Realistic or Modern Hogwarts: The New Order

[partially-stars]

eden and nova and antigone
#8E6C88 and #246A73 and #785964 ​

The tension and awkwardness between Georgie and Erin was palpable and somewhat entertaining to the onlookers. The confident woman that had walked Tig back to meet her friends seemed to have vanished, replaced by somebody quiet and almost nervous. Tig knew she’d be pestering Jessie and the twins for more information later. And then Erin made a comment in response to Georgie saying Luc had been hurt. Something about… blood purity? She frowned, her stomach twisting painfully. It came with a flash of a memory. Back when she was still trying to get used to her grandmother’s house and when she was still left unattended for far too long, she would occupy her time exploring the big old house. She’d heard a conversation that hadn’t made much sense to her at the time. She hadn’t heard the term mudblood before that. They were talking about getting rid of it for good. Tig, in all of her childhood innocence, had thought they were talking about a dirty carpet or something that had mud and blood on it. She shook her head slightly. No. No, it couldn’t have been. Her family were awful people, and she couldn’t even remember the conversation properly. It had to just be a coincidence.

At the mention of fireworks, Nova’s whole demeanour lit up. She whirled around to Georgie as her three friends chimed in to ask if they could say. Georgie looked lost in thought, but there was something in her expression that made Nova wonder if she was thinking about more than just the fireworks. But Georgie was good at never giving too much away, and soon, her expression morphed into a caricature of thinking, followed by a melodramatic sigh and eye roll. “Okay, fine,” she relented, before grinning. “Let me go back and talk everyone else into this. If nothing else, I’ll see if I can’t get permission for you kiddos to stay along with me, Markus, and Luc. I’ll be back soon, ‘kay?” She headed back in the direction she came, and the others turned to look at Erin.

“So were the Magpies just really sure they were going to win, seeing as you guys went ahead and organised fireworks?” Eden asked with a grin. “Or are you going to write it off as just being good sportspeople?” Nova rolled her eyes.
Spot the Slytherin, always convinced there’s a meaning behind every action,” she teased. Eden pouted in response.
“To be fair, that’s more of an “Eden looking for the gossip and potential blackmail material” thing than it is specifically a Slytherin thing,” Tig added. Eden gave a nod of assent. They’re like a bloodhound. They get a whiff of drama? They will follow it to its roots. It’s actually really impressive.”
“It’s my superpower,” Eden added with a beaming smile. “And the more somebody doesn’t want me to look into it, the more I’m going to look.”
“I’m sure Salazar Slytherin would be proud of you, you know. Once he got over the whole… halfblood thing. And the you-wearing-skirts-to-Potions-to-give-the-dickhead-professor-a-heart-attack thing. He’d be proud in his own weird way.” Tig had to reach up a little to rest an arm on their shoulder, but she was so used to doing it that the movement still looked perfectly natural.
“Ha, no he wouldn’t. Literally everything about me would give that old bigot multiple heart attacks and that gives me the motivation to keep thriving.” There were a handful of the old breed of slytherins still around, the ones that seemed to genuinely believe they were better by nature of their blood. They hated everyone who wasn’t them, which often included gender and sexuality. And every time Eden walked into the Three Broomsticks and they flinched and averted their gaze, Eden gained another year onto their life.

"So yeah, if you’ve got any secrets to hide, best either know you’re really good at keeping them, or don’t let slip around this gremlin, because they will find it out,” Nova said, ruffling Eden’s hair.

