"No, Florean, we are not calling our society We All Hate Orion Black And Think He Should Die. That's just a little bit too morbid."

"BUT WHY?" Florean exclaimed dramatically, flinging himself down across the sofa in the tapestry room during a break time when Euphemia and Minerva were brainstorming name ideas for the society and possible members that they could convince to sign up, the rest of their friendship group either milling around the castle or staying in classrooms for extra studying time during break time.

"Because it's a stupid name," Minnie told him with a firm tone lining her words that made her appear rather stern which made Mia giggle to herself before she sighed, staring down at the various names that they had scribbled down on a piece of parchment, names that could possibly become the official title of their secret society.

"How about We Hate All Prejudiced Tramps, Especially Orion Black, And Think They Should All Die? That's a great name!" Florean exclaimed and there was a beat of silence before both Euphemia and Minerva span around slowly to stare at him, identical dead-pan expressions plastered on their faces which freaked Florean out, leading him to cover his eyes with a little scream.

"That's scary! Don't do that," he shuddered, burying his head in his hands and only peeking past them after he had had his dramatic moment of hiding his face. "Don't suggest idiotic names, then," Mia chuckled slightly and Florean propped himself up on the sofa, leaning on one elbow as he raised his eyebrows at her.

"You totally agree with those names, Mia. Don't lie," he scoffed and Euphemia pressed her finger to her lips to shush him, winking, "Yes, I do but the names are silly. Besides, the initials wouldn't really fit on the badges," she added with a shrug and Florean laughed at first, thinking she was joking before he realised that she was deadly serious about the badges and all amusement slid from his face.

"Badges? Why do we need badges?" Florean sighed in exasperation, "I'm not wearing a bloody badge," he added with a grumble. Minnie chuckled slightly, "Because Mia wants to make badges and is willing to go to the effort of making them," she shrugged.

Florean turned to Euphemia, "Do you genuinely have nothing better to do with your time?" he asked his friend with a slightly amused expression on his face, "Well, I've finished all of my homework and assignments for the next two weeks so, no, I don't have anything better to do with my time," Mia replied.

Minerva gaped at her, "What? Even the enormous essay that Professor Slughorn set us, not due until next month?" she questioned incredulously, looking impressed and Euphemia nodded, "I had a little help from Eileen but yeah, I did it all mostly by myself."

"Swot," Florean coughed and Mia thumped him on the arm, causing him to let out a dramatic yelp of fake pain. "Anyway, I think that we should call it something to do with equality seeing as that's what it's all about," Euphemia glared pointedly at Florean, who rolled his eyes playfully.

"If you're not going to take this seriously, you can leave," Minnie told him sternly, pointing to the doorway and Florean stuck his middle finger up at her before glancing at his watch, "Guess I'll go and 'hang out' with David then," he told them with a wink and Mia raised an eyebrow, "Or go and study? You know, for the O.W.L.S. that we have this year?"

Florean scoffed, "No, thank you. I'd rather go and snog my boyfriend. Bye bye ladies!" he waved at them and sauntered out as Minerva shook her head in exasperation whilst Euphemia chuckled to herself. Minnie then turned to her best friend, her quill poised at the ready, hovering over the parchment where they had scribbled various ideas for the society's name.

