Closed Behind the Curtain

[Sia Tofilau]

Sia had had questions about the magical world since the day Sully had gotten his letter. Well, once she got over the seething jealousy and sense of unfairness. At first it had been the obvious things, how did it work, why was it a secret, what else was out there etc, but as she'd gotten older she started to wonder more about the details. How did the government work, how did the schooling work? Just how different were her brother's lives going to be from hers after being whisked away to Hogwarts?

And then she'd met October and her concerns about magical society had only grown. How isolated and strange it all seemed to her. After hearing the head girl's speech, Sia was almost relieved she wasn't the only one asking those sorts of questions. How much of the trappings of the school were actually bent to helping magical kids and how much was just about doing what had been done before, following some arbitrary rules Sia could never wrap her head around as an outsider. That October and her brothers were subjected to or rejected for not conforming to.

Sia had been waiting for a good chance to talk to the girl after speeches had ended and she'd finished embarrassing Rene as much as she could and she made her way towards her after spotting a break in the crowd. "Hey, I liked your speech," she offered, tapping the girl on the shoulder to get her attention. "Sometimes I feel a little crazy being one of the only ones thinking some of this stuff-" Sia motioned vaguely to the hall, the floating candles, everything, with a hand, "-is a bit off. Like once you get past the dazzling of this whole magic thing I start wondering what's falling through the cracks while you're looking at something else," she said. She hadn't had a chance to properly talk about something like this since that muggle outreach event, and even then it felt more like the Minister and Headmistress had been humouring them than actually helping.

 

[Celia Vuong]

Celia had never wavered in her decision not to invite anyone to graduation. But now that the ceremony was over and her classmates were busy reuniting with their families, she could feel a slight pang. Just an hour earlier, she'd been the center of the room's attention. Now she felt like a castoff. She didn't want to think about how her solitude looked to everyone else, didn't want to think about the assumptions they might be making, and she eyed the exit, wondering if she could slip out unnoticed. She had her diploma (not that she cared about the piece of paper); there wasn't really anything left for her here.

She'd barely taken a step towards an exit when she felt a tap at her shoulder. Celia turned to find an unfamiliar woman. Her expression of confusion quickly turned to one of surprised delight. Celia had known going into her speech that she was unlikely to change any minds. She was going up against an institution hundreds of years old, and no matter how much polite applause she received, she knew the wizarding community was just going to continue sticking their heads in the sand. It was how they'd arrived at this point in the first place. But Celia could tell that this woman wasn't just being polite; she understood.

"Oh, thank you," Celia said, giving her a genuine smile. "I know what you mean. I feel like I've spent the past seven years being gaslit. It's like no one even wants to acknowledge the possibility that there could be issues." She'd never met a group of people so complacent. Why wouldn't you want to improve your circumstances? "I guess everything is just 'good enough' for them." Celia knew she was getting repetitive, but it was so nice to finally meet someone who could see past the smoke and mirrors. "Did you also go here?" The woman had a Kiwi accent, and she seemed to at least have a passing familiarity of Hogwarts New Zealand, especially if the speech had resonated with her.