27th March, 2011; Sunday
2:15 PM, after the break and presentations. Before the presentation, students were provided pamphlets with a presentation schedule.

Students can ask questions! If your student wants to ask a question, Mai will call on them if they raise their hand. Have them go ahead and ask.

---

Today had felt like a full day for students and staff alike, despite the break in between the presentations and the Q&A session.

The panelists were seated on a raised platform with no tables. Maiko and Rick were placed in the middle, with Teams Contraception and Interspecies Relations to their right, and Teams STIs and Pregnancy to their left.  Mai was thankful that they all had some level of skill in regards to public speaking. Some of the panelists seemed nervous at the beginning, but found their footing. Others acted with confidence from the very beginning. All were capable people-- some were more interesting presenters and others were deadpan and struggled to keep students focused.

The counselor did her best to stay lively and entertaining-- her opening line, of course, had been something along the lines of: “Do you know what’s sexy? Consent. It’s also fudging required.” Her nervous energy was focused into high energy. Bouncing when seated and constantly moving around when standing, Mai tried to keep students from falling asleep during her lecture. It had mixed results, and by the end she was convinced that half the Hogwarts’ population believed she was either on caffeine or something stronger.

After a much needed break,, the panel was together again for a question and answer session. A brief welcome and introduction later, Maiko was pulling an anonymous question out of the box to get started.

“Are you ready?” Her eyes flitted from the audience to the panelists, and back again. “Alright then.” A small smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. Those who knew her well could tell that she wasn’t even remotely apologetic.  In fact, during the entire event, she had been explicitly unapologetic. If there were any regrets, Mai had not exposed them--she found just a little too much enjoyment in the discomfort of everybody involved.

“This one will be directed to Healers Sage and Hollingbury.” Dark brows slightly raised in query, Maiko continued on with each word enunciated with the clarity that came with reading aloud.  “What is the worst sex-related case you’ve treated, and how was it managed?”

Healer Tempest Sage was truly enjoying the day more than was warranted. A gleeful smile had been plastered on the witch’s face for most of the event - even when the awkward topics were addressed. When approached about speaking, Temp jumped at the chance without hesitation. Sexual promiscuity was no small issue, and in a school full of hormone crazed teenagers, things could easily get out of hand. She had imagined speaking on very mundane topics, not understanding the full scope of the event.

Then she was told she was on “Team Sexually Transmitted Infections”, and her excitement only grew.

Though standing in front of a group of students, some of them her children’s friends, some of them her children (of course she made it mandatory for them to attend), was a bit unnerving at first, she’d quickly gotten over that. Indeed, her opening statement had been something along the lines of “The best way to keep from catching something you don’t want, is to simply refrain from bumping nasties. That said, if you can’t help but have a little slap and tickle and that tickle turns into an itch, just come see me, I’ll sort you out,”

From that moment on, Tempest had no qualms about speaking up when needed, or showing her own enthusiasm about the topics addressed. She’d caught Maiko’s eye numerous times throughout the day, and couldn’t help but offer the counselor a trademark grin when she addressed Temp’s team.

Though it would have been polite to wait and see if Healer Hollingbury wanted to speak first, he being a guest and all, Tempest’s mind travelled back to a time long past, and in her haste, she offered her team speaker barely a glance before speaking up. Hopefully the group wouldn’t mind a short story.

“Many years ago, when I was barely even considered a Healer, an elderly witch was brought into my ward,” Tempest began, leaning forward in her chair and pulling her features into a more serious position. “She was eighty-three, and was showing symptoms of kidney failure and serious bladder infections. Her eyesight was failing, though that could have been simply because of her age,” A pause, while the healer pointed her wand in the air, watching as the symptoms appeared in the air above her.

“Now, I was on the creature injuries ward, but she’d been shipped from floor to floor - everyone trying to find some reason for the issues going on. My floor was the last shot, and even though I was pretty sure the rashes on her body weren’t caused by a radioactive spider, I was determined to figure out this mystery. Oh - and she wasn’t much help because she was loonier than an edition of The Quibbler,” With another jab of her wand, two more notes appeared below the original three one saying “Odd rashes”, the other simply stating “Loony”.

