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!
we got no money, but we got heart/we're gonna rattle this ghost town
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Post by DAMIAN BELANGER on Jun 4, 2020 19:31:01 GMT
we rattle this town
Bending down to the pan of glue again, Damian dipped his roller into it, his back cracking as he stood up straight to roll it over the wall again. He was hanging new wallpaper in his old bedroom--or really, their old bedroom, as the bunk beds that still stood there reminded him. Now that none of them lived there, he thought, bemused, maybe he could finally put things on Rodrik’s bunk without Ma chastising them… yes, he thought, that might help his back, as he picked up the pan and relocated it to the old mattress. Even though Rodrik wasn’t even there, Damian thought he could hear the whining of a thirty-years-younger version of his brother.
The thought brought a smile to his face. The number of home improvement projects he had been working on for his parents this summer was exhausting, even with magic, but it did bring back all sorts of memories of his brothers that had slipped into his subconscious over the years. Now that they all lived separately, now that even Hugo had children--two of them!--they didn’t spend as much time together as they used to.
The good part about being older, though, was that they had the money to spend on fixing up their old house. It needed to be done, had been needed since the brothers were little themselves, but not until Hugo had saved up money from his time in professional Quidditch did they really get the chance to remodel.
But Hugo was in South America, taking care of a newborn. Rodrik had been meant to come along, but he was sitting at home being dosed with Skele-Gro after an accident. So it had fallen to Damian to actually do the work. He and Emil had set up camp for a week in a tent outside, the bedroom blocked by the work that was currently taking place, and Sophia had been sent off to spend some time with her cousins. Damian hoped they weren’t causing Rodrik too much trouble--he was fairly sure that the last time he’d seen Rodrik, there were a few white hairs in his brother’s beard.
Picking up a strip of wallpaper, he looked up at the ceiling, wishing that Rodrik had been able to help with his longer arms after all. Instead, he had to balance himself on a little wooden step, pressing the paper to the top of the wall and hoping he’d made it straight. He smoothed it down, bending to the floor yet again to attach the bottom of the strip. Maybe half the room was finished, so there was still work to do. But soon there would be lunch--which Emil had gone to help cook, so there would be potatoes before long. From downstairs he could hear voices floating up from the kitchen, with the occasional clatter of a pot or pan. And then, thankfully, the sound of Emil’s voice: “Damian, come eat!”
Letting the roller drop into the pan, Damian had no hesitation in jogging downstairs, where a pot of mashed potatoes was waiting alongside plates of fruit and vegetables. Ma was already filling plates for herself and Pa, while Emil held out an empty plate to Damian as they got in line.
It was then that a knock sounded on the door, and Damian’s head whipped around, confused. They were in the countryside--there was no reason for anyone to visit, really, unless Rodrik had decided that his arm had healed enough in the past few hours. Still, maybe it was just some particularly curious neighbor. “I’ll get it,” Damian said, setting down his plate, even though his stomach was growling. The door, newly replaced just yesterday, swung open easily as he turned the handle…
...only to see what could best be described as a ghost.
But no, he was familiar with ghosts; he’d been to Hogwarts. This was someone raised from the dead.
How was one to respond to someone who looked like the spitting image of a brother who’d been dead for nearly twenty years?
Marius Lucien Lemoine was the son of two French muggles. He was the eldest of three, with two siblings just a few years younger than him, and there was nothing special about him. Or so he had thought until one day, after several years of rather strange experiences he couldn't explain, a letter arrived, inviting him to a magical school -- Beauxbatons Academy of Magic. A prestige establishment, made to educate magical folk in France.
Marius was a wizard. This came as a surprise to the entire family... Or so he had thought. He remembered the moment he read the letter out loud to his parents like it was just yesterday, how his father's dark eyebrows raised up and how he muttered that this was all nonsense, yet his mother seemed to be lost in deep thought. She'd insisted to write back to the authors of the letter, asking for an explanation, while his father kept claiming that this was the writings of a madman. Someone did show up and demonstrate to them that magic did indeed exist, and that Marius was a wizard, and that it was imperative that Marius be educated.
From that day onward, Marius started paying a lot more attention to his family and his life. As he grew older, he was more and more bothered by the fact that he was so unlike his siblings. His parents both had dark hair, his father's skin was an olive tone, while Marius had blonde hair and fair skin. He couldn't blame some jump of genetics -- none of his grandparents looked anything like Marius.
