Ideas Are Dangerous

[October Alcott]

Moments between exams felt strained, and though October had initially not felt as pressured by this semester's exams as last, they were beginning to weigh heavily on her. It felt like she had barely slept in weeks, holing herself up in the library and sitting up in bed until she fell asleep on her notes. There was always more to revise, something else to practice, new things to research further. It was exhausting, and October didn't remember the last time she had really done anything other than study. Her violin and pointe shoes had been sitting neglected by her trunk, and she hadn't spoken to any of her friends in weeks.

One thing had stuck with her though, and spotting an unpleasantly familiar face in the corridor, October was reminded of the Monthly article that had stuck with her since reading it. Normally she wouldn't bother herself with trying to correct someone so misguided, but the thought of what could happen if Hayley's ideas gained traction had stuck with her. The threat that October's family would be under was very real, and she couldn't sit by and not address it, even if it meant potentially revealing a little more than she wanted to to a relative stranger. So October diverted from her planned course towards the library, crossing the hallway quickly and pulling Hayley aside by the elbow. "Hello Hayley, can I speak with you for a moment?"

 

[Hayley Elridge]

Hayley didn't care all that much about her grades, but even so the stress of exam time was pervasive and overwhelming. There was a palpable air of panic in the corridors, and Hayley was trying to avoid them as best she could and find quiet spaces to study, or to escape from study to spend time with her friends. Sometimes they even had 'study' sessions together, although none of them took that very seriously. It was important to get some fun in between studying, though, right? For mental health or whatever. And she was studying, just . . . not very hard.

As Hayley walked away from the library - not the best place to avoid getting more stressed, but books were sometimes important - someone caught her arm. She looked around to see a pretty girl she knew vaguely from classes - what was her name? October? Not Hayley's type, but definitely hot. She looked worried, or maybe annoyed, and Hayley wondered what this was about. The revolution, perhaps? When people she didn't really know were annoyed with her, it was usually about that. But October didn't seem like the type - or like she was in the mood - to sling ignorant pureblood supremacist insults. "Hi October, sure you can. What's the matter?"

 

[October Alcott]

October was relieved that Hayley had agreed to the conversation. Had Hayley refused October would have made sure the conversation happened regardless, but this was much easier. "I read your interview in the paper." Taking the other girl by the elbow, October steered her out of the hallway to a smaller side corridor, with nobody nearby to overhear. "I have some questions about your movement." She said sharply, releasing Hayley's elbow once they were alone. It was difficult to know where to begin, difficult not to simply bark forth all her fury and frustration at the other girl. "Repealing the Statute of Secrecy is your primary goal, correct?" She asked, folding her arms and tossing a curl over her shoulder. It wouldn't do to begin listing her concerns if she wasn't on the correct page about where the other girl stood.

 

[Hayley Elridge]

Hayley was taken aback by October's grip on her elbow, and the harsh note in her voice. She was used to people reacting badly to her these days, but there was an intensity to October she hadn't seen in a while, something cold, unlike the hot ignorant anger of people like the Potters. Still, she did seem to want to actually talk. Hayley hoped she could defuse the girl, but failing that she thought she could probably take her if it came to a fight. "Destroying the prejudice against minority groups in the wizarding world is my primary goal, but I do think that repealing the Statute is the best way to do that." Hayley had decided gradually over the course of the year to place less emphasis on her end goal for now, since it was the part people had reacted worst to, and there wasn't much she could do about it from school anyway.

 

[October Alcott]

October didn't take her eyes off Hayley as the other girl was explaining her goals, keeping her expression as close to neutral as possible. It was difficult though, not to laugh, at how deeply misled this girl was. "Destroying prejudice. Right." October scoffed, then leaned closer. "If you sincerely take the plight of marginalised groups seriously, you'll know how important it is not to tell anyone what I'm about to tell you." October had never, never in her life told anyone about her father, but this situation was serious, and there just wasn't any way she could think of to make Hayley see how serious it was without divulging somewhat. "My father is a werewolf." Just saying the words felt strange. She and Dad didn't even talk about his condition at home so bluntly. But October knew that she had to make Hayley understand. "Now witches and wizards may no longer be creatures of muggle horror stories, but my father very much is. Have you even considered the kind of danger you would be putting people like him in? My father has never hurt anyone. Most werewolves live peaceful lives of fear. We can't even stop our own kind from killing them, didn't you see in the paper that two people were just imprisoned for mass murdering werewolves? They called themselves hunters, these people don't even see my father as human anymore. Your ideas would put thousands of lives at risk. Have you even considered that?" The more she talked, the angrier October got, her words gradually speeding up as she became more and more incensed with the ignorant girl in front of her. It was difficult to cut herself off, eventually snapping her tense jaw shut to stop herself, fury still clear on her features.

