Wednesday, around 5 p.m.


Fauna set down the platter of cookies on the table in the hospital hut, hoping the thought of treats would be enough to entice students to tromp through the snow and attend the latest SAWS meeting! Cups of hot cocoa waited for them as well.

She wanted to do something special for Valentine's Day, since it was coming up in a few weeks, and it would be a good opportunity to send out SAWS messages and use the holiday for promotion. The winter mixer had succeeded (despite her own personal drama with her boyfriend), but the only way they would accomplish significant change was if they continued to put plans to action. The mixer had been the first step. Now they had to keep going.

Pouring a cup of cocoa for herself, Fauna leaned against the table and eyed the door anxiously, waiting for students to arrive. It had been a rough month for everyone, but she looked forward to making progress with SAWS again.

The door opened to reveal Pax, who stopped to kick his toes at the door jamb to dislodge some of the snow from his boots before coming inside. He was lugging his satchel with him, which was more weighed down than usual. Looking around, he grinned a little when he realised he was the first there besides Fauna. When he had heard about the latest SAWS meeting, he had made an effort to get there promptly in the hopes of making up for his recent absence from the group. Another way he was hoping to make up for it was the reason his bag was crammed full of books; once he'd got caught up on his homework (Pax needed to do a lot of extra work to keep up in some of his classes since his magical aptitude was below average), he'd been spending a lot of time studying werewolves (and other magical beings) in the Hogwarts library.

'Hi Fauna!' he chirped, closing the door after him to keep out the draught. 'Hope you had a good holiday! Sorry I haven't been around much lately-- I was really busy with schoolwork...' He looked a little embarrassed; Pax hated just giving excuses. 'But, um, I was doing some reading... I brought some books with me, in case they're useful? They're mostly to do with werewolves, but there's some about centaurs and merfolk too...' Pax knew SAWS was dedicated to werewolf rights specifically, since after all they faced the most segregation in society, but Pax worried sometimes about how other beings were misunderstood. It was true that centaurs and merfolk didn't particularly interact with the wizarding world, but maybe that could change if there were more understanding on both sides.

That wasn't that matter at hand right now, though. Pax set his bag down by the table-- and his grin widened as he saw the array of treats. 'Oh, biscuits, brilliant! Thank you Fauna!' He inspected one of the cups. 'Is this hot chocolate? Can I have some?' The prospect of a warm drink was very enticing to Pax, who, being quite small, was still feeling the cold despite being bundled in his woolly jumper and winter cloak.

There was a bitter wind that had caused Daryl's cheeks scarlet, worsened by the irritation of going from freezing temperatures to the comforting warm of the hut. The season hadn't quite mellowed yet and the early evening was still tainted by darkness. The Gryffindor was wrapped up in layers, robes beneath a thick duffle coat and a familiar maroon and gold coloured scarf, and wore a pair of black-rimmed glasses on his head. Although he preferred the freedom of rolled up shirt sleeves and shorts in the summer, there was something about his attire this night that made Daryl feel rather a suave chap indeed.

As the second through the door, Daryl half-stumbled awkwardly, raising his palms in an 'I'm okay' fashion to those who were fortunate enough to witness it, and maybe get a laugh. If nothing else, you could've relied on the boy to lighten the mood through horsing around or a touch of common tomfoolery. His initial anxiousness had arisen from the meeting being with SAWS as it was something which Daryl relied on despite the recent knocks the group had taken publically. The whole fiasco had turned him sour against the powers that be, not only because of the innocence and positive intentions of SAWS but also the way in which the Headmistress and company had taken no prisoners in exasperating the situation. It therefore filled Daryl with a pleasant feeling of hope as he saw Fauna and the young Pax Wintergreen seated already before him. It seemed too, that Fauna had come with items of the edible kind, which caused his eyes to alight.

