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xjustakay · 26 days

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✺ (4/4) ✺ @jegulus-microfic prompt: forbid — 1,274 words (dad james meets harry's favorite librarian and suddenly has a favorite of his own; pt.2)

“Mate, the slot is right here.” James points at the metal drop slot for library book returns as Harry hurries past him through the automatic entry door.

The six year old whips around, books cradled to his chest, a look that says ‘what are you talking about?’ written all over his face. He looks so like Lily when he makes that face that it makes James snort to himself.

“No, I have to turn them in to a librarian ‘cause I have to tell Regulus which one was my favorite,” Harry argues.

Before James can ask what is so special about this Regulus that he’s been mentioning, Harry’s turned away from him again, heading inside. With a faint grin and a shake of his head, James follows, quickening his step to catch up to the little boy.

He follows him up to the front desk where a woman with brown curls falling out of a claw clip sits clicking away at a computer. Harry carefully shifts his books into the curl of one arm, waving his other hand above the edge of the counter where he only peeks a few inches above.

“Oh! Hello there, Harry.” The woman leans forward to smile down at him. “Brought your returns today, have you?”

“Yes, miss Andromeda,” Harry replies.

Andromeda glances up at James’ approach, a curious look crossing her face. “You’re dad then, I presume.”

“Dad is me,” James chuckles. “James works just fine, too, though.”

It’s typically Lily that brings Harry to the library. It’s closer to James’ place in reality, but he’s usually let it be something special Harry does with his mum. Lily had told James he was being silly; ‘Harry and I have plenty of things, James, just like you two do. The library is not owned by me and he loves going. Take him every now and again.’

So when Harry had brought his books with him for his stay at his dad’s and mentioned they were due before the week was up, James had decided to finally show face there. Evidently his son is a well-loved regular amongst the librarians.

“Well, it’s nice to finally meet you, James,” Andromeda says before turning back to Harry. “Want me to take those, sweetheart?”

Harry shakes his head. “I’ve got to find Regulus.”

“Ah, I see.” There’s a knowing smile on Andromeda’s face as she nods, her gaze flickering to James.

“Yes, god forbid we not drop them in the slot like everyone else,” He jokes.

“Well, Harry does have a little bit of a book club of sorts with Regulus, so this isn’t entirely unusual,” She notes.

“He mentioned something like that, yeah.” James grins fondly down at his son as he ruffles a hand through the mess of his hair. “So, where might we find this mysterious and oh so wonderful Regulus today?”

“He’s reshelving a cart of returns. Last I saw in the adult romance section,” Andromeda answers.

“Okay, thank you, miss Andromeda!” Harry rushes out, at least managing to still be polite before bolting away from the desk.

James laughs and mutters a quick thanks of his own before hurrying after him. Harry zips into one of the rows of shelves before James has fully caught up to him, hazel eyes darting upward to check the sign and make sure it’s the right place. When he rounds into the aisle, he stops only a couple steps in, freezing on the spot. A short distance up the row, Harry talks animatedly to a librarian who’s stopped with a metal cart full of books to be returned where they belong.

Now, here’s the thing, James has heard the name Regulus a few different times when Harry’s talked about his visits to the library. Heard about how Regulus’ story time readings are Harry’s favorite, and how Regulus always recommends the best books.

Even just today, James has heard the name several times. He hadn’t really known what to expect, but whatever minimal expectations he might have had have been shot to hell in three seconds flat.

Regulus is lovely. Black curls, sharp jaw, pale skin contrasted by a dark jumper and jeans. Grey eyes are intently focused on Harry as he speaks, a soft smile curled at a pretty mouth. The afternoon sunlight mocks James, slanting through gaps in the shelves to make the man glow —ethereal without effort.

“I read the dinosaur bedtime book all by myself so many times. Mum didn’t even have to help me,” Harry tells Regulus proudly.

“Was that one your favorite then?” Regulus asks. And god, even his voice is beautiful. James is fucked. So absolutely fucked.

“Yeah, but I think I wanna try those chapter books you told us about next. With the treehouse?” Harry bounces on his feet.

“The Magic Treehouse series, uh huh.” Regulus nods. “Where’s your mum? We’ll find one you two can choose together.”

“Oh, my dad brought me today! He’s right there.” Harry points past him, right at where James still stands frozen.

A furrow in his brow, Regulus turns, eyes landing on James. And James would love to say that it snaps him back to reality. Would love to tell you that he manages an easy smile, says something charming, doesn’t just stay standing there in silent awe.

Instead, what happens is he lifts one hand, wiggling his fingers in a goofy little wave, an uncharacteristically quiet ‘hi’ slipping out of his mouth.

Regulus’ brows shoot upward, stormcloud eyes shifting up and down to take James in. It’s in Regulus’ pause to assess him that James seems to come back to himself. He blinks quickly and takes a few steps forward, closing the gap between them. A hand is extended toward Regulus, a smile a little less off stretching across James’ face.

“James,” He introduces himself, lips twitching a little in amusement when Regulus’ eyes go a bit wide as he has to tilt his head back slightly to look up at him.

Schooling his expression, Regulus glances down at the hand outstretched to him, hesitating a beat before gently taking it. It’s smaller than James’, cooler, too, but not in a bad way. He thinks fleetingly about brushing his thumb over fine-boned knuckles then thinks better of it.

“Regulus.” He shakes his hand slowly, a barely there smile at the corners of his mouth.

“It’s nice to finally meet Harry’s favorite librarian. I’ve heard great things,” James says, giving his hand a squeeze.

An exhaled laugh. A gentle dusting of pink high in his cheeks. “Ah, I’m sure I’m not his favorite.”

“No, you are!” Harry confirms with a grin. His green eyes dart back and forth between his father and Regulus then back again, a suspicious look slowly scrunching his face. “Why are you guys still holding hands?”

James and Regulus jerk back from one another, hands dropping as if zapped by an electric shock. A mumbled apology on James’ part, Regulus clearing his throat as he white-knuckles the bar on his book cart with the hand that’s just released his. James thinks he sees the flush in his cheeks deepen, but he’s not sure he isn’t making it up given how Regulus now refuses to look at him.

“Why don’t we go find those books you’d like, hm?” Regulus hurriedly suggests to Harry.

It’s a sufficient enough distraction; Harry perks up and nods excitedly, following when Regulus leads the way. James lingers for a moment too long, watching after them with a funny feeling in his chest, a smile twitching at his lips.

Maybe he really will have to start coming to the library more often.

#jegulus #jegulus microfic #this came to me in a pre-sleep haze #so here they are #there may or may not be a part 2 bc idk what chill is #i just... love them #kay’s writing #kay’s microfics

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cabin07slytherinblogs · 23 days

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I’ve been doing a lot of research on the wizarding world and here are some canon things I have found out that I didn’t know

Molly and Arthur did not go to school with the marauders. They started in 1961.

Gideon and Fabian were between the ages of 31-41 when they died, I thought they were young like James and Lily. Molly is 2 years younger then them.

Bellatrix, Narcissa, and Andromeda all went to school with Molly and Arthur but they were sorted into Slytherin while Molly and Arthur were sorted into Gryffindor.

Bill was born in 1970, Charlie in 1972, Percy in 1976, Fred and George in 1978, Ron in 1980, and Ginny in 1981.

Molly and Arthur didn’t know that they were having a daughter until Ginny was born.

Hermione Granger is the oldest out of the three friends.

Rowling confirmed Dumbledore’s sexuality

Grindelwald and Voldemort weren’t fighting for the same things

Tom Riddle was conceived under a love potion. Some even say that’s why he can’t feel love.

Hermione became minister of magic

James and Lily had Harry at 19/20 years old

Molly and Arthur married right away after Hogwarts not wanting to waste time. They’ve been together for over 50 years (honestly goals) They also had 12 grandchildren. 5 grandsons and 7 granddaughters.

Hermione’s name means messenger.

The original timeline for the original 7 books/8 movies is 1991-1998

Remus Lupin was bitten by Greyback at age 4 (which I knew) but he was bitten because his father, Lyall, said some pretty nasty/hateful comments about werewolves in front of Greyback so he snuck into Remus’s room and attacked him as revenge

#harry potter #ron weasley #bill weasley #charlie weasley #percy weasley #fred weasley #george weasley #ginny weasley #molly weasley #arthur weasley #tom riddle #bellatrix lestrange #narcissa malfoy #andromeda tonks #hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry #canon #witchcraft #wizard

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averagewriter-inthedark · 3 months

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Me & The Devil P.1 🌘| Harry Potter Imagine

Set during Order of the Phoenix to DHP2

Harry Potter Masterlist | Part 2 Here

Characters & Pairings: Black!Sister reader x HP characters (platonic)

Content Warnings: death, violence, profanity, angst, slight cannon divergence, mentions of torture and blood, set during the book timeline of the 1990s | female!reader (she/her) | wc: 6k

Requested 📨 yes/no

Premise: Everyone has light and dark inside them. That’s what Sirius told Harry that night in Grimmauld Place. It was how one chooses to act that sets the stone of who they are as a person. It’s something Harry has to remind himself when he encounters Sirius’s cousin, the youngest of the Black sisters, Y/n. After 14 years in a cold, dark cell, Y/n’s accepted she no longer believes in angels. And the Devil himself wouldn’t want to cross her

Note: this is part 1 to a 2 part imagine where I had the idea that Sirius had another cousin, Bellatrix & Narcissa's youngest sister who has quite the age gap between them and was forced to become a death eater but has no loyalty to either side since both failed her. Part 2 should be out later this week so i hope you enjoy this!