“I read through her file, which was full of notes and all of them useless. I asked her everything I could think of, but no one thinks to ask an octogenarian about their sexual activity. It wasn’t until six days later, when her niece came to visit that I figured it out,” 

“Now, her niece looked quite a bit like her mother, and our patient - in her demented state - thought that she was her sister - and like most people with dementia, she couldn’t help but brag about the young man she was seeing. The only thing was, she had been with the man almost thirty years prior,”

“Of course, upon hearing that, a suspicion entered my mind, and indeed - it was Morbus Gallicus. It was the worst case I’ve ever seen,” the healer paused again, wand waving once again in the air so the list dissipated.

“I administered the two potions immediately, and there was remarkable improvement - but the damage had already been done. She was removed from my care a couple of days later, to undergo quite a few nasty procedures to try and save her dying organs. She had been aware of her condition when the first stage of the illness took her, but she took a home remedy and thought all was well. That’s why it is so important to contact a certified healer if you have even the slightest inkling that you might have contracted something,” Finally finished with her tale, Tempest offered the group a small smile, then turned her attention back to Maiko and nodded - hopefully that was answer enough.

This was not an ideal time for Jules to be doing a presentation about pregnancy. It was meant to be all-inclusive, with details spanning from the first few weeks of pregnancy through the first few months of parenting a newborn. It seemed presumptuous to be talking about this with a bunch of teenagers, and Jules generally tried to go through these events as quickly and efficiently as she could.

To compound the annoyance of being at Hogwarts, Jules was also amidst the harsh throes of morning sickness. It was to be expected in the first few weeks of pregnancy, one of the most obvious symptoms in the right context. She was trying to keep herself professional about it but she had taken to keeping a trash can hovering at her side, just in case. That wasn’t acceptable in this sort of situation, so Jules was focused on staying one step ahead of her body.

Following the presentation she remained with the other healers, but soon was hit by the jarring wave of nausea. There was a smell…. Teenagers. Their stink smacked her and her immediate reaction was to stop walking and cover her nose and mouth with her hand. She pulled over near a window and took a few deep breaths, burst into a cold sweat and massaged her forehead with clammy hands.

Thankfully the feeling passed without much drama. The rest of the attending healers were beginning to reassemble, but Jules took a minute for her stomach to settle.  Now that she was less light-headed, Jules looked about the room to see if anyone had noticed her sudden rush towards the window. A few young students had, and they were staring at her with their big dumb eyes. Jules glared at them until they walked away and found seats among the other students.

Isla sat in the second row, behind Virgil. And behind her sat Alistair, who kept tapping her on the shoulder and pretending he wasn't doing anything. When the speakers appeared on stage, she had waved at them with enthusiasm that they probably didn't deserve. She recognized Gregory,[1] since he had dated her cousin Nona before. She also recognized the massive, blond German man. D-Trick[2] was his name. She wondered how he'd gotten it. It was, perhaps, just a weird German thing. Or a wicked nickname. Either way, D-Trick and Gregory towered over the rest of their panelists, and completely dwarfed the ladies who were speaking. 

With peacock father quill in hand, she had been determined to write extensive notes. However, sitting down and listening to a talk meant that she didn't always focus. Instead of helpful notes and phrases from the speakers, she had doodled images of the speakers themselves, the words on their shirts, and flower crows on their heads. It wasn't the prettiest of pictures, but it was more interesting than hearing them drone on and on while she had to stay still.

She had been so thankful for the break, being able to turn around in her seat and chat with her brother and his friends allowed her brain time to relax.  Towards the end of the break, In that moment, the pretty redheaded Healer, Jewels,[3] had gotten up abruptly. Concerned, Isla looked at her with her 'big, dumb eyes' until the healer glared her away. How mean. Redheads were supposed to be kind and supportive to each other. It was a rule (granted, one that she had come up with herself).

