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!
Stretching out one of his legs along the ground, Kalevi leaned against the wall of the Astronomy classroom, letting his head fall back against the cold stone wall. There were no lessons tonight, something he'd made sure of before telling Augusts to meet him there, knowing that few others would make the trek all the way up to the castle's tallest tower this late at night if they didn't have a class to attend.
Next to him was his backpack, the barest attempt at pretending that there might be books inside instead of booze. It was always a challenge, smuggling it inside the school when they weren't allowed to leave except for the occasional weekend, but Kalevi had years of experience. He had very little interest in starting the conversation he was intending to have with the Latvian boy sober--and to tell the truth, he didn't want Augusts sober either. Vodka was the next best thing to Veritaserum, and he wanted to hear the truth.
Across the room, the windows where telescopes would sit allowed cool autumn breeze to drift in, from where the stars were sparkling outside. It wouldn't be long until they would be expected to be tucked in their beds, something Kalevi had no intention of doing for several hours yet. Let everyone else be asleep, leaving them alone--no need to encounter some freshly minted fifth-year prefect with an inflated sense of authority.
Only Straume, his grin and his brown eyes, and the hope that perhaps he was telling the truth that he believed Kalevi after all.
kasia's not-so-angelic blond // 5'8" // single (future: augusts straume) // born in finland // lives in lintusaari (a magical village in eastern finland)
Augusts had been a little bit surprised when Kalevi Koivu had approached him on the staircase to the boys' dorms, inviting Augusts to join him for a drink in the Astronomy classroom way after lessons. The Durmstrang student had expected that Kalevi would have kept to himself, even if Augusts greeted him every time he walked past. Kalevi just seemed the kind to keep away... But here Augusts was, walking up the stairs of the Astronomy tower, wishing that this place had a damn elevator or at least something of the sort, because this... This was way too many stairs.
He could have said no, of course, and maybe he should have, considering that they were going to stay out after curfew, and it wouldn't be too good for his reputation to be caught in a complete cherry, as his father would say, too. But Kalevi had mentioned a drink and 'bitching about Durmstrang', and, honestly, Augusts could go for that last part at any time of day.
"Čau, I mean, hi!" he said to the older boy as he spotted him sitting on the floor by the door, "I'm glad I didn't hit you with the door, that would have left a mark," he chuckled a little bit, trying to ease the mood, "I hope you know the way back, I've gotten lost in this castle far too many times already."
Kalevi blinked at the greeting, for a moment not sure which language Augusts expected him to be speaking. They'd spoken in English last time; was there any reason to change? Thankfully, the phrase fell back on English, and Kalevi raised a hand in return. "I'm sure I've been hit with worse than a door," he said, shrugging. "Don't worry about it." He patted the stones next to him before undoing the clasp on his backpack. "Come sit, I have drinks." Privately, he hoped the other boy would offer one of his smokes; Kalevi had liked them and wanted to ask where he brought them in from.
They needed to break the ice before Kalevi brought up what he wanted to ask--he had never much been one for small talk, but he wanted to be less sober for the discussion. Unscrewing the cap of the bottle, he raised it to his lips, taking a swig before leveling his gaze at Augusts. "I can't say I know the way back yet either, but I'm sure the only problem with being stuck up here would be that stone makes a terrible bed." There was fresh air, solitude--Kalevi thought that perhaps he should spend more nights like this, whether with Augusts or without. "Unless you're afraid of being stuck with me."
kasia's not-so-angelic blond // 5'8" // single (future: augusts straume) // born in finland // lives in lintusaari (a magical village in eastern finland)
"Still, with a large door like this," he gestured at the massive wooden door -- oak, was it? -- "And with the iron bars that are holding it together... That would be very, very unpleasant. But enough about doors," he continued, firmly closing it behind them and sitting down next to Kalevi, a shiver running down his spine as the bare skin of his palms made contact with the cold stone floor. Did this place freeze over in the winter? If it did, then lessons here would be just as unpleasant as some back at Durmstrang, and that was one of the thousand small things Augusts didn't miss about his school.
"Yeah, I wouldn't want to sleep here, I think I'd freeze my kidneys, and that would lead to a lot of running to the bathroom, and not because I find the lesson I'm stuck in boring," he said as he took the bottle of from the other boy and took a sip of it, his face scrunching up in disgust before he started coughing. It was most definitely vodka. He wasn't a fan, but he doubted that Kalevi had an entire bar's worth of drinks in his backpack, so this will have to do.