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The floors of 12, Grimmauld Place creaked beneath Harry’s shoes as he entered the room at the end of the staircase he had been following Hermoine and Ron down. What drew his attention in the first place was the wallpaper. A green based mural branching out in the form of a tree. As Harry got closer he made out the portraits embedded into the wall, as were their names, birthdates and date of death if they’d passed. Some areas were black, covering up the picture seated above the name.

Harry flinched back upon notice of the house elf, Krecher, nestled inside the room. He mumbled something he couldn’t quite make out, then said, “Harry Potter. The boy who stopped the Dark Lord. Friend of mudbloods and blood traitors alike.” Unsure of what to say, Harry just stood looking down at the elf in silence. “My poor mistress--.” A loud voice cut him off.

“Kreacher!” It belonged to Sirius. “That’s enough of your bile.” Waving a finger, he dismissed the elf. “Away with ya!”

Clasping his hands, Krecher lowered his head, “Of course, Master. Kreacher is pleased to serve the Noble House of Black.” He stalked off and away from the two. Passing Sirius on his way out.

Entering the room, Sirius gave an apologetic look, “Sorry about that. He never was very pleasant--even when I was a boy.” There was a slight pause, “not to me.”

Surprise took over Harry’s face, “Wh-wha-you grew up here?”

“This is my parents' house,” his Godfather explained, “I offered it up to Dumbledore as headquarters for the Order.” A hand trailed the edge of the doorway, “About the only useful thing I’ve been able to do.” Dark eyes landed on the mural, seeing it was the object of Harry’s attention, “This is the Black family tree.”

Sirius couldn’t help but land his gaze on the branches depicting his cousins. Andromeda’s was burnt out, much like his. The only cousin he was still fond of.

Well…..she wouldn’t have been the only one.

For Narcissa, under her name was Lucius Malfoy, with a branch leading to their only son, Draco. Sirius’s eyes narrowed on the one beside Andromeda’s.

“My deranged cousin,” Harry picked up on the distaste in his tone. Following Sirius’ gaze where it landed on the portrait of a young woman with wild curly hair and high cheekbones. Bellatrix. Beneath her name was Rodolphus Lestrange. “I hated the lot of them.”

Looking past the next portrait, though Harry caught his posture stiffen when his eyes glazed over it, Sirius maintained his composure. Focusing back on his hateful family, “My parents with their blood mania.” Raising his hand, his fingers brushed over the blackened spot where his face once laid. Sadness laced his voice, “My mother did that after I ran away. Charming woman,” his arm dropped back to his side. “I was sixteen.”

Part of him wanted to question his Godfather’s reaction to the portrait, but knew it wasn’t the right moment. He was curious. Especially since the name was unlike the other members of the House of Black. Like Narcissa, she wasn’t named after a celestial body or constellation.

Frowning, feeling the hurt radiate off Sirius, Harry instead asked, “Where did you go?”

“To your dad’s. I was always welcomed at the Potters,” A small smile curled on Sirius’ lips as he glanced over Harry. Kind eyes the boy had grown accustomed to. “I see him so much in you, Harry. You are so very much alike.”

The next few minutes involved Harry confessing to Sirius his connection to Voldemort. Voicing concern of the possibility he was turning into him. Sirius assured Harry he was a good person, who’s had bad things happen to him. Followed by educating the boy on how everyone had their own angels and demons. Light and dark. Good and bad. How the only thing that matters is what part people chose to act on.

The entire time Sirius explained this to Harry, he thought of the portrait behind him. Almost like her painted eyes were boring into the back of his head. Reminding him of how he failed her. Much like everyone else in their family.

Once good. Turning bad due to the odds against her.

Maybe there was still some good deep down. Sirius prayed so. But the chances of him ever discovering were about as slim as convincing the Minister Voldermort was back.

“Sounds like you know from experience,” Harry said aloud, eyes trailing to the portrait behind Sirius. The one he noticed him trying to avoid. Yet managing to show how deeply this relative affected him.

Sighing, the man turned on his heel, staring at the portrait. No longer able to visibly hide his emotion as he read the name Y/n -- 1967.

“My cousin, Y/n,” his tone lacked malice compared to when he spoke of Bellatrix. “The youngest of the Black sisters. My aunt and uncle were shocked to learn they were expecting a fourth child--nearly twelve years after they had Narcissa.” Fingers brushed over her name, smiling softly as memories surfaced in his mind like a film. “Drove her parents wild with her energy. I was eight when she was born, and as I got older she’d follow me around the house. A little shadow if I must say.” Harry heard him chuckle to himself, “one summer I brought her to meet your father and Remus--didn’t tell her mother mind you. I nearly met my end at the hands of Druella’s wand when we returned that night.” It was as clear as if it were yesterday.

Young 14 year old Sirius with Y/n, aged six at the time, on his hip as they made their way to Diagon Alley to buy sweets she was not allowed to have. She instantly fell in love with James and Remus, as did the boys adore her. She was so different from her older sisters--who had graduated Hogwarts ages ago and were off with their own lives. Meaning the child was alone majority of the time with only the house elves tending to her. Her father worked and her mother did the bare minimum. That’s why Sirius would visit her often. To make sure she was okay. Y/n clinged to Sirius like a puppy. Much like that day where she begged to go with him to meet his friends. She wanted to explore the outside world her parents isolated her from.

Y/n didn’t display the blood mania her family was known for. And when her parents would preach it, the girl kept her attention on her dolls and drawing pictures with her crayons Sirius had smuggled her. The older cousin prayed she’d never turn out like them. Only he knew with the tensions of a certain Dark Wizard making rounds in London, Sirius feared for Y/n’s safety. And sanity. Especially after overhearing Bellatrix’s plans to begin teaching Y/n the dark arts before she entered Hogwarts.

If only Sirius took her away. Brought her to the safety of the Potters like she wanted. “You can’t leave, Sirius,” she cried, the now eight-year old grasping his pant leg to prevent him from leaving the house. Tears painted her chubby face. It broke his heart to see. “Please don’t leave me here--I-I’m scared of them. P-please, cousin. Take me with you!”

Oh how he wanted to. If he did then he’d save Y/n from her fate. From Bellatrix. From Voldemort. But a kidnapping charge he’d surely receive by taking Y/n Black away from her parents would have Sirius spend the rest of his life in Azkaban.

A reality he’d face years later for a different reason.

“What happened to her?” Harry’s voice brought him out his thoughts. The man shrugged his shoulders to shake off the tension in his muscles. A frown painted his features.

“She’s serving a life sentence in Azkaban.” It hurt him more to say it out loud. The reality had sunk in. As though it had been a dream the past 14 years. Sirius remembered how his heart dropped when the news spread of Y/n’s imprisonment. Bellatrix’s was no shock. He’d been hoping his deranged cousin would be locked away.

But his sweet baby cousin who cried when she saw her father yelling at the house elves. That he could’ve never imagined. Even when the headline on the Daily Prophet told him the truth in big, bold letters, ‘Life sentence for 15-year-old Death Eater, Y/n Black. Cousin of notorious mass murderer, Sirius Black and younger sister of Death Eater Bellatrix Lestrange.’ Sirius didn’t believe for a second Y/n acted on her own accord.

“She was never like the rest of them,” He told Harry after a moment of silence. Noticing the boy’s worried look, Sirius softly shook his head. “My cousin is a rare case, Harry. A prime example of becoming everything she hated as a result of the circumstances around her. Not a day goes by where I don’t feel regret by not being there for her. Had I been so…,” he pictured what could’ve been, “She’d likely be here with us. The Order.”

Harry pictured it too. Sirius’s tone gives him indication that Sirius still cared for Y/n. Wishing fate had turned out different for her. For both of them.

Hermoine appeared moments later to announce they had to leave. Sirius ended the conversation with a promise to Harry that when all was over, they’d be a family again. Living in Grimmauld Place in peace. With a hug goodbye, Harry exited the room, but not before catching his Godfather gave one last glance to Y/n’s portrait.

Crouched in her cell, hands over her ears like they were most days, Y/n shook from the cold wind. Willing the voices in her head to disappear. A constant battle she faced everyday since the chains were first put on her. Some of them were the distant echo of Azkaban's prisoners below. Others she was sure she kept imagining.

