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lottie--1234 · 2 years

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it sparks your soul

Muriel watched, leaning against the doorway and watching as the loving glace between Anne and Gilbert lingered. “Ah, to be young and in love.”, she thought. It was torment watching the pair interact each day, blindly oblivious to what they truly felt. Some days, it took all the strength she had to not lock them in the schoolhouse and make a break for it so they could finally muster up their courage and talk things over. Though it probably wouldn’t be that easy. It was more complicated than that, of course. After all, she had once spent an entire night trapped in a library with her late husband without confessing her feelings for him.

The teacher gathered her things and left the schoolroom to see a flustered Anne rushing home. She decided to do something she probably should have done weeks ago. “Anne! Stop for a second!” Muriel called after her redheaded student.

“Yes, Ms.Stacey?” Anne responded, swiftly turning around to face her teacher who had run after her.

“Do you have a moment to talk about something? At my house? I promise, it’ll only take a second of your time.” Muriel asked. Anne was excited inside to be spending time with both her hero and mentor but was curious all the more.

“Of course. I’m sure Marilla will understand.” Anne smiled. The pair turned around and made their way through the forest to Muriel’s secluded teacher’s cottage. “You have such a lovely home.” Anne mused as her eyes pored over the wildflowers that had grown outside her teacher’s house.

“Thank you, Anne. I enjoy the flowers, too. The bees they attract are always so cheerful.” Muriel told her student, pouring lemonade into two cups. Anne smiled to herself. “Kindred spirits, indeed.”, she thought happily. This made her think of Gilbert. Was he a kindred spirit? It certainly had seemed so at the dance practice earlier. Their movements were so light, so in sync. Like they belonged together. Like she could do this for the rest of her life. Was that what love meant? She wondered more. There were things she didn’t know. Like how being in love even felt. Was this it? She couldn’t ask Marilla and certainly not Matthew. Diana could ask her parents but clearly, she did not have that sort of luxury herself. Ms.Stacey had been married before, hadn’t she?

“Ms.Stacey. May I ask you something in confidence?” Anne asked, mustering up all the courage she had.

“Always, dear Anne.” the older woman replied, taking a sip of lemonade.

“What does being in love feel like?” This made Muriel smile and turn slightly red. She knew it was a matter of time before Anne had asked. She herself had the same questions at that age. And they were so alike, weren’t they?

“Well… it looks different for everyone. Maybe you plan it, maybe you don’t. Maybe you know, maybe you don’t at first. But one thing is the same. You can’t stop it. It’s when you have this person. This amazing person. And you want to make them smile for the rest of their life. Because every time they smile -even though it’s such a little thing- it sparks your soul.” Muriel said, in her steady tone and looked expectantly at Anne who was deep in thought. “Do you understand?”

“I think so. Was it like that with your husband? I’m so very sorry if I’m intruding.” This made Muriel so immensely happy inside. They had come such a long way from what happened the first day she had met this overzealous student.

“Not at all, Anne. I enjoy speaking about him. Jonah. His name was Jonah Stacey. We existed only for each other. It wasn’t love at first sight, I believe. Perhaps annoyed at first sight would be more accurate. He was in my Physics course and remained one of my greatest academic rivals until we graduated. But we became friends along the way. And one night, we were solving a particularly hard question and got accidentally locked in the school library. I had promised myself I wouldn’t fall in love with him but it was two o’clock in the morning, and we were laughing way too hard and I felt so immensely happy that I thought to myself that this was what I could do for my entire life and never tire of it. That’s the moment I knew.” Ms. Stacey told her student, telling her story.

“Did you tell him? And how?” Anne wondered. Muriel chuckled.

“I didn’t. Not then. It was about a year later. It was the last day of school before our summer holidays. I think a friend had talked some sense into him because he came running up to me with this adorable speech and when he was done, I just decided to go for it. I kissed him first.” Muriel admitted, proudly. “But there’s something I’ll always regret. I regret not telling him sooner. Not being braver. Because now he’s gone and we’ll never get that year back. That year we spent pretending to just be friends when everything was just so clear. Life is short, Anne. If you love someone, tell them.” Anne could feel the pieces of the puzzle come together in her head. She was in love with Gilbert Blythe. But first, she had a feeling no one had allowed her dear teacher to remember her late husband in a long time.

