That sounds extremely out of left field. Do take care and good luck!Originally Posted by alfheimwanderer
That sounds extremely out of left field. Do take care and good luck!
Well, I have two weeks - its just a bit inconvenient is all. I'll probably be able to get a chapter out by Saturday still, so get in any last minute votes, please.
Last edited by alfheimwanderer; July 21st, 2016 at 11:23 AM.
Having only two weeks sounds more than a bit inconvenient, to be honest. Good luck.
Choice 78: [X] Nothing for now
Wanted to apologize again for the delays. Things got unexpectedly busy, with work obligations, living arrangements, and such things, but I should be getting the next chapter up in a couple days, so thank you very much for your patience.
Until then, enjoy a snippet.
As Potions Champion of Britain, Shinji (as we know) is both exempt from classes at both Durmstrang and Hogwarts and has the right to use the Vanishing Cabinet link between them as he wishes, with the Aurors guarding each end of the connection figuring he's taking care of Potions Competition business. On paper, it would seem that he spends a great deal of time in Britain - something which pleases the Ministry and such, as they think he is focusing on his brewing, as opposed to falling further under the malign influence of the part-Veela Champion of Beauxbatons,who is rumored to have seduced him.
Of course, truth be told, aside from his lessons with Lockhart and Slughorn, Shinji actually spends very little time at Hogwarts, as he finds the atmosphere of Mahoutokoro more familiar to him, less...hostile, something that he mentions to a certain Sajyou Ayaka while he is experimenting with some eastern and western ingredients with the help of the spirit of the Book of Potions.
"If Hogwarts has become a place you do not feel welcome, you need not remain," Sajyou-san tells him after a moment, with the boy freezing at the young woman's remark, given that he'd been thinking along those very lines. "Given your ties to the Fujou, and your service to Mahoutokoro, ther would be no issue with you coming here. Unless you have a reason to stay?"
A reason to stay?
Well, he was the Potions Champion of Britain - and he wouldn't - couldn't leave before the completion of that, given that his patron had asked him to compete and find out what he could about the ancient Isle of Thule. Aside from that though...
'Friends.'
...there were the Stone Cutters, the brothers in arms he had come to trust and rely on in his time abroad.
'Companions.'
Luna, who after Sokaris, was probably the closest person in the world to him, who knew most of his secrets and helped keep him both humble and stable.
'...and of course, my debts.'
On top of that, he did owe Gilderoy Lockhart a favor - or perhaps more than that, given that the Assassin had accepted him as a full apprentice, and he wasn't sure what the man planned to do. He knew that the History Professor wasn't happy about what was going on in Britain, and that he chafed under the restrictions placed upon him as a teacher, but aside from that, Shinji didn't know very much about the man. He'd mentioned as much after showing Lockhart the hidden blade, quipping that he was taking a leap of faith in doing so - a turn of phrase that had brought a flicker of amusement to both Lockhart and Pansy Parkinson, for some reason.
Perhaps on a whim, the man had offered to answer a single question for Matou Shinji on the spot, but the boy had demurred, asking if he could hold off on asking, since frankly, at this point, he didn't know enough to know what what he didn't know. Lockhart had eyed him speculatively, but nodded, since it would be uncharitable to take back an offer after it had been extended.
As Shinji looked back upon the encounter, though, he found himself wishing he had asked something so he could get an idea of the context Lockhart operated in - something Pansy undoubtedly knew by now, but wasn't sharing. Though he'd only ever been Aozaki Touko's provisional apprentice, he'd known more about her than as a full apprentice under Lockhart - and to be frank, he knew the ways of magi far better than those of a group as mysterious as the Assassins - aside from the fact that they likely were masters of death.
"...more than one reason, actually," he answered at last, to which Sajyou Ayaka just grunted. "Ties of trust and obligation."
"Hence your inner conflict."
"Yes," Shinji acknowledged, as he looked down at a bubbling pot of a potion with a pearl-white sheen that he'd been absently brewing. "In getting to where I am now, I've caused...pain to a good many people and disappointed others." People like Tohsaka or Hermione Granger. People like Harry. People like his former Master. "I've even..."
He closed his eyes and shook his head as he took a deep, shuddering breath.
"You do not like what Britain is becoming, but you cannot simply leave," Ayaka summed up, with Shinji nodding wearily.
