A time to break silence (Open to order members)

Richard closed his eyes and took a deep breath as he stood up at the podium. Looking out at the few order members present, all of them important, he glanced down at his speech notes before looking up at them again, his back straight and his eyes bright,

"A time comes... when silence is betrayal." he looked over his audience, "And that time has come for us."

He paused as he looked out over the crowd,

"Even when pressed by inner truths and outer pressures..." he held his hands out towards the people, "Men do not easily assume the task of opposing their government's policy... especially on the brink of total war."

Richard nodded at them,

"But I found that I could not bring myself to decry the state of our people... when our people as a whole are in danger!" he shouted this last time, "The muggles are testing us even now... testing muggle-born witches and wizards for weaknesses, the like of which has not been seen since the concentration camps of Grindlewald's insane human puppet!"

He looked out over at the people assembled,

"I know... that if our two governments come to blows then all of us here will gladly go to war..." he shook his head, "This way of settling differences... is not just. But somehow this madness must cease. They must be made to stop!"

Richard paused here, for effect,

"I speak as one who loves our people." he pointed at the people, "The greatest initiative in this climate of social unrest is ours! The initiative to win a war for the sake of all our peoples!"

He held a hand for silence,

"The ordinary muggle is not to blame." he told them firmly, "But it is his government that must fall! For they inject poisonous drugs of hate into the veins of those normally humane! Their business is of burning men alive with chemicals and explosions! Of lies and violence! Our people must be protected from the untender mercies of such cruel and callus people!"

He growled and threw the podium away, sending it crashing to the floor,

"I will not live in a world where my people are hunted for what they are! I will not live in a world where freedom, justice and equality exists only for those without magic!" he pointed at the crowd, "I will not live in a world where your loved ones are beaten and tortured in the streets! I will not live in a world with such hatred directed at us! Do they not see what we are?! We are those who has ascended! We are those gifted with a power greater than their own!"

He began to pace,

"They fear us because they do not understand us!" he told the crowd, "They do not understand that we are more alike than we are different... no... they demand war! They demand that our blood runs through the streets! That our people be herded as cattle into concentration camps! To be tortured and executed at their leisure! They demand that our young be culled!"

Richard paused,

"Do you know what I demand?"

He waited for a few seconds,

"I demand justice! I demand a world where my daughter can feel safe to live and grow as what she is... a witch! I demand that our people be given their rightful place in life! I demand that we no longer hunted! I demand an end to the fear! I demand an end to the pain! I demand a new world... a better world! I demand better for our people!" he closed his eyes, "I demand better!"

He stepped away from where the podium had been,

"Brothers and sisters..." he began again as he stepped over to his seat, "If you feel as I feel... if you fear as I fear... and if you know, as I know, that our lives of freedom and peace cannot come through words alone, then I ask you to stand with me! I ask you to bleed with me! I ask you to fight for what is right with me!"

He listened carefully to Richards speech from the side of the room. He had no one to care for in this life, they had all been taken from him but he had to think a head. One day he'd find someone he loved, one day he'd even have an heir. He paused a second, as he thought before making up his mind.

"I'm with you brother. I want my children to grow up into a world that they don't have to fear." He said moving to stand in front of Rich. "I'll fight beside you until we win this war the muggles have brought upon us or i die trying and with me i bring the students of Hogwarts. I will not be a headmaster that hides the truth from them because it will not make them safe, it will make them ignorant to the world around them. And that is a very dangerous position for them to be in." He said holding his hand out as a gesture to show they were equals.

Mad inclined her head.

"I, too, agree," she spoke up. "I have lived... a considerable number of years. Longer than many of you." Her gaze swept the room. "It is because of how they are now behaving that our world has kept ourselves hidden, apart from the muggles for so long. This is becoming the witch-hunts all over again!"

Venom entered her tone. "Muggles are cowards, beasts - they turn even against those born amongst them. I will not stand for it - if bloodshed it must be, then my blood too will be shed. Our people are the superior race, the Gifted ones. I will not see them vainly die at the hands of uneducated apes."

He jumped into the room just in time to here Madisons speech. "You go sister." He said making his way over to Richard. "We too are at your service. I'm Aspen Salvator Italys best assassin turning his talents on the english muggles." He smiled. "If it's blood they want it's blood they are going to get. We won't rest until enough muggle blood has been shed to make up for all those innocent kids they have killed." He said clapping a hand on Richards shoulder.

"You've no doubt met Arsen. I'm sure he takes your class. Hmm you do smell good." He smiled licking his fangs.

He sighed as he was dragged to the meeting and slowly followed his uncle to the front of the room. Of course he wished for revenge against muggles, they had after all stolen his chance to repay his parents for making his life a living hell, but he preferred to be out there doing something rather than being stuck in doors talking about it.

"Yeah i know him." He said looking at Richard briefly before rolling his eyes at Aspen. "Really uncle? I can't even take you to a meeting." He said moving to sit in one of the empty chairs away from everyone else.

Augatha walked into the meeting. She was running late. But she had to keep up with her job at the ministry, and she can't let anyone in the ministry know that she openly supported one group waging war against the muggles, no matter how much she wanted the minstry to do the same.
"Hello people, I apologize if I'm late. Please continue with your discussion."