“I understand. Tell me a story about Jonah. He sounds like he was wonderful.” Anne breathed. She loved hearing about Ms.Stacey’s tragical romance.

“He was a surgeon. A good one at that. He saved countless lives. And he was so kind, Anne. He had this amazing mind, he loved to invent things. Always tinkering about with pieces of scrap metal and items people had discarded. He always said that everything had opportunity. Jonah was like hope personified. He was charming, too. There was a way about him that you just couldn’t dislike him. It was impossible. Come here, Anne.” the teacher gestured over for her student to join her kneeling by Jonah’s old trunk. She pulled out the ring box that held her plain silver wedding band and the engagement ring Jonah had made. It was made of silver wire wrapped around a moonstone. “He made it himself. He proposed when it was pouring down with rain. We got soaked but it’s still one of my happiest memories of him.”

“That sounds so romantic.” Anne mused. Maybe someday, someone would love her enough to do such divine things. Perhaps it would be Gilbert?

“This is what he looked like. Color doesn’t show on photographs but his ties were always so colorful. You couldn’t help but feel cheerful when you caught a glance of him. He would have loved you, Anne. There’s no doubt about it.” Muriel concluded her story, closing the trunk. The image of Jonah remained in her head, though. She remembered his deep, romantic brown eyes and his dark but soft hair against his milky, clear complexion. “God, Jonah. You were good looking, huh?” she thought to herself, hoping that Jonah was listening and laughing, wherever he was. A smile came across her face as she bade her student goodbye.

Anne walked down the path now wiser than she was when she came down it the last time and with a clearer head. She was in love with Gilbert Blythe. And now, she had to tell him one way or another.

#anne x gilbert #anne with an e #awae fanfic #awae #anne with an e fanfic #muriel x jonah #muriel stacy #miss stacy #gilbert blythe

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miss-shirley · 2 years

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"Miss Stacy was a bright, sympathetic young woman with the happy gift of winning and holding the affections of her pupils and bringing out the best that was in them mentally and morally." - L.M. Montgomery

As Miss Stacy is put on probation after the fateful events of the fight between Cole and Billy, Marilla calls on her to share some pointed but ever so kind words.

Filling the gaps of the scene from 2x10.

- a little Anne with an E oneshot I wrote in 2020 but somehow never posted 🌱

#anne with an e #anne of green gables #fanfiction #marilla cuthbert #muriel stacy #my writing #oneshot

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heiyodream · 2 years

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"Keep your chin up and always believe your voice deserves to be heard and listened to," she told her. "Words have power, on the tongue and on papers. They weigh heavy, and their prices can sometimes be expensive. Don't use them carelessly. You are and would be a lot of great things. I will look forward to your writings every season."

Anne's eyes filled with tears, and she nodded. For a moment, Muriel caught a glimpse of a girl with short braids, which lengthened over time as seasons changed until she could put on a long skirt and style her hair up. She had watched Anne grow from a girl into a woman she deserved to be, with a loving, if not traditional pair of parents, a handful of kindred spirits and friends, and a loving, smart sweetheart. Anne had been through so much, been hurt so much as she was loved, ever since she sat in this parlor before heading to Charlottetown and wondered worriedly if she would ever be truly happy again. Yet here she was, years later, happiness filling the lines of her face.

Muriel would never have children of her own, but she had watched her students grow and develop, ups and downs stumbling towards life. She gave them her knowledge from her hands that knew how to tinker with things. In one way or another, she was raising them too. It used to be not enough for her, but it was now.

(Muriel closed the chapter of her life at Avonlea, but before that, she got a visit from two of her favorite students)

#anne with an e #awae #muriel stacy #anne shirley cuthbert #soon to be ff #some study characterr #future fic

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angelholme · 11 months

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V, V, V — Day 23 : Gods

According to Miss Muriel Stacy, our basic character is defined by the time we are twenty years old.

