early morning, just after the memorial ceremony

Blotchy faced, with red eyes and a snotty nose, Saffron wasn't anyone's beauty queen. She sat on the wide window sill, head leaning on the window, her eyes closed. Sometimes life was just so unfair and she just hated it. Saffron wondered why things couldn't just be right. She was a witch. There were hundreds, maybe thousands, of witches and wizards within a hundred miles of the very place she sat. And somehow, they couldn't make this a better place. A lock of her currently silver-blonde hair fell into her eyes and she swiped it over her ear. Her hair. Just another thing she disliked. The length charm had worn off, but it would still be awhile before her natural brunette hair returned. It wasn't being a blond she hated, it was being a blonde.

 It seemed the irrational spurts she'd had had come with the hair and it freaked her out. She wasn't normally the type to dash onto the stage to try and rescue a giant fake rubber snake, and that was exactly what had happened. And on top of it there was the problem of the cat. What was she supposed to do with a cat? Saffron hadn't a clue. And the ceremony...There wasn't much to say on that matter that hadn't already been said. Saffron sighed deeply, a craving to actually change this world screaming from within her. Maybe if everyone tried to help...

Suddenly, there was a thudding of footsteps that sent the owls above her fluttering. Saffron jumped to her feet and whipped out her wand. "Lumos," she muttered the incantation quickly, and glared in the direction of the door. "Who's there?" she called out in a harsh voice she hardly recognized as hers.

Josh had written a letter to send to a relative that couldn't make it to Hogwarts for Remembering Day, so, after the Memorial Ceremony, he could be found walking up to the Owlery. Walking in, he was suddenly confronted by Saffron Padmore, a 4th year Ravenclaw pointing her wand at him. " Whoa, hold yuor fire, Saffron, it's only me." Josh said, looking rather startled. Saffron must have been surprsied since mots people didn't come into the Owlery at this late hour. " Lumos" he said, drawing his wand out at the same time. shining the wandlight around, he looked for the family owl, which he knew was around here somewhere, since his immediate family were all here. He kept an eye focused on Saffron, however, just in case she cast a spell on him.

She had not expected to see Josh Harcroft, a 4th year gryffindor, staring back at her with wide eyes. "Woah, hold your fire, Saffron, it's only me." he exclaimed. How stupid he must find her. She had felt a lot of that lately. Her idiotic questions, ridiculous answers....
"Nox." she muttered, just as he did the lumos spell. Saffron's brown eyes were red and swollen and frankly, she didn't want to be seen by well - someone she saw everyday, so absolutely normal. Going out on a limb, she decided to ask the other fourth year a bit of a question. This was Joshua Harcroft after all, supreme goody-goody gryffindor.
"Josh, can I...ask you a question? It's a little...personal."

Josh looked over Saffron. She looked upset. Her eyes were red and swollen, her face blotchy. Has she been crying? I wonder what brought that on? He thought.\

"Josh, can I...ask you a question? It's a little...personal."

" Sure, if I can answer it, I will." Josh replied, wondering what Saffron wanted to ask him. would it be something about Remembering Day? since that was the first thing he thought of. Though Saffron had been acting weird recently, right around the same time she changed her hair colour, Josh reckoned. looking, he noticed Saffron's hair was beginning to turn back to it's natural brown.

Saffron chewed her lip. Just how was she supposed to ask him this? He was a pureblood. A real pureblood. She had grown up in both worlds, essentially, and besides Saffron was a bizarre unknown-but-probably-muggleborn-or-half-blood mutt. It would be insulting to him. Bizarrely so. And Josh being Josh the Goody-Two Shoe Mr. Righteous Gryffindor would probably have a very justifible reason that would make her just feel hideous again.

" Sure, if I can answer it, I will." he replied, looking curious. She sighed, not sure how to phrase her question. It was so weird. Definitely a Ravenclaw question, she thought and smiled, almost chuckling, but with a look at Josh's face, she sobered up. He didn't know she had conversations with herself and shouldn't be expected to understand the joke. She ran a hand through her silver blonde Luna Lovegood-costume hair. Can't wait till it wears off tonight.. she thought bitterly. Okay, Saff, time to pop the question.

"Okay, this - this kind of a weird question," she muttered, glancing away, cheeks begininning to flush pink. It was hardly notciable on her blotchy face, and almost indechiperable in the shadows. The only light came from Josh's wand and the moon. "But - but it's important." Saffron's voice was completely serious and she stared Josh dead straight in the eye. "Do you ever - d'you ever think..." her voice grew low, hard to hear "that maybe, just maybe, wizardkind shouldn't....well," Saffron looked away, one hand running through her hair - a nervous habit - the other clutching her wand nervously. "Shouldn't exist?" she gave him a sheepish smile, as though apologizing for her question, but it didn't quite reach her eyes. "I don't mean we're unnatural. We're not. Just a part of life as much as the dragons and gryphons. But that - that's the point. They aren't part of life."