The first two years Y/n cried every day. By the fifth year she stopped reacting to everything around her. Once the tenth year of her sentence passed, only a shell of her remained. Staring at the wall with her hands covering her ears. The same routine. Everyday.

But today was going to be different. The voices were louder than usual. Causing difficulty to keep them at bay.

Suddenly Y/n winced with a light shriek, a burning sensation erupting along her forearm. Gaze dropping down, the ink of where her dark mark laid bolded. The feeling intensified. Y/n didn’t know how to react. Only experiencing numbness at what it meant.

A loud explosion caught her attention on the left side of her cell. Followed by the maniacal laughter of her sister. Rising from her position, Y/n’s bare feet brushed against rocks and freezing water. Rats scurried past as she walked toward where the window of her cell had been. The wind grew stronger with each step, nearly sweeping her off balance.

When she breached the area responsible for the explosion, Y/n had a clear image of the sky above her. The ocean’s treacherous waves beneath her. And dementors flying rapidly in the distance. There was no stopping the smirk from painting her chapped lips. Her eyes that were normally empty pits of nothing, suddenly emerged with an emotion unable to contain.

She was free.

It was the only thing on his mind when he read the paper that morning. Plaguing his thoughts with a newfound fear. Everywhere he went that day Neville saw the headline, “Mass Breakout From Azkaban.” Following the names of the high security prisoners freed from its confines. On the front page below the headline, moving images of two women were enough to have some of the students shivering. Bellatrix, with her wild curly hair, appeared crazed. While the woman in the image beside her was in a state of despair. Neville shuddered when his eyes locked on hers. Y/n Black.

She couldn’t have appeared older than he was now. Fifteen.

Curiosity getting the best of him, Neville turned the page to read up more on the sisters. When he got to Y/n, Neville was shocked to learn the girl had been the youngest prisoner in Azkaban in its entire history. Aged fifteen, in her fifth year of Hogwarts. Juveniles were never sent to the hellish institution. Yet, due to the nature of her crimes and association to Voldermort, the Ministry bent laws to lock her up.

Reading the summary dedicated to her upbringing, Y/n had been sorted into Slytherin House at Hogwarts, skilled in Charms, and is alleged to be an Occulmens. It’s said she failed to return to Hogwarts during what would have been her fifth year. Not long after it was reported Y/n Black had been part of the group to torture esteemed Aurors Frank and Alice Longbottom to gain information on Voldermort. Alongside her sister, Bellatrix, her brother-in-law, his brother and Barty Crouch Jr. During her arrest and trial, Y/n insisted she’d been forced to use the curse for fear the others would kill her.

Which was true. Bellatrix made it clear to the young Black what the consequences for stepping out of line would be.

But it wasn’t enough in the Ministry’s eyes. Not when the other Death Eaters, Bellatrix included, testified Y/n had complied with no resistance. And so the first juvenile, the youngest Death Eater, was locked away in Azkaban. The sentence: eternity.

Now she was free.

Later that day, during DA practice, Neville found himself in front of the mirror showing pictures and news articles relating to their cause. The others saying goodbye and making their way out of the Room of Requirement. Neville, however, remained. His stare on the image of the original Order of the Phoenix. His parents.

Harry came up beside him, neither addressing the other at first. Then, after a moment of silence and confidence, Neville confided in his friend.

“Fourteen years ago, a Death Eater named Bellatrix Lestrange and her sister, Y/n Black, used the Cruciatus Curse on my parents. They tortured them for information, but they never gave in.” Looking down at Harry, Neville added after a pause, “I’m quite proud to be their son, but…I’m not sure I’m ready for everyone to know just yet.”

Harry nodded, understanding what his friend was asking of him. Swearing to secrecy. “We’re gonna make them proud, Neville. That’s a promise.”

The Hall of Prophecies was dark. Eerie. The only light emitting from the group's wands and orbs lightly glowing in their stands. The group had rushed to the Ministry upon Harry’s vision Sirius had been taken hostage by Voldemort, tortured into telling him where the prophecy was. They were in for a shock when they arrived.

Sirius wasn’t there. Neither was Voldemort.

It was Neville who alerted the boy of the glass orb dedicated to him. Grasping it in his hand, the voice of Sybil Trelawney echoed through the silence, “The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches. And the Dark Lord shall mark him as his equal but he shall have power the Dark Lord knows not…..and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives….”

“Harry!” he turned to his friends, finding them frozen as they stared at the figure approaching. Harry pushed past, standing in front of the group. The figure was masked by a silver face, cloaked from head to toe.

A Death Eater.

“Where’s Sirius?” Harry questioned him,his wand raised.

“You know you really should know how to tell the difference between dreams…..” the man removed his wand from a familiar cane, waving it in front of his face to remove the mask. Revealing none other than Lucius Malfoy. “And reality.” Everyone tensed, anxiety starting to consume them. “You saw only what the Dark Lord wanted you to see. Now hand me the prophecy.” Harry stood his ground.

“You do anything to us I’ll break it.”

Suddenly a maniacal laugh entered the scene. Intensifying their unease. The shadow of someone behind Lucius coming toward the dim lights. “He knows how to play. Itty. Bitty. Baby. Potter.” The group’s eyes landed on the face of one of the women plastered on every front page of the Daily Prophet. Neville was the first to address her.

“Bellatrix Lestrange.”

“Neville Longbottom, is it?” she mocked with a wicked smile, “How’s mom and dad?” Lucius rolled his eyes at her antics. Neville, however, was enraged.

“Better now that they’re about to be avenged.” In a split second he lifted his want, hoping to cast a spell on the one responsible for his parents torture. Harry was quick to stop him, just as Bellatrix raised her own wand to defend herself.

“Now let’s…” Lucius slowly held his hands up. “Everybody just calm down. Shall we?” The group lowered their wands slightly, but not completely. “All we want is that prophecy.”

“Why did Voldermort need me to come get this?”

“You dare speak his name?” Bellatrix’s eyes widened, appalled by the boy’s courage. “You filthy Half-blood!!”

Again, Lucius attempted to de-escalate the scene, “It’s all right, he’s just a curious lad. Aren’t you?”

Before anyone spoke another word, footsteps from the side filled their ears. “You know what they say about curiosity?” her voice was raspy and void of any emotion. Almost robotic. Harry slowly turned his head, mentally preparing himself to face his Godfather’s youngest cousin. Beside him, Neville paled. Unable to comprehend being in the same room as the Black sisters. It was suffocating.

Y/n Black’s expression matched her tone. Numb. An empty shell was the best description. Not even reacting when Harry pointed his wand in her direction. She simply stalked toward them, finishing her riddle, “It killed the cat. But….something tells me you might be the lucky bastard to live to see it, Harry Potter.”

“Nice of you to finally join us, Y/n,” Lucius narrowed his eyes, watching her move so she was now in between the duo and group. Harry’s wand merely a few centimeters from her chest. The glowing light illuminating her face.

Comparing her to the portrait on the Black Family Tree, Harry noticed all the striking differences. Of course, nearly 15 years had passed since Y/n was locked away in Azkaban. Her baby fat completely gone, likely due from the malnourishment prison had to offer. However, unlike her sister Bellatrix and Sirius before them, Y/n did not come across as a walking corpse. Much time hadn’t passed since her escape, yet she looked healthy. Teeth white and hair silky. Nails long and painted black. Skin blemish free save for a tiny scar on her lip. She was strikingly beautiful.

Harry then remembered reading in the paper that Y/n was skilled in charms. Rumored to have created her own during her time at Hogwarts. She probably had one to alter her appearance. And considering Bellatrix looked rather unsettling, either Y/n did not offer her talent or Bellatrix refused. Judging by Y/n’s reaction to her associates, it was the former.

She ignored Lucius, answering Harry’s question instead, “Prophecies can only be retrieved by those about whom they are made. Which is lucky for you, really.” Her brow raised slightly, “Surely Sirius told you. He’d be foolish not when he knows the Dark Lord desires it.”

Backing away from Harry, Y/n turned on her heel, nudging Lucius with her shoulder causing him to groan. Focusing back on the task at hand, the blonde narrowed his eyes on Harry. “Haven’t you always wondered what was the reason for the connection between you and the Dark Lord?” He moved closer, hands still raised. It was then the group noticed more Death Eaters surrounding them. “Why he was unable to kill you when you were just an infant?”

Bellatrix trailed behind Lucius. Their associates closing in on the students. Meanwhile Y/n stayed behind, not bothering to engage. Harry caught her gaze a few times, noting how disinterested she was by the entire ordeal.

“Don’t you want to know the secret of your scar?” Lucius captured his attention once more. “All the answers are there. In your hand.” Lucius encouraged Harry with a look, “All you have to do is give it to me, and I can show you everything.”

“I’ve waited fourteen years,” Harry said, aware of the approaching footsteps of the Death Eaters getting louder. Waiting for the perfect moment.

“I know.”

“I guess I can wait a little longer--Now!!” Simultaneously, the group all shouted, “Stupefy!!”

