shedding some (moon)light on things

[Linden Kinnek]

Linden had been looking forward to this years topic fo defence againstthe dark arts and so far it hadnt disapointed with week two's class being about werewolves. a topic that he knew a lot about. he had even suprised himself by talking in class and sayinfg that his mum was one. which while was not common knowlage he could asume that it was known by a few people after all she had appeared in the newspaper a few times. even so he had been nervous about how his classmates would react. what he hadnt expected was a whisper from behind him and a barage of questions from his friend Casper's cousin. he couldnt even rembmer if they had had a proper conversation before. he didnt want to interupt the class or get in trouble for talking so he had said he could asnwer what he could afterwards. as soon as the bell went she had him and was dragging him towards the courtyard where they finally stopped at a bench "So what is it that you wanted to know" he asked this time braced and ready for for the questions.

 

[Allison Beckett]

Allie hadn't expected to leave Stanis on his own so quickly after that class, but she had some questions she needed answered. She took hold of Linden as soon as the bell rang, promising to meet Stanis again soon before dragging the Hufflepuff with her out to the courtyard. She didn't sit, pacing nervously. She had known she needed to do more to help Stanis, had even decided to improve her grades to do it, but she hadn't been sure what she was supposed to do.

She had one arm wrapped loosely over her torso, the other hand propped lightly against her lips as she thought. "Damn straight I do," She murmured, finally spinning to look at him. "Start at the beginning, tell me everything," She demanded, not thinking to ask nice. Casper was the nice one, if Linden didn't like it she would make Casper get her the information she needed.

 

[Linden Kinnek]

linden watched as the Gryffindor started to pace. what was it with Gryffindors and an inability to stay still. his mum and willow were the same if he didn't know them better Allisons energy would be making him nervous. actually is was still putting hi slightly on edge, what was it that he had said that had her so worked up. he would have expected confusion, shock horror or dislike but this, this was something different. but with the girl asking, no demanding, he told her everything he got the feeling there was something else happening. "the beginning? Everything? what do you want to know?" he asked. "She's my mum, Briar Rowan-Cullen, you may have heard about her, she has been in the paper a fair few times adding a voice and opinion on things creature related. she used to run the werewolf support services and now runs the whole department of magical creatures as well." he said, he was proud of his mum and everything she had achieved, but he couldnt help thinking about the article a couple of years ago. when she had been interviewed after it was revealed that wendals cousin had been killed by a werewolf. now, that had been a weird breakfast.

 

[Allison Beckett]

Allison listened intently, plopping herself down next to Linden. "What's her job, exactly?" She asked, flipping her hair behind her shoulder with her hand. "Does she make a big difference in the lives of werewolves? Has her work changed the way people treat her?" She asked, knowing she was chattering and not minding it. "How do people generally treat her? Does everyone know?" She asked, wondering if things would be better or worse for Stanis if the world knew his secret.

 

[Linden Kinnek]

even as the girl sat down linden had a feeling of restlessness from her. "she does a lot of things. she runs the department of magical creatures. so is the person responsable if any magical animals get noticed by muggles. and makes sure magical pets are well looked after, and works on policies about all kinds of animals. she used to run werewolf support services which she still does. which offered support to werewolves if they had problems. as well as answering peoples questions if they had questions such as if they wanted to employ one and didnt know what allowences were needed. she is also on the wizengamot alongside professor acastelli and the minister. and oversees any trials" he said. she really was the kind of woman who had, as the saying went, her fingsers in a lot of pies. "I think she does. She tries to. but a lot dont want help" he said even his dad wasnt fully trusting in the ministry and only put up with thinks because he loved his wife. people know and most people respect her. but she hes worked hard for it. Allison's behavious was a little intreguing to him. while he knew casper well, after all he sometimes woke up to find casper curled up next to him in bed. and he knew addison okay he had hardly spoken to alison outside of class. "why the interest? are you? or is there someone in you family who is a werewolf" he said. then he realsied what he had said and put his hand over his mouth as if he could take the words back. "you dont have to answer that if you dont want to. but if you are i swear i will keep the secret" he said. it had been drilled into him ever since he was young it is not polite to ask somene if they are a werewolf. most importantly you can not ever, ever, out someone as a werewolf, ever. even if you dont know for sure. it could ruin their life.

