Sasha neither wanted part of any inter-student drama nor did he have time for it.  Gossip had simply never appealed to him.  He'd felt the sting on more than a few occasions over the last year.   The inter-personal drama he'd endured during his fifth year had been more than enough and he had no interest in even risking public humiliation in front of the whole Great Hall, again.  Avoiding drama was one of several reasons Sasha was minimizing the number of meals he ate in the Great Hall. 

Like most evenings, Sasha had taken his supper up in the Astronomy tower.  He'd been blissfully oblivious to the scene at dinner, only becoming aware something was amiss when there were quite a few more empty seats during Divination and flurries of whispers between friends and housemates. 

Sasha followed his fellow Ravenclaws from the Divination tower back to their common room and settled himself at his usual spot on the couch.  The occasional flurry of murmurs were still flickering amongst students and though he was trying his best to ignore it, stray words kept drifting his way. 

One word amongst them stood out: werewolf. 

That caught his attention.  The prefect lowered his quill and glanced over the back of the couch, trying to identify and latch on to the start of any specific conversation. 

"What about werewolves?" Sasha asked, after several failed attempts to collect all the various bits of conversation into something concise.  "Did something happen?  It's not a full moon."

Alex wasn't a gossipy person. She listened to other peoples' gossip, but didn't pass it on, because it was usually dull and pointless. Listening in to conversations was still something she did with semi- regularity, though. In fact, it was what she was doing at the moment, although there was a disappointing lack of new information, made up for by some hilarious speculation.

Sasha, however, no doubt suffering from some kind of honesty, had never quite mastered the art of listening in, indicated by the current, painfully obvious, attempt to listen to the conversation. She was half considering telling him that there were far more subtle ways to overhear conversation, and that if he would just get out a book and pretend to read it, instead of gawking like an incredulous muggle, he would be far more successful.

"What about werewolves? Did something happen? It's not a full moon."

"Sasha, are you-" Alex started, exasperated, then remembered that Sasha was going to be a hermit, and thus could not be found in the great hall for meals. "Never mind. Yes, something has happened. Yes, it is related to werewolves." Looking at the people to whose fascinating conversation she had been listening, and were now looking at Sasha and her, she made a shooing gesture, "Go back to debating the possibility that you're all werewolves or something."

Turning back to Sasha, she smiled in as non- threatening a manner as possible. "Where were we? Ah, your complete inability to keep up with even the most basic school gossip, due to almost hermetic habits. Although I suppose that this is technically news, not gossip. My point remains unchanged." A quick glance over her shoulder confirmed that the little Ravenclaws were all back to their own discussion, "So. Would you like the whole story? Or just the key information?"

Of all the people to overhear his request for information, of course it was one of the more critical Ravenclaws who actually obliged.  Alexandra had always been generous with her commentary and appraisal of Sasha's mannerisms and today was proving no different.  Sasha ignored the cut off comment that was bound to be some reiteration of any number of remarks on Sasha's lack of social prowess. 

Sasha folded his legs underneath and shifted so he sat lengthwise on the couch so that he could look more fully in Alex' direction.  Werewolves had become a prevalent topic amongst the student body, even beyond the obvious tensions between SAWS and those, like Sasha, who were less than thrilled to be sharing their classes and sleeping spots with marauding beasts.  There were plenty of events that might have led to a flurry of gossip around the school but most of them didn't explain the near half attendance at Divination. 

"Did someone set another fire?[1]"  SAWS and its various members had shown an ability and willingness for random acts of terrorism before and, despite having gotten their way, the group still seemed determined to stir more trouble.  The original fire had been set to protest Foley's dismissal.  It didn't seem impossible to imagine that the group would plan an encore after Foley's decision to leave. 

"I'm not-" Sasha started but even he couldn't argue that his habits weren't slightly hermetic.  "They're studious."  But, yes, they did leave him a member of the 'know nots' clan.  "I ... I don't know.  One can't really know which version of the story is more useful without knowing the full ... what's the full story?"  Sasha concluded, halfway through realizing Alex wasn't interested in the reasoning behind his decision.

1.	Never Shout "Fire!" in an Occupied Theater

Alex sighed, wishing that she had a cup of tea to cradle in a significant and somehow threatening manner. "Hmmm… I suppose that this particular incident began with the greatest idiot in all of Christendom, who is called Figaro Sellaphix. He, along with the other bumblers that make up the House of Hufflepuff, decided to have a conversation about scars."

Alex paused, wondering exactly how to present this. She would quite enjoy getting to the relevant moment, then saying that it didn't matter, but she had a feeling that Sasha wouldn't appreciate that. "So, they were quickly joined by Sophie, of SAWS, and our very own Ligeia.  A brief discussion about scars followed, and then Sellaphix showed a lack of intelligence that I previously thought was impossible, and announced that your bosom friend Zel Trumble had a surprising number of scars."

