I return to you after a three-week sojourn into the world of high school
speech and debate, and then another week or two of laziness. Sorry it took
so long to get this update out, and it isn't even much of a proper update,
more of my trying to fit in such a thing as said speech and debate into the
Harry Potter world. (The Interlude .5 also in this update was supposed to
be a story of Sirius Black in his school days because it'll be a while
before he appears in 'Cursed' but that never panned out and I instead
changed it into basically a piece on how Ravenclaw vs. Gryffindor was the
major House rivalry of their time.) Note that 'Interpretation' is a speech
event involving a ten minute performance out of a published script from
either a play or novel usually, but with no props, costume, or anything but
the performer and any vocal and physical characterization they can muster
up. (It's quite hilarious when done properly, and I've seen a rendering of
Mel Brook's The Producers done that way. Although I think only the original
movie version of it was out in the 1970s.
Disclaimers: The world of Harry Potter and associated characters is the property of J.K. Rowling and her publishers.
- - -
Interlude
Memories of School
- - -
"Persuasive Elocution, Muggle Studies classroom. I guess this is it." Julianne whispsered as she pushed the door open slightly, peeking inside to make sure that it wasn't the wrong place, "Looks like it, Crowden and Erwint are inside, at least."
Hogwarts had a very small Persuasive Elocution club, modeled on a sort of sport that Muggle students engaged in sometimes. (It was supposed to be called speech and debate, but that sounded altogether silly to most of them.) Today was the first meeting, and one of their club officers had been very vigorous in his recruitment activities, assailing first years with fliers and club descriptions every night in the Great Hall, and they'd decided to just be nice and show up for a meeting so he wouldn't round on them in the common room every evening until the end of the year. (He happened to be a fifth-year prefect of their own Ravenclaw House, Erwint had also tried jumping out at them like that in the Common room. Though the girls had started escaping to their dorm as soon as they got within the premises of Ravenclaw territory, the boys did not have that luxury. After all, being a fellow boy of their House, Erwint could gain access to their dormitory room very easily, and had taken to sliding fliers under the door.)
A motley group, they were all Ravenclaw first-years: Trevan Leigh, Julianne Adhlar, Julianne Acker, Gunther Haffner, Shyaam Pradhu, and Nina Orestes. None of them were able to take Muggle Studies yet, so it'd taken them a long time to search out the listed meeting place. Gunther had been rather indignantly complaining about how listing the classroom was no help when they didn't provide a map in their fliers, and it was sure to discourage the few they'd managed to get interested in 'Persuasive Elocution'. Half of them weren't even certain what that was. At least according to a Muggle dictionary Julianne (Acker) had bought from home, elocution had something to do with public speaking. The other half of them shuddered at the thought of 'public speaking', an activity enjoyed by precious few, whether they be Wizards or Muggles.
"Good day, new ones, come on in." A boy who looked like a third year said with obvious joy that they were going to assimilate some new members, "Make yourself at home; we, that is all our twelve club members haven't gotten started yet."
"Hey, I know you. You're on the Slytherin team right? And you helped Madam Hooch teach us first years flying because she thought you were very 'technically advanced' and you're their best Chaser and-" the blond Julianne (Acker) fell silent when Shyaam elbowed her.
"Correct, she had me working on the real 'hopeless' ones. Sorry." He apologized quickly when he found most of the 'new recruits' glowering at him, dark intentions clear if he continued, as most of them had needed his help at that class session being truly abysmal at flying on broomsticks.
Julianne 'Julia' Adhlar blushed at the memory. While most of the more intellectually predisposed Ravenclaws weren't all that skilled at more athletic pursuits, she'd been a disaster on the broom. Just as they thought she was doing a bit better, and the third year Slytherin, Durant Crowden, had turned to help someone else Julia had almost fallen off her broom again, and he'd had to coach her all the way to a clumsy and undignified landing. Perhaps Ravenclaws were supposed to be more wise in their ways than prideful, but Julianne was rather self-concious and it now distressed her to be face-to-face with someone who witnessed one of her weaker moments.
The general stereotype of Ravenclaws was that they were all book-bound 'geeks', for lack of a better word, and while it wasn't exactly true there had been more 'hopeless' cases from Ravenclaw than any other House during the first-years' flying lesson. Book-bound academic work mongerers or not, an alarming majority of them had no athletic talent whatsoever. Especially poor Gunther, but his lack of ability in getting the broom off the ground at all kept him from being a complete and utter embarresment in the air. Especially memorable had been Marie Beckett's ill-advised attempt at flight, Crowden had barely missed catching her eyeglasses before they smashed on the ground when she went into several successive high-speed Sloth Grip Rolls entirely by accident.
At least that entire fiasco had helped prove to even the most terrified of the first years that all those rumors about the vicous Slytherins weren't entirely warranted. One could be surprised at the sort of horror stories the older students told about them, and even normally rational first-years generally shrank away when they passed one in the hall. Negative stereotypes were a horrible thing, a blight upon school society, but impressionable children would believe them anyway.
The Muggle Studies classroom, which seemed to be serving as the headquarters of the Persuasive Elocution club, with their notice board on one corner was quite unlike any other Hogwarts classroom they'd been in so far.
While many other classrooms had various bits of magical devices in them, or useful supplies for whatever class it happened to be, or even personal effects of whatever teacher generally made use of the room, the walls of the Muggle Studies room were practically wallpapered with various photos of various Muggle things. The front page of a newspaper called the 'New York Times' was displayed on one chalkboard, and posters with pictures of a group of funny-dressed Muggles holding signs were labeled 'Make Love not War - a Paradoxial Statement'. An essay assignment was displayed on one half of the chalkboard, telling the N.E.W.T.S. class to compare and contrast the theories of morality in various different Muggle theologies. Books of the sort Flourish and Blotts didn't carry much of were crammed into various bookshelves that looked very well-used. Such preposterous names though, what exactly was 'The Count of Monte Christo' or 'Sense and Sensibility'? Who was John Locke or Thomas Moore? Who actually wanted to study 'Muggle Concepts' of something called 'Communism'? Muggle Studies couldn't be a very interesting class, most of them were thinking to themselves. It looked positively boring, especially the assignment for the third year class, which consisted of a badly drawn diagram of a boxy device for students to explain.
"I see most of you have returned, and we have some new faces." A dark- haired asiatic boy was saying from the front of the classroom; he seemed to be a club leader of sorts, "I'm Keisuke Nobushimo, Hufflepuff seventh year and current president of our humble organization dedicated to the prestigious art of Persuasive Elocution, where we explore such activities as oration, structured debate, simulations of Wizengamot trials..."
- - -
"Can a person be any more long-winded in a simple explanation." Trevan muttered as he started work on a star chart for Astronomy, "Honestly, he went on for nearly a half hour that other people would spend only a moment explaining."
"Well that's what the club's for, isn't it? Learning to use speaking as a way of persuading others, as opposed to more heavy-handed actions." Nina said seriously, even though that effect was lost considering she had a quill stuck behind her ear while she rummaged through her schoolbag, searching for some book or another.