That is not to say we don’t change after that — I have never met anyone who turns twenty and then remains the same for the rest of their life (that would be weird) — but Miss Stacy is right. For the most part the foundations of your life will be set by the time you leave your teenage years behind.

You will have a foundation of your political beliefs, your moral beliefs, what you think about your country, what you think about the world, your sexuality………..

And — of course — your religious views.

Now when Miss Stacy was making this statement, the religious views of those involved were almost all the same — they all believed the same thing.

However it is a hundred and twenty years later now, and the variety of religious views has increased a little. Maybe not amongst some communities, but in the UK, for example, the dominant religion is now apparently “none”. In the census two years ago, more people identified with having no religion than having any, and less than half identified as Christian (for the first time in a census).

So you are probably wondering why I’m telling you about all this.

Well partly it’s because I just finished watching “XO Kitty” and that had me entirely distracted so I haven’t entirely been concentrating on what I was writing, and I had to restart this three times (it was very well written and surprisingly entertaining).

But also because Miss Stacy, in my case, was right. I changed a lot when I was a kid, but for the most part most of my growing (mental, spiritual, political, moral etc) was done by the time I was seventeen/eighteen and it was almost all complete before I was twenty. Actually all of my physical growing was done by then as well, because that’s just how biology works, but that’s a different topic — one I am not going to go into.

I think the biggest change……. the second biggest change was the total and utter abandonment of the religious beliefs I was brought up in. There were any number of reasons for this — reasons I am not going to bore you with — but it was pretty much a huge change from how I was raised.

My political beliefs didn’t change much — I was raised in Thatcher’s Britain, so clearly I was always going to be on the left of politics. I’m not certain how anyone who was raised in a country run by that woman could ever be anything else.

But the change in my religious beliefs. It happened over time but eventually I just kind of packed it all in, and never really looked back.

Except for one thing — which is a perennial problem that I think quite a lot of people probably face.

“Oh dear god”, “oh god”, “god what is that” and so forth.

People use the word “god” a lot in exclamations, and the general implication is that it is the Judeo-Christian god of old (the one who smote the Egyptians and took down The Ten Commandments and so on and so forth). So the suggestion is that if you say “oh god what are you thinking?” or “good god that’s a lot of shake” then you might actually believe in the god whose name you are taking in vain (nth commandment aside).

So I have taken to adding an “s” to the word whenever I use it. Which, okay, could suggest that I don’t want to take his name in vain (because I do, in fact, believe in him) but for me means that I am exclaiming some level of frustration in the name of random unnamed gods.

Which gods? Well it all depends on what kind of day I am having and what is going through my head at that specific moment.

It could be the gods of the Greek pantheon (which I learned about from Xena), or from the Roman pantheon (which I learned about from Xena), or from the Centauri pantheon (which I learned about from Babylon 5……… I am starting to realise that I am SO a child of the digital era, because did I learn ANYTHING from books? No. Almost everything I learned I learned from TV. Which some people might think is truly appalling, but honestly — I would say if someone is learning then does it matter where they are learning it from? As long as they are learning actual facts and not total crap then what does it matter the source?)

It could be the Ancient Sumerian Gods (Ghostbusters) or Babylonian Gods (Ghostbusters again) or it could be some more…….. esoteric ones. It could be the gods of writing (JMS and Steven Moffat), the gods of musicals (ALW, Tim Rice, CHF), the gods of fiction (Arty, Hermione, Bev, Bella), the gods of the north (River, Willow, River, Aech) and so on. They might even be the council of The Good Place or the council of The Bad Place.

You get the general idea — almost anyone can be a god, providing they have god like powers of some type (and the powers can literally be anything). And — as you will have gathered — I am embracing the concept of using “god” as a generic collective noun. (I have contemplated switching to “goddess” but saying “oh dear goddess” tends to suggest it is single, and a specific goddess, and saying “oh dear goddesses” just sounds kind of odd. And although I am using “witch” to refer to wizards and witches, I haven’t yet moved to using “goddesses” to refer to gods and goddesses. Maybe next year).

