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!
And while you are sitting indoors waiting for the storm to pass I will be outside dancing in the rain
❧
These past few weeks have been quite eventful and Ryker needed to ba away from the soulless, brainless imps. Her brother went out to practice but she just wanted a book and some tea and pretend no one was around her. Whether people often realized it or not, she did like to keep her intellectual level high.
The young woman was seated in a comfortable chair in the corner of the common room. Her eyes were on her book when she heard someone enter the common room area, she hoped they would kindly walk to their own dorm and leave her be.
For once she was in peace.
word count ● @leo ● notes
5'5 || the adventurous one || Morgan Reid sig gift from Erenae @sp
Simply put, Leo was in panic mode. It had cost him an enormous amount of willpower to build up the courage to approach Ryker about the rumour that was flying around the castle like a second Poltergeist, because this conversation would be an uncomfortable one. He knew it. And then he'd had to take care to catch Ryker when Morgan was not around or he was afraid that he'd suffer some injury or other, because that girl definitely was protective of her friend, worse than a guard dog. So the Gryffindor common room was the only option for his attack plan.
Entering the common room that evening, he was finally in luck. Or not, depending on which feeling of panic he listened to. He even had enough luck for Eli not to be there either and the common room almost deserted. It wouldn't get any better than this. Steeling himself and already telling him not to blush too much, he approached Ryker with what he hoped was a confident stride, praying that the panic was not yet visible on his face.
"Heyyy Ryker... I need to talk to you," he said once he had reached her. And he had failed already. Even if it wasn't visible on his face, his voice was a dead give-away of his barely contained panic.
And while you are sitting indoors waiting for the storm to pass I will be outside dancing in the rain
❧
Rumors were not Ryker's thing. She never really cared for them and neither did she listen to them when it reached her ears. She wasn't worried about how much truth they contained because usually there was none, that was the thing about rumors.. they were always false.
Ryker turned a bit in her seat to get more comfortable and rose an eyebrow when Leo approached her looking beyond terrified. The brunette could see he tried to remain cool but his voice gave him away.
"Hey Leo, what has gotten you spooked?" she asked with a slight frown as she closed her book. She doubted she could continue her read but her friend needed her so she was all ears. "Sit down and tell me how you're doing." she suggested as she motioned to the seat across from her own.
"Did Morgan scare you again?" there was slight amusement on her expression but truth be told she had no idea what was going on.
word count ● @leo ● notes
5'5 || the adventurous one || Morgan Reid sig gift from Erenae @sp
And Ryker of course had to call him out on his blunder. Leo took a deep breath to try and calm himself. He was a Gryffindor. No need to panic now. But at least he had her attention. So he sat down and looked around quickly to make sure everyone else was minding their own business. He had almost had his courage built up when Ryker asked him if Morgan was the reason. While he thought that Morgan was pretty scary, he wasn't going to admit that to her friend just like that. Also, they had more pressing matters to discuss, so he acted confused. "Why would I be scared of Morgan?" he asked as innocently as possible.
"But no, that's not it. I'm not.. I'm not sure if you heard what people are saying... about Mat... and..." That was as far as he got before having to swallow the lump in his throat, his face probably a fire beacon already. "WhattheysayaboutMatandI," he mumbled almost unintelligible, hoping Ryker wouldn't make him say it again. There was no way she hadn't heard already.
Look, Ryker just didn't do gossip but it seemed something had happened to Leo and he seemed very much surprised that she had no clue what was going on. Ryker thought he would've known by now that she cares little if at all about these things so she just kept a risen eyebrow up as he sat down, nervously so. "Because she kicked your ass? I don't know but something obviously is upsetting you." she said and cocked her head to the side a bit. "Nothing happened to Elijah did it?" sudden worry taking over.
If Leo was supposed to be the bearer of bad news then yes he had something to fear alright. He then started sort of talking, with quite some nervous interruptions and the name he dropped, Mat, rang a bell of sorts. "Delgado? What did he do? Flex a muscle too much?" she was a bit amused by that thought. "Did he get rejected by another lesbian?" she was curious now for sure.
Leo then rambled many words together at once and Ryker rolled her eyes. "Rewind and play it slowly, what happened between you and Mat? I don't speak gibberish." Ryker leaned forward a bit.
Leo let the comment about Morgan slide. He didn't like to think back on that incident and definitely didn't want to discuss it further. It had been yet another embarrassing moment in front of Ryker. He seemed to be collecting those lately. "No, no, it's nothing to do with Elijah," he said quickly when his fumbling for words made Ryker worry. He definitely didn't want her to worry. At least not about that.