As the Q&A session began to settle, Isla tickled the back of Virgil's neck with her quill feather before quickly looking away, peeking behind her shoulder to see if Alistair approved. He rolled his eyes at her. At least he noticed that she could be clever sometimes. 

Healer Tempest began to answer an anonymous question. The story was both interesting and horrifying. One word confused her, though. Quickly, she scribbled down a question and nudged the person sitting next to her, eyebrows knit with confusion. Isla  showed her note to them:[4] Do octojeneriens have sex with octupuses? I dont understand. If Professor Donovan covered it in his talk, she hadn't noticed.

1.	Grigory Gonchar
2.	Dietrich
3.	Jules
4.	Somebody, anybody!

After the fifth shoulder tap, it had gotten pretty obvious that it was Alistair who was doing it.  But, as usual, he refused to stop no matter how many times Isla or he looked back and heard him sniggering, Since the break, Fred was sort of overwhelmed.  Alistair was right: this did suck. 

He just wanted to go back to the dorm and finish his class work, but his mum told him that this was important and he needed to be there.  He was sure she’d find out if he left. So, sitting next to Isla, he squirmed uncomfortably in his seat.  Mostly, he wanted to block it out at this point. 

There were so many adults up there, which meant there were so many that were going to say things that he did not want to hear.  All of their t-shirts indicated what they would be speaking on.  He guessed it would be good to hear about some of it – contraceptives, something like that… but diseases?  Birth?  He shuddered when they all filed in. 

Whoever asked that anonymous question should have been kicking themselves though.  Fred didn’t want to hear about what an 80-year-old woman was doing in her off time! And that it was mostly incurable?!  That’s all he got out of it – this was clearly a sign he was never touching another human being.  Glancing down at Isla’s note, he looked back up at her face with a disgusted expression. “No!” he mouthed, aghast at her, glancing at the panel again.  He hadn’t even noticed if someone else had started talking, but he hoped the next topic was less… horrifying. 

Click!

Virgil Carstairs, sitting in the front row with a house scarf slung around his neck and a notebook in his lap, lowered the camera with a glum expression. He crossed one leg over the other. Then he uncrossed them. He crossed it over again but awkwardly stopped himself from repeating the motion, turning around to raise a pale eyebrow at Isla instead.

Gracie had pinched him in the ribs twice before the break, when he would not stop fidgeting in his seat. The Slytherin could not help it. He was all at once effete and restless.

       “Of course, upon hearing that, a suspicion entered my mind..." Sage droned on, in some imitation of what he imagined she must have thought of as witty.


He wasn't really listening. Virgil had taken notes for some of the talks (not to mention a photograph of Professor Donovan's collar demonstration - definitely yearbook material) but hadn't paid much attention to the speakers. He was too busy trying not to make it seem obvious that he was staring at Cepheus Gamp.

Who, as far as he could tell, did not resemble the Department of Mysteries Head. Virgil had seen an image of him before in some copy of Witch Weekly or other, yet he hadn't expected the wizard to look so - so -- the prefect exhausted his well of words just as Healer Sage did.

Virgil turned around in his seat, lifting his camera to take a photograph of Isla and Radley and others in the back rows - a reaction shot to medical horror - before looking back around, spindly arm raised into the air before the other Healer decided to bore them.

Maiko called on him, and his red mouth relaxed into a half-smile. She had been pulling faces at the lens every time he aimed it at her, earlier.

"I was only wondering..." Virgil spoke up, an actor's reach of sounding both soft and clear at the same time. "If humans can catch non-human infections, and vice versa?" He tried not to look at Team Interspecies Relations at all.

Sitting next to Marco on one side and Neely on the other, Jordyn tapped her foot anxiously.  She felt like she was sweating, which was ridiculous the library was always a little chilly, but she was definitely feeling anxious.  From the moment it was announced, this whole event caused her nothing but pain.  It wasn’t like something students couldn’t read about.  It was also something most parents talked about with their children.  Not her parents, obviously, but  she would do the research – and her friends[1] were more than happy to inform her.  Plus, she would do the reading herself.

