This thread is for any of the various Ravenclaws who are not so keen on werewolf students back at Hogwarts.  Any Ravenclaws are free to join - I'm sure rumors will spread so other dissenters from other houses/schools will be able to get involved in the future. See this thread[1] for more information or plotting.

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Uncharacteristically, rather than trekking up to the Astronomy Tower after Divination to start his studies, Sasha found himself back in Ravenclaw tower.  There were some things that were better not done in public and writing a message to the Headmaster was one of them.  He sat on his usual couch, close to the fire - the same one he sometimes could be found sleeping on after studying until the wee hours of them morning.  The Daily Prophet lay open to the editorials[2] next to him and a clean, neat bit of parchment was spread carefully on the notebook on his knee.  Baldur[3] lay quietly at his feet, his feet twitching quietly from some dream. 

September was just about over and one full moon had come and gone.  On the evening of September 4th, Sasha had carefully accounted for every member of his house.  All had been present and human all night.  He knew for a fact that Ravenclaw House wasn't harboring any werewolves. 

How many were being harbored by other houses, though, remained a mystery.  He knew Hufflepuff had at least one.  There was rumors of a first year.  Were there others?  Five?  Ten?  This, of course, was an important question and the more Sasha thought about it, the more it seemed he and others had the right to know.  Sure, anonymity was nice - but at what cost? 

Sasha didn't know if the new Headmaster would tell him who the werewolves were and what houses they lived in.  Since Snark's departure and unfortunate disappearance, supporting werewolves had become the popular thing to do - Sasha had no doubts that defending the resident weres was winning Mr. Reid some popularity points.  He probably needed to be able to show he had the situation under control. 

But, the next full moon was going to be more complicated.  It was falling on the Hogsmeade weekend, when older students were already going to out and about and under less scrutiny than usual.  Who was to say one of them wasn't going to wander off during the day and 'get held up by official Hogwarts business' and not report to the Ministry for their transformation.  Was the Ministry still allowing minors to transform in their own safe house?  Who was really accounting for that?  Did they really know the werewolves wouldn't just linger in Hogsmeade?

They had a right to know, at the very least, who to keep an eye out for, right?  "Solche quatsch," Sasha murmured, turning back to the parchment. 

1.	Link
2.	Article
3.	Baldur

There were a lot of people in Ravenclaw and three weeks was not nearly long enough for Alaine to begin to recognise them all, as good as she was at observing people. However there were some members of her house that stood out and caught her attention. One of them was the older boy who had taken a seat in his usual place by the fire, his lovely dog laying down to sleep at his feet.

Laine loved animals. She had grown up surrounded by them. Her mother’s pampered Maine Coons had ornamented their manor and her Father’s dogs had lived outside in the kennels. Her own ponies had been a constant feature of her young life from the moment she was big enough to sit astride her first tiny Shetland who now led his retirement happily grazing the pasture back home. She had found that you could judge a person quite accurately by how animals acted around them, and this was one reason she had noticed Sasha Schlagenweit.

She also liked his habit of sleeping down in the commonroom, something which reminded her of her Father who would often work until the early hours if he had an important case coming up. On these occasions she would often come downstairs to find him asleep upon a couch, covered in blackest that their house elves had draped over him during the night.

She decided that she would go and speak to this person. She was not a girl to waste opportunities to talk to someone who interested her. Laine told her new dorm mate exactly that, and her wide-eyed friend watched her as she smoothed down her neatly pleated skirt, tucked her wild curls as best she could behind her ears and then crossed the common room to where Sasha sat.

“Hello” she said with a genuine smile, feeling her hair coming untucked and falling into her face. She hastily pushed it back again and held out a small delicate hand to her elder housemate.

“I’m Alaine Pendergast, nice to meet you...”

Laine glanced down to the paper beside him and her smile lost a little of its vibrancy. Without invitation she picked up the paper and took a seat in its place, spreading the pages across her knees and studying the article as she spoke. She could feel her heart beating faster and a little heat in her cheeks. She wasn’t nervous exactly, just excited. It was fun speaking to new people, especially older students and she found that if you acted with confidence people generally accepted you without question.