Georgie walked in slowly. She wasn't really sure why she had joined, she just knew that her father would finally be proud of her. "Sorry I am late, I thought I would come, now that my father is unable." She said quietly. Her father had been hit by a confundus charm that went wrong and now he was a permanent residant of St Mungo's. She stood in a corner and decided to stay as an observer.

Anna barged into the room like it was nobody's business. Sometimes, it bothered her just a little bit that they chose somewhere so darned isolated, and on such short notice.

To be honest, she had no idea what she was doing there. Her father had pretty much forced her into joining this group in exchange of freedom (the alternative was growing up to be a Muggle without any contact of the Wizarding World, which is not something Anna despised, but she loved her friends too much to let them go), and somehow, someone made Natalia join too. So they had no choice. What an excuse. If she had her way, she would have definitely been on the good side.

"I'm sorry I'm late," Anna announced dimly. "I didn't know about the meeting, and it was hard to make room for it for my schedule on such short notice. But nevertheless, late is late, and I apologize for my tardiness."

Anna sat by the corner, seeing a Gryffindor there too. She sat far away from her.

Augatha sneered as the two children entered the room. They didn't even want to be here, she tought. They'd be more of a liability,unless properly trained, she mused.

Mad's lips became a thin line as the two girls arrived. "I was not aware that children were permitted to wander about without proper supervision," she said. "All it would take is for one careless step to bring those who would have us disbanded right to our doorstep.

"Furthermore," she turned her disapproving gaze towards Asric. "I was not aware that students were permitted to leave the school without an approved guardian, Headmaster." She frowned. "I do not like it."

Georgie frowned, looking at the woman who she recognised as the Charms teacher from her school. "I am really sorry, but the only one who would bring me here is my father, but at the moment he is... Unable to come." she said a bit angrily. She took a deep breath, as Georgies magic was known for been unstable when her anger levels were high.

Most people here would of probably heard of her father anyway, he was known for been a big influence in the war against muggles, until another wizard, ironically, shot a confundus spell towards him, and it was too powerful for his mind.

She looked towards the other girl her age and frowned. She thought she was acting a bit rude, but shrugged it off, knowing if she dwelled on the subject she would get angry.

He raised an eyebrow at Madison not happy that she was questioning his work. "It is Christmas break i cannot stop the children from going home for Christmas Professor Lewis. Surely you should know that." He growled.

((OOC: OI~I! No fair! The ruddy meeting started before Christmas break, punk. >.- I call foul. *blows raspberry*))


Mad leveled Georgie with a sharp glare. "You will keep a civil tongue, Miss Vane," she said evenly.

The woman nearly had the urge to roll her eyes at the man who was her employer. For the love of Merlin, she thought. People really ought to start growing thicker skins.

"Regardless of how well you do as headmaster," she told him levelly (that she mentioned it at all was practically Mad's version of singing a person's praises - she did not compliment others often), "you are scarcely more than a child, yourself." While she respected him as a colleague, she was still his elder by a great many years, after all.

Mad then addressed the adults, in general. "All that I meant is that perhaps, for those children who lack guardians willing and able to bring them, we ought to provide a means for them to arrive here safely and with insurance that they won't be followed," she said. "Portkeys are simple enough to make. We can also assign trusted members to escort our junior members here. After all, if we are to build a future for our children, surely it would be prudent to make certain they survive to see said future? Muggles are barbarians who kill their own offspring for possessing magic. I hardly think they would so much as blink before murdering a stranger's child."

She looked calmly back at the irked Asric as she concluded, "As educators, I should think we would want see to the safety of our pupils."

And in her own way, Mad did care about the well-being of her students. Oh, she wasn't a nice woman - she probably took more points than any other professor and she took joy in flaying arrogant brats with her sharp tongue. She didn't seem to particularly like children, either. But she taught them to the best of her ability, doing her part to help prepare them for the world. If nothing else, they learned that the world wasn't always a friendly place.

It wasn't Mad's job to be liked, after all. It was her job to teach - and it hadn't been her last option, either.

'Well said Professor.' Augatha nodded at her. 'And I think we should also make sure that the younger ones know what they are doing and if they do want to join us of their own free will and they believe in our cause. It wouldn't do to have impulsive and whimsical members. Would it?'

Nat ran inside the room, looking around for Anna, she sat next to her, feeling extremely excited. But before she spoke a word to her friend, she first announced, "Sorry for my tardiness. My mother held me back, thinking I was going to get a few school supplies."

She then smiled at Anna before looking away from her in a shy way. What she didn't know was Nat was never threatened by anyone to join the Order, she joined out of her own free will. She hated being on the good side, being threatened.

Richard paused at the top of the room before turning to Aspen with a raised eyebrow,

"Is this for real?" he asked the other man with growing anger, "Are they really in-fighting like little children?"

He groaned a little and looked up at the ceiling,

"Mein Gott... was soll ich tun...?" he questioned the ceiling before closing his eyes, "I'll have to try and pull this meeting back on track..."

