#her hair went from flower girl to school matron | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

inmyownlittlecorner5 · 4 years

Text

Severus Snape and the Midnight Tea

A One-Shot by la-topolina

Rated for Teen Audiences

Warnings: Death of a parent

Written for the Severus Snape Bigbang 2019+

Summary: Luna Lovegood is a most curious child.

Author’s Note: For the Snape Bigbang 2019, we were asked to write a story starring our favorite potions master to be illustrated by an fan artist. I was very fortunate to be paired with @owlswithfins; and you can see their absolutely perfect artwork for this tale here: Poppies+

(picspam by the author)

The first time Severus Snape met Luna Lovegood was at her mother’s funeral. He’d been unsurprised by the news that Pandora Lovegood, née Nott, had managed to kill herself during a disastrous spell experiment; but he had been sorry all the same. Pandora had possessed a rare quality of unfailing good will and, wild as her imagination would sometimes run, her presence in the Slytherin common room had been a welcome breath of fresh air.

And so it was, on a atrociously lovely day in May, Severus found himself counted among the flock of Pandora’s mourners, balancing a teacup and saucer and a plate of cold meat and cake in the furthest recesses of the Lovegoods’ garden that he could respectably maintain. The gloriously blue sky was a heartless backdrop to the red-eyed and frequently sniveling guests, as was the riot of greens, blues, pinks, and purples that had burst forth in the freshness of spring around them. Only the crumbling stone wall enclosing the lawn had the decency to display a touch of melancholy decay, and Severus tenaciously clung to his haven in the corner; trusting that his dour expression and ability to avoid eye contact would protect him from the unpleasant task of making conversation.

“You’ve a Wrackspurt in your ear,” piped a small voice near his elbow.

He tensed at the disturbance, and looked down his nose to behold the now motherless Lovegood girl, decked in a white chiffon dress and a crown of violently red poppy flowers.

“I beg your pardon?” he replied stiffly, returning the child’s vague smile with a frown.

“A Wrackspurt. I can tell because you were staring off and not talking to anybody. But don’t worry, it’s to be expected. They’re everywhere today.”

“Are they? I don’t believe I am familiar with that particular creature.”

“Oh, they’re pesky little brutes. They float in people’s ears and make their thoughts get all fuzzy. And they like funerals. Everyone is so sad and distracted you know, so it’s easy for them to get in. They’re sure to have gotten me by now too, since Daddy made me leave off my spectrespecs.”

Severus was beginning to feel mildly dizzy from the speed of the girl’s prattle.

“Spectrespecs?”

“They help you see the Wrackspurts coming. But Daddy said that there would be too many today to bother with the spectrespecs, especially since they would upset Grandmama Nott. And he can always take care of them during the nightly de-Wrackspurting before bedtime stories.”

“I see.” He did not see.

“Now I know who you are! You’re Professor Severus Snape. I’m Luna Lovegood and you’ll be my teacher in two years.”

She held out her hand to him with a poise that belied her age, her weedy frame, and her odd lexicon. Her manner was so airy that he wondered if she were perhaps as moonstruck as her name implied; but he took her hand and bent over it as though she were a pureblood matron to command such courtesies.

“Miss Lovegood, I am sorry for your loss.”

“Thank you, Professor Snape. That’s nice of you to say, and Daddy says you’re usually not nice to anyone.”

He smirked in spite of himself. “That is true. I am not nice to anyone.”

“Did you know that being mean to people attracts Wrackspurts?”

“I was not aware of that.”

“They like to latch onto the purpleness of it all.”

“Ah.” He was not sure whether he was amused or insulted—but he was in no way bored, which was a novel feeling. He eyed her closely, noting the jagged cut of her hair and asked pointedly, “Was it a Wrackspurt that got hold of your hair today?”

She shook her locks carelessly. “No. A Dirigible Leafhopper. It found the scissors, and when Dirigible Leafhoppers get scissors, they will cut hair.”

“Naturally.” Severus wondered if all children this age were so easy to talk to.

She climbed up to perch on the edge of the garden wall and helped herself to the uneaten slice of lemon cake from his plate.

“I saw Mummy die, you know.”

“I did not know. How terrible for you.”

“It was, and it wasn’t.” She cocked her head to one side and her eyes slid slightly out of focus. “I don’t really remember it now. Six o’clock is the hour for remembering. At six I’ll be sad, but at seven I’ll be glad. Your Daddy died too.”

He grit his teeth to keep his jaw from falling open.

“Don’t worry,” she continued, crumbs from the cake clinging to the corners of her mouth, “the Mealytoes were telling me this morning. They went down the whole list of party guests and told me which ones had lost someone.”

“So you would know who to pester?” The child no longer seemed entertaining.

“So I would know who to give a poppy to.”

She finished his cake and plucked a poppy from her crown. Before he could retreat, she had tucked it behind his ear, and his hands were so encumbered by refreshments that he could only muster a glare to protect himself. Admittedly, it was a superior glare. One might say it was a glare sufficient to strike a grown man dead in his tracks.

It was a glare that did not affect this little wisp of a girl in the least.

“Poppies are very useful,” she explained, wiping her hands on her dress. “They suck up all the bile that gets stuck in your veins when someone dies, and they hold it for you so that you can still remember—but not so brightly that it hurts. Good day professor! Thank you for coming to Mummy’s party. I can’t wait to be in your class at school.”

Hopping down from the wall, Luna twirled about three times and skipped away in a flurry of floating skirts, her effervescent voice trailing after her.

“One for sorrow, two for joy

Three for a girl, four for a boy, boy, boy.

Five is for silver, six is for gold,

Seven for a secret that’s ne’er to be told, told told!”

Severus immediately deposited his plate and teacup on the toadstool table nearby and snatched the poppy from behind his ear. He felt vaguely nauseous, like he’d been sitting too long on a merry-go-round. The urge to crush the life from the hapless flower coursed through him, and only Xenophilius’s untimely interruption prevented it.

“Oh, my Luna has given you a poppy!” Xenophilius blubbered, clapping Severus on the shoulder. “She is such a good girl. I am so fortunate that she is safe. I do not know what I would do if I had lost both her and my Pandora.”

Here the man burst into fresh tears, and it was some time before Severus managed to extract himself from the embarrassing and unnatural position of sympathetic listener. By the time he effected his escape, the poppy was no longer as offensive, and he tucked it into a pocket as he slipped away from the Lovegood house into the freedom of the afternoon.

That evening, for some damned fool reason he could never later explain, he placed the poppy in a vase on the shelf over the desk in his sitting room at Hogwarts.

And it never wilted.

*****

The next time that Severus Snape met Luna Lovegood was on September first of 1992, long after the newly-minted Ravenclaw should have been in bed. He was walking his rounds, stalking through the darkened corridors and soaking in the somnolent atmosphere. He would never admit it, but Hogwarts without its students in residence was a dismal place. A week—or two at most—was as long as his spirits could stand the lack of human contact; especially after an entire summer spent alone in the despondent home of his childhood.

He had reached the entry hall, and was intending to retire to his rooms for reading and bed, when he saw her. The girl had not grown much since that unfortunate day two years prior. Her hair was scragglier, and her fingernails were ragged and dirty. She was wearing pink and green unicorn pajamas, and there were red trainers on her feet. Drifting through the hallway like a specter, she paid him no attention. Her small, white hands floated out in front of her, and when she reached the oaken door she started pushing at it, scrunching up her face with the effort.

“Ten points from Ravenclaw, Miss Lovegood. Go back to your tower immediately,” he said, stifling a yawn.

She didn’t answer—she merely kept wrestling with the locked door.

“And detention tomorrow evening. Miss Lovegood, classes have not even begun. This may be a new record.”

The silly child was beating on the unforgiving wood, completely ignoring him. He snarled and grabbed her by her thin shoulder; whipping her around to face him. Her eyes were rolling beneath her half-closed eyelids. The sight was so strange that he drew back at first, before realizing that she was asleep and dreaming. Disgruntled, he took her by the shoulders again and shook her once.

Her eyes snapped open instantly, and she started to shriek.

“Mummy! No Mummy, no!”

Severus clamped his hand over her mouth and she bit him, drawing blood. As he withdrew his hand, she started raining weak blows on him, like a kitten wrestling a tiger. He held her firmly by the shoulders until she ceased to fight; dissolving into tears and wetting the front of his robes. When the child’s fury had spent itself, he took her firmly under the arm and marched her down the stairs to the potions room.