“My father sent me this article... he was... concerned. He said he’d rather there was another basilisk loose in the school than werewolves. He’s a lawyer you see, he’s seen firsthand what they can do...”

So far the homework hadn't been too challenging to Philo's tastes. It left him time to have some fun a few hours each day, especially with trying out interesting games for the Gaming Club. New spells, new assignments, wincing during Herbology, although the rainforest was admittedly cool when Philo was looking at it from outside the greenhouse.

He set off for the common room, a worn chess set under his arm. In one corner he recognized Sasha and one of the first years, Alaine. It was a weird feeling, being an older stundent now. She'd been watching him sometimes when Philo had been trying to get his pieces to run chess variants. They weren't too happy with working with an expanded board and custom pieces called 'spies'.

Philo heard some of the conversation. "...loose in the school than werewolves. He’s a lawyer you see, he’s seen firsthand what they can do...”

The folded chess board fell out of Philo's hands, crashing open on the floor showering red and white rubble. That was right, werewolves where at school. Philo had done his best to ignore it, after all it was only one day a month they were dangerous. But hearing it phrased like that, it reminded Philo of when he had seen what they could do, during that ill fated camping trip.[1]

"T-They've taken every precaution, right? I didn't really notice anything last..." Philo had always been a light sleeper on full moons but in the isolation of Hogwarts he could slept the most comfortable. He realized that his chess set had spilled. Already the pieces, the damaged veterans of several games, where arguing about how to reassembled themselves.

Burning with embarrassment, Philo stooped to pick them up.

1.	The Attack

Sasha looked up at the first year's greeting and grinned shyly, though just as genuinely, in return.  He recognized her from the sorting though he wouldn't have been surprised if she didn't recognize him.  He remembered how it had been his first year.  The ranks of the already sorted sitting at the house tables far outnumbered the new fledgling Hogwarts students.  In subsequent years, each individual new Ravenclaw had been much more recognizable than any one face had been when he was a first year. 

But, how was it the first years seemed to be getting younger and younger each year?  He remembered Eirene seeming so very young last year.   

"Allo.  Sasha Schlagenweit," he offered in return.  "I'm one of your prefects.  So, if you ever have any-" 

Alaine had noticed the newspaper article and was taking a seat, the paper in hand.  Sasha watched her carefully, both curious and nervous about what her reaction was liable to be.  Taking the side of 'poor, misunderstood, tortured' werewolves seemed to be the popular thing, these days.  And, especially amongst older students, it wasn't much of a secret how Sasha felt about the situation. 

But, Alaine didn't seem angered or dismayed at the article.  In fact, she seemed to approve.  "He said that?" Sasha asked, tentatively, glancing between the Prophet and the girl.  "Well, I don't know about that.  I'd rather we just didn't need to worry about either of them. Not that we're really worrying about basilisks.  Just,- nevermind." 

"A lawyer?  A lawyer in the wizarding world?  What kind of law does he practice?" Sasha asked, prepared to tuck that bit of information away in the back of his mind.  One of the things his stepfather had always taught him was it was good to be on friendly terms with at least one lawyer - just in case you ever had the need for one.  A lawyer who was already personally invested in you was infinitely more useful and effective than one to whom you were a stranger.  And, off the top of his head, Sasha could list off four possible reasons he may need a lawyer at some point in the future.  He was covered in the muggle world; he still had ample connections to his family's lawyers.  But, he knew none in the wizarding world. 

"I've seen what they can do, too," Sasha admitted, glancing up as Philo approached.  "I've seen it and experienced it.  I even knew the one that attacked me.  But, she didn't have the slightest idea who I was when she attacked.  It's ... the scariest thing." 