"It makes it hard to know what to do," Shinji admitted, feeling a sense of relief that he could just tell someone this - someone who really didn't have a stake in it either way. "I know that in the long run, I won't stay in Britain. That when I finish with Hogwarts, there is another I am sworn to serve, but..."
"This is somewhat more immediate."
"...well, yes." Plus there was the fact that for Matou Shinji, Hogwarts (and Britain, by extension!) was the place where he'd first begun to flourish, where he'd come into his own. To see it twisted into something darker by fear and uncertainty, with the guilty set free and the innocent condemned, tore at him, especially when he'd counseled Harry to accept the position of Britain's Youth Representative - to be its face and stand for it, come what may. "I just...I wish there was something I could do."
"You could always try overthrowing the Ministry," came an amused interjection from the door of the potions lab, with Shinji looking over to see the puppet who called himself Tomas Peverell leaning against the wall, with his arms crossed and his eyes closed as he contemplated something.
"...overthrow the Ministry?" Shinji echoed incredulously. "Tomas, what are you even--"
"Admittedly, you'd need an army for that," the puppet continued, as if the boy hadn't spoken. "And aside from Greyback's forces in Europe and the Goblins, the closest thing you have is the British Army, and they're not loyal to you."
"Tomas--"
"That, and it would probably look bad for a foreigner to try to undermine the British Ministry at this time, especially in collusion with non-human forces, given the propaganda," Tomas mused aloud. "No, to have any hope of succeeding with some shred of legitimacy, you'd need a native British wizard to head up such a rebellion. Someone that Britain trusts. Someone who they know to be a hero. Someone like--"
"Harry would never go for--"
"Gilderoy Lockhart, the greatest adventurer Britain has ever seen," Tomas concluded, cutting off Shinji's protest in mid-sentence, with the boy's mouth working up and down for a few seconds in silence. "Your new Master."
Shinji felt a chill going down his spine as he recalled an odd dream he'd had the night after he'd offered to be Fleur's bodyguard at Durmstrang. A dream where he found himself in fusion form with goblins by his side - along with Mashu - confronting a vast army of nameless, faceless red-garbed enemies - wizards, he thought - as well as a foe in the robes of a Stone Cutter, wielding a wand and an ancient goblin-made blade.
"But that is merely speculation on my part, from what I've seen in Britain," the puppet noted idly. "Being as I am in Mahoutokoro, perhaps it is not my place to comment on some other nation's affairs, even if I have my thoughts about the hand behind the madness. You are Champion of Britain though, which means that should you create something of worth, or if some internal conflict break out, the one who will be forced to take sides is you."
"You seem rather certain it will, Peverell," Ayaka noted quietly.
Tomas' reply was an eloquent shrug.
"Fear is a powerful tool, and Minister Malfoy wields it with aplomb, giving him control over the hearts and minds of those who cannot fight for themselves, those who trust authority, those who simply have too much to lose," the puppet noted. "But the thing about fear is that once loosed, it takes on a mind of its own. And if fear leads to anger, and anger inflames old hatreds..." Tomas shrugged. "Wizarding Britain is not by any means a utopia, and certainly it is not a place where the supremacy of wizards is unquestioned. For centuries there has been a balance - an uneasy one where goblins are given nominal control over the levers of the economy, with wizards - in limiting wands to themselves - also agreeing to limit what they do with wand-magic so as not to make the role of goblins obsolete. Should this balance be disturbed..."
"...that would be..." Shinji swallowed. "...a disaster, given what I've heard about Goblin rebellions and the like. Especially if Greyback is still out there, waiting to strike."
"Perhaps," Tomas conceded. "Or perhaps it would simply be the beginning of a glorious revolution. Who is to say, really, what is glory or disaster, who is hero or villain, until it is all over, and the victorious record the appropriately slanted details? All you have to be concerned with, Matou, is filling the role you were meant to play."
"And what role might that be?"
"Now that, Matou Shinji, is the right question."
In the wake of this conversation, Shinji is somewhat troubled and distracted as he returns to Durmstrang. Technically he has no need to, but given that he volunteered to be Fleur's bodyguard, he figures it would be a good idea to be present at least every once in a while. Otherwise, his words would likely be taken as an empty declaration, with people likely assuming the worst - that after leaving Durmstrang (and subsequently, the Veela allure of Fleur Delacour), he had come to his senses, with his time in Hogwarts being a pointed statement that his gesture of solidarity towards another Champion had not been of his own will.