Alex leant forward, trying not to look like she was enjoying herself, then said, "This is the climax, in case you didn't guess." Alex paused dramatically, thinking that she really was enjoying this far too much. After all, she was telling the most anti- werewolf individual in the school that someone else was a werewolf- although he would find out no matter what she had did.

"Want to guess why?" It was no fun if she didn't pull it out a bit, after all.

"He's not the greatest idiot in...he's not that bad," Sasha started, immediately coming to Figaro's defense despite not knowing what the Hufflepuff was being accused of.  Or even if Sasha really agreed with his own defense of the Hufflepuff.  Figaro had, after all, falsely accused Sasha of cheating and had convinced Sasha of intentionally failing an assignment.  If Sasha thought about it too hard, he did have to admit Figaro did lack a little in the area of logical and reasoning. 

But, Figaro was a friend and, as such, loyalty prevailed.  Besides, that was the drawback of using superlatives like greatest.  One could always reason there was bound to be a bigger idiot somewhere. 

But, all of that was completely irrelevant. 

Figaro's wasn't the only name that stood out during the course of Alex' almost gleeful summary of the events.  But, hearing Zel's name within the context of the story, and Alex' identified key players made no sense.  So what if Zel had scars?  And, what did that have to do with werewolves?

Well, Zel's sister was a werewolf - that much Sasha knew.  He also know Zel didn't really support SAWS.  But, Figaro had been remarking on Zel's scars.  Not his sister's.  Which suggested...

Sasha's gut churned at the thought but, almost as quickly as the notion arose, he quickly reasoned it away.  He'd already given the situation full consideration, after learning about the Hufflepuff's sister.  Zel had been at school during their fifth year.  If he'd been a werewolf, he would have been dismissed with Ollie.  Zel ... he also knew how Sasha felt, even if he didn't know why.  He would have told Sasha. 

"His sister is a werewolf.  What?  Did Figaro tell everyone Zel isn't a fan of SAWS, even though his sister's infected?"  That seemed like enough to set the members of SAWS off. 

Alex waited patiently for Sasha to stop blabbering about how Figaro wasn't a fool. It was pointless, because although Figaro doubtless had many excellent qualities, intelligence, subtlety, and foresight were not among them.

"Wow, Sasha, you know more than I gave you credit for," Alex replied, although it wasn't really saying a lot because Alex assumed that Sasha knew very little beyond the most important gossip, and usually not even that. "But why would a massive fight- including the head boy and four prefects- be initiated by that? Werewolves are a delicate topic, but not that delicate." Alex was serious now. Sasha was only funny for short amounts of time, after all.

"Although I hadn't got round to the fight- well, it was still a good guess." Sasha was slightly more imaginative than Alex had previously thought, although again that wasn't really a high bar to leap. She didn't dislike him, and she knew that he was intelligent, but Sasha was just so painfully awkward.

"I'm sure you can think of something that's more provocative than that, given the facts." Sasha probably knew that Zel had been attacked by his sister, since they were talking about scars and he knew that she was a werewolf, but he obviously didn't want to take the next logical step, which was understandable.

In the current moment, there was little to indicate whether Sasha was to take Alex' comment as a compliment or not.  Alex didn't think much of Sasha; that much had been evident over the years.  So, her moment of surprise could have just as likely been sarcasm as earnest. 

All of which were secondary details. 

"There was a fight?"  Obviously.  Twice, Alex had said as much.  But, it had been a fight that had involved Church, four prefects, Zel, Flickwick, Figaro and SAWS.  And, as evident by the whispers and Alex' confirmation, it had been directly related to werewolves.  Sasha did not in fact know that Zel had been attacked by her sister and it had been this missing piece of information that had facilitated overlooking the other obvious indicators.  But, even without that crucial piece of information, the puzzle pieces were finally falling firmly enough into place that it was nearly impossible to not see the whole picture. 

At first, he shook his head as he grappled with those remaining key facts he'd been repeating in his head for the last few minutes. 

"Madame Snark didn't kick him out last year.  And, he -"  Actually, Zel had missed classes during the previous full moon.  On Mr. Morgan's instruction, Sasha had been keeping a close eye on his fellow students for all those telltale signs.  He had noticed Zel's absence, he just ...

Had he let complacency cloud his judgement? 

"Zel is not a werewolf," Sasha insisted, firmly, turning back to his notes as if definitively ending the conversation on that note would somehow influence reality. 

