Sophie wasn't sure what to tell him. In a way she knew what it was like to have your parent become foreign to you - her father had become a completely unrecognizable person after her mother's death. Where there had been a family oriented loving man now there was a hollow shell who seemed to sustain himself on Firewhiskey and Pub food. Neglectful as he was... he wasn't cruel, or perhaps his cruelty was the neglect. He didn't know what to do with himself and by association didn't know what to do with his children. She couldn't imagine him putting the thought and effort into being so maliciously cruel as withholding Wolfsbane from one of them. Sophie kept these thoughts to herself, gently rubbing Zel's arm as she tried to piece together something to say.

"I won't make you promises. All I can do is contact Muriel and Kia and see what they say. It isn't going to be an easy choice to make, but in helping your sister... they're going to have to make a case against your mother," she chewed her bottom lip, she didn't know the ins and out completely but the Wizengamot took cases of missed Wolfsbane seriously. They'd just handed down a hefty fine and probation for Elder Greyfriar in August - and he had missed it all while on Wizengamot business. She had no idea how they would react to someone willfully withholding the potion when it resulted in an attack on one of her other children. His sister was nineteen though, they might argue she could have left home and sought refuge years ago.

It occurred to her that she might write Greyfriar as well, but then Zel was saying he needed this to be a secret and Sophie had another problem on her hands all together. She chewed on the corner of her lip and nodded, though her words seemed to contrast her agreement, "People will figure it out eventually, gossip, rumors, people noticing you're gone along with Ollie and Lex every month..." her voice tailed off, brown eyes sympathetic as she shook her head and patted his shoulder. It was going to be a hard year for all of them, but if he needed more time she certainly wasn't going to force him to tell people. "Personally, I think you should try to get ahead of it, at least with Figaro. If he knows you don't want people to know he might keep his mouth shut," she didn't add for once (though she certainly thought it).

Sophie had a point, it would get out eventually. There was no reason to draw it out as long as he could. However, the idea of it was still so foreign and uncomfortable to him, that he knew that he couldn’t bring himself to just admit it to the world. He was afraid of being ostracized. Yes, he had always been shy. That didn’t mean that he wanted to be deprived of social interaction, though. The people from SAWS might be willing to give him support, and maybe that was the right place to let others know, when the time came. HE was also considering just breaking it to his roommates, and making them promise not to tell. They, out of all people, would notice that he was disappearing with Ollie every full moon. Unless of course, they frankly did not care enough to notice. That was the possibility that Zel was banking on at the moment.

“I… I would appreciate it if you contacted them. Tomorrow I am going to talk to Headmaster Reid to figure out who I need to write and… What I’d even say.” He shook his head. It would be easier to talk to Herschel about it, though. The headmaster had visited the families of werewolves to let them know of policies that Zel would have to follow while attending Hogwarts. “Just… Don’t tell anyone that….” Zel didn’t quite know how to put this, “That… Isn’t already a werewolf?” He figured that other werewolves would sympathize with him, and therefore wouldn’t announce it to the world.

His jaw tightened when Sophie brought up his mother.

“Sophie, I… I may sound like a horrible person if I say this…” Zel hesitated, “But I want my mom to get in trouble for this. She’s not a fit mother anymore. She can’t handle this.” And it hurt him to say it, but he knew deep down that it was true. His mother was not the mom she was when he was little, and she was too unfit to be a parent. Maybe in ten years, she would be better—but by that time, her children would be grown.

His eyes widened at the mention of Figaro. “Why—why Figaro?! Why should I tell him?” Zel exclaimed, obviously shocked, but not offended by that suggestion.

Sophie gave him a wane smile and patted his shoulder, "I won't tell anyone, it isn't my job to tell anyone. I'll support you whatever your choice is... but Hogwarts loves nothing if not gossip". She understood it though, not wanting the looks and the talk, wanting anonymity. She knew that this year was proving hard for Ollie because she felt inherently separate - even from the people who supported her. No one else could tell Ollie, Zel, or Lexi that they knew the burden they carried; everyone had problems... not everyone had to check themselves into the Ministry once a month to deal with that problem. She couldn't imagine what it was like to be sixteen and know so many of the things all your friends would have, so many of the milestones, you never would. It made Sophie feel like the work they were trying to do wasn't enough.

