More Alike Than Not

[Tristan Collins]

Tristan knew that he was getting slightly obsessive over this whole pureblood thing, and that it perhaps wasn't entirely healthy, but he also felt like he needed to understand it more. He wanted to know why a person like that Howard girl could be so casual about calling people mudbloods and accepting that they're lesser. At least Rory had seemed to understand what he was saying was wrong, but as long as some kids his own age didn't see it as bad, he knew nothing would change.

The professor had reassured him slightly, but only slightly. So now he was on a mission to understanding what these prejudiced parents taught their kids so he could suggest some way of countering it. He wanted to change things, though he wasn't sure who to approach about it. Professor Kingsley had seemed nice, but not entirely like someone that completely understood.

The stack of books in front of him wasn't as big as he had hoped. It seemed like at least the castle didn't provide any books that outright preached the prejudice against Muggle Borns. The closest he had found was an old outdated book that listed old pureblood families and a book about the rise of Pure Blood prejudice in the eighteenth century. He was flipping through the second one, already wondering if he was wasting his time, when he saw something interesting. A paragraph that detailed how common it was for families to simply pretend to be pure, even though they had several family members that had married muggles or non-pure wizards and witches. If that had been prevalent back then, it could only be more common now. He wondered how 'pure' those families really were. He still found it weird that it was considered better to have pure blood, he was at the top of his class and he was muggle born, it didn't seem to him like purebloods were any better at magic.

 

[Hayley Elridge]

Hayley walked into the library, brisk and impatient. She was so done with Slytherin. The atmosphere was so horrible she couldn't even study there; all the casual backstabbing and disdainful glances in her direction. So many of the other Slytherins thought it disgraceful that someone with her blood status should be allowed into this school, let alone into their noble house of *******s. She was sick of fighting them, but it made her so angry that she couldn't resist. Mudblood. Pureblood. It was just racism under another name. Neither should exist in this century, but it seemed the wizarding world was even more backward than its Muggle counterpart. On the other hand, what could she expect from people who still used quill pens?

Hayley didn't really want to study, but even she felt that she should probably get some work done. And as she really couldn't concentrate anywhere in the dungeons, and all her friends were in class anyway, the library seemed the most logical place to go. She strolled into the study area, looking for a free table.

She didn't notice that her shoelaces were untied until it was too late. Hayley tripped. She threw her arms out in an attempt to regain her balance, but only succeeded in knocking a book off the edge of the table she was passing. She sprawled on the floor. "Sh*t. Ow. Sorry." Hayley got to her knees, and gathered up her books, then reached for the one she'd dislodged to return it. It was only then that she realised what it was: a list of pureblood families. "Oh. Actually, you know what? I'm not sorry. Not if you're one of the sort of people who read that crap. It deserves to be on the floor." She tossed the book away from her, under the table, in disgust, and looked up at the boy who'd been about to read it with venom in her gaze.

 

[Tristan Collins]

Tristan was pulled out of the book he was reading quite abruptly when a girl tripped, knocked the other book off his table and cursed quite loudly for someone in a library. He wanted to ask her if she was okay, but before he could start his sentence she had seen what sort of book he head been looking at and drawn a quick conclusion. He was amused by her immediate and passionate reaction, feeling an instant kinship to this girl even though she was still glaring daggers at him. He didn't show it on the outside as much, but the way she reacted to the book was how he felt inside whenever he saw evidence of prejudice alive and well at school. Though, there was a tiny shameful part of him that kind of enjoyed being taken for a pureblood, it meant he didn't look like he obviously came from the muggle world, at least not to this girl. Still, he definitely wanted to disillusion her of the notion that he was anything like those awful people that judged others based on their blood. His lips quirked into a smile as he looked at her. "I quite agree, actually. I was doing some research, trying, and failing, to understand these kinds of beliefs after encountering them one too many times." He held out his hand, both to help her up and to introduce himself. "I'm Tristan Collins, and believe me, you won't be finding my name in that book. I've got the dirtiest blood on this side of the library, at least if you listen to these backwards fools." He looked her over, recognizing her vaguely from his year. "You're a Slytherin, aren't you?" He didn't want to say it, but he had noticed that most of the kids that thought calling people mudbloods was acceptable were from that house.

 

[Hayley Elridge]

Hayley nodded awkwardly, embarrassed at having leapt to conclusions. She'd been so riled up, so ready to take arms at the smallest slight, that she'd snapped at someone who didn't deserve it. "Oh," she said sheepishly. "In that case, I am sorry. I'm a mudblood too. I just get so angry at all this" - she gestured to the book. Hayley had taken to using the word mudblood, aggressively, since so many of the people who looked down on her for her blood seemed to think that if they didn't use the rude word it was somehow more acceptable. Besides, mudblood was so much catchier than Muggleborn.