Luna’s teeth started chattering as they descended, and her breathing was still punctuated by periodic sniffles. The dank chill of the lower part of the castle was uncomfortable at night, but he did not bother to light any of the fires, even when they came at last to his meticulously ordered classroom.

“Is it time for lessons now?” she asked, perking up despite the tears still seeping out of the corners of her doleful eyes. “I thought it was still night. Do we have classes under the moon?”

“Silence Miss Lovegood,” he ordered, “And sit down.”

As docile now as she had been disobedient earlier, she did as he asked, taking a seat at one of the empty work benches and running her hands over the smooth wood. He risked leaving her there long enough to retrieve a Calming Draught from the store closet, breathing a sigh of relief when he returned to find her where he had left her.

“Drink this,” he said, handing her the vial.

“A Calming Draught!” she said, beaming. She drank it without complaint, and then began hopping the empty vial over the top of the work bench, singing, “A Calming Draught, a Calming Draught, five knuts for a Calming Draught! A Calming Draught for me!”

“Cease that nonsense immediately, Miss Lovegood!” he snapped. “It is well past midnight, and, in case you have forgotten, classes begin in the morning.”

She stopped singing, but continued hopping the vial. “Yes, sir. But I think you’d best come with me up to the tower so that a Thistle-toed Night Creeper doesn’t catch me. I saw some of them skittering through the hallways.”

“To my understanding you were asleep whilst you were traipsing through the hallways. It must have been a dream,” he countered; but he was already leading her out of the dungeons on the long journey home.

“I was,” she agreed, tossing the empty vial up and down as they walked. “But you can see some things better when you are sleeping. I thought you knew. Don’t you see things more clearly in your dreams?”

He snatched the vial out of the air and shoved it irritably in his pocket. “One more word out of you, and I will deduct enough points from Ravenclaw to make Professor Flitwick sorry he ever saw you.”

She shrugged, but contented herself with whistling merrily as thy climbed. As stairwell after stairwell passed under their feet and failed to wind her, Severus mused that Luna was a truly strange child. He wondered how much of her mother’s daring curiosity she had inherited, and he began to tremble inwardly for the safety of his potions class.

By the time they reached the top of Ravenclaw tower, Severus’s calves were screaming. The eyes on the carved eagle head guarding the door flamed to life, and it posed its evening riddle.

“Nails and straw, cabbage and thee; all are longing—at last—for me,” it said.

“A bed,” Luna replied almost before the knocker had finished speaking.

“A paltry riddle,” Severus remarked.

“It’s only the first day. Good night, professor. Watch out for the Creepers!”

“Miss Lovegood.”

When the door was safely closed after the little Ravenclaw, Severus began the long trek back to his quarters. The castle whispered around him, but the night-time noises were old friends to him, settling his nerves rather than setting them on edge.

He did notice the flicker of something out of the corner of his eye as he unlocked his door. It was a winged shadow of sorts; and the edges of its form could be called thistle-like in structure. He turned his head to catch sight of the creature, but it vanished into the shadows like a puff of itinerant smoke.

Humbug and nonsense, he thought; and let himself in to bed.

*****

By the next afternoon, he was ready to kill her.

He’d begun the class with his usual lecture meant to impress upon the students the gravitas of the subject they were about to undertake—not that any of the dunderheads were capable of grasping the concepts he was placing before them. Once again the first year class was predictably dull, staring at him with stunned expressions due no doubt both to their confusion, and to their awe of him. All were staring, save one.

Luna had claimed a seat on the front bench, in the exact spot she’d taken during the small hours of the morning, dancing her empty vial over the wooden table before her. Now she was tapping her fingers on the wood in what Severus assumed was a disrespectful show of boredom. With a dark expression fixed on his face, he stalked through the aisles towards her as the students around him ducked their heads in expectation of the rebuke. But as he approached, he began counting the erratic movements without realizing what he was doing; and before long a familiar pattern emerged.

1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21…

Perhaps the girl was not as lost as she appeared. Nevertheless, he hovered over her, scowling, until she deigned to turn her attention from Fibonacci to her disgruntled teacher.

“I love spirals, sir, don’t you? They’re so very spiral-y,” she said, blinking up at him nonplused.

“Miss Lovegood,” he replied, allowing a trace of snarl to color his tone. “I expect strictest attention to the task at hand at all times in this class. Even a concoction so simple as a Fog Potion can cause considerable damage when mishandled.”

“Yes, sir. Is it not the time for spirals?”

He let the question pass unanswered. “I also expect silence.”

She gave him an airy smile, and he glared back at her for an embarrassingly long time before he realized that she was not going to respond.

“Five points from Ravenclaw, Miss Lovegood,” he growled as he turned back to the rest of the class. “There are thirty minutes left. You will use them to prepare the ingredients for the Fog Potion that you will brew on Wednesday. Precision is more important than speed at this point in your education, but you will not use that as an opportunity for laziness. The instructions are on the board. Begin.”

He flicked his wand and a list of ingredients and their preparations appeared on the black wall behind him. As the students began to nervously chop and crush their hollyhock and toadstools, he took a final circuit of the room, before retiring to his desk to review his notes for the next period’s lecture. He fully expected someone to make an idiotic mistake within ten minutes, but he felt it best to give them some time to fail on their own. Holding their metaphorical hands while they worked would only create dependency. Better to allow them to experience the humiliation of failure in the hopes that the lesson would stick.

“Oh dear…”

Miss Lovegood’s mild voice was the only warning he had; even as he glanced up from his parchment the explosion was erupting. He slashed his wand through the air, containing much of the damage within a hastily cast Shield Charm, but the students directly beside and behind Luna were already mewling like wounded kittens. Luna herself seemed unconcerned, staring at the ugly red welts on her arms as though they were a new problem to solve.

“What in Merlin’s name were you doing, Miss Lovegood?” he demanded, as he began slapping dittany, none too gently, on the injured parties. “You were told to prepare ingredients only. Did you misunderstand me?”

“No sir,” she replied. “But I’d finished, and I had some extra bilious solution, and I wanted to test what would happen if I added some asphodel to it.”

“Ten more points from Ravenclaw, and a foot of parchment on the importance of following instructions due next class.”

“Yes sir.”

He had no idea how she managed to maintain such an innocent and blameless expression under the black look he knew he was giving her, but he did not trust her penitence in the least.

It was a most inauspicious beginning to Miss Lovegood’s Hogwarts career.

*****

Severus was well and truly at the end of his rope come the beginning of October. He muttered darkly to himself as he strode through the halls one Sunday evening, irritated beyond measure by the sweet autumnal breeze and the glorious sunset streaming in the windows, lighting up the inner beauty of the castle just so. Students scattered as he cut through the groups of them where they gathered, frolicking and playing Exploding Snap. He had no time to bother with disciplining any of them, however, and he kept to his course until it led him to Filius Flitwick’s office high in Ravenclaw Tower.

A sharp rap on the door brought the diminutive professor immediately, and Severus glared down at the man until the older professor raised his bushy eyebrows in question.

“Good evening, Severus,” Filius said, puffing on his pipe. “To what do I owe the pleasure of your company tonight?”

“That Lovegood girl is a menace,” Severus pronounced, eschewing all pleasantries with the intention of coming to the purpose at once.

“Is she? I find her charming. But do come in, and we’ll see what’s to be done about the matter.”

Severus swept into the office behind Filius, but refused to sit when the other man indicated the eagle-headed arm chair before the fire. Unperturbed, the charms professor shrugged and climbed into his own little rocking chair, still smoking his pipe.

“Now what seems to be the trouble?” Filius asked, watching Severus as the younger man paced through the chamber, dodging floating books and models of various magical destinations to which the Ravenclaw head had had the pleasure of visiting.

“Since the beginning of term, Miss Lovegood has caused no less than a dozen explosions in my class due to her refusal to follow direct orders. Her insubordination is endangering the lives of everyone in the room—nay every one in the castle itself!”

Severus emphasized the severity of his accusations with a sharp gesture that sent a miniature Sphinx toppling through the air and bouncing off the opposite wall.

“That is serious,” Filius agreed mildly.

“I’ve deducted house points,” Severus went on.

“Ah, I had wondered about that,” Filius murmured.

“I’ve given her extra essays. I’ve given her detention. I’ve set her to remedial tasks. Nothing deters her from her willful misbehavior. She will go her own way and damn the consequences. Most of the time she appears to be in another world altogether!”

Severus’s heart rate rose, along with his temper, as he enumerated the girl’s crimes.

“Perhaps she is. Have you asked her?”

“Of course not!” Severus spat. “Why would I do such a foolish thing?”

“You might learn something,” Filius replied, his eyes twinkling with something suspiciously like merriment.