 

[Saracen_Rue]

Jessie Carter - #53966E - & - Haylen Chambers - #691307 - & Cas Chambers - #BF9C41 - & Erin Monaghan -#8c8787

Jessie could have sworn, that for even just a moment of time, that Erin seemed to be genuinely nervous, and even a bit hopeful, even if on the outside no one would have possibly even considered those emotions. She remained so stone walled in appearance, but Jessie knew her cousin all too well, and knew how to look for even the smallest of micro-expressions, and she managed to see it. Even if just for a moment before disapearing again as Georgie eventually relented to Erin's request for just a little more time with all of them. Jessie knew that even deep down, it wasn't just Jessie and the twins that Erin wanted to be around and see. She couldn't have imagined how much it much have painted her cousin to lose her friends, especially considering...well, it didn't exactly seem that Erin really had any now a days. Not like the kind of where she would retell stories of some grand tales of old. Not ones that made her eyes light up even for just a few seconds before mellowing out again. And it made Jessie's heart break for her cousin, knowing that even some of her other blood, didn't have people like that anymore. It must have been so terribly lonely, even if Erin never showed it...

Looking back at Eden as he piped up after Georgie was a good distance away, and asked if it was truly hubris on the Magpies end that they had the whole fireworks show in mind. Jessie couldn't help but roll her eyes and even sigh a little bit at such a question, "Straight forward as ever I see, Thomas." Cas piped in with a small smirk of their own.

"That would be the only straight thing about him, too." Jessie chided back, giving Cas a small wink in her cousin's direction, which was only returned in kind, but not before having rolled their eyes initially. That comment however had caused a small raise of an eyebrow from Erin, which Haylen managed to catch, his face turning a slight shade of red for the briefest of moments.

"Can we just get back to the question asked, you two?" Haylen somewhat bursted, before looking back at Erin, trying to not let any sign of agitation show. Or was it jealousy?

Erin couldn't help but chuckle at the pure chaos that unfolded, even just the slightest bit confused at the start, before reeling her mind back to what was asked at the start of it all. Erin took a moment before collecting herself properly, she was the adult here and had to act like it, "Uhm, if you can believe it or not, it was meant to be in good faith. We wanted to show you all off with the most sparkling of goodbyes-"

"Okay, well we know that's not entirely true." Cas blurted out, knowing that at least half of that was bullshit.

"Well damn." Erin huffed, crossing her arms playfully, "But to be fair, it wasn't really my idea, least not at the start." she looked over at the twins as she continued, "You can thank your sister for that. You know she can't stop herself from wanting to have a good fireworks show." she chuckled, before looking back at Eden and Nova, "Well I'm glad to know that someone is still carrying on some old traditions when it comes to pissing off some bigoted teachers at that place."

"What do you mean?" Haylen asked, head tilted to the side. This time genuinely curious for what Erin had to say, especially if it had to do with her time back at Hogwarts.

Erin couldn't help the half grin that formed on her face, "Well, you all know Lucian. He was basically the same way, no less. Nail-polish, skirts, growing out his hair or even just using his ability to shape shift appearances. The teachers hated whenever we did that shit. Especially since there wasn't that many of us openly gay kids back then." she sighed for a moment before giving a small shrug, "People didn't exactly take very kindly to that sort of stuff, even just ten years ago but...I'm guessing they've come around even just a little bit more toleratable?"

"You mean you...you weren't out back then?" Jessie asked, head tilted slightly, "I thought-"

Erin gave a small chuckle and shake of her head, "Oh Merlin's beard, no. I may not exactly have done the best of hiding it but...I wasn't out until like...I dunno, three years ago? If you can even really call it that..." her voiced dipped a moment, before she gave a small shrug, "You know how it is, but...I dunno, it's all just bullshit in the end anyway, I don't see why it matters." pausing for a moment, before Erin began to look through her coat pocket's, "Anyway, since it seems you all are gonna be here a little longer..." Erin finally found what she was looking for, and pulled out six bottles of butter beer, handing them out to the six of the students, "Honestly the most handy charm I've ever known." she gave a small chuckle before retrieving a small bag of sweets for herself, "The teacher's always hated whenever we would sneak things into class this way, can't really do much when our robe pockets are enchanted with basically an endless pit."