She took the hand he offered and got to her feet. "I'm Hayley Elridge, and yes, I am a Slytherin. That goes about as badly as you might imagine." Hayley slid into the chair across from Tristan and reached down to tie the offending shoelace. "Dunno how I got landed in the house full of people who'd rather I didn't exist, but it really sucks." She glanced at his open book thoughtfully. It had never occurred to Hayley to research this situation, partly because she wasn't the type of person to wade through books like that in her free time, and partly because she'd received far more information than she wanted to know from the purebloods in her house. It wasn't nearly so difficult as some of them thought to catch the meaning behind their veiled references, though she wished more people would be honest enough to admit they thought she was scum. "How's the research going, then?"

 

[Tristan Collins]

Tristan was glad that the girl had believed him, he would rather not argue with anyone in the library and risk getting kicked out. He also wanted to make more friends that were in a similar situation as he was. He couldn't help the way his mouth twisted in distaste when she called herself a mudblood, though. He didn't think he liked that. It was bad enough that the others did it for them, why do it yourself? His voice was slightly cooler when he talked again. "Nice to meet you Hayley."

He felt bad for her for being in Slytherin, it seemed like the least tolerant house. Hufflepuff wasn't everything, honestly, but at least most of the people were nice. Sometimes too nice. "That sucks, I'm glad I'm not in Slytherin. Though I've already met one Hufflepuff that quite enjoys calling people mudbloods, so you aren't really safe in any house." He sighed. "Research isn't going great, honestly. Nothing I've found so far has really explained to me why they spread his idea. Aside from the obvious superiority complex. I just want to do something about it, since it doesn't seem to me like the professors are doing a whole lot." He paused. "Unless you have a different experience on that front?"

 

[Hayley Elridge]

Hayley noticed the way Tristan flinched when she said the word 'mudblood', and made a mental note that she would need to be more polite if she was to make a friend here rather than yet another enemy. Making hypocritical purebloods uncomfortable was one thing; making potential allies uncomfortable was quite another. Hayley never really bothered to watch her mouth, but that didn't mean she was incapable of doing so.

"Yeah," Hayley said glumly. "It's ridiculous how common these horrid attitudes are." Admittedly the only specific incidents she could call to mind were with Slytherins, but then, those were the bigots she was forced to spend time with. "I think . . . reading between the lines in History of Magic ('cause of course they're not going to give us any useful information about this outright), it originated back when people were still being burned for witchcraft and distrusting Muggles was a survival tactic. These days it's definitely just a superiority complex." Hayley had paid more attention in HoM than she'd ever have expected to give to a history class, in the hope of finding some explanation. "I haven't actually tried talking to any of the professors." In Hayley's experience teachers were never much use in dealing with bullying, but she wouldn't mention that to Tristan; he was clearly so much less cynical than her. "I wouldn't know who to talk to. It seems like the sort of thing for a head of house, but Professor Styx is . . . not exactly approachable." In fact, she suspected he was just as prejudiced as the other Slytherins. Such attitudes seemed so prevalent in the house that she didn't hold any optimism about its leader. "I totally agree we should do something about it, though. Any ideas for the revolution?"

 

[Tristan Collins]

Tristan sighed. "It really is ridiculous, it's like some medieval idea that these people just keep feeding to their kids. I mean, this girl in my house didn't even seem to grasp it was a horrible thing to say. She was all confused about it, but didn't mind saying it over and over." He rolled his eyes. "I'm glad I'm not in Slytherin at least. No offence to you. But if you see a guy named Lycus anywhere around, feel free to trip him for me." He frowned."Or a guy named Rory for that matter, there's a lot of jerks around there."

Her theory about the origins of the hate was somewhat interesting, but it didn't feel relevant anymore. "Maybe that was the excuse back then, but they aren't calling Muggles mudbloods, we aren't muggles." Tristan was already feeling quite far removed from that world. As much as he wanted to help muggleborns, a large part of the reason why he hated being judged for his heritage was because he hated being lumped in with muggles. Voicing that out loud, however, would make him sound just as bad as these purebloods they hated. That was the worst part, a small part of him could see where they were coming from. He couldn't admit that to this girl though.