"Uhm... not exactly," Leo brought out uncomfortably when Ryker caught on who they were talking about and started making - admittedly very likely - suggestions, which made Leo wonder just a little bit if she actually hadn't heard anything about what people said. For just a moment he considered just dropping the subject. If he didn't tell her, she'd be none the wiser. But then, if someone did tell her... he'd have to do damage control. He didn't want that. There was nothing for it but to tell her and then tell her the truth. Or at least as much of the truth as she needed to know...
"Mat and I," he clarified first, taking it step by step. "They say that we... that we... we did it in the dorm... together," he tried to explain awkwardly, kneading his hands in his lap and looking everywhere but at her.
Matheus had many tricks up his sleeve for sure but she didn't think that whatever he did would make Leo so nervous and scared to tell her. Delgado was a good guy despite what some people thought, sure he was a flirt before anything else but Ryker liked him. Her eyes were almost intensely on Leo as she listened to him, god he seemed like he needed a hug but Ryker wasn't a hugger unless it was Elijah.
"So you did the nasty with Mat and you don't like people hearing about it?" she asked trying to make sure she understood what he was saying. "Being gay is totally cool you know.." she assured him and cocked her head to the side. "Unless it's not true..." she tried to get the information out of Leo dammit.
"No!" Leo called out when Ryker suggest that the rumour was the truth. "I'm not... I'm not gay!" he insisted vehemently. That was exactly why he was telling her all of this, to make sure she knew he wasn't gay, no matter what people said. The idea was absurd! And how could he?! Ryker was the only one for him, and always had been. "It's not true. Nothing happened, I swear! I don't know where this rumour comes from. I don't even... I'm not into Mat, or guys ... guys in general in that way. You have to believe me!" he begged, completely aggitated now, finally looking up at Ryker, but only for a moment before looking away again.
This was probably the moment he had to tell her. He'd been able to keep it to himself for at least the last 4 years, but he had made a decision. He wouldn't wait anymore. "I'm telling you because I don't want you to think that I have a thing for Matheus. Because... truth is..." He swallowed. "Ryker, you're my best friend, but... I love you, Ryker. As more than a friend," he admitted. His head down he waited.
Ryker had not seen it coming that Leo was gay but who was she to judge? Her brother was happily bisexual just like herself and she was in the greatest relationship with Morgan. Of course she had issues sometimes with her relationship but what relationship didn't? Every relationship had its bumps in the road but she thought the idea of Leo and Mat was quite.. adorable.
He then was quite loud about not being gay and Ryker rose her hands in surrender. "Okay." she said smiling anyway. He was being so defensive, something had to be off here. Maybe coming out of the closet was harder for him than it was for her or her twin. He started to beg for her to believe him and Ryker nodded. "Fine, okay I believe you. You're not gay." she repeated.
"I believe you buddy, but it's not me you got to convince of this. If the rumor spread around you got to convince everyone else." she said and shrugged a bit. The last thing she expected was for him.. to confess? Was he confessing? She rose an eyebrow as Leo told her he loved her.
"You what now?" she ran a hand through her dark raven colored locks. He loved her.. well that explained a lot and now she had to apologize to Elijah for calling him insane because he told her this and she refused to believe it. Morgan told her this and she refused to believe it.. was she in denial? Hell yes.
"Of course you're not." she shook her head. This was a joke right? "Leo I care about you, I really do but not like that." she said and shook her head. "I love Morgan, you are my best friend but my heart is Morgan's... I'm sorry." Well this conversation had taken a turn hasn't it?
Leo pinched the bridge of his nose, praying for patience, when Ryker kept smiling even though she said that she believed him about not being gay. Could she at least pretend a bit better for the moment? He was on a mission!
"I honestly wouldn't know how to do that, but that's not important right now," he said when she told him that instead of her, he had to convince the rest of Hogwarts. If he knew how to do that, he'd have done it already.
Leo wasn't sure which kind of reaction he had expected from Ryker at his confession, but he had definitely not expected her to shake her head and tell her that he was wrong. That was not how this worked, was it? And then she was bringing up Morgan again as if it meant anything. He was growing tired of the farce they were playing. For two years he'd watched them play the parts. In the beginning he'd thought it had just been for Ryker to get rid of her ex boyfriend, but apparently they had gotten too used to it and now believed it themselves, unable to stop. Unwilling to keep quiet, Leo got up from his arm chair to kneel in front of Ryker where she was sitting and be on eye level with her. Holding on to her chair's armrest he looked at her with a pained expression. "I really just want to take care of you, Ryker. I know it's taken me a long time to tell you, but I've been in love with you for 4 years. You're the most important person in my life!" he confessed. She had to see that he meant no harm! He didn't expect anything from her! There was no need for her to build up a wall against him!