"I don't think I'll be able to drink much of that," he squeezed out in between coughs, taking a deep breath and rubbing his eyes before turning to Kalevi and adressing his last quip.
"I've no reason to fear you, I told you I don't believe any of that crap, Kalevi," he explained, reaching for the pack of cigs he had in his pocket, "If I was afraid, I wouldn't be here. Here, have a few cigs," he stretched his hand out, handing Kalevi the entire pack.
The door shut behind Augusts with a gentle thump, quiet enough, but clearly heavy. They weren't stuck here together, but close enough, up high and isolated. Kalevi handed over the bottle as the other boy settled next to him, the corners of his mouth twitching in amusement at the face Augusts made. It had been a long time since he'd made a face like that himself--and that thought wiped away the hint of a smile, reminding Kalevi of how many of his bottles he'd gone through already.
He busied himself with taking out a cigarette and lighting it with the tip of his wand, to stop his hands from curling into balls at frustration with himself. The cool taste of the menthol tempered the heat of the smoke, and Kalevi sat in silence with it for a moment, letting puffs escape into the cool autumn air.
"Ah, then perhaps I should be more afraid of you." That was half of it, too: that he was afraid of what might happen if he let someone back into his trust, especially someone wearing that uniform. There was a part of him that fantasized about that, to take someone from there and bend them to his will, to make them desire him. Like Felix might have, once upon a time--not that Kalevi would ever know what had gone on in his former friend's mind.
With Augusts, though, the mood was more commiseration, or at least intended to be, if the Durmstrang boy was as he seemed. Kalevi took the bottle back, another swig settling into him, relaxing warmth spreading through his system. "I'd rather not be, though. You're a half-blood, aren't you?"
kasia's not-so-angelic blond // 5'8" // single (future: augusts straume) // born in finland // lives in lintusaari (a magical village in eastern finland)
"Afraid of me? That's like being afraid of, of..." he glanced around the room, an amused smile on his face, looking for the right expression, "That's like being afraid of a fly. Or a flower! I'm even a bit of a coward sometimes, so to imagine you being afraid of me... Well, that is just ridiculous."
"I mean, I get it," he continued, the smile faltering as he busied himself with lighting a cigarette,"I'm a Durmstrang student and those are the kind of people you'd like to see the least of, and with us being here... Can't imagine what you felt when you found out they're transferring us to here for the entire year. I'm sorry about that," he apologized, looking Kalevi in the eyes and... Lost his train of thought, his mouth a little ajar. He'd noticed just how amber Kalevi's eyes were and in all his life Augusts hadn't seen anyone else with eyes like that, ever. It was intriguing.
"Uh, where was I," he continued after a moment, returning to the cigarette he was smoking, "Right, my apologies can't do much to make you feel better about it."
"And yeah, half-blood and completely unimportant. The kind that's usually at the lower end of the 'hierarchy' at Durmstrang. Kind of got lucky over the years, I guess, made the right friends, if you can call some of them friends."
"Mmm, you understand." Kalevi was sure he would never forget the horrid mix of emotions that had gone through him at the sight of Dascălu leading Durmstrang's entire student body through the doors of his new school. The only luck in it was that Felix was no longer there, but then the reason that he wasn't was that he had graduated, and Kalevi had not been so lucky.
Not as lucky as Augusts with the friends, although in his own sixth year Kalevi wouldn't have known that. "Who with? The Headmaster's favorites? I don't remember who's in your year, really." It had been the older boys who had bullied Kalevi more than anything. "It's funny. Apparently my father had an awful time when he was at school, too, but nobody thought to warn me until after I was expelled." Maybe they'd been under the impression that Karkaroff's departure had changed things--or maybe they hadn't known where else to send him. After all, generations of Koivus had attended the school.
He paused for a moment, letting his eyes slide over to the stars, then back to the face of the boy next to him, illuminated in the light of the nearly-full moon. The thought struck him that sunlight would have suited Augusts far better--there was a a warmth in him that clashed with the chill that his uniform implied. Kalevi held out the bottle for him to take again, leaning into his shoulder. Warmth melted into him even through his jacket, a soft heat nothing like the stones against his back.