On his 18th birthday his mother gave him a gift. It wasn't a pleasant one to receive -- even if you've suspected it for years, being told that everything you've ever believed about your family was a big, fat lie could shake anyone to the core.
His father was some man from Britain called Vaughn Belanger, and he had once worked at a winery. That was all his mother knew to tell him. She didn't have any pictures of the man, but she did remark that he looked just like his father.
Marius himself had dreamed of one day owning a winery -- back at Beauxbatons he'd experimented with a variety of grapes combined with charms and potions to make their juice taste better, and a magical winery had felt like the logical continuation of his experiments, but this felt...Too on the nose.
He put a pause on his plans at once, becoming preoccupied with trying to find out more about the man. His mother hadn't had the chance to tell this Vaughn that he was going to be a father -- a few months after the night they spent together he had vanished from the winery, and the owners didn't want to talk about him at all. All they had offered to his mother was that he'd returned to Scotland.
And so, after a year and a half of searching, Marius was standing by the front door of a seemingly ancient house that was crying for a renovation, his fingertips sliding over the rusty mailbox and the word "Belangers" that had once been painted on with a thick layer of white paint in a rather childish handwriting. Could this have been his father's handiwork?
Fixing his striped blazer and running his hand through his hair one last time, Marius took a deep breath and knocked on the front door, waiting for someone to arrive. Thankfully, he didn't have to wait long for the door to open.
He was met by a middle aged man, about the same height as Marius, yet his frame was smaller. He didn't have a lot of time to look over the man, because he was staring at him, wide eyed, seeming to have lost the ability to speak.
What was going on here?
"Good day," Marius greeted him, every word permeated by a strong accent, "My name is Marius Lucien Lemoine. I'm 20 years old and I'm looking for my father, Vaughn Belanger. And you would be...?"
we got no money, but we got heart/we're gonna rattle this ghost town
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Post by DAMIAN BELANGER on Jul 11, 2020 17:25:25 GMT
we rattle this town
"Ah--Damian. Damian Belanger." Damian had half the thought to pinch himself, the words he was hearing so unbelievable as to make him think he might be dreaming. What was he supposed to do? It was impossible to think that this man was actually his nephew, and yet--that face was unmistakable. Before he'd started speaking, Damian had thought someone had managed to paste Vaughn's face onto some young man. And what kind of benefit could anyone be looking for, claiming to be the son of Vaughn Belanger, a man who had been dead for years, who hadn't left any money?
"It's nice to meet you." Damian held out his hand, offering it to shake. He thought it might be trembling a little, but he steeled his muscles, resolving not to show quite as much shock as he was actually feeling. He glanced back into the house, toward the kitchen doorway, where the voices of his family were still floating out, not knowing just how much might have changed in that very moment.
"Ma! Emil! Come here." They would be able to tell Damian if he had hallucinated the entire episode--and maybe they would be better able to explain the story. He turned back to Marius, offering a small smile. "Vaughn--was my older brother. Come on in, I think we have a lot to talk about."
The man in the doorway seemed to have lost his wits for a few moments, tumbling over his own words and extending a clammy hand as a greeting. In any other situation Marius would have felt at least a little bit annoyed, though he'd never show it, but... This time he had to give the man, Damian, a pass. He had no clue Marius existed, that was for sure.
The man called over his mother and someone called Emil, a muffled 'Are you alright?' over the approaching footsteps. But that wasn't what Marius focused on, no, it was Damian's words that had his lips pressing together for a moment. 'Was'? What did he mean by that, exactly? There were several scenarios floating in Marius' mind and he wasn't sure which one he liked the least. He didn't get to ponder for long, though, as the two Damian had called upon had arrived, and his uncle was ushering him inside the old house.
"...and you must be my grandmother," Marius said after introducing himself for a second time. It didn't suprise him that the 60-something year old immediately started crying, though the way she reached for his face made the young man feel rather uncomfortable. Still, he didn't let that show on his face -- wouldn't be wise to sour his relationship with these people so soon.
The other man, Emil, didn't seem related to either of the other two, but Marius did consider that he could be wrong. After all, he didn't know a single thing.
"You said Vaughn Belanger was your brother? Can you elaborate on that?" he asked Damian once his grandmother had released him from her embrace.