Her face was somehow grave and relieved at the boy's assertion that he wanted his mother brought to justice. She wasn't sure he would feel that way and wasn't sure how they were going to work around it if he refused to speak out against his mother. There was really nothing she could say, it wasn't exactly a words-will-be-helpful situation. With nothing else to do she simply hugged him again, hands rubbing his back reassuringly. It was the most she could give him right now. He needed a place to belong, people to count on - but he was so shy. The clang and bang of SAWS might overwhelm him... still it was better than nothing. When you had to be away from your family, when your family fell apart, when you couldn't count on it anymore, the only option was to start from scratch. She'd had to do it and it'd turned out alright in the end.

She pulled back at his question, giving him a puzzled look, "Well. For starters, he's one of your dorm mate right? I know he seems really oblivious but when he catches on to something, like you not being around the day of the full moon, he's more likely to say something. He wouldn't mean it to be cruel, Fig isn't cruel, he just..." she paused trying to find a way to word it gently, "well, he just doesn't have much of a filter. He says things and then he realizes the implications...and sometimes only after someone has explained it to him," and sometimes not even then, she silently thought remembering the fight that lead to their break up last March. "And," her tone brightened slightly, "He's a SAWS member. He's as good a place to start as any," Fig would be understanding, he wasn't malicious; just completely socially inept sometimes... a lot of the time.

Of course, Zel accepted Sophie’s hug. Her kindness was surprising, though he felt like he shouldn’t have been surprised. Sophie appeared to be an all around good person. She was the president of SAWS, and she was very supportive of that group, despite the tragic death of her mother at the hand of lycans. He could not help but respect that. She was even good friends with Ollie, the werewolf in his house and year. That had to count for something, right? If Ollie was close to Sophie, then that meant that Sophie was probably very trustworthy. Zel was glad that he told her, and he felt like could probably tell her anything. Zel also made a mental note to talk to Olivia. She already knew that he was a werewolf, and because Emeline wasn’t around, he did not really have any other werewolves around to give him support.

Zel hugged her back, smiling at how small Sophie was in comparison to him. He was so tall and gangly, but he was also so skinny that she could wrap his arms around him fairly easily. The werewolf released her from the hug, and listened to her talk about Figaro. Hadn’t she dated him? Zel was unsure, since he didn’t really pay attention to the love lives of his classmates. Some of them dated, some of them didn’t. Zel wasn’t actively looking for a girlfriend, so he never really took notice of whether or not the people around him were single, or in relationships. 

“It’s just…” Zel hesitated. Figaro had always come across as rude, brash, and rather ignorant. Most of the things Figaro also seemed to talk about revolved around Quidditch. Zel was not one for athletics, so he never understood what they were talking about. The only mildly athletic thing the albino did, was swim. He was a strong swimmer, and went to the lake to swim every other morning—with his shirt on, of course.  “It’s just that… Figaro is.. Do you think he’d respect it? He’s never been exactly…. Kind.”

There was a strange sort of smile that twitched on her lips, it felt good in a way to know Figaro better than some people might have. Did they have their differences? Of course, but it had really been all the ways they were alike that had made being together a... well she didn't think of it as a mistake; the sameness, the loudness, the both always shouting to be heard, the quick temper flares, all of it contributed to why things hadn't worked out for them. There was also the fact that she hadn't yet been sixteen and was probably in some form of weird one sided love with Chance Ryker. All in all, however, Figaro hadn't been a wretched boyfriend, careless maybe but never unkind. It actually surprised her that Zel would think such a thing. Then again Zel Trumble was a sensitive quiet boy and Figaro was...so not.

Leaning back against a desk she folded her hands in front of her and pondered the question before speaking carefully, "I think...it won't change how he sees you. I mean he and Olls have been mates forever," she shrugged one shoulder, not wanting to speak for the boy. However, she did know there were very few people Sellaphix actually hated. Off the top of her head she could only think of Erin, really, and that had to do with someone getting their arse kicked. Chewing on the corner of her lip before continuing, "If Fig's offended you odds are it wasn't intentional, he didn't stop and think 'Oy, how'd you suppose I could hack off Trumble today', he was just trying to make people laugh and his sense of humor is..." she paused, eyes turned toward the ceiling, as searched for the right word, "questionable at best".

