oliver wood (brooms) wrote in disorderic, @ 2018-05-15 21:37:00 |
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Entry tags: | oliver wood |
Since the British and Irish Quidditch League was suspended, you’ve been out of the spotlight. I hear you got married?
I did, yes.
Congratulations. That’s big news. And to think not that long ago, we all thought you were single!
[laughs] I know, I know. Thank you. I actually proposed on Christmas, and we’d been planning to wait… at least until the season was over, but after we almost died at my match versus the Magpies in January, we [...] wanted to do it before anything else happened. It was small, we invited our family and closest friends for a reception, and the actual ceremony happened while we were on a short holiday. We’ll plan something flashy when the time’s right, when my father’s back, but for now, we’re just enjoying being together. Beyond that, I’ve been working on a charity that several of us started before Keaton was murdered.
Murdered?
Yes. I still have no idea why.
By whom?
The Death Eaters, of course. I assume they wanted to remind us that no one is safe, but your guess is as good as mine.
You were close to Keaton Flitney, weren’t you?
We’d gotten closer in the months before his death, yeah. I’d always admired him, as a player and a person. He was one of the kindest, most generous people I’d ever known. On and off the pitch. Everyone who’d ever met him says the same thing. He’d never hurt anyone. He was a good person. Every day, I think about what he’d do if he was still here. So we’re trying to do that, myself and some of the other players in the league. We’re going to carry on his legacy by continuing to support our communities directly. And we’re working on a training camp for children and teenagers, where they’d get to learn from us and develop their skills. We hope to have that up and running as soon as it’s safe.
As soon as it’s safe? You’re referring to the attacks on Quidditch matches? Do you think there’s still danger?
Yeah, absolutely there is. Unfortunately, our government’s under the control of violent criminals who’ll stop at nothing as long as they accomplish their goals. The league got only one thing right when they suspended Quidditch. It’s just not safe for our fans or for us, but not for the reasons they claim.
What do you mean? From what I was able to gather -
The Death Eaters attacked us.
That’s not what the Daily Prophet has alleged.
The Daily Prophet is run by the same people, you can’t trust anything they say. The truth is this: we were in the middle of a match, and the Death Eaters attacked us. That’s the only truth. They’ve tried to make it out like the Order of the Phoenix attacked us, but the only ones attacking any innocents were the Death Eaters. One of them went after me. They hit me with acid, they tried to pull one of the goalposts down on top of me. My teammates and friends defended themselves and the audience against this attack, and somehow we’re in the wrong here? That’s fucked up. If you could’ve seen the terror, heard the screams -- you would know. I wouldn’t lie about this. I wouldn’t.
Why do you think they would do that? Attack a match? Lie about it?
To intimidate us, to scare us into submission, make us suspicious of everyone, so we’re easier to control. This campaign they began to deprive Muggleborns of their rightful place in our society started with allegations that they stole magic. They fed into this fear that some people have about their culture being taken away and they made up stories to back themselves up, when, listen, are we really accusing children of theft when they had no idea any of this existed in the first place? But that’s what they did. They rounded the Muggleborns up and systematically stripped them of all their rights. Their wands. Their ability to hold a job. Their ability to exist in peace at all. Their freedom. And when anyone stands up for human rights, like several Quidditch teams did last year, Puddlemere United and Montrose Magpies included, we’re painted as the enemy. If you try to help Muggleborns, you’re breaking the law. If you give them food, shelter, you’re breaking the law. If you refuse, in any way, to go along with their heinous laws, you’re going to end up in Azkaban like my dad. Or they’ll kill you, or they’ll kill someone you love.
Just so the readers are clear -- your father, former player for Puddlemere and Scotland, was arrested. The image he cultivated in public for years seems contrary to what you’re telling me.
The image of a man who loved his family, even more than Quidditch, you mean? Who would do anything to protect us, even if it meant sacrificing his own freedom and well-being? That one? We heard … stories, out of Hogwarts. About the sorts of punishments students were receiving, about the way they were being treated. When my youngest sister came home for the Christmas holidays, she was … a shell of who she used to be. She was terrified like I’ve never seen. It wasn’t the first time students have been hurt there, but it’s only gotten worse since then.
We’re going to provide a copy of this broadcast at the bottom of the page so everyone can listen in. I have to say, Oliver, when I first listened to it, I couldn’t believe it was real.
I know. I didn’t want to believe it at first either. Hogwarts was a haven for me, and for so many others. That’s what it should be. It should be a place where anyone feels safe to be themselves, where any student, regardless of their background, has a chance to learn magic, to be encouraged and cared about. This? This goes against everything we should stand for as a society. This is why my father was arrested: for trying to protect my sister from this. He has every right to look out for the well-being of his daughter. It shouldn't be illegal to save her from that. But it is.
People are going to say this sounds too far-fetched to be true.
I know it sounds mad, but this is truth. Whether or not anyone believes me is up to them, but I have a responsibility to our fans and our community. Being in the public eye, I know people look up to me, and that job is one I take very seriously. I have to lead by example. Someone has to make sure that people know what’s happening to us. Someone has to make sure that people know the truth, so when we’re gone, this won’t be forgotten. The people who are suffering, the people we’ve lost -- I won’t let them be forgotten.
[The interview continues with details on the treatment of Muggleborn wizards and wizards who speak out against the administration, on who exactly runs departments at the Ministry, and on the methods used to control the population. It's clear by the end that Oliver feels like the international community needs to do more, and soon. At the bottom is a list of how people can help, and links to various fundraisers, including the one for Francine's mother. There are a few photos -- a reprint of an older photoshoot, an animated photo from a match last year, a wedding photo, one of Keaton, one of Oliver's father. The full interview is cross-posted on all of Oliver's social media profiles.]