“I beg your pardon!” This was not a laughing matter.

“Severus, when was the last time you ate?”

At the mention of food, Severus’s stomach started to rumble, and he growled, “I don’t see how that has any bearing on the subject at hand.”

“Humor me.”

“I…seem to recall eating breakfast…”

“Better than I’d guessed.”

“Yesterday morning.”

“Ah. In that case,” Filius hopped down from his chair and scurried over to a rope-and-pulley system lined with tiny bells near the fire. The top of the contraption stretched up to the domed ceiling, and the bottom extended through a small hole in the floor and out of sight. The charms professor quickly tapped out a ringing tune, and a moment later the rope started moving, sending the bells into an obnoxious bout of tinkling. “Tell me, is there anything else our Miss Lovegood is doing to trouble you besides her classroom difficulties?”

“She is your Miss Lovegood and I will thank you for keeping her.”

“I shall, happily. And here we are.”

A tray of mackerel pâté with pickles on rye, and a steaming cup of earl grey with milk came up through the floor, attached to the rope by an oversized clothespin, and Filius pressed the sustenance into Severus’s unwilling hands.

“I didn’t ask you for tea, Filius,” Severus grumbled, even as he settled himself into the armchair and fell on the sandwiches like a ravenous beast.

“I know, but I find that one tends to think more clearly when one’s energy is not diverted to the task of keeping one upright in the face of starvation,” Filius replied jovially. He sat back down in his rocking chair, and went about the task of refilling his pipe while Severus demolished his food.

“Why is it, do you think, that Miss Lovegood is so troublesome to manage?” asked Filius, tapping his pipe against his chin.

“Because she’s a defiant brat,” was Severus’s quick reply as he took a bracing sip of the perfectly brewed and balanced mixture in his teacup.

Filius shrugged. “I have not found this to be so.”

“Why would you? She’s in your house.”

“Severus, be fair.” Filius’s tone took on a hint of warning. “I think you are aware that I am perfectly willing to discipline when required, and I am always open to constructive criticism from my colleagues. You do remember Mr Whitehouse and the lacewing fly theft?”

“I suppose you did deal with that,” Severus admitted. The food and the tea were slowly robbing him of some of his foul temper.

“Thank you.” Filius puffed in silence and then remarked, “I have found Miss Lovegood to be a delight in class. She is light-years ahead of her fellows in terms of grasping the potential of charmwork.”

“In potions I am afraid she is a disaster.”

“Why is that, do you think?”

Severus’s temper started to flare again. “Filius, I hope you are not insinuating that I am the problem.”

“No. But perhaps your methodology might be examined. You mentioned that you’ve tried all the usual things; detentions, deducting points, extra homework, et cetera?”

“Yes, weren’t you listening?”

“I was. It is difficult not to listen when you are in a snit. What was the purpose of the punishments you’ve meted out thus far?”

“To inspire remorse and respect in the student, of course.”

“I would have said shame and fear.”

“One and the same.”

“Not so,” Filius countered, blowing a trail of smoke rings that danced in and out of each other through the room. “But for the sake of the experiment, let us assume that they are. I would venture to guess that the reason these tactics did not work in this case is because Miss Lovegood cannot be motivated by either shame or fear.”

“I see. She is an ungovernable dunderhead, isn’t she?”

“This brings me to my next point. The remedial work you are torturing her with may be making her behavior even more trying than it needs to be.”

Severus’s eyes narrowed at the other professor. If anything, Filius’s mild expression aggravated him more than if the man had been raging in defense of his silly student.

“Filius, I will give you half a minute to explain what you mean before I take serious exception with you.”

“I thank you, even for that.” A set of rotating orbs descended from on high, and Filius examined their glowing depths as he expounded his theory. “Some students become bored easily, and when they become bored they make all sorts of trouble, because their minds cannot cease being busy. If these minds are not properly directed, they will take their own, sometimes destructive, paths.”

“Are you saying that Lovegood is being impossible simply because she is bored?”

“I am.”

Severus stalked over to return his tray to the kitchens via the pulley system, and tugged at his sleeve irritably as he resumed his pacing.

“Even supposing you were correct, what am I expected to do about her problem?”

“It seems to me that it is your problem as much as hers. Challenge her. Give her more interesting work rather than less.”

“And I am to have yet more work thrust upon me? Is she to be rewarded for misbehavior in such a way?”

“It need not be overly complicated. Something as simple as variations on the potion at hand should suffice.”

“I don’t like it, Filius. It goes against the grain.”

Filius tucked a vibrant magenta ball into his breast pocket, and sent the rest of the mobile floating back up towards heaven.

“Sometimes the most challenging students are the most rewarding, when we reach them.”

“I would dispute that conclusion in general, and in this case in particular.”

The Ravenclaw looked up at the Slytherin with a pointed gaze, and observed, “It would seem to me that you have nothing to lose by trying. How much time are you already wasting with Shield Charms, disasters, and injuries?”

A hot retort beat its way to Severus’s tongue, but he knew Filius well enough to glean when he was within an inch of pushing the man too far. It was rarely worth pushing the charms professor too far.

“Very well. I will put your plan to the test for the next week. But if I do not see immediate improvement, your Miss Lovegood will spend the rest of term cleaning bedpans in the hospital wing.”

The merry gleam returned to Filius’s eyes, and Severus felt his shoulders relax a tick.

“You must do as you see fit, Severus. But I would wager that you will not be disappointed. Now, is there anything further?”

Severus frowned, debating whether he should mention the child’s other problem.

“I see that there is. Come now, what else is the lass doing?” Filius prompted.

“She sleepwalks. At least once a week I see her out of the Tower during my rounds,” Severus said, leaning on the back of the armchair.

“My goodness,” Filius replied, his merry look replaced with one of concern. “I was not aware of that. Are you certain?”

“Of course I’m certain! And it’s a damned nuisance to wake her, calm her infernal screaming, and escort her back to her dormitory.”

“All that and you not being as young as you used to be.” Severus opened his mouth to take the bait, but Filius continued without allowing him the time. “Waking her is what is causing the trouble.”

“I should think that her sleepwalking is what is causing the trouble.”

Filius shook his head firmly. “Not so. She is attempting to accomplish something; something her subconscious mind finds of highest import. The next time someone finds her in this situation, he would do better to help her accomplish whatever her task may be, and lead her back to bed without waking her.”

“This child becomes more bothersome by the second!” Severus exclaimed. “First I must make new lesson plans, and now I am expected to aid her on some sleep-addled, featherbrained quest?”

“If I am the one to catch her in the act, I will do the same.”

“I don’t like it.”

“I didn’t expect you to. The subconscious mind is sometimes more insightful than the conscious one. Why don’t you give it a try. If it doesn’t work, we’ll talk to Madam Pomfrey about other options, but I would rather avoid giving the child more potions than absolutely necessary. I don’t need to tell you how habit forming they can become.”

“No. You don’t.” Severus flicked an invisible piece of lint from his sleeve and started for the door. “Good night, Filius. I shall take my leave of you before you add any other tasks to my already considerable workload.”

“Good night, Severus. I look forward to hearing the results of our experiments.”

Severus gave the Ravenclaw a short bow and started the journey back towards the dungeons; unsure as to whether he wished for Filius to be right, and thus save him further troubles—or wrong, and thus give him the pleasure of telling the man so.

Either way, it appeared he had little to lose.

*****

A week into the experiment produced such improvement in Miss Lovegood’s behavior, that Severus had merely smirked at Filius when the head of Ravenclaw had asked him about it. The potions master had taken the trouble of reseating the Lovegood girl as far away from the potentially explosive supply cabinet as possible, and he had partnered her with Margaret Baskerville at Filius’s suggestion. Miss Baskerville had demonstrated a remarkable affinity to the Shield Charm, as the Ravenclaws had discovered one evening during an overexcited match of Exploding Snap. Severus had even begun to hope that the moon child’s sleepwalking days had ended when he passed several nights of patrol without encountering her. Perhaps she had merely required a period of time to acclimate to her new surroundings.

One mild night in mid-October, Severus’s hopes were dashed—yet again—when he discovered Miss Lovegood, willowy arms heavy laden with a checked picnic blanket wrapped around some unwieldy burden, attempting to escape from the castle by the locked front door. He silently approached her, his hand ready to shake her awake even as he braced himself for her inevitable screaming.