 

[partially-stars]

eden and nova and antigone and lucian and georgie
#8E6C88 and #246A73 and #785964 and #0B7a75 and #F44174​

Eden's face lit up with a devilish grin as Erin talked about how Lucian had used his magic in exactly the same way as Eden did. It was nice to know that he wasn't the first to challenge the status quo; even if it sounded like it was a lot harder back then if Erin hadn't even been out then.
"Georgie was out when she was in school, though, wasn't she?" Eden asked. "She was one of the first pro players to be openly gay from the moment she started playing, and she started playing pretty much immediately after leaving school."

"It's easier for some people than others," Tig replied. "Georgie's one of the most stereotypical gryffindors I've ever met, and a muggleborn. Half the school thought she didn't deserve to be here based on that alone, so it's not like being gay would have changed that. She probably would have seen being out as an extra middle finger to the bigots." As Erin reached into her pockets and pulled out a few bottles of Butterbeer, Nova gasped from behind her in delight.
"I use that charm too!" She yelled, her excitement causing her to forget what an appropriate volume would be. To prove her point, she reached into her pocket and pulled out an almost comically large stuffed Hippogryff. She tucked the plushie under her arm as she accepted the bottle of Butterbeer and took a mouthful. "We still use it to sneak snacks into class, you'll be delighted to know. Professor Vasco pretends not to notice but some of the others get really annoyed, it's kinda funny."
"Once again, I think that's Ravenclaw bias, because he definitely minded when I used it during class."
"Tig, you snuck in your full breakfast from the dining hall."
"Yeah, and he should have been impressed with that!"

"Oh, that bickering sounds oh so familiar," Lucian called as he approached. There was a moment where he almost hesitated on seeing Erin, but stayed sauntering up to them. Georgie wasn't long behind him, grinning. "We're the adult supervision for these curfew breakers," he added. "And I think Vasco was also supposed to stay, but wouldn't be surprised if he decided that these gremlins were just too much to handle and went running back to the castle."
"More like he didn't want to stay up past his own bedtime," Georgie added.
"Also a possibility."

"Erin was telling us about some of the shenanigans you guys got up to when you were in school," Eden said. "I hear I'm not the first to pull some gender fuckery to piss off the dickhead teachers?"
"Oh god no. That was my favourite trick back in the day. I had a teacher lose their shit at me because I was applying my eyeliner in the middle of class, only to turn around and summarise everything they'd said perfectly, so they couldn't say shit to me. It was glorious."
"So you were out as well," Tig asked. Luc nodded with a shrug.
"I don't think I would have been physically able to hide the gay. It worked in my favour when people tried to gossip about me though. Like, "Luc's gay? What's next, water is wet?" It forced them to get way more inventive with the shit they said."
"That's not even an exaggeration. Meanwhile I was in fourth year when I realised that people existed who weren't gay," Georgie added. She and Luc shared a look and bit back smiles.

"Oh! I think the fireworks are starting!" Nova called, whirling around in the direction of the pitch. The others all turned to look, gasping in delight as the colors began to fill the sky.

 

[Saracen_Rue]

Jessie Carter - #53966E - & - Haylen Chambers - #691307 - & Cas Chambers - #BF9C41 - & Erin Monaghan -#8c8787

​

Jessie had seemed to be nearly off in her own little world, as she appeared to be focusing on something that wasn't the present, which had caused a slight eyebrow raise of confusion from Cas as they managed to look in her direction and found their cousin very distracted. Even after all these years, Cas still sometimes swore they never really knew what was going on in Jessie's head all the time. It was like something else was taking her mind from what was happening now in front of her, and to somewhere else. And that was saying something, as Antigone was one of the few seer's in their current year, and it only seemed like Cas had an easier time understanding her more than their own cousin, it was odd. And it only seemed to be getting worse, and it was safe to say they never completely stopped worrying about her.