"So, any other ideas?"

~~~

Garm Tyr was leaning against the wall of the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom whilst his class lined up, waiting to go inside, watching as Aaron Simons chatted to Heather Rosier, the latter twirling her blonde hair and smirking as Aaron evidently charmed her.

Rolling his eyes, Garm was about to look away from the scene when he saw Mia Black appear at the end of the corridor, her textbooks clutched her chest as she hurried along, obviously wanting to get to class quickly.

Her eyes were darting about, as if she was looking for someone and Garm recognised the slight fear in her expression, causing a protective feeling to rise up inside of him. Euphemia averted her eyes when she walked past Heather and Aaron but Heather's foot slid out and Mia tripped up, sending her flying as a frustrated expression came over her face.

Garm moved forward, "There was no need for that, was there?" he asked Heather sternly, frowning at her in displeasure and the blonde simply shrugged before looking at Aaron weirdly as he had moved forward to help Euphemia off the ground, his hand stretched out to hers.

Mia took Aaron's hand gratefully, not quite looking him in the face as she still felt bad about breaking up with him, even though she hadn't really had a choice because Cassiopeia had made her because of her marriage to Orion. Garm stepped closer to Heather, who now just looked annoyed.

"Why did you do that? Why can't you just back off for once?" Garm questioned her, raising an eyebrow and Heather rolled her eyes, "Because she's filth, being friends with all that blood traitor scum. She's a disgrace to the pureblood community," she spat at Euphemia, who jumped back just in time to prevent the saliva from landing on her robes.

"You're a disgrace to the pureblood community. Why should it matter who her friends are? At least she has friends!" Aaron exclaimed hotly and Mia winced slightly as Heather's annoyed expression turned to one of absolute fury. Please don't cause any trouble she thought.

"How dare you! I'm way more popular than her...no one wants to be friends with a blood traitor," Heather sent a dirty look in the direction of Euphemia, who sighed in resignation and went to walk away but Garm grabbed her arm gently to stop her, glaring at Heather, "Shut up Heather. Every wizard is equal, regardless of blood status or who they support so it doesn't matter who Mia's friends are because everyone's bloody equal. So shut your irrelevant little mouth, you know nothing."

Euphemia quirked an eyebrow, impressed and surprised but his declaration didn't seem to have any impact on Heather, who simply gave Garm a look of disdain before turning her back on them, flicking her long blonde ponytail as she stalked off, going to speak to Walburga, who had been talking to Eileen, on the other side of the corridor.

"Thank you but you didn't have to do that," Mia said to Aaron and Garm, feeling slightly embarrassed that boys were always jumping in to help her instead of letting her defend herself. Of course, she was grateful but she couldn't help but want to stand up for herself for once when it came to being bullied by the horrible people at her school.

"I wasn't going to let you get pushed about like that....literally," Garm told her earnestly, joking slightly at the end which made Euphemia smile and she gave him a friendly platonic hug, "You're a true friend, Garm. You should come and join our society," she whispered in his ear and Garm pulled away to give her a questioning stare but Mia couldn't explain at that moment because Aaron was still hovering nearby.

"Don't I get a hug too?" Aaron joked, his eyes twinkling and Euphemia felt suddenly awkward, biting her lip. Their relationship had probably meant nothing to Aaron - he had gone back to playing the field soon after Mia broke up with him and she knew that she had probably blended into the background of his many girlfriends. In fact, Euphemia was pretty sure that he'd forgotten that they'd ever dated but, for some reason, she still felt awkward.

"Uh, yeah, thanks," Mia fumbled over her words before quickly hugging Aaron, noticing that he tried to hold on a little longer but she pulled away, gulping and meeting Garm's sympathetic expression. She saw Walburga narrow her eyes and she groaned internally as her cousin made her way over to where Euphemia, Aaron and Garm were stood by the door of the classroom.

"So cheating on your fiancé with a slimy blood traitor isn't enough for you? You have to hug all the boys in our year too? Do you realise how much of a slut you are?" Walburga fired at her, an emotion shining in her eyes that Mia couldn't quite recognise. Garm opened his mouth to defend Euphemia but she beat him to it, her urge to stand up for herself bursting out of her in angry waves.

"I'm not a slut. I have a boyfriend who I care deeply for and I have friends who are boys that I may want to platonically hug. These fellas did a favour for me - helping me out with your bitchy friend - so I was thanking them. What's your problem, Wally? Jealous?" Mia retorted, seeing Walburga's face pale as she took a step towards Euphemia, her mouth set in a firm line.

"Jealous? Me? No! Why would I be jealous?" Walburga sneered, appearing uncomfortable and Mia was about to respond when the Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor arrived, panting and slightly out of breath, "Sorry I'm late, class. Peeves trapped me in a corridor and dropped confetti all over me whilst throwing sticks at me," she gestured to her confetti-filled brown hair with a rueful expression.

"What were you saying about a society earlier?" Garm asked Euphemia as they entered the classroom, seating themselves down next to each other in the middle row. Mia grinned, all memories of the incidents outside the classroom taking a backseat in her mind, "I think you'd like it. I certainly would like you to join, Garm...."