Just before his hand reached her shoulder, he recalled Filius’s advice to help the sleeping child rather than hinder her. Cursing himself for a fool, he murmured the incantation to unlock the latch, and pushed the door open to the night air. She shuffled through it without waking, her red trainers crunching fallen leaves beneath them, and her fluffy yellow bathrobe flapping in the light breeze. The full moon bathed the grounds in silver-blue light as he followed the girl all the way to the shadowy edge of the Forbidden Forest. Doxies and nightwings flocked to them, and far off an owl hooted a warning. Severus drew his wand and swatted at the pests until they flurried away; and Miss Lovegood continued on the forest path, still firmly asleep.

As they progressed deeper into the forest, the darkness pressed in on them; the half-dressed arms of the trees blocking out the moonlight overhead. The lumos from Severus’s wand gave him enough light to see the girl’s eyelids flickering, and he wondered briefly how exactly she was able to walk over the uneven ground without stumbling in this state. Once or twice he thought he caught a glimpse of red eyes peering at them from behind some gnarled shape; and more often than that, he contemplated waking the child and dragging her screaming back to the castle. He fully intended to give Filius a set down after the antics tonight.

At the moment he had firmly decided to abort this fool’s mission, they came to a large clearing, guarded by towering evergreens. The moon was hanging overhead, smiling down at them like some idiot dreamer, and Severus crossed his arms, watching the girl pad her way to the middle of the brown grass and drop her heavy load. She started struggling to untie the many knots holding the bundle together, until Severus scoffed impatiently, and flicked his wand at the mess. Instantly, the blanket unfolded itself to reveal a lovely spread of strawberry sandwiches, lemon cakes, and steaming tea; along with a mishmash of tea cups, bowls, plates, and brightly colored napkins. Luna settled herself, tailor style, in the midst of this unorthodox tea party, a most serene expression on her now obviously awake face.

“Oh, Professor!” she said, yawning up at him. “Was I sleepwalking again?”

“You were,” he replied irritably.

“Won’t you sit down? Have I been very much trouble?”

“You have.”

“I’m so sorry. But it was time for tea, and I didn’t want my friends to think I’d forgotten them.”

“Your what?”

“Look.”

She made a fanciful gesture with her hands in a northerly direction, and as Severus turned his aggravated glare towards the exterior darkness, he beheld half a dozen thestrals gliding into the clearing. Their serpentine tails curved and swished, leaving a trail of silvery ash behind them, and their skeletal, equine bodies moved in an undulating fashion that was disorienting to witness. As they slid up to the blanket, they dropped to their boney knees and wrapped their inky tails around them, their eyes of chartreuse flame sparking as Luna babbled happily; pouring tea into bowls and arranging morsels on plates for her cadaverous guests.

“Hello there!” she bubbled. “I’m so happy to finally see you when we can talk, aren’t you? Things have been monstrous busy since I came to school, and it’s been awful trying to find the way out to the clearing. But here I am at last!”

Severus stared at the morbid production with the horrid fascination of one watching a Quidditch accident. The beasts stank of talcum powder and formaldehyde; and he shut his eyes against their reptilian forms. There, in the darkness of his mind, he was assaulted by death; as memories of Lily’s body, lifeless and beautiful, mingled with those of his father’s corpse; poisoned by drink and by every venomous word that had tripped like water off the bastard’s vile tongue.

His eyes snapped open and he sneered at the mad princess and her deathly court. “Miss Lovegood, as you have regained whatever senses you possess, I insist that you return to the castle immediately.”

One of the younger thestrals reared up and bounded to him. Before Severus could react, it had its head in the small of his back, and was pushing him onto the blanket with enough force that he stumbled and fell to his knees.

“I think they’ll be angry if we leave just now, professor,” Luna whispered loudly, passing a teacup to him.

He snatched it and flung it across the clearing, where it shattered against a tree trunk. Another thestral snorted at him and pawed the ground with a dusty hoof.

“It’s no matter, I’ve another,” Luna said, unfazed.

“I don’t want any tea!” Severus spat.

“But you shall have some all the same.”

She set another cup before him—a black one, painted with a whimsical bat curving in flight over the porcelain interior—and filled it to the brim with steaming tea from her poppy covered teapot.

“I’m having a lovely time at school,” she chattered to the thestrals while the beasts snorted and lapped at the tea and the victuals. “Charms is my favorite so far, but after that is potions. Professor Snape has been setting me all sorts of tests and dreams to try, and I like it ever so much better than Professor McGonagall who makes me do everything one slow step at a time.”

His anger was choking him, and he knew that Miss Lovegood’s words were worthless, but he scooped up the cup and drank some of the scalding liquid, desperate to cover the bilious taste in his mouth. The concoction was not proper tea; but rather a tincture of lavender and chamomile, steeped exactly so. The talcum powder and formaldehyde receded into the background, as did the sound of Miss Lovegood’s chattering. He must have been more tired than he’d realized, for the next thing he remembered, he was jerking awake, and the last of the thestrals was disappearing into the forest. The dishes were all packed away, and Luna was watching him with a patient and pleased smile on her face.

“I’m ready to go back to the castle now, sir,” she said cheerfully.

“If you’re ready then, please, by all means,” he sarcastically replied.

She hummed to herself all the way up to Ravenclaw tower and, while he wanted to fume at her, he found that he was too uncomfortably relaxed to do so. When they gained the top of the tower stairs, she turned to him, her eyes shining in the moonlight that ghosted in through the windows.

“Thank you for helping me tonight, sir. I think I’ll be able to get there on my own from now on,” she said.

“Need I remind you, Miss Lovegood, that the Forbidden Forest is off limits to students?” he chastised.

“I know it is. But don’t worry, that doesn’t bother me.”

“Obviously.”

“And it’s important I go,” she said earnestly.

“Why ever would you think that?”

“So the thestrals will help me with my mother.”

He cocked an eyebrow at her. “If her spirit is troubling you, there are better ways to deal with it than breaking curfew and risking life and limb in the Forest.”

“No, not her spirit, she’s gone on. It’s the memories. The poppies can’t hold enough; but if I go to the thestrals, they’ll help me hold enough. I’ll still remember, but I won’t get lost.” She broke the seriousness of the subject by twirling like a top and adding, “You can join me anytime you like.”

“I shall not take you up on that offer, and if I catch you out of bed, you may be sure that I will punish you for it. Good night, Miss Lovegood,” he snapped.

He whirled away and descended the stairs in a swirl of his black robes. Merlin, this moon child was turning out to be as much trouble as the Potter brat.

“Midnight teas And thank you please, Moonlight, wand light, All sleep tight!”

Luna’s ethereal voice and her nonsense song haunted him all the way down to the dungeons.

But he slept better that night than he had in ages. And in the morning, the memories of his dead did not wake with him. He was halfway through his morning class before he first recalled the sprawled form and the spray of auburn hair. Even when it came upon him, the memory did not cause his blood to run cold or his heart to pound.

Luna looked up from her work and smiled at him, as though she sensed the moment that the unwanted recollection sprang up in his mind. He restrained himself from giving her the satisfaction of a response, and turned his attention to his marking.

And the next time he caught her on her way to tea, he docked Ravenclaw ten points—and carried the blanket bundle to the clearing for her.

*****

End Notes:

Luna is tapping out the Fibonacci sequence; in which each number is the sum of the two numbers prior, and relates to spirals.

I head-canon that thestrals smell different to each person, depending on that person's experiences aand beliefs about death.

42 notes · View notes

breath-of-venus · 5 years

Text

30 Days of Deity Devotion in One Post - Aphrodite

I don't have ANY patience to do one post every day for devotion. Like, no patience and not enough memory, so I'll resume every single day of deity devotion in this post, and hopefully it'll be nice to read and maybe do some research.

30 Days of Deity Devotion was created by @alaskanlesbian

1 - A basic introduction

She's very energetic and enthusiastic and it's very pleasing to be hanging out with her. We dance together sometime, it's really fun! Also she's my matron.

2 - How did you became first aware of her?

We are introduced to greek mythology since very early, as kids, so I must've known her for quite some time, though she only called me in December. I think it's because now she feels that I'm ready to work with her.

3 - Symbols and icons of this deity

Bees; Red, pink and yellow with pink tip roses; A calm shore with no aggressive waves; A pink sky; Deep red lipsticks; Sea foam; Shells; Apple; Sweet scents, especially ripe apple; Laughter and smiles

4 - Favorite myth or myths of Aphrodite

The one I like the most is Aphrodite and Adonis love. It's tragical, yet beautiful. I get sad every time.

5 - Members of the family

I personally like best the version were she rose from the sea, but there's also a version were she's daughter of Zeus and Dione.