The one thing you can be almost certain of is that “gods” does not include the Commandment giving, Egyptian smiting, Joseph punishing god of old.

Because I think I can do a little better than that.

#v v v #may myself and i #day 23 #gods #anne of green gables #muriel stacy #i am not putting in all the references #there are far too many #i mean look at them #just count them #the tags would be longer than the entry

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avonlea71 · 8 months

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"I come cause I wanna say somethin' to my teacher, Ms. (Hetty) King. You's the first one, who ever tried to help me in my life, Ms. King. You got me to go to school. You learn me how to chew ten times so I won't burp. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't know nothin' about learnin' or getting an education. I may wreck your King's English, so I'll say my thanks the only way I know..."

#gus pike #hetty king #olivia king #muriel stacy #road to avonlea

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seawolvesanddragons · 1 year

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AWAE 12 Days of Christmas Countdown - Day Six

(All fics/snippets are written as missing scenes from my AWAE/Hogwarts Universe fic on ao3)

Day Six - Viewpoint of everyone’s favorite most exasperated professor, as he deals with everyone else’s shenangians for seven years.

(Year One)

“You seem to have a good group this year,” MacMillian said at the Halloween feast, gesturing at the group of Ravenclaw first years that were seated together. “Got their heads screwed on straight, do they?”

“So it would appear,” Luewellyn agreed. “They’re solid students, at the very least, and moderately well behaved. Especially the young ladies.”

He had expected as much from Jane Andrews, given what a model student her sister was (and he was ever so grateful she didn’t take after her horrid brother) but Diana Barry seemed to take “well-behaved” to a whole other level. And while Musa and Cetus were much like other eleven year old boys at times, they had a genuine eagerness for learning that overcame any other bad habits.

“Lucky you,” Allen muttered from Luewellyn’s other side. “I’ve had to give my Gryffindor first year boys detention twice already. And that MacKenzie boy would rather draw in all of his classes instead of take notes. He’s cost the house at least 50 points already from that alone.”

“Is he any good?” Luewellyn asked, curious. Ravenclaw’s usually got the artists, though if this one liked to cause trouble perhaps it was better he was in Gryffindor.

“Who knows,” Allen said, stuffing a large piece of pork pie into his mouth. “Never bothered to look. But he’s a child; it can’t be that good.”

“Hmm,” Luewellyn said, barely able to hide the distaste in his tone at Allen’s attitude about it. From further down the table, he saw Marilla Cuthbert’s lips twitch. She never did miss a beat, that woman.

“I don’t envy Gryffindor having to make up those points,” Luewellyn said. “Though, Ravenclaws never do cause any trouble it seems. We get the more studious types.”

Privately, he thought it might be nice to get some more rambunctious students from time to time. Insert some passion and liveliness into the house, just to keep things interesting. He’d love to see Diana Barry and Jane Andrews actually smile, for once.

Oh well. If someone that excitable did come along, they’d likely end up in Hufflepuff or Gryffindor.

***

(Year Two)

“Mister Phillips,” Luewellyn said, heading directly to where the man sat in the staff room. “Care to explain why my house is suddenly missing fifty points?”

“One of your students was causing a ruckus in the corridor,” Phillips said stiffly. “It was quite unbecoming behavior.”

Right. Three guesses who said student was. “And this student would be...”

“Miss Shirley,” Phillips said, scowling. “I don’t know how you deal with it Luewellyn, her carrying on all the time. I wouldn’t stand for it in my house.”

“Well,” Luewellyn said coldly. “Fortunate for you, Miss Shirley-Cuthbert is not in your house, and on that note I ask that you leave any future discipline of Ravenclaws to me, their head of house.”

“Of course,” Phillips said hastily. “Forgive my overstep, Phineas. Of course you’d rather punish the girl yourself.”

“Hmm,” Luewellyn said, and swept from the room.

He was passing by the Entrance Hall just do see a number of sapphires vanish from the Ravenclaw column.

“Oh what now?” He threw his hands up.

A group of third year Hufflepuffs were walking behind him.

“Did you hear? That crazy Ravenclaw girl hexed Billy Andrews again!” One of the boys told his friends excitedly. “Gave him a pig nose and everything!!”

