Open What's A Mudblood?

[Gregory Friend]

Gregory wiped at his eyes as he made his way into the library. Though he'd been saved by that girl, Snow or something, the run in with Cassius had not been good for Gregory. He'd cleaned up most of the blood on his nose, and the bruise was forming. But he was still teary-eyed from the pain, his glasses sat upon the worst of it, and Gregory needed to figure out what Cassius had called him. Mud something, mudblood. He knew it was used as an insult, but Gregory didn't know what it meant, he was sure he needed to figure it out. But with no idea, and not wanting to say it to the librarian, Gregory was just looking aimlessly around the library. He tried to remember what the old librarian at his muggle school had once taught him about the Dewey decimal system, but he wasn't sure where 'insults' might sit. It didn't help that because of the fight, of running into him, of having to be saved from a worse beating that he was feeling perhaps a little panicked as he searched. Really what he should've done was sat down, have a drink and let the moment of the fight pass before doing anything else. However, Gregory hadn't done that, he'd cleaned up his nose as well as he could and come directly to the library. ​

 

[Sky Eriksen]

with the start of fourth year classes were getting harder. she was already feeling some pressure about the OWL exams next year. and she was slightly scared as to what the NEWTs would be like if fourth year was like this. she was looking things up for her herbology homework about healing plants. she had just grabbed a book entitled 'Plants, Potions and Panaceas: a magical guide to pharmacognosy" when she heard footsteps coming down the aisle. she looked around and saw a familiar first year walking towards her, well not towards her, down the aisle past her. as the boy drew closer she could see the remnant smeer of blood on his face and tears in his eyes. what was his name again? he had signed up for the art club, the boy who had asked about being kicked out. she stepped down from the step and put out a hand as he approached. "hello, umm, was it Gregory?" she said hoping that she got his name right. once she got his attention she continued "are you okay?"

 

[Gregory Friend]

Gregory was a little startled when someone said his name. He wiped at his eyes quickly, trying to present himself a little better as he looked to the girl who'd spoken. Gregory nodded at his name. Her name…was Sky…she was the arts group person, the leader of the other club he'd signed up for. He nodded slightly, aware of how he probably looked, but not willing to perhaps say it. ”I'm okay,” though he sniffed a little after he said that, and he pushed his glasses up his nose and winced slightly at the tenderness. ”I'm looking to find out what a word means? Do you know if this library has a dictionary?” he asked, it was only coming to him now that that was perhaps the thing to look up this word. This girl would help him find the word. He didn't want to say it, knowing that it had been said to him as an insult, he didn't exactly want to repeat it. ​

 

[Sky Eriksen]

The boy jumped as Niamh recognised him. she hadn't meant to scare him. she watched him push his glasses up his nose which was defiantly more purple than it had been the other day at the clubs fair. "Are you sure you don't look overly okay?" she asked he sort of looked like he needed a bit of a clean-up at the least, and probably a visit to the nurse for a little bruise balm.
When he explained that he was looking for a definition of a word and a dictionary she nodded. "the dictionaries are over this way. she said gesturing towards one of the walls, "I can try and help with the word if you want, but I don't know how good I can be, English isn't my first language" she said. she had been taught both growing up, but she had always thought of Norwegian as her first language, English as her second, and a little Irish as her third.

 

[Gregory Friend]

Gregory did know how he looked, he'd tried his best to clean himself up, but there was little he could do about the bruise, and he was sure he'd gotten most of the blood off his face (he hadn't). But he just nodded, almost frantically, to the kind girl. ”I'm okay, I promise,” he tried to smile, but the ringing insult and the way Cassius had called him worthless rung in his mind. He was worthless, wasn't he? He nodded and glanced towards the dictionaries, and then glanced back at Sky. His gaze dropped to his hands, his fingers fidgeting with each other. ”What does mudblood mean?” he didn't look up as he spoke. His voice laced with nervousness as he spoke, he held himself tightly, fully expecting that this girl would have a reaction to it. ​

 

[Sky Eriksen]