Unfortunately, as a person with a leadership position and no need to have a permission slip signed, she was obligated to attend.  Plus, Counselor Maiko would ask her about it.  She had worked hard on organizing it and Jordyn didn’t want to disappoint her. The morning session hadn’t been so bad, she could avoid people and just stand, but she overhead some people talking and…

It hadn’t hit her.  It really hadn’t even crossed her mind… until she heard them. 

The anxiety built in her chest.  It’d been… oh Merlin, a month and a half? She’d started just not responding to Jai’s letters, avoiding Lydie like a bad case of blast-ended crabs.  But now, she was doing the math in her head.  Trying to remember key details and coming up short (or rather… too long in this case) between her last… and now…

Letting out a slow, deep breath, Jordyn couldn’t even focus.   So much for not wanting to disappoint Counselor Maiko.  She was a living disaster, a walking disappointment and the cautionary tale of hastily made choices.  She shouldn’t have ever said it wasn’t a big deal!  This was going to ruin her life.  Her life was over.  Staring up at the healer on the stage, already clearly very pregnant, it didn’t ruin her life.  She was already established!  Jordyn bet she was even on good terms with the baby’s father.  They probably hadn’t essentially broken up because she was too overwhelmed to even keep up with him.  Oh Merlin. 

She fidgeted with her gloved hands and looked between the blonde and brunette at her sides, whispering while Virgil asked his own question, “How long do you suppose this is?” 

1.	Neely and Gracie

Ariadne wasn’t sure she would be hungry for dinner that night. 80 year olds should not be doing the bedroom tango with men 30 years younger - oh! Right.

The Gryffindor prefect managed to choke back the squeak of disgust when she realised that Healer Sage was actually saying that the senile patient was recounting an experience 30 years earlier. Because that would be like thinking about her grandparents having sex, and - oh god she did not want that picture. For many, many reasons.

At least everyone seemed to have relaxed a bit. The talks had been cringeworthy, even the ones who were all forthright and easy about discussing things. It was the words, the mental images, and the slides.

OH GOD THE SLIDES.

She had watched some between her fingers with her hand over her eye and she had seen her uncle Ceph cross his legs and avert his eyes up on the stage too.
“They are definitely trying to put us off.” Ariadne muttered to Virgil and Gracie beyond him, eyes seeking out the notorious Connor Todd, “Though what’s the betting Todd is rubbing one off right-"

Virgil's question was taken by the Head of Hufflepuff. Once finished delivering the Slytherin a raised eyebrow, she leaned forward a little, curious as to how Ceph and the mammoth Grigory might answer that one.

The Headmistress was stood firmly in the back of the area reserved for the lesson, hands white-knuckled atop her walking stick. The elderly witch’s face was a mask of lines, thinned lipped and void of all emotion. When the idea had been brought to Minerva’s attention originally, the Head vehemently refused. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was a prodigious institute of learning. It was a school for gifted children, and that pride and uniqueness surely meant that her students were blissfully unaware that sex even existed.

But then Minerva realized that things had changed since she’d been in school - she’d seen the changes happening slowly over the past half-century. At that, Minerva brushed it off that it was the parent’s job to school their children in matters of propriety, not Hogwart’s. But what about the muggle borns? a thought kept nagging at her mind, and then she relented.

It was a shock to find how much detail and planning had been put into the affair, and while Minerva didn’t agree with some of the topics covered - there was no doubt that it was educational and informative. Healer Sage, whom Minerva didn’t know very well yet - other than her days at Hogwarts, answered the first question. Minerva wasn’t sure she enjoyed how long the younger witch prattled on. After finding out that Tempest kept a basket full of condoms in one of the Infirmary cabinets, the Headmistress was thinking it may be time to have a conversation with the clearly new-age witch.