After a brief fight against the Death Eaters to escape the Hall of Prophecies, the group found themselves falling to what they thought was their death. At the last second, Hermoine casted Arresto Momentum to slow time for them to safely land, grunting as their bodies met the rock. Scanning their surroundings, Harry spotted an archway with an iridescent glow to it. As he moved closer, voices were heard. “Voices, can you tell what they're saying?”

Confused, Hermoine replied with what they were all thinking, “There aren’t any voices, Harry. Let’s get out of here.”

“I hear them too,” Luna spoke, staring at the arch in wonder. It was difficult to hear clearly what the voices were saying. But they grew louder with each step.

“Harry,” Hermoine pleaded, “it’s just an empty archway.” In the distance, the group heard the Death Eaters approaching. “Please, Harry.” Harry spun around with his wand raised.

“Get behind me!” They followed his order, ready to confront the oncoming threat. They unfortunately, however, were blindsided when the Death Eaters in their black smokey form attacked from behind. Grunts and gasps left the teens, Harry dropping to the ground, clutching the prophecy in his hand. About 15 seconds passed before he opened his eyes to discover he was alone.

Dread consumed him, the boy standing to find his friends. He found them several feet away and spaced out. In the hands of Death Eaters. Ginny and Luna to his right, the Weasley girl gripped at the collar by Y/n Black. Neville struggles against Bellatrix Lestrange, Ron and Hermoine manhandled by the Lestrange brothers. A dry chuckle captured Harry’s attention, watching Lucius Malfoy stroll up to where he stood.

“Did you actually believe, or were you truly naive enough to think….children stood a chance against us?” Lucius made eye contact with the wicked smile of Bellatrix, whereas he met Y/n’s vicious glare. Her hold on Ginny wasn’t as tight as the others, almost like she didn’t view the girl as a threat.

“I’ll make this simple for you, Potter,” Lucius held out his hand. “Give me the prophecy now….or watch your friends die.” Harry looked at his friends, their frightened gazes making his heart fall to his stomach.

“Don’t give it to him, Harry!” Neville shouts, only to be hushed by Bellatrix, who snaps her wand from his head to his neck forcefully.

The Boy who Lived draws his eyes to the glowing prophecy. As if to be contemplating his choices, but deep down knew what he had to do. His friends were more important. He couldn’t risk their lives over a tiny orb. Slowly, he lifted his hand and placed the object in Lucius’s awaiting one. A satisfied smirk appears on the blonde’s lips. He had succeeded in his mission.

Or so he thought.

Bright light filled the area, Harry’s eyes widening as he took in the sight of Sirius behind Lucius. Malfoy’s expression turned to one of pure shock, meeting Sirius’s angry one.

“Get away from my Godson.” And before Lucius could react, he was falling to the ground from the force of Sirius’s right hook. More bright lights entered, members of the Order arriving. Tonks, Lupin, Kingsley, and Mad-Eye.

In the chaos, the prophecy was thrown from Lucius’ hand, shattering as it hit the ground in a cloud of blue-green smoke. The man was in disbelief, and fear at what consequences awaited him.

Beyond him, Y/n released her hold on Ginny Weasley, slightly pushing her away causing the girl to stumble off the rocks. At that moment she met Sirius’ eyes for the first time in nearly 20 years. Their last encounter when he ran from home at 16, and Y/n only 8.

She watched the horror appear on his face. Lingering with regret. She could see him fighting with himself on how to react, she too was fighting that battle. Tears threatened to spill from both their eyes, Y/n’s bottom lip quivering. Overwhelmed by the reunion.

Where they were on opposite sides.

His expression read, ‘I won’t fight you, cousin,” which was enough for the woman to turn on her heel and drop to the ground. Ignoring Sirius shouting her name, Y/n leaned against the rock, waiting for an opportunity to run. Above her Sirius and Harry were dueling Malfoy and Rabastan Lestrange. Bellatrix was being trailed in the air by their niece, Nymphadora Tonks, her diabolical laugh echoing against the walls.

A curse flew past her, hitting the rock causing Y/n to spin around where she met Lupin’s startled eyes. “Y/n….” the tone of his voice indicated he was surprised to see her. Likely assuming she’d been someone else. The werewolf always had a soft spot for the young Black. Thinking about the times she tagged along with them in Diagon Alley. Or when Sirius brought her to the Potter house and the two played with her in their animagi form to keep her entertained.

Now here she was with the enemy. A completely different person plagued with darkness. Lupin sighed, laced with despair, “Oh, love…what’ve they done to you?” Somehow that question was enough to send Y/n into a whirlpool of rage. How dare he say those words to her. When the Order had every opportunity to remove her from the Black household. When they could’ve placed her in hiding like James and Lily. Anything, to prevent the Death Eaters from claiming her.

“What you all failed to save me from.”

Before they knew it the two were dueling. Flashes of light leaving their wands, dodging those sent by the other. Despite Y/n spending half her life in prison with little combat experience under her belt, she was keeping up with Remus quite well. He noted the woman had yet to send a killing curse his way. Come to think of it, it appeared she was avoiding it all together. Unlike her associates who were not shy to use it.

“It doesn’t have to be this way, Y/n,” Remus attempted to convince her to yield. Ducking when she shot a curse at his head.

Scoffing, the woman spat, “Foolish for you to think such, Remus.” Her next attempt to get him away with a curse was more forceful, “I know how this dance between us ends, and I’d rather be sent to hell itself than be chained in Azkaban once more. So either man up and kill me, or turn away so I can get the hell out of here.”

Remus became conflicted, “You know I can’t do that.” He referred to both options. Not having the strength or heart to kill his best friend's niece whom he once adored. But also not allowing her to escape.

“Shame then,” she hissed, “I’ll try not to make this hurt.” After much struggle, where Remus had the upper hand in the dool, Y/n managed to send him flying back several feet, taking her chance to run to the nearest doorway.

“Avada Kedavra!!” Bellatrix’s voice made her feeze, turning around in time to see the green light hit their cousin straight in the chest.

It was as if time had stopped. All fighting ceased. Y/n heard a loud gasp--a scream, realizing moments later she was the one responsible for it. Hand raising to cover her mouth. Frozen as she watched Sirius fall back into the archway. Disappearing forever.

The silence was then interrupted by Harry’s wails. Held by Remus, he fought against him as though he wanted to join his Godfather. Y/n remained still. Processing what just happened.

Sirius was dead. Her sister killed him.

Y/n had to get out of there. No doubt the Aurors were alerted. They’d be arriving any second.

Witnessing Harry take off after Bellatrix, Y/n met Remus’ eyes. The man silently pleading to her, completely distraught over the death of his best friend. With James and Sirius dead and Peter’s betrayal to Voldemort, he was alone.

Y/n shook her head, unable to face him any longer. Instead of running into the main lobby of the Department of Ministries, the Death Eater looked up and allowed the black smoke to consume her, flying away from the Order. Her associates followed suit.

When the Minister and Aurors entered the lobby to the horrifying scene, they understood the future became plagued with an unavoidable truth.

The night officially marked the beginning of the Second Wizarding War.

Rain pelted against the ground, falling from the gray clouds painting the sky. Strolling down alleyways of London, three sisters in black were on a mission to locate a certain home. Hiding behind corners whenever cars and people passed by. The one leading the trio was the reason for this side quest. Meanwhile the one falling back voiced opposition. For the youngest in the middle, she was rather bored. Not caring what would come out of this meeting.

If Y/n were honest, she just hated getting her outfit soaked.

“Cissy, you can’t do this,” Bellatrix hissed, trailing after her sisters. “He can’t be trusted.”

“The Dark Lord trusts him,” Naricssa rebutted, not sparing her a glance. Y/n simply rolled her eyes.

“The Dark Lord’s mistaken.”

“Shhh,” Y/n interrupted. While she may agree with Bellatrix to some degree, she knew better than to question his judgment aloud. Anyone could be lurking.

Children’s laughter filled their ears, the sisters leaning against the brick walls until they passed. Once clear, they turned the corner and knocked on the door. Waiting for him to answer.

Instead of Snape, the trio were greeted by Wormtail--who was visibly surprised to see them on the steps of Snape’s home. Y/n gave one death glare to the man and he immediately opened the door fully to let them inside. Water droplets fell from their coats, Y/n waved her wand to dry herself, feeling satisfied with a low ‘hmm’.

Wormtail escorted them to the library, where Snape sat in a chair reading the Daily Prophet. Folding the paper, the sisters were greeted by his blank stare. “Run along, Wormtail.” With a flick of his wrist Wormtail was pushed out, door slamming in his face. Y/n smirked, overlooking Snape with a raised brow.

He matched her gaze, the two in silent conversation. Like they each had their secrets the other knew of…

In that moment Y/n thought back to the moment she and Snape reunited after her escape from Azkaban. Neither were fools to the other's facade. Both able to mask it with their talents in both Legilimency and Occlumency.