"Don't tell me they have you convinced." Gunther said with a scowl, "It's no wonder they're not a very popular club, the way they were talking it must be more work than most people would want to take on willingly. Especially older students who are studying for O.W.L.S or N.E.W.T.S."
"Well, I like the sound of it." Julianne said softly, more focused on the assorted notes she had lain over the table at the center of their lopsided circle of blue armchairs, "It seems nice, except for the part about giving speeches to an audience."
"You only say that because that Crowden boy from Slytherin kept smiling at you." Gunther said with a slight growl, "He can't be very nice, you know, most Slytherins aren't."
"Don't be stupid." Acker tossed a book at him, her Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration, "She thinks it sounds fun because she's got more than the half a brain you've got, Gunther."
"I guess." Julianne whispered, though her face had reddened slightly at Gunther's earlier declaration. "I'll be going to their next meeting, anyway.
"So am I." Shyaam said, "I want to be a prosecutorial barrister with the Wizengamot like my mum when I grow up, and Elocution is good on your record for stuff like that. Oration and debate sound like fun anyway."
"Fun?" Trevan had an overly exaggerated affronted look on his bespectacled face, "How can you consider something for fun, Pradhu?" Then he started imitating a very badly done French accent, "Ve are Ravenclaws, ve are put into thees vorld to stoody hahd and keep oothers from thar fun, ahnd to bhe vet blankets and sooch. Ve do not haff fun, it's beeyond us."
There was a slight scuffle as bits of wadded paper and books were thrown at Trevan, some from people sitting outside their circle in the Ravenclaw common room. Many mutterings were heard, with words of disapproval for his audacity to interfere with studying time. Although Trevan got all the book- throwers back by using their newly-learned Levitation Charm to float all the books beyond their reach. He said qutie sensibly that it was just plain foolish to throw around books that one needed for studying, then retired with much (insincere) hurt sniffing, leaving them to retrieve their precious schoolbooks with whatever charms and spells they could think of. (It took help from a fellow first year who'd taken very well to charms and their counter-charms to get all the books down.)
Acker glared at the staircase to the boy's dormitory, "That wasn't exactly a nice thing to do, we just tossed things at him. He's altogether something of an annoyance to be around sometimes, that Trevan."
"Well, he's funny." Nina Orestes seemed to be undecided between whether she should laugh or storm up the steps after Trevan and do something equally 'not nice' to him, "If the definition for funny is very general and subjective anyway, not taking into account how thoroughly exasperating a person also happens to be."
"Hah." Gunther said, making it very clear that he didn't think anything of the sort, "Imagine sharing a dorm with him, he won't shut up and let us get any sleep sometimes." Then his expression softened slightly, "But I guess he makes us laugh - sometimes. He can be a good person when he sets his mind to it."
Shyaam sighed heavily, he hadn't tried tossing a book at Trevan, so he'd been doing his homework quietly all the while, "I guess that's part of the reason why some of the more straightlaced friends of my mum and dad say Leigh's are strange, if all his people are like that."
"When he acted up at the meeting though, Nobushimo was on him to do something called 'interpretation', one-man acting or something." Nina remarked absently, as she turned back toward her schoolbag, once again looking for something.
"Right, whatever." Acker sighed heavily, sinking back into her chair, "By the way, do any of you know brooms at all? They said whatever I've been flying at home, it's obvious by my faults in terms of flying that it's no good, and they said I ought to get a new one if I want to play when a spot opens up next year."
- - -
"We should have stopped the madness." Gunther said with an audible groan, "Now, we really have too. Before he makes a fool of himself before the rest of the school."
"With the utmost respect, I don't think he'll be making that much of a fool of himself to the 'rest of the school', if only because few ever come to the Elocution exhibition." Nina said with a sigh, "Although I second the need to put a halt to this.
"There could be parents there." Julianne (Adhlar) whispered as she blanched noticeably, "They'll probably want to have him put away, he looks about half-mad when he performs."
"Right then, so we knock some sense into him and get him away from that stage." Shyaam said curtly, "I'll get him before he goes up there. I swear, Nobushimo and them should realize that what we find mildly funny might not be so good for the parents and other students to see."
"They encouraged him." Gunther also looked rather pale, "Poor Leigh, he's going to be so upset when no one laughs at his ten minute rendition of some Muggle playwright's rather dodgy work. It insults all manner of things, you know. He'll lose us points."
"Half those parents are going to be rather conservative, if they're interested in coming to check on us and all. That's what Crowden told me, because we tend to be very liberal and all." Now Shyaam was beginning to look equally unwell. "They'll want to have Trevan kicked out after they see one of the more profane parts o fit, I knew Nobushimo should have told him to cut those out of the script."
"He should have just given an oration on something bland." Julianne said with a quiet moan, still looking very pale, "Like family or something."
"What are we all sitting around for, let's go!" Acker lept up and grabbed Gunther and Shyaam by the collar, dragging them toward the exit of the common room, while Nina and Julianne followed after them hurridly.
- - -
They had to hand it to him. It was a very ambitious attempt at interpretation. They'd come in just as Trevan was finishing up, too late to stop him. Despite the fact that it wasn't generally well accepted, there was singing and dancing despite the restrictions of a standard competition in interpretation, and he managed to tell the story in under ten minutes, somewhat inappropriate words and all.
More interesting, perhaps, would have been the fluctuating expressions on their faces as they watched from the back of the Hall, just knowing how badly the audience would react. It was likely they were only keeping silent out of courtesy to the performer. If it had been under less strenuous circumstances, the way Gunther's face turned a funny gray-green during Trevan's cut of 'A Little Priest', with the part about politicians being so very oily, would have been cause for laughter. As it was, the rest of them were too busy trying not to be noticeably sick themselves.
"Nobushimo's a Gryffindor, right Adhlar?" Nina whispered to Julianne at a moment where Trevan was raising his voice, sure that no one in the audience could hear.
"Yes, but why do you ask?" She said, also in a low whisper.
"Only they could be stupidly brave enough to allow this."
"Oh."
Yet when Trevan finally finished up; to them it had taken an eternity, since they'd seen it far too often already, the reaction was rather different from what they'd expected. Despite the fact that the short scrawny blond boy could be a rather aggravating person to have around more often than not, as his friends they were worried for him. Perhaps it was only because they were still only first-years and weren't quite sure what to expect. But they did realize that Trevan's scripted performance had the potential to be rather incendiary if taken the wrong way. For one thing, it was a Muggle work, targeted to Muggles and whatever odd sense of humor they had, and could be anything from confusing to offensive depending on how those wizarding parents took it down.
So they were very surprised when the (small) gathered crowd gave him a standing ovation. And it wasn't just the members of the Elocution club that were clapping. In the middle of their own anxiety, none of them had managed to notice that most of the audience had actually been very accepting of their fellow first-year's performance, and had even managed to laugh at the proper times, hopefully meaning that they had taken all the humorous moments as being in good taste. It wasn't until all the applause had stopped that Nobushimo came up onto the stage.
