5 January 2012
Thursday after dinner, before lights out @8pm
Empty classroom on the fourth floor

Hand-made flyers had been pasted all over the school. On walls, doors, left on the table, and posted in Commonrooms. They'll have been familiar to anyone Zeta had harassed on the train. They depicted a frenetic assortment of graphics and stickers all supporting a big illustration of a baying wolf overlaid in big warped lettering: Students Against Werewolf Segregation.

The older students will recognize the name, the long form of SAWS, and know it to be a student group inactive at Hogwarts for a couple years now. It's original mission was to make Hogwarts and the community safer for the werewolves among them, chiefly to lobby for the rule preventing werewolves attending Hogwarts to be lifted. The petition was eventually accepted by once Headmaster of Hogwarts Herschel Reid. With the exit of the former leaders and a calming of short student attention spans and a lack of concrete causes to fight for, the club had fallen dormant.

That is until Zeta Pepper got an idea into her head. She'd gotten to know Lucinda Temple, she'd learned about leadership from Fauna Blake, and she was already a skilled artist. This was all the makings for the volatile young witch to get some shit rolling.

Word had spread of the meeting time, and now the empty classroom on fourth floor was populated by a dozen. More copies of the fliers were scattered around, and one hung on the blackboard. Zeta sat on the old teacher's desk desk and clapped her hands.

"Oi, shut your gobs, people!"

Tim had been a fresh-faced first year when SAWS had begun. He still remembered the hullabaloo about Darcy Boxham setting fire to the hospital wing within Tim’s first few days at Hogwarts. It had been a bewildering time in his life, as the summer of 2008 had begun with his mother poorly obliviated and hospitalised, something she’d never recover from. As such, he’d steered clear of all manner of student rebellion and kept his head down.

This academic year was different though. He had a step-mother, a baby half-sister and his older brother Ambrose had moved on to a job instead of studying for his NEWTs. Tim felt more of an individual, even if he still did share his surname at school with his two witch cousins.

The fact that one of his cousins was leading this revival of SAWS was a big influence into why Tim was here. He wanted to support Zeta, and he partly wanted to make sure she wasn’t doing anything crazy that would get her expelled, too. SAWS of old had that sort of track record. At least Headmaster Greyfriar was 100 times better than Headmistress Snark.

“Oi, shut your gobs, people!”
“Charming.” Tim couldn’t help himself remarking as Zeta shouted at the gathering. His fourth year cousin and Zeta’s younger sister, Eta, was sat beside him and giggled instinctively before composing her face and turning to the others to echo:
“Yeah, you lot, shut it!”

She issued Zeta with a double thumbs up.

Lucinda had heard about SAWS and the events when it was going on, but she never paid much attention, other then the annoyance of the disruptions to life. She never paid much interest as she just focused on trying to get through classes, and its not like she ever planned on being turned into a werewolf. It wasn't something you put on the calendar with your visit to your grandparents and when the next bank holiday is.

Even now she was unsure why she was here. She and Zeta had talked about, then wrote letters about it. She knew why she was here. She was here because Zeta set it all up, and although it was discussed with her, it felt more like something Zeta was doing. She had spoken to Fauna, and had set up the posters. All Lucinda had really managed to do, was set up a few posters and make a drawing of the moon that moved in tandem with the actual moon cycle. Of which she had made several copies of and sneakily placed onto a desk.

Now she sat at the back of the room, dressed in a set of jeans and a hoodie she was curled up into a ball like she normally would be when scared or nervous. Chest tucked into legs and arms pulling them in. Sitting on a desk just before Zeta so she isn't at the forefront and could potentially go unnoticed. She knew she likely wouldn't but there is a hope atleast.

She had a nervous look about the room, now housing alot more people then when she was here last. This is worse then the great hall. Her thoughts raced, to an extent it was right, its a much more compact area. She could smell alot more people. Someone didn't shower. Her nose scrunched with a faint snarl, its 4 days after this one until the full moon and she's already on edge. Although even if she didn't, and she wasn't that fond anyway, like this. The worst was yet to come this evening. Have to go drink poison soon.