“I know your true intentions, Severus. You are not part of his cause anymore and haven’t been for fifteen years. Do not stand there and lie to me, I don’t take kindly to liars.”

“Make no mistake then, Y/n, you also have motives not aligned with the Dark Lord. You do not care who wins this battle, only that your freedom is the outcome. He’d not take kindly to your…..deception.”

“Then I guess this means you and I….have a lot to lose if we are not careful. I’ll say no word. I expect you to do the same.”

“You have yourself a deal.”

Wine was poured, Y/n and Narcissa seated in chairs while Snape and Bellatrix remained standing. The eldest sister pacing along the fireplace. Narcissa was the first to speak, “I-I-I know I am not to be here,” Pausing she shot Y/n a hesitant look, which was ignored. “The Dark Lord, himself, forbade me to speak of this--.”

“If the Dark Lord has forbidden it, you are not to speak--but it down, Bella, we mustn’t touch what isn’t ours,” Annoyed, the woman placed the object back on the mantel. Giving Snape a look of, ‘there, happy?’ He turned back to Narcissa, “As it so happens, I’m aware of your situation, Narcissa.”

“You?” Bellatrix narrowed her eyes, “The Dark Lord told you.”

Snape briefly glanced at Y/n, “Your sister doubts me.” The woman smirked.

“She doubts everyone,” she felt Bellatrix’s glare, paying no mind. “It’s not personal.”

“Understandable. Over the years I’ve played my part well--so well I’ve deceived one of the greatest wizards of all time.” Y/n sipped her wine to hide the smirk on her face.

For she knew exactly who he was referring to.

Unlike Bellatrix who simply snorted. Snape dismissed her remark, “Dumbledore is a great wizard. Only a fool would question it.”

Y/n examined her wine, acting like it was the most curious thing in the room. Rather bored by the conversation and Snape’s persistence of convincing her sisters of his motives. Bellatrix obviously had her suspicions. Narcissa, however, took the bait.

“I don’t doubt you, Severus.”

“You should be honored, Cissy,” Bellatrix told her. “As should Draco.” Of course her deranged self would see it that way. 16 year-old Draco tasked with the difficult mission to assassinate Dumbledore at Hogwarts. Punishment for Lucius for failing Voldemort too many times. The most recent being the damn prophecy he was to fetch.

Y/n couldn’t help but feel smug at the Malfoys predicament. Lucius deserved all he got. And while Narcissa may have been her sister, Y/n harbored enough anger and resentment to not feel sympathy for her. Draco was the only one innocent in the matter.

Narcissa’s face fell at Bellatrix’s words, pleading to Snape with her eyes, “He’s just a boy.”

“I cannot change the Dark Lord’s mind,” that was true. Nothing could alter Voldermort’s decision once it was made. Snape did have an idea, “But it might be possible for me to help Draco.”

That was enough for Narcissa. The woman rising from her seat, “Severus--.” She was cut off by Bellatrix.

“Swear to it. Make the unbreakable vow.” She moved toward them, circling Severus as her tone turned to mockery, “It’s just empty words.” Now Narcissa’s face read she wanted the same. Bellatrix continued, “He’ll give it his best, but when it matters most,” her chin rested on his shoulder, whispering in his ear. “He’ll just slither back into his hole. Coward,” she ended as she passed him.

Y/n stared at her associate, watching his reaction carefully. It was obvious the insult poked deep in his core. Though Snape did not let it show.

“Take out your wand.”

The sisters were pleased. Visibly showing this as they looked at each other. Y/n stood from her chair, moving closer as Narcissa and Snape held each other's wrists. Bellatrix withdrew her wand, allowing the glowing strands to encompass their hands.

“Will you, Severus Snape, watch over Draco Malfoy as he attempts to fulfill the Dark Lord’s wishes?”

“I will.”

Water glossed over Narcissa’s eyes, Bellatrix continued, “And will you, to the best of your abilities,” her chin rested this time on Narcissa’s shoulder, the two staring him down like a hawk. Y/n sipped her glass, leaning her head against Narcissa’s other shoulder, smirking slightly at the scene. “Protect him from harm?”

“I will.”

Bellatrix walked so she was directly in front of Snape, “And, if Draco should fail…will you yourself, carry out the deed the Dark Lord has ordered Draco to perform?” The pause was longer, Narcissa practically shaking making Y/n move away.

Finally, Snape made the last vow, “I will.”

The glowing strands disappeared, leaving scars on the two. A permanent reminder of the promise made. To protect Draco from harm and finish the job if it came to it.

Otherwise, the Devil would visit Snape earlier than planned.

#Spotify #harry potter imagine #harry potter fanfiction #slytherin!reader #harry potter x reader #Sirius black x platonic!reader #remus lupin x reader #the order of the phoenix #hp imagine #hp fanfiction #harry potter angst #severus snape imagine #hp angst #marauders angst #bellatrix lestrange #narcissa malfoy #tom riddle #death eaters #house of black

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tutianne · 4 months

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just a reminder that if pjo gets all five books adapted we might get… (pt 2)

percy becoming a gerbil

circe’s island

princess andromeda

the hydra

annabeth and percy dancing

the gray streak

grover in a lamborghini

annie’s family

bessie the cow

percy talking to aphrodite and seeing annabeth’s face

percabeth hugging (bc of annie’s quest)

percy winning rock paper scissors against briares

ghost king nico

tyson and his army

annabeth flying a helicopter

may castellan :(

“the world was collapsing and the only thing that mattered to me was that she was alive”

solangelo.

“family luke, you promised”

percy rejecting immorality

#percy jackson #pjo #percabeth #annabeth chase #percy jackson and the olympians #pjo tv show #pjo fandom

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honeydewdonutgirl · 3 months

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My genuine predictions on how season 2 will progress as episodes:

(which I’ll just assume for now will also be 8 episodes (more if we’re lucky) and without knowing any changes to the material the show runners may do)

*giving a line because some people might consider these predictions spoilers, which I completely understand, so read at your own risk*

Episode 1 will probably be the first dream, the school incident, and the bulls. I think there is a 50/50 chance between Tyson getting claimed by the end of this episode vs the beginning of the second episode.

Episode 2 could start with Tyson getting claimed if it wasn’t at the end of last episode, the announcement of the chariot games, Annabeth and Percy fighting, Clarisse getting the quest, and the makeshift trio leaving to find Grover. If I’m being completely honest, I think they’ll cut out the first chariot games. There’s also likely going to be dreams sprinkled throughout the season so I won’t mention them every single time.

Episode 3 will likely be the princess andromeda.

Episode 4 should then be Clarisse finding them and likely go up until the explosion.

Episode 5 would be the Circe stuff which I think would make sense to make a whole episode.

Episode 6 will likely be Percy’s dream about Thalia if they include that, and HOPEFULLY have the whole siren scene which is my absolute favorite scene, and an underrated percabeth moment if I do say so myself. And will likely lead up to them finding the cave.

Episode 7 would be the fight with the cyclops.

Episode 8 would wrap it all up with the reveal to camp that Luke poisoned Thalia’s tree, Chiron being reinstated, the actual chariot games, and the very end would be the Thalia reveal.

This is just my prediction for how the season will go. The book is pretty short and straight forward, but I’m interested and excited to see what they do with it no matter what.

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randomgurl2326 · 4 months

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Harry Potter Masterlist

Main Masterlist

Ask Box: Open

Gryffindors

Harry Potter

Coming Soon…

Hermione Granger

Coming Soon…

Ron Weasley

Coming Soon…

Fred Weasley

Coming Soon…

George Weasley

Coming Soon…

Bill Weasley

Coming Soon…

Neville Longbottom

Coming Soon…

Slytherins

Theodore Nott

Andromeda and Perseus: Destined SERIES

Summary: Theodore Nott and Y/N Riddle have been betrothed to each other from a young age. Some say it was a betrothal of convenience, some say it was destined.

All movies will be included, plus a prologue and epilogue.

Stars and Book Annotations

Summary: the one where real love is shown, not only through words, but by little observations.