Alex watched Sasha quietly, ignoring the other Ravenclaws, who seemed to have branched off topic somehow. It wasn't very interesting, and her thoughts wandered to who else- if anyone- was a werewolf at Hogwarts. There was the first year, Olivia Foley before she left, and now Zel. It was impossible to tell if anyone was a werewolf- but Alex didn't think that anyone in Ravenclaw was, there were far too many people who were decidedly anti- were who would pick up on it. Honestly, she didn't expect there to be another werewolf, but she'd thought that since the start of the year and she'd been wrong.

"Zel is not a werewolf."

Alex looked at Sasha with a mixture of pity, sympathy, and condescension, but decided against sarcasm. "Figaro told the entire school, and instead of denying it, Zel confirmed it. Sophie seemed to know about it as well." Alex watched Sasha carefully, then said quietly, "I didn't want to believe it either, Sasha." Who would want to believe that? It wasn't so much being lied to, but there was something slightly worrying about discovering that someone you knew turned into a wolf every full moon.

"But Zel confessed himself." Interesting word, confession, Alex thought, because if Zel was confessing, it was a crime, or a sin, to be a werewolf. She'd heard a number of people- even people who were pro were- using it.

Sasha listened closely to Alex, of course, though his line of sight stayed fixed to the book in his lap.  He wasn't trying to give the pretense of reading, though.  Some news was just easier to take and process when one wasn't having to also interpret other extraneous bits of information, like the expression on the messenger's face. 

The tiniest of voices was racing in the back of his head, trying to find some evidence that this was some joke or trick.  But, given all the evidence, the voice died quickly in its own tracks.  Given the various scattered conversations around the room, this was old news to most in the room. 

"He confessed?  Everyone knows?"  And Sasha had been among the last to find out.  Slowly, Sasha shook his head. 

Part of Sasha was concerned.  The part that had been growing close to the Zel he thought he knew understood that Zel was probably feeling miserable right now.  Sasha knew what it was like to have one's dirty laundry aired in front of the whole Great Hall - it was amongst the many reasons Sasha opted to eat elsewhere these days.  That part of him wanted to find Zel and offer comfort and support.  The old Zel, at least.

But now, so much about this was wrong.  Not, of course, that Sasha was amongst the last to hear the latest gossip.  If Sasha hadn't known the individual in question, being the last to find out would have been entirely understandable.  But, he knew Zel!  Zel knew him!  Well, in fact.  Well enough that Sasha thought they were ... they were growing close.  They'd even spoken about werewolves on several occasions.  And, Zel ... Zel hadn't said anything. 

Zel had been deceiving Sasha the whole time. 

And, Sasha should have been able to see it.  He should have known.  He felt hurt and lied to and humiliated.  He chanced a quick glance around the common room and, while everyone seemed to be distracted with their own conversations, he was quickly feeling uncomfortably exposed. 

"Excuse me," Sasha offered, his voice small and tight.  He left his books stacked on the end table and started towards the portrait hole, desperate to escape the now seemingly stuffy and crowded common room. 

Alex watched Sasha silently, frowning slightly, as she tried to work out what he was going to do next. He moved quickly, and she froze for a moment, then stood up, rushing after him, slightly concerned about what he was going to do. She probably should have been a little more careful about how she broke the news, but Alex preferred to dump people in the deep end and watch them thrash. Still, she felt like she should try and make sure Sasha didn't do anything stupid. Just in case.

"Sasha," she called, shutting the portrait behind her to prevent people watching, before catching up to him and grabbing his shoulder, yanking him round to face her. It wasn't elegant, but it worked, and she spoke quickly, "Sasha, you need to calm down and think about what you're doing." She waited to confirm that she had his attention, keeping her eyes on his.

"You can't just walk off to the Hufflepuff dormitories and demand the truth, Sasha," she started, hoping that she'd guessed right, "Imagine how people will respond if you turn up there! Everyone knows that you hate werewolves, it stands to reason that people won't want you to see Zel." And Zel would most likely be in search of peace and quiet, so he probably wouldn't be in the Hufflepuff dormitories, but Alex didn't want to point out that Zel was probably alone somewhere. It could be messy.

A hand closed firmly on Sasha's shoulder and pulled him around.  The young man already had a tendency to be uneasy about physical contact and the implications of the previous conversation had already left Sasha's nerves on edge.  He reacted instinctively and reflexively, jumping and pushing away from the pressure on his shoulder.  By the time Sasha's mind slowed down enough to register Alexandra's presence, his wand was in his hand and held at the ready.   

"Was zum Teufel![1]!  Don't do that!"  Sasha shouted at her, shaking his head.  There was no subtle way to somehow fake and hide the reaction.