 

[Hayley Elridge]

For a moment Hayley just stared at October. No wonder she was so tense. This was the second time someone had made a confession of this nature to her, and it couldn't be more different from the first. When Len had told her she was part goblin, she'd been asking for support, and advice. This . . . Hayley didn't know what to do with this. "Wow. Um." Hayley didn't know what to say, but she didn't get the chance to say anything else before October started on her tirade. She . . . had a point, actually. "Look. This is wrong. Werewolves shouldn't be living in fear, no one should. I want to stop that. And I still think letting muggles know is the way to do that. Like, when I started Hogwarts, magic was new and strange to me. All of it. The notion of wizards existing would thrill muggles, and so would the existence of werewolves. Muggle stories about them . . . they're not horror stories any more. Most of them are pretty sympathetic. And this is a whole new world - all of it would be weird to muggles. To them - to us - to me - it isn't really much of a step from accepting wizards to accepting werewolves." Honestly, Hayley thought it was awesome that werewolves existed, but she'd done her research, and the way they'd been treated certainly wasn't. She couldn't say that to October, but she wanted to make her see - when everything was new and scary, werewolves wouldn't be an exception any more. Repealing the Statute of Secrecy would change everything, level the playing field.

 

[October Alcott]

October had never talked about her father's condition like this, especially not with someone she didn't know, and she was discovering that once she started it was hard to stop. She did though, and listening to Hayley respond, October wished she had kept talking. The girl's ignorance was impossible. "How can you think that?!" She laughed bitterly, throwing her hands up in frustration. "They're depicted as murderous creatures of the night, you can't undo centuries of conditioning! Your ideas are going to get people like my father killed! Wizards might thrill muggles, but even some wizards think werewolves are bloodthirsty and inhuman! And what about other magical races? Vampires? Giants? Muggles will do cruel things out of fear, have you never read about the witch hunts in the sixteenth and seventeenth century? People were burned to death, drowned, tortured, beheaded, just on suspicion of being magical! We went into hiding for a reason! Tens of thousands of people were killed! And muggles are more advanced now, more organised! What do you think would happen if muggles got their hands on the ministry's registry of werewolves and decided to do something about it? If you grew up as a muggle you know the hideous things they've done to each other in the past." It was difficult to stop. The more Hayley talked, the more her arrogance boiled October's blood. "I don't know what you think is so terrible about our society the way it is, but I hope you think it's worth the thousands of lives you're putting in danger. I hope you think it's worth my father's life." There was nothing more to be said. October doubted she could convince someone so bullheaded in one conversation, but hopefully she had at least had an impact, and she could always confront Hayley again if needs be. Tossing her hair over her shoulder she gave Hayley one last glare before turning and storming back towards the hallway, still burning with anger.

 

[Hayley Elridge]

Growing angry herself now, Hayley hurried after, and now it was she who caught October's arm. "Hey! You can't just say a speech like that and then go strolling off!" Hayley drew her back into the little side corridor, and tried to keep her voice down despite the frustration roiling through her. "You had some good points for a while there. You're right, I do need to think more about how the revolution would impact groups like werewolves. But now you're just spouting the same anti-muggle bigotry as all those idiots. You can't acknowledge that muggles are more advanced technologically without acknowledging that their society has advanced as well! I know wizarding society lives in the past, I've seen that, but you can't assume that muggle society does as well, because it's not true." Hayley was sick to her stomach of wizards assuming that muggles hadn't progressed beyond the days of witch hunts, and to hear October, who had been speaking so passionately and thoughtfully about what she knew, spout the same rubbish made her burn with fury. But the thing that really appalled her was the girl's complacency. "And - and how can you say that our society is fine the way it is? You just said people like your father live in fear! Is that acceptable to you? I get that you don't like the idea of repealing the Statute, but I don't see how you can be okay with how things are now. How can you live with the status quo when the status quo persecutes the people you care about? I know I can't! And muggles are far less f***ed over than werewolves!"

 

[October Alcott]

October was finished with this conversation. Entirely finished. There was still anger burning under her skin, and the last thing she wanted to do was spend a second longer with this foolish, irresponsible girl. It took all of her self control not to scream, then, when she felt Hayley catch her arm and pull her back down the corridor. Didn't this girl know when to give up? No wonder she was causing such a ruckus. "Don't patronise me!" She snapped, irritated by the implication that she couldn't possibly know anything about muggle society. "I grew up with muggles, I know what their society is like, and with all their advancements they've still started wars over much lesser issues than discovering that the creatures of their nightmares are real! You're giving them far too much credit, and staking the lives of people like my father on that assumption! Fear of the unknown is human nature, muggle or magical, and how much exactly would you trust a very frightened person with the names of your family and access to enormous quantities of weaponry?" It was difficult to stay focused on her point, as angry as October was, but if Hayley was going to insist on continuing this conversation, she knew she had to do her best to get through to this girl. "I never said that our society was perfect, but it's a lot better than what you're proposing." She snapped, glaring at Hayley. "If you agree that werewolves have it worse than you how about you direct your energies to helping those who actually need it, instead of putting other people in danger because someone was rude to you."