"Mr. Leigh here has been working hard all year, therefore we're proud to announce that we're making him a club captain next year, youngest ever, actually, since he'll be a second year."
- - -
"Ha, well I told you there was no reason to be so worried." Shyaam told them in as much of a matter-of-fact tone as he could manage. "But you all insisted on running in there to stop him anyway."
It was later that afternoon, more like the evening, really, and they were all gathered in the Ravenclaw common room as they were most evenings. Although Nina was at the library with some of her other friends doing some group project or another, and Trevan hadn't shown up since after his earlier onstage performance, supposedly claiming that he wasn't feeling too well. However, their numbers were balanced out a bit, with Shyaam's nonidentical twin Sphoorti Pradhu and Joel Melville, one of Trevan's roommates joining them.
Gunther gave Shyaam a very sour look, "You weren't acting any more rational then the rest of us, Pradhu, and we didn't manage to get there in time to 'stop him' as you so delicately put it."
"Isn't that what you wanted to do?" Sphoorti asked with a slightly raised eyebrow, she hadn't been there, but her twin had told her everything, and she seemed to find Gunther's reaction to it all very amusing.
"He'll be going to the Tournament, and as a first year only." Julianne said in her usual sedate and quiet way, "I never noticed he was working so hard." She admitted.
"That's pretty amazing, you have to admit, I never expected that." Acker said as she flipped through the latest issue of Quidditch Illustrated. ('Chudley Cannons Long Past their Prime?' and 'The Virtues of a Nimbus' being the headlining articles.)
"Before watching that, I'd have thought it entirely ludicrous." Shyaam said, with a thoughtful expression on his face, "He's much more confident when on stage though, he was always stammering and forgetting lines when he practiced."
"He's improved since the first time he tried it." Gunther said grudginly, "Surely Sondheim's 'Sweeney Todd' a la intepretation is better than a speech on the societal need for better legislation against owl post fraud." He sighed heavily, probably disappointed that his own 'boring' oration hadn't been completed in time for the club's exhibition.
"Don't feel bad, Gunther." Julianne said in what could only be called a whisper, "We all have six more years to improve. And your speech is better than mine." She added as an afterthought.
"Argh." Joel said with a clearly audible groan, "You just take every oppurtunity to bash your own work, don't you, Adhlar. I tell you, that puts a drastic dent in your self confidence. And makes the rest of us feel bad. Because we're worse." He then muttered something unintelligible about wondering why he tried at all, since he got hives from the stress whenever they made him practice for an audience of more than two people
"I suppose." She busied herself with a book, eyes downcast, giving a noncommital answer.
All the while she was thinking to herself that even when she never truly felt that she was part of the group, it was times like these that she always wanted to remember. When they looked at everything through nothing but the pure naivete of childhood, certain that everything they'd ever been told was right, and with nothing to worry about but themselves and their friends, if they were so inclined. Because no matter how sheltered and well- protected Hogwarts was, the world then was just beginning to know true evil and what consequences it could bring upon the blameless and innocent.
These were days where they didn't think about the dissapearances that the Ministry was always having to investigate, didn't think about the ever growing rift between pure and mixed blood. Days when most where still assured of their own safety, and that the self-proclaimed 'Dark Lord' was no more than some fanatic making trouble in his own corner of the world. Days before Julianne really began to cloister herself in behind her own walls, before she even thought about leaving everything she once loved behind.
- - -
Interlude .5
A Ravenclaw Grudge
- - -
"Oh and then and then Sam got the Quaffle but oh that lousy ol' Gryffindor Beater. Something with Black as a surname, and he almost nailed poor Sammy in the side while Potter stole the Quaffle.. He's Head Boy right now, you know, though I can't say how he managed to get that position. But I can see why he's the Gryffindor captain at least, best Chaser of all the House teams, if the matches so far are any indication." Julianne Acker, known for the sake of making things simpler as simply 'Acker' was chattering on and on about her favorite subject - Quidditch, as she walked to classes with the 'Julia' Adhlar.
Sometimes, now that the Ravenclaw first-years were more or less a tightly- knit group of friends, they called their Sorting the 'Hat's Folly' because the ragged old thing had put two Juliannes into their House. It would have made for confusion if they hadn't started off using nicknames immediately, something both the girls had been reasonably agreeable about. While others might consider it a bit unrefined to refer to one by their family name even when they were very close friends, Acker seemed to think it perfectly fine. In fact, she positively beamed whenever anyone else called her 'Acker', thinking in this childish phase of her life that it was a 'nice and unique' thing to be called. Julianne Adhlar, an introvert by anyone's measure, hadn't raised a single objection to being constantly called 'Julia' though by now they had figured out her reaction was more from being deathly shy than anything else. Either way, 'Julia' had been the nickname that stuck, even if simply 'Julianne' would have been fine and dandy in light of Acker's choosing to go by that name.
'Julia' didn't have much of an interest in the wizarding game at all, on the contrary, she thought it to be inordinately violent and wholly frivolous anyway. However, Quidditch was the one thing all Hogwarts students were united in, even if they would then be at each others' throats over House alignments. Even if it was something that lead to more arguments and minor brawls than any other activity, absolutely every single student in all of Hogwarts turned up for every Quidditch match. (Unless, of course, they were bedridden with some unfortunate disease or injury.) As it was, Julia wasn't much the sort to bring up a new conversation or shoot down whatever anyone else was saying to her, preferring to listen quietly and say 'I agree' or 'that's a bit extreme' at the appropriate intervals. Meanwhile, Acker was again lost in her own world of discussing Quidditch, going on about the Ravenclaw House Team which she admired greatly, and whether or not they stood a chance against the star players on other teams.
As a first-year, Acker wasn't allowed to play, though she had gone to the tryouts at the start of the school year anyway. Ravenclaw captain Samuel Kingston, also a Chaser of great stregnth, had pronounced the first-year girl as 'talented with Seeker potential' but not enough to warrant the fuss Madam Hooch would make if they tried putting such a young student on the team. Instead, he told her to come to practices as a Reserve player, and they'd likely take her on next year, when the current Seeker graduated.
"Did you know that Potter - the Gryffindor captain, like I said earlier, he wanted to put a first-year on his team. Some boy named Charles Weasley, but Professor McGonagall wouldn't allow it. Sam's heard that the kid's extremely good, so he's on their Reserve team of course, but none of them have managed to sneak about to scout out Gryffindor practices yet. Black and Potter supposedly have the nasty tendency for hexing anyone whose not in their house yet is slinking about anywhere within proper seeing-distance of the pitch while they're practicing." She sighed heavily, than took a deep breath before starting up her commentary on the current state of Hogwart's Quidditch yet again. "Hufflepuff's still got a very strong team all-around, but they can't stand up to extraordinary talent, which everyone else has at least one player with this year, and Slytherin's in a slump except for their Seeker, who sticks out like a sore thumb and therefore an easy target in any game because he's small and scrawny as opposed to being some sort of hulking brute, Crowden I think his name is."