Sulwen finished dinner quickly and quietly, glancing around the Great Hall and trying to gauge if anyone was actually going to the first meeting of SAWS afterwards. Classes had just started, revision had been assigned, and bellies were full. Would anyone bother to climb the stairs to the fourth floor? Should she?

Zeta Pepper had handed her a flier on the train ride to school. The older student had been passing by so energetically that Sulwen hadn't taken the time to ask her about the objective of SAWS and if she'd really meant to hand the flier to a first-year. Werewolves were already allowed at school, weren't they? That Grant girl was here. The Headmaster was still here. Sulwen liked his History class and felt comfortable asking him questions.

With a long look at the staff table, Sulwen rose from her seat and walked past the dungeon entrance in the foyer, taking the stairs up.

Her uncle Simon was a werewolf. He'd been disowned for it, and she never saw him, and her family never talked about him, and sometimes she forgot that he even existed, and when she remembered she felt ashamed. Ashamed to be related to him, curious about all the things she didn't know.

Sulwen paused just inside the classroom, startled by the number of people. Feeling very young, she slipped into a seat in the back row, a few desks away from a Gryffindor huddled in a hoodie.

Sulwen straightened her back, rested her hands atop the desk, and wondered if she should have brought her school bag. She recognized a few Peppers other than Zeta in the room and relaxed slightly. They were, at least, an intelligent family.

Her gob was shut! When would this start?

Like other subjects upon which he deliberated, wise and unwise, Feliks was here because of innate curiosity. He had lingered behind after dinner in the Great Hall - mind made up but body refusing to obey. Werewolves. Cousin Raine had tried to explain to him over Christmas that the Almasy's views on werewolves were old-fashioned and bigoted. But cousin Raine was not a typical Almasy after all.

Feliks questioned all things nowadays. He finally made his way up to the fourth floor, stepping into the empty classroom in time to see Sulwen taking a seat at the back. Zeta was at the front. He did not like Zeta.

The young wizard decided on an empty seat just in front of Sulwen. As he sat down, he glanced over his shoulder to flash her a smile. "I did not know you would be here" he remarked carelessly, ignorant of Zeta's earlier request. "Do you like werewolves??"

Sulwen brightened at Feliks entering the room, but raised her eyebrows warily when he picked the seat in front of her and promptly turned around with a grin.

Why did boys always pick the seats that would get them into trouble? That would get her into trouble? If they sat beside someone and whispered it would be less obvious!

She slow-blinked at his blunt question.

"I don't dislike them," she whispered, glancing at the front of the room. "I'm only here out of curiosity," she shrugged one shoulder and looked down her nose at him. The look lasted only a few moments before she met his eyes curiously. Did he?

Zeta beamed at Eta and Tim's support of her leadership, but even with Eta's shouty back-up the room had not fallen completely quiet. She glanced over at Lucinda to check in. It had to be hard to be here, but Zeta didn't know if Lucinda had told anyone else, or if anyone had figured it out, so Zeta wouldn't single her out. Strange little first years, however... Historically, Zeta had been overflowing with compassion and patience for Feliks Spectre who was a new member of her extended family, sort of. She'd been doing her best for him, but he was starting to irritate her..

"Feliks. Sulwen. Your mouths. Zip them. Merlin save us. My last nerve, honestly," she snipped at him from her perch.

She transitioned and eyeroll into a sweet smile to the rest of the group.

"Thank you all for coming. Ground rules. Someone want to write these on the board? You? Cheers."[1] Zeta tossed over some chalk. She'd have just done it herself if she'd had her wand. [nb]Rigel Acrux 'confiscated it' after she hexed Kyson Cavanaugh for being a twit.[2]

"Number one. No arguing the premise that werewolves are people who are not a threat. Number two. Be respectful to each other.  Number three. In the pursuit of justice, sometimes rules need to be broken. If you can't handle that, you might want to leave. You do you."

She looked around. "Anyone have any problem with that? I'm not trying to be an arsehole, but not everyone is going to support us and we need to be united."

