 white card Who Am I? Ern's 2460FUN
Thanks, Professor, but Kale wasn't building a case. It was already built. He had started festering his deep mistrust for authority his fifth year and hadn't looked back. If adults wanted kids to trust them to be fair and democratic and not all-around-cruddy, then they had to act like it, and for going on three years now, he was not impressed.
From the Ministry to Board of Governors to some of the Professors at this very school that had all sat back and watched the world fall apart and did nothing. And then, at the very end, when all those same people stepped in for one night, he was supposed to be grateful? He wasn't.
Actually, he kinda resented the rhetoric around the war and everything the adults had done. They were all hailed as heroes for one night of their lives, but the students who had endured torture for months on end and still found the courage to fight back in small, miraculous ways were dismissed as troublemakers.
It was maddening.
Merlin, he loathed the Ministry. The same folks who had looked at his Dad after the war and said, YEP, send that guy back to work! It was despicable. Cowardly, even. And as a Gryffindor, Kale Trent did not suffer cowards.
So, when he pulled the white card, he already knew which side of the argument he was gonna take. There was no other option. The system was corrupt. Burn. It. Down.
"Of course, its corrupt," Kale nearly rolled his eyes. "Its been corrupt for ages. And the burden of its corruption always falls on kids. Heck. When Voldemort rose to power both times, it was an army of teenagers that fought him. And yet, we herald Dumbledore the hero of the first Voldemort uprising, and people like Severus Snape in the second. Sure, Harry Potter and his buds get some credit, but I mean, what about the Marlene McKinnons and Colin Creeveys of war time? Where is their praise? Where are there statues?"
He breathed out of his nose sharply. "And now after the war we just had, the Board of Governors and the Ministry talk down on the kids that endured it for more than just one bad night. But its a much prettier narrative to push that adults know better. Adults with power and money and influence. I mean, didn't Fudge gaslight Harry Potter when his narrative didn't fit what the Ministry wanted? Making him out to be hysterical and a lunatic? The system is broken. But its been broken a long time."
And Kale was mad about it. He didn't think he'd ever stop.
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