"Yes, it's Crowden, Durant Crowden." At Acker's raised eyebrows and incredulous look, since her friend rarely spoke up when the topic was Quidditch, Julia stammered out to clarify, "I only remember because that was the last thing the announcer was yelling at the last match. Something about Durant Crowden catching the Snitch in a close match against the Hufflepuff Seeker."
Acker chuckled in a good-natured way, "Right, I remember now. Names escape me usually. You rarely speak up when I'm rambling on and on like that, though. Never thought you'd notice anything about Quidditch because it seems like the only thing you don't pay attention to at all." Acker was quiet for a bit and they continued their walk in companiable silence.
They could only be too thankful that the next class right after lunch, Transfiguration to be exact, and they had quite a bit of time before they really had to start hurrying. (Professor Minerva McGonagall took House points when a student came in late.) Currently, they were walking very slowly considering class-time was coming up soon, with occasional pauses to wave or exchange pleasantries with familiar faces also milling about in the corridors.
"Why do the Quidditch players dislike Gryffindors so much?" Julianne asked when a moment of silence had stretched onwards for a bit. "Not just our House team either, or Quidditch players from Ravenclaw in general. But it seems that most of the older Ravenclaws get this decidedly sour look on their faces whenever Gryffindor students are mentioned at all."
It was something reminiscent of the unyielding prejudice that met people like werewolves or vampires wherever they went in the wizarding world. Although, if what her very few older aunts and uncles told her about the 'old days' for Cursed families when they came around to visit at all were to be believed, such strong dislike based on a rather arbitrary factor could well happen to Julianne and her relatives as well. If there was any unpleasant quality that seemed to be shared by all humanity, wizards and Muggles alike, it was this tendency to blindly discriminate against those who were not-quite-the-same based on a factor that wasn't really anyone's to control. (Although one had to suppose that whichever Hogwarts House one was sorted into, an individual student's traits and personality had a lot to do with it.) Her mother was Muggle-born and some of her books told stories about the horrific things Muggles between many nations did to each other in something they referred to as a 'World War', which incidentally had coincided with a minor period of chaos in the wizarding world surrounding the rise of the Dark Wizard Grindelwald.
"Ah. Well, I don't really understand it myself." Acker admitted, looking slightly taken aback at the question, "Although I'll admit I get swept into it whenever Sam starts off on another one of his 'Gryffindors are attention- loving gits' rants. Mostly out of team spirit, I suppose?" She sighed, seeming to be rather perplexed herself. "Our seventh-year Beater, something Halton, he'd the one who really hates specific people in Gryffindor House, and I guess the rest of them are still rather sore over how Ravenclaw lost the House cup to them last year."
That was probably the main reason. Hogwarts students seemed to take House alignments and inter-House competition very seriously, even the oldest of them who were supposed to be mature and therefore beyond such petty things. By all accounts, it had been a very brutal match, to say the least. At Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizadry, the 'noble sport of warlocks' had supposedly been in a very sorry state for a long time, except for a small scattering of blazing talent here and there. (Just now with the hard work of such captains as James Potter and their own Samuel Kingston, some said things were looking up, though whether or not that was true remained to be seen.)
Gryffindor's House team was the best among them, and supposedly Ravenclaw's team had only managed it to the finals by a narrow win over Hufflepuff. Potentially legendary Chaser or not, Samuel Kingston hadn't been given a chance to show his leadership ability that year, and while he was making up for it now, that could hardly change the happenings of the past. Some of the more exaggerated tales told of the match as being a slaughter, with Beater Sirius Black pounding both the then sixth-year Beater of Ravenclaw, Ardath Halton and then-fourth-year Samuel Kingston into the dirt while James Potter flew circles around the Ravenclaw Keeper (a relatively inexperienced third-year girl) scoring goals all the way.
Ravenclaw as a House was like any other, and they could be a prideful lot, especially when as a collective group. In truth, the two most powerful warring groups would always be forever at each other's throats, and in their era those groups were Ravenclaw House and Gryffindor. (Slytherin had been in a sad state of affairs since the proud and haughty Muggle-hater Lucius Malfoy graduated a few years back, or so some students still whispered. Hufflepuff found their strengths as hardworking team players, and had never taken pride in rising above other Houses.) It probably exacerbated the tensions between the two Houses that the Ravenclaws had no spectacular and outstanding leader to stand behind, while there were the decidedly flashy James Potter and Sirius Black on the Gryffindor side.
"Who would Halton dislike so badly?" Julianne asked quietly as they continued walking, "I never notice him being anything but easygoing. Although I suppose I wouldn't know since I've only seen him sometimes in the corridors and the Common Room."
"Who else? James Potter and Sirius Black of course." Acker rolled her eyes, looking as if she didn't think very much of either of them, "Our Head Boy's wonder duo. It doesn't exactly help that the two of them have got Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew behind them. Neither of them are quite as much prone to showing off , but I'm told they're all quite cunning - they're the ones who charmed all the benches at the non-Gryffindor House tables to dump the students on the floor after the Sorting was done our first day in. I don't understand it myself, but it seems that a lot of people just don't get along very well with those people."
"Oh." Julianne answered, not exactly sure what to think.
As they drew nearer to the Transfiguation classroom though, Acker continued, this time seeming more serious than before, "I don't much agree with it myself. But I'd guess jealousy plays into it some. A lot of Ravenclaws believe themselves to be very intelligent - truly, they are, but with that comes a need for being better than others. Halton feels that especially, and I think he's the only one with something personal against any specific Gryffindor. He's pureblood, you know, so he used to be friends with Black and Potter, and he's just the competitive sort too, and he didn't like being put into a House that traditionally isn't very exalted."
"I suppose, but how would that translate into a general incompatibility between the two Houses?" Julianne didn't really know the people in question, so she was rather confused.
"They're something of the 'leaders' of Gryffindor, and if we had any it'd be Halton, and he doesn't like being second best. But they're the two top- ranked students in the seventh year so far, and there are other Gryffindors just behind them, while Halton's fifth. He's never liked being second, much less anything beyond that. That pretty much sums it up." Acker smiled again when they came to the door of the Transfiguration classroom, "Now let's go in, and for once we aren't close to being late."
Julianne thought it didn't make sense, that arrogance and pride should never play such a large part in animosity between people. How could something so small be the basis for all the undercurrents of animosity she felt between those of Gryffindor and Ravenclaw?
- - -
Author's Notes: This isn't really an important plot point, though the other students mentioned here might likewise get short mentions at other points in the story, mostly as wistful memories of Trevan and Julianne. The next part is both third-person and first-person revolving around Pyrane Adhlar, in lieu of Julianne's reading her writings in those 'family journals'.