"Are you different from them?" Kalevi murmured, half into Augusts's ear and half to himself, into the night. "You're brighter, I think, warmer, but I want to know for certain." It didn't seem to make sense entirely as the words left his mouth, but his gaze was too caught up in brown eyes and pleasant vodka-drenched hazes.
kasia's not-so-angelic blond // 5'8" // single (future: augusts straume) // born in finland // lives in lintusaari (a magical village in eastern finland)
Even after returning to his cigarette, Augusts found himself staring right into Kalevi's amber eyes. They were just so different from anything he had ever seen -- from his own dark brown, from the abundance of shades of blue and green that he'd met, there was nothing quite like them. It took him a second to realize that maybe staring into the eyes of a guy you barely know and who has a lot of reasons to not trust or like you was a little inappropriate.
"Uh, yeah, the Dascalu siblings. They're..." he wanted to say that they weren't all that bad, but when he started thinking about it, he couldn't figure out what good they had ever done besides not bully him, "I don't even remember how we became friends... There is also Vivica Thostenson, but I don't think that name means anything to you. She's alright... Okay, she's more than alright, she's pretty great, plays the violin and makes music. And then there are a few others." He could have continued rambling on about the people he hung out with, but he could tell Kalevi's eyes weren't looking at him anymore -- he was losing interest, or so Augusts thought.
The boy was trying to figure out what topic to bounce to, when Kalevi spoke again, his voice quiet, calling him brighter and warmer, his the staccato of his accent like a hammer against the head of a nail, making the words loud and clear in Augusts' mind.
"For certain?" Augusts asked, taking the menthol cigarette out of his mouth, rubbing his cheek with with the back of his fingers -- indeed, his cheeks were burning hot -- "What do you mean by that?"
There were so many things Kalevi could mean by what he'd said, probably meaning all of them at once, a flurry of thoughts condensed into one phrase. For certain. Was Augusts someone he could trust? And if so, with how much?
He meant, of course, that he didn't want Augusts to run straight to the Dascălus with snickers and whispers, telling them how he drank on top of towers late at night, allowing words to escape him that never would in the Great Hall. How he really felt about Felix, how much he had been hurt, how much he desired to see justice done. It was one thing to feel it and another entirely to speak it to the face of those who had favored the other boy--or at least could be assumed to favor him.
But what he spoke avoided the topic of Felix altogether, even if the implication hung in the air. "It's hard to say. I want to know you're different, like I said. In the way that--that you're standing up to them, in your own way."
Their faces were close together now, Kalevi feeling his heartbeat pulse in his neck as smoke puffed out from Augusts's mouth, against his face. "Tell me how you do. Or--" it wasn't what he had intended to start with, but Augusts was so warm, his lips so very pink and right there-- "just show me and kiss me."
kasia's not-so-angelic blond // 5'8" // single (future: augusts straume) // born in finland // lives in lintusaari (a magical village in eastern finland)
It wasn't like Augusts hadn't ever kissed anyone -- it had barely been a month since him and Viola had been kissing in the pumpkin patch. With her, it had been easy to talk to, they both were the rambling kind, smoothly bouncing from one light topic to the other, talking of flowers and other romantic things. It had just been pure fun and nothing more with her.
But Kalevi was different.
Kalevi didn't have even a gram of that lightness about him, talking with him -- it was all serious and heavy, reminiscent of hot smoke filling a closed room -- just like that terrible night when the lightning struck Augusts home. Though it wasn't Kalevi himself who made Augusts feel so heavy -- it was the pain in his words during their short conversations, the way his hands reached for the bottle of vile liquor, downing like it was water...
One would think that such associations would make Augusts want to run straight out of the room and get away from the older boy, but no. Those amber eyes were staring right at him, emerging from the puff of smoke from Augusts own cigarette, and the words that came out of his mouth -- kiss me -- made Augusts' heart skip a beat. He wanted to, he had wanted it since he'd noticed Kalevi's long, thin fingers accept that first cigarette he'd offered, he'd wanted it every day since.
"I-- I don't do a lot of standing up, really," he said, taking the cigarette out of his mouth and placing it on the floor next to them, averting his eyes, "I won't hide it, I'm a coward. But that doesn't mean I don't think they treated you fair, and if kissing you proves it, or, or whatever it is that you want to be certain about, then..."