She tried to give him a reassuring smile, "You don't have to decide anything right now. Maybe talk to Ollie and see what she has to say, what she thinks. I'll support whatever you decide to do," she reached out to squeeze his hand, her face turning more grim, voice matter of fact, "but secrets don't stay secrets long when you live in such close proximity to so many people with big mouths. I want you to be able to keep your privacy but I think you also have to be realistic and weigh the importance of having no one know with the possible backlash of what happens when people find out later," she wasn't trying to scare or bully him into telling people but the truth beat a lie any day in her book. What people would make up about him would be so much worse and could even drag more people through the mud if he didn't consider the fact that eventually someone would notice him gone.

He nodded. “Yeah, I’ll talk to Ollie. I mean…” Zel gulped, “It-it should be easier to talk to her since she already knows.. and stuff.” Sophie had a point, and the more that she spoke, the more that things made sense. It seemed like he had quite a few people to talk to--- the headmaster, Sophie, and even Figaro. If Sophie trusted that Figaro would not be a total jackass about the situation on purpose, then… Maybe it was worth a shot. But he would talk to Figaro last, and talk to the Headmaster and Ollie first. After all, he was sure he had plenty of letters to write

Zel so hated that secrets could not stay secrets. He wished they could, among students—but they truly couldn’t. It wasn’t like there was an adult he was comfortable talking about everything to. The counselor would have been too uncomfortable to talk to, and Herschel was just so new. His head of house terrified him, and Hagrid was too…. Hagridish.

“I just. I hate talking to people, you know? It feels unnatural.” Talking to Sophie wasn’t too unnatural, and talking to people after talking to them for awhile was not too unnatural, but every new conversation felt off. It did not come easily to Zel the way that it came easily to the social butterflies at Hogwarts. “How am I supposed to bring it up? Do I just say, ‘Oh hey, Figaro. By the way, I’m a werewolf.’ And move on? And.. I’m sure some people can keep secrets around here.” Zel hoped that there were students around that were trustworthy enough to keep their mouths shut. He was  sure that Sophie was one of them.

“So.. Do you know anyone I should write letters to about Emeline?” He decided to focus back on his sister, rather than on his own self. Emeline’s welfare was far more important, and he knew  Garrett couldn’t be bothered unless his words were absolutely needed. 

It occurred to Sophie in a not-so-abstract way that Zel's life must have been very lonely. She couldn't imagine not knowing how to interact with people. It was probably because she came from a huge family and a person so small had to be rather loud if they wanted to be heard over the constant din in the Flickwick house. Whatever other issues being the baby of four with a million cousins had created in the petite Gryffindor shyness was not one of them. She'd never really had to stop and consider the way you talked to someone, she just did it - admittedly sometimes that got her into trouble but she was much better at controlling her mouth and temper these days.

"I think..." she paused giving a shrug, "that's kind of exactly how you have to handle it. I mean you don't have to tell him, you don't have to tell anyone but I really believe transparency and full disclosure is the only way to make people feel secure in this policy change". It was something she tried to drive home in the SAWS meeting, but everyone was so busy arguing she didn't know if they'd even heard anything anyone else had to say. Chewing on the corner of her lip she riffled through her brain trying to find some answer to reassure him. It was in moments like this Sophie found herself missing her mother more than usual.

Ramona Flickwick had had a knack for saying exactly the right thing, in the right way, at the right time. when it was most important. Sophie didn't think she'd ever be that in tune with the needs of others, but she wanted to try for Zel. He needed support and she had to try and give him that, she just hoped she didn't fail him. "There are lots of ways to go about it, your best bet is someone in the Werewolf Liaison office, then they'll probably talk to the WCU and the DoMLE. If you don't want to go official that fast, I could owl Fauna or Dion, they might have some connection or better ideas. As much as I hate to say it, your sister is probably safer in a Ministry holding cell right now," she looked down at her toes, worry wrinkling her brow. Sophie had seen those cells, it wasn't pretty, but it was better than a shack in the backyard.