Behind the Headmistress’s blank expression, Minerva’s heart soared with pride. For something that Minerva feared would be a disaster, the entire event had turned out beautifully. Students were even then braving their embarrassments to raise hands and ask questions. Her hands were tense, because this portion was the one part that could go very badly indeed. She knew some of the students here were not above causing a riot to make their opinions heard, and most of the panel members were not Hogwarts staff, though if anyone could keep this group under control, it was Maiko.

There had been some mortifying day at Hogwarts, and there was today, where Cepheus found himself back in the library, faced with the student body. He'd spoken about topics they'd only sniggered and slyly looked up in corners of this room, or shared illicit magazines procured in the Hogs Head pub.

"I was only wondering... If humans can catch non-human infections, and vice versa?" The golden hair of the student who had been snapping photographs of the event (for the paper, the yearbook, or the communal embarrassment, Cepheus hadn't garnered) was recognisable across the room. He wondered for a moment if Ariadne had put him up to it, as she was sat beside the student.

Cepheus exchanged a brief glance with Maiko and then Grigory beside him, before he thought to answer.
"The question was whether humans can catch infections from non-humans, and non-humans from humans. To catch a disease from a non-human is zoonosis, and yes it does occur. More often than not, in those who work with animals - farmers, animal healers - or as muggles call them, veterinarians or vets, and come into close contact with faeces, or could get bitten." Cepheus explained, firstly towards Virgil in the crowd and then turned his explanation to the students as a whole, his gaze moving about it.

"It's less commonly treated as a result of recreational activities. For one, because most contact with non-humans is through farming or healing, and secondly any consenting recreational activity is practiced safely with protection." Or perhaps because the second group don't tend to admit to it, or are part of the first group, Cepheus added silently in his head.

"Non-consenting is - as we have said throughout this event - strictly illegal and not something you should ever partake in, or let others take part in." Ceph felt a little more confident, though he found himself clearing his throat before he concluded the query, mostly because he felt the audience was hoping for grim tales and examples. "As for anthroponotic disease, again this is more often through us touching or interacting rather than biting or similar. Something like a fungi or pneumonia could be passed on to a non-human. Grigory would be able to elaborate but our teams at the Department are regularly immunised, and animals held in reserves are too, for the most common anthroponotic and zoonotic diseases. So, yes -" he looked back to the originator, "though not very often from today's subject - in comparison to other activities."

Ceph sat back and let out a little sigh of relief at managing to navigate that question without any laughter or blushes.

Over the past year many unexpected things had transpired in Zia’s life. There were the tragedies that had taken over her daily thinking - and then there were things like getting detentions, skipping classes, and losing her virginity. She was trying not to give these new habits much thought, convincing herself that it was normal. Plenty of her classmates had been doing these things for years.

Smart as she was, Zia still felt like sex was a big mystery. And that had always been fine, before she had become sexually active. There were questions she was too shy to ask any of her family members about the subject, and even the questions she did feel comfortable asking them - there was no way she was going to write it down, to possibly discovered by intrusive eyes.

The presentations and slides seemed as never-ending as they were cringe-worthy. Once it was clear that the lectures were done and the Q & A was beginning, Zia took a deep breath to prepare herself for the next phase. She was doing her best to look totally casual, as if sex was something she was very used to discussing.  She felt like everyone could see her lack of virginity like a tattoo on her head. Zia fidgeted with her hair a bit and looked around to see how her classmates were acting.

At the top of the current page in Lydie’s  reporter’s notebook read ‘Sex Ed Panel, Con’t.’ What with its hallways still adorned with pictures of knights and ancient wizards, this discussion was not one you’d expect to hear in the venerable castle. For such a historic place, Hogwarts was rather progressive for having this sex talk.

Really, it was necessary. There were at least ten people that Lydie could think of who desperately needed to be in attendance. Lydie’s aunts had filled her in on everything that her parents had only skimmed. She was here today in the name of journalism.

