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claymoresword · 5 months

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I Choose Her | Chp: 17

Hermione Granger x Slytherin Fem!Reader

Summary: You are the daughter of two known death eaters from one of the oldest and richest families in the wizarding world. Are you truly prepared to give up everything you know for Hermione Granger?

Pairing: Hermione x Reader

Wordcount: 3.9k

Warnings: plot heavy, a sprinkle of fluff , smut (?) , dark themes

Note: hi! sorry this one took so long i'm not even going to get into it, what's important is that it's finally here lol I'd say there's maybe 2 more chapters left of this story including the epilogue. i'm not too sure yet, but we are definitely nearing the end which is sort of bitter sweet.. but anyway, as always i hope you enjoy this one!

Taglist: @gvrsto @aweidlich @xxsekhmet @arielj @poppyflower-22 @scarleigh1989 @smut-religiously777 @cocoyeehaw @blackbirdv98 @arcturusseer @iamcapitalgbicorn8287 @lonewalker17 @karasonromanoff @httphayn @bigbadsofty07 @cherryflavoredcoke @dumpsapphic @idontwannabehereatm @js-a-writer @baylegend6 @puta1 @t-wylia @raven-ss @unexpected-character

“Here, this should do.” Hermione states in a hushed tone whilst dragging you behind a pillar to hide.

You stood behind her as she retrieved the cloak of invisibility from her bag, quickly draping it over the both of you.

Hermione pulls you even closer to remain as hidden as possible, so you instinctively wrap your arms around her torso.

You were allowed limited time to devise a plan as Snape summoned all students out of bed, all ordered to assemble in the Great Hall at once.

Harry made the impulsive decision to hide amongst the crowd of students so he may confront the Headmaster. The rest of you are forced to follow his lead, entirely improvising as you go.

Despite yourself, you do hope that Ron has managed to sneak out of the castle in time to fetch the other members of the Order.

The Dark Lord and his followers are expected to march against Hogwarts any minute now, Harry needs all the help he can get.

Hogwarts always felt vaguely warm and comfortable to you, but now it is dense and inhospitable. You hardly recognised it anymore.

It is consistently hard to catch your breath, and you can't seem to ignore the uncomfortable chill running down your spine.

Hermione's presence being your only source of comfort, during a time that you otherwise found utterly debilitating.

“Well, I don't know about you but this is quite nice. I really wouldn't mind staying like this with you, forever.” You attempt to lighten the mood as you further pressed your front against Hermione's back, earning a light chuckle in response.

“Honestly, I wouldn't mind either.” Hermione leans back slightly allowing you to place a quick kiss on her cheek before standing upright once more.

Your girlfriend keeps her eyes on the large group of students marching past, in anomalous unison. The sounds of their rhythmic footsteps echo through the halls. Not a single word is uttered amongst them.

You can feel Hermione tense against your hold, as if she was trying to fight a similar feeling of deep and inescapable unease.

The final group of students enter through the doors, the large wooden panels shut with a large thud.

Then, it is only silence, you can only hear the sound of your own breathing, the loud thumping of your raised heartbeat in your ears.

“Y/n..” Hermione's voice is a welcomed distraction from the unbearable quiet, it nearly makes you smile.

“Yes, darling.” You respond, the other woman turns slightly so she may look at you as she speaks.

“I've been thinking..” Hermione starts. “It is no use that we find the other Hocruxes if we don't have the means to destroy it.”

Hermione's words make you pause. Truth be told, it hadn't even occurred to you until now. You had been so caught up in trying to locate the next object that you had entirely forgotten you no longer had the sword of Gryffindor in your possession.

“There's no chance we can take back the sword.. not now.” You think aloud, searching your mind for a solution. Hermione releases a groan at that, frustration and defeat. “I know.”

Then it occurs to you, a miraculous solution to your issue, or a shot in the dark, you were not yet certain.

“The Basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets..” You trail off, now capturing Hermione's full attention. “What happened to it after Harry slayed it?” You ask, hoping your girlfriend will give you the answer you were looking for.

“Nothing, it's still there, left to decay in the Chamber.” Hermione replies, and a beat passes where nothing is said between you, but your girlfriend manages to catch up to your train of thought anyway.

“If we find a way to the chamber we can retrieve the Basilisk fang from the skeleton and destroy the Hocrux.” Your girlfriend voices the contents of your mind for you.

“With some luck.” You add.

Then, Hermione grins, a look of relief washes over her. Still underneath the cloak Hermione manages to turn around, she loops her arms around your neck, quickly guiding you in for a searing kiss, one that leaves your lips tingling even moments after she has pulled away.

“You are brilliant.” Hermione utters, and this time it is your turn to smile.

“That's all you, my love.” You quip. Watching as Hermione makes a face in contentment before turning away from you once again.

Snape's voice can be faintly heard from where the two of you were standing, you tried to listen but Hermione's kiss ignited something within you. A sudden sense of serenity, now you are convinced that everything will turn out as you plan, as if you weren't currently in imminent danger.

As you held Hermione in your arms you allowed yourself to forget the threat of battle, if only for a few moments.

You can't hardly help the way your hand slips underneath her sweater, you feel her goosebumps forming underneath your touch as your palm grazes her bare stomach.

This only works to urge you on as you carefully part her hair away from her neck, so you may plant gentle kisses against her warm flesh. Hermione's eyes flutter shut at the sensation, and you can hear her breath quickening.

Although, you aren't allowed to carry on for long as she finally places her hand atop yours, removing it from underneath her top.

“Stop distracting me, I am trying to listen.” Hermione scolds, half-heartedly, her tone makes you smirk, a fire threatens to ignite, but you relent.

You could still only make out bits and pieces of what the Headmaster was saying, and nothing coherent.

Soon deciding that you needed to get closer to the doors if you hoped to find out what was going on inside. You observed the lack of teachers roaming the halls, it appears you and Hermione were alone.

“Let's move closer.” You suggest, pulling the cloak off both of you so you may move freely.

“Alright.” Hermione agrees, clutching your hand as you advance forward together.

Through the crack in the door, you are able to spot Snape, on the podium, addressing the students, the Carrows standing by either side of him.

“Punished in a matter consistent with the severity of their transgression.”

“Any person to have knowledge.. who fails to come forward, will be treated as equally guilty.”

You listened as the Headmaster continued hurling his veiled threats towards the group of blameless students. It makes your blood run cold and it appears Hermione felt as equally unsettled by Snape's words.

“Now then, If anyone here has any knowledge of Mr Potter's movements this evening. I invite them to step forward.. now.” Snape's words are met with complete silence, and your belly tightens with nauseating suspense.

The sound of sudden footsteps that echo from behind the two of you breaks the tantalizing quiet. It makes you whirl around in a panic, only for you to spot Ron next to his brother, Shacklebolt behind him and then the rest of the Order.

“What's going on?” Ron asks, looking between you and Hermione, and you merely hold your hand up to silence him as Hermione continues peeking through the crack.

The next thing that can be heard is a mass of gasps coming from the other side of the doors, students muttering amongst themselves. Before you can question it, the sound of Harry's voice validates your anxiety.

You freeze, whereas Hermione merely steps forward, bracing her hand against the door, as if prepared to push it open, ready to come to Harry's defense.

“It seems, despite your exhaustive defensive strategies, you seem to have a bit of a security problem, Headmaster.” Harry's voice can be heard clearly as Hermione pushes the wooden doors open, you along with the rest of the Order follow her lead, now wands in hand, entering the hall as a group.

All eyes are now on you, more gasps in disbelief as you all stood behind Harry.

You then make the mistake of letting your eyes wander, it doesn't take long before you catch Pansy's gaze. Her stare, hardened and unforgiving enough to make you look away in an instant. You decide to focus your attention ahead.

Harry's harsh voice makes the walls in the hall vibrate.

“How dare you stand where he stood? Tell them how it happened that night, tell them how you look him in the eye, a man who trusted you and killed him.”

Harry continues to taunt the Headmaster, all he is granted with is silence, for a long moment, until Snape retrieves his wand.

He points it at Harry but before The Chosen One is allowed a chance to properly react, he is shoved out of the way, Professor McGonagall shielding him with her person.

It all happens quickly, the Professor flings spell after spell at the Headmaster, and everyone can merely observe with bated breaths as Snape deflected every blow.

The Headmaster lifts his wand to shield himself but this time the curse rebounds. As a result, the Carrows fall, unconscious.

Professor McGonagall steps closer but before she can attack once again, Snape is no longer upright as he quickly transfigures into a black mass, apparating out of the window behind him. The broken glass falls with a large crash.

A stunned silence before an eruption of cheers from the bystanders. Celebrating the Professor's triumph.

Hermione glances at you with a similar look of relief, but the both of you recognize that it is fleeting.

Just as you expected, the moment of joy is over as quickly as it began. The mark on your arm, what was a dull ache turns into a searing pain, so sudden and paralyzing that it knocks you to the ground, still clutching your arm.

Hermione rushes to your side, but before she can attempt to question what was wrong Harry can also be seen collapsing onto the floor in front of you.