Leo really had a case of bad luck. Ryker had been in love and dating Morgan for two years, two years where she was happy and finally feeling like she was with someone she belonged with. Ryker actually had very important plans for this Christmas and yet had to include her brother with it but now Leo spoke about crushing on her for four years and decided now was the good time to spit it all out?
Ryker watched Leo sit down in front of her, his hands holding the armrests. What is he doing? "Leo get up, you're making a fool of yourself right now." she said and with that she meant was that he was making a fool of her right now. "I don't need you to take care of me Leo, I have taken care of myself for 18 years.." she said and her anger started to boil a bit.
"I get that and I am sorry but I do not feel the same way about you. I love Morgan and that isn't going to change so please.. back up." she wasn't going to ask again. Ryker knew he meant well but she wasnt' going to keep repeating herself either. Leo wasn't stupid and his hearing is supposed to work just fine.
Leo was knkeeling in front of her chair and the first thing Ryker could think of saying was that he was making a fool of himself. Just showed how she'd completely missed the point. "I don't care," he said earnestly. He had already one rumour going on about himself, in this moment he didn't care about anything else. However, he did do what she said a moment later, when she shrugged off his concern as if he'd insulted her. He hadn't even done anything! Standing, he took a step back.
Again she was going on about Morgan and slowly he was beginning to think that maybe there was something there, because he'd thought that she'd be able to at least tell her best friend the truth, no matter how much it hurt. And it hurt a lot. Her anger made him take another step back and it felt as if her words were cutting his heart like a whip, crushing the courage he had built up and the determination he'd gained. Had it not been enough that he'd been her best friend for all that time? Had he not done enough? What was he missing? "I'm sorry, ok, I just wanted to be there for you," he said defensively, his head hanging in defeat, a pained expression on his face as he slowly understood.
Ryker thought her best friend would understand her loyalties, would have understood that once she was with someone she wouldn't let them go without a fight because Ryker fought for everything she held dear. She fought for everyone she held dear but Leo being in love with her, for four years was not only making her feel like shit for never noticing, it also made her feel like her relationship wasn't real to him.
"I don't understand how for four years you have seen me crash and burn and be built up again but when I am in a two year relationship with Morgan you tell me.." she said and closed her eyes for a moment, running a hand over her face. She couldn't process.. she couldn't deal with it anymore. Ryker got up and stepped away from the chair and from Leo.
"You've been there for me, we have been there for each other but I just feel like you just try to sabotage this friendship." she said and headed for the exit of the common room. "I got to get out of here." she called and headed out. She couldn't be around him any longer without wanting to scream.
It's not… I didn't…" Leo stopped speaking when Ryker got up. Hearing her accuse him of waiting for too long was painful, but seeing it now, the thing with Morgan, he wasn't going to say what he'd been about to say: that he hadn't believed their relationship.
The next thing he knew Ryker was throwing more accusations his way and was leaving the common room. How was he sabotaging their friendship! It was exactly what he'd feared would happen when he confessed his feelings. He'd feared that it would destroy their friendship. But he'd imagined that no, that wouldn't happen. He'd be able to keep everything the way it was.
Coming out of his state of shock, Leo ran after his friend, flinging the Fat Lady aside and sprinting into the corridor. "Ryker, wait!" he called. "This is exactly why I didn't tell you sooner! Because our friendship means more to me! Please, Ryker, let me explain!" he almost shouted. He didn't know what to explain but he'd tell her everything she wanted to hear if it kept their friendship alive. He'd tell her all deepest and darkest secrets if it would make her stay.
Ryker needed some air, she needed to get the heck out of there so she walked away. She wasn't a runner most of the time but she was about to tear up and she refused to even shed a single drop in front of anyone. The girl heard Leo's voice, why did he follow her? Was he stupid? Ryker turned around, being in control of her tearducts still.
"Leo no.. I just need to be alone right now." she said and held her hand out as a sign for him to stop moving. "Just go back inside or do something.. I don't care." she said and took a few steps back. Ryker didn't need any explanations, she didn't need him to tell her anything anymore.
"I - I got to go." she felt her voice slowly starting to crack and turned around to walk away. She needed to find Elijah, she needed to find Morgan. She just needed to be away from anyone else.