Fleur seems surprised, but grateful, when he appears at Raven's Keep, announcing that he would be ready for to accompany her about the grounds or to whatever she wishes as her bodyguard, after he checks in with the Raven Commander in his office to see if anything has transpired in his absence.
As it turns out, there has been a utter lack of news from Britain regarding the fate of the Hufflepuffs who attacked Fleur and Viktor, something that the students of Durmstrang and Beauxbatons are none too pleased with. As well, odd rumors have sprung up about a number of the Champions, with Fleur specifically mentioned in them as a conniving seductress who preys on men and steals their magic and will - something that Andreas thinks may have been started by some of the British delegation who are unhappy with Delacour receiving no punishment for killing several of the students who ambushed her. And then there is George, who after being chosen as Hogwarts' Champion for the Tri-Wizard Tournament, had not been seen outside of Wolf's Den at all.
"It is decidedly odd to have such a...reclusive Champion," the Raven Lord noted. "Though given his own declaration, perhaps he simply does not want to be bothered with the ill-manned behavior of those from Hogwarts. "
"Perhaps," Shinji said, though his heart wasn't in it.
"So how are things at Hogwarts?" Andreas asked casually. "Given that you spent about a week there, I'm sure you were busy. Did you hear what happened with the Hufflepuffs, by the by?"
"I did," Shinji admitted, handing the older boy a copy of the Daily Prophet he'd acquired at Hogwarts shortly before returning to Durmstrang. "Here, see for yourself."
The Raven Lord raised an eyebrow at the offer, but took the newspaper, his lips curving into a frown as he saw the contents: the announcement that the heroes who had taken it upon themselves to confront the treacherous Butcher of Bulgaria and his Veela whore had been released into British custody - where the Court had dismissed the charges against them. Indeed, for their bravery, they had been offered places in the army - with the leader, whose mind had been destroyed, receiving some manner of medal for his personal sacrifice.
Andreas is understandably...displeased with this, given that Britain had refused to relay any information about the Hufflepuffs to the Norwegian Ministry - which he supposed made sense given that instead of even considering the evidence collected against them, released them without even the formality of a trial. More than that, the British Ministry had called these youths heroes for their heinous deeds - for attempting to murder students from the other schools. If the other schools knew about this...
"...a word of advice, Matou," the Raven Lord noted, folding the newspaper and making a quick duplicate of it. "Be careful about sharing this with anyone else. If information were to get out to the student body - or worse - to the international press, I fear that many of those from Hogwarts might get scapegoated for the actions of your Ministry. You're fortunate that I am a bit more...discreet."
Distracted by other things, Shinji hadn't even considered the ramifications of sharing the newspaper - which he'd only been able to bring to Durmstrang since it had been with his potions supplies - or how this bit of information could be very, very dangerous.
"Unfortunately, I will have to share this tidbit with the Headmaster and through him, the Norwegian Ministry, as they wish to know what happened," Andreas noted apologetically. "I simply have two questions: Would you like me to leave your name out of this? And since you have free access to Britain, would you be willing to bring back more information of this sort in return for some considerations? Nothing confidential of course, just what is common knowledge at Hogwarts or Britain. Publications and the like."
Choice 79: Would Shinji like to be identified to the Norwegian Ministry as the informant?
[ ] Yes, in case he needs a favor from them later
[ ] Remain an unnamed source
Choice 80: Either way, would he like to bringing over additional information for a consideration? (choose one)
[ ] Yes, because this kind of information shouldn't be hidden
[ ] No, this was a one-time deal
[ ] He needs to discuss with someone else first
Choice 81: As Andreas speculated she would be, Fleur is curious about what happened at Hogwarts, and if anything happened in particular with the Hufflepuffs. What does Shinji do, when faced with the questioning of a beautiful woman - who has a very legitimate reason for being interested in the topic, given she was one of their victims? (choose one)
[ ] Tell her everything - she deserves to know
[ ] Say he can't talk about it
[ ] Say he was concentrating on potions and didn't pay attention
[ ] Lie and say they were brought to justice
Last edited by alfheimwanderer; July 24th, 2016 at 11:20 AM.