It was time for questions, and so Lydie racked her brain for a good one. From the corner of her eye she spotted Jordyn, her older brother’s girlfriend. Or at least she had been, but according to Jai, they were having problems. Just to be spiteful, Lydie took the seat in the row behind where Jordyn was seated. She made a small show of it by nonchalantly clearing her throat. Oh how she wanted to involve herself, to force herself in and make them take her suggestions. But her mouth remained closed as she scribbled down a few notes.

She looked back up again and observed that Jordyn looked rather nervous… igniting Lydie’s curiosity. Was it just that she was a frigid bitch, or did Jordyn addle herself with one of the horrific infections that had been mentioned. Lydie continued watching Jordyn, unaware (or uncaring) of the fact that she was starting to stare.

Elijah had been on the edge of his seat since the beginning of the seminar. It hadn’t been easy for Elijah to ask his mum to sign the permission form – the Grimlishes weren’t very helpful when it came to details of sex, and Elijah sometimes wondered if it was a type of magic all its own. It hadn’t been easy to ask, but it was certainly easier to get it signed than he thought. Education for a Ravenclaw was important, and his family understood at least that.

He was bursting with questions, about everything – though his courage failed him every time he went to raise his hand. He listened as the first couple of questions were answered, the second by his hopefully new boss when Elijah graduated. Elijah knew that Mr. Gamp was a very accomplished wizard, he didn’t expect for the man to be so handsome. While Elijah still wasn’t ready to define his sexuality, even though he was about to graduate and most of his classmates were already sexually active. Even so, he could appreciate the man’s beauty.

Tentatively, Elijah raised a shaky hand, then coughed loudly to clear his throat as he was called on. Suddenly, his throat was parched, his tongue thick in his mouth. Public speaking was never one of Elijah’s strong suit, and though he didn’t get embarrassed about much – sex was one of the few red button topics. “Erm…”, he began, then cleared his throat again, “Is it considered consensual if you’re under a vampire’s thrall, or a veela’s charm? I mean… you want it, don’t you?” He finished, his words rushing together toward the end.

With a red face, Elijah allowed his dark hair to fall into his eyes as he sat back in his chair, automatically regretting opening his mouth.

Ariadne's concerns pertaining to her grandparents were quite enough to make him want to swear off gleaning thoughts from the Gryffindor altogether - it wasn't worth the nausea.

He did not have long to contend with the idea of Mortimer or Lyra Gamp in unpalatable situations, not with their son speaking so composedly on the subject of interspecies disease to an audience of students whose opinion on the subjects today were empathically altering form. Virgil took several more pictures while Cepheus talked.

The older wizard was an animated speaker, gesticulating throughout, white and slender hands moving in a comely manner that made Virgil deeply uncomfortable. He clicked away without thinking of what Ji-Hyun would wonder when she noticed the disparity between photograph subjects later.

       "So, yes -" the camera was lowered to give a dazed nod in response to a look from the division head that nearly paralysed him, "though not very often from today's subject - in comparison to other activities."

Virgil leaned against Ariadne on one side, shoulder against shoulder, and sighed heavily. He glanced down at the camera in his lap to make a study of his hands as Grimlish's voice carried over their heads. Some inane question that made him irritable. Questions like that always did, because the answers seemed obvious to Virgil, though it wasn't the only reason he felt unsettled today.

"Your uncle has a nice voice," he remarked to Ariadne and looked up towards the panel - his face felt warm.

No sooner had he settled back but another question was posed by a raised hand.
“Is it considered consensual if you’re under ... or a veela’s charm? I mean… you want it, don’t you?”

Cepheus realised with a start that this was more of a follow up question to the one before, perhaps posed at him by the boy with the shock of brown hair.
"Not independently, no. If there's anything but free will involved, then it's not consensual..." Cepheus replied, a hand outstretched before him, fingers raised, poised. He realised he might have jumped the gun to answer rather than waiting for Maiko to assign it, but given the subject matter he was keen to correct the young man.

"And it's not just humans who encounter that situation, we deal with cases of house elf abuse at Being Division, where humans have the influence and power over their elves. But, perhaps this is better elaborated by those on consent," he glanced respectfully to the chair, "sorry Maiko."