back of the beast.
lived like you told me how, look at me now/the whole world's bringing me down
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Post by EMIL ZALEWSKI on Jan 19, 2020 19:06:57 GMT
Everything happened so fast, so very fast. It felt like the beast had closed the gap between them in less than a second, its powerful legs sending it leaping through the air as if it was natural, as if it had not been in the form of a man just a minute ago. Panic clutched at Emil's chest as the wolf headed straight for him, its huge, almost human-like eyes fixed straight on him. "Impedimenta!" he yelled, a jet of turquoise light shooting from his wand, but even as it flew toward the creature, he couldn't tell if it had slowed the wolf down for even a single moment.
Over the top of the creature's body, he could see a pulse of green light miss by just a hair, right as he felt the heat of the wolf's breath on his arm. His wand arm, which was now on the other side of the wolf and therefore useless, and he resorted to the fiercest kick he could manage as the teeth sank right into his upper arm.
It didn't hurt at first, until the wolf pulled its jaw back for another attack, and suddenly he felt the pain blind him, worse than if he'd broken both of his legs multiple times at once, and he cried out, a hoarse yell leaving his throat as he tried to stumble back. "Flipendo, flipendo, flipendo," he chanted, willing his wand to push the wolf away, even as the tears in his eyes made it impossible to see his target.
It was just like last time. Teeth digging into flesh, flashes of light, a scream and a groan, incoherent spells, it was all just like it had been with Laoise.
Poor, sweet Laoise. She'd only had wanted to bring their parents gifts for their wedding anniversary. She'd only wanted to spend time with her estranged big brother, who loved her dearly, and whom she loved dearly, even when it seemed like he was losing his mind every once in a while.
He felt like he was back in that Dublin side street, clutching two shopping bags, staring down the bloodied maw of a werewolf. He felt as if he was living it all again, his hand gripping the handle of the knife, and plunging it upwards, aiming right for the heart without aiming at all.
This time the rage was joined by pain. Not just the pain of seeing his sister be torn apart. There was pain in his side, and he was falling backwards, and his knife flashed in the moonlight, parts of it covered in blood.
He landed on his back with a loud thud. Turning his head to the side, he could feel the gravel scrape against his cheek. Four large paws were fading into the distance, along with the pathetic whining of a dog that's gotten a proper beating.
There was muffled moaning and crying on his other side.
Emil had been bitten. He was a bloody werewolf now. Sean was surrounded by beasts.
Slowly, the man got up, his left side burning up and causing him to flinch with every movement. He put away his wand and took the knife into his right hand, walking over to Emil.
To Emil, who was rolling on the asphalt, cradling his arm. To Emil, who was bleeding out. To Emil, the werewolf.
"You're a werewolf now." Sean said, his voice shaky. He raised up his knife -- he could put the boy out of a life of misery right then and there. He could make sure he never hurt anyone.
But his own side hurt too much. He needed to rest. He needed to get back and get Sir Fluffybutt and all of his books and things, and he needed to go back home, he needed to rest, and God save O'Connor or anyone else who'd try to stop him.