Phineas sighed.

***

(Year Three)

“Congrats on Ravencalaw’s quidditch win yesterday, Phineas,” Irving said at breakfast. “That Diana Barry is a spitfire on a broomstick, hmm? Who would have thought,” he chuckled.

Phineas put his head in his hands.

“Her family doesn’t know,” he muttered.

“Pardon?” Irving gave him a puzzled look.

“The Barry’s. There’s no way they know,” Phineas gave a deep sigh. Eliza Barry would rather wear hand me down robes than let her daughter set foot on a quidditch pitch. Which means she is hiding this from her parents and expecting it not to blow up in her face.”

This was unfair. Phineas had come to expect this type of behavior from Anne, but Diana was meant to be the stable, level headed one.

She was not meant to sneak behind everyone’s back and join a quidditch team. WIthout informing her parents! What if she got injured? It would be Phineas’ job to tell her parents and then the blame would all land on him.

Phineas temporarily abandoned all decorum and put his head down on the table. Maybe retirement could get him out of it.

Irving awkwardly patted him on the shoulder. “There, there.”

Phineas made a note to find Madam Cuthbert sometime that day. Otherwise she’d slip and tell Eliza and the Ravenclaw quidditch season would be over.

***

(Year Four)

“Ah, so you’re the head of Ravenclaw house,” Stacey Muriel said, shaking his hand enthusiastically. “It has been a pleasure teaching your students. They certainly are characters, aren’t they.”

“That is...a way to describe them,” Phineas agreed. Charlie Sloan had blown up yet another cauldron earlier that week, Prissy Andrews had jinxed the head boy (though no one could prove it) and Diana and Anne...well. Enough had been said about that pair.

Not that he regretted any of them being in his house. He hadn’t bet against Phillips and Allen on the Blythe v Shirley-Cuthbert rivalry for nothing, after all. Anne was going to make him 50 sickles richer.

“They have lovely things to say about you as well,” Phineas said, which was true. Some of his co-workers had their reservations about Madam Stacey’s hiring and later about her teaching, but Phineas put stock in student reviews. And the students raved about her.

“Do you enjoy discussing wand theory?” Phineas asked Muriel. “Irving, the previous charms teacher, and I used to enjoy a good debate over a cup of tea in the afternoon.”

“I would love too,” Muriel beamed. “May I bring Bash?”

Phineas blinked. “Bash?”

***

(Year Five)

“Here,” Phineas said, dumping a bunch of extra quills, scrolls, and chalk into Bash’s desk. “The supplies you requested.”

Bash blinked at him. “I didn’t request any supplies.”

“No, you didn’t,” Phineas agreed. “Because you knew the bigot of a headmaster would just ignore it. So I ordered it for you. You can’t teach a class without basic supplies.”

“I suppose not,” Bash said, smiling. “Thank you, Phineas. I appreciate it.”

“Don’t mention it,” Phineas said. “I mean that. I have a reputation to uphold.”

“Uh huh,” Bash said, amused. “Did you order anything for Muriel?”

“No, Marilla took care of that. We figured if we divided and conquered then it looked less suspicious.”

“Marilla doesn’t teach a class,” Bash pointed out.

“You think our headmaster is smart enough to realize that?”

***

(Year Six)

Phineas wondered if it was time to seriously consider retirement. He had a good run. Over fifteen years as a Hogwarts Professor, that was a respectable streak. He could go out with a reputation of fair, unbroken and unbent professor and none would be the wiser.

“It’s just a matter of educational fairness, sir, that we-” Anne continued valiantly.

“Sure,” Phineas sighed, waving a hand. “I’ll give you permission.”

“Really?” Musa gasped, delighted. “All of us?”

“Yes, yes, all of the sixth year Ravenclaws, unfettered access to the restricted section,” Phineas said. “I’ll drop a note to Vance. Now, please, please, stop filibustering me every time you see me in the corridor.”

“Thank you sir!” Anne and Cetus beamed at him. “You won’t regret it,” Diana added.

