It's OK To Not Be Ok...Right?

47. Black Magic

Professor McGonagall gasped at Sloane's bluntness, but she was not surprised, really. This was an issue she knew about all too well. "Excuse me?" Nicola asked. 

"She is not wrong," Joanna defended. "I don't like the idea of sending my daughter here for her to be slipped a love potion, which would make her more susceptible to acting out of character."

"I think that says more about your daughter than it does a potion," Evanora smirked.

"Would you be willing to take a love potion here and now to see how you would react?" Blaise offered.

"Absolutely not!" She snapped. 

"Why? Because you know you would behave in a manner that is different from how you would normally act? Make you act more...promiscuously? Sloane smirked. Evanora blushed.  "My point exactly." Sloane nodded. "Using a love potion on someone should be a serious offence. Not just a detention. It is a criminal act. If someone slips you a love potion without your knowledge, and it leads to you sleeping with that person, it could be classified as rape."

"Miss Sage!" Nicola gasped. 

"I am serious. Imagine, for example," she turned to Draco and Harry. "Sorry, boys." She shrugged. "Imagine, I was Draco's girlfriend. I was in a serious relationship with him, even arranged to be married as some of our classmates are, and Harry slipped me a love potion. Those things should be called lust potions. It would make me forget about my serious relationship with Draco and make me become infatuated with Harry. I would be convinced I was in love with him. What if I slept with him?"

Ron snickered, and Blaise chuckled. "Stay with me, boys. If I slept with Harry, how do you think I would feel when the potion wore off? When I went back to Draco? Do you think Draco would take me back? Do you think Harry should get off with a simple detention for what he did? I would not have agreed to sex if I was in my right mind. He took advantage. Essentially, it could be argued that he raped me."

She looked at Harry. "Sorry, Harry, I just wanted to give an example."

"No, you made a very good point, and I agree with you completely." He said. "Just use Ron in your next example."

"Well, I daresay that she is right," Aloysius said. "In a Ministry court, she would have a strong case against the boy."

"And could you imagine if I got pregnant?" She added. 

"Well, one would hope you had more sense than that," Nicola said. 

"But there are no sexual education classes in Hogwarts. I am away from my parents and in a dorm with boys. OK, they can't get into my room, but that means nothing. There are a load of empty and abandoned classrooms."

"Easy for a vulnerable student to be trapped and...well, taken advantage of." Draco shrugged. 

"Well, now I am concerned on a number of levels." Kingsley moaned. 

"Well, that leads us to our next topic," Hermione quickly said. "Hogwarts surveillance."

"Surveillance?" Narcissa asked, confused.

"Yes, ma'am." Sloane nodded. "I attended Ilvermorny before coming to Hogwarts, and they had these cameras in the main halls and classrooms, which allowed caretakers and security to keep an eye on the students and staff in the school. They were on hand to watch over everyone and intervene if there were any issues or problems."

"Does that not violate privacy?" Kiano asked. 

"Well, it was not in bathrooms or bedrooms. Just in the public spaces. It stopped kids getting lost, stopped fighting or bullying, and was very useful in keeping an eye out for intruders. We once had a group of Death Eaters in our halls looking for...well a student. But the security caught them before they entered the sleeping quarters."