The first year was a great deal smaller than Daryl, who was stretching out at a very slow pace over the months and stood no more than 5"8. The boy was charming if a little overzealous; Daryl had to swerve to avoid clipping him as he reached down for a cookie. As he was hovering somewhere between child and adult himself, Daryl found it effortless to get along with the first and second year students and often liked to tease them in a harmless way. What seemed peculiar about young Pax was his eagerness to learn and his obvious excitement over the SAWS get-together. The first things that sprung to mind were that he was perhaps one of those kids that scared the bejesus out of you by acting way more mature than people, or rather adults, thought they ought to. The satchel busting with books alone was enough to tug a smile on Daryl's lips.

"Pax." Daryl smiled warmly at him, then turned to the luscious brunette that was Fauna Blake and bowed in a silly, mocking way, "Fauna." As he choked himself taking his scarf off, Daryl flopped down on a seat and took out a bag of jelly slugs to devour along with his cookie.

"Thanks for putting out the word. I would've never have known otherwise. Things are so damn secret around here sometimes." He said, fighting to keep the cookie lodged hamster-style in his cheek in his cheek, and not either in Fauna's hair or Pax's face as he turned to look at him. "Merlin's beard, Pax, either those are some seriously advanced colouring books or I'm lookin' at a child prodigy. Y'know I think you're going to give us lot a showing up today with whatever you've been packin' away in that brain of yours."

Dilly was still staying in the Hospital Hut, while the Ministry tried to figure out what to do with her. So far no one from a respectable wizard home seemed interested in taking on a street kid who might steal the family silver, while the Ministry was worried if they shipped her out to a Muggle home she might give herself away by, let's say, accidentally turning somebody's hair green. Though how she was supposed to do that without a wand she didn't know. Of course  Harry Potter had managed a few things before he got his first wand. But then...that was the famous Harry Potter, not a scruffy street kid.

Of course Dilly wasn't so scruffy these days, in fact she almost looked respectable. Or at least she had, till she'd helped muck out the barn. Actually her clothes weren't so bad. She hadn't got anything on them but a bit of straw, most of which she'd brushed off. However...she almost forgot about her boots. Yes, she'd cleaned them off as best she could, but...they still smelled like manure. Wrinkling her nose, she pulled them off and left them at the back door, then  went to her bedroom and put on her slippers.

Even from upstairs...and over the faint tang of manure which try as she might she could never quite eliminate...she smelled fresh cookies. And hot chocolate. And...she heard voices. Young voices!

The truth is that Dilly was lonely. Yes, Tulo was kind to her, and she'd quickly come to love the horses, and the baby unicorn. She even got on fairly well with Kaylie, though she was smart enough not to put any digits within biting range. But animals weren't the same as kids one's own age. No one from the Muggle school she went to ever invited her home, or sat with her at lunch. Somehow, in that mysterious way kids have, they had sensed right off that she was...different.

The buzz of voices grew stronger as she came downstairs, so she opened the door a crack and peeked in. A couple of the kids she saw looked quite a bit older than her, but there was a boy who looked no bigger than she was. Of course if he went to Hogwarts he must be older, but maybe only a year or so. Dilly was almost ten now. Ten going on twenty, according to her teachers...

Dilly had never been shy in her life. Sauntering right in, she went straight to the goodies table and grabbed a couple of cookies.

"Hi," she said, talking with her mouth full. "I'm Dilly."

Fauna grinned when Pax appeared in the doorway, laden with a heavy bookbag and an abundance of cheer. If only more people adopted his attitude, meetings would probably go so much better. Though at least there were generally enough people for meetings in the first place. That was the important thing.

"It's okay!" She said quickly when he apologized for being absent from the last few meetings. She would have added that 'school came first', but then she really would have sounded like her mother.

"I'm glad you brought stuff, 'cause I always seem to forget," Fauna smiled at him, handing him a cup of cocoa in response to his question.

Stifling a laugh when Daryl tripped through the door, she noticed he too eyed the sweets happily, and felt glad that the house elves had helped her bake cookies for the evening.

"Daryl," she mimicked his tone of greeting, watching with amusement as he brought out a jar of jelly slugs to complement the cookie in his hand.