6 - Other related deities and entities

Ares, her main lover; her other various lovers; Athena, her main rival; The erotes; Astarte and Ishtar, goddesses she was based from

7 - Names and epithets

Ourania, Pandemos, Areia, Philomedes, Nikephoros

8 - Variations of this deity

The epithets listed above and Astarte and Ishtar, as they're deities Aphrodite was based from.

9 - Common mistakes about her

That she's all fluffy and pastel-pink. Like, all the time. Or that she's petty and superficial.

Bitch no.

She can be fluffy and pastel-pink, but thinking that she's like that all the fucking time is at least foolness.

She is the goddess of love, beauty and sex, but also of war, death, laughter, victory and so much more. She's a frigging goddess y'all, not a trendy youtuber.

Don't forget it.

10 - Offerings, historical and UPG

Chocolate; Yogurt; Strawberry dairy drink; Wine, especially the smooth variety; Lettuce (because of Adonis); Apple; Red fruits and berries; Red and pink flowers; Any artistic thing that you make for her; Make-up; Jewelry; Perfumes; Honey; Milk

11 - Festivals, days and times sacred to her

Every fouth day of each month

Every full Moon day

Every Friday

February 6th, honors to Aphrodite

12 - Places associated with her

Chypre (lol that's the only place I can think)

13 - What modern cultural issues are closest to this deity's heart?

I think self-esteem is the most well known issue she helps coming around atm

14 - Has worship of this deity changed in modern times?

I am very sure of it. We have trouble enough to find basic info about our deities, imagine a whole how-to-worship guide!

15 - Any mundane practices associated with this deity?

Having sex is the most obvious of them all, but there are far more pleasures in life than just sex.

Eating some food you really enjoy, for example.

Or putting some makeup on.

Expressing the beauty with arts, I guess.

16 - How do you think this deity represents the values of their pantheon and cultural origins?

That's way more complex than what I can answer without having to stress too much about it

Sorry

17 - How does this deity relates to other gods and other pantheons?

Historically, she relates to Venus and Hator. They were the closest. But in my opinion she's linked to every single love deity, especially female ones.

I found her and Freya very similar, mostly because of the warrior aspect of Freya, very similar to Aphrodite Areia.

18 - This deity's gender and sexuality (historical and UPG)

Historically she looks pretty cishet female, but in my opinion every god is kinda pansexual I guess.

They don't need labels as we do.

Also she's clearly a woman for me.

19 - What quality or qualities of this goddess do you most admire? What qualities of them do you find the most troubling?

I can't talk about her qualities without saying that I think she's perfect, sorry.

SHE'S PERFECT!!

Ok, now to the qualities.

In my personal experience with her she's like those kind of crazy mom's that are all like "ya wanna? Ya do!" but also very sweet (soft maybe? Idk).

She's very comforting and thinking about my practice I think she wants me to try not to be so dependable to pendulums.

And she got these vibes kinda like Mean Girls but a nice one

I don't think there's anything that I dislike about her really.

20 - Art that reminds you of this deity

Mostly break-the-rules love, or idk how to describe, maybe overcome relationships I guess

But if ya break some rules to kiss some mouths babe ya goin the right direction

Also I don't really see her in paintings. They're mostly blonde, and as far as I can "see" she've got wavy-curly dark brown hair and pretty yellowish-green eyes.

21 - Music that makes you think of that deity

Side to side, Gloriosa, New Rules, Toxic, TiK ToK, God is a Woman(yep, that predictable), Dangerous Woman, Thank U next, Strawberries & Cigarettes, Scars to Your Beautiful, Savages - Kerli

22 - A quote, poem, etc, that you think this deity ressonates strongly with

I have none, sorry

23 - your own composition — a piece of writing about this deity

I've tried doing it before. Like, actual writing for her, but I couldn't.

So I guess I'll stick to the motivational Tumblr posts I do about her :)

24 - A time when this deity helped you

I don't think that she's actively helping me with anything specific, since I never ask much.

Once I asked to meet a nice boy that I'd kiss.

Welp in my new school I've got quite a lot, so cheers 🥂

25 - A time when she refused to help

Can't remember any moment like this now.

She did punish me once tho 😂 it was actually funny and @thepastelpriestess witnessed everything from her very own screen

26 - How has your relationship with her changed over time?

It went to "I know you exist" to "I'd seek your help anytime soon" to "holy smokes you my mamma" to "hi guuurl ya doing great? Les hav sum tea n chat n laugh at nothing all night"

27 - Worst misconception that about her that you have encountered

That she's selfish

Like, she sure is in the myths and yadda yadda but Myths Aphrodite and Real Aphrodite are very different, actually (look Jessie I've learnt 😂)

28 - Something you wish you knew about his deity but you currently don't

I'm not really sure, actually...

I guess I'd like to hang out like face to face, have a talk-hear-hear-talk kinda conversation

Dunno

I guess then I'd know what I'd like to know that I don't yet.

29 - Any unusual or interesting UPGs to share?

She's the goddess of joy :)

30 - Any suggestions to others just starting to learn abou her?

Chase all her info in Tumblr like a crazy old lady going after her twelve cats through the streets of her neighborhood.

Basically, search a ton

#30 days of deity devotion #aphrodite #aphrodite deity #aphrodite devotee #aphrodite devoted #aphrodite goddess #lady aphrodite #witchcraft #witchblr #witch #witchy #hellenic pagan #hellenic paganism #hellenism #hellenistic #hellenismos #hellenic polytheism #hellenic witch

122 notes · View notes

everly-kindred · 4 years

Text

Everly’s Diary - Entry #38

Synopsis: Eve details the festivities of the past few weeks - the Winter Fete, her birthday, the Yule Ball, and the return home!

Words: 1,881

Date: 17th of December, 2026

Dear Diary,

Can you believe it's already been a year since I first started writing these? I know I can't! So much has happened since then, it almost feels like a year is too long and yet also not long enough!

I'm writing this from my bed. Ruby is sound asleep in the other room. I hope he’s comfortable, I worry that the space is too small for him.

I haven’t really had much time to write. I know I say that a lot, but it’s true… And when I do have time, I feel too exhausted, like I’ve run out of… spell slots or something. So I know it’s been awhile and I have a lot to catch you up on, but not to fear! I’ve been keeping a list of the things that have happened since my last entry!

So, I found out that on the first of December, the keeper of keys brings Christmas trees into the Great Hall, and we watch them all get lit up once decorations are done. That day was also the day of the fete that the prefects threw for everyone.

It was so stunning to see the Great Hall filled with that light from the Christmas trees. Honestly, Christmas trees give off the best lighting, and I have no idea why we don’t just keep them all year ‘round. I guess that’s what faerie lights are for, and I’m quite fond of those, but anyways...

The prefect’s fete was absolutely brilliant! They had completely transformed the long gallery and filled it with booths and activities and snacks… Elaine, an older Hufflepuff girl, convinced me to do this kissing booth thing with that Slytherin Prefect, Persephone Vitrac. Basically she waits under the mistletoe for anyone who dares approach her for a kiss on the cheek. Elaine claimed it’d be my first kiss, but I don’t think it counts! I mean… I got all flustered after and ended up running face first into a pile of snow that was being used for snowball fights, but still! I mean, maybe it counts… Doesn’t it only count if it’s mutual? Is it a real kiss?

Anyways, yes, I got my ‘first kiss’ from a werewolf girl who is actually very nice thank you very much, I still remember when she helped me and Bonnie with making that laughing potion which I thankfully haven’t had to use. The boggart is still running around apparently but I’ve managed to avoid it. But anyways, back to the kiss! I was so nervous at first, but Elaine assured me that it’s fine and that Persephone wouldn’t hurt me and whatnot. I feel like I should learn more about werewolves because of it, honestly, and I’ve made a note to ask Vikander or Lane about them, later.

Like I had mentioned, there was also snowball fights, ice skating, and Vikander was up on a chair dressed as Santa, taking everyone’s Christmas wishes! I’d write what my wish was, but I don’t think… I mean, you are only a diary after all, but isn’t it bad to say what you wished for? Well, it’s not like it could really happen anyways. Alright, so I wished that I could be a faerie, just once. Shrink down to six inches tall with pretty wings on my back! Fly around, sleep in flowers, that kind of thing. Oh, and also for my very own broom for quidditch, though first years can’t really have that. And love and joy for all my friends and family, of course.