Saffron turned away. This is so weird. He's a pureblood. How would he understand? "Just secluded away in reservations and zoos. And you know what? Muggles consider them to be mythical. Muggles consider us mythical. Like we don't exist to them. We don't." she scratched her forehead. "And we should. There's so many ways we could help! Muggles are destroying the planet and we're standing there, letting it happen. If we helped, if wizards everywhere could just let go of this ridiculous predjuice, we could save millions of lives and...." she shook her head. "I think that by hiding ourselves, we're making ourselves a zoo exhibit. And if we keep doing that, we're... loosing the right to exist. Wizards are so selfish. Do you think we deserve to...exist?"

This was so bizarre. She'd only meant to ask him about the existing bit but the rest had begged to be released and...slowly, Saffron turned to look him dead in the eye.

Josh was certainly intrigued by Saffron's question. " Well, it's an interesting question. You bring up a good point about lives being able to be saved if magic was revealed, It would allow hunger to be a thing of the past, for one, but if muggles were aware of magic, don't you think they would want a magical solution to every problem? It's hard enough convincing Wizarding kids who've just lost a beloved pet that magic can't revive the dead, imagine how hard it would be to explain to someone who'se lost a friend or relative. Everyone would want magical solutions to their problems, and some can't be solved. The there are problems that can be solved by magic but shouldn't be. So yes, lives could be saved by wizards revealing themselves, but it would be nearly impossible to make people understand magic can't be used for everything. It is a good question though." Josh explained, smiling slightly.

Saffron tensed her lips as Josh spoke, pulling them into a tight line. He was, no doubt, about to unleash a tirade righteous, self-justified brand of wizard goody-two shoeness about why she was horribly, horribly wrong. Saffron tried to harden her somewhat sore, red eyes but it hurt and she felt her eyes swell with tears at the stinging pain. She didn't blink, hoping the liquid would seep back up into her lacrumal glands located at the top of my eyelids, but I guess that'd be odd. As always, Saffron's mind wandered off topic of what she was supposed to be thinking. It's more likely to go down my lacrumal ducts if it's small enough. I hope so. I don't wanna cry in front of Josh... of all people. Megan, maybe. My other friends, maybe. But...not some Gryff I hardly know..

" Well, it's an interesting question. You bring up a good point about lives being able to be saved if magic was revealed, It would allow hunger to be a thing of the past, for one." Josh began. Saffron raised her eyebrows, surprised that - for now, anyway - they were seeing eye-to-eye, regardless of her shorter-than-him-ness. "But if muggles were aware of magic, don't you think they would want a magical solution to every problem?"

"Uh, no." she replied, quietly, as she yanked a loose hangnail away. A drop of blood spurted, but it was painless and Saffron stared at it as she spoke. "You don't know that." she muttered, but Saffron wasn't sure if he had heard her or not. Either way, he went on. "It's hard enough convincing Wizarding kids who've just lost a beloved pet that magic can't revive the dead, imagine how hard it would be to explain to someone who'se lost a friend or relative. Everyone would want magical solutions to their problems, and some can't be solved. The there are problems that can be solved by magic but shouldn't be.  yes, lives could be saved by wizards revealing themselves, but it would be nearly impossible to make people understand magic can't be used for everything. It is a good question though."

"LIke....what? Shouldn't be solved with magic, I mean." she asked, slightly confused.

" Well, I was thinking matters of love, personally. All it would take is a wizard selling love potions to muggles to create serious issues. Merlin knows, muggle tabloids would do anything for a story, slip love potions into celebrities' food or drink, that sort of thing. But there are other hazards. Wizards can, if they know what they are doing, wipe a crimescene of all evidence of a perpetrator. Or even, implicate someone innocent.Ultimately, wizards have decided the status quo is the best solution all around. it would take an international decision to reverse that, something that is exceedingly unlikely. Another point, what would Muggles do if they heard things like Dragons are real?" Josh replied, simply.

"It all comes with the price of things. You're forgetting that there aren't many of us in the first place." Saffron licked the bloody fingernail gingerly. "The wizard to muggle ratio is like, one to a thousand. If not more. It's just not right. We're being held down. Some wizards might exploit it, but everyone exploits something sometime." she coughed. "Even you, goody two shoe Gryff." It wasn't an insult. Yet, at the same time...it wasn't a compliment either.

"As for the status quo?" Saffron looked at him seriously. "You wanna know what I think of that?" she spat on the ground and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. "That's what I think of the stupid secrecy. Soon or later, we're going to fade away. And so what if muggles knew dragons were real? I've never gotten the point of hiding away the magical creatures anyway."