1.	Anyone!
2.	2 Jan 2012 - Do You Love Justice?

Lucinda glared towards the two first years from her ball of cloth. "SHUT IT" she said, in a much...louder tone then she meant to with a snarl accompanying it. Only to realize Zeta had told them to do so just a few seconds before.  With an awkward shuffle she pulled her hood down over her head to hide and buried her head further into her legs. Good thing you didn't bark it. She thought to herself as she did her best to not show how embarrassed she was, although it would be still very easy just based on how she is hiding.

Carefully she moved her legs to have a small seeing port where she watched the Pepper clan, and the Zeta of the pack throw the chalk off. Where is her wand. She questioned. She should be able to do this by herself, unless she's doing this for dramatic event. At this, Lucinda assumed likely. She did that musical where they try to teach an old man a lesson, so that he can let a frog go home on Christmas to his Frog and Pig family. I wonder if Professor Storm played the old man.

She listened to Zeta's rules and closed her peeking hole through the denim barrier and closed her eyes. This is going to look weird, as far as anyone knows, there are no werewolves here, and the only known ones are the Headmaster and Greer. She shut them further. Ultimately her conversation with the Headmaster only resulted in her knowing she will be babysitted by him on the full moon, she didn't get revealed at the feast. People will think you brought back SAWS for attention.

Felik's curiousity was piqued by Sulwen's ambiguous reply but it was cut short by Zeta calling them out - and then, in a tone that caused the young wizard to raise his eyebrows in surprise, an older Gryffindor did the same. "SHUT IT" she exclaimed. He exchanged an amused look with Sulwen, smirking as the girl hid herself in a hoodie. Here at Hogwarts he was learning that older schoolmates were not always smarter.

Chalk pieces flew across the board, charting out Zeta's rules one by one. Confused, Feliks threw his hand into the air as soon as the redhead looked like she had stopped talking.

"Question!" he was known for asking many inane ones in lessons, so this was probably not a surprise to anyone. "Rule number three is that rules can sometimes be broken, yes? Does that include the first two rules? Or other kinds? Who decides which rules?"

The first two rules were not ones Feliks thought he would want to break anyway. Werewolves were only threats when they were werewolves. He knew a lot of things about werewolves from The Lycan and was keen on being able to use that knowledge in a meeting all about them.

Ayla had been a member of the original SAWS back when she was a mere Third Year, so when she heard that her roommate was reviving the club she was on board. She had arrived early alongside the Peppers and had provided the snacks and drinks for the meeting. It wasn't a good meeting without snacks and drinks, even if everyone had just stuffed themselves at dinner. It was only the polite thing to do after all. She also assured Zeta that they were completely 100% normal snacks, nothing enchanted in sight. She'd leave it to Zeta's words to convince the younger students they had a worthy cause, not her magic.

“Oi, shut your gobs, people!”

Ah, what a wordsmith.

She caught herself before rolling her eyes as everyone seemed to settle down long enough for Zeta to start the meeting. She deftly caught the chalk Zeta tossed at her and wrote the rules out on the board for their new fearless leader. She refrained from asking why her friend hadn't used her wand, having already heard the harrowing tale of how Acrux had stolen it. Ugh, Slytherins. She could have easily used her own wand, but she had prettier writing when she actually used her hands - or at least more legible writing. Writing with magic always ended up looking like calligraphy which just wasn't easy for anyone to read.

Ayla nearly choked when the curly haired boy near the back asked about breaking rules. Leave it to the first years to pose such a question.

Cole slipped in as quietly as possible. She had arrived a little late and it sounded like the meeting was already getting started. She spotted Feliks and Sulwen near the back and slipped into the chair next to her best friend. She gave his hand a quick squeeze to let him know she was there but also to let him know he didn't have to say anything to her and end up getting himself in trouble as the older students were calling for everyone to be quiet.

She turned her attention to Zeta at the front. Earlier she had been undecided in how she felt about the older student given all the drama surrounding the package Feliks had received months before. Now however, after hearing how she had attacked Cole's brother, she wasn't too happy at all. In fact the entire reason she had been late was due to the fact that Kyson had been trying to convince her not to go. She had finally convinced him that she'd be his spy and tell him all about whatever indoctrination the older students were planning. He had relented and she was finally able to make it up to the fourth floor.