 

[Allison Beckett]

Allison listened intently as Linden went on, thinking carefully over everything he said. She would need to talk to his mom, but how? "Can I write to your mother?" She blurted, not really thinking about it. When he asked if she was a werewolf or someone she knew, her mind shot back to Stanis, but she just shook her head immediately. "No, I just find them fascinating, and I don't like what my pops has told me about how society treats them," She lied easily, still lost in thought. There had to be some way for her to help Stanis, maybe talking to Linden's mom would help.

 

[Linden Kinnek]

As alisons barage of questions faultered to one last one, as if he had been used up for his information and she wanted to get it from the sauce. "I guess so. if you address it to her at the ministry it will find her" he said as she asked if she could write to his mum.
he wasnt really expecting her to admit that she was a werewolf. or anyone she knew was. she guessed it would have been cool if she had but it would have been unlikelly. but her reasoning was interesting. "yes, they are interesting. but they are my family. they are people, and remember that they should be treated as such, not as speciamins in a jar to be studied. my mum wont mind. that is why she does what she does she has thick skin and can protect others. but if you do happen to meet a werewolf please don't start with the 20q, that still would make anyone feel like a freak and is not much better than shunning them " he said reffering to a muggle game when you had twenty questions to work out what the other person was tinging about. he was actually a little supprised with himself that it had all come out, almost on its own.

 

[Allison Beckett]

Allison raised a brow as Linden started to lecture her. "Or I'm only throwing the 20q to you so I can learn how to protect people close to me." She sat back in her chair, crossing her arms and glaring a bit. "You can't assume things." She looked away. "I don't care if my cousin does cuddle with you, you can't have personal secrets like that just because you're a werewolves kid," She stuck her tongue out at him. "If the world is that bad for wolves I need to fight to fix it," she stated simply, nodding her head.

 

[Linden Kinnek]

linden couldnt help but notice the story was changing, was alison asking for reasearch because she wanted to know more about werewolves or because she wanted to protect someone. he didn't question her. he guessed he was also protecting someone too. as she brought casper into the conversation it stumped him what did casper hve to do with this? what was she implying? how did she know anyway? "huh? you mean i have to tell you everything your cousin does? because that really is his stuff tell not mine. he said though it seemed like Casper had told his cousins about his night time wandering. the fact that the boy sometimes curled up in his bed was not anything noteworthy. he seemed to sleep better with someone near to him and would crawl into any of the boy's beds, well except tizz's, but he was an exception. it had been awkward after he had started to date alexei thankfully cass seemed to get this and tended not to pick his bed as often any more. He still couldn't help but be a bit annoyed that he had told allison. He had a boyfriend he didn't need rumours spreading about him and another guy. "or you are implying that Casper cant hang out with me because of my mum? because that is exactly what you were talking about not doing. besides just because you are the last to find out doesnt mean it's a secret. I am pretty sure everyone in the dorm knows who she is" he said feeling defensive. after three years together topics of family and what their parents did had come up several times especially when there were pictures of them there too.

 

[Allison Beckett]

Allison raised a brow. "You don't have to tell me what Casper does, that's his business." She shrugged, trying to make herself relax, she didn't want her temper getting in the way like it always did. "That isn't what I said, geez, all I said was I'm not telling you my secrets just because you're Casper's friend. I'm glad you're his friend, he needs friend, he needs them. I just don't feel comfortable explaining why I'm trying to find a way to help werewolves to someone I barely know. You say it's not nice to ask a lot of questions, but its also not nice to accuse someone of being insensitive for asking questions so they can figure out how to make a difference, too," She sighed. "Look, I'm sorry if I said something weird, I just want to know how I can work with your mom, if what she does really helps werewolves I want in,"

 

[Linden Kinnek]

Linden rolled his eyes as allison said that casper could keep his business to himself. "Oh good. at least someone is allowed a little privacy about his life he said curtly. Lin was not the kind of person to get angry or annoyed easily at least not compared to the rest of his family, but he was feeling the girls questions and accusations grinding on him. "no you said that I can't have secrets because your cousin is in my dorm and you want to protect him." he said standing up. "I wasnt accusing you of being insensitive. but you really are being a hypocrite." he snapped. "I have to go, I was MEANT to meet up with my boyfriend after class." he said pointedly to her. . "If you want to talk to her send her an owl." she said