You catch a glimpse of Hermione's panicked expression, she turns to her best friend and then to you. Your girlfriend attempts to speak to you but you cannot hear her.

The pain in your arm has now spread, you shut your eyes tightly as you endured it. The hall grows dark once again, stagnant and cold. A spine chilling voice of the Dark Lord echoes through the air, easily distinguishable and unsettling.

Soon there is a mass of screams coming from each corner of the room, students plugging their ears in terror.

Lord Voldermort aims to convey a message; a threat.

Hermione is holding you tightly against her own body, the pain in your arm is finally reduced to a dull ache once again.

“I know that many of you will want to fight, some of you may even think that to fight is wise, but this is folly.”

“Give me Harry Potter, do this and none shall be harmed. Give me Harry Potter, and I shall leave Hogwarts untouched. Give me Harry Potter and you will be rewarded.”

“You have one hour.”

The Dark Lord's attempt to entice has merely immobilized everyone for a prolonged moment.

You finally get back on your feet, Hermione does not let go of you still. “Are you alright?” She manages to find the words and you only nod in response.

As you glanced around the room, you realized that once again, all eyes are on Harry. This time the stares are hostile, some uncertain, others, plain terror.

Pansy's voice is first to break the tense stillness. “What are you waiting for? Someone grab him.” She points to The Chosen One.

Ginny is first to step in front of Harry, followed by Ron, Hermione, yourself and the rest of the Order follow suit.

As Pansy catches your stare again she scoffs, this time your hardened expression mirrors her own.

“Mr Filch, if you would, I would like you to please escort Ms Parkinson and the rest of Slytherin house from the hall.” Professor McGonagall orders the caretaker of the castle.

The man emerges from the crowd, his tired long haired cat in his arms. “Where exactly will I be leading them to, Maam?” He asks.

“The dungeons would do.” The Professor quickly states. This makes Hermione reach down to hold your hand once again, you respond by intertwining your fingers.

There was more sudden applause from the students as they celebrated Mr Filch leading the other Slytherins out of the hall.

As expected, you notice Pansy walking towards you, and you make the hasty decision to turn away so you could hopefully avoid her. However, you don't get the chance to try as she gets close enough to grab your collar harshly, then you react on instinct, getting a tight hold on her wrist.

“Fucking traitor.” She hisses, the sudden nature of the interaction makes you wince.

You open your mouth to speak but Hermione quickly steps in. “Let go of her, or I swear you will be leaving this hall with no hands.” There is enough vitriol in her voice to make anyone cower, but Pansy was not yet done, in fact she barely acknowledges your girlfriend at all.

“If I had known you were with your muggle pet this entire time..” Pansy trails off, she shakes her head slightly, repulsed.

“You're an embarrassment. I can hardly believe I ever considered you a friend.” Pansy retorts.

The same Pansy you have known since first year. You can't help the pang in your chest, her words manage to graze you.

She grants you a scowl before storming off, Blaise follows immediately after her, having listened to the entire interaction. He bumps his own shoulder against yours before slipping past, purposefully setting you off balance.

You held your tongue, reminding yourself to remain calm.

When you turn to Hermione once more the look plastered on her face makes you ache. She recognizes your hurt, and she can't help but feel it too. “Y/n–” She starts but you quickly interject with a change of topic.

“I have half a mind to carve this thing out of me.” You quip, only partly joking. The dark mark now stifled by your sleeve.

Your joke doesn't translate, in fact it only urges Hermione to worry about you more. “You will do no such thing.” She warns with furrowed brows as she reaches up to fix the collar of your shirt, badly creased from Pansy's fury.

Hermione's own wrath yet to dissipate, you feel it in the way her hand trembles.

You smile faintly at her in gratitude, in an endless sea of chaos, she is your helm.

As the rest of the students begin clearing the hall, Harry rushes past as well, urging Ron, y/n and Hermione to follow. “Come on.” He exclaims without looking back.

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Terror pollutes the air surrounding Hogwarts, contagious and unrelenting. It infects everyone, guiding and inspiring frantic behaviour.

As all the Professors remain in the outer courtyard, securing the castle, students are left indoors to their own devices. Everyone is pushing, shoving. Coming and going. No one knows what to do, the only thing that's certain is that fear hangs over them a dark cloud enveloping all.

“Harry, wait!” Hermione exclaims, trying to get her friend's attention but dark haired man barrels forward, Ron by his side.

Your finally manage to catch up to him, Hermione tugs on Harry's arm, forcefully urging him to look at her.

“I've had an idea– well really it's Y/n's idea it's completely brilliant.” Hermione gestures towards you as she raises her voice slightly so she may be heard over the commotion.

Harry stares at you, inquisitive yet impatient so you decide speak quickly. “It doesn't matter if we find the Hocrux unless we can destroy it.” You say.

“You destroyed Tom Riddle's diary with the Basilisk fang, right?” You question rhetorically but Harry nods regardless.

“Well, Hermione and I think we know where we might find one.” You add vaguely, a precaution against prying ears.

“Okay, fine– but take this” Harry seems only half present in the conversation now, he is not even looking at you as he retrieves the Marauder's Map from his pocket.

You grab the bit of parchment, admittedly perplexed by his response. “That way you can find me when you get back.” Harry explains and you nod.

The Chosen One turns to continue up the stairs without looking back, Ron blindly trails after him, it seems asking Harry questions now will only slow them down.

“Where are you two going?” Hermione on the other hand cannot contain her curiosity.

“Ravenclaw Common Room. We've got to start somewhere.” He explains, practically shouting above the clamour.

As Ron and Harry dissapear into the crowd

Hermione quickly intertwines your hand with her own, dragging you up the stairs in the opposite direction. “Come on, this way.”

–

The girl's lavatory remained vacant as you both made your way down the long winding slope, a pile of something soft breaks your harsh landing, in the darkness you are not able to make out what it might be.

The chamber was dark, every surface caked with dust, you can feel it in your lungs everytime you took a breath. No doubt the chambers has been left entirely untouched since the event all those years ago.

Every step you took echoed towards the void, the faint noise of critters scampering on the walls was enough to unsettle you.

“Lumos.” Hermione says with her wand in hand, illuminating your path. It was only then you had the sense to do the same with your own.

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You finally get to the entrance but only to realize it is locked, intricate stone carvings of serpents mounted proudly on the door; a warning.

You inspect it carefully, but there is no visible keyhole any clues of how to unlock it.

Hermione bravely places her hands upon it, a feeble attempt to pry the heavy door open, but it is no use.

She sighs, exasperated.

“Any ideas?” Hermione looks to you, desperate.

You remained silent as you deliberated, your first instinct was to enter with force, throw a curse large enough to hopefully break apart the stone door atleast enough for the both of you to fit through.

That plan does not come without it's risks, you set it aside for now.

You begin considering other solutions, and naturally your mind involuntarily turns to the events surrounding the chamber of secrets all those years ago, your second year at Hogwarts.

The perpetual anxiety that plagued you, and every other student in the castle. Everyday, the Basilisk claimed a new victim and for several weeks, you were only allowed to wonder who it might choose next.

You distinctly recall the way Draco reacted to it all, how he insisted on learning parseltongue so he could gain control of the beast. Feeding into the widespread fear that Harry was the true heir of Slytherin. That he would target him next if he did not learn how to defend himself.

Countless nights where your best friend would stay up memorizing phrases in parseltongue, certain that he would then gain the ability to control the beast if it ever came after him.

Whether he was driven by jealousy or plain and simple fear is unclear, but Draco's relentless efforts, as a result, forcefully imprinted the unfamiliar dialect into your vocabulary.

Although, time certainly did it's duty, and now you are only able to recall certain words.

You wonder if it will perhaps still be enough to possibly unlock the door to the chamber.

“I have an idea, but it might not work.” You reply, although entirely lacking confidence.

Hermione doesn't share your doubts, she nods assuredly eventhough she has no notion of what you intend to do. “Go on then.”

You speak the words ‘door’, ‘snake’, and ‘open’ in parseltongue. With your limited knowledge, you cannot hope to form a complete sentence, but luckily enough, the chamber unlocks. The heavy door opens, wide and eerily inviting.

Hermione stares at you wide-eyed in bewilderment. “How–” She tries but you only start forward towards the door.

“Long story– if we survive this I'll tell you all about it.” You quip as you made way for Hermione to step inside before you.

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As it seems your streak of luck has yet to wear off as you succeed in extracting the Basilisk fang. It was just as Hermione said, all flesh has rotted away, now what was left of the beast was only it's skeleton, set to fossilise with time.

The both of you stood unmoving, hovering over the Hufflepuff cup, readying yourselves for the next step. “You do it.” You extend your arm so Hermione may grab the fang but she quickly shakes her head in protest.

“No, I can't.” She admits but your gaze doesn't falter, courteous and true, you grab her hand.

“Yes, you can.” You state, lightly forcing the fang into her grasp, and she remains hesitant but accepts it anyway.

“I'll be right here if anything happens.” You reassure with a gentle hand on her shoulder.