Going to shelve 79 for now, but leaning towards remaining an unnamed source. For 80 discuss it with someone else first hopefully that's Lockheart or he's an option.
I'd say to tell her everything, because she really does deserve to know, but hopefully we can also ask her to be discreet and not spread this or her source, although it's probably obvious from whom she knew if this knowledge spreads anyways.
Also hang in there Alf and take your time.
Agreed on both choices, though where 79's concerned, I say stay anonymous - he's got enough troubles on his plate without creating another reason to spotlight the target on his back.
“Love will be cruel to who it entices — love will have its sacrifices.”
— Carmilla Theme
"Evil isn't the real threat to the world. Stupid is just as destructive as Evil, maybe more so, and it's a hell of a lot more common. What we really need is a crusade against Stupid. That might actually make a difference."
―Jim Butcher, Vignette
[x] Stay anonymous. Otherwise this will bite us on the ass.
[x] Sure. The info isn't really hidden, it's just Britain are being asses on the international stage. We can always explain away a newspaper easily, it's not classified info.
[x] Tell her. Might as well let her know that her attackers are still at large.
Binged All Of Gundam In 4 Years, 1 Week and All I Got Was This Stupid Mask
FF XIV: Walked to the End
Started Legend of the Galactic Heroes (14/07/23), pray for me.
Definitely [X] stay anonymous, but also [X] decline the offer to continue. Shinji can give more information if he finds something that should be known, but he should not create an obligation. Furthermore, if he does this, even if he asks to be anonymous someone might slip up or not care, and Shinji's name could get out. We do not want him to be branded a spy against Britain.
As for the last choice, [X] tell her, but ask her to keep it quiet, as Shinji doesn't want the Hogwarts students to turn on him.
Choice 79
I can understand why staying unnamed might be the best choice, certainly its the safest option. But the reward vs risk of picking having them know that he is their source is very tempting. If Shinji truly wants to be a worldly wizard that is not limited to one Wizard Sphere aka Japan, or Europe, he needs to make inroads into the other important people/governments. Being an informer to Norway because its the right thing to do will get him in favor with all of the Nordic Countries as they are a tight group.
However, this choice is way too open in having the entire Ministry know that he is an informer. Because of the large risk that Shinji would be under, he needs to have a full Codename so that Shinji's name is not openly shared so that Britain doesn't find out Shinji is the traitor. Only Shinji's handler, Karkaroff and the Head of Norway should know that Shinji is the informer. If these securities are put into place the risk to Shinji can be marginalized (there is still a risk). To the British, Shinji will always be one of their first picks to being a leak source so Norway needs to have complete lockdown on sharing how they know stuffs.
So I want to know Alf. Can Shinji negotiate these requirements so that Norway and Durmstrang do not leak out that Shinji is an informer? On a side note if Shinji was to have a codename I suggest the name to be Hermóđr the Brave; the Norse messenger god.
With these requirements I will vote [X] Yes, in case he needs a favor from them later. Without them I will change my vote to No.
Choice 80
Same problem as choice 79. Any info given needs to have the informer protected due to risk of getting the info. But I will still vote for [X] Yes, because this kind of information shouldn't be hidden
Choice 81
[X] Tell her everything - she deserves to know
I have nothing to really add to this choice. The choice itself gives my reason to pick it. Fleur will need Shinji to calm her down after telling her the truth, as I image she will be unable to control herself from throwing fire balls.
Last edited by Skull Leader; July 24th, 2016 at 05:20 PM.
To an extent. Like any good agent, the Raven Lord knows the importance of protecting his sources, so it isn't as if he'd be informing everyone at the Ministry that Shinji is their spy. Just people like Karkaroff (since the Headmaster of Durmstrang has a vested interest in the situtation) and selected individuals at the Ministry (such as those in charge of the foreign service, who would then make decisions as to wider disclosure).
Would this small list likely included the other Banner Leaders and/or Rachelle Sondrol? Because the way I see it, this could be a great way to make inroads into working with Sondrol and maybe even an Triwizard school Potion alliance.