And then there was what was probably my favourite part of the evening, which was the sleigh ride. It was so… magical, romantic, exhilarating, dreamy… Wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. We all got into this sleigh and flew around the castle in the night! It was perfectly fantastical! I don’t think I have the proper words to describe it, though I tried, I’m just… Not sure if it is something you can put into words, truly. I do think it caused me to get a bit of a cold, though, because I was sick for a couple of days after, until the matrons in the hospital wing fixed me up with some pepper-up potion.

I believe it was the next day that we Hufflepuffs had our meeting, and we all went out to Dracheblume’s hut and had a snowball fight! I tried to hide in the pumpkins, and was able to hit Elaine and Roisin a few times, and I even climbed up on the roof, but Elaine pulled me down by summoning my cloak. I landed in a snowbank, though, so I didn’t hurt anything!

End of term exams started for the last week of school, and when I wasn’t studying for those or practicing quidditch, I was writing and drawing Maxine. I can’t tell if I wish she existed and was really my friend, or if I simply wish I was her… She helps me when I feel lonely, which has been often, lately. I feel like there’s an awkwardness between me and my friends, and perhaps it’s because I’ve been hiding so much in my dorm that I don’t see them anymore. I hope I’ll have more time to see them over break and in the next term.

A weird thing that happened was that two Slytherins apparently burnt up one of the Christmas trees. The Ravenclaw one, I think. It was even written about in the Owl Post. I don’t know if they got punished for it or not, though. I hope the Ravenclaws got a replacement tree!

The Slytherins also had their first quidditch game, against Gryffindor. But apparently there was an issue with the snitch or something, so even though Gryffindor caught the snitch first, it’s being investigated? I’m not really sure what happened with that.

The full moon happened recently, too. On the 12th, I think. The castle was locked up at 3 p.m. and professors and prefects were set to patrol, which I found both scary and exciting. Nothing happened that I know of, though.

Hufflepuff finally had a party and a secret santa gift exchange. My secret santa was Cheryl, so I made her some biscuits iced and shaped to look like badgers and mushrooms. They turned out quite well, if I do say so myself! She said she liked the colour black and sweets, so hopefully she approved!

My secret santa got me a new snow globe with a pretty tree inside, a crystal ball, and some other things, so I can definitely say that whoever it was knows me very well! I always welcome more snow globes and crystals for my collection. The crystal ball is orange, too, so it looks like a fire trapped in a ball.

It was also my birthday that weekend, the 8th of December. I didn’t really do anything about it, except take the day to actually relax. My family sent me some birthday wishes, some sweets and a few presents, but I’ve decided I wanted to wait until I was home to throw a true party. I want my parents there for it, you know?

I actually just sent out all the invitations yesterday, when we got home. Our owl has been very busy lately! I also sent a letter to the Headmistress regarding that letter she had sent me about wanting to meet, and I invited her and Deputy Headmistress Blightly for tea with me and my parents. Oh! And I must say, they both looked absolutely stunning at the prefect fete, and the Yule Ball! I hope that one day I can look that beautiful and elegant.

My dress was more plain in comparison. But at least I was able to get Bonnie’s help with it, because she helped me make lace faerie wings that were enchanted to flutter, and she also coloured my hair pink! I wanted to be the sugar plum faerie, so I guess in a way, I got one of the things I’d wished for at the fete! I was so inspired, that I wrote a poem about the sugar plum faerie:

“Twirling in a flurry of snowflakes

Dreaming in a starry haze

The sugar plum faerie with glittering wings

Sweetens the snow on these wintry days”

Anyways, back to the Yule Ball. I must write everything about that, so I remember it forever! Firstly, everyone got to vote on these awards that they give out at the beginning of the dance. I voted Bonnie for four different things, and she actually won two of them! She won the awards for best spellcaster and for most likely to become minister of magic! I was so proud!

Also, Professor Gallo won the award for most inspiring professor, which was named after Headmaster Fox! I nearly cried at that! I love so many of the professors here, but Gallo has been one of my absolute favourites since I first met him. Also, Marigold won the award for most uh… Congenial, I think was the word, which means she’s very friendly to everyone and has a lovely smile (I think that’s what it means, anyways) and I found that to be very fitting, too. Persephone Vitrac won the Grand Sorceress award, and Ruby’s… Cousin, I think? Won Grand Sorcerer.

Ruby and I danced for most of the night, and ate sweets. He tried to show me how to dance, but I was terrified of messing up and hurting him or myself or even someone else with my clumsiness. Ruby says he’ll teach me how to do ballet like he does. I have my doubts that it’ll be successful, I think I’m pretty hopeless, but he seems to believe in me!

He wore pretty white flowers in his hair and white and grey suit that looked sort of vintage. Snow was enchanted to sort of float off from the flowers, which I thought looked very pretty. Oh, and the great hall looked stunning, also! Everything was frosty and white, and there were penguins everywhere, wobbling around and sliding across ice!

A girl named Charlotte who is a Gryffindor Alumni sung for all of us. She was gorgeous! She wore a sparkling costume and had a voice like honey wine... not that I know what honey wine is, mind, I’ve just heard good singing voices described that way. The night sort of flew by, I couldn’t believe how quickly it ended.

And then, it was time to get back on the Hogwarts Express and go home. One of these years, I’d like to stay at Hogwarts for the holidays, but… Not this year. I miss home, and I miss my family, and I got to bring Ruby with me!

On the train ride home, the Owl Post sent out an article filled with candygrams which were basically nice messages people gave to each other for the Owl Post to share, and I guess you also give a candy cane to whomever you wrote to. I feel bad that I forgot to do it! It’s just as well, though, no one wrote to me, so I guess I don’t have to feel guilty about it.

When we got home, I found out that dad has a new girlfriend! Her name is Genevieve. She’s also a witch, but I forgot to ask her what her house was. She has very long, pretty red hair that sort of fades into a soft blonde, and I’m honestly quite envious of her hair colour. She always wears sparkly makeup, and she has a lot of freckles which I love! I love freckles and dimples. She is very nice, I like her a lot! I look forward to getting to know her better. Apparently, she knows a lot about faeries!

Once we were settled, I talked to Genevieve and dad about school and I showed them Venus and told them about how I found her in the dungeons. Dad was actually quite annoyed with me that I now had three pets instead of just the one, so we compromised and decided to keep Venus at home. Dad doesn’t like her because she’s a rat, but Genevieve loves her! So that works out. I get to keep Puck and Cornelius, and bring them back to school whenever we return to Hogwarts, since Puck kind of does his own thing in the castle and I can keep Cornelius in my bag or pocket.

I think that’s just about everything there is to catch up on! My birthday party will be in two days - on Thursday, and I’ve been trying to find and make the perfect things for it. You know, it doesn’t really feel like my birthday, maybe because everything around the house is green instead of white and snowy, from my dad keeping things warm with weather charms. That’ll work for the party at least, so my guests won’t be cold! Anyways, I hear Ruby stirring, so I think it’s time to wake up and make breakfast.

Much love, Everly

About the Character: Everlina Rosemary Kindred is an imaginative Hufflepuff attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She keeps up with her magical journey through a series of diary entries, dream journals, and tarot readings, all documented for future reflection. Her diary is a small glimpse into her enchanted life, and her adventure into the wizarding world and all its splendors. If you’d like more information about Eve, visit her wiki page.

About the Author: My name is Katherine! I am a 21-year-old Hufflepuff & Pukwudgie from Louisville, Kentucky. This page is my creative journey into the magical world, through the lenses of Second Life. Here I post diary entries, dream journals, and tarot readings all from my character’s perspective. If you’d like more information about me, visit my Flickr!

#hufflepuff #witch #diary #magic #harry potter #hogwarts #journal #witchy #secondlife #mischief managed

3 notes · View notes

xdaughter-of-bloodyfacex · 4 years

Text

Time knows no bounds

The summer before Elizabeth turned sixteen she reluctantly agreed to visit this family of hers in New Orleans. This Coven of witches in which until a year ago she had no idea she was part. After a few tests of Divination, Pyrokinesis, and Concilium, her distant cousin and Supreme Fiona Goode insisted that she come to their academy at least for the summer.

The idea of leaving Derry filled her with a heavy heart most of all there was a particular boy that could hardly remember a night in which they didn’t climb into one another’s windows to spend the night.

Stanley had been her best friend for years. The only person she found herself letting into the warped and tormented memories and trauma of her past. Yet, he didn’t leave. She might have been young but she knew she loved him. It was just hard for her to say - everyone she loved always hurt her in the end. Maybe that’s the reason she never told him about that summer and why she couldn’t tell him that the Coven had plans for her; what she could do? He knew she could heal minor cuts and invoke nasty blood curses on those who tried to hurt her friends, but she kept it at a minimum. He was too much of a rationalist to absorb everything that she was - the last thing she wanted was for him to be afraid of her.