Hermione moves to crouch next to the cup and you do the same, holding it in place.

Your girlfriend glances at you a last time for reassurance and you can only nod. As Hermione lifts her arm with the Basilisk fang in hand, you hold your breath.

In an instant she brings her arm straight down, the tip of the sharp tooth proved sturdy enough to pierce through the ancient relic. The Hufflepuff Cup begins spinning uncontrollably, as if trying to escape the cause of its injury.

Then, the room awakens, the body of water once still on either sides of the pathway you stood suddenly rises in anger.

The water continues to twist and shape itself into a horrifying sight, the same vision of Voldermort that tormented you when you destroyed the locket.

You grab Hermione's hand, pulling her away from danger, but the being follows you until there was nowhere else to run, you fish out your wand from your pocket but before you can attempt anything, water crashes down onto the both of you.

You are soaked and breathless, but the room was asleep once more. It is over.

Another Horcrux is destroyed, and air sharply fills your lungs. “You did it.” You state with true relief and Hermione doesn't respond, not with words.

In one large stride she is directly infront if you, her lips against yours. The kiss shocks your entire system. Open-mouthed, and aguished. Her hand is firmly against the nape of your neck, Hermione melts within your embrace and you react all the same. Before you can protest or question further, your girlfriend pulls away.

You stare at her, dazed and almost in a trance, consumed in everything and all Hermione. You nearly fail to notice the fact that she was removing her shoes, and then her jacket.

“What are you doing?” You remain staring at her, now with a hint of amusement, but mainly awe.

“We might die today.” Hermione states plainly, the nature of her words do not match her tone.

You observed as she removed her top, now leaving her in only her jeans and bra. She approaches you again, her hands slipping underneath your shirt, warm touch against damp skin makes you shiver in anticipation.

Then you feel her soft lips against the shell of your ear, and soon your jaw. “When I take my last breath I want to remember what it feels like to be with you.. all of you.” Hermione utters, her hands already moving to undo your belt.

#hermione granger imagine #hermione x reader #slytherin au #hermione granger #harry potter #hermione granger x reader #harry x hermione #hermione granger smut

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blue--ingenue · 10 months

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soft!Sebastian headcannons - part 2

Author's Note: so flattered at the response part 1 has gotten, so here's part 2! i may be projecting a bit with the adhd headcannon, but i swear that boy at least partially has it

he’s incredibly protective of you. after losing his parents, nearly losing Anne, and knowing that you defeated Ranrok alone in fifth year, he vowed to never let any harm come to you. he knows you’re more than capable of holding your own in a fight, and his overprotective streak causes a fair amount of arguing between you both, but it stems from his love for you and desire to see you safe

much of his Crossed Wands fan base consists of younger students (including Lucan) that he’s defended from bullies over the years

absolute caffeine gremlin. drinks coffee when the house elves apparate it onto the breakfast tables, but if he can’t get his hands on a cup, he’ll settle for tea. (this is one of the reasons Earl Grey is one of the first scents you recognize while making amortentia in Potions)

usually doesn’t approve of Garreth’s ‘experiments in class’ (enjoys mischief as much as the young Weasley, but doesn’t want to jeopardize his grade), but once slipped him a few sickles to commission him for an energizing brew

knows how to braid hair, and is pretty damn good at it. Anne taught him how when they were little and he’s been doing it ever since. if MC has long hair, he’s braiding it into a neat french braid before their Crossed Wands match so that it doesn’t get in their face while fighting. some of the boys in his year with fragile masculinity scoff, but when they see half of the students in their year fawning over him. they try to learn how to braid as well

(i’m literally picturing soft Sebastian lovingly braiding MC’s hair with gentle hands before taking his place next to them and absolutely decimating their competition. the complete 180 from tender to lethal has most of the crowd swooning)

is absolutely the little spoon, but will take over as big spoon if you ask him to. whenever he’s stressed or overwhelmed from school (or the danger you often find yourselves in) he just wants to be held

has a major sweet tooth. he always has some sort of sweet with him. whether it’s a chocolate frog, a box of Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans he’s split with Ominis, or a pastry tucked away from dinner

absolutely ADORES museums. his parents used to take him and Anne to wizarding history museums as well as the natural history museum in London. seeing artifacts up close while satiating his thirst for knowledge is his personal paradise

(possibly becomes a museum researcher after graduating. something a bit daring and dangerous that lets him put his dueling skills to use in the pursuit of contributing knowledge to his field)

has some degree of adhd that influences his impulsive decisions, risk-taking behavior, and constant switching from topic to topic. has many detentions from talking while the professor is speaking or engaging in unsanctioned spell work, but it’s not his fault classes aren’t stimulating enough

loves dueling and defense against the dark arts because he gets to engage in hands-on activities after long days of having to sit quietly and still for hours of lectures

herbology isn’t his strong suit, but one day you tell him your favorite flower and he’s determined to grow them for you. a few days later in the undercroft you notice a little self-watering potting table with a few buds poking out from the soil. there are at least five herbology books flipped open to various pages on the exact flower you mentioned with little notes scrawled in the margins

he hands you a bouquet of the flowers once they’ve grown and you swear he looks positively elated

#sebastian sallow x reader #sebastian sallow #ominis gaunt #garreth weasley #sebastian sallow x mc #sebastian sallow x you #sebastian sallow x y/n #fluff #soft!sebastian sallow

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y-rhywbeth2 · 5 months

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I know we sickos all love the tragic memory of Durge killing their parents as a child, but honestly - as a lover of interpreting Durge as a tragic eldricht horror cuckoo/changeling creature - my favourite memory is baby Durge playing tag with the other children in a "time before Bhaal".

They're being gentle with their friends, but the narration explicitly describes them as hunting and compares them to a predator. If Durge pities their child self the narration just goes: "Mayhaps that child was already a murderer." "Oh, sorry, did you think this was a happy memory?" asks the game before it points and laughs at your naivete.

You pair that with the little cuckoo killing their foster parents and it's very much like somebody took in a baby predator. Sure, it hasn't grown into its claws and aggression but then we reach the starting point of puberty and suddenly the once cuddly baby is a danger to everyone around it.

Oh, except that apparently there's a chance that Durge was already killing things as a baby!

We know they were aware of Sceleritas following them around when they were young, occasionally talking to them as he does in the dead family memory - even if he hadn't presented himself yet. Even if he doesn't always speak, did Durge grow up seeing him out of the corner of their eye?

The fun thing about Durge is that we get to make our own character out of the scraps we're given, so all of it is up to us to decide for our own characters/playthroughs.

I interpret Durge as being like the Bhaalspawn we meet in Throne of Bhaal, Gavid, and the 3.5e tieflings - they've always known they were different. Always had dark urges and whispers in their mind, coming from the essence in their blood.

Kids have accidents around them, pets go missing. Maybe they have black outs, maybe they're aware but can't stop (small children aren't exactly masters of impulse control). We know from a later memory that Durge feels self-hatred regarding their urges, so presumably they learnt enough to know this is wrong and feel guilt. Do they still feel pain and nausea if they resist? I'm going to assume for my own take that since they got the Urge back then, they did.

I wonder if their family ever took them to wizards and clerics, trying to find out if their child was cursed?

Then that family dies. Violently. Graphically. Another tragic accident taking place around the twitchy weird kid who sees monsters and hears voices.

If you play paladin then the Oathbreaker Knight tells you that you've broken your oath multiple times, so I assume that these disasters didn't stop happening.

And judging from the fact that they showed uncharacteristic compassion to a homeless person at the peak of their "I'm such an evil bastard villains like Elder Brains and the God of Tyranny are impressed" era, I think that Durge ended up homeless themselves at some point between losing their parents and joining the temple (I'm also pretty sure that's the period of their life the cannibalism memory happened in).

And then they "came of age" (I recall the age of majority being 15 in the Realms at some point, but can't find that anywhere so don't take my word for it) and Sceleritas introduces himself, and it's time for a family history lesson that explains everything and Orin gets a sibling she absolutely never wanted, ever - put that thing back in the ditch it came from, so help me.

#this is “still not shutting up about Durge” hours #bg3 #baldurs gate 3 #durge #the dark urge #long post

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blackmosscupcakes · 3 months

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I'm fascinated by how this arc of The Wizard the Witch and the Wild One has really flipped the narrative on who's in the right and wrong compared to the first arc, because the key thing is NONE OF THEM are acting differently than they did then--they're all acting incredibly true to character traits that were established from the get go--the only thing that's changed is the surroundings and the context of the backdrop around them.

Out in the world, among ordinary people, Suvi often came across as imperial-minded, deeply indoctrinated, and carrying a feeling of being superior to those who weren't of the citadel. Her feelings and actions were understandable, but the reaction of the audience was often to read her as being overly hostile to the other two and determined to cleave to the Citadel and the beliefs of her upbringing to a degree that was detrimental to their task.