Well, as far as I've outlined, Sirius won't appear for some time yet, but when he actually does, 'Cursed' will center around him a bit more than any of my original characters. After he's actually been retrieved from beyond the Veil, there's another story arc that I've yet to specifically plan out.
Once again, thank you graciously to all the kind reviewers. Always would be grateful for further feedback and reviews of course. And some of the confusion while reading my work is probably my fault, I do have to start writing in a less rambly and twisty fashion sometimes. Also, I hope to return to more regular and consistent updates, even with the impending start of the school year.
Disclaimers: The world of Harry Potter and associated characters is the property of J.K. Rowling and her publishers.
- - -
Interlude
Memories of School
- - -
"Persuasive Elocution, Muggle Studies classroom. I guess this is it." Julianne whispsered as she pushed the door open slightly, peeking inside to make sure that it wasn't the wrong place, "Looks like it, Crowden and Erwint are inside, at least."
Hogwarts had a very small Persuasive Elocution club, modeled on a sort of sport that Muggle students engaged in sometimes. (It was supposed to be called speech and debate, but that sounded altogether silly to most of them.) Today was the first meeting, and one of their club officers had been very vigorous in his recruitment activities, assailing first years with fliers and club descriptions every night in the Great Hall, and they'd decided to just be nice and show up for a meeting so he wouldn't round on them in the common room every evening until the end of the year. (He happened to be a fifth-year prefect of their own Ravenclaw House, Erwint had also tried jumping out at them like that in the Common room. Though the girls had started escaping to their dorm as soon as they got within the premises of Ravenclaw territory, the boys did not have that luxury. After all, being a fellow boy of their House, Erwint could gain access to their dormitory room very easily, and had taken to sliding fliers under the door.)
A motley group, they were all Ravenclaw first-years: Trevan Leigh, Julianne Adhlar, Julianne Acker, Gunther Haffner, Shyaam Pradhu, and Nina Orestes. None of them were able to take Muggle Studies yet, so it'd taken them a long time to search out the listed meeting place. Gunther had been rather indignantly complaining about how listing the classroom was no help when they didn't provide a map in their fliers, and it was sure to discourage the few they'd managed to get interested in 'Persuasive Elocution'. Half of them weren't even certain what that was. At least according to a Muggle dictionary Julianne (Acker) had bought from home, elocution had something to do with public speaking. The other half of them shuddered at the thought of 'public speaking', an activity enjoyed by precious few, whether they be Wizards or Muggles.
"Good day, new ones, come on in." A boy who looked like a third year said with obvious joy that they were going to assimilate some new members, "Make yourself at home; we, that is all our twelve club members haven't gotten started yet."
"Hey, I know you. You're on the Slytherin team right? And you helped Madam Hooch teach us first years flying because she thought you were very 'technically advanced' and you're their best Chaser and-" the blond Julianne (Acker) fell silent when Shyaam elbowed her.
"Correct, she had me working on the real 'hopeless' ones. Sorry." He apologized quickly when he found most of the 'new recruits' glowering at him, dark intentions clear if he continued, as most of them had needed his help at that class session being truly abysmal at flying on broomsticks.
Julianne 'Julia' Adhlar blushed at the memory. While most of the more intellectually predisposed Ravenclaws weren't all that skilled at more athletic pursuits, she'd been a disaster on the broom. Just as they thought she was doing a bit better, and the third year Slytherin, Durant Crowden, had turned to help someone else Julia had almost fallen off her broom again, and he'd had to coach her all the way to a clumsy and undignified landing. Perhaps Ravenclaws were supposed to be more wise in their ways than prideful, but Julianne was rather self-concious and it now distressed her to be face-to-face with someone who witnessed one of her weaker moments.
The general stereotype of Ravenclaws was that they were all book-bound 'geeks', for lack of a better word, and while it wasn't exactly true there had been more 'hopeless' cases from Ravenclaw than any other House during the first-years' flying lesson. Book-bound academic work mongerers or not, an alarming majority of them had no athletic talent whatsoever. Especially poor Gunther, but his lack of ability in getting the broom off the ground at all kept him from being a complete and utter embarresment in the air. Especially memorable had been Marie Beckett's ill-advised attempt at flight, Crowden had barely missed catching her eyeglasses before they smashed on the ground when she went into several successive high-speed Sloth Grip Rolls entirely by accident.
At least that entire fiasco had helped prove to even the most terrified of the first years that all those rumors about the vicous Slytherins weren't entirely warranted. One could be surprised at the sort of horror stories the older students told about them, and even normally rational first-years generally shrank away when they passed one in the hall. Negative stereotypes were a horrible thing, a blight upon school society, but impressionable children would believe them anyway.
The Muggle Studies classroom, which seemed to be serving as the headquarters of the Persuasive Elocution club, with their notice board on one corner was quite unlike any other Hogwarts classroom they'd been in so far.
While many other classrooms had various bits of magical devices in them, or useful supplies for whatever class it happened to be, or even personal effects of whatever teacher generally made use of the room, the walls of the Muggle Studies room were practically wallpapered with various photos of various Muggle things. The front page of a newspaper called the 'New York Times' was displayed on one chalkboard, and posters with pictures of a group of funny-dressed Muggles holding signs were labeled 'Make Love not War - a Paradoxial Statement'. An essay assignment was displayed on one half of the chalkboard, telling the N.E.W.T.S. class to compare and contrast the theories of morality in various different Muggle theologies. Books of the sort Flourish and Blotts didn't carry much of were crammed into various bookshelves that looked very well-used. Such preposterous names though, what exactly was 'The Count of Monte Christo' or 'Sense and Sensibility'? Who was John Locke or Thomas Moore? Who actually wanted to study 'Muggle Concepts' of something called 'Communism'? Muggle Studies couldn't be a very interesting class, most of them were thinking to themselves. It looked positively boring, especially the assignment for the third year class, which consisted of a badly drawn diagram of a boxy device for students to explain.
"I see most of you have returned, and we have some new faces." A dark- haired asiatic boy was saying from the front of the classroom; he seemed to be a club leader of sorts, "I'm Keisuke Nobushimo, Hufflepuff seventh year and current president of our humble organization dedicated to the prestigious art of Persuasive Elocution, where we explore such activities as oration, structured debate, simulations of Wizengamot trials..."
- - -
"Can a person be any more long-winded in a simple explanation." Trevan muttered as he started work on a star chart for Astronomy, "Honestly, he went on for nearly a half hour that other people would spend only a moment explaining."
"Well that's what the club's for, isn't it? Learning to use speaking as a way of persuading others, as opposed to more heavy-handed actions." Nina said seriously, even though that effect was lost considering she had a quill stuck behind her ear while she rummaged through her schoolbag, searching for some book or another.
"Don't tell me they have you convinced." Gunther said with a scowl, "It's no wonder they're not a very popular club, the way they were talking it must be more work than most people would want to take on willingly. Especially older students who are studying for O.W.L.S or N.E.W.T.S."
