... continued from here

“We can just investigate,” Eta reassured Lucinda, “I imagine she’ll be only too pleased to tell us whatever she knows. She’s a Ravenclaw after all, I grew up with a bunch of them, I know how to deal with Ravenclaws…”

Eta drew the emperor from her tarot deck. Authority, leadership, assertive nature. “A good reminder,” she showed Lucinda as they walked across the lawn by the lake, “we should remain confident and impartial. It’ll be difficult, but we have to consider that Selly’s involved in this ELF thing because she means well.” Eta always tried to see the best in people, even though she lived her life by her divination to the point of obsession.

They drew closer to a bundle of fifth years sprawled on the picnic blankets. “Hey, Selly!” Eta greeted a pretty Ravenclaw with big eyes and clear skin that could only be achieved with pimple potion. “You got a minute?” She inclined her head away from the group, wordlessly suggesting the conversation was better not as part of a large group. Especially if it might go pear-shaped.

"Are you sure you're not a Gryffindor?" She teased, braving the horrors of a Ravenclaw speech, or merlin forbid, telling them they're wrong on something, was something not many lived through, or so she had heard at any rate, she'd not met any survivors.

Lucinda despite the reminder of the card given to her, and meaning to be the Gryffindor of the two, let Eta lead the charge on this, after all she was the one wanting to confront, and Hufflepuffs were people persons, Gryffindors were the ones who took dares on how many marshmallows they could fit in their mouths and still be able to breathe. Sometimes the houses were stacked weirdly against eachother.

"Hey." She said calmly to the other students,  giving a small wave to them as she kept casual. Before moving off to the side with a soft smile aimed at Selly to find a place away from other students for the conversation.

Selly smoothed her long hair back. Stretched a slender leg. Looked about her group on the blankets.
"Sure." She agreed with Eta Pepper. She looked over Eta's shoulder at Lucinda. There were rumours about her. Not just the whole she is a werewolf. That was well past rumour. More like did she want to ask Selly out kind of rumours. Selly was pretty. More people should ask her out. "Probably want to buy some hair potions." Muttered Selly to her friends. She got up. Dusted her skirt down. Not that anything was on it. "What do you need? Pimple potion? Shampoo? I have some conditioner blend that will really sort out that mane." She pointed at Lucinda's hair. Blunt as always.

“Er…” Eta was momentarily flummoxed. Assuming for a second that Selly meant her beautiful crown of red hair, then realising she meant Lucinda and being unsure whether it was an insult or a fact. Selly did make the most wonderful cosmetic potions…

“Not potions, no,” Eta explained hastily before this ended up a spontaneous argument. “We were wondering about those leaflets you were giving out on the train.” Eta tried to keep her tone level, diplomatic. “How did you get involved in ELF?”

Lucinda almost growled in argument with Selly at the comment of her...supposed mane, she was about to rebuff her before Eta stepped in to her defense with the real reason they were there, Lucinda crossed her arms and glared at Selly, not aware of any sort of rumours about herself with Selly, of course she knew of other rumours about herself...they got hard to ignore.

"And why are you helping them?" She added on, a bite in her tone as she tried to hold back more negativity from herself for the moment to not make her instantly flee.

"ELF?" They wanted to ask about ELF? Why were they so awkward? Ohhhh... of course. "Because they are going to find a cure. Is that not wonderful?" Asked Selly. "My brother is researching for them. He's an unspeakable. Fantastic at potions. Prodigy even. Maybe even better than me." She shrugged graciously. She would be better than him. When she got to his age. "You would not have to change every month. You could be free."

Lucy had not read the kind of novels Eta and her sisters enjoyed, detective stories or the like, because she was about to go in all wands cursing. Eta’s hand gently found her friend’s arm to stop her. Selly didn’t seem to notice, and was pleased to share her reasons for being involved in ELF.

“… they are going to find a cure. Is that not wonderful?” She began, and Eta found herself drawn in immediately, surprised at the possibility. “My brother is researching for them…” Selly loved her brother dearly, and Eta knew this. She might have mentioned him, once… twice… fifty times since they had started at Hogwarts together?

“You would not have to change every month. You could be free.”

“Sounds amazing,” Eta began, “but… impossible, surely?” She rubbed her head as it prickled in the sunshine. She should have worn a hat, damn her complexion. “Has he made real progress?”

