| Details for From Pantomimes to Predestination |
| Summary: | Ravenclaw students discuss the problems at the recent pantomime and it turns into a debate about genetics regarding muggle-borns, half-bloods and pure bloods. |
| Date: | 1940-01-11 |
| Location: | Ravenclaw Common Room, Hogwarts |
| Related: | The Pantomime The Performance |
| Characters |
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The Ravenclaw Common Room is one of the most airy rooms at Hogwarts. This wide, circular room's floor is covered in a deep, midnight blue carpet and the arched windows are hung with soft blue silk curtains. The high, domed ceiling carries a charm similar to the one in the Great Hall making stars glitter and move about on it reflecting the proper placements of the constellations according to the seasons. During the day, the Ravenclaw students have an excellent view of the surrounding mountains. The room is furnished with comfortable tables and chair upholstered in midnight blue with white pinstripes and bookcases stand along the walls.
Sybil steps inside the common room from the girls tower, a bounce in her step as her skirt swishes. A set of heavy books held in her arms, she spies Ludae and gives a smile. "Hello there. Isn't it exciting being back? I thought I'd run out of things to study or read during winter break."
Perhaps it's how quickly that Sybil had entered the common room that caused her to not notice it immediately, but the redheaded girl is the only one about and is, currently, curled up in one of the chairs. She looks a little worse for wear, her uniform singed and smudges of ash on her face and hands, marring her otherwise pale skin with black. Her eyes are red; it looks like she's been crying! When Sybil greets her, she starts a little, and then wipes at her eyes. "Oh! Oh, um… Hello, I didn't hear anyone come in…" Ludae tries to compose herself a little better. It really isn't like her to cry like this!
PLONK! The books that Sybil carried are dropped on a side table before she plops herself on a plush chair, curling her legs underneath. There's a quick study of Ludae before Sybil queries "Been out adventuring?"
Ludae gives a shake of her head. "You haven't heard yet?" she asks, hugging her knees to her chest, looking back at Sybil as she sits nearby. "There was a fire in the auditorium, Professor Beery is resigning, and Professor Kettleburn has been suspended. A lot of students were hurt because someone had the bright idea of putting a gigantic ashwinder under the stage. The whole thing went up in flames about halfway through the play." She heaves a sigh, eyes downcast.
Sybil ahs to herself on the news. "O yes, I've heard about -that-. A pair of disastrous decisions putting the lives of children in danger and for what? A silly pantomime when students ought to be studying. We're here to study, not to …well. Do whatever it is those people were doing. I heard that maybe there's a review to be done on half-blood professors at Hogwarts, after all these mistakes."
Ludae gives another sigh and nods her head. "I'm certain there will be, with the way that this year has been going. First all that segregation nonsense for the muggle-born students, and now this mess, I wouldn't be surprised if the Ministry launched a full investigation on the school." Ludae sits up straighter, and wipes her face again. "It was a nice break from studying, at least, until the fire broke out. I've been reading so many books for my NEWT classes my eyes were beginning to spin." She manages a small quirk of the corner of her mouth at her own joke.
Sybil grins in amusement at something but she nods, "The harder you study now, the better life you'll enjoy later on. Doing your best means you'll have better opportunities, right? But as for segregation, I don't know. Do muggle-borns really know wizarding life? Are we doing them justice by mixing them up where they'll be ostracized by other students? Or maybe it'd be better to give them their own opportunity to learn studies as well as how life is in an environment more comfortable. School is challenging enough without social things creeping around."
Ludae rolls her eyes a little, and shakes her head. "I don't think we're doing them a disservice," she says, "By allowing them to go to school with us. The talent is there, clearly, in a lot of them. There's quite a few of them in Ravenclaw, after all, as well as the other Houses. They have friends, and support. The only people ostracizing them are those pure-bloods addle-brained enough to think that what defines a person is who their parents were."
Sybil says, "You don't think your parents define who you are? Hmm, interesting! I think while environment can influence, genetics will of course weigh significantly on advantages. Muggle-borns….their genes already are working against them and their entire family, taking the wizard gene out. I think it's a bit dangerous."
Ludae shakes her head, and frowns a bit. "No. They influenced me, of course, but -I- define who I am. They're not here, after all. What influence do they have over who I decide to be?" Her frown only deepens, though. "I don't think the wizarding gene is taken out by muggles. Even squibs can still have wizard children, after all. Saying it is… That's just absurd. I'm sure you know better than to think that."
Sybil looks at Ludae oddly, "It's known by everyone that the muggle gene and the wizard gene when mixed will one day create a squib. That's stealing one wizard out of the world, who knows what that wizard could have done. They are, at their root, incompatible." She looks over at her books, thinking. "If someone wants to turn their back on the wizarding world and go off to muggles, maybe it would be better if they weren't able to have a family so as to not cross the genes. It's just like herbology in raising the best plants, you select the best attributes and then prune away those plants that just can't compete. In the end, you get a much better plant."
Ludae scowls at Sybil at that. "People are not plants," she says as she stands up from the chair, "But if they were, that stuck-up, purist attitude would be the first thing I would prune away." She turns away from Sybil then, intent on heading towards the dorms, likely to her own bed for the night, at least. She looks over her shoulder at the other girl. "You're just as lousy a person as Malfoy, Sybil. I don't even know how you got sorted into this House."
Sybil gives a pleasant smile towards Ludae, "Pleasant dreams."