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!
egarding her new classroom with an air of profound distaste, Laila leaned back against the desk, eyes sweeping across the rows of heads in front of her. Oh, dear Merlin... She'd thought her Durmstrang classes were bad but she had to admit that clearly, she had been operating without a full understanding of the alternatives, because Hogwarts students were worse. Already, she had broken up more fights, arguments, and snogging sessions than she could be bothered to count, and all before she had even gone so far as to teach her first lesson... Well, all that was about to change, but she was damn sure of one thing; she would be standing for no such tomfoolery in her classroom. Educated they would be, whether they liked it or not. And, come to that, whether she liked it or not, which, under the current circumstances, she most assuredly didn't.
"Very well," she began curtly, a knife-sharp voice cutting through the chatter. "That will do." For a moment, she awaited silence. "For those of you who have been educated at Hogwarts up to this point, my name is Professor Issa. I will first remind you that your Deputy Headmaster expects you to treat myself and my Durmstrangian colleagues with equal respect to that which you afford your regular professors. I will secondly inform you that, having seen the respect which you afford to your regular professors, I will be expecting a great deal more." Getting to her feet, Laila crossed to the blackboard, picking up the chalk."Now... The International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy. Date?" She glanced around at the class, eyebrows raised. This was a piece of knowledge which she would certainly have expected her own students to possess. Time for an assessment of her predecessor's skill so that she might see just how much of a disadvantage she was working at. British magical education was a disgrace, of course, but then she did so love a challenge.
seems that i have been held in some dreaming state/a tourist in the waking world, never quite awake
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Post by GRETA ROWLE on May 2, 2020 1:44:08 GMT
in some dreaming state
One of the best things about Hogwarts, Greta thought, were just how many people there were. Every single class seemed to introduce her to someone new, a flood of people her very own age that she had never experienced before. She was used to the presence of her parents, their friends, and her tutors, all who expected her to act proper at all times, and while Greta liked some things about that--dresses and dancing!--she was much more of a daydreamer at heart. She'd rushed into the lesson excitedly, sitting next to the really sweet blonde girl from the feast, who hadn't turned out to be her roommate after all, but who she did really want to talk to more.
But the professor's strict voice snapped her right back to home lessons, to all the times when she'd heard the frustrated tone of one of her tutors asking her to please, Greta, pay attention, and out of instinct, she sat up straight in her chair with quill in hand, immediately serious.
"1689," she said, the answer one she was distinctly familiar with--the date when wizards finally began to separate themselves from Muggles. "It was very important. We were being persecuted and murdered!" Sometimes she had wished, secretly, that she had lived back then, so that she could have found herself being some sort of hero among the witch hunts.
when there's nowhere else to run/is there room for one more son?
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Post by SKYLAR REID on May 2, 2020 14:55:48 GMT
simple twist of fate
History of Magic was perhaps not the last place that Skylar wanted to be at the moment, but it was high on the list. Even Defense Against the Dark Arts would be better, and Skylar hated that class more than anything, with O'Connor always sticking his nose in everyone's business. But History of Magic might win the prize for least favorite this year. Each of their succession of professors seemed worse than the last--and now they didn't even have Dio in the class to make a fuss and let him escape. He had half a mind to poke Sally and ask her if she wanted to start making excuses so they could skip the next lesson and go to the Quidditch pitch instead--they'd gotten so close to winning the Cup last year, so they needed to be on top of their game for this one.
"Who spat in her pumpkin juice this morning?" he muttered to his teammate, rolling his eyes. There was nothing good about being at school, except for maybe getting out of the excessively crowded house he now lived in. But with the Durmstrang students around, everything was crowded here as well.
Post by NICOLAS DELGADO on May 2, 2020 21:42:48 GMT
Just when Nicolas thought the Durmstrang students were the scariests he ever talked to, classes started. Every single one of the Durmstrang Professors were intimidating. Nicolas’ visibly swallowed at the teacher’s announcement. He’d have to do his very best in this class. History was not his favorite class, he loved learning about scientific things. But he could see it was useful to learn from the past. He supposed he no longer had a choice if he wanted to survive.
When it was time to answer questions, Nicolas didn’t even dare to raise his hand despite knowing the answer. He respected Greta for daring to speak up and looked at her in admiration. His puberty was still full in progress and the mere thought of his voice skipping a beat in front of Durmstrang students made him want to die.