"Well, I like the sound of it." Julianne said softly, more focused on the assorted notes she had lain over the table at the center of their lopsided circle of blue armchairs, "It seems nice, except for the part about giving speeches to an audience."
"You only say that because that Crowden boy from Slytherin kept smiling at you." Gunther said with a slight growl, "He can't be very nice, you know, most Slytherins aren't."
"Don't be stupid." Acker tossed a book at him, her Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration, "She thinks it sounds fun because she's got more than the half a brain you've got, Gunther."
"I guess." Julianne whispered, though her face had reddened slightly at Gunther's earlier declaration. "I'll be going to their next meeting, anyway.
"So am I." Shyaam said, "I want to be a prosecutorial barrister with the Wizengamot like my mum when I grow up, and Elocution is good on your record for stuff like that. Oration and debate sound like fun anyway."
"Fun?" Trevan had an overly exaggerated affronted look on his bespectacled face, "How can you consider something for fun, Pradhu?" Then he started imitating a very badly done French accent, "Ve are Ravenclaws, ve are put into thees vorld to stoody hahd and keep oothers from thar fun, ahnd to bhe vet blankets and sooch. Ve do not haff fun, it's beeyond us."
There was a slight scuffle as bits of wadded paper and books were thrown at Trevan, some from people sitting outside their circle in the Ravenclaw common room. Many mutterings were heard, with words of disapproval for his audacity to interfere with studying time. Although Trevan got all the book- throwers back by using their newly-learned Levitation Charm to float all the books beyond their reach. He said qutie sensibly that it was just plain foolish to throw around books that one needed for studying, then retired with much (insincere) hurt sniffing, leaving them to retrieve their precious schoolbooks with whatever charms and spells they could think of. (It took help from a fellow first year who'd taken very well to charms and their counter-charms to get all the books down.)
Acker glared at the staircase to the boy's dormitory, "That wasn't exactly a nice thing to do, we just tossed things at him. He's altogether something of an annoyance to be around sometimes, that Trevan."
"Well, he's funny." Nina Orestes seemed to be undecided between whether she should laugh or storm up the steps after Trevan and do something equally 'not nice' to him, "If the definition for funny is very general and subjective anyway, not taking into account how thoroughly exasperating a person also happens to be."
"Hah." Gunther said, making it very clear that he didn't think anything of the sort, "Imagine sharing a dorm with him, he won't shut up and let us get any sleep sometimes." Then his expression softened slightly, "But I guess he makes us laugh - sometimes. He can be a good person when he sets his mind to it."
Shyaam sighed heavily, he hadn't tried tossing a book at Trevan, so he'd been doing his homework quietly all the while, "I guess that's part of the reason why some of the more straightlaced friends of my mum and dad say Leigh's are strange, if all his people are like that."
"When he acted up at the meeting though, Nobushimo was on him to do something called 'interpretation', one-man acting or something." Nina remarked absently, as she turned back toward her schoolbag, once again looking for something.
"Right, whatever." Acker sighed heavily, sinking back into her chair, "By the way, do any of you know brooms at all? They said whatever I've been flying at home, it's obvious by my faults in terms of flying that it's no good, and they said I ought to get a new one if I want to play when a spot opens up next year."
- - -
"We should have stopped the madness." Gunther said with an audible groan, "Now, we really have too. Before he makes a fool of himself before the rest of the school."
"With the utmost respect, I don't think he'll be making that much of a fool of himself to the 'rest of the school', if only because few ever come to the Elocution exhibition." Nina said with a sigh, "Although I second the need to put a halt to this.
"There could be parents there." Julianne (Adhlar) whispered as she blanched noticeably, "They'll probably want to have him put away, he looks about half-mad when he performs."
"Right then, so we knock some sense into him and get him away from that stage." Shyaam said curtly, "I'll get him before he goes up there. I swear, Nobushimo and them should realize that what we find mildly funny might not be so good for the parents and other students to see."
"They encouraged him." Gunther also looked rather pale, "Poor Leigh, he's going to be so upset when no one laughs at his ten minute rendition of some Muggle playwright's rather dodgy work. It insults all manner of things, you know. He'll lose us points."
"Half those parents are going to be rather conservative, if they're interested in coming to check on us and all. That's what Crowden told me, because we tend to be very liberal and all." Now Shyaam was beginning to look equally unwell. "They'll want to have Trevan kicked out after they see one of the more profane parts o fit, I knew Nobushimo should have told him to cut those out of the script."
"He should have just given an oration on something bland." Julianne said with a quiet moan, still looking very pale, "Like family or something."
"What are we all sitting around for, let's go!" Acker lept up and grabbed Gunther and Shyaam by the collar, dragging them toward the exit of the common room, while Nina and Julianne followed after them hurridly.
- - -
They had to hand it to him. It was a very ambitious attempt at interpretation. They'd come in just as Trevan was finishing up, too late to stop him. Despite the fact that it wasn't generally well accepted, there was singing and dancing despite the restrictions of a standard competition in interpretation, and he managed to tell the story in under ten minutes, somewhat inappropriate words and all.
More interesting, perhaps, would have been the fluctuating expressions on their faces as they watched from the back of the Hall, just knowing how badly the audience would react. It was likely they were only keeping silent out of courtesy to the performer. If it had been under less strenuous circumstances, the way Gunther's face turned a funny gray-green during Trevan's cut of 'A Little Priest', with the part about politicians being so very oily, would have been cause for laughter. As it was, the rest of them were too busy trying not to be noticeably sick themselves.
"Nobushimo's a Gryffindor, right Adhlar?" Nina whispered to Julianne at a moment where Trevan was raising his voice, sure that no one in the audience could hear.
"Yes, but why do you ask?" She said, also in a low whisper.
"Only they could be stupidly brave enough to allow this."
"Oh."
Yet when Trevan finally finished up; to them it had taken an eternity, since they'd seen it far too often already, the reaction was rather different from what they'd expected. Despite the fact that the short scrawny blond boy could be a rather aggravating person to have around more often than not, as his friends they were worried for him. Perhaps it was only because they were still only first-years and weren't quite sure what to expect. But they did realize that Trevan's scripted performance had the potential to be rather incendiary if taken the wrong way. For one thing, it was a Muggle work, targeted to Muggles and whatever odd sense of humor they had, and could be anything from confusing to offensive depending on how those wizarding parents took it down.
So they were very surprised when the (small) gathered crowd gave him a standing ovation. And it wasn't just the members of the Elocution club that were clapping. In the middle of their own anxiety, none of them had managed to notice that most of the audience had actually been very accepting of their fellow first-year's performance, and had even managed to laugh at the proper times, hopefully meaning that they had taken all the humorous moments as being in good taste. It wasn't until all the applause had stopped that Nobushimo came up onto the stage.
"Mr. Leigh here has been working hard all year, therefore we're proud to announce that we're making him a club captain next year, youngest ever, actually, since he'll be a second year."
- - -
"Ha, well I told you there was no reason to be so worried." Shyaam told them in as much of a matter-of-fact tone as he could manage. "But you all insisted on running in there to stop him anyway."