He couldn’t help but agree—Emeline was safer at the ministry for the time being. However, what she needed was support, and he didn’t think she was getting it at the ministry either.  The safest situation, was for her to be able to go back home in Cardiff, but for the mother to be out of the picture. Gwyneth was not the most stable of women, and he could hardly even call her his mother at this point. “You’re right.” Zelig murmured, shaking his head silently. He hated that she was right, and he felt like this situation should have never occurred in the first place.

“I’ll tell Figaro and Seto, and.. Well, I guess I’ll wing it.” Zel had no idea as to what to say, but he thought that if he told them the way that he told Sophie, it would be alright. “I don’t think I can go to meetings yet. I feel like it’d be too obvious, since I never went to them before… And Emeline has been a werewolf for a long time.” Zel just thought it would be suspicious. He wanted to be able to make friends outside of SAWS. If he joined SAWS, and it came out that he was a werewolf, Zel didn’t want people to become friends with him out of pity.

“Should I just contact the Department of Magical Law Enforcement first? I mean… Wouldn’t it be quicker that way?” The sooner it was dealt with, the better. He knew that Rhys, his stepfather, cared deeply about Emeline, and hated the way she was treated just as much as everybody else did. Unfortunately, he didn’t have any power in the family, being a squib. “D-do you know who’d get it done the fastest?”

"It'll work out, I make a lot of jokes about Fig and he makes a lot of jokes about me... but when it comes right down to it his opinion of you won't change. He won't walk on egg shells around you about it, he won't be more inclusive or actively try to exclude you from things. Odds are his reaction will be something like 'that sucks, mate'... and then he'll go back to talking about Quidditch or whoever he wants to kiss with tongues this week," Sophie's voice was, she hoped, reassuring. Telling Seto wouldn't hurt either, she didn't know him as well but he was not openly opposed to Werewolves the way some people were. Merlin help Zel when Sasha found out. It would not be pretty - but she couldn't protect him from it, just be there when it went pear shaped.

She considered his question before giving a small nod, "It'll be a multiple agency ordeal but you could start by sending a letter to Auror Harcroft. I'll write Muriel and have her check in on your sister, but Harcroft seems to be passionate about Werewolf rights so he's a good bet to actually get your foot in the door and have someone listening to you. His son Josh is in SAWS too, so that's another name on your list of possible people to talk to if you need to," she wanted to have a magic answer for him. She wanted to be able to wave her wand and say it was all over and everything would be alright. Of course she was shit with her wand and life was not, even in their magical world, a wish granting factory. She supposed it was best that way, but there were moments life seemed monumentally unfair.

"I know it's a lot to take in Zee, a lot to deal with but there are people out there an in here who will support you. I know when your trust has been abused it's hard to see that, it's hard to see past the shame and the feeling like it's your fault," she reached out again to take his hand, "but the people that will judge you for this, will persecute you, they're not worth knowing anyway. As long as you're living your life in the safest way possible, taking your Wolfsbane, checking in with the Ministry, then no one has the right to make you feel tainted or inherently other. Being a werewolf isn't who you are, it's something that happened to you - though no fault of your own. The opinions of people who don't understand that do not have inherently more value than the ones support you," her lips twitched with a small smile, "Besides, just the sheer volume of Fig and I together can drown out most of those wankers".

Zee. Not many people called him, “Zee.”  In fact, Sophie was the first person who had ever called him that, and it fit. He made a mental note to write a letter to Mr. Harcroft in the auror office-- it was going to be a lot easier now that he had an actual name to write to. He didn’t know much about who worked in what departments, and he was quite nervous about the entire situation as a whole. However, this whole discussion had helped him decide that he needed to tell his roommates, and he trusted that they wouldn’t blab about it until he was ready. That brought Zel such relief, since he had no idea as to when he would be ready.

“Thank you, Sophie.” He said softly, giving her a gentle hug. It was the best way he could show his gratitude towards her. He truly did appreciate the fact that she was willing to listen to him, and not judge him. Zel was still wary of the whole idea of SAWS, but he also figured that members of SAWS would probably be more likely to keep secrets regarding the fact that he was a werewolf, right?  “I-if you ever need someone to listen, I... I can listen to you. I-I know that I might not be as good at it as you are, but I’ll try.” He offered, “So... Um. I’m going to go get... Started on all this. Thank you.” With a weak smile, Zel left the empty classroom, feeling like he was actually able to do something about his situation, his sister’s situation.


(End of thread)