She was used to seeing Daryl tease the younger years in a playful, friendly way, so she thought nothing of it when he commented on Pax being a child prodigy. Pax was wise for his years. He'd even helped her talk to professor Mainwaring earlier in the school year, and though she wasn't sure she'd ask anyone to brave Professor Storm's office with her, she felt like she could get through it just because she'd managed it before.

When Dilly appeared in her slippers, Fauna raised her eyebrows in surprise, but didn't comment on the kid making a beeline for the food. That's what it was there for. Fauna didn't know much about her, but Dilly seemed nice and might make Pax feel less like the youngster of the group, so she was welcome to stay.

By way of greeting she handed her a cup of cocoa, then perched on the arm of the couch where she had a view of the window. "Anyone hear if anyone else is planning on coming?" she wondered hopefully, not surprised that Daryl had mentioned he'd gotten wind of the meeting through word of mouth. Students kept tearing down their SAWS posters (or doodling on them, but that was another story), but Fauna also tried not to flaunt the meetings too much in front of the Headmistress. That was why they met outside of the castle. The less Snark saw them and was reminded of their presence, the better!

Pax smiled sheepishly into his mug of cocoa at Daryl's exclamations; if the Gryffindor was teasing, Pax was too naive to pick up on it. It felt like approval to him, and since he quite liked the older boy from what he knew of him thus far, it was appreciated, in Pax's self-effacing way. 'I, um, I'm not at all smart or anything like that,' he admitted, not wanting to create a false impression. 'I just read a lot to keep up with everyone else.'

He had been about to ask Daryl how his holidays had been when the little girl entered the room. Well, maybe not little-- a year or two younger than Pax, probably. Pax couldn't remember there being any other kids his age at the last SAWS meeting he'd been to, so he was quite intruiged to see Dilly. Although, judging by the slippers, maybe she wasn't here for the meeting, but rather because she lived here. Pax never had been very good at picking up on the Hogwarts rumour mill... Had anyone said anything about Tulojow having a granddaughter or anything like that?

'I'm Pax, nice to meet you,' he greeted her back, just before Fauna asked if they knew if they were expecting anyone else. Pax chewed his lip in thought, and glanced at Daryl, trying to think if he had heard anything from any of the regulars lately, but nothing was coming to mind. There had been a few times where he had tried to work up the nerve to ask some of the other first years, but not gone through with it. It made him feel like a coward, but he knew that SAWS had a bit of a bad name attached to it these days and he didn't want to get any of his friends in trouble. 'I'm not sure Fauna, sorry... Is there gonna be a lot of stuff to talk about?' Despite what Fauna said about forgetting to bring things, Pax knew his housemate could always be counted on as an ideas-woman.

It was no secret to Kit's friends that she had a budding desire to be some sort of knight. Of a righteous lord, of justice, of her own moral compass, whichever one worked best and presented the ideal situation for her. So of course Kit immediately joined SAWS when it had first come into being. An injustice had occurred and this group seemed to be going about a good way to correct it.

She wiped her shoes before entering the Hospital Hut. True to form, Kit had dressed smartly for the occasion. After all, by her way of thinking one of the best ways for a group like this to have validity was upstanding presentation.

"Good evening," Kit said politely as she stepped in the doorway. She took on of the offered cups of coco and a seat. She didn't sip it, however, decided to wait until the meeting began and let the mug warm her hands. So far the turnout didn't seem to great- some eager younger years (she didn't recognize one of them however, which gave Kit pause), house and year mate Daryl Harrington and of course Ms. Fauna Blake herself.

Of course, Kit was punctual (or at least she liked to think she was) so the assumption was many more would be coming. Or should be coming.

"I'm glad to see another of these meetings," she told the older Hufflepuff with a smile.

It seemed like it had been quite a while since the last SAWS meeting, and Mystique Ketteridge had been absent from that one. Grabbing her coat and heading up towards the ground floor, she saw a couple others heading out ahead of her. Mysti took her time getting to the hospital hut, somewhat enjoying the chilly evening. She hadn’t had much social contact since getting back from the winter holidays, as she was hadn’t been in the best mood.