Sasha shrugged his shoulders as he listened to Philo.  "Have they taken every precaution?  That's kind of the question, isn't it?  They say their taking every precaution and, yet, they lost track of a man that works in the Ministry.  Maybe.  Maybe every precaution isn't enough?  I mean, realistically - if what they were doing was really working, it'd be a self-limiting problem, wouldn't it?  If the system worked, there wouldn't be any more werewolves."  But, there always seemed to be more werewolves which meant werewolves were constantly finding the opportunity to bite people.  "If the precautions really, truly worked, there'd be no more werewolves.  But, we don't even know how many are here."

Like many Ravenclaws, it was not uncommon to see Juni Zamperia curled up, reading one of her textbooks and taking notes. And, like many Ravenclaws, she had a tendency to pick up bits and pieces from conversations between others. Usually, she kept quiet and let people continue on—but she kept hearing something about werewolves. It was such a controversial topic, and she had some very strong, stubborn opinions regarding weres. She was thankful that there weren’t any in her house, though she honestly had no idea who they werewolves were around here. She was fairly certain that she didn’t have to suspect her roommates, since they had been around during the full moon.

Her dark eyes focused on the source of the voices, glancing over her text. Of course, she saw the infamously unlucky prefect, Sasha Schlagenweit. It appeared that he was conversing with two of the younger students in the house.  Juni hadn’t yet developed strong positive or negative thoughts to any of those people, and figured that now was a good time as any to see just now interesting they were. They were in Ravenclaw, so that meant they most likely weren't going to be too ignorant about the subject.

Juni closed her book and set it down on a table, and confidently approached the trio, greeting them with a polite smile. “You’re talking about werewolves, right?” She bent down to help Philo pick up the pieces of the chess set, handing the pieces to the second year. This respectful act didn’t take much thought—she did it instinctively, without blinking an eye. There were quite a few clumsy students about who dropped their books or papers, and it was always pathetic to see them scrambling to get everything together.

“I don’t see why it needs to be kept confidential. We should be allowed to know who the werewolves around here are. How else are we supposed to take special precautions, and make sure they go to the ministry?” Juni shook her head, causing her dark curls to bounce slightly. “Especially during Hogsmeade weekend. What’s going to stop that Hufflepuff from attacking someone if she decides not to check in?!”  Juni felt like she had every right to know who every werewolf was in the school. It was a matter of safety. If werewolves really wanted to prevent future attacks, then they would just let people know who they were.  “I know that I don’t want to be attacked, and I should have every right to make sure that it doesn’t happen.”

There wouldn't be any more werewolves if every precaution was taken? That was true but something about Sasha's tone burned Philo's ears. He made it sound that every full moon there were a dozen or so more infected into full fledged werewolves for the next month. But any growth would have been noticeable, wouldn't it? Did they know how many new Werewolves were made each month? Did anyone? The view of every failsafe going wrong was a pessimistic point of view even for Philo, who was never overtly optimistic.

As he crouched to retrieve his board there was another body beside him. Juni Zamperia. Philo couldn't say why but she always seemed nice. Soft and inviting with her curls. And her freckles were interesting although he dare not mention it, his mother had some freckles but not distinctive as Juni's and...

Was Philo turning into his brother? The quidditch star with the roving eye for the ladies? He was twelve! Philo made a motion of thanks but kept his head tilted down, finding the conversation about werewolves a good distraction.

The one underlying thread to the problem puzzling him buzzed in his brain. "Whether or not the public knows who each and every werewolf is, how are they tracked?" It seemed an obvious solution to him. "Is there a way of magically tracking werewolves? It sounds like the ministry doesn't have a steady means of tracking werewolves around the full moon if there are always outliers each month."

Alex sat slouched in a chair, legs stretched out in front her and a book over her face. Pretending to be asleep was an invaluable method of listening to other people's conversations, especially if they weren't people who liked her. Although she'd have expected students that were being so overtly anti- werewolf to be a little quieter about it, it wasn't a popular opinion among students.

That didn't mean it was nonexistent, of course. Sasha, for one, was openly against werewolves, and she suspected that it had been he who wrote the Daily Prophet article. The author had the same stupid initials and the same opinion. Well, wasn't Ravenclaw quite the hotspot for anti- werewolf activity. But then, Ravenclaws had never been swayed by public opinion. It was nice not to hear sanctimonious words about how important equality was, although she knew that Sophie would be disappointed to hear her think that.