Sky watched the boy try and reassure her that he was okay. Except he was trying so hard he was giving the opposite impression 'Alright, i will try and believe you. but if you are never not okay. you know you can talk to me or someone else" she said. she wasn't sure what she would be able to do. she was nothing special, just Sky, Niamh, or even Harmony depending on who you were talking to.
when the boy said the word that he wanted to look up she stopped and let out a short "ah" part of shock and part as a way to give her self a second to work out what to say and how to react. it was not a word that she had ever really had to hear or face but it reminded her of when she had been about five or six and she had been visiting her mums family in Ireland. they had been traveling through the countryside and playing at fairs and faites, in one town some of the local kids had started shouting at her when she had been playing outside with her cousins. she hadn't known that they were saying but could tell that it wasnt good. when she had got home she had gone to granny Rosie and asked and she had explained and while her words were kind and gentle even at six she could see how angry she was and she not seen her gran properly angry before.
she looked at the boy. "where did you hear this? did someone say it to you?" she said. She wasn't sure what the boys background was. but if he had wanted to look up this word he probably didn't have many magical world connections. "Maybe you should come and sit down. and I'll do my best to explain" she said. gesturing to the end of the aisle where she was set up on a table.

 

[Gregory Friend]

Gregory didn't stop fidgeting with his hands, but glanced up at her shock. So it was bad. Whatever it meant, it was a bad word. It was not something that was probably supposed to be said. Gregory almost apologized there and then for even saying it himself, though he still didn't know what it meant, but given that he was asking for an explanation, he decided to not apologize. Gregory glanced at Sky as she asked where he'd heard it. Given how he looked and the fact he was asking, he was sure she figured it was the same place that he'd experienced both, but he shook his head. ”No… I heard it….near Slytherin,” he lied, and he didn't know why he was covering for Cassius. But he was supposed to stay out of his way, and getting him into trouble would definitely only make things worse. ”Okay,” he agreed, nodding slightly.​

 

[Sky Eriksen]

Sky wasn’t sure that she quite believed Gregory when he said he had heard it near slytherin. She wasn’t exactly she is where slytherin was herself and she had been here for far longer than just a couple of weeks. "if you are sure. But there are people to talk to if people are not being nice to each other" she said
She led him back to the table she had been working at and gestured for him to take a seat as she took one herself. I don't know what you know of the magic world so sorry if I talk about something you already know. but it needs more." she waved her hands around a little emphatically, to indicate content than just saying what it means. Some people are the first witch or wizard born in their family, these people are sometimes referred to as muggle born as a muggle is a term used to describe people without magic. Most people would be referred to as mixed blood because they have both muggle and magical ancestry. For example, my mum’s a witch, and my dad is a muggle so if I had to be classed by blood that is what I would be" she said. Pausing for a second both to let that sink in for a second looking at the boy to make sure he was keeping up and she was explaining herself clearly. or if he had any questions

 

[Gregory Friend]

Gregory wasn't sure if she bought the story that he said, but at the very least she let it drop. He was able to sit with her at the table in the library. He fidgeted in the seat, seemingly unable to find a comfortable position to sit in. His hands couldn't sit comfortable and while all of what Sky was saying was interesting, to see how they would mix. He bit back his questions about hierarchy and where he sat upon it. But there was a more pressing question that he had that she was clearly building to an answer, and he just needed to be told what it was. "I'm a muggleborn...well, probably, I'm adopted," Gregory's leg bounced under foot. He wasn't sure if he was supposed to just agree or say what he was, but given she'd admitted what she was, this seemed like the thing to do. ​

 

[Sky Eriksen]

Sky nodded as Gregory said that he was adopted and likely a muggle-born. "There is nothing wrong with that, some great witches and wizards have been muggle-born. " she said.
"I am sorry for the background but sammenhengen, um the things around it is important There are some people who only have witches and wizards in their family. They would be referred to as pure blood, much like how you get pure blood poodles" she said. "now some of those who might think of themselves as a wizarding, pausing for a moment trying to find the word she wanted to use in English but not managing it a Wizarding... I'm afraid i don't know the English word again, in Norwegian, it is aristokrati. People who think that because of their so called pure blood they are better than everyone." she said stressing the word think to make it clear that she was not one of those people. she paused again to make sure that she hadn't lost him when she had lost her words. before continuing. "now the word you asked about means dirty blood. It is something people, usually from this it is this aristokrati use as a very nasty way of describing muggle-borns. of course it makes no sense we all bleed the same" she said giving the boy an apologetic look.