Either way this is a risk I am willing to take. It takes a large risk to achieve large rewards. This is the same theory on our use of the cabinets at the moment. Shinji just has to be extremely careful and apply the skills Lockhart has taught him. As well as accept the consequences of this action. If we are willing to continue to give any information as Choice 80 asks us then we should be brave enough to risk going all in by having Shinji's name be known.
Otherwise we should vote down being associated for the leak as well as giving any future information.
Yes to Rachelle Sondrol, as she's someone you'd see on a regular basis, and passing information off to her would be less conspicuous than arranging meetings with Andreas. Likely no for the other Banner leaders.
Well, considering everything that we've seen in the snippet that Alf was kind enough to provide, it would be in our best interest to foster some good will between ourselves and other forces that aren't tied to Britain. Whether or not we decide to push with assisting in Lockhart's possible rebellion, we might stand to have something to gain from foreign relationships. Alf has already mentioned that there will be some form of security being taken into account for our sake and in the event we decide to become an informant for them.
Besides, it would lend a lot more credence to Lockhart if he has the support of the ICW. If the rebellion is something that can't be stopped, we might as well benefit from it.
[x] - Yes, in case he needs a favor from them later.
Now the second choice presents an interesting set of options. We can accept - we stand to gain from it as well as curry favor with forces that might be beneficial to us in the coming conflicts. All things considered, it would be wise of us to not step aside and leave things as they are lest they become far, far more dangerous. No matter what happens, we're already going to be in a precarious position as is. It would also be wise to remember that we might not be staying in Hogwarts when the year ends as to do so, we would need to accept British citizenship, and we already know that such a thing is something we cannot afford.
To talk to someone will alert the ICW that we are in cahoots with others, however, and may make them wonder if our loyalties may lie elsewhere. It is a possibility that they might be interested in partnering with whoever is interested in putting down this maddness and we may just garner some international support for the beginnings of Lockhart's Rebellion.
[x] - He needs to discuss with someone first.
The last choice is perhaps the trickiest of the three. Considering we've just been warned against telling people willy-nilly, it might be wise to consider our options first. Of course, we shouldn't lie to the girl, that is obviously a foolish decision and one we should avoid. The other choices involve lying, or simply saying that he cannot discuss it with her, which will not be satisfying regardless.
Unfortunately, Fleur also seems to be the type of girl that will be very vocal about things, and finding out about what happened might cause her to make quite a bit of very unnecessary noise that will put us in quite a spot. There is also the small possibility that she might take it reasonably and be quiet about it, but I find that such a thing might not be the case, considering Alf's warning.
So considering the options presented, it is perhaps wisest to simply tell her that [x] - We can't talk about it as it would imply that it's information she wouldn't initially want to know, but at the same time say that we aren't unwilling to tell her, just that it's for the best we don't - for everyone involved.
Some good points have been made; specifically, I had forgotten that we likely won't be staying in Britain past this year anyway. Still, it would be nice to not get disqualified from the Potions Championship because Shinji is a spy. This bears further contemplation.
I think you hit the nail on its head with the fundamental problems with the last choice option. It seems to me to be a lose lose choice here. No choice is the complete right answer.
After more thought, I have been wondering myself how bad the likely reaction from Fleur will have when she finds out. She is not spy nor an actress and will likely never be able to hide her knowledge from others. Especially when she is part Veela, a creature of passion and fire. However, I remind you that Fleur will find out that status of her attackers. The upcoming post Troll attack teacher talk will inform her of the truth if Shinji does not. So yeah. Lying would be a super bad idea.
So if Fleur is going to know the truth anyways, and the fact that she will go ballistic at the news, when is the best time for her to find out the truth? I think it is still better for to find out from the mouth of Shinji in a private setting then in front of the Headmasters. Thanks to the warning given to Shinji about the fact that sharing the news might recieve bad reactions, I believe that Shinji will be more ready for a bad reaction from Fleur if he tells her. Shinji can seal the area when he reveals the truth to her for her to scream out her rage, plus his staff can absorb her fire attacks. Shinji was the help of Zelkova and fusion can deal with her rage. Better for the rage now then the rage at a later date.