Coming Soon…

Smile Pt. 1

Mattheo Riddle

Coming Soon…

Lorenzo Berkshire

Coming Soon…

Blaise Zabini

Coming Soon…

Draco Malfoy

Coming Soon…

Pansy Parkinson

Coming Soon…

Ravenclaws

Luna Lovegood

Coming Soon…

Hufflepuffs

Cedric Diggory

Coming Soon…

Head Cannons

Coming Soon…

Incorrect Quotes

Slytherin Boys + Wifey Pansy + Y/N Slytherin Boys + Wifey Pansy + Y/N 2 Slytherin Boys + Wifey Pansy + Y/N 3

Coming Soon…

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otrtbs · 7 months

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okay, here are some of my headcanons for narcissa and regulus as the black family members who know what it's like to be left behind.

narcissa is 3 years younger than bellatrix and 2 years younger than andromeda so she has to watch her sisters go off to hogwarts and is left alone for 2 years by herself.

so when regulus is sorted into slytherin and sirius has new friends in a new house and is 'leaving him behind' narcissa takes him under her wing

narcissa is a seventh year and head girl and regulus is a first year and very tiny so it's very easy for her to sneak him into hogsmeade with her

narcissa used to play quidditch and loved it with everything she had (she was a keeper if u care) until her family (and lucius) made her quit in year six so now she spends her free time coaching baby regulus and helping him with his flying since she doesn't get too

narcissa employs regulus to help her study for her N.E.W.T.S (potions is her best class) and that's how regulus discovers his love and talent for potions (she teaches him all the upper class information so he's ahead of his classmates)

regulus and narcissa are both the observant ones of their families (it's why they're both so good at quidditch and why they're seekers and keepers respectively) and that's why narcissa is the only one who notices how regulus flinches whenever sirius "acts up" at family events

narcissa uses her age and slughorn's admiration to get permission to check out books from the restricted section for regulus (under her name ofc) not at all caring that he's a first year and shouldn't be reading them. (if regulus asked for it, she would get it for him)

regulus and narcissa are both early january capricorns, their birthdays are mere days apart (in my heart this is true!!)

when narcissa graduates she gives all of her potions notes and her special lucky caldron to regulus along with her old broom (regulus uses it even though orion bought him the best broom on the market)

narcissa opens up her house to regulus summer before his fourth year and she takes him to hogsmeade and buys his school supplies (bc things are BRUTAL between sirius and walburga and regulus has to Get Away) and they talk about surviving is a balance of complying in public and rebelling in private

regulus asks how narcissa rebels in private and she tells him about alice

they both wonder if andromeda and sirius are simply surviving like they are or actually living.

voldemort gives lucius and narcissa the diary horcrux to hide, but narcissa doesn't know what it is really and winds up telling regulus about it which is what tips him off the horcruxes

regulus making a plan to tell narcissa about the horcruxes so they can figure out how many have been made and take voldemort down in secret whilst complying in public--together. but he just has to destroy the locket he found out about first.

#this post is for linds first and foremost bc they asked and i want 2 hear all their thoughts.#but yeah narcissa is a keeper in quidditch and this is a hill i will die on #<- no one's asking me 2 do that #these are my. regulus narcissa thoughts #in my head druella and cygnus disapproved of their daughters playing quidditch bc it wasn't very becoming #but all the sisters kept narcissa's quidditch playing a secret bc andy was taking muggle studies #and bella was working w skeeter on the school newspaper (she wrote the divination column) (anonymously !!! but her sisters knew it was her)#so they were all lying to their parents abt something lmfaoo #okay im done #ramblings

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nkjemisin · 1 year

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Things in my ask box

Hi folks. Every so often I get questions from folks that are good, but which I worry might catch them some flak from my other readers or whoever. Sometimes I answer those people privately, but in general I prefer not to do private replies to asks; for one thing, other people might want to know the answer, and for another, I've had a few awkward situations result from doing so (basically just people going parasocial on me), and I think that sort of thing is less likely when it's clear I'm talking to everyone. So, I'm going to handle these awkward asks by just treating them as Q&A questions -- without showing that person's username and where necessary, altering the question in order to protect their identity. I've got a few of these stored up, but just gonna do two this time for length and time reasons. I'll get to the rest later.

Are you a proshipper?

Yep. Feel free to alter your decision re following me on social media now that you've read that answer. But I believe in "don't like, don't read," and that fiction doesn't indicate what an author really believes (because it's fiction), and that there's no subject matter too immoral to explore on its face (everything depends on the execution), so... yep.

2. I love the Broken Earth trilogy, but I have to say, the middle book really didn't go anywhere, literally. Essun stayed in Castrima and Nassun moved around a little more but mostly stayed in the same place too. It killed a lot of the story momentum for me. Why did you decide to do this?

[spoilers for Broken Earth books, though I'll try to minimize them and will put a "read more" before I get there]

Because I felt like it. I'm not saying that defensively, I'm just noting that the answer to pretty much any question you might ask a writer about why they do a particular thing is... because they felt like it. Period full stop. Sorry that wasn't what you wanted to read! It was, however, the story I wanted to tell.

To elaborate... different people have different expectations of trilogies. That's because there are a lot of different ways to handle them, narratively speaking. Sometimes a trilogy is really a group of shared-universe stories taking place in the same world but not necessarily featuring the same characters, and with unrelated plots. Some are telling a single story, but through different POVs and smaller plot arcs that each have their own terminuses; that's what I did with the Inheritance Trilogy, for example. And sometimes, as I did with the Broken Earth books, the author is just telling one big story broken up into three parts. (There are more ways to do a trilogy than this, but let's keep this brief, lol.)

Now, there are a lot of ways to handle this kind of story, but a pattern that most of us are used to is:

Book One: Introduction to the world and important characters and the apparent stakes;

Book Two: Deep dive into the important characters and world, thus giving the audience a reason to care more; and

Book Three: Now we really know the stakes and shit just got real! Now we care what happens to the characters when EVERYTHING! BLOWS!! UP!!!

(I am feeling very silly today, sorry.)

We're familiar with this pattern because we see it all the time, especially in American media. It's a variation on the three-act structure seen in plays and other narratives. It's the basis of our most popular longform stories! The original Star Wars trilogy did it. The Mass Effect trilogy did it. (Andromeda was a separate story, probably meant to be the start of a new trilogy.) The Lord of the Rings did it, prequeled by the Hobbit and mirrored by the Silmarillion. I mentioned those examples because the middle stories of each all exhibit the same traits: a drastic change of pace or location for the protagonists, putting the protagonists through personal character growth arcs, and poking at minutia or seemingly unimportant aspects of the world (which usually end up pretty important before all is said and done).

Now let's answer your question. Spoiler warning again:

In the Broken Earth, we got introduced to the Stillness and Essun in Book One. There was a lot of physical movement in that book as Essun was on the road for most of it (as were other characters), but the plot itself was relatively simple: A bad thing happened to this person and she needs to go somewhere and find someone, to fix it! And then pretty much the entirety of that book's narrative was "Who is this person, why does the bad thing matter, and how close does she get to finding her missing person?" Then in Book Two, we learned a little more about this person, a lot more about her impact on other characters including the one she's been trying to find, and we spent a while learning about orogeny, the Obelisk Gate, and what the stone eaters have been up to. I cheated a little on this; there wasn't room to do a deep dive into the backstory of one pivotal character, but I did finally reveal that this character is the "secret" narrator of the whole trilogy, and made his agenda clearer. I ended up putting his "deep dive" into Book Three instead, where it was particularly relevant to the STUFF! BLOWING!! UP!!!

The reason a lot of readers complain about "Middle Book Syndrome," I suspect, is because of this pattern -- and because of their expectations. A lot of people come at a middle book expecting Book One Redux. That's what you often get in shared-universe trilogies -- Book One over and over again, roughly the same balance of characters vs events each time, in a familiar setting. We're conditioned to want that, I think, from other episodic works. Comic books, for example: When I was working on FAR SECTOR, my editor at the time explained that I needed to try and have a fight or action scene in most of the issues. I hate fight scenes -- sorry! -- so that was hard for me. TV shows -- the ones that aren't themselves telling a single big story over time -- do this, too. I think of it as the "If You Liked X, Then Try... X!" structure. Absolutely nothing wrong with this structure, by the way. I'm just describing it, not throwing shade. I'm a big fan of stories like this myself.

But even for audience members who were expecting the Three-Act Trilogy structure instead, that middle book is going to be jarring. It's supposed to be jarring. The refugees have survived the first book but stopped to dress their wounds and regroup; the adventurers on a quest have reached an impasse and need to find allies and grind to build up their strength; the stalwart hero has just suffered a massive setback and needs to overcome their own doubt or character flaws. A good way to handle this is to take the characters out of their familiar space, and put them somewhere new, or give them a very different kind of challenge. [Mass Effect and LOTR spoilers] Oh, no, Shepard died and their team broke up! What now? Oh, no, Frodo and Sam are on their own trying to get to Mordor! They're just these little guys! How are they gonna make it? If you got overly attached to Shepard team from ME1, or the Fellowship, you're in for a rough ride in these followups. But the jarring nature of this kind of followup is absolutely necessary. An author who does this knows they're going to lose some readers, when they do it. Clearly I almost lost you! But I stand by that choice, because I think it made the whole trilogy better.

Sidebar: I'm old enough to remember the controversy back when "The Empire Strikes Back" came out. Critics haaaaaated that movie! It was too dark, they said; wasted too much time on unimportant stuff. Too much character work, not enough space battles. Then it became clear that audiences loved the second movie even more than the first, precisely because it was darker and because Luke spent so much time futzing around with Yoda and because there were all these girl cooties romantic moments between Leia and Han. A lot of the critics backpedaled at that point, with some of them even acknowledged that they'd been hoping for Star Wars All Over Again and not What Happens Next That Is Not Star Wars. They'd simply brought the wrong expectations to the story.