It was later that afternoon, more like the evening, really, and they were all gathered in the Ravenclaw common room as they were most evenings. Although Nina was at the library with some of her other friends doing some group project or another, and Trevan hadn't shown up since after his earlier onstage performance, supposedly claiming that he wasn't feeling too well. However, their numbers were balanced out a bit, with Shyaam's nonidentical twin Sphoorti Pradhu and Joel Melville, one of Trevan's roommates joining them.
Gunther gave Shyaam a very sour look, "You weren't acting any more rational then the rest of us, Pradhu, and we didn't manage to get there in time to 'stop him' as you so delicately put it."
"Isn't that what you wanted to do?" Sphoorti asked with a slightly raised eyebrow, she hadn't been there, but her twin had told her everything, and she seemed to find Gunther's reaction to it all very amusing.
"He'll be going to the Tournament, and as a first year only." Julianne said in her usual sedate and quiet way, "I never noticed he was working so hard." She admitted.
"That's pretty amazing, you have to admit, I never expected that." Acker said as she flipped through the latest issue of Quidditch Illustrated. ('Chudley Cannons Long Past their Prime?' and 'The Virtues of a Nimbus' being the headlining articles.)
"Before watching that, I'd have thought it entirely ludicrous." Shyaam said, with a thoughtful expression on his face, "He's much more confident when on stage though, he was always stammering and forgetting lines when he practiced."
"He's improved since the first time he tried it." Gunther said grudginly, "Surely Sondheim's 'Sweeney Todd' a la intepretation is better than a speech on the societal need for better legislation against owl post fraud." He sighed heavily, probably disappointed that his own 'boring' oration hadn't been completed in time for the club's exhibition.
"Don't feel bad, Gunther." Julianne said in what could only be called a whisper, "We all have six more years to improve. And your speech is better than mine." She added as an afterthought.
"Argh." Joel said with a clearly audible groan, "You just take every oppurtunity to bash your own work, don't you, Adhlar. I tell you, that puts a drastic dent in your self confidence. And makes the rest of us feel bad. Because we're worse." He then muttered something unintelligible about wondering why he tried at all, since he got hives from the stress whenever they made him practice for an audience of more than two people
"I suppose." She busied herself with a book, eyes downcast, giving a noncommital answer.
All the while she was thinking to herself that even when she never truly felt that she was part of the group, it was times like these that she always wanted to remember. When they looked at everything through nothing but the pure naivete of childhood, certain that everything they'd ever been told was right, and with nothing to worry about but themselves and their friends, if they were so inclined. Because no matter how sheltered and well- protected Hogwarts was, the world then was just beginning to know true evil and what consequences it could bring upon the blameless and innocent.
These were days where they didn't think about the dissapearances that the Ministry was always having to investigate, didn't think about the ever growing rift between pure and mixed blood. Days when most where still assured of their own safety, and that the self-proclaimed 'Dark Lord' was no more than some fanatic making trouble in his own corner of the world. Days before Julianne really began to cloister herself in behind her own walls, before she even thought about leaving everything she once loved behind.
- - -
Interlude .5
A Ravenclaw Grudge
- - -
"Oh and then and then Sam got the Quaffle but oh that lousy ol' Gryffindor Beater. Something with Black as a surname, and he almost nailed poor Sammy in the side while Potter stole the Quaffle.. He's Head Boy right now, you know, though I can't say how he managed to get that position. But I can see why he's the Gryffindor captain at least, best Chaser of all the House teams, if the matches so far are any indication." Julianne Acker, known for the sake of making things simpler as simply 'Acker' was chattering on and on about her favorite subject - Quidditch, as she walked to classes with the 'Julia' Adhlar.
Sometimes, now that the Ravenclaw first-years were more or less a tightly- knit group of friends, they called their Sorting the 'Hat's Folly' because the ragged old thing had put two Juliannes into their House. It would have made for confusion if they hadn't started off using nicknames immediately, something both the girls had been reasonably agreeable about. While others might consider it a bit unrefined to refer to one by their family name even when they were very close friends, Acker seemed to think it perfectly fine. In fact, she positively beamed whenever anyone else called her 'Acker', thinking in this childish phase of her life that it was a 'nice and unique' thing to be called. Julianne Adhlar, an introvert by anyone's measure, hadn't raised a single objection to being constantly called 'Julia' though by now they had figured out her reaction was more from being deathly shy than anything else. Either way, 'Julia' had been the nickname that stuck, even if simply 'Julianne' would have been fine and dandy in light of Acker's choosing to go by that name.
'Julia' didn't have much of an interest in the wizarding game at all, on the contrary, she thought it to be inordinately violent and wholly frivolous anyway. However, Quidditch was the one thing all Hogwarts students were united in, even if they would then be at each others' throats over House alignments. Even if it was something that lead to more arguments and minor brawls than any other activity, absolutely every single student in all of Hogwarts turned up for every Quidditch match. (Unless, of course, they were bedridden with some unfortunate disease or injury.) As it was, Julia wasn't much the sort to bring up a new conversation or shoot down whatever anyone else was saying to her, preferring to listen quietly and say 'I agree' or 'that's a bit extreme' at the appropriate intervals. Meanwhile, Acker was again lost in her own world of discussing Quidditch, going on about the Ravenclaw House Team which she admired greatly, and whether or not they stood a chance against the star players on other teams.
As a first-year, Acker wasn't allowed to play, though she had gone to the tryouts at the start of the school year anyway. Ravenclaw captain Samuel Kingston, also a Chaser of great stregnth, had pronounced the first-year girl as 'talented with Seeker potential' but not enough to warrant the fuss Madam Hooch would make if they tried putting such a young student on the team. Instead, he told her to come to practices as a Reserve player, and they'd likely take her on next year, when the current Seeker graduated.
"Did you know that Potter - the Gryffindor captain, like I said earlier, he wanted to put a first-year on his team. Some boy named Charles Weasley, but Professor McGonagall wouldn't allow it. Sam's heard that the kid's extremely good, so he's on their Reserve team of course, but none of them have managed to sneak about to scout out Gryffindor practices yet. Black and Potter supposedly have the nasty tendency for hexing anyone whose not in their house yet is slinking about anywhere within proper seeing-distance of the pitch while they're practicing." She sighed heavily, than took a deep breath before starting up her commentary on the current state of Hogwart's Quidditch yet again. "Hufflepuff's still got a very strong team all-around, but they can't stand up to extraordinary talent, which everyone else has at least one player with this year, and Slytherin's in a slump except for their Seeker, who sticks out like a sore thumb and therefore an easy target in any game because he's small and scrawny as opposed to being some sort of hulking brute, Crowden I think his name is."
"Yes, it's Crowden, Durant Crowden." At Acker's raised eyebrows and incredulous look, since her friend rarely spoke up when the topic was Quidditch, Julia stammered out to clarify, "I only remember because that was the last thing the announcer was yelling at the last match. Something about Durant Crowden catching the Snitch in a close match against the Hufflepuff Seeker."