Ame and Eursulon showed a willingness to go off half-cocked and act impulsively based on their feelings in the first arc just as they did in this latest episode, but in the context of the wider world this often came across as deep empathy with ordinary people and spirits and a sense of responsibility to deeper matters beyond the politics of humans. Sure, their actions were a bit reckless and had some negative consequences, but they were acting with their hearts and for the right reasons and everyone was down for Quest Fever!

And then last night we see exactly the same dynamic play out once again--Suvi trying to balance the needs of her adoptive mother and her home and the entire institution in which she grew up against the needs of her friends, while her friends run off and literally blow up the Citadel's shit in absolute defiance of everything Suvi was raised to believe. Now, standing there alone and reeling from a curse as her friends tear off leaving destruction in their wake, she seems understandably hurt, as well as obedient, measured, restrained, sensible, if perhaps a little too blindly trusting in Citadel processes*. And likewise, amidst the context of seeing how the Citadel runs and how generally well it's treated Ame and Eursulon, the two of them seemed reckless, ungrateful, disrespectful, and short-sighted with an unwillingness to play along with the realpolitik of going through the proper channels. Instead they (quite literally) burned important bridges and damaged Suvi's life in the process (though it's also understandable that in light of the revelations about Eursulon's sister they rightly felt unsafe even if Steel was understanding).

It's fascinating how incredibly similar the climactic sequences from these two arcs have been. The characters have followed their natures and it's led them down exactly the same path twice in a row. But the context surrounding their actions is VERY different this time, and each mirrors and recontextualizes the OTHER occurrence. People were largely on Ame and Eursulon's side last time, and they're largely seeing Suvi's side this time. It's been a really complex ethical and practical tangle to navigate both times (and good on Brennan for setting it up that way), but I feel like seeing the two together helps us understand and respond to ALL of the characters in a better way than just having one of these situations would have. It's been really cool to watch, and I've been absolutely loving reading all the thoughts and opinions from people on every side of it. It's already been some of the best fandom discussion I've seen about a TTRPG show.

*I read an interesting perspective from someone who believed they would have had to escape even if they'd trusted Steel, as she already went from "meet me at this time" to "give me more time to talk to the diviners" and they thought she would have continued to delay and delay in order to check all of the Citadel's bureaucratic boxes--I'm not sure whether that's what would have happened but it's an interesting possibility, and one that prevents Steel being used as basically a deus ex machina powerful ally any time they're in trouble.

#i just love all three of these characters so much #and i want them to be able to be friends and have everything work out and be on the same page 😭#but their perspectives and ways of interacting with the world are so different that once things start getting complicated #they're always going to fall on different sides #and it's always going to break my heart ;_;#but man everyone involved in this is just SO talented #they're absolutely at the top of their game and it's paying off big time in the quality of this story #worlds beyond number #suvi kedberiket #suvirin kedberiket #ame wbn #eursulon #the wizard the witch and the wild one #wbn spoilers

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metorea · 4 months

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HP boys as Hozier Songs

All characters aged up + smut & fluff separated

Harry: Like Real People Do

♡ Harry has always felt alienated from others. That is, until he met you.

♡ You have always made him feel like a real person. Like he existed beyond his reputation as the boy who lived. To you, he was no one but Harry.

♡ “We should just kiss like real people do” Harry finds a home in you that he's never had anywhere else. When things seem impossible you are a light at the end of the tunnel, a persistent reminder that sooner or later, it will all be okay.

♡ You were so beautiful that it made him want to cry. Sometimes he'd catch himself gazing at you and forgetting to breathe, entirely enraptured.

♡ This morning was one of those mornings. He'd seen horrible things the night before, being an auror and all- but you, at the counter, fumbling with eggs he assumed you'd intended to cook for breakfast… the cruelty of some wizards was lost to him in the flow of your movements.

♡ Gentle, gentle touches.

♡ He worships you and he wants you to feel it in every brush of his fingers. The bend of your elbow, the back of your knee, it was all so perfect. So magical.

♡ His hands on your hips from behind felt like worship, your gentle moans a prayer.

♡ “So good, so perfect”, He'd murmur, nose buried in the crook of your neck while other parts of him were buried elsewhere- eggs long forgotten.

Ron: Movement

♡ “When you move I'm moved” Ron watches you and is inspired by your every move. For you, he wants to be so much more than he is. You make him want to be better, smarter, stronger- all while making him feel loved just as he is.

♡ He admires you. He always has. You look to him with these big, gentle eyes and he knows at once that nothing could ever make him happier than a home with you.

♡ He dreams of a quiet life but he gets lost in your motion as well. In your excitement, your passions- it's infectious. He builds his life around you and he doesn't mind one bit; he never could.

♡ He shows everything he feels for you that he can't articulate in every move he makes inside you.

♡ Your hands pinned above your head and his face flushed, he's determined to be the best he can be for you.

♡ It's wild, it's passionate, just like the two of you. The fire of his hair matches the fire of his heart as he trails bite marks and kisses down every bit of you that he can reach.

♡ The room grows warm with the fervent way he moves, not that you'd ever dream of complaining. You love it, every bit of it- your legs wrapping around his hips to drive him impossibly further

Cedric: Would that I

♡ Cedric loves every bit of you, in all your duality and ever shifting parts. If anything, it makes him love you more. And you do the same.

♡ He's a consistent man. He likes things to stay the same. His schedule, his plans- but you wreck them every time. You blow in like a breeze from the sea and he watches as you tear up all he thought he knew, smiling all the while.

♡ And God, he loves it.

♡ He would never dream of taming you, of trying to control you. The wildness is what he yearns for, it keeps him alive.

♡ He'd never try to tame you. Except when you're beneath him. That, is a different story entirely.

♡ He knows how powerful you are. How smart, how driven, how dedicated- he tells you every day. This only makes it that much more enjoyable to see you fall apart the way you do for him.

♡ “Go ahead honey, let go for me.” He'd whisper, moving you up and down against his hips with strong hands.

♡ He loves relieving you. He sees you carry the weight of the world on your shoulders every day, nothing brings him more pride than affording you this release.

♡ Getting his dick wet is just a happy bonus.

Fred: Nobody

♡ “I wouldn't fall for someone I thought couldn't misbehave”

♡Fred is mischievous, reckless, impulsive. He's a hazard, a concern, a risk. And he's content being all these things. Hell, he takes pride in the labels stuck to him by his parents, professors, and other authorities.

♡ He is certain that he will never meet anyone who can match his energy the way George does, until he meets you.

♡ You, a firecracker. You, who speaks without thinking. You, who casts jinxes like you were born to do it, faster than even he can.

♡ The first time he sees you inflate someone's ears he is in love. Absolutely head over heels heart eyes.

♡ He knew he had to have you right then. And have you he did.

♡ As recklessly as the two of you did everything else, you did this. But this was not haphazard, like the assignments you both so often failed to turn in. This was precise and messy, gentle and harsh, satisfying and yet always leaving a need for more.

♡ His lips crashed into yours and fireworks erupted in your belly. He shoved you against the wall and you hooked your fingers through his belt loops, grinning wide into the kiss.

♡ “You're gonna be the end of me, baby” He'd whisper against your lips. “Not today,” You'd reply, leaning in to kiss him again. He is more than happy to oblige you.

George: Damage gets Done

♡ Life is full of surprises, and George has always preferred to go with the flow. You have been his favorite surprise by far.

♡ He fell in love with you slowly. He fell in love with your smile first, and from the first time he saw it, it has been his personal mission to see it as many times as he possibly could.

♡ You fell into his life all at once, without any sort of warning. And as shocked as he was that he was so taken with someone, he knew at once that this was not something to be wasted. No, with you, he could not go with the flow. He could not just let things happen. By some stroke of luck you came into his life, he could not let you go.

♡ You fell into his life,

♡ And now you fall into his lap.

♡ He buries his head in your chest while you move up and down atop him, nails digging into his freckled shoulders as your head falls back.

♡ He looks away from his ceaseless kissing and sucking to look at you, taking in the art that was you falling apart for him. He'd grin at you, wrapping his arm around your waist to lean you back so he was on top once more.

♡ He'd bury himself inside of you with each thrust, nipping at all the skin he could reach before tracing a gentle hand over it, completely lost in you.

♡ Your hands tangle in his ever messy hair and he feels more purpose than he ever has before, right here, with you pressed against him.

Tom: NFWMB

♡ “Give your heart and soul to charity, because the rest of you, the best of you, honey- belongs to me.”

♡ It shouldn't come as a shock that Tom is a possessive man. You aren't just his partner, you are his. Period.

♡ “Nothing fucks with my baby” As cruel as he can be to you, he would never tolerate such behavior from anyone else.

♡ Someone glares at you, and they have been cursed. Someone dares to insult you, and it's the last words they ever say. And God help anyone who ever hurts you, really hurts you. For them, death would be merciful. You are his, and nothing hurts what belongs to him except for him.

♡ He fucks you with that same spirit of ownership. This is not necessarily a good thing- unless you're into that.

♡ He cares little for your pleasure. It doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things- you're his. You couldn't leave if you wanted to, not that you'd ever want to. Right?