What also made him want to die was a comment he heard from behind him. The Ravenclaw gasped and turned around with big shocked eyes. “Skylar, you can’t say that,” he whispered in a squeaky voice, terrified for this Hufflepuff’s fate.
Post by CONSTANTIN DASCĂLU on May 3, 2020 20:37:39 GMT
Another day, another class. Just the classroom and students were different. Undoubtedly the average IQ would be lower than he was used to in Durmstrang but he was sure there were at least a few bright minds among them. Constantin was curious to see this all play out. He was looking forward to see Hogwarts students try and misbehave, getting themselves in detention where he would've walked free.
One girl dressed in blue answered the simple question. That shouldn’t be hard enough. His attention fell on a not very interested boy dressed in yellow. Perhaps he should have some fun. A quick smirk turned to Ileana as he discretely pointed his wand. “Sonorus,” he whispered quietly, almost nonverbal. Making the boy’s day rather unfortunate by now sharing what he had to say with the entire classroom. As discreetly as he cast the spell, he moved his stuff and pretended to be paying attention to the class like a good student.
Note: This was discussed with Kasia before posting.
aila nodded curtly. "When I wish for extra information, I will ask for it, thank you. If you wish to discuss anything else, kindly see me at some other time. Yes, the Statute of Wizarding Secrecy was signed in 1689 with its provisions being enforced from 1692, preventing witches and wizards from betraying the secrets of their magic to the Muggle communities in which they lived." Her mouth twisted slightly at the word, as though it had a sour taste to it. "This was, of course, highly necessary as a result of the witch hunts and general paranoia which prevailed throughout much of Europe at the time, and if the gentleman in the yellow robes think that he is both invisible and inaudible because he has chosen to locate himself towards the back of the room then I can assure him that he is sorely mistaken." She raised an eyebrow in the boy's direction. "As of course you were all paying great attention to my introductory words, I can only assume that he is unfamiliar with their importance, and so it will do him good to write an essay regarding the definition and practical application of the term respect, will it not?" It was a rhetorical question, and she would not have been at all amused to receive an answer. "I have a feeling, young man, that I shall have the honour of your closer acquaintance before very long. Mr Dascalu, this is not a class for wandwork, as I am quite sure that you are aware; if I need your assistance in locating the source of any disruption, then I shall be sure to ask for it. Bring that up here, you may have it back at the end."
"Now," she continued, after a final piercing look in the Hufflepuff's direction. "Significantly contributory to the atmosphere of general suspicion regarding witchcraft were a number of texts which were produced before and during the 1600s by a variety of educated and trusted public figures. For example, King James, who was of course the First of England and the Sixth of Scotland, produced a text after a number of experiences which instilled in him the belief that he was being persecuted by witches. And the name of this text was, please?"
Humming as she made her way into the History of Magic classroom, Ileana regarded Laila with a look of what could only be described as amusement as she sat beside her brother. "Do you think she's managed to dislodge that broomstick yet, or she's had no luck so far?" she asked, not even making an attempt to keep her voice to a whisper. Of course, it didn't matter anyway because it wasn't like Laila could hear her above the noise the Hogwarts student were making - Ileana quite enjoyed their dulcet tones, really, and she had no doubt that one day, their noisiness would help disguise one of her pranks. After all, nobody would be keeping their eye trained on her when the other students were practically shouting.
When Laila began speaking to the class, droning on and on about respect, Ileana had the answer to her earlier question - the broomstick was still firmly stuck. Perhaps she'd offer to accompany Laila to St. Mungo's later for it's removal - you know, to be a supportive student and all... maybe to take a few photographs as well. You never knew when you needed some blackmail, after all.
Crossing her legs, Ileana watched on with a look of interest as her brother whipped out his wand, aiming it at some muttering red-haired boy... only to get chided for it a few moments later, along with half of her classmates for various other crimes, including answering with too much information - ah, yes, a whole two sentences worth.
Deciding to take a note from that girl's book - it seemed to work quite the treat in getting under Laila's skin, Ileana rose her hand. "Laila - sorry, I mean, Dictato - no, whoops, I just can't seem to get the right name, silly me... wait, I've got it. Professor Issa," Ileana started, clucking her tongue as though she was frustrated at her 'forgetfulness' as she spoke, "the book was called Daemonologie. It was written and published in the 1590s, and covered a lot of topics. Which ones? Well, Professor Issa, I'm glad you asked. Among them was werewolves and vampires, but there was a study on demons too. Fascinating, right? I can't wait for you to tell us more about it." Ileana's tone was excitable and she wore a smile as she spoke, as though she was just an enthusiastic student when in reality, she was just putting her best foot forward in become Laila's biggest pain in the arse for her fifth year running.