"I've only spoken to Professor Kingsley when she sort of came to my aid." He said with a shrug. "She seemed pretty outraged about it, but I don't know if she would do a lot. She's not either of our Head of House." He sighed. "Styx is terrifying, you can say it. And our house just got a new Head, who knows what she's all about? She teaches divination, so I'm not very hopeful for a very down to earth person." He shouldn't judge someone like that, but he couldn't help it. "No offence if you're about that sort of thing." He added, he didn't want to alienate this girl, but divination was not his cup of tea. "I don't have any ideas yet, and revolution sounds..." He paused. "Well, it sounds good, but maybe a tad extreme. People would balk at a term like that. I think we should be more subtle." Something told him this girl wouldn't know what subtlety was if it hit her in the face, but it was how he worked.

 

[Hayley Elridge]

Hayley made a face. "God, yeah. I've met Lycus, he's horrible. That little poop was my first introduction to pureblood nastiness. Started telling me about how I had no right to be here at the welcoming feast." She scowled at the memory. Fresh off the Sorting Hat's stool, she'd sat down next to Lycus purely by chance and innocently tried to make friends. He had been a rude awakening. "I haven't met Rory," she added, "but there are more than enough Slytherin jerks to go around." She hoped she wouldn't meet Rory. Having a Gryffindor Rory who was a friend and a Slytherin Rory who was an enemy wasn't something she liked the idea of having in her head.

Hayley nodded. "Yeah, it all seems too long ago to have this much relevance now. There's more hangover of those ideas than just hatred of Muggleborns, too. I mean, look around. This school is like something out of another century." Hayley had seen modern ballpoint pens, and electric lights, in Rose's house, so clearly there were magical people who weren't so old-fashioned, in attitude or technology. "And actually, the whole idea of keeping the existence of magic secret from Muggles . . . Is that necessary in modern times, or is it outdated too?" She probably shouldn't have said that to Tristan - he didn't seem the type for such controversial ideas - but the thought had just occurred to her and enthusiasm overtook prudence.

"Nah, it's all right," Hayley hastened to reassure Tristan, "Divination seems pretty waffly to me too." She hadn't really considered it before, but she disliked the implications of predestination that came with it. Hayley would make her own future, not let some crystal ball make it for her. "Hey, calm down. I was only joking about revolution." In truth, she had been half-joking, but the more she thought about it the more Hayley felt that some kind of revolution was the answer. The wizarding world needed major social change to bring it out of the dark ages. And if the rest of the world - the Muggles - knew, couldn't the communities benefit each other? Wasn't it time for magical people to stop living in secrecy? To accept that Muggles weren't going to murder them for existing any more, and that they were people too? Hayley needed to think about this, to discuss it, but she obviously couldn't do so with Tristan. "Seriously, though, do you have any ideas beyond 'subtle'?"

 

[Tristan Collins]

Tristan sighed when she said she knew Lycus. It seemed like he wasn't shy about his opinions. Not knowing Rory made sense, since he was older than them. "Avoid a third year with a Scottish accent and an arrogant face if you would like to keep it that way." He told her, shrugging.

Tristan didn't really mind the old fashioned technology of the school, but he had also never made the connection between that and the medieval ideas about blood purity before. He kind of liked that they had classes in an old castle with lanterns to light the hallways. Though he did hate to write with a quill. Her talk about the magic secret from muggles made him frown slightly. He didn't see why they had to go that far. "I don't see why that would have to change, it's best to keep the worlds separated I think." He crossed his arms. "Can you imagine the chaos? There might be real, literal witch hunts. Not to mention muggles behaving like idiots and expecting wizards to fix things. It would just make the purebloods hate people like us more. I'm sorry, but I don't think most muggles are equipped to deal with this information.

Tristan raised one eyebrow slightly when she claimed it was just a joke. Sure. He shrugged. "I don't have any ideas right now, no. I didn't come prepared to this discussion with notes. Let's not forget we are both twelve, and this isn't something that we can have much influence on anyway. Not until we're adults with a reasonably high position in the ministry. And even then, laws take years to change and fade away." This conversation was definitely interesting, but Tristan couldn't really decide if he liked Hayley or not.

 

[Hayley Elridge]

Hayley nodded. "I generally avoid any Slytherins I can manage to, anyway." It was pathetic that she had to avoid her own house mates like this; weren't houses supposed to be safe, supportive spaces? No hint of that here. Hayley spent as little time in Slytherin as humanly possible, and kept to herself in the dormitory.