I think that saying that "Shinji can not talk about it" only delays Fleur's response and frustration at the injustice of the world. She lives her whole life in a near perfect world and will be crushed when the image is destroyed further. Best to be completely upfront and deal with the consequences of telling her now, so that we can get Fleur more prepared for her upcoming trials as well is get her ready for a more Moon Lit Friendly outlook then she has at the moment. If she has any chance of having any further role after this year, she will need to be harden to be able to keep up with the company that Shinji keeps. Otherwise, we are wasting Shinji's precious time by befriending her this year.
You make a good argument, however, we should also bear in mind that hearing it from the headmasters means that the information will be as close to officially released as it can get. Should word get out that it was we that had informed her, we will be in for a world of backlash, and that, alone, might already be enough to get us removed from being Potions Champion of Hogwarts. Note that in the warning in the snippet, the backlash is most likely going to affect Hogwarts, and likely - by extension - us.
She may hate us because we withheld the information, but we at least had the decency to tell her that there was information to be had and that we were not in the position to tell it to her. She is aware that we have obligations and she, too, understands what it means to be a champion. If she is petty enough to hate us for protecting ourselves while still giving her what we can, then that will speak volumes of her, and perhaps we may have been wasting all of our time, anyway.
First of all, the claim that Durmstrang has no eyes and ears in Britain seems extremely fishy. Come on guys, even if Ministry blocks owl post and Vanishing Cabinets (incidently we ourselves own an illegal one) there's still Patronus messenger - and muggle's means of communication. Hell, it's 1994, there's even internet here.
Working against own country we'll grow to be dependent on Karkarov - which we don't need the least.
But all that isn't the main issue. Don't forget who we are - the Stone Cutter, member of british chivalric order, and British Potions Champion. Any form of collaboration with Britain's political opponents is out of question. Wanna pursue justice or impress ICW? Sure thing, but resign from all british honor positions first. Otherwise it would be a treason, and samurais know what to do in this case.
So, i don't see any options here.
Choice 79:
[v] Remain an unnamed source
Choice 80:
[v] No, this was a one-time deal
Choice 81:
[v] Say he can't talk about it
While I admit that they might have another source, I highly doubt that they do. There are no official embassies in the wizard world and very little drive to really understand/spy on the other magical nations. Case in point the British foreign department for the MoM is called Department of International Magical Cooperation. Which does not scream out to me that they have the ability or the charter to spy on foreign nations. They are not the equivalent of MI-6 or CIA.
Unless the Nordic countries are radically different from Britain then I doubt they have the people, the knowledge and the magical equipment/spells in place to truly spy on Britain when their isolation curtain went up. And now that their citizens have been attack, they are likely scrambling for any news from Britain to better gauge what their crazy neighbor is doing.
Patronus to my knowledge is a short range spell and likely will not work to send long distance messages. Plus their is that small fact that its really hard to cast and most wizards by far can not cast that spell. Patronus spells are not even used in the British MoM for sending messages between departments inside their own building and instead relies on memos sent on magical paper airplanes.
Fun fact: Owls are not used for inter department messages because of the MoM being covered in Owl droppings when they were using them.
As for the use of modern technology to spy, that would work expect for the fact that as stated many times by the source material and Alf on this very board before that Wizards do not understand nor use modern technology. I am sure that Nordic countries might be a little less conservative then the British but they still not very likely to use the regular post system and/or telephone.
As for the internet, I am not sure how old you are but I do not believe you understand how much smaller the internet was in 1994. This is far before google or any real search engines were around. Email was a thing true but the masses have not started to really use it yet. This was early Netscape days. The only people that I knew that had the internet those days were some people due to work needs and the really nerdy. I doubt that most of the Nordic countries had any real internet coverage outside of their major cities in those days. Certainly not on the island chain that Drumstrang is located at where the most Northern town in the world is at with a town with a total population of 2,000 people is located.
Last edited by Skull Leader; July 25th, 2016 at 07:58 PM.
Alright so I thought about this for a while and I've decided that I'm sick of secrets. I like playing it safe, but whatever might as well let the Norwegian Ministry know not because I care about favors in particular, but as I started thinking about this and past things and all these secrets just keep killing social relations, except to Luna or those in the know (Well Luna also falls under that.). So it's no wonder that by default Shinji fell in love with her as there no one else he can seemingly remotely trust. Not his friend, still not really trusting his Assassin teacher now (Although being cautious there is something I can understand.) and not his Stone Cutter friends.
