Old Friend(Willow/Silver)

[Willow Wenlock]

Infamous was never something that could really be ascribed to as good to the people around them. No one saw you as you, rather you were that person's relation. "So, it's alright if I don't call you Dare's brother right? I can still call you Silver?" It would hurt to be to serious about it, to acknowledge that there was pain and possibly a sense of not being enough in comparison. "If you don't mind my asking, what's he infamous for. I always figured after the Weasley twins graced these halls there wasn't anything left that could garner that much shock."

[Silver Blackwood]

Silver gave Willow a look that said quite plainly that his brother was fierce competition for the Weasleys, then looked back over the grass unseeing. "Dare and his partner," he said, still pausing slightly at the oddity of the word, "They were outed by the Daily Prophet. The Prophet tore into them for a while, and they started staying off-campus. Pretty big." He looked aside again, peering around the comfortable curtain of his hair. "Way too much for anyone to pay attention to me, which is fine. I've never wanted the spotlight."

[Willow Wenlock]

It should be big news, Willow thought for most people. but she didn't see the world in the shades that most people saw them. "That sucks. About the Prophet I mean. It doesn't make sense when we aren't the first culture or that last where people are attracted to the same gender. We are however one of the more intolerant iterations of such cultures." She thought about how close they must have been growing up, as close as she'd hoped she would be with a sibling that never existed. "He must be pretty lucky to have you then. If I had a sibling, I'd be grateful for that."

[Silver Blackwood]

Silver gave a weak smile. "Yeah, it's awesome," he said, the words coming out less genuine-sounding than he'd intended. He opted to jump on the rest of what she'd said and hope to move them on. "We're boycotting the Prophet. Apparently they printed some really bad stuff, pissed my brother—ticked my brother off. But they're fine now. Like I said, he's graduating." He didn't want to go into what the Prophet had said or what his brother and Michael had dealt with. He still felt a trace of guilt for not having noticed.

[Willow Wenlock]

She really didn't remember the daily prophet being that bad when she'd left, but then again, it had been horrible during the Potter/Weasley days, it stood to reason that it would again. She supposed she wasn't horribly interested in people who weren't here with her in more than a clinical rationalization of what they stood for, however Silver seemed interested, and she'd lead where he followed. "Censorship always defeats it own purpose, for it creates in the end the kind of society that is incapable of exercising real discretion."

Henry Steele Commager Willow thought, had it right, and it was the best analogy she had for the situation. The Daily Prophet most likely could not understand the meaning of discretion or the need for it by many people, because they lived in a censored society that hung on the morbidity and intimate secrets of others.

[Silver Blackwood]

Silver nodded, but made no comment. His mind was still on his brother, as much as he wished it wasn't. Things were so messed up right now. It took him a moment to bring himself back to the conversation, and when he did he found solace in throwing out another quote, albeit one that pushed the conversation on again. "A free society cherishes nonconformity. It knows that from the non-conformist, from the eccentric, have come many of the great ideas of freedom." Another quote by Henry Steele Commager, and one that would hopefully bring things back to the value of thought in utilizing facts to their fullest.

[Willow Wenlock]

Willow looked out over the landscape thoughtfully, "Words to live by." Someday she might have that engraved on her tombstone, not just words to live by, but words to take with you. "I admit to being envious of people like your brother, they push the boundaries of society for those freedoms, while I read the books and theorize how things should be accomplished. Words can touch the hearts of some, but actions touch the hearts of many." It was one of the reasons Ravenclaw wasn't as popular as Gryffindor, actions spoke louder than words, even if words understood the heart of the matter better.

[Silver Blackwood]

"Yeah, Gryffindors are good for pushing boundaries," Silver said. His brother had always been like that, and it had been something he'd admired, something he'd wished he had even a bit of. In the moment though, all he could ever think of were the possible consequences of his actions. He didn't understand how or even why people would take such massive risks, but it seemed to work out somehow. "Every society honors its live conformists, and its dead troublemakers," Silver said. "McLaughlin, The Neurotic's Notebook."

[Willow Wenlock]

A laugh escaped Willows lips, here eyes dancing with humor, "I do not believe I had heard that one before. I'm going to remember it though." She made a mental note in her mind of the topic and the quote thinking that she would have to remember it to tell someone else later. Willow's lips were still twitching a bit as the castle loomed closer over them. "So, when you were growing up, were you able to blame everything on your brother?" She had always wished for that byplay, she found that was a bit jealous that he'd been able to experience that, but not jealous enough it detracted from her interest in his mind.

[Silver Blackwood]

Silver's lips quirked, but he shook his head. "It was usually both of us," he admitted. "It wasn't until Dare started school that... he opened up more and I... I didn't, really. I was happy with the way things were." He'd had books, and for that one strange year he'd had his parents' undivided attention. He'd been unutterably relieved to start at SWIM and get out from under all that.

[Willow Wenlock]

There wasn't anything wrong with not being popular or outgoing she thought to herself. Before she'd left she'd been friends with most students in her year, but hadn't been popular or their best friends by any means. "The world needs people like your brother to keep the world focused on the present. And people like you, and me to focus on the past, present, and future at the same time. A sage is the instructor of a hundred ages. And that's a job that I look forward to, no matter how many people don't understand the desire." To educate, to always be aware of new possibilities and it's affect. She smiled as she thought of something else, "and if nothing else, sometimes books are much clearer subject than people."

[Silver Blackwood]

"You want to teach?" Silver asked. "History?" It sounded right, considering the subject matter of their conversation that they'd spent the most time on. He shook his head lightly. "I don't know what I want to do. Write, but there's not much money in that unless you're really lucky." There were excellent writers who went all but unknown and famous writers who were crap, but had good marketing. He hoped to fall into the first category if he had to choose.

[Willow Wenlock]

Did she want to teach eventually? She supposed that she might, however she did want to educate the masses to cultural pasts. "I really want to work with the Ministries archeological department. Maybe I'll teach after that." She turned over what he said about writing ""Write what you care about and understand. Writers should never try to outguess the marketplace in search of a salable idea; the simple truth is that all good books will eventually find a publisher." Richard North Patterson was a good example of inspiration, but especially for those that were inclined towards writing. "What do you write?"

[Silver Blackwood]

Silver wasn't at all certain about all good books finding publishers, but he didn't argue. He only looked aside at her a moment before turning his gaze forward again. "I write everything," he said. "Poetry, prose, short stories, whatever I feel like. If any of it's good enough for print I'd be surprised."

He'd gotten good reactions before, but not a lot of interest besides those reactions. No one ever asked him to write things for them, with the exception of Anna that once, but she'd taken his poem for her and related it to her ex-boyfriend. Who was already with his brother at the time. Not really hope-inspiring.

"Knowing me, I'll end up like Emily Dic.kinson, with drawers and closets stuffed with genius and no one who knows until I'm dead." And she'd been lucky that one of her relatives had tried to print her work posthumously or it all would have died with her.

[Willow Wenlock]

Willow tilted her head a moment, "but she had problems publishing because she was a woman in a time when work from male authors was thought far superior to female authors?" Not that she knew very much about the literary scene. "It doesn't matter, I'm sure that as brill as you are, your work has to be equally so." It made sense with a good background of knowledge one could postulate any scenario and make anything up.