Having somewhat separated from her boyfriend of a couple months, the hufflepuff girl saw that as a good enough reason to not talk to many people.  But now, Mysti decided she should try to get over it and go to the meeting.  Besides, she only had a couple months left with Fauna before the older girl graduated.  She still wanted to spend time with her friends, and SAWS was a good thing to support.

“Hey, Fauna.” Mysti smiled, and looked around. She also waved to Kit, Pax, the younger girl, and the Gryffindor known as Daryl. “Everyone else. Lovely night, eh?”

Upon seeing the hot chocolate, Mysti moved over and helped herself to a mug.  Then, she settled herself on the couch next to Fauna.

Dion made his way to the Hospital Hut, stomping up the steps and carefully cleaning his shoes and general appearance - getting the wrinkles out of his uniform sleeves, for one - before he entered. Dax might enjoy being a pigsty, but there were ladies present whose good opinions he appreciated. The least he could do was not trudge mud and snow all over the hut. Besides, getting mud all over her floor could possibly him a swift kick in the ass from Tulojow.

He shut the door behind him, and nodded to those already inside - he was a bit later than he'd intended. "Hallo," he said, as he shrugged off his coat and hug it on the coat-hanger. He glanced at the snacks, and his stomach was good enough to remind him he'd cut short on dinner. He headed for the table, flashing Fauna a brief smile before his face went back to its default dour look. "Good evening, Miss Blake, Miss Ketteridge," he said, pouring himself some cocoa. "And you as well, Miss Branwell," he added, nodding politely to Kit. His eyes landed on Dilly - that was officially the tiniest first year he'd ever seen - and stomach somewhat stated by the cocoa, he leaned against the wall next to the food table.

Running in heels through the snow was not, exactly, the brightest idea Sophie ever had. It didn’t help that there was an absolutely avalanche of snowballs following her and she was trying to retaliate every few feet. Her shrieking laughter would have been heard well before the tiny fifth year came into sight. Finally she flung open the door - a stray snowball sailing through, whizzing right by her head. “Oy! An open door is always home base Dearborn! You’re already picking on a girl in a skirt don’t make things worse for yourself,” she was breathless as she stumbled in and slammed the door closed [which was followed by the sound of several slushy snowballs thwacking against the wood]. Leaning against the smooth wood, one hand pressed against her chest as she lowered the hood of her sweater she tried not to shiver too violently. She really should have learned by now that when she ventured outside nothing less than a full parka and boots would keep her warm and that heels were just asking for trouble.

She was trying this whole… looking stylish and somewhat grown up thing on for size. If one entertained thoughts of older boys and getting their attention they could not run around in rompers and fuzzy boots. Finally she caught her breath enough to glance up and grin. Gordic’s Garters! She was later than she thought. Some things about her just never would change and running behind seemed to be one of them. Clearing her throat she glanced at Fauna then around the rest of the room. There was already a fair turn out - and some faces she hadn’t managed to see at the mixer. Of course Astrid wasn’t there yet so she wasn’t actually holding things up. The one worry that was on her mind, legitimately, was that… well this was the first time she knew there was a chance of she, Fauna, and Chance all being in the same room at once.

Sophie, herself, had made up with both of them - but she wasn’t sure where the other two stood with one another. She sighed a little when she realized that Ryker was not yet there, she really hoped he wouldn’t avoid SAWS because of the awkwardness. She couldn’t force him to come but she was a bit worried that he was distancing himself too much from the people who cared most about him. Picking a chunk of snow from her shoe she tried to shake off the worry and flung her wet self against Dion [or maybe it was Dax]’s back in an exuberant hug, “I am a heat-suxzorz! I will be stealing all of your heats,” yes, it was going to be one of those kind of evenings. Sophie would be absolutely useless for all of the silly running around in her brain. It felt kind of good after several weeks of being nearly morose. 

What to do on a dull Wednesday night when there was nothing to do except some homework that could be put off for a few more hours?  Mess with people and maybe cause a little trouble, that's what.