~~~

It was clear that February wasn't going to be a kind month in terms of the weather. Despite it being near the tail end of winter, the evening of Thursday 19th February was exceedingly cold and those out on the Quidditch pitch practicing for the next game were all shivering in their uniform, rubbing their hands together to try and warm themselves up, to no avail.

"Crap, it's so cold," Charlus muttered to Minerva as they stood on the edge of the Quidditch pitch, Brutus just beside them as he tapped his Beater's bat against his palm repeatedly, his leg jiggling up and down in an attempt to keep himself warm. "Really? I hadn't noticed," Minnie responded sarcastically, rolling her eyes playfully and Charlus whacked her on the arm.

"Okay, team! Let's go...we'll start with a game of catch to warm us up and then we'll work on strategies for the next game. It's against Hufflepuff and, if we win it, we go through to the next round to play Slytherin, who absolutely thrashed Ravenclaw last week," Kevin Puckerman, the Gryffindor team captain, called to the group of Gryffindors assembled on the pitch, shivering.

"Woah, playing catch - how enthralling. It's like he thinks we can't even catch a bloody ball," Bianca Dallas, one of the three Chasers, muttered underneath her breath to her friend, Georgina Ryder, who was also a Chaser, as they mounted their broomsticks and flew up into the air to join Kevin, their long hair being blown about madly by the vicious wind.

"No, it's to build our team skills, dumbass," Minerva said to Bianca as she flew up after them, rolling her eyes and, luckily for her, Bianca didn't actually hear her because of the wind howling in their ears and the fact that Kevin was already bellowing commands at his team. "Harold! Hurry up!" he yelled to the sixth year, Harold Minchum, who was fetching the Quaffle that they would throwing about.

"Jeez, someone's impatient today," Brutus exclaimed exasperatedly to Charlus, who chuckled heartily as Kevin scowled in the direction of Brutus, "It's my impatience that will win Gryffindor the Quidditch cup this year, Scrimegeour," he said to Brutus, who smirked in amusement, "No, it's the team that will win the Cup, not just you. You can't play all positions on the pitch, Puckerman."

Georgina giggled and Harold finally flew up to join them, prompting Charlus to joke, "What time do you call this?" which led Harold to throw the Quaffle at him in retaliation. Charlus thankfully caught it, doing a little loop-the-loop that caused Minnie to whoop in appreciation and the game of catch started, the Quaffle flying around at a tremendous speed, the players flying about to retrieve particularly long-distanced lobs and Bianca ended up speeding towards the ground at some point to catch Brutus' slightly violent throw.

The team then started developing strategies of tackling opposing members and paired up to practice with one another whilst Kevin watched, flying around on his broomstick and observing, "A little more power, Ryder! Yes, Potter, good tackle! McGonnagal, watch your wrestle there - you don't want to give Dallas a black eye...whoo! Nice move there, Minchum! Scrimegeour, work on that grip for next time."

"Are you guys actually serious about this whole society thing?" Charlus asked Minerva once they were given a five minutes break whilst the Beaters, Harold and Brutus, practiced their teamwork, whacking the Bludgers across the pitch with a lot of passion, their bats gripped tightly in their hands as Kevin watched, stroking his chin thoughtfully and diving sidewards at points to dodge the violent Bludgers.

"Yes, of course we are! Well, Florean isn't, he left our name-deciding session to go and make out with David but Mia certainly is enthusiastic as is everyone else. We just need some more members....it can't just be the nine of us plus Brutus," Minnie told him as they sat in the stands, drinking their water obligingly but still shivering as the weather hadn't improved.