She scoffed perhaps a little too loud when Zeta mentioned that one of the core rules was to respect each other. When Feliks asked a rather Feliks question, Cole's sass was turned up to Eleven, "That all depends on how you fancy puking slugs."

”That all depends on how you fancy puking slugs.”

Rigel was next to the chalk board where Ayla was writing the rules down. Feliks, an inquisitive kid with great questions asked the wrong one at the wrong time. A peculiar set of people here in this room. All with their interesting interactions that Rigel watched. Zeta, a proud leader took the stands well enough. He wondered when a good time would be to tell everyone in a joking manner that he possessed her wand.

He saw Lucinda being anxious as she normally was. He felt bad for her. His urge to go over and comfort her and ask how she was doing was strong. Considering how she just shouted at those first years suggested that she had no patience, Rigel needed to lean on patience with his unbridled self control with sarcasm and jokes. Maybe next time.

His arms crossed over his crosshatched white dress shirt, with black suspenders complimenting his wavy and messy hair. Leaning against the chalkboard just as the light misses him, not delegating any unwanted attention. Although he had opted for a spot at the front of the classroom he normally didn’t want eyes on him unless he commanded it.

“Chill Nicola. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction, isn’t that right Zeta?” He stepped forward leaning a bit but fully accepting the light. If anything, Zeta needed him. Rigel didn’t think she could lead let alone command respect or shut it down as he has practiced before. She’d get torn up alive if things got political.

Zeta had been ignoring Rigel Acrux since he arrived. There wasn't any reason for him to be at a SAWS meeting other than to cause trouble with his debates or whatever it was he thought he was accomplishing. Figuring it would only make things worse to try and kick him out, she was opting to shut him out. Pretend he wasn't there.

And then things began veering towards a cliff. Feliks asked a question, Nicola (who also had no business being here) invoked the Kyson-Slug-Affair, and Rigel piped up at her left directly addressing her. More people started talking, but Zeta held up her hands and pointed to everyone in turn, speaking quickly.

"I meant school rules," she said to Feliks almost nicely. It had actually been a fair question. Annoyingly astute. "And we'll decide together, if we have to."

Then to Nicola, Zeta gave her a two finger snake-eyes I'm-watching-you gesture.

Finally to Rigel, she just held up a finger without even looking at him.

Then she sighed. She didn't want this to fall apart of the first day.

"Is anyone actually here to help, or are all of you just trolling?"

She couldn't help but feel slightly deflated. Maybe she'd got this whole thing off on the wrong foot. She glanced at Lucinda again, worried that this was going to get out of hand and that Lucinda would feel more alone than ever.

Sulwen had not been aware that the first meeting of SAWS would be all about helping. She'd thought it might be informative, but it was sounding more and more like anyone who stepped into the room should have already decided their stance and how they felt.

If that was the case, she should leave.

Sulwen glanced at Feliks and Nicola. No one was leaving yet. Not even the Slytherins who were ruder than her, or that odd girl in the hoodie who'd snapped at her for whispering.

After a pause, Sulwen raised her hand.

"May I ask what the objective is?" She spoke a little too quietly in the din of the room. "Besides not segregating."

Segregation was bad, apparently? Maybe? Asking that would fall under no-no number one.

Lucinda listened to the situation break down and started shuddering. She's going to break. And its all your fault.  She shook her head more. There is alot more talking and shouting now, its too close to the full moon. The smells.... She is going to be at fault for Zeta losing respect, if this fails it will all be on her. Let her take the fall. Nothing will happen to you. She shook her head inside her ball again.

Slowly she unfurled from her ball and stood up, she stood up and walked towards Zeta, putting a hand on her shoulder before she looked about the others. "The goal, well I thought that well...with a high profile Werewolf case and them returning... It would work well to help them. Like if there are other werewolves in the school who haven't ever said..." She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, removing her hood so she could freely rub her forehead.

"Atleast thats what I thought. I know Zeta will likely think differently, but...I think its good.." She awkwardly sat her butt back down onto the desk. "So like, we are accepted. But well, if there are others, could be good to have to talk to others about things and get others to understand, help people learn more." She said softly and half curled into her ball, her feet placed on the desk with knees bent, hands holding the sides of her legs and chest half tucked in.