That summer had changed her and opened her eyes to a world that most people couldn’t comprehend, and the things they were having her do. Testing her even though she was younger than most of the girls. She still woke up in cold sweat screaming from those times Fiona had her perform and test her for the seven wonders. Descensum was one of those so-called wonders, and even though she made it out from the netherworld, she remembers her hell so vividly it was like she was there again. Standing beside her father in their basement as he hands her the knife, urging her to cut into the flesh of a terrified tied up woman.

‘I’m not doing it...’ She’d protest only to have her father chuckle at her like she was five years old. It’s not bad after the first cut - then it feels good.’ As he proceeds to take her hand in his hand slice it through the unknown woman’s flesh. Seeing the light leave her eyes - she screamed while the voice of Oliver Thredson next to her mused You are my daughter. My legacy...’

When she was back home in Derry it was hard to explain to Stan why she woke like that every time. Not one to seek comfort or pity, she took it as a feat - here she was fifteen years old and was able to survive the most dangerous of the seven wonders. She had mastered how to find her way through hell and purgatory to reunite her spirit with her body. A few older ones weren’t so lucky and perished before her eyes.

While Robichaux was a place in which she found herself around others that have gifts like her. She found out that there had been many witches that made history - Anne Boleyn, Empress Josephine Bonaparte, Lilith, Morgan Le Faye, among others. She found out Marie Laveau was very much still alive and that the so-called White Witch was real and actually a member of a very famous seventies band. Then, there were times when even then she knew that she wasn’t like the rest. Not really; and her father wasn’t the only reason. The way that Fiona and Myrtle looked at her when she found a crushed hawk on the ground as they took a walk through the woods. Thinking of Stan and how much seeing this beautiful bird dead, the white-haired girl cradled it in her arms and just willed that its bones would heal, that its heart would beat and the blood would flow through its veins. Elizabeth hadn’t realized what she even did until she felt it peck at her fingers and she looked at it with a gaping mouth - it wasn’t just healed - she completely undid the damage that was done.

Then came the ability that had brought her to this current moment. Tempus Infinituum - Myrtle watched her in classes from the shadows with a look that she could only describe as fascination. One day after class which involves turning the color of a flower to what you willed, the red-haired matron pulled her aside. “Elizabeth, you have been excelling in every task we throw at you...” The words came casually. “It’s a pity we can’t convince you to stay here where you belong, with people who understand you...”

‘You don’t know me. You don’t know me at all...’ she thought but gave the woman a smile “Thanks but - I can’t - I can’t leave Derry...there’s...I won’t leave the family I made there...(I won’t leave Stan...)”

“Ah yes, that rather nice foster family...” Myrtle gave her a knowing look that only made her frown. “In any case, that’s not the reason I came to pester you, dear, I have been watching you and the things you have done. I believe your gift might involve the manipulation of time...”

Effie looked at her like she was crazy “Like being able to time travel - that doesn’t even sound real, even after everything I’ve witnessed here in this past month...”

“Technically it hasn’t ever been proven. It was an old Salem myth that proceeded back to a time I don’t know when. Those who have tried have died-“

Died. Well, that was a very forward way of putting things to the girl. Still, Elizabeth has never been one to care about taking risks that could get her killed. Stan was that voice of reason she listened to and he wasn’t there. “So I’m your test dummy?” The white-haired girl crossed her arms over her chest with an amused look on her face. Before Myrtle could sputter an excuse, Effie held up a hand “I’ll do it.”

It wasn’t something that Effie was sure she regretted or was glad that she did. Sitting in a bathtub fully clothed in candlelight while Myrtle chanted the words “Balneum Infinitum. Dona salui conductus...Tempus Infinituum" Over and over again until the water started to bubble and she was plunged into another time. A place the older witch wanted her to go. A mission to stop something that had happened nearly a hundred years ago. A cellar - a language she didn’t understand and a family about to be massacred. Young Anastasia Romanov crouched in the corner desperately trying to perform a protection spell on her and her family. Given the task of saving a fellow witch from the firing squad which only ended in failure and the girl emerging from the water screaming, blood pouring from her eyes and nose. She couldn’t leave them to die - she had to go back. She failed.

That’s not how myrtle saw it though and in secret this was performed many times. So much blood and pain and her body felt the after-effects but still, she persisted because failure wasn’t in her nature.

Soon enough it was time for school to begin in Derry and her sixteenth birthday. Coming back it was hard to separate what she had endured from the normal life she tried to lead there. She was haunted by what she wasn’t able to achieve as well as the words that Myrtle said the day she left.

“Fiona is growing weaker. It means a new Supreme is coming into her power - I wouldn’t get too comfortable with that life you have in Maine dear - we are positive the next Supreme is you...”

Not sure what the words meant, Elizabeth felt sick to her stomach and trapped in some sort of destiny she didn’t want a part of. Not if it meant leaving the only person she let herself love after her father.

In the presence of the losers, she was her old self if not a bit more reckless. The one person who really knew what went on in New Orleans was Richie who was basically the male version of herself. When she told him of what they made her do, especially the time travel - the boy was eager to see her do it.

One night when they were hanging out, he took her aside while the others were busy playing a game “You should show me that time travel thing you can do.”

“What? Why? I’d get all wet and it’s freezing outside.” The girl pointed out as the fall had flown by and they were in the midst of a freezing Maine winter.

“I want you to see what I’m going to be when I’m older like older. If I get the hell out of here...”

“Rich... I’ve only gone back in time - never in the future.”

The boy just shrugged “I think you can do it and if something happens I’ll pull you out okay?”

Glancing at the others who didn’t even realize they were gone, she looked back to the tall, gangly boy “With everyone here? What if something happens and they walk in and on I don’t know to see me doing a spell.”

Richie thought for a moment “Doesn’t Stan know?”

“Yeah, only a little bit. He doesn’t know everything I can do. You know he wouldn’t be able to process it and the others surely wouldn’t either.”

“Well it’s fucking hard for me to as well and to keep my mouth shut at the fact that one of my best friends is this powerful witch - it’s like your a superhero.”

“And they keep their identities secret. Besides word gets around - there’s already rumors from what I did to Greta...”

“That cunt deserved it...”

“Yeah, but you don’t think these backward old-timers weren’t thinking it strange how she started throwing up blood and convulsing at my feet? Yeah, it’s the 90’s but this place - Who knows if there would be a lynching squad...and I don’t want people looking at me like that...”

“Like what?”

“Terrified...”

After some more pleading, she reluctantly agreed and they snuck off upstairs; Richie with an arm full of candles from his parents' bedroom in his hands. Effie, taking one last glance at Stan who seemed to be looking around for her.

While Richie lit the candles, Elizabeth turned the water on and filled the bathtub, adding some ingredients she kept in her messenger bag into the water.

“Uh, you don’t have to ...like get naked do you?” He asked awkwardly.

“Fuck no.”. She retorted “Fully clothed, once again another misconception about witches - we don’t all strip naked and dance under the full moon.”

“Well, I didn’t fucking know...” Effie put a hand up to shush him as she took off her shoes and stepped into the tub, sitting down and crossing her arms pharaoh style against herself.

When the candles were lit, Richie turns the lights off and stood at the door. “Now what?”

“shh, I have to take myself to another place mentally.” Which caused the boy to roll his eyes. Then she began to chant the same chant Myrtle taught her “Balneum infinitum. Dona salui conductus...Tempus Infinituum" It didn’t take long this time for the air to change in the room and the candles to flicker wildly out of control. Out of instinct, Richie took a step towards her “Jesus fuck...”

She focused on the future and the friend standing lookout. Thinking of him as older, probably not wiser - older - like their parents' age. That was when the water began to boil and the candle flame intensified like kerosene was poured on them.

“Holy shit...” was the last words she heard- before she said the final “Tempus Infinituum...” and went under.

It was night time and she found herself standing outside of the Chinese restaurant in Derry. Time had passed - cars looked a lot cooler, but it didn’t give her much insight as to what she wanted Richie to find. If she was in Derry still, did that mean he got stuck here? Fuck - that would blow to tell him that. Then suddenly a group of people practically ran from the Jade in shock and fear. Her heart tugged at the sight of them because she knew - it was them. It was her friends. Snapping to her senses, Elizabeth ran and hid behind a car within the hearing range. They were upset and freaking out - It had come back. It was feeding again, killing. They didn’t want to be there but they made a promise. The white-haired girl heard the words “what the fuck does guess Stan couldn’t cut it mean?” and the hairs on the back of her neck stood up. She didn’t need to hear anymore - the drop in her stomach was apparent - Stan, her amazing Stan wasn’t in the realm of the living anymore. Feeling sick to her stomach, Effie poked her head up to look at the six and then she noticed it. Eddie - the neighbor boy who was the brother she needed to protect - he had a hazed halo surrounding him. Death was near and Eddie would soon join the boy she loved.