“I am almost positive that I will,” Phineas muttered as the group turned to leave. At the last moment he reached out and tapped Diana’s shoulder.

“Is it true you have a little sister starting here next year?”

“Minnie May? Yes, she turns eleven in a few weeks.”

Retirement was sounding like a smarter idea by the moment.

***

(Year Seven)

Phineas looked out at the graduating class of 1899 with a great deal amount of pride, and no small amount of sorrow at the idea they wouldn’t be back at Hogwarts next fall.

He had taught some extraordinary students over the years, but this class without a doubt was exceptional. Each was a credit to themselves and to Hogwarts.

He surveyed the group, all huddled together as they hugged and cheered in the thoroughs of uninhabited delight. He saw Josie Pye and Ruby Gillis giggling like little girls as they discussed boarding houses and their new jobs, an idea utterly unthinkable for them just seven years ago. Cole MacKenzie (who, Luewellyn has come to find, is indeed an incredible artist) held his head high and confident as Jerry Baynard jumped on his back, scuffling him into a headlock. Hard to believe these same young men had led a minor revolution only a month or so ago. Gilbert Blythe had let go of Anne (and thank Merlin that had finally happened) and was surrounded by the Lacroix family, letting baby Delphine play with his robes and looking happier than Phineas had seen since his very first year.

And his Ravenclaws...Musa and Cetus were with Charlie, attempting to be sneaky as they set off fireworks and absolutely failing. (Though, Phineas did seem to be the only one to notice.) Jane was being fussed over by Prissy Andrews, her face absolutely lit up with joy at her sister’s praise.

That just left Diana and Anne, who were hugging each other so tightly it was hard to tell whose arm was whose. Diana Barry, who had come to Ravenclaw mild-mannered and polite, the perfect little lady and so, so lonely. Now she was a top draft pick for the Holyhead Harpies, undoubtedly a quidditch star on the rise. And Anne - who came to Hogwarts wanting and hoping and lonely as well, who had taken one look at everything the wizarding world had to offer and not offer, and demanded better.

If many of his previous students were stars, Anne might be a whole constellation, or an inferno, taking the world by storm.

No self-respecting Professor would ever admit to having favorites, but in private, Phineas could admit that those two absolutely were.

As the students were slowly ushered toward the lake, Phineas found himself joined by Bash, Muriel, Matthew and Marilla on the lawn.

“Strange to think we won’t have them back in September, isn’t it,” Muriel said quietly, inclining her head.

“Safe to say they left an impression,” Bash chuckled. “I wonder how next year’s seventh years will measure up.”

“Hopefully not quite as interesting,” Phineas shook his head. “I’m hoping Ravenclaw can go back to its usual type of quiet, less exciting students.”

“They’re a tough group to live up to,” Muriel agreed. “We might not see anyone quite like them again.”

“Until their kids go here,” Bash piped up. Phineas froze.

“Oh, they’re hardly more than children themselves, Bash,” Marilla tutted, because the woman was absolutely in denial that Jerry and Anne were adults now, and Phineas could prove it. “That won’t be for a while yet.”

Phineas considered the idea. Children. Of this bunch. Sweet Merlin, the offspring of Blythe and Anne alone....

“Any offspring have to go straight into Hufflepuff,” he told Marilla. “No debate.”

“You must be out of your god-given mind,” Marilla said. “Absolutely not.”

“They were all practically your children, take some responsibility,” Phineas hissed. “What happened to Hufflepuff’s ‘taking the lot’, hmm?”

“Are you ever glad that you aren’t a head of house?” Bash asked Muriel loudly.

“Oh everyday,” Muriel said. “Couldn’t imagine all that extra responsibility. Very tiring.”

“The day Anne and Gilbert’s child winds up anywhere but Ravenclaw is a day the stars fall, Phineas,” Marilla sniffed. “Deal with it.”

“I won’t. I can’t. I just survived seven years of this, I don’t deserve more. I will bribe the sorting hat if I have too.”

“Phineas!”

#awae #anne with an e #bash lacroix #muriel stacy #Marilla Cuthbert #anne shirley cuthbert #12 days of christmas countdown awae

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