Griselle decided to attend the SAWS meeting only minutes before it began, and this would also be her first time showing up.  Her previous involvement consisted only of drawing lewd doodles on their posters when no one looking--something even she would admit was very immature, but immature fun was sometimes too tempting to resist.  She didn't exactly care much about the group, though she wasn't expressly against it either.  It was there,  It was an easy target, and some of the reactions its members had when seeing their cause stomped on or laughed at

She quickly made her way across the grounds and to the hospital hut, eager to spend as little time as possible out in the bitter cold.  As she stepped inside, she honestly had no idea what to expect--whether the meeting would be incredible dull or really intense.  Though, as soon as she saw the cookies and cocoa, she suddenly felt more optimistic.  Even if nothing interesting happened this evening, at least there was free food.  Griselle gave a smile and a quick wave to everyone in the room before going toward the food and helping herself to a cookie.

Ayla was hoping to slip into the Hospital Hut unnoticed. She had never been to a SAWS meeting before but after spending her entire Christmas Holiday with Lexus she felt she needed to be doing something to help her cousin. After her little foul up in CoMC she had been super conscious about what she said especially in regards to werewolves. She still didn't think anyone would think much of it considering Lexus was her muggleborn cousin from her mom's side and she was sure everyone thought she still lived in Canada.

She shuttered slightly enjoying the warmth of the hut. Conforming to the uniform standards was not making winter any easier to bear. Normally she would never be caught dead wearing a skirt in the middle of winter but ever since the incident in the girls washroom she had been 'acting her age' and dressing accordingly. She pulled off her cloak and put it on the coat rack smiling at those in the room that were all ready gathered. She recognized most of them, the first year and the young girl weren't all that familiar. She grit her teeth as her green gold eyes washed over Kit and wondered if the girl would dare to call her a 'lady of the night' again.

She crossed the room to Fauna smiling at her older friend, "Hey, hope you don't mind I came."

Fauna was just about to reply to Pax's question when suddenly, the door flew open and students walked in. Students! Plural! Fauna perked up and greeted each one: Kit, Mysti, Dion, errant snowball - wait, no - one snowball plus one Sophie Flickwick. Fauna couldn't help but laugh, scooping up the snow so it wouldn't make a mess on Tulo's rug.

And she'd been worried people wouldn't show up.

She sat back down on the couch, eyeing Griselle warily when she walked in. Considering the people Griselle normally spent time with, Fauna was surprised to see her attend a SAWS meeting. But perhaps she had hidden depths. Fauna offered her a smile, deciding it was no use judging her before she'd even done anything to warrant it.

Ayla entered the room, looking frozen, and crossed over to ask her if it was okay that she came. Like Griselle, this was her first SAWS meeting, and Fauna grinned at her, "Sure! I mean, definitely."

Fauna could at least understand her sudden interest, because Ayla's cousin was a werewolf. She'd gotten over Ayla's mistake in Care of Magical Creatures, and was just thankful Lexus hadn't been caught yet. However, that class had partly inspired this meeting. Hearing all those negative comments about werewolves reminded her that even in a classroom setting, prejudice was considered the norm.

Fauna checked her watch and stood up, cradling her mug of cocoa in her hands. They had enough people to start now.

"Okay, um, hi everyone," she cleared her throat, her heart beating a little faster. Speaking up at these meetings was getting easier with time, but the beginning of it, when the room went quiet, was always the hardest.

"Thanks for coming. And, uh, we even have some new people," she nodded at Griselle and Ayla.

"One of the reasons... oh, you guys, feel free to have some cocoa and cookies," Fauna cut herself off, gesturing at the food. "Anyway, um, one of the reasons I thought we could meet is because of this recent lesson we had in Care of Magical Creatures. I know that, you know, not everyone was there, but basically... the topic of werewolves came up, when we were talking about human-like creatures."

She resisted making a face. Werewolves as 'human-like' was a troublesome term. They were humans who transformed into something a few days out of a month. But that was semantics.