"Actually, I know full well there aren't many wizards in the first place. I see your point about there being as lot more wizards than Muggles, but a lot of that is the impact of purebloods often only having one kid. That and the impact of Voldemort. During the war,a  lot of families put off having kids. So the birth rate of Wizarding Kids was artificially low. Now, families with 2, 3, 4 or even 5 kids are much more common. That means there will be a good amount more wizards and witches in future." Josh replied.

" So what if dragons were revealed? What do you think would be the reaction of muggles to say, Hungarian Horntails, whihc actively seek out humans as prey? The point of hiding magic creatures is two-fold. One is to preserve them. Some magical creatures have nearly become extinct, like the Golden Snidget, even some dragons. It's only a matter of time before Giants do, honestly, they are so few in number. The other reason Magical Creatures are concealed is to conceal Magic's existence. yes, I know you think Muggles should have magic revealed to them. But how would muggles account for a group of people, who recruit by an invisible mechanism, who are outside the law, and can kill without leaving a trace behind? And for good measure, have their own laws, their own police, law courts, and have been known to cause terrorist incidents?" Josh said sarcastically.

Saffron glared at him. Why couldn't he understand?! It was so infuriating and his language was so redundant. Flipping her hair, she grumbled a bit more out. "It's only a very small percentage of the population that's criminal. And your 'protection' argument?" she scoffed. "Yeah, right. I don't know how much you know about muggles - you're a pureblood, aren't you? - but lately they've actually begun to care about endangered species. I looked it up once."

Saffron walked a few steps away. She wasn't as uncomfortable and shy around Josh as she was with most guys, mostly because she was not at all attracted to him. But it was getting more and more unbearable. Why didn't he understand? It was all common sense and logic and ugh! He was such a Gryffindor. "Besides, I'm not saying we dissolve into anarchy. We should retain our own government and simply be a nation within a nation and all that. I don't think you understand. We can have our reservations and I'm not saying set the dragons all free. What I'm saying is that muggles and wizards can coexist if we wizards and witches can get over our stupid prejudices." She looked directly at him. "Even you." Saffron started to walk out of the room.

"This is getting redundant. You just don't understand."

Now Josh was mad. "For your information, I am a half-blood, not a pureblood. I know full well about the laws about animal cruelty, but the laws aren't always followed. An attack on a Dragon reservation could easily make a breed non-viable, or even wipe it out in a couple of cases. As for co-existing, I agree, that would be preferable. I just don't know how well muggles would take the knowledge of the magical community. If peaceful co-existence could be worked out, then I'm all for it. I just can't be sure it would work. And how is it prejudiced to be wary of revealing somehting this significant? " Josh said, he looked mad. " And I resent the accusation of prejudice, since my family is one of the most tolerant of muggles there is. Kindly do not accuse me of prejudice simply because I don't believe it would be wise to reveal the existence of the magical community. I understand rather more than you, anyway." He said, spotting his family owl, and calling it. Tying the letter he had wanted to send to the owl's leg, he carried the owl over to the window, and let the owl take flight.

Josh's eyes flashed, and Saffron felt a ring of grim triumph flared from her chest.
"For your information, I am a half-blood, not a pureblood." he said sternly, and her cheeks flushed pink, unseen in the shadows. " I know full well about the laws about animal cruelty, but the laws aren't always followed. An attack on a Dragon reservation could easily make a breed non-viable, or even wipe it out in a couple of cases. As for co-existing, I agree, that would be preferable. I just don't know how well muggles would take the knowledge of the magical community. If peaceful co-existence could be worked out, then I'm all for it. I just can't be sure it would work. And how is it prejudiced to be wary of revealing something this significant? " He made a good point, maybe she was the one who was prejudiced, but no! That couldn't be. Saffron was the most open-minded person she'd ever met. Right?

" And I resent the accusation of prejudice, since my family is one of the most tolerant of muggles there is. Kindly do not accuse me of prejudice simply because I don't believe it would be wise to reveal the existence of the magical community. I understand rather more than you, anyway." At his last words, she gave a loud, pig-like snort.

"Uh, yeah, right." she muttered sarcastically with a small-half smile gracing her face but not quite reaching the fire in Saffron's eyes. "Personally," Saffron's voice was raw with barely concealed emotion. "I really doubt it." She didn't give him a chance to correct her with his stupid righteousness. Her stomach twisted. How could anyone ever quite understand her? Her thoughts made no sense to others, her logic imperfect. And there was a lot of things Saffron wasn't very good at - speaking to crowds, singing, cooking without magic, drawing more than stick figures - but there were a lot of things she thought she was decent at and well, lately Saffron had noticed that her thoughts seemed more erratic than those around her.

Except, she mused as she crept down the hallway, aiming to get back into the Ravenclaw Tower before anyone noticed she was missing. Maybe Professor Gunnar and that Luna Lovegood woman. They're loonier than me, I hope. If I'm an oddball bigger than them, I must be the oddest witch whoever lived...