It was only when Nova brought up how she thought it was odd how not everyone would be able to be out about being queer, even if it had only been a decade prior. Jessie was about to open her mouth and start speaking, that was until Antigone spoke. Essentially saying the same things she was about to say, hells, Jessie knew how true that statement was. She could never forget those first two years after she came out and her father caught wind of it, and hadn't even acknowledged her existence that entire time. Granted, she easily preferred being ignored by her father than facing his fury of how he would have reacted if he could have been present more in the Carter house. She knew things would have been much, much worse. But at least now he still only really ignores her and her cousins, unless he needs something from them, of course. Besides, it wasn't like Jessie and most of her family weren't queer in some matter themselves, anyway. Her two twin cousins both being nonbinary and well who knows what when it came down to their preference, Erin and her glass closet, her own older sister was bisexual, and Jessie even knew her own mother was as well. So it wouldn't have been just her being the odd one out. And in a way, it helped. Knowing there were others like her in the family, and of course when she met all of her eventual friends. At least they had each other.

"Speak for yourself-" Cas playfully chimed in on the rabble of sneaking things into class, "What about the time that me and Hayl snuck in a few Flobberworms into Herbology class-" they said with a chuckle.


Haylen shivered with the memories that came rushing back at the thought, "You mean the time that I was still cleaning out mucus from my robes for two weeks after that? Professor Sprout wasn't very amused with that either..." Haylen shivered again, he could swear he could still smell and feel the worms in his pockets, disgusting.


"Well you were the one that had put them in your pockets and then forgot and sat down-" Jessie added in, a look of disgust on her face as well as she recalled the scene that unfolded as a dozen magical worms crawled about the greenhouse.


Haylen had raised his hand to speak, that was until two other figures had made their way over to the small group. He gave a small smile to both Lucian and Georgie, giving a small 'hello' to the both of them. Noticing that one of the three was missing, Professor Vasco wasn't with them? And as if reading his mind, Lucian spoke up about their missing Professor. Giving a small chuckle as he did so.
There was a small pause of silence as the conversation quickly devolved into chaos from the cousins and friends that Erin found herself surrounded with, and was more than delighted to stay around longer. Until a shiver went down her spine when she heard all too familiar voices right beside them. She could feel a knot begin to form in her stomach as she glanced at both Lucian and Georgie, she hoped the energy now wouldn't have been the same as it was earlier that evening. And much to her surprise, but also relief, any tension seemed to be gone. At least for now. It didn't take a genius for her to know why Markus wasn't with them, why he had most likely gone back to the castle with the others. What Lucian and Georgie said was true, yes, but only to a degree. She would need to apologize to him at some point, she just wished it wasn't already too late...She knew she had already fucked up once. Per usual.


At the mention of Lucian having pissed off some of their old teachers, Erin couldn't help but chuckle a little as the memories came flooding back once more. Remembering how easy and fun it was to annoy certain teachers they once had. "Wasn't that Professor Halliwell's class to? The one for Transfiguration back then? Ironically enough. He always was a piece of work, in the worst way." she gave a small shrug, looking around at her cousins, "Wouldn't be too much of a shock to you all if we said we were some of the first that really started to make a change there, would it?" she gave a small, playful smile at the students, just in time as there was a loud boom overhead, as the fireworks began.

--

It was a few minutes later as Erin had led the group to one of the areas of the stadium where the group could sit and have a proper view of the fireworks show. It was up high on one of the seating arrangements, as close to the VIP box as one could get for Quidditch games. Erin had waited a few minutes more while the group got settled in, and made sure that the students had been all but too busy with the fireworks, that she leaned against the metal railings that kept anyone from falling over. She glanced through her periphrial that she mumbled something under her breath, and a dull silence had fallen over them, even with the booming of the fireworks could be heard. Muffled, but heard nonetheless. It would have only been detectable by any wizards and witches that knew to look or even hear for it. "Figured I could use this time to talk with you two..." she started, her voice relatively soft but still able to be heard.