This is not to say that you have the wrong expectations, Ask-er. Maybe you were expecting exactly that structure, and you just don't like the way I handled it, or you think I did a poor job. Every reader's experience of a story is different, and not everybody's gonna want to pick up everything I throw down. But you asked why did everyone stay in one place, and this is why: to do a deep dive into the character of the Stillness itself. In a story where the setting was as much a "character" as the people in it, I felt it necessary to show enough of that setting for readers to care about it. Would you care, for example, if the town of Brevard (Damaya and Schaffa spend one night there in Book One) got blown off the map in Book Three? Probably not, because I spent no time on any of its citizens or issues. A lot of people cared about Castrima, though, by the end of Book Two.

Whoo, this got long! Hope it answers your question, Ask-er.

#answered asks #the broken earth #spoilers #things in my ask box

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missstratford · 8 months

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Queen of my heart

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

A/N: chap 2 is finally here!! This one might a bit longer than the previous chap, so enjoyyy. Ofc Y/n and Andromeda being true queens in this one. Also a lil surprise for y'all cuz I promised smtg spicy in the last chap 😉😉

The dare was quite simple according to James, all he had to do was make the first person who walked into the great hall that morning to fall for him. "Oh give me a proper challenge Avery, half of hogwarts is already in love with me." He had scoffed the last night. As the gang of Gryffindors sat, gazing intently at the large doors, James wished Lily would walk by giving him another reason to court her. That's when you happened.

You walked into the great hall, eyes landing immediately on the warm pumpkin pasties at your table. You failed to notice the annoyance marring James' face as you sild onto your seat. "Oh mate, a slytherin" Frank guffawed. "Nevermind, it'll barely take me two days and you'll see her obsessed with me." James quickly recovered from his disappointment. "Isn't she the one from the library?” remus asked between mouthfuls of eggs. " Like i said," James stood up, stretching, "two days" He grinned and made his way to the slytherin table. Let the games begin.

"Good morning there sunshine." You heard a foreign voice next to you. Choosing to ignore it, you continued to read your book. "Oo pumpkin pasties, I lo-" You swatted their hand away from your precious breakfast, "Don't. Touch. My. Breakfast" You faced the vexatious human. Your anger morphed to surprise as you saw it was the same boy from the library. What did he want now? "You? What are you doing here?” you asked, brows furrowing in frustration. "Ah-you see, since the time you threatened to hex me, I've not been able to get you out of my mind" He said as his gaze fell to your lips. "And i just wanted to-" "No" you waved your hand stopping him "it's no to whatever you're about to say." You turned back to Andromeda hoping he'd leave you alone. "Oh I assure you, you wouldn't want to miss out on a date with me, I mean, I am James Potter." He said it like it was a fact. How dare he. Your blood boiling, you stood up to face him. "You conceited prick." You spat, now the entire great hall was watching. "You think you're so high and mighty do you? Well guess what jake Or whatever your name is, I don't care. To be honest, no one does. So take your sorry arse away from me. Now" You ended. It was silent in the great hall. Everyone waiting to see how James would take the rejection. "Well-um- no one-you know what? It doesn't matter." James stuttered as he stood up, cheeks heating with embarrassment.

"James- 0, Sirius-1, Avery-3, Me and Frank stand at 2 points." Adrian read out, "no, that's not right." James said, as he played with his snitch. "It is, the slytherin rejected you remember?" Frank said, holding back his laughter. "No, I mean," James sat up, a frown on his face, "according to the rules, each has 2 weeks time to finish their dare, I do too. So it's not counted." He looked up at the boys. "Alright, we'll be watching you Potter. All the best trying to get her to like you mate." They walked out the common room leaving James, sirius ,remus and the sputtering fireplace.

"It's not about the dare is it?” Sirius asked, looking at James, he knew his friend well enough to know what he was thinking. " She didn't even recall my name Padfoot." James said staring at the fluttering snitch. "Prongs, it's not right to be this self obsessed you know. There are people in hogwarts who don't know you, no surprise there." Remus said matter-of-factly. "You don't get it moony. She rejected me in front of entire hogwarts. Lily might have heard of it already!” James argued worriedly. " She's friends with your cousin isn't she padfoot?” he looked at Sirius desperately, "get her to slip in a love potion or something. My reputation, she's ruined it!” James stood up, pacing in front of the duo. "Ah, me and Andromeda don't really talk and it's not that life threatening prongs, relax" Sirius tried his best to make James feel better but all he received was a grunt. "I caught the gryiffindor team laughing when I turned my back today, don't pretend like the two of you didn't catch that." James said defeatedly " Well what now? " Remus asked. "Now, I make her desperately fall in love with me." James answers, "let's pretend that this does happen, what then?" Sirius chimes in, "then dear padfoot," James says with a malicious grin, "I humiliate her just the way she did to me."

"I hate him!" You ranted as andromeda watched. "I knew he was a no good when I caught him bullying snape. I mean, snape isn't the best slytherin but that doesn't mean he should be bullied." Andromeda added. "And he wanted to ask me out? The last thing that'll ever happen is me falling for him." You had made up your mind.

Bonus (what to expect later into the story) :

He kissed your pulse point, "Do you still hate me?" He whispered. "Yes" You sighed, eyes closed. "How about now" He gently bit your earlobe. "Very much" You stifled a moan. "And now?" He said against your lips as he traced his fingers on the curve of your spine. This boy was just on the brink of devouring you.

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greenerteacups · 27 days

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I’m not sure if you’ve specifically answered this before, but how long did it take you to outline, research, and prepare the foundational meat of Lionheart since it’s such a sprawling saga with threads for so many characters? Did you have it all mapped out before you started writing? What about shorter pieces like The Climb and the latest, delightful The Death Eater Diaries?

The series outline for Lionheart I wrote on one bleary, rabbit-hole of a day in the summer of 2022 when I was definitely supposed to be doing something else, and after that, each book took me between 3 days and 2 weeks to outline completely. The later books have taken longer because of their length and the number of threads — the series has a way of getting wider as well as longer, and for the last two books, I sometimes got a bit grumbly about how many characters pop up in every novel. As for research, most of that will happen before or during the outlining process; I'll have a copy of the book on-hand to check plot details, but for the most part I try to work without flipping back to the text, to avoid copying beats or stylistic choices unless I have a thematic reason to. I also use HP Lexicon and fanwikis while I'm editing for content, though when I'm drafting I make a real effort not to switch out of the tab for any reason, because it breaks flow. I'm sure I have missed some details despite my references, but c'est la vie; JKR had to do continuity edits in subsequent edition releases for several books, so at least I'm not alone.

For The Climb, I wrote the first chapter in the raw, then went through and blocked out the second two in an outline at the bottom of the document. Very very broad strokes there — TC is different from Lionheart because it's a slice-of-life tone piece, so there's not as much plot to be done. It's a novella conceived for the sole purpose of exploring one particular relationship, so the plot came secondary to the things I wanted to highlight about how that dynamic worked. It's a character-forward piece, to borrow culinary terminology, and outlining for character is a lot easier than outlining for plot. (For me.)

The Death Eater Diaries emerged almost fully-formed from a Tumblr post I made joking about the sort of ludicrously awful decade Narcissa experiences. The hardest part of outlining was nailing down canonical dates. Stuff like how old Andromeda was when she got pregnant, when Bellatrix got married, when the members of the previous generation died, all that's unspecified — but it's also all functionally constrained to a narrow window of time, if you take in where the characters are at certain other parts of the story, so you can't just say anything. It was very fun to write, though. Doing so also stressed how hilariously short the timeline on the Black family collapse actually is. Between 1971 and 1981, they go from a two-branch family with an heir, a spare, and three healthy daughters -> completely extinct in the male line, two of its descendants disinherited, two imprisoned, one missing, presumed dead, and Draco Malfoy's mom.

#I didn't even MENTION alphard getting burned off the tree because to be honest i straight up forgot dog existed #but if I had that'd just drive the point home #tfw your uncle disinherits your other uncle from sheer rage for giving money to your cash-poor disinherited cousin #I also like to think — as the fic implies — that the wall is literally not official/magical at all #Orion just gets pissy and writes people out of the will sometimes and then his dramatic wife goes to stab a cigarette in their portrait #which makes it all the funnier that sirius in the movies does this dramatic 'gaze upon my works ye mighty' thing about it

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awkwardanxiousasexual · 3 months

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Things I'm excited for in Season 2 after rereading Sea of Monsters last Night

-More Clarisse!!! Especially seeing her interact with her dad

-Tyson! I'm excited to see how they develop his and Percys relationship since there are moments that is is a bit strained at the beginning. I hope they don't cut some of that out

-Annabeth and the sirens please I need this girls fatal flaw and showing her dreams I need architecture annabeth

-More Grover! Manipulate that cyclops dude I can't wait to see those scenes with show grover it'll be so fun

-Circe better still be a trap

-More of Camp Half-Blood we were barely there in season 1. More Mr.D as well

-More Hermes! LMM kinda ate that performance NGL

-Silena, Charlie, Chris, Stoll brothers

-Percy and his boat powers

-Potential flashbacks with Luke, Thalia, and Annabeth

Sidenote, a few things that surprised me: Percy is a lot more knowledgeable about myths in this book than I remember. He recognizes Tantalus and remembers the story of Andromeda. He also recognizes the two people guarding the sea of monsters. I wonder if they wrote him knowing Greek myths in the show early to set this up.