"And, what was nice was that the professor actually seemed interested in my opinion," she raised her eyebrows. They all knew Professor O Morain. "But still, I heard a lot of, uh... not-so-nice remarks, even from the professor. Things like the idea that killing a werewolf during a werewolf attack is your best defense."

She paused. "Okay, that might be someone's best defense. It definitely eliminates the danger. But that doesn't mean... I mean, they were so quick to jump to that as a response. And that bothered me."

Fauna frowned, leaning against the back of the couch. "So I thought... maybe we could bring in someone from the Creatures Department in the Ministry, to talk to classes like Defense and Care of Magical Creatures. Sort of to... explain what to do if you're ever attacked. I don't know. Like an expert opinion? Also, we could also bring in someone from that department who might want to talk about the process werewolves go through to register and all that. Just to give people an idea, so they understand how it works, and what werewolves face."

She glanced at Pax and went on, "Pax and I tried doing something like that at the beginning of the school year, when we talked to Mainwaring before he got... before he left. But we never really got a chance, and I don't think Snark would allow a werewolf to even speak at Hogwarts, so... maybe for now, the Creatures department would be good enough."

Fauna looked around the room. "What do you think?"
 

((For any new posters, feel free to RP your character being late, or your character being there the whole time)).

Matty glanced at his watch as he trudged through the snow, it had been an enchanted one that Gabriel had given him for his seventeeth birthday. The watch face changed periodically and currently it was flashing a very angry red LATE! He shook his head and pushed on making it into the hospital hut just as Fauna posed her question. He gave her an awkward look never having done embarrassed very well. He would have been on time if he hadn't stuck around the common room for a few extra moments to catch Addie in a few light kisses. He still didn't know what to do about people knowing about them but he figured it would all smooth out in time and if it didn't well, they only had a few more months of school left anyways.

He bowed his head as he removed his cloak and kicked his boots to make sure he didn't track any snow into the hut. He moved around the room pausing in the center only for a moment to grab a mug of cocoa before receding to the outer edges of the group. He hadn't been as active as he would have liked with SAWS in the past months, having been too concentrated on his school work but he wanted to make an effort to support the group and his friends that were members, especially Fauna. He was still unsure of how she felt about him dating her sister (half sister? Step sister? He still didn't quite understand it)

Matty glanced around the room. He recognized most of the hufflepuffs that were present. Of course there was Fauna one of his best friends and his dorm mate Dion. He was even sure he knew the younger three by name, Mysti, Ayla and Pax if he remembered correctly. He wasn't sure if it was just their nature or if the common room had been the best place for Fauna to advertise but it did seem like there was a high amount of hufflepuffs present. Of course that wasn't to say there weren't students from other houses. He didn't know them all by name but he gave Sophie a warm smile before bowing his head to his mug of cocoa. He had no idea what was wrong with the younger Gryffindor or even what he had done wrong but she had refused to talk to him for almost a month now, ever since her New Years Eve party.

'Wait wait wait wait wait wait what?' Pax stared at Fauna, barely noticing Matty Amherst's arrival, wondering if he'd actually heard her correctly. It was a good thing he'd drunk most of his cocoa, or he might have spilled it in his surprise. 'They said the best way to stop a werewolf is to kill it? A teacher said that?' Pax was appalled, but that didn't come across in his expression as much as his sheer bewilderment. 'How does he expect us to even do that? I mean, we don't even learn lethal spells at Hogwarts... I mean... do we?' His mouth hung agape. He had been wanting to take COMC when he reached third year, but if Professor Ó Móráin was still teaching it by that time, maybe he'd rethink it...

'Not to mention killing should be the last resort. In any situation,' he added, still fuming a little. He was a little idealist, and very much believed in the ideals of his comic-book superheroes, who never took a life if they could help it. 'You're right Fauna, we should definitely get a speaker in. Someone who's worked with werewolves who can tell us what they actually go through.' His voice was a little choked. Pax wasn't very good at hiding when he was upset.