♡ He fucks you to clear his head, to clear his body. You're a dumping ground, but you're his dumping ground. You're pathetic, but you're his. Perhaps that's enough. For him, that is enough. For you, it has to be.

Blaise: It Will Come Back

♡ From the first shred of kindness you showed Blaise he was weak for you. Rarely were people sweet to him the way you were without an ulterior motive. A taste of love was all he needed, and he was hooked.

♡ From then on, to pry him away from you was difficult. Though he kept his physical distance the majority of the time, his thoughts never left you.

♡ He had a reputation to keep up, but you knew what it all meant. The gifts, the letters, the looks- he was all yours. Once or twice you forgot to reply to him, and there he was the next day, outside your dormitory. Like a moth to a flame, he was, and is, drawn to you.

♡ He makes love to you like a ritual. You are a God and he is your humble servant, this is the only place in his life where he is anything but in charge. For you he is weak, he is malleable.

♡ His eyes hold a depth you drown in as he stares at you from just above, forehead pressed to yours.

♡ His thrusts are slow and steady, always sure and confident in what he's doing.

♡ His hands make quick work of you, again and again and again. He's amazingly controlled as he moves. He is locked in on you and every reaction you're giving him, completely unbothered by his own growing arousal.

♡ “It can't be unlearned, I've known the warmth of your doorway. Through the cold, I'll find my way back to you.”

Draco: To Be Alone

♡ “When you kill the lights and kiss my eyes, I feel like a person for a moment of my life.”

♡ Draco is a bad man. He knows this, his friends know this, everyone knows this.

♡ Except you. You don't seem to understand that the arms that hold you are soaked in unfathomable amounts of blood, that the eyes that stare into yours have seen unimaginable things.

♡ For this, among other things, Draco loves you.

♡ With you and you alone, he feels innocent. He feels pure for the first time since he was a child, bathed in your light and temporarily absolved of the guilt he carries.

♡ The voice that reminds him what he's done will always be there, but so will yours, always there to quiet it. He has found a sanctuary between your lips, a gift he never could have dreamt of, but something he no longer knows how to live without.

♡ Your bedroom is a sanctuary of sorts, for the same above reasons

♡ You put your mouth on him and the tension leaves him all at once. His knees nearly buckle, he has to seek support from the desk you have him backed up against.

♡ He has to stop his hips from bucking forward of their own accord, not wanting to startle you

♡ His hand moves down, stroking your cheek and tangling in your hair while you move up and down his length, staring up at him

♡ How could you ever expect him to last when you look at him like that?

#cedric diggory #draco malfoy #enzo berkshire #fred weasley #george weasley #harry potter smut #ron weasley #smut imagines #tom riddle #x reader smut

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mightymizora · 1 month

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The thing I love most about Gale actually is how he is both how the fandom often depicts him (full of puns, jovial, quick to try and connect with people, capable of great love) but is also completely on the edge of nihilism. In constant chronic pain that is only alleviated slightly. Completely grieving not just the relationship that defined him but moreso the promise that he had.

He was always the best, always the most talented at the thing he loved above all other things. What is he without that? He can’t even conceptualise what he is if not the most gifted mage of his generation. And he doesn’t want to! He doesn’t want to try and consider who he might be if not that. As the game goes on and his pain is temporarily relieved he shifts from just trying to survive the day to day into having the space to be angry, fucking furious at what he’s been dealt. His plans for godhood are so driven by a desire to prove himself still, to show that he’s better than a discarded toy. Then he also thinks that death might be the only way for him to still be the person he dreamed of being, because it’s the way he can always be known as a great wizard. Both things are true at once and he veers wildly between them and honestly I don’t think that’s bad writing, I think that’s what it’s like!

Because that’s the thing they don’t tell you, when you do survive catastrophic shit in your life. The longer you survive and try and build a new version of yourself, the more you realise that grief isn’t something that goes. You grow around your grief, and that’s what Gale does in his non-Godhood and non-Sacrifice endings.

The game only shows us six months after and I know that they wanted the epilogue to be fluffy and fanservice so they’re not going to explore this, but I can imagine a huge crash would come for him not long after that point. Recovery is hard, it’s not linear, and often especially in the early days any time you feel better you are tempted back to old habits and unhealthy ways to engage. Given what we literally see in game with his pursuit of godhood, I can’t imagine Gale isn’t dealing with that push and pull for decades after the game.

It’s really hard actually, to live your life as a process of surviving and not thriving. To see your contemporaries keep rising, building lives when you have to keep things modest. To see them, be asked what you’re doing, and have to bite back the edge of ambition when you tell them of the things that make you content. Because they do! They do make you content! But you were supposed to be the best, and you will always crave it and be fighting the impulse to go back to how you were, to chase that adrenaline, that adulation.

#god does this go in the tags or is it too personal #anyway I relate to Gale #and I am in my grief era

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hollowed-theory-hall · 20 days

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hi! do you have an opinion on the tom was a gryffindor-slytherin hatstall headcanon?

Hi!

Yeah, I have some thoughts.

I was actually about to answer this when I saw @iamnmbr3's post about a very similar question. I have to agree with their post. Tom has many Gryffindor traits and I think his sorting was kind of like Harry's. In that, the hat was like: "Hmm... you can be in Slytherin, Gryffindor, or Ravenclaw..." And it decided Tom was a Slytherin because of something he thought.

I don't think he was a hatstall though, I think, at 11, in his sorting, Tom was more ambitious than he'd become later in life. He doesn't yet know fully how messed up the Wizarding World is. Or how much he personally doesn't care. The World War that changed his perspective about life and death didn’t quite reach Britain yet.

So, I think the older Tom we get to see is more of a Gryffindor than he was at 11 when he got sorted. I think back then, he was much more bent on proving how special and better he was. Because when we see him in the books, he doesn't need to prove anything anymore, he's proven it already and most of wizarding society won't even dare to say his name. It's why Voldemort isn't lying and putting up as many pretenses as he did in school. Because then he had the goal to be the best and he needed to act the part. But, once he became Voldemort, he didn't really need to keep the perfect Tom Riddle act.

Basically, I think he became more of a Gryffindor as he grew up.

But he definitely had Gryffindor traits as a child. He calls out Dumbledore and Mrs. Cole in the orphanage in a way that would've been considered very inappropriate back then. But again, that was in a moment he felt there was nothing to lose. He always had a lot of courage though.

And I can't imagine he could handle the shitshow that is being the Slytherin Muggleborn without being a bit of a Gryffindor. He never backed down from any fight until the Slytherin pure-bloods learned to respect him. And I think this experience in Slytherin house pushed Tom to be more of a Gryffindor, funnily enough.

He also definitely makes occasional impulsive and reckless choices. And, well, determination/stubbornness is both a Slytherin and Gryffindor trait, like many of Tom's and Harry's traits are.

So, while he fits Slytherin and Gryffindor, I don't think he was an official hatstall, that is a sorting that takes more than 5 minutes. My headcanon is that his sorting was like 3-4 minutes, maybe even 4 and a half, but not quite the hatstall 5.

#harry potter #harry potter thoughts #hp #hp thoughts #hollowedheadcanon #tom riddle #tom marvolo riddle #lord voldemort #voldemort analysis #voldemort #asks #anon asks #anonymous

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imagine-you · 1 month

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Make All Your Demons Be Gone pt. 6 [Sirius Black/Reader]

summary: When you first meet your brother's friends, you're not very impressed. You're especially not so keen on Sirius Black and the feeling seems mutual. But as time goes on, you start to realize there's more to the boy who seemed to only hate you because of the house were sorted into. Through heartbreak, loss, danger, and pain, you begin to realize that you need Sirius just as much as he needs you.

chapter word count: 4.8k

author's note: So, I haven't updated in two years...A lot of stuff happened like I started a new job, lost my motivation, had a whole bunch of personal problems. But, I finally found my way back, and I hope you're all still interested in this. If you like this, please let me know! It would make my day. 💖

read on ao3

You supposed, if anyone desperately wanted to know the truth, that having Sirius as a houseguest for the rest of that summer wasn't entirely the worst thing that could happen to you. It seemed as if you had reached an unsteady truce after you caught Sirius in your father's study and you noticed a difference in your interactions.

You had insisted he was being all dramatic and brooding in the study, but Sirius swore he was only thinking over his family situation. You knew that you had truly lucked out with your parents and James, but you couldn't even imagine what it would be like to have a family you absolutely loathed. Sirius had his flaws and he was entirely too impulsive for your liking, but maybe James was right. Sirius might just be someone who might be worth knowing and you should stop fighting with him at every given opportunity.

You still teased each other and made fun, but it didn’t seem to have the same bite it used to just days before.

You got used to Sirius taking up space in your house and while you still found yourself irritated by him, you had to admit that it was a different kind of irritation than before. You wouldn't ever tell anyone, even Lily, but you had started feeling nearly fond of Sirius and his antics.

One day near the end of July, you found yourself bored, so you decided to write to your friends.

You started with a letter to Remus. You had yet to respond to his last note and you didn't want him to think you had forgotten about him. You confided in him that while your prank war with Sirius was never-ending, it didn't seem as mean-spirited as it had the previous year. It was almost like you were simply picking on each other. It was almost like you were something approaching friends.