Also, Annabeth is angry at Luke. Yes she feels betrayed and hopes he will change his mind as shown in the siren scene but she's also bitter. She wants to beat him up when they meet on the boat, shes feels betrayed, saying that he's going against Thalias memory and claiming that he won't remember where any of the safe house were. This "Annabeth is supposed to be in denial" tale that people are using as a defense to argue against her seeing the betrayal in the show doesn't make a lot of sense. She is against Luke, even if she wishes deep down he can be saved. Those aren't mutually exclusive.

#pjo tv #percy jackson #percy jackson and the olympians #percy jackon and the olympians #pjotv #annabeth chase #luke castellan #grover underwood #clarisse la rue #If you're still reading these tags go watch my pjo edit on YouTube username awkward ace edits #Lol I'm jk #Unless?

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catofadifferentcolor · 16 days

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Terrible Fic Idea #88: Percy Jackson, but make it Ptolemaic

Since I inexplicably seem to have fallen back into the PJO fandom, my plan for this terrible fic idea was to expound upon the fluff hinted at in #87... but once again got derailed as my mind dredged up a fic idea I'd long ago discarded as being too terrible.

Or: What if, instead of hating his demigod half-sibling at first sight, Triton fell in love with them instead?

Just imagine it:

Everything happens according to canon, with two exceptions: 1) Sally Jackson gives birth to a daughter, who she names Andromeda; and 2) Zeus' lightening bolt is not stolen until the summer Andy is set to turn 15, which means she never faces a Fury while on a field trip to a museum, which means Grover and Chiron never realize she's a demigod who needs to be taken to camp.

Because of this, Sally is not able to get rid of Smelly Gabe with Medusa's head the summer Andy would turn 13. In fact, she's forced to double down on the relationship, thinking his scent is the only thing keep her little girl safe-

-which Sally very much comes to regret the year Andy turns 14, when puberty starts turning her from an awkward, coltish child into someone who will clearly become a beautiful woman. The looks Gabe starts sending her daughter's way during Thanksgiving Break are enough for Sally to start drawing up divorce paperwork, but these things take time and Andy is forced to spend Winter Break mostly alone in Gabe's apartment with Sally working double shifts to make ends meet.

The first time Gabe makes a pass at Andy, every single pipe in the apartment bursts - and when he comes at her a few minutes later, thinking it was her idea of a prank, the water seems to trip Gabe and hold him down until he drowns in the three inches of water on their kitchen floor.

Naturally, Andy is freaked out in every possible way by the time Sally makes it home. Sally is equally worried, with a double dose of guilt for bringing someone who'd try to assault her daughter into their home and not getting rid of him sooner once she realized what he was capable of. She realizes that she has no choice but to take Andy to CHB.

Camp Half-Blood is a little different than the books - more small polis than summer camp, with each of the major gods having their own compound within the camp where their children and those of related gods reside. (i.e., the children of various water nymph and water deities, along with a handful of water nymphs themselves, have a compound on the waterfront, which would be headed by the oldest child of Poseidon, if there was one).

Andy is immediately assumed to be the child of a river god because of what happened with the pipes - likely Asopus, who has a history of intervening on behalf of his daughters - and not a particularly powerful one, otherwise she'd have been identified long before her 14th birthday when Chiron taught at her school. The thought of her being a child of the Big Three never enters anyone's mind.

And so Andy, slightly more traumatized with slightly lower self-esteem, finds herself living at camp full time, believing herself to be the daughter of an undetermined minor water deity.

Enter Triton.

He doesn't set out to fall in love with a mortal. In fact, Triton's first instinct when he hears the gossip about Andy is one of irritation at his father for being a little too interested in the affairs of a pretty demigod. He decides to check out the situation and see if it can't be headed off at the pass.

Triton first sees Andy alone one the beach in the moonlight and immediately understands why any number of beings would risk her presumed father's wrath to gain a sliver of her attention. He finds himself drawn to her, coming back night for a week until he finally works up the nerve to approach her - and rather than run away, Andy invites him to join her wave watching.

Their friendship begins slowly - Andy is somewhat leery of men after her experience with Gabe, but a male water spirit seems safer to be around than some of the older campers - but grows startlingly quickly, especially after Triton starts teaching her how to protect herself with both her powers and the trident she found in the armory. By the time June rolls around, Andy can safely call Triton the best friend she's ever had.

But then the situation with Zeus' bolt heats up. Andy is claimed, sent on a quest, and prevents a war. And somewhere along the way she learns the water spirit that's been flirting with her - who gifted her a necklace with his own symbol, to protect her if anyone tried to repeat Gabe's actions - is her half-brother.

Being mortal and having mortal morals, Andy naturally finds this uncomfortable. But the problem is Triton is really has become her dearest friend and probably the only guy she feels comfortable enough around to even consider dating. Triton, being a god, doesn't have nearly the number of hangups Andy has with the revelation - though he is rather peeved with his father for breaking his oath and potentially dooming them all.

This situation goes on for a while.

Meanwhile, we speed run through the next few quests, with SoM, TTC, and BotL all happening in the nine months immediately following Andy's 15th birthday. Only instead of being sent to Ogygia after blowing up Mount St. Helens, Andy lands at Triton's summer home in the Mariana Islands and things between them come to a head. Dealer's choice on the details, Andy eventually decides her feelings for Triton will never change, so she might as well be happy with him rather than hurt them both apart.

And so Andy and her immortal half-brother start dating on the DL.

TLO happens as per canon, the only difference being that Nico - Andy's adoptive baby brother - not Annabeth is her tie to mortality. Despite her new relationship with Triton, Andy still refuses godhood to ensure demigods are recognized by their parents.

It's not until Juno kidnaps Andy that Olympus and CHB learn of her relationship with Triton. The campers naturally find this uncomfortable, and it taints the perceptions Piper, Jason, and Leo have of her when they arrive.

(Poseidon is actually quite pleased by the news, and it should be suggested he waited as long to claim Andy as he did because he knew of Triton's visits to her and didn't want to scare her off something that could make both his children so happy.)

SoN follows canon, although the conch necklace Andy arrives wearing lead most to think her a granddaughter of Neptune rather than an actual daughter, though her treatment is the same regardless. This should lead to all the awkwardness when Andy regains her memories and admits to Frank and Hazel that Triton isn't her father, as they assumed, but her lover.

Andy begins her ascent to godhood in Tartarus when she takes control of Akhlys' poison. In her halfway state she's able to defeat Polybotes on her own, which propels her to full godhood. Her domains leave her something of the aquatic equivalent of Pan, with her ability over poison coming from her ability to clean polluted waters.

CHB and CJ are never quite sure what to make of Andromeda, the ascended goddess that each knew for a time. Though a superb fighter, she never really fit into either camp - a little too withdrawn because of her traumas for CHB, too untamable for CJ. She's respected, but not beloved as she might have been had she started camp earlier. In the end, her story becomes warning about the dangers of catching the eye of a god, as revisionist as that history is.

Bonuses include:

For all Andy loves her mother, her relationship with Sally never quite recovers after Gabe's attempted assault. For all she understands her mother's reasoning in marrying him, she never can quite forgive her for bringing such a monster into their lives. Though she honestly, truly tries, Andy never feels safe enough around mortal men to return home during the school year or form a real relationship with her new stepfather, Paul. She leaves the mortal world behind long before attaining godhood, preferring monsters she can recognize and kill to mortals.

Andy always being considered the odd one out at camp for forming closer relationships with nature spirits than other campers. Her relationship with Annabeth is never as close as in the books - more Gilmore Girls Paris and Rory rivalry than genuine friendship - while her friendship with Grover and Chiron is always tainted by the fact they never realized she was a demigod and thus forced her to endure two more years of Smelly Gabe. Nico is the one exception to this, with Andy declaring herself Nico's ersatz older sister the moment Bianca joins the Hunt; and

Everything about PJO being aged up accordingly, including the myths. None of the stories are sanitized, and so part of camp is being forced to come to terms with the often awful things the Gods (their parents/uncles/cousins) have done - as well as the awful things many demigods (their siblings/cousins) have done historically.

...And that's all I have. Despite the will they/won't they tension being largely glossed over in this outline, that's where I see the bulk of the drama (and thus the fic) coming from, but what can you do? Anyway, feel free to adopt this bun, just link back if you ever do anything with it.

More PJO Ideas | More Terrible Fic Ideas

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