"I mean, I guess David could join, if Flo persuades him. And I'm sure we could find some more people who would be eager....but what would we do exactly? Just hang out?" he asked Minerva, still a little sceptical. If Euphemia was so fixated on making this society a thing then Charlus was totally up for it, being the supportive boyfriend and all, but he still had many questions.

"Talk about stuff. Be there for one another. Help each other out when we're going through tough times," Minerva nudged him pointedly with her elbow, reminding him discreetly of the upcoming wedding that Mia was being forced into and Charlus felt the familiar sick feeling in his stomach at the reminder, gulping slightly.

"And have we got a name?" Charlus questioned, trying to veer the topic away from his girlfriend's arranged marriage as smoothly as possible. Minnie shrugged, "Eugenia said she'd help Mia out with it whilst we're practicing and Eugenia does have a way with words so I guarantee that they'll figure something out. We'll hold a meeting tomorrow - see who's interested out of our chosen people," she glanced up as Kevin called for them all to return to the pitch, getting many groans in response.

"That's not the attitude, Gryffindors! This is my last chance at winning the Cup so buckle up and get working!" Kevin screamed at them from where he was in the sky. "Oh, here we go again - the seventh year spiel," Charlus muttered to Minerva with a slightly amused smile on his face as they both mounted their brooms and took off to the sky, racing one another to the clump of Quidditch players near the golden hoops.