He took a deep breath, looking back up at Kalevi, first at his eyes and then at his lips, soft pink and a little chapped. After a moment of hesitation he raised his right hand, placing it on Kalevi's cheek, fingertips gently tugging at the curve of his jaw, right under the ear, closed his eyes and kissed the other boy.
There was a moment when Kalevi was worried that he had read Augusts wrong, that he did not, in fact, feel attracted to him after all, that the one Durmstrang student he had allowed himself to speak to might become afraid of him for entirely different reasons. But it proved to be only a moment of hesitation, as Augusts's hand came up to pull him in, and Kalevi leaned into his touch, their lips finally meeting.
The other boy's lips were softer than his own, and Kalevi drew one between his teeth, sucking on it and letting his teeth graze lightly on it before letting it go. Augusts tasted, unsurprisingly, like menthol, and in the back of his mind he hoped the cigarette had been put out before they lost themselves in kissing. He brought an arm up to wrap around Augusts's shoulders, pulling him closer. There was something always warm about the Latvian boy, even in the handful of interactions they'd had already, and his body was the same, making Kalevi feel as if he could melt into him.
Asking him up to the tower had been about trusting him, it really had. It was just that having him so close made Kalevi want to trust him in an entirely different way, wanted to know just how much Augusts liked him. His hands traveled down the other boy's spine, pushing up the hem of his shirt. It might be a little too cold to undress on the stone floor, but Kalevi wanted to feel more.
kasia's not-so-angelic blond // 5'8" // single (future: augusts straume) // born in finland // lives in lintusaari (a magical village in eastern finland)
For a moment, Augusts thought his brain had short-circuited. They were kissing without any hesitation, Kalevi not wasting any time to assert himself and take charge, and Augusts found that he had no complaints at all. In fact, something about being pushed against the wall by the other boy felt just right. Sure, they barely knew each other, and usually when Augusts was pushed against a wall, he was expecting some kind of threat or something of the sort, but this... His hands, his mouth, the gentle force of it all, it was safe, it was good.
And Augusts didn't hesitate to let Kalevi know about it, sighing out 'yes' in both English and Latvian, losing himself in the other boy's arms, shivering whenever Kalevi's cold mouth explored a different part of his face and neck. He had never done more than make out with anyone, but he could tell this wouldn't stop at that, not unless he wanted it to... But there was no such desire.
Until Kalevi snuck his hands underneath his uniform. The sudden flow of cold air made Augusts gasp, but not in a good way. "I really like this," he started, "But I would really like to keep my clothes on, I think I'd freeze even with you on top of me." While there was a fire place in this classroom, as there was in every single one, it was located by the professor's desk, and Augusts didn't think he could look the teacher in the eye the next day. Or the day after. Or ever, for that matter.
"But, but if the sight of the Durmstrang uniform bothers you," he continued, pressing himself closer to Kalevi's torso, his face in the crook of the other boy's neck, "Then take it off, because I don't want you to stop."
Kalevi chuckled slightly against the spot he was kissing on Augusts's jaw, the laugh coming out breathy and low. He hummed before he pulled back slighly to look into the other boy's eyes, his hands still roaming over his back. "Wouldn't want to freeze up here, no," Kalevi said, a smile playing on his lips. "But I don't want to stop, either. Leave the sweater on. I've been wanting to say for a while--" he leaned in close, pressing a kiss to the spot on Augusts's neck right below his ear, "--fuck Durmstrang."
He grinned against the other boy's skin, the influence of the vodka making him rather proud of his wordplay. Now that they had started, now that Augusts had told him not to stop in that sighing tone of voice, it was only some outside interruption that could get him to pull away now.
Grasping Augusts's shoulders, he pulled them both away from the wall, lowering the other boy to lay on the floor as he knelt over him. From this angle he couldn't wrap his arms around his back so easily, but he could undo the buttons on the high neck of the Durmstrang boy's sweater, giving his mouth access to more of his skin. With one of his hands, Kalevi fumbled around before grasping one of Augusts's, dragging it to push under his shirt as well. "I want you, Augusts."
kasia's not-so-angelic blond // 5'8" // single (future: augusts straume) // born in finland // lives in lintusaari (a magical village in eastern finland)