"Is it against a law of magic?" Asked Selly. "Not one they have found so far." She shrugged her neat shoulders. "He can hardly tell me Eta. He's an unspeakable. Don't you know what that means?" Selly tapped her finger to her lips. "I will be the first to know. I am sure." Selly smiled at Lucinda. "I bet you would love a cure."

A cure, she thinks they're just trying to find a cure, if they were then maybe she could argue for a good thing going on with them, but Lucinda knew it was more then that, she held herself at a distance knowing what she might do if she got much closer to the other student.

"Cure in what way?" She asked her. "I was in one of their camps over the summer. They kept saying they could cure me." She said softly to her.

"Maybe if the same kind of people saying they can cure us, didn't hunt us for centuries they might of made some progress." Her tone turned colder and venomous as she spoke, eyes staring at Ascella Gamp's.

“I imagine,” Eta interjected, looking kindly to Lucinda, “a potion kind of cure,” given Selly’s proud declaration of her brother’s excellence in potions. “But just not yet.” Eta gave a little shrug, flicking her palms uppermost as she did. She didn’t enjoy the tension between her two classmates, but she was not going to dictate what either of them did.

"Yes a potion." Said Selly. What else? She smiled at Lucinda. "They will cure you in the future. You just have to believe. ELF is not about hunting werewolves. Whatever gave you that idea?" She laughed at Lucinda. "You think I would hunt my own classmate?" Even if she did need better shampoo. "Believe it or not the whole world is not out to get you Lucinda." Shrugged Selly.

"When most of the world hates werewolves, they are out to get you." She said softly before taking another step back, how would they even cure it? Sure she was just a student but like, it wasn't like her biology had really changed, nothing would change until the full moon, and she doubted most people would be foolish enough to attempt to try to feed a potion to a werewolf as they were starting to transform.

"What if I don't want a cure?" She asked, her voice somewhat bitter, delicately leaning back where she stood with her arms crossed as she stared at Selly.

Selly laughed brightly.

"Of course you would want a cure!" Silly Lucinda. Who on earth would want to be a werewolf? What possible positives did it have? "To be human at full moon? Not to lock yourself away." She smiled. "You could go anywhere. You would not have to be at the Ministry every time. You would get your life back."

“… You just have to believe.” Selly explained, seemingly absolutely positive about the aims of ELF which Lucinda bristled at the mention of.

“ELF is not about hunting werewolves. Whatever gave you that idea? You think I would hunt my own classmate? Believe it or not the whole world is not out to get your Lucinda.”

“When most of the world hates werewolves, they are out to get you.” Lucinda disagreed. “What if I don’t want a cure?”

Eta was surprised at this. She had assumed Lucinda would want to suppress or reduce her curse. Didn’t she drink wolfsbane? She was so resentful of her condition and how it meant she was treated, Eta had assumed she would want to be ‘normal’.

Selly seemed to believe the same, laughing brightly.

“Of course you would want a cure! To be human at full moon? Not to lock yourself away. You could go anywhere. you would not have to be at the Ministry every time. you would get your life back.”

“I mean…” Eta interjected gently, “It does sound good, if it was reality. I mean, as long as it didn’t have terrible side effects that kind of cancelled out the benefits, right?” She still had her palms upturned, weighing it all up, and looked to Lucy.

"And what if said hurt me? What if it removed my ability to have kids? Or left me crippled? Or in constant pain?" She asked with a soft huff, shaking her head, maybe she was just angry with the group for it, but nothing was ever so simple, and just promising a cure, it seemed like she didn't even care what might be sacrificed for a cure, as long as it was a cure for her.

"I already don't have to be at the ministry all the time! There are other places, and I've met people I probably never would have met." She didn't add how she didn't really talk to them but she has met people from various groups she didn't know.

"And...isn't that bad, after the first few times it feels...freeing a little, sure I still got some stuff but I got more energy, I feel better typically in the day now, and one night a month to get everything out, all your anger, frustration, rage, it feels good." To her anyway, she was finding herself starting to enjoy being a Werewolf, and after the Elf camp, she was finding herself enjoying her life as one more, finding more things to enjoy about it compared to the bad.

"If I could, i would just transform in a forest and run for miles."