Even though Sally was pretty bloody happy to be sharing a class with Skylar, her teammate, as well as the older, cooler kids, she had to admit... this class sucked butt. Mostly because of the Professor who was standing at the front, looking liked she'd sucked a lemon - seeds and all. Her face was sour as hell and the way she spoke to them was just as bad. Sally didn't make an effort to hide the clear dislike on her face, and she let out a huff to boot.
Suddenly, Skylar's voice rang loud and clear in her ears - like, at the top of his lungs, announcement to the whole class loud, and Sally looked at him incredulously because why was he shouting? There was an answer a moment later as the Prof called out some dude named Mr. Dracula, telling her that she didn't need his wand work and assistance to find out the 'source of disruption.'
Very quickly, Sally was annoyed because who the hell did this Durmstrang dude think he was, using spells on her teammate to get him into trouble? Whirling around in her seat, Sally said quite loudly herself with no assistance of spells thank you very much, "I have a few ideas of what this douchecanoe can do with his wand instead of just hand it over without a punishment. In fact, I'll even tell him. He can shove it up his prissy little ars -butt."
With that out of the way, Sally turned back around, arms crossed over her chest as she paid attention to this Professor who apparently was going to play favourites by giving Skylar a whole arse essay to write and only confiscate the wand of Durmstrang student who shot spells at someone during class.
Meandering into the History of Magic classroom, Alex had to admit that he was thankful that he wasn't sharing classes with Xander, someone he had been going out of his way to avoid since they returned. Just yesterday, Alex had actually hid in a broom closet - which, yes, in retrospect was pretty ironic - when he saw Xander walking near him in the corridors. That was how much he didn't want to speak with him. He didn't feel like a big conversation, not yet.
Scanning his eyes across the classroom, Alex hoped and prayed for an empty table, but... apparently Merlin wasn't listening because there were only spots next to people. Shit. Grimacing, he sought out somewhere, anywhere, he deemed safe to sit before catching sight of Liam. He was safe, he was nice, he had really big muscles and most importantly, unlike probably most of the Durmstrang students, he was fine with Alex being a muggleborn. "Hey, is it alright if I..." Alex started, hesitantly pulling out the chair, "I can always move if you, er, want someone else to sit here though."
As the class commenced, Alex gulped. Hard. Because... this Professor was... well, she was the female equivalent of a Dalek. Except she didn't want world domination - no, apparently she wanted to dominate the entire school, starting with their class. All he hoped was she wasn't going to raise her hands and start saying, "Exterminate!" while rushing towards them because that would be truly terrifying.
Slumping down in his seat, Alex hoped that would make him invisible, even more so as drama started up in the class. It all started with a blonde Ravenclaw girl answering a question too... thoroughly? Even though truthfully, she just seemed to be enthusiastic to contribute, but then it exploded as some guy appeared to cast a spell on Skylar to make him speak extra loud, Liam's sister started getting cursing out people, and some frankly intimidating Durmstrang girl started... what, baiting the Professor? The chances of Professor Issa wanted to exterminate their class seemed to be growing higher and higher by the minute, and Alex sent a concerned look in Liam's direction.
suppose I must expect such a performance from a student who believes her only talent to lie in causing chaos," Laila mused, as though to herself. "Of course, the fact is that she is not even one half so amusing as she supposes herself, so where does that leave her, hmm?" She shook her head with a melodramatic sigh. "I really shudder to think... My dear Miss Dascalu, you and I have had conversations before regarding your inability to control these outbursts, have we not? Such a childish tendency. And I really thought that we were making progress... Of course, such a new environment must be so upsetting to you." Her tone was one of entirely exaggerated condescension, as though speaking to a very small child, and she made no attempt to hide it. "Perhaps a little familiarity will help to curb this misbehaviour, don't you think? I shall see you for detention in my office, Miss Dascalu, every day for the next two weeks, and I am quite sure that that familiar little ritual will help you to settle in so far away from home. Now, where were we before my little friend's interjection... Ah, yes. The young lady in the Hufflepuff robes. I am not acquainted with your name as of yet, but I have no doubt that I shall have the opportunity to become so when you join my old acquaintance for her detention sessions. And now, if everyone has quite finished throwing their little temper tantrums, I shall continue."