"Potter, get in place by the goals. Bianca, Georgina and I are going to practice shooting goals, we'll test your defending skills, and Scrimegeour and Minchum are going to try out their new strategy for deflecting the Bludgers. McGonnagal, we'll release a snitch so that you have something to do. Ready, team? Let's go!" Kevin clapped his hands and all of the Gryffindor players flew to their places, waiting for the whistle to start their mini-game.

~~~

"Are you not worried that people will now know about our hideaway?" Charlus asked Mia on the day of the meeting, peering over her shoulder at the draft that she was writing out on a scroll of parchment, in preparation for the pledge that was going to be signed by all members once they arrived.

"Aside from our immediate friendship group, it's only a select few people coming so no, I'm not concerned," Euphemia told him, sighing and crumpling up the parchment because she couldn't manage to form the right words. It was true - the group had approached a few people the previous day and invited them along to a little gathering to see whether they'd be interested, telling them to bring whoever they wanted along. "Everyone's welcome," had been what many of them had said.

"Perhaps you should leave the writing of that pledge to Eugenia or maybe Lyall - they both have a way with words, love," Charlus said to his girlfriend as he watched her get rid of yet another draft, evidently frustrated that she couldn't work out how to write the perfect pledge.

Outraged, Mia glared at him fiercely, "Are you saying that I don't have a way with words?" she exclaimed hotly, raising an eyebrow at Charlus, who instantly brought his hands up in a surrender position, quite alarmed that she was so defensive about it.

"Of course not, I would never say such a thing," Charlus protested with a cheeky smile and Euphemia whacked him on the arm, "You just did!" she retorted but, before Charlus could argue back, a loud sigh came from the other end of the room which led the two to glance over.

"Will you two cut it out? You sound like an old married couple," Alastor told them in exasperation and Charlus chuckled before squeezing Mia's hand, who couldn't really stay cross at him for very long and she relaxed in his hold. Minnie rolled her eyes affectionately at them from where she was sat on the arm of the armchair that Brutus was seated in, holding hands with him.

"People are starting to turn up in the corridor now where we told them to meet, should we let them in?" Pomona asked, poking her head into the room and addressing the group, who were all seated around on the armchairs and sofas, chatting and socialising accordingly.

"Hang on for a second," Eugenia said, jumping up from where she was sat, in between Filius and Lyall, and rushing over to where Charlus and Euphemia were stood and had been bickering previously.

"Mia, have you got the badges?" she asked, only to get an amused look from Charlus who glanced inquisitively at his girlfriend, "You made badges?" he asked with humour written all over his face to which Euphemia replied with a placid nod, seeming quite satisfied with herself.

"Look," Mia said excitedly and she grabbed a box, rattling it and removing the lid to reveal an assortment of small, rounded badges in a variety of different colours, all embezzled with the same bold letters of 'S.S.E.A.W.' The letters flashed all colours of the rainbow when tapped with a wand and Charlus was quite impressed, yet again, at how skilled his girlfriend was. "Filius helped me with the Charms element of it but...." she gestured to the badges proudly.

"What do the letters stand for?" Charlus asked, smiling a little at how excited Euphemia was becoming, beaming down at her little creations in the box. Mia glanced up, answering with, "The Solidarity of Social Equality Among Wizards." The name was extremely good and Charlus nodded approvingly, silently wondering when the name had been decided.

"We came up with the name when you and Minnie were at Quidditch practice," Eugenia told him, as if she had read his mind, leading him to nod again but in an affirmative manner this time before turning to Pomona, who was still lingering in the doorway, and informing her that she could open up the sealed tapestry to let the others in.

There was a slight moment of silence before the sounds of the tapestry being drawn back cut through the silence and then the noise of chattering students in the tapestry corridor followed it as all of them seemed pretty excited to be discovering such an exciting passage in Hogwarts. The passage had become the norm for Euphemia and her friends but it was new and enthralling for the others.

"Welcome!" Eugenia said enthusiastically and loudly as soon as the first head poked around the corner inquisitively and Filius jumped a little at her bright tone, covering his ears slightly in a playful manner. Alastor chuckled and whispered to her to 'tone it down a notch' whilst Pomona greeted each and every one of them as they walked through, eager smiles on their faces.

First came Clover in her Ravenclaw robes, looking particularly excited and happy to be there, and waving at Mia with a smile as her blonde hair shone in the ceiling light of the room. Next to her stood a dark haired girl who appeared rather nervous and was biting her lip but she was also dressed in her Ravenclaw uniform, fiddling with the edge of her robe sleeve in anticipation.

"This is my friend, Daphne Meadowes," Clover introduced the girl with a smile and Daphne was bombarded with various greetings which obviously startled her. Behind Daphne was Garm Tyr, who smiled warmly at Euphemia, who was leaning into Charlus' hold as his arm wrapped around her waist lovingly, and he gestured to his cousin behind him, Frek Tyr.