Acker chuckled in a good-natured way, "Right, I remember now. Names escape me usually. You rarely speak up when I'm rambling on and on like that, though. Never thought you'd notice anything about Quidditch because it seems like the only thing you don't pay attention to at all." Acker was quiet for a bit and they continued their walk in companiable silence.
They could only be too thankful that the next class right after lunch, Transfiguration to be exact, and they had quite a bit of time before they really had to start hurrying. (Professor Minerva McGonagall took House points when a student came in late.) Currently, they were walking very slowly considering class-time was coming up soon, with occasional pauses to wave or exchange pleasantries with familiar faces also milling about in the corridors.
"Why do the Quidditch players dislike Gryffindors so much?" Julianne asked when a moment of silence had stretched onwards for a bit. "Not just our House team either, or Quidditch players from Ravenclaw in general. But it seems that most of the older Ravenclaws get this decidedly sour look on their faces whenever Gryffindor students are mentioned at all."
It was something reminiscent of the unyielding prejudice that met people like werewolves or vampires wherever they went in the wizarding world. Although, if what her very few older aunts and uncles told her about the 'old days' for Cursed families when they came around to visit at all were to be believed, such strong dislike based on a rather arbitrary factor could well happen to Julianne and her relatives as well. If there was any unpleasant quality that seemed to be shared by all humanity, wizards and Muggles alike, it was this tendency to blindly discriminate against those who were not-quite-the-same based on a factor that wasn't really anyone's to control. (Although one had to suppose that whichever Hogwarts House one was sorted into, an individual student's traits and personality had a lot to do with it.) Her mother was Muggle-born and some of her books told stories about the horrific things Muggles between many nations did to each other in something they referred to as a 'World War', which incidentally had coincided with a minor period of chaos in the wizarding world surrounding the rise of the Dark Wizard Grindelwald.
"Ah. Well, I don't really understand it myself." Acker admitted, looking slightly taken aback at the question, "Although I'll admit I get swept into it whenever Sam starts off on another one of his 'Gryffindors are attention- loving gits' rants. Mostly out of team spirit, I suppose?" She sighed, seeming to be rather perplexed herself. "Our seventh-year Beater, something Halton, he'd the one who really hates specific people in Gryffindor House, and I guess the rest of them are still rather sore over how Ravenclaw lost the House cup to them last year."
That was probably the main reason. Hogwarts students seemed to take House alignments and inter-House competition very seriously, even the oldest of them who were supposed to be mature and therefore beyond such petty things. By all accounts, it had been a very brutal match, to say the least. At Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizadry, the 'noble sport of warlocks' had supposedly been in a very sorry state for a long time, except for a small scattering of blazing talent here and there. (Just now with the hard work of such captains as James Potter and their own Samuel Kingston, some said things were looking up, though whether or not that was true remained to be seen.)
Gryffindor's House team was the best among them, and supposedly Ravenclaw's team had only managed it to the finals by a narrow win over Hufflepuff. Potentially legendary Chaser or not, Samuel Kingston hadn't been given a chance to show his leadership ability that year, and while he was making up for it now, that could hardly change the happenings of the past. Some of the more exaggerated tales told of the match as being a slaughter, with Beater Sirius Black pounding both the then sixth-year Beater of Ravenclaw, Ardath Halton and then-fourth-year Samuel Kingston into the dirt while James Potter flew circles around the Ravenclaw Keeper (a relatively inexperienced third-year girl) scoring goals all the way.
Ravenclaw as a House was like any other, and they could be a prideful lot, especially when as a collective group. In truth, the two most powerful warring groups would always be forever at each other's throats, and in their era those groups were Ravenclaw House and Gryffindor. (Slytherin had been in a sad state of affairs since the proud and haughty Muggle-hater Lucius Malfoy graduated a few years back, or so some students still whispered. Hufflepuff found their strengths as hardworking team players, and had never taken pride in rising above other Houses.) It probably exacerbated the tensions between the two Houses that the Ravenclaws had no spectacular and outstanding leader to stand behind, while there were the decidedly flashy James Potter and Sirius Black on the Gryffindor side.
"Who would Halton dislike so badly?" Julianne asked quietly as they continued walking, "I never notice him being anything but easygoing. Although I suppose I wouldn't know since I've only seen him sometimes in the corridors and the Common Room."
"Who else? James Potter and Sirius Black of course." Acker rolled her eyes, looking as if she didn't think very much of either of them, "Our Head Boy's wonder duo. It doesn't exactly help that the two of them have got Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew behind them. Neither of them are quite as much prone to showing off , but I'm told they're all quite cunning - they're the ones who charmed all the benches at the non-Gryffindor House tables to dump the students on the floor after the Sorting was done our first day in. I don't understand it myself, but it seems that a lot of people just don't get along very well with those people."
"Oh." Julianne answered, not exactly sure what to think.
As they drew nearer to the Transfiguation classroom though, Acker continued, this time seeming more serious than before, "I don't much agree with it myself. But I'd guess jealousy plays into it some. A lot of Ravenclaws believe themselves to be very intelligent - truly, they are, but with that comes a need for being better than others. Halton feels that especially, and I think he's the only one with something personal against any specific Gryffindor. He's pureblood, you know, so he used to be friends with Black and Potter, and he's just the competitive sort too, and he didn't like being put into a House that traditionally isn't very exalted."
"I suppose, but how would that translate into a general incompatibility between the two Houses?" Julianne didn't really know the people in question, so she was rather confused.
"They're something of the 'leaders' of Gryffindor, and if we had any it'd be Halton, and he doesn't like being second best. But they're the two top- ranked students in the seventh year so far, and there are other Gryffindors just behind them, while Halton's fifth. He's never liked being second, much less anything beyond that. That pretty much sums it up." Acker smiled again when they came to the door of the Transfiguration classroom, "Now let's go in, and for once we aren't close to being late."
Julianne thought it didn't make sense, that arrogance and pride should never play such a large part in animosity between people. How could something so small be the basis for all the undercurrents of animosity she felt between those of Gryffindor and Ravenclaw?
- - -
Author's Notes: This isn't really an important plot point, though the other students mentioned here might likewise get short mentions at other points in the story, mostly as wistful memories of Trevan and Julianne. The next part is both third-person and first-person revolving around Pyrane Adhlar, in lieu of Julianne's reading her writings in those 'family journals'.
Well, as far as I've outlined, Sirius won't appear for some time yet, but when he actually does, 'Cursed' will center around him a bit more than any of my original characters. After he's actually been retrieved from beyond the Veil, there's another story arc that I've yet to specifically plan out.
Once again, thank you graciously to all the kind reviewers. Always would be grateful for further feedback and reviews of course. And some of the confusion while reading my work is probably my fault, I do have to start writing in a less rambly and twisty fashion sometimes. Also, I hope to return to more regular and consistent updates, even with the impending start of the school year.