She sighed faintly. Merlin above, was this how it would be for the rest of the year? Such a shame that they'd abolished that most effective method of punishment... Of course, she supposed she could try hanging them by their ankles in the dungeons, but regrettably, Laila suspected that the castle's more permanent inhabitants might have one or two objections. Of course, if they'd done the same themselves years ago, she would have no such problem to face now.
"King James was indeed the author of Daemonologie, which drew somewhat on his involvement in the North Berwick witch trials. He aimed not only to prove the existence of witchcraft to his loyal subjects, but also to provide justification for the trial and punishment of various suspected practitioners of witchcraft which were at this time taking place up and down the country and indeed across Europe. To what extent his arguments were sound is, of course, questionable; the text was used to inspire various reforms in the process of a witch trial, and was cited as a source of inspiration for, of course, the Witch-Finder General. Whose name was?"
Gemini was a bit scared for the new class. She remembered her father teaching history and the teacher after him was so mean and cruel he made her cry in class. She didn't even know if she had her brothers to protect her from whichever horror was going to come next but then Gemini wouldn't be Gemini if she didn't at least give this new professor a chance. How bad could she be? She looked pretty and was actually from a different country. If anything didn't she need love and kindness to show her she is welcome here?
With a positive attitude, Gemini was seated in her usual spot and was preparing herself for a lot of notes when she spotted other kids and some new kids who were second years last time she saw them. One of them was Sally and Gem really liked Sally. Though as she was seated and ready to learn, the class quickly went down south and then some. Why did people always cause trouble? Gem had a blush on her cheeks and just fiddled with her quill until the class continued and the professor asked questions.
Gem rose her hand and bit her lip. "M-Matthew Hopkins? Miss.." she lowered her hand again and tried to manage a smile. Not every student caused trouble! "Yes fairly certain!" she added and smiled brighter. "Though wasn't the title self proclaimed?" she asked curiously.
Vi had walked into the History of Magic class wearing a bright, cheery smile on her face. But over the course of the lesson, that smile had started to dim like a flickering candle, two seconds away from being blown out entirely. It wasn't solely because she wasn't a super duper fan of how this woman was talking to her classmates but more because... well, Vi wasn't doing a very good job of keeping on task.
About half-way through, she'd gotten lost and confused with all the dates and then other things had caught her attention, like the way some Durmstrang girl's pretty blonde locks tumbled down her back in flowing waves. She hadn't met the girl, not yet, but she intended to at some point! The distracting hair had led to Vi tuning out an entire chunk of what the Professor was saying, and when she tuned back in... she was lost. Again. Gosh dang it.
Bouncing her leg, Vi tried to stay focused and catch up to the discussion but it seemed all hope was lost. She'd have to ask to borrow someone else's notes later... and hope she had the attention span to sit and read them. For now though, Vi decided to be productive in other ways by dipping her quill into her ink pot and doodling the way the Durmstrang girl's hair sat. Maybe she'd use her itty bitty drawing as a reference for a painting later!
uite so. And you are correct; it is not a title which was ever conferred by Parliament. Nevertheless, Hopkins enjoyed great success throughout his career in the early sixteen hundreds. Of course, it might be noted that accusations of witchcraft were higher in number wherever he came to town, so that it might be supposed one could have as many witches as one was prepared to find. Hopkins was, of course, dead by the time that the Statute was drawn up, but nevertheless, he laid the way for those who came after him and it is undeniable that the witch hunt as we know it owes much to his existence." Laila paused for breath, eyeing the Durmstrang girl warily in case she felt inclined to pass any further comment. "Of course, we must also look further afield in discovering what prompted an international law, must we not? Tell me about the Salem Witch Trials."
Gemini was a bit scared for the new class. She remembered her father teaching history and the teacher after him was so mean and cruel he made her cry in class. She didn't even know if she had her brothers to protect her from whichever horror was going to come next but then Gemini wouldn't be Gemini if she didn't at least give this new professor a chance. How bad could she be? She looked pretty and was actually from a different country. If anything didn't she need love and kindness to show her she is welcome here?