The magic only worked on who the witch wanted it to. "I also put up an illusion spell as well, so they won't be able to hear anything we say, let alone see use talking. You know how it is." it was an all too familiar mix of spells the four of them had always used when they were younger, especially if they didn't want any teachers or nosy fellow students over hearing. "I just...I just wanted to say that I...I am so fucking sorry, for everything. If I could go back and change certain things I...I absolutely would. I never meant to hurt any of you like that back then, and not now it's just..." she took a moment to collect herself, "It's complicated and it's a lot but...I just need you two trust me when I say, that everything I did back then and now...I didn't have a choice. I'll answer whatever I can just, just please understand I can't answer everything, okay? But I will, best of my ability. I owe you both that, at the very least. And then only ten times more. Not asking for your forgiveness just...Maybe some understanding?" she looked at the two of them for a moment, before glancing in the students direction, "For a better chance of a future for them? But if after this, none of you want to ever speak to me again, I'd get it, trust me I really do."

 

[partially-stars]

eden and nova and antigone and lucian and georgie
#8E6C88 and #246A73 and #785964 and #0B7a75 and #F44174​

Luc and Georgie let the kids settle into the seats, while they took up their post against the railings, out of the way but still with a perfect view. Out of a combination of sheer physical exhaustion and some kind of desire for comfort, Georgie found herself leaning into Luc. He didn’t respond or move, but they’d been friends long enough for her to know that that in itself was a sign he didn’t mind. He had to be tired too, and he’d been rattled earlier; so he probably needed it as much as she did.

But it meant that when Erin started to speak quietly to them, Luc could feel Georgie stiffen slightly. She’d decided on civility earlier when it came to Erin, but this felt like crossing a line. They couldn’t just be opponents with a shared past any more, it seemed. Perhaps Georgie could have survived with that dynamic. But acknowledging the wounds that happened seemed to endanger the healed scars. Like if you pressed too hard, they’d rip themselves open. Luc didn’t outwardly react at all, and Georgie didn’t know how to read that. Was he getting lost in whatever ghosts still haunted him from all those years ago? Or was he simply willing to hear her out?

“You owe us one hell of an explanation before we can even come close to understanding you and everything that happened back then,” Georgie muttered back in response, her anger flaring at the memory of how Erin had not only embarrassed her, but how she’d abandoned Luc. They’d been like siblings back in the day, and yet in the aftermath of the ball, Erin hadn’t seemed to get involved with any of the search attempts for him. Admittedly, it wasn’t like Georgie had wanted to voluntarily talk to her at the time, so perhaps there had been attempts Georgie didn’t know about. But either way, she hadn’t gotten involved in any of the big ones. She hadn’t been at McGonagall’s door begging to be allowed to go see him in St Mungo’s the minute they got word he’d been found. “And I find it hard to believe that you couldn’t have slipped me a note. We still had a year and a half of school left together, after all.”

“I wrote you a letter. And you didn’t respond. In all these years, you never responded,” Luc said, his voice quiet but carrying through the noise of the fireworks all the same. He was staring out at the fireworks, but not watching them. “If you don’t have a choice in your actions now, how can we trust you?” The question hung in the air, so heavy it was almost tangible.

“We all know the tournament is majorly fucked this year. So working together to keep the kids safe mightn’t be the worst idea in the world. But only as long as you can swear on your own life that you are trying to keep them safe. And I swear to god, if anything happens to them, and there’s even a chance you’re responsible…” If looks could kill, Georgie would have been charged with manslaughter. She glanced back over her shoulder to the kids. They seemed none the wiser to the conversation going on beside them. Nova was still holding the comically large hippogriff plushie, and every so often, she’d turn and say something to Jessie and laugh. Eden was changing the colour of his hair to match the fireworks, making Tig laugh. Tig had produced toffee popcorn out of somewhere and threw some at Haylen to get their attention. “They’re what matters right now.”