Suddenly the horror turned to anger and before she could control herself using transmutation, the white-haired girl found herself standing in the water of the barrens. “Come out here and show yourself you son of a bitch...” she yelled, hands clenching and unclenching in fury. She could feel the fire at her fingertips. ‘ It killed Stan, it killed Stan... Eddie...Georgie...all those children.”

She knew it was watching her, stupidly thinking she was prey.

“I call forth on the witches from the shade, those who came before me and died so that I may live and rise to power.” The wind began to pick up and that’s when she saw the clown standing on the water.

“You think you can stop me?” The drool dripped down its chin as it looked at her hungrily. “I am the eater of worlds and of children and what are you?”

“The witch who is going to end you for killing the only person I love...” Effie spat.

“Oh, You mean Stan? He was so weak and easy - just a little push and poof! He takes a bath and slits his wrists cause he knows he can’t beat me.”

The words stung and she faltered for a moment, then the anger rose up again as she began chanting “Turpis et infernos in terris pariunt. Et furniture verba haec locutus sum vobis...”

With her eyes didn’t leave the creature she could sense the fear it had in which she was doing so on instinct It lunged after her only to be burned when Elizabeth raised her hands turning the water into fire instantaneously.

It scampered back away from her “You...you wield the power of nature...it’s not fair it’s not so ...”

“You god damn right I am, and I’m coming back for you and you're going to burn in hellfire, so remember my name Elizabeth, descendant of Salem and child of Gaia, of Artemis, and Lilith will be the one to destroy you...”

She could feel herself fading back - she knew what her mission was. What she’d use her gifts for and she’d do it again and make it right - all if it meant she’d save him - save them all.

“What the hell is going on Richie?” She could hear Stan yelling but that was cut off as emerged from the water screaming bloody murder, her socks kept sliding but she couldn’t get out of that tub fast enough. Looking up at Stan and Richie, she could tell by the paled expression on their faces that blood was running from her eyes and nose. She was confused and incoherent and god did she feel like she was going to pass out, but hearing Stan’s voice, she looked up at him all she could think about was the fact that he was going to die. Not now, but that son of a bitch of a clown that tormented him for years would do him in. Not seeing his face, or his smile, his laugh. For the first time, she could recall she started crying as she practically leaped into his arms. She couldn’t tell him what was wrong and the way she clung to him for days afterward which was something that Stan definitely wasn’t used to.

All she could think about is that she needed to stop this. She had to warn him but not now, not at this age. She also had to kill that clown.

That was when she decided death or not she was going to go into the future again, this time before anyone got hurt and take care of it then and there.

(This is - well i don’t know what this is. It’s been in my head for days and I had to write it out)

That’s how she got here. Elizabeth didn’t necessarily have a guide book for doing this spell this way so when she found herself in a warmer climate that wasn’t Derry, she was beyond confused. Eventually, though, the white-haired girl found that she was in Atlanta, Georgia. It was a bit too close to Robichaux but at that point, she didn’t care. She was sent to this city for a reason. It was the beginning of 2017 which meant that she had time. She had to figure out what to do in the meantime so Elizabeth did the only logical thing. She went undercover and became a typical seventeen-year-old girl in 2017. It was a lot easier with magic in the mix. She went by Lizzie and aside from her mission, things weren’t that bad. Her father was long dead and there weren’t any witches coming to take her away to run their stupid coven.

It was a month and a half into her steak-out and honestly she still wasn’t sure as to how she was going to even tell an adult Stan that it would be coming back and that he’d be contacted by one of the other losers to go back. To tell him not to harm himself or to leave this place. That she’d kill it.

She figured he forgot all about her by now, for all she knew Fiona probably croaked and now she was heading the academy but someone else’s will but her own. Probably married with kids and some kind of job that totally fits him. That feeling left a hole in her stomach and even though she was a kid - she never thought of being away from him. It was part of the reason she didn’t go searching and instead tried to distract herself with this life she was playing currently.

It was one day in March that she was leaving the high school she went to downtown (because she had to blend in ergo school was a must), that she decided to wander down to the business section for the hell of it. It wasn’t like she wanted to go back to the motel she stayed in anyways. Her eyes were lowered to this newest gadget called an iPhone. Who would have known the future has such cool devices. Then there was this thing called youtube that she found herself obsessed with and these things called apps. That was when she bumped into someone and caught her phone just before it hit the ground. “Fuck, sorry man.” She replied but as she looked up her eyes widened in shock. There he was - only he was older and had reading glasses on. It was Stan. There was no doubt in her mind that he knew exactly who she was when he saw her. Everything seemed frozen at that moment and she wasn’t sure what to say. Did she tell him now and leave? It was still too soon, the moment wasn’t right. Elizabeth wasn’t sure when the last time he even has seen her. Was it the night she decided to perform Tempus Infinituum and come here to stop him?

Ignoring her feelings and how weird everything felt she blurted out the words “Look, if you get a call from Derry - don’t answer it and don’t do anything.”

@glassmenagerieofmuses

#here it is #told you it was long #Like the longest drabble or whatever i wrote ever

1 note · View note

duggardata · 6 years

Text

At–A–Glance: Joy–Anna + Austin

Here we are again for At–A–Glance, a series of posts summarizing the Duggars relationships, to date. Earlier, we looked at the most newlyweds, Joe + Kendra. Today, it’s onto the second most newlyweds, the Forsyths.

Met c. 2002 | Courting 8–1–16 (?) | Engaged 3–2–17 | Married 5–26–17

Joy–Anna Duggar is Jim Bob + Michelle’s ninth child, and fifth daughter. Born October 28, 1997—right after Joe and Josiah, and right before Jed, Jer, Jason, James, Justin, and Jackson—Joy was the only girl in a string of eight brothers. (Maybe that’s why she was such a tomboy, growing up.) As a child, Joy was on older–sister Jill’s “buddy team,” along with James (b. 2001) and Jenni (b. 2007). After Jill’s marriage in 2014, Joy, then 16, took over as that team’s ‘sister mom.’ On the Duggars’ website, Joy lists her ‘future plans’ as “missions, politics, and be[ing] a wife and mother.”

Joy’s beau, Austin Martyn Forsyth, was born to Terry and Roxanne Forsyth on December 13, 1993. The ‘baby’ of a relatively small family, Austin has one older sister, Meagan, and two older half–siblings from his father’s first marriage. (Terry divorced in 1982.) Austin’s upbringing was, apparently, quite rigid: The Forsyths openly embrace the Pearls’ method of abusive ‘child training,’ and appeared on CMT’s “Worlds Strictest Parents.” Austin’s parents own Fort Rock Family Camp & Retreat Center in Combs, Arkansas, and Austin might be employed there. He is also a house flipper, and has a pilot’s license (1:34).

Click for the rest of JoyStin’s story...

First Meeting c. 2003

Joy + Austin met when Joy was 5 Years old, and Austin was 8, per the Counting On episode “Tomboy Joy” and this video. More than likely, it happened in 2003: Austin turned eight on December 13, 2002, and Joy turned six in October 2003. Apparently, they met at church.

On a TLC video, Joy said that while she “remembered [the Forsyth] family,” she didn’t remember Austin “in particular” until about 2012. She gave a very similar account on Counting On, saying—

“When we first met I was probably, like, five. But [Austin] didn’t come start hanging out at our house until about five years ago [c. 2012], um, when he got his driver’s license and he started coming and playing football with my brothers a lot.” (Episode: “Tomboy Joy”)

By contrast, Joy hasn’t consistently described her first impressions of her now–husband. On Counting On (“Tomboy Joy”), said said: “When I first met Austin I actually didn’t really like him that much. ... Yeah, I didn’t think a whole lot about him.” Contradicting herself, Joy later said: “Around the time I first met [Austin], I started liking him.”

Pre–Courtship Spring 2016 (?) to 8–1–16 (?) | Approx. 4 Months (?)

It’s not even clear, exactly, when Joy + Austin began courting, and establishing a timeline for their “special friends” phase of the relationship is even harder.

That said, Counting On gives a couple clues. Notably, check out this clip, of the scene where shows Jim Bob his ready–to–list fifth ‘flip’ and asks for Joy’