At this point I find it hard to care about Harry, he's so distant and that distance has been increasing and him being in isolation for that animagus training didn't help either. I don't mean this as a slight against those that voted for it, I don't mind that it won or anything I'm just trying to say that the only time recently that he could've spent with him was used for that rather than training together or hanging out a bit or something. So for me I can't even care anymore that if Shinji gets revealed as the informant about that and his relationship with Harry burns it hardly matters to me as is. Aside from the hought of Shinji losing the first friend he made in Britain.
Anyways a great example of these secrets and Shinji having Luna as his girlfriend, which quite a few don't like, is that she's one of the few and maybe even the only one in his age group that he trusted. I can't think of anyone else so correct me if I'm wrong. A great example is the spider raid. No one knew about fusion, except Luna. So she tailored her entire strategy around making up for Shinji's weakness and almost died for it and it lead to becoming his girlfriend. She and only she knew that Shinji couldn't keep up his fusion for the long term, everyone else did whatever, but Luna specifically pushed herself as much as possible to buy any second she could get until Shinji took over. She was the glue that held it together and a part of that could be because she knew everyone's capabilities to some extend. Sure the other tried their best and did well, but they never knew much about Shinji's strengths or weaknesses.
Now as Alf already said romancing Luna was the easy mode way, one could even say that it was some sort of warning (For those that didn't want Luna.), she looks into stuff herself so she will find out secrets like the Room. And she reminded Shinji of Sion so that made it even easier. Which in turn led Shinji to trust her as he still doesn't have many he trusts much less at Hogwarts. I think trusting George with the knowledge of the Room lost, right? The only other person that knows about it found out about it herself. Just like Sion, who I think told Shinji. Yet Shinji is reluctant to share anything with anyone. By now I feel like some votes should lend these characters like George some measure of trust. The guy risked his life and helped score the potion championship by allying himself, with his brother, with Shinji "betraying" someone also dear to them, who from how I understood it interacted more with them than Shinji did by a long shot. Yet, we still can't trust him with that knowledge?
Now we arrive at the present, trusting Fleur is a risk but as the choice itself says she deserves to know. And even if she spreads it, then Shinji has to live with it, but at least he's not making his own words "that he's proecting her because it was the right thing to do" seem hollow. Also if the votes align to lead a rebellion it wouldn't matter that Fleur talked anyways, but that's another thing entirely. Maybe trusting Fleur is a mistake, but at least it lets Shinji get close to one other person, that's sort of his age, aside from Luna. I'd like to trust George too and deal with whatever issues Fred has, but all these similar things like exploring the castle won't mean much if we don't trust her. Sion trusted Shinji with some secrets so maybe it's time to return the favor to other people and Sion isn't a person that gives trust easily as she preferred to use Etherlite to get her info until she met Shiki, which she didn't here.
Ok, Malgos, I think you just won the award for most needed post for this year. You are completely right. Shinji keeping the amount of secrets he keeps from everyone is killing his relationship with people. It killed his relationship with Hermione, and its certainly killing his relationship with Harry at this point. Luna is around be she can roll with the fact that Shinji is keeping secrets. You are right that we need to start solving this problem by keeping secrets to the minimum and start trusting our allies. We need to start actually voting options that better show that Shinji trusts his friends by coming clean with the things going on with Shinji.
These entire three years we have been rewarded with the Relationship level of the people around Shinji view on him but we have never once thought about Shinji's own relationship towards them. When the curse lower Shinji's view of the level of Hermione Points was done, the relationship with Hermione started to crash because we could not see correctly what was going on. Hell, Rin has lived in Shinji's house for a year now and has cried at his death at this point, yet we do not trust Rin to keep the Cabinets secret.
Shinji has a trust issue already from his Magus background and we have made it worst with a long back history of not trusting friends and allies.
I for one, will join you in your endeavor to stop Shinji from keeping everything he does secret from the people that he cares most about. And I do think that we the voters really need to have a serious talk about the dangers of having Shinji never trusting anyone his secrets.
Unfortunately, we have a series of events were we have voted in the past coming up where we have voted to keep secrets from people like George. So any turn around that we can start to show will be slow. But its needed.
Last edited by Skull Leader; July 25th, 2016 at 11:27 PM.
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