 

[Cassiah West]

Cassiah was all over the castle since they came back from Summer vacation, it was their last year and a pretty hectic year as well. With piling classes, homeworks and exams, she had to drag her sister to study with her on their free time. Cassiah even avoided the Club Fair even though an extra curricular activity would be a nice thing in a resume. But the library was like her office now, spending much time on studying than going out, she wondered where Nicolas was, Cassiah hadn't seen the boy since classes had started.

She was doing another study session and time limiting it to have a better self-care time with others. Returning the books she had to their respective shelves, Cassiah accidentally heard parts of a conversation with which she stopped just in front of the two younger students. "I'm sorry for hearing but did you just said something about Purebloods?" It's been awhile since a blood war happened in this school, she wasn't in it but another one would be chaos. Cassiah raised an eyebrow at the both of them.

 

[Gregory Friend]

Gregory wasn't sure that great witches or wizards who were muggleborn would necessarily be able to get out of the confines of the hierarchy that Cassius had told him about. He tried to follow what Sky was saying, but he started getting confused by first the non-English words and then the poodles reference. He was trying his best. But thankfully when she actually told him what the word meant he let out a little sigh. ”Oh,” really, it wasn't any worse than the rest of what had been said. He'd been called worthless, lower, dirty. Just now he had used the actual word for it. One that was apparently particularly bad to say. Gregory had been about to clarify that as someone else spoke. He glanced at a much older girl, his body went taut, stilling as he hoped that he wouldn't end up in trouble or with another bruise. ​

 

[Sky Eriksen]

Sky watched the boy's reaction as she had given the definition. he didn't seem too surprised by it. maybe he had already known. She opened her mouth to say something else not sure what she was going to say but was saved from thinking of what by a girl coming over to them. She didn't know her in fact she was fairly sure she had never seen her before. she was defiantly older, and from the way she dressed and presented herself she reminded her of some of the Slytherins she knew. "yes it did come up in conversation. do you know what aristokrati translates into in English?" she said

((in case it isn't clear from the context and the fact it is very similar to the English word. aristokrati means aristocracy))

 

[Cassiah West]

The girl with the boy confirmed what she had accidentally heard and was asked a question. The word was obvious but she didn't want to sound like a smartass. "Isn't it in the word already? Aristokrati sounds like Aristocracy." It sank to Cassiah what the two younger students were talking about. Pureblood and aristocracy go hand in hand together. "Wait, are you telling this boy old dated stuff about Purebloods?" She sigh. It was the norm nowadays and she doesn't like it. Not everyone who has the purest wizarding blood are mean and wants to butcher muggleborns. At least she and her siblings aren't, Cassiah has classmates who are the stereotypes of Purebloods but there are some who aren't.

The Ravenclaw looked at the boy who seems to have suffered a fall or something else. His glasses needs fixing. "You need fixing? I meant the glasses or your whole face perhaps?" Cassiah offered.

 

[Gregory Friend]

Gregory wasn't sure he wanted to remain in this conversation now with the older girl. He just didn't need to get into more bother. The girl was visibly older than both him and Sky, and he just…didn't want to end up having to try to avoid another student, and one who could probably cast magic on him. He shrunk slightly in his seat, until the girl addressed him. Asking if his glasses or whole face needed to be fixed. He frowned, pulling the glasses off. ”My face is fine…,” aside from the bruise of course, but he didn't know what she could fix. He also wasn't sure he wanted to know her answer to it. ​

 

[Sky Eriksen]

Sky listened as the girl said that her word sounded like an englush word that she had never heard before. "that sounds like it. It means like the royal house and other families like it" she said trying to define and translate the definition into English. she was surprised that the girl asked if she was telling the boy outdated things about purebloods. "I didn't think so but if you can think of a better way to describe them please let me know" she said
as the girl asked if Gergory needed help fixing anything she felt part of her felt like bad for not making the same offer though she didn't know any spells that would fix things. much less feel confident enough to use them on someone. but there was also a slight stab of possesiveness. that she was the one helping gregory. though she knew that was silly. wasn't it a good thing that multiple people wanted to help when he looked like he needed it. though she was slightly pleased that he had said no.