She was right.  Yes, he needed to calm down.  Sasha drew in a long, deep breath and lowered his wand, but didn't pocket it.  The second bit of advice, though, was met with a bewildered scowl.  "Think ... think about what I'm doing?  I don't have any idea what I'm doing!  I'm just ... "

He grew quiet as he listened to her reasoning.  "I'm not going to Hufflepuff dorms.  I'm not ... you think I'm ... hunting down Zel to confront him?  Is that really what you expect from me?"  She was right, though.  That's probably what most where expecting from him.  How, exactly, did this happen?  "I don't hate werewolves!  I just want to be able to trust that I'm safe!  That's all!"  Yes, he did not think the regulations in place were sufficient - Zel, himself, was living proof of that. He did think SAWS was naive and delusional.  He wanted to be able to protect himself.  Yet, apparently, SAWS only had a very binary perspective.  Either, you agreed with them, loved werewolves and believed they needed more freedoms, or you were villainized.  There was no room in their minds for dissenters.

"I cared about Zel - you ... you really think I'm storming off to ... make things worse?  I don't ... I don't know what I'm doing.  But, I'm not... I don't know."  He shook his head and ran his hands through his hair. 

1.	What the hell

Alex watched Sasha's outburst silently, slightly surprised that Sasha, who was possibly the most introverted person she knew, was currently being so vocal. It was strange, to say the least, although in light of recent events not unreasonable. Alex would probably be throwing things by this point, so Sasha's self control was remarkable.

When he'd finished, she shrugged remorselessly, "It was the worse case scenario." Her eyes flicked to his wand, staring at it for a moment before looking at him again. Her hand was over her own wand, but she would prefer to avoid a duel. She wasn't sure how good he was at duelling, although she thought that her experience would hopefully give her the edge. "Maybe you don't hate werewolves, but almost everyone thinks that you do, and your actions to date have done nothing to persuade them otherwise. And anyway, it's more convenient to believe that you're an irrational werewolf hater than someone with a valid arguement."

"So, I wouldn't say that you'd go to make things worse," Alex said, although anything that involved Sasha going to Hufflepuff would probably make things worse, "But it isn't unreasonable to expect that you would want to request further information," by which she meant explanations. Alex sighed, not sure what to say to reassure him. Ideally, she'd like to go to the kitchens, but she didn't want to go near the Hufflepuff dormitories, which would be likely to incite violence. Reassuring gestures were also useless.

"Here's my advice, Sasha. Go and get some sleep. You need it, and it'll give you some time to think about what to do. Just don't do anything stupid." She doubted Sasha would, but it was possible. Personally, she thought that submitting initialled articles to the Daily Prophet when you had as many initials as Sasha was quite stupid.

It was a worse case scenario?

Sasha slowly shook his head, glancing around the hallway.  The occasional stray Ravenclaw was shuffling past them on their way back to the dorms, most taking notice of the two older students with wands in their hands.  The singletons seemed more apt to come to the conclusion that it was better to hurry on to their destination.  The pairs or small groups seemed bolder, hesitating a moment to rubberneck and, presumably, consider their options before hurrying on their way. 

After the third group of rubberneckers finally continued on their way to the tower, Sasha stowed his wand and shook his head.  "Sleep won't help.  It'll just make things worse," he concluded stubbornly.  Nightmares were almost a guarantee and Sasha didn't even want to find out if Zel would now find his way into them, alongside Foley.  That wouldn't help anything. 

"I just need to go think.  Process."  Without his subconscious offering it's own two cents.  "I'm not going anywhere near Hufflepuff.  Or Zel.  I just ... need to be alone."  And, also, to put his thoughts down on paper and seek advice.  But, that detail wasn't for public consumption.

Alex stayed silent as the younger Ravenclaws walked past, not especially interested in what they were doing provided they left. As the last few disappeared, Alex slowly returned her wand to her pocket with a small and slightly apologetic shrug. "If you think so." She wasn't about to enquire about why that might be the case, much as she wanted to.

"That's not an especially subtle way of telling me to go away," she pointed out with a smile. For someone who was depressingly polite, Sasha was surprisingly tactless. It was quite amusing, really, and Alex was occasionally capable of being nice and understanding. Sasha should really appreciate how lovely she was being, although she doubted he would. "It's fine, I can take- well, it wasn't really a hint."

"Don't kill anyone in a fit of rage and you should be fine," Alex yawned, only partly theatrically. "I'm going to finish off my Ancient Runes essay, you have fun searching the depths of your turbulent soul." Making light of it seemed like a sensible option- sure, Sasha felt betrayed, one of their fellow sixth years was a werewolf, etc., but it hadn't changed anything, just people's opinions. Not that it wasn't important, but it would probably get blown out of proportion.

"Oh, and you should probably come back before curfew, Mr Prefect," Alex added, her tone only slightly sarcastic at the end. Sensible advice, although Alex thought that being a prefect, Sasha could probably get away with it if he claimed to be patrolling. Unless he actually was patrolling, which would be the perfect way to gather your thoughts.