"Don't you think society has progressed beyond literal witch hunts by now?" Hayley paussed, considering. "Yeah, probably not. But . . . I think it could make things better in both worlds. Like, if wizards could move beyond medieval technology, that'd be good, right? And magic could be used to fix Muggle stuff, and that'd be good. And if Muggles knew, it'd be a hell of a lot easier for people like us to adjust. Maybe purebloods couldn't be as mean, 'cause they wouldn't know who we were." She didn't think that last point had actually made sense, but the rest of the idea was developing further and further.

Hayley smiled at the idea of coming to the discussion with notes. That wasn't what she'd meant, but it was amusing, and clearly Tristan did have some ideas, if he was talking about positions at the Ministry. "Yeah, I know, we're only second years, we're pretty much at the bottom of the pecking order." She sighed softly, and looked down at the table. "It's not like we can change anything at the moment." But as he said, the time would come when they could. Hayley couldn't see herself working at the Ministry, but if Tristan was serious about that it would certainly be useful to have friends in such high places. If they could actually be friends. It was nice to meet a fellow Muggleborn, and he'd given her some interesting things to think about, but Tristan rubbed Hayley the wrong way. He seemed so invested in maintaining the status quo, despite the inequality they were talking about.

 

[Tristan Collins]

Tristan snorted. "No, I don't think society has progressed beyond witch hunts actually. I feel like it's a miracle we're still hidden in this day and age anyway with the way people document everything. I think muggles as a whole wouldn't be very happy with a group of strange and powerful people in their midst. Fear and ignorance is a bad combination." He shrugged. "I feel like we are just the unfair victims of ignorance of both sides. But we don't belong with the muggles anymore." He felt strongly about this. "We are wizards, and I think its safer for all of us if it's secret." He crossed his arms and pursed his lips slightly at her choice of words. This girl really liked to swear. "And I don't think pure bloods will ever forget who is pure and who isn't, they have books like this to remind them." He patted the one with the list of families. "I get what you mean about adjusting, but it would just be too big of a change. The whole muggle world would be uprooted, everything would be different. Not necessarily better."

Hayley was interesting, but her ideas were unrealistic and honestly naive. It was childish, the way she talked about the statue of secrecy. He didn't tell her this, but his expression might be enough. He did smile a little at her comment about the pecking order. "At least we're above the firsties." He joked. "But we won't be this young forever. I'm planning to work to change things when I grow up." He had been researching different departments at the ministry though it was still a bit difficult for him to really know what he wanted yet.

 

[Hayley Elridge]

Hayley nodded slowly. He was probably right about people not approving of wizards suddenly existing. But he was right that they were the victims of ignorance, too, so how could perpetuating that ignorance be the right thing to do? "I guess you're right," she said, trying not to let it show in her voice that she wasn't at all convinced. This wasn't the time for an argument. Something subtle in his voice offended her when he said they didn't belong with the Muggles, the slightest hint of contempt, though he tried to hide it. Hayley didn't know where she belonged, but she loved her Muggle family and would never think less of anyone for not being able to do magic. That was just as bad as walking round calling people 'mudblood'. "Where do we belong?" she wondered aloud, a slightly harsh note to her voice. "Not with the Muggles, sure, but it looks like a lot of the wizards won't accept us either. Maybe too big a change would be better than no change at all."

Hayley could see Tristan's disdain of her ideas, and she crossed her arms with a hint of petulance. She could acknowledge that he had some good points, but he couldn't bring himself to think that she might, too. Of course her ideas weren't very developed yet; she had only just thought of them, and as Tristan pointed out, they were both twelve. What gave him the right to act so high and mighty? "Why wait til you grow up? We're too young to do anything now, but if we could start some changes happening at school - in a few years, like . . . I don't know. But I don't want to live like this through my entire education."

 

[Tristan Collins]

Tristan could tell he hadn't convinced Hayley but it didn't really matter. She was allowed to have her delusional ideas. He didn't want to argue with her, especially since she would be a bad enemy to have. He had enough of those, and a friend inside Slytherin could be extremely helpful. Tristan raised his eyebrow at her words. "We belong with the wizards, whether or not they all accept us. Our magic is the proof of that. I don't need them all to like me, but I'll make it impossible to dismiss me with my own achievements." He barely restrained from rolling his eyes. "Creating chaos isn't creating change. Change happens gradually."

Tristan sighed. "I'm not waiting until I'm grown up. I'm working one some idea to pitch to a Professor for creating more tolerance at the school. I just haven't gotten a good idea yet. I'm also hoping to become a prefect in a few years, I might be able to do more then." He didn't think she would make the cut. "So what are you doing about anything?" He asked her with a hint of annoyance in his voice.