As far as werewolves went, Alex was indifferent. While she did understand a right to privacy, and thought that they probably shouldn't be treated as second class citizens, she wasn't on the side of SAWS either. Although their message was valid, they insisted on ignoring the fact that werewolves, no matter how nice the individual in question, still posed a threat. Like the two that had caused chaos recently, even if it wasn't deliberate. But was she explicitly against werewolves? Listening to the conversation, she could hear the students reassuring each other. All we want is safety. Werewolves are violent. We can't take the risk. They were at the top of a slippery slope, and it wasn't one she wanted to step on.

But this... this was interesting. People, starting to voice dissent. But it was so simple to murmur behind closed doors, whisper about your fears. Yelling them to the world would be so much more interesting, if only to see what reaction they provoked. But that might require an extra push. It seemed a shame to miss such an opportunity.

Standing up, she tucked the book under one arm before walking over and leaning on the back of Sasha's chair lazily. "So what if there is?" she challenged, smiling in an ever so slightly threatening way. "Sasha. Philo. Small blond girl. Self- centred girl." She nodded at each of them in turn, the same smile in place. Making sure that they knew it was a threat.

"Don't poor werewolves have rights as well? Wouldn't it be an invasion of the right to privacy if we were to track them? It's too easy to counter your arguments." She had to be careful with her words. Giving the impression of support, while making the distinction between herself and them would be difficult. But not impossible.

To Sasha's surprise, their conversation seemed to be drawing in more Ravenclaws.  Sasha glanced over the back of the couch towards Juni when the fourth year spoke up and nodded in confirmation.  "I ... yes.  We're talking about werewolves.  And, the Prophet articles - about Professor Greyfriar and the editorial." 

First and second years aside, everyone in the room was bound to remember Professor Greyfriar.  He'd been Headmaster of Hogwarts and one of their professors throughout the whole time Sasha had been at Hogwarts.  Until Professor Snark had taken the helm.  Professor Greyfriar had been, generally, well liked by most of the students.  That had been, of course, before his own unfortunate mishap and turning.  An event Sasha remembered quite vividly. 

"Assuming they go to the Ministry," Sasha pointed out, shifting on the couch in a manner that would also physically include the fourth year in the conversation.  He glanced towards Philo, partly answering both of their concerns at the same time - as best he could, at least.  "Not all are required to go.  Some are allowed to 'hole up' in their own homes.  I don't know if the Ministry checks up on them or when.  But, one of their own ... a man that worked in the Ministry ... was able to sneak away and evade them.  Without wolfsbane.  Who knows if or how many he bit.  And, all he gets is a fine.  If the Ministry can't track him when he goes stray, would the even know if someone doesn't show up to their own safe room?" 

"We have no choice but to, potentially, share houses and dorm rooms with them.  It would be nice to know who we shouldn't be seeing in the corridors around the full moon."  Especially as a prefect.  How was he supposed to know who he was supposed to keep students safe from if he, well, didn't know who he needed to keep students safe from.  Sasha shook his head.  "I've been attacked twice," he admitted.  "And, you're entirely right.  You should be able to make sure that doesn't happen."

Sasha watched as Alex crossed the room towards him.  Stopping behind his chair.  And, leaning over it.  Into his personal space.  Color rose in the prefects cheeks just before he shifted as subtly as he could over to a neighboring chair. 

"What?" Sasha asked, having settled comfortably in the newly selected chair.  "What if there is what?" Sasha shrugged but shook his head.  "You mean, they should be left to their own?  Allowed to either confine themselves or not?  They ... they should have some rights, yes.  But, should their entitlement to rights be at the expense of our right to safety and security?  They aren't human.  They've lost their humanity.  Even the Ministry classifies them as Beasts.  We pity them because we fear becoming them but, in doing so, are we increasing the chances of losing our own humanity?"