Raising his wand, he very calmly blasted a large second of the floor in front of him into fine powder, the sound echoing throughout the room as a massive 'BANG!'. He tilted his head to the side as he regarded the people in the room,

"Now that I have your attention..." he scowled, "I believe it's time to shut the hell up and focus on the meeting. On the reason as to why we are here, and not on who is here."

With another set of complicated flicks of his wand, the floor began to glow before a long meeting table rose out of the stone, chairs fully formed as well. Sitting at the head of the table, he gestured at it,

"Sit down." he told them firmly, "If you're all going to act like children then I shall command you like children."

Augatha raised her eyebrow at the blast. Her lips turned up into a smirk. Really? blasting a hole into the floor to make people listen! Thank Merlin he's Professor, he'd turn the Ministry into ruins in no time. She shook her head lightly and took one of those offered seats.
"Thank you, uh, what would you like to be called? Leader?" She asked Richard.

Mad's lips thinned only slightly. For her part, she had merely voiced what she felt was a legitimate concern and explained herself when she felt it necessary to help sooth ruffled feathers. In deference to the man's position as leader of the order did she ignore his intimation that she was attempting to quarrel with those on her own side. Quite the contrary, actually, though the woman supposed her own demeanor could make this hard to tell. Fifty years of habit were difficult to break, however, and she felt no need to go through unnecessary effort. If she was misunderstood, she was misunderstood; simple as that.

"Of course, Richard," she said evenly, taking a seat herself, giving him a respectful nod. Let the man hold the meeting as he saw fit; Mad would see to it herself that the children could make their way safely if others would not. "Let us focus on that which is of importance."

He watched the arguements, well mostly he watched the blood pumping throught the necks of all those involved. He was so hungry, he needed to feed soon before he went into a craze.

He nodded. "Looks like it. I want me to bring a screaming muggle? That should get their attention." He asked before shrugging. "Or not." He said sitting down in one of the seats with his legs resting up on the table.

"So where do we begin boss?" He smirked using one of the finger bones on his necklace to pick at his teeth.

Richard frowned a little at Augatha's suggestion before thinking about it. Without speaking, he burst out laughing to himself as he thought about something. Deciding to let them in on his thoughts, lest they think him mad, he turned to Augatha with a grin,

"If I wanted a title I'd want it in German." he shook his head with a chuckle, "Führer is in bad taste and you'd all probably mispronounce any of the others so let's just go with 'Richard'."

He spared Madison a glance before looking away. The older professor was likely going to be vocal in her opinions during these meetings, even if they were unpopular with the others. The stubborness of the woman was both admirable and damned frustrating. And at the moment it was mostly frustrating. He nodded at her once, the argument had been over something incredibly minor anyway. The children would be sent home at the end of the meeting by either apparation or portkeys. Simple enough in his mind. He raised an eyebrow at Aspen, amused by his casual air,

"Where do we begin?" he asked with a smile, "Well we've already agreed that there is a problem that needs to be fixed. Now we merely have to start discussing how to deal with the problem. Somehow I don't think the muggles are willing to just talk it out and to be honest I doubt any of you would want that. So the question becomes..."

He leant forward in his seat,

"How much do we hurt them to make them see the error of their ways?" he raised an eyebrow, "Do we raze their cities and salt their land? Or do we act as a scalpel... cut the rot out of them and let them heal as proper human beings?"

He leant back in his chair and began to scratch at the table idly,

"As it is the order is currently on a stepped down setting. We act from the shadows at this precise moment in time." he glanced around the table before fixing Aspen with a firm gaze, "Stop killing people... it's high profile. Assassinate the important ones."

Richard looked down the table,

"A vote..." he tilted his head to the side, "Open warfare? Or shadow-based strikes."

Karma, who had walked in during the discussion and was currently leaning against the wall next to the door and had one Red Vine half in her mouth like a impromptu cigar, spoke up. "Shadow-based warfare. Though I do know muggles are being hostile, it's not all of them, and since they outnumber us, we should not give them a reason to join in arms." Karma's voice was quiet. "No more should die than needed. On either side."

With that said, she slid into an empty seat, not really caring who it was by.

"Miss Black speaks with a wisdom beyond her years," Mad stated approvingly. "I, too, vote for shadow-based strikes. Open warfare would only justify their belief that we are the villains they think we are. Unnecessary death profits no one. If there is to be a war, let the muggles be the ones who start it. In the meantime, we are better served by being covert."

"But don't Muggles sometimes fight over something ridiculously petty?" Anna asked. She then sank bank into her seat, hoping that nothing bad will happen to her.

'My vote goes to covert operations.' Augatha spoke up, 'I'd like to add that, we should target muggles in a good position in the administratrion, be it political or religious. And replace them silently with people who might want to leave us alone. Direct warfare with muggles won't help us. The muggles can ruin the Diagon Ally within seconds.'

Georgie wondered whether she should tell them about what her dad had told her. "My father found out that there is a secret muggle group, not connected to the government, that are trying to bring us down." she said quietly.

She frowned when she saw Karma come in. This girl obviously hated her as she had stolen her ring, and then thrown her into a pond.