Many of the group recognised Frek as he was the same nervous, stuttering and sheepish Hufflepuff guy that was in their year and Florean gave him a high-five, seeing as they were in the same dorm. "I thought I'd bring him along...that is okay, isn't it?" he asked Eugenia, who nodded though she, like many of the others, was confused as to why he was here because Mia had never mentioned that she was friends with any Slytherins other than Eileen.

Edgar Bones of Hufflepuff was stood beside Frek, the seventh year looking incredibly taken aback by the discovery of the tapestry room and it was evident that he was trying to work out how he had managed to go seven years at Hogwarts without realising that it existed. The Headboy and the person that Minnie had invited, Elphinstone Urquart, was stood with Edgar and it was obvious that the two were close friends, seeing as they were both in seventh year.

As the two seventh years moved forward to make room for whoever was behind them, David appeared and rushed to Florean's side, mouthing a quick hello to his boyfriend before sitting on the floor, leaning against Florean's legs in a way that didn't betray anything sacred, many of the group seeing it as a platonic move but Minerva, Charlus and Euphemia knew otherwise.

"Augusta! Come in!" Filius suddenly called over to the slightly plump, shy-looking girl who was hovering in the doorway. Though the group were all in the same year as Augusta Sanderson and shared many classes with her, none of them were particularly close with her because of her bossy demeanour and the fact that she was closer with other girls already. She was in Eugenia and Minnie's dormitory though and Filius helped her out with Charms homework occasionally so she had been asked to join.

"Hello," she said rather shyly before sitting down hastily, wringing her hands. "I guess we should start," Lyall smiled, gesturing for everyone to sit down, if they hadn't done so already. Eugenia nodded and opened her mouth to address everyone but Alastor cleared his throat and gestured to Mia, signalling that she should speak first and Eugenia happily sat down next to Lyall, leading everyone to look at Euphemia expectantly.

"Um...hello," she started awkwardly, "We're all here today because we believe in the rights of everyone, no matter what blood status they are. I hope that all of you will want to stay here, come here for sanctuary and, if you ever need to talk, know that this is a safe space where you won't be judged for being who you are. We don't believe in labels nor prejudices and this society is a way of coming together to share in our beliefs and take comfort in the fact that...we're not alone."

That was the start of something new. Something new and fresh, something so unique and wonderful that every single person in that room smiled whilst Mia was talking, believing in the depth of her words and knowing that the S.S.E.A.W would change their lives, in one way or another.

Each and every single one of them knew that, by simply sitting there on that Friday morning, they had made friends for life and that there was no judgment, no prejudice - just peace and equality. Solidarity...

When the bell for the first lesson went, it was with reluctance that everyone left - the time between breakfast and first period had been filled with chatter, laughter and bonding as everyone got to know one another, discussed many topics and generally just got closer as a group, as a society. Regardless of age, gender, religion, sexuality or race - they were united through the power of their beliefs. And Euphemia was positive she had never felt so satisfied with something in her entire life.

By the next day, Eugenia had obediently written a pledge with the help of many of the members and everyone in the society was wearing one of Mia's hand-made badges on their robes, proud of what they had joined. Everybody that had turned up to the meeting on the Friday had signed the pledge by the Saturday and the tapestry room had become a place not just for Euphemia and her friends to hang out in, but a place where they all belonged, a place they could all come to whenever.

THE SOLIDARITY OF SOCIAL EQUALITY AMONG WIZARDS THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE 1952

We believe in the EQUALITY OF ALL LIVING PERSONS
with and without MAGICAL ABILITIES
regardless of BLOOD, HERITAGE and ALLIANCES,
whether they are of PUREBLOOD, HALFBLOOD, or even MUGGLE-BORN.
We believe a MAGICAL EDUCATION should be given FREELY, as a RIGHT and should not be considered an exclusive privilege. We believe in the FAIR and EQUAL treatment of ALL WIZARDS AND WITCHES, and will ALWAYS
stand up for the RIGHTS of the DOWNTRODDEN
of EVERY SPECIES, CLASS, SKINTONE,
or otherwise DIFFERENT THAN US.

SIGNED,

Euphemia Black
𝑀𝒾𝓃𝑒𝓇𝓋𝒶 𝑀𝒸𝒢𝑜𝓃𝓃𝒶𝑔𝒶𝓁
ғʟᴏʀᴇᴀɴ ғᴏʀᴛᴇsᴄᴜᴇ
Charlus Potter
poмona ѕproυт
𝓐 𝓵𝓪𝓼𝓽 𝓸𝓻 𝓜𝓸𝓸𝓭𝔂
єυgєиια ʝєикιиѕ
𝔉𝔦𝔩𝔦𝔲𝔰 𝔣𝔩𝔦𝔱𝔴𝔦𝔠𝔨
𝕃𝕪𝕒𝕝𝕝 𝕃𝕦𝕡𝕚𝕟
Brutus Scrimegeour
ᴳᵃʳᵐ ᵀʸʳ
Ｆｒｅｋ  Ｔｙｒ
♥ Clover Paris ♥
𝕯𝖆𝖕𝖍𝖓𝖊 𝕸𝖊𝖆𝖉𝖔𝖜𝖊𝖘
𝙳𝚊𝚟𝚒𝚍 𝙰𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚘𝚗
E̲l̲p̲h̲i̲n̲s̲t̲o̲n̲e̲ ̲U̲r̲q̲u̲a̲r̲t̲
Edgar Bones
A͎u͎g͎u͎s͎t͎a͎ ͎S͎a͎n͎d͎e͎r͎s͎o͎n͎

You guys don't even know how long all those fonts took me...wanted to just blow the whole thing and have all their names in goddamn italics but I had to put in extra effort :)

Hope you enjoyed this lighthearted chapter, the pledge belongs to and was written by Pengiwen in her wonderful Marauders series, I have simply been given permission to use the head-cannon and the pledge.