Even though you trusted Remus, you only confessed to Lily that having Sirius there wasn't nearly as horrible as you imagined. You tried not to let your feelings on the matter shine through too much, so you made sure to tell her that he was usually off somewhere with James, exploring and laughing and conveniently far away from you.

She was quick to write you back, joking that maybe you and Sirius would become great friends, fulfilling James' dreams of having the two of you finally get along for once. What you didn't tell Lily was that you were sure James' dreams mostly involved her, but you weren't going to traumatize her with that bit of information.

You wished that you could write to Severus, but you didn't know how to feel about him anymore.

As the summer wore on, James and Sirius seemed a bit more secretive than usual. You weren't sure if you were being paranoid, since it seemed like the Daily Prophet was constantly showcasing the worst of the wizarding war that was brewing. Voldemort was gaining followers and it seemed as if you couldn't go anywhere without news of Death Eater attacks or people mysteriously disappearing following you.

By the time you were starting your fifth year at Hogwarts, you were beginning to get scared. You knew that Severus was on his way towards becoming a Death Eater, if he wasn't one already, but you were starting to realize that a lot of Slytherins were turning to that side as well. You weren't sure who to trust or what to say to others when you were in your dorm or common room, so you mostly kept to yourself.

You weren’t even sure if you could trust Regulus. Sirius had been vocal about the fact that his younger brother was all too content to simply fall in line with his family’s loyalties to the dark side. Was Regulus a Death Eater too? Were the only Slytherins you had come to call your friends now the enemy?

You convinced yourself that it was best to focus on your studies and protect yourself from the war. Over the summer, you had heard your parents speaking quietly in the study, pondering whether to keep you and your brother and Sirius from attending Hogwarts. They were more concerned about you being in Slytherin and the influence you would fall under. The fact that your parents were scared for your safety at a veritable fortress like Hogwarts told you that the situation was a lot more serious than you feared.

Despite your resolve to ignore Severus, you quite literally ran into him when you were trying to leave your dorm on the first day of classes.

"Oh," you breathed in surprise, having to stumble back a couple steps to avoid crashing into Severus.

"Y/N," Severus greeted with a nod of acknowledgement. "I didn't hear from you this summer."

"I, uh, well," you started, not sure how to let Severus know that you were terrified that he had joined the wrong side and now the two of you would have to be on opposing sides of a war. He had been one of your best friends since you started Hogwarts and now you weren't even sure if you should talk to him. "I have to go see my brother," you blurted before brushing past him.

"Y/N!" Severus called, but you were already out of the dorm and striding down the hallway, hoping you didn't look like you were running away.

You made it to the Great Hall without running into any other suspected Death Eaters. You started to approach the Slytherin table out of habit before you redirected towards the Gryffindor table. You loved being a Slytherin and you didn't think it was a bad thing. You wanted to do great things and find success in your endeavors. You wanted to be ambitious and cunning and all the other attributes that were fitting for a Slytherin.

You just didn't want to be evil.

And the most horrible thing to you was that you weren't sure how to distinguish the evil ones from the good ones.

Worse yet, you worried that you were falling into the prejudice against your own house that the rest of the school seemed to hold. And who was to say it was only Slytherins joining the ranks of Death Eaters? Who else in the other houses had decided to join Voledemort?

You didn’t know and you figured the only true safe place for you was with your brother and his friends.

So, you decided to drop down into a seat at the Gryffindor table between James and Remus.

"A little lost, snake?" Sirius asked and you glanced up to see he was sitting opposite you. You weren't sure if you were imagining it or if Sirius’ 'snake' comment didn't hold as much venom as it used to.

"I'm avoiding some people," you admitted with a shrug of your shoulders.

Remus shot you a concerned look. "Everything alright?"

"Yeah," you sighed, briefly sparing a glance for the Slytherin table. Severus was just sitting down and you had to hurriedly look away before he noticed you. "Just need to figure out how to handle something."

"Well, you're welcome to sit here whenever you like," James offered, throwing his arm around your shoulders. "And if anyone gives you any trouble, just let me know. I'll make them regret ever picking on my little sister."

You shrugged your shoulders, throwing off James' arm, and shook your head. "I can fight my own battles," you told him.

"I know you can, but--"

"But she's fully capable of taking care of herself," Lily cut in, joining the conversation. "But I suppose you are her brother, so maybe you could be good for something."

James spluttered out an indignant response that you only caught part of before he turned in his seat, giving Lily his full attention. Remus had his head buried in a book and Peter was nowhere to be found, leaving you with just Sirius.

You were going to settle for simply ignoring him in favor of eating breakfast, but Sirius had another idea.

You felt something brush against your foot under the table. At first, you thought it was merely an accident, but then something pressed into your foot again and again. You glanced up at Sirius and caught the knowing smirk on his face before he shot you a wink. You weren't sure why it had you ducking your head and refusing to look at him. It was an entirely new response to Sirius’ antics and it uneased you.

What did it mean? Was he just trying to annoy you or was this something different? Was he trying to get a rise out of you or simply teasing you or was it more than that?

"Why do you look like that?" James asked, finally pulling his focus away from Lily.

"Like what?" You wondered, trying to school your expression into something neutral. You would rather die than let Sirius know that he had managed to stir up that reaction within you, so you kept your head down and focused on your food.

Sirius decided to break James' focus on you by flinging a spoonful of eggs at his head and among the chaos that followed, you managed to slip away, wondering if Sirius was simply your ally or maybe even something more now.

As the year progressed, you began to hear more and more snippets and stories about the wizarding war that was waging on. Muggles were being tortured and wizards were going missing under 'mysterious circumstances.' Voldemort and his army seemed to be growing bolder by the day, venturing into muggle cities and causing a ruckus in the Ministry.

You feared for your parents and you hoped that they were staying as far away from the war as they could get. Besides the obvious Death Eater problem in the school, you never really thought anything bad could actually happen to you or your brother as long as you were at Hogwarts.

Which, you figured, was why you were attacked in Hogsmeade.

It was the second Hogsmeade visit of the year and you were eager to get your hands on more chocolate wands. You hadn't expected just how stressful your fifth year would be and you had severely underestimated the amount of time you would spend awake at night, studying in bed and reaching for a snack that wasn't there.

You were just about to make the trek back to the castle. The sky was beginning to grow dark and a lot of the other students had already left. There was a chill to the air that had you wrapping your scarf even tighter around your neck, shivering as a blast of cold air met you.

"Little Slytherin girl," you heard someone hiss. It was a woman, you could tell that much, but you didn't recognize her.

You instinctively froze in your tracks, not aware of where the voice was coming from. There was something screaming inside you to just move. Run now before they caught you. But your feet betrayed you and stayed rooted to the spot.

"Won't you join us, little Slytherin? All your friends have," another voice taunted, growing closer to you by the second.

You finally managed to turn around, pinpointing the voices to two Death Eaters approaching you. They were wearing masks, shielding their identities from view, and a sick twisting in your gut worried that they were really Slytherins who were undergoing some kind of initiation. What if this was Severus? Would Severus kill you? The fact that you didn't know anymore had you feeling even more sick to your stomach.

"Leave me alone," you ordered, dropping your Honeydukes purchases to the ground and attempting to go for your wand.

"Incarcerous," the wizard shouted just as the witch cast impedimenta.

You fumbled your wand, letting it fall to the ground, just as chains enclosed you. You fell to the ground, helpless and terrified, as they stalked closer towards you.

"Now, what should we do with you?" The witch mused as she twirled her wand, as if this was all some kind of game to her.

"We should take her back to Master," the wizard answered, sounding positively gleeful at the thought.

"Help!" You called, glad that they hadn't managed to silence you just yet. "Someone! Anyone! Please!"

"Shut up, you stupid girl," the wizard growled, striking you across the face.

Blood blossomed across your tongue and you could feel where the skin of your cheek had split under the force of his blow.

"Let's get her back to Master before--," the witch's words were cut off by a low growl followed by a snarl.

The witch let out a shriek before she fell to the ground. The wizard turned, surprised and confused, only to let out a howl of pain. You had no idea what was happening and you managed to roll to the side, getting a glimpse of the fight that was happening just steps away from where you were lying on the ground.

You had to blink a few times, wondering if you had hit your head, because there was no possible explanation for the sight before you. A black dog was snapping its jaws repeatedly, attempting to take bites out of the witch while she held it off. And of all things, a deer was rushing at the wizard, butting its head into his chest.

The wizard chose to apparate away, but the witch stayed behind.

She let out a gleeful, malicious giggle and then struck the dog in its side. The dog let out a whimper before finally backing off. The deer rushed towards the dog, attempting to aid it, but the witch cast a hex at the deer, causing it to back off.

All the while, you had been attempting to get the chains off you. You had wriggled and squirmed and finally they fell away, leaving you to grasp your wand and aim it at the witch just as she aimed hers at the dog.

You cast the first spell you could think of which just happened to be the horn tongue hex.

The witch screeched in alarm when her tongue grew heavy and began to protrude from her mouth. You followed it up with a stinging hex and then another. The witch stumbled back before finally apparating away, but you didn't think it was enough. You kept aiming hex after hex at the space she previously occupied, furious and hurt and terrified.

"Y/N!" A voice called from far away. "Y/N, it's alright now. They're gone," they said, trying to shake you out of your shock.

You blinked a few times, your eyes finally focusing enough to notice that James was standing in front of you. He had his hands on your shoulders as he attempted to get you to make eye contact with him. A relieved smile appeared on his face once he realized he finally had your attention.

Your right hand was clutching your wand so hard you were amazed that it hadn't yet broken. Your left hand was clutching a bunch of fur and you looked down to see that it was the dog. It seemed content to stand still, as if knowing you needed the reassurance, and it pressed its nose into your knee when you slowly let go.

"James," you managed, wanting to ask about the deer and the dog, but all you got out was your brother's name before you began to sob. You fell out of James' grasp and to the ground, hunching in over yourself. There was blood in your mouth and your arms ached from fighting the incarcerous charm. You were beginning to shake and an inane thought crossed your mind that you should really get your Honeydukes purchases before they were lost forever.

The dog whined low in its throat before pressing close to you, sending a beseeching look up at your brother, as if asking him to do something.

"I know, Padfoot, but we should get her to Dumbledore. Those were Death Eaters. In Hogsmeade," James stressed, sounding just as shocked as you felt.

The dog, Padfoot, growled before he was gone. In his place was Sirius, fury written into his expression.

"That was my cousin," Sirius snarled, reaching out to hold onto your shoulder. "And she could have killed Y/N."

You stared at Sirius, stunned speechless. You glanced over to your brother to see if he was also hallucinating his best friend, but James didn't seem to think anything was amiss.

"But--," you started, looking from James and back to Sirius. "You're a dog?"

Sirius shot you a smirk, but his heart didn't seem to be in it. "Wow, sweetheart, tell me how you really feel about me."

"Sirius," your brother rebuked before he brought your attention to him. "You can't tell anyone about Sirius or me, understand? We could get in a lot of trouble."

"You...," you trailed off, finally putting the pieces together through a mind still dazed with shock. "You were the stag," you observed, thinking that of course your brother was an animagus, because your life was bound to take just about every insane turn it possibly could. “How did you find me?”

“We were just out in the forest, letting off some steam,” Sirius answered. “And then we heard you screaming for help.”

James nodded his head in answer. "I’m just glad we got here in time.” James glanced around before he sighed. “It’s getting late. We should get you out of here," he decided, reaching down to pull you off the ground.

Sirius rose with you, his hand still on your shoulder, as if he was afraid to let go. He ushered you forward a few steps before you remembered about your chocolate wands and you tried to turn.

"What are you doing?" Sirius wondered, watching as you stumbled your way over to your dropped bag.

"I need this," you defended yourself with a shrug of your shoulders.

Sirius rolled his eyes, muttering 'barmy' under his breath. "C'mon," he sighed, moving to wrap an arm around your shoulders once you were beside him again.

James moved to walk at your other side, keeping you between the two of them.

There were no more attacks on the way to the school and when you officially walked through the gates and onto the Hogwarts grounds, you felt a tiny little shiver work its way down your spine in relief.

"You're safe now," Sirius assured you, letting his hand drop until it was resting at the small of your back.

"If you two hadn't been there...," you didn't even want to finish the thought. The Death Eaters would have taken you to Voldemort. They would have tortured you. They probably would have killed you.

"But we were," James refuted with a small smile at you. "And I'm not letting you out of my sight again, you got that?"

"I think she did pretty well taking care of herself," Sirius reminded James. "Getting my cousin with a horn tongue hex was just...brilliant," he finished with a wide, toothy grin at you.

"You're sure that was Bellatrix?" You asked him, thinking of the near maniacal glee she took in taking you down. You had only dealt with Sirius and Regulus, and while you thought Sirius was mad, he was nothing like that.

"It was her," Sirius confirmed with a heavy sigh. "I'm sure the Black family will commend her for her loyalty to the dark arts."

You weren't sure how to respond, so you settled for bumping your elbow into Sirius' side. "Thank you," you told him when he finally looked at you. "The both of you."

"Yeah, well, can't let my best mate's sister suffer, can I? Not unless it's me making her suffer," he added with a conspiratorial wink.

The conversation trailed off there and you became caught up in your thoughts of what had just transpired. It seemed like one moment you were hurrying across the grounds with your brother and Sirius and the next you were standing in Dumbledore's office.

"You two may go back to your dorm," he said, addressing James and Sirius. "I would like to have a few words with Miss Potter alone."

"Headmaster," James started before he was cut off by Sirius clamping a hand down on his shoulder.

"Understood, Professor," Sirius readily agreed and dragged James from the office.

Dumbledore waited until the two of them were gone before he turned his attention on you.

"I expect that they will be waiting for you to escort you back to the Slytherin dorm once we're done here. I've never found Sirius to be that agreeable before."

You couldn't help the nervous laugh you let out at his words and from the way Dumbledore's eyes twinkled with mirth, you knew it had been his aim all along.

"Now," he started, watching you from across his desk. "Would you like to tell me what happened tonight in Hogsmeade?"

You found the words for the story in bits and pieces. Your hands began to tremble as you talked about the Death Eaters approaching you while you were helpless and you found yourself pulling out a chocolate wand and taking a bite. "Sorry," you told Dumbledore when you noticed the amused look on his face.

"No need to be sorry," Dumbledore dismissed with a wave of his hand. "I too find that sweets help me through trying situations. So, your brother and Sirius came to your rescue?"

"They did," you agreed with a nod of your head. There was no way you were going to mention that James and Sirius were animagi, so you quickly glossed over that part of the story. "And once I was able to free myself, I attacked one of the Death Eaters when she hurt Sirius. I, uh, I turned her tongue into a horn," you admitted with a sheepish grin. "And then I cast a lot more hexes until she left. I was, I mean, well...," you didn't know how to talk about the worst part. "They wanted to take me to him," you forced yourself to get out. "And they would have killed me. There's no way I could have fought him or any of them and escaped with my life."

Dumbledore seemed to mull over your words for a few moments. There was a look on his face you couldn't immediately decipher, but the more you studied it, the more you realized that Dumbledore seemed oddly proud of you.

"Tell me, Miss Potter, what would you like to do once you leave here?"

You weren't sure how that was in any way connected to the night's events, but you were happy for a change of subject. Your mind was still reeling from Death Eaters and animagi and the possibility of being taken to Voldemort. You really just wanted to think about anything else at the moment.

"Well, I would really like to continue my studies," you answered, thinking over where you might want to be in ten years time if you were still alive. "Particularly in history of magic."

"Ah, yes, I've heard that you are far more passionate about the subject than your classmates."

"It's fascinating," you admitted with a genuine smile. "Maybe I'll be lucky enough to be a professor one day."

"I think that sounds like a wonderful plan," Dumbledore mused with a thoughtful look. "I suppose when Professor Binns is ready to move on, we'll have a candidate in mind for the position." Dumbledore considered you for another moment. “I will have to inform your parents about what happened tonight. I don’t doubt that they will try to convince you to spend the rest of the term at home.”

You knew your parents would fear for your safety even more now, but you didn’t want to leave Hogwarts. “Then I’ll just have to convince them that Hogwarts is safe.”

Dumbledore offered you a content smile before he pulled out a drawer of his desk. He rummaged through the drawer before he pulled something free. “May I offer you a sherbet lemon?”

Not long after that, Dumbledore sent you on your way with a few more sweets than you had arrived with and the knowledge that he thought you had done well for yourself under duress.

You weren't surprised to see that Dumbledore was right about Sirius and James. The second you stepped off the staircase leading up to Dumbledore's office, James was right there with Sirius not far behind.

"What'd he say? Should we get you to the Hospital Wing?" James asked, worry in his tone as he considered you.

"I'd rather just go to sleep," you dismissed James' concern, brushing past him in favor of heading towards the dungeons.

"Maybe we could sneak you into the Gryffindor common room to sleep it off on the couch," Sirius suggested, falling into step with you.

"No," you immediately argued. "I have to trust that I can be safe in my own dorm."

Sirius and James shared a look, a silent conversation taking place between them, before James finally rolled his eyes. "Fine, but we're walking you there."

You couldn't help but snort in amusement. James was always going to be your overprotective big brother and Sirius...well, you weren't quite sure what Sirius was anymore, but you knew that things were constantly evolving between the two of you.

And really, you didn't think that was such a bad thing.

The next day, visits to Hogsmeade were put on hold for the rest of the year since it was deemed unsafe with the recent attacks on muggles and wizards. Your attack wasn't mentioned, and you were grateful since everyone seemed upset by the news. You knew they would just find a way to blame you and you didn't want to know what anyone would have to say. You were still shaken, and while you were going to miss your Honeydukes shopping trips, you couldn't deny that you wouldn't have felt safe there again.

You had just finished writing a letter to your parents in response to their plea that you consider coming home. Dumbledore had been right, but you were stubborn and wanted to finish out your fifth year at the castle. Your parents wouldn’t like it, but you also knew that they wouldn’t force you to come home if you didn’t want to.

You were clutching the letter tight in your hands, intent on going to the owlery, when someone called your name just as you were leaving the Great Hall.

"Are you alright?" The voice caught you off-guard, stopping you in your tracks.

You turned to see Severus standing there, his expression neutral with just a hint of conern in his eyes.

"What?"

"You appear to be injured," he observed with a quirk of his eyebrow. "This wouldn't have anything to do with the Hogsmeade trips being cancelled?"

A hundred different emotions flooded through you before you somehow finally landed on contempt. "And if it was?" You took a couple of steps closer to him, lowering your voice so only the two of you could hear. "And if it was Death Eaters who attacked me and attempted to kidnap me? Would you still be with them?"

Severus' expression morphed from poorly concealed worry into masked irritation. "I don't see how that's any of your business."

You scoffed, shaking your head. "It's my business because you were my friend, Severus. You were one of my best friends and the fact that you could join them? That's just...I don't know who you are anymore," you admitted with a scowl.

You turned away from him, not letting him even attempt to get another word in. You didn't want to know if there was anything left of your friendship with Severus. The fact alone that he would join the Death Eaters, especially after what you had endured the night before, was more than enough for you to know that you didn't want anything to do with him as long as he was with them.

The rest of your fifth year was spent fearing for your loved ones and doing your damnedest to make sure that you got the OWLs scores that you wanted. While you had lost a friend, it seemed as if you had gained another in Sirius. He spent less time trying to poke and prod at you, attempting to get a rise, and instead did his best to make you laugh. He watched out for you and finally seemed to accept you despite the fact that you were a Slytherin.

A year before, you never would have guessed that you would be facing your sixth year at Hogwarts trusting Sirius Black and avoiding Severus at all costs. You didn't know what the future held for you and you were terrified more than anything that Voldemort and his army would find a way to win.

But as long as you still had the people you loved, for now you would simply focus on what the summer holidays would bring. And even though you were loath to admit it, even to yourself, maybe you were just the tiniest bit interested in seeing where the new amicable nature of your relationship with Sirius brought you.

taglist: @mizelophsun11 @mysticalfuncollectorus @honeybxes @siriusement @takem3tothelakes @fangeekkk @strawberrysodaslut (if you would like to be added please let me know! some people who used to be on the list have different usernames, so I wasn't sure if I should still tag you.)

#sirius black #sirius black imagine #harry potter #sirius black x reader #sirius black x you #harry potter imagine #james potter #marauders #imagine #reader insert #reader is a potter #reader is a slytherin #make all your demons be gone fic #x reader #my fic

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sofoulandfairaday · 4 months

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Please share all of your Sirius and Bellatrix thoughts ♥️

I have way too many, darling.

The TLDR is it is our choices that show us who we truly are, far more than our abilities. The long version is under the cut.

When reading about them I usually prefer stories where their original 8-9 year gap is preserved (it annoys me to no end when people write the Order and the Death Eaters as entirely made up of people in the same couple of years in Hogwarts —really? Was the conflict exclusively waged by child soldiers? Were Dumbledore and Voldemort just chilling before 1977, when they decided to start recruiting?). With that being said, I can also enjoy fics where - for shipping purposes - their ages are more compatible, to make them share time in Hogwarts or during the First Wizarding War.

I think they are very, very alike personality-wise. The narrative draws some delicious writing parallels between them, both physically and in their expressions, vices and virtues, and choices. Directly between them, might I add. The author underlines the difference between Bella and Narcissa more than once, we're meant to see it, and similarly we're meant to see the similarities between Bella & Sirius.

They are haughty, passionate, powerful, competent, arrogant, bright, much more intelligent than the fandom thinks they are. In general, they suffer from the stigmatization that many characters - but some people in real life do too - that someone who is intense and impulsive cannot possibly be as intelligent as people who are meek, soft-spoken, generally more controlled. Think what the fandom does to Sirius vs Remus and Bella vs her sisters, when every arrow points to the fact that they are actually the cleverest in these pairings.

They are both some shade of mentally ill, and not because of the curse of the Blacks - half the Blacks went mad didn't they? What's the saying? Every time a Black is born the gods flip a coin. god the Targaryen-Black parallels are gold - Sirius is very likely horribly depressed in OOTP, something no one around him seems to understand, infuriatingly. The only one that seems to get it is Harry, who has the literal Dark Lord living in his brain (= bigger problems to deal with). Bella is... I don't know what she is, ask me after my psychiatry module next year, but my money is on PTSD after Azkaban - after all, she didn't have the escape of an Animagus form behind bars. She would also very likely be victim-blamed for these different feelings, which would lend itself to a delicious nobody else in the world understands us but us type of post-Azkaban dark!fic which I would love to read.

They are both skilled at magic, and while they might despise each other for their respective political views, they respect each other because of this. Bella is probably above him in terms of magical power and skill, because she's 9 years older and because of Voldemort's training, but Sirius seemed to be keeping up quite well with her during their fight in the DoM.

Speaking of which, I am sure that Bellatrix's scream of triumph was due to her winning their duel, not because she thought she had killed him and that is probably the single thing I love the most about HBC's interpretation of her in the movies. That look. 10/10.

I am of the opinion that Bella is all bark and no bite when it comes to certain members of her family, especially her sisters. Sure, she might say that she wants to prune her family tree but 30 years later in the beginning of DH, she still calls Andromeda sister. I'm sure she would want nothing more than to put him under lock and key for the rest of his life and never let him escape, not kill him. And, to me, the way Sirius speaks of his family is very interesting. I'm sure he firmly believes that he hates them, but his actual feelings are more complex than that. You can hate someone and still desire their love, their respect. You can hate that they are the only people in the world who understand you - and hate yourself more in turn, for it.

Sirius seems to me like someone haunted by his own darkness. He, much like Harry, would be constantly worried that he's becoming like them. I'm sure it's a weak spot for him and I wish we had heard more bickering, or at least a full interaction between Bella and Sirius (I feel like she would claim him as hers, underline how much he cannot escape his own blood, even just to mock him/unsettle him in battle). But what Dumbledore says to Harry is true: it doesn't matter how alike they are, it's their choices that matter much more. And I feel like this is why the two of them would never reconcile in canon. They stand for different things.

I also think there might be some - and I know Freud is controversial nowadays, but bear with me - penis envy, on her part. Because Sirius was born the heir - something she would have given her left hand to be: to be born and die a Black instead of being expected to marry into another family - and he squandered it all away by consorting with werewolves and mudbloods. But no. He got everything and pissed on it, and it's just not fair. And by choosing not to come back, even in the two years after Regulus' death, he made sure that the Black Family name will die with him- and I think that is just something she can never ever forgive him.

Now. Everybody knows I don't like TCC and my preferred view of Bella is someone with fertility issues, even to the point of being sterile.

[I read an amazing fanfic once and a line from it stuck in my brain - "If I can't be life, then I'll be death"]

But. If we do see it as canon. This is also the reason why - despite being overjoyed at Delphi's birth - I am convinced that she wished for a boy when she was pregnant. If she had a boy with the Dark Lord, who couldn't possibly give them his name, the House of Black would have an heir. This is also the reason why I don't thing she was necessarily opposed to having children with Rodolphus - the "spare" would have been her heir.

Bellatrix would say that Regulus was her favourite cousin, but truth be told, it was really Sirius whom she respected more - at her core, in my opinion, Bellatrix is really only someone who respects power. Sirius is like her that way.

But Bellatrix is clearly a cruel person, which Sirius is not (or at least, he tries not to be: Kreacher and Snape are two very particular cases of people who are mean to him back). Also, Sirius' view of the world is much more egalitarian - If you want to know what a man’s like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals. Bellatrix is clearly someone who sees the world in terms of hierarchies, and lives within them (see: how she acts around Voldemort and what is implied of her treatment of house-elves who obey their masters: there is a scale and some serve others, and as long as they do so well they have certain rights; disobey, you get punished).

(Bellatrix is somewhat a feminist character but let's be real- she's not a revolutionary. She went to the Dark Lord and showed him just how powerful she was - aka my wand is bigger than all these male DEs' - and he said "okay, fair, I'll give you the Mark", thereby freeing herself. She is not a "equal representation for women inside terrorist organizations!!" type of girlie)

I also love how her death parallels Sirius'. It's thematically beautiful and it excuses her death coming at the hands of one Molly Weasley (who could never ever in a million years have beaten her on skill alone). She dies because she is arrogant. It's one of her traits. Overconfidence. She was always meant to die like that.

[coincidentally one of the reasons why she would not be a hufflepuff like some suggest: this woman is not humble]

I could go on, but I think I've rambled enough.

P.S. Let's not sleep on the fact that the two of them together would be hot.

#sirius black #bellatrix lestrange #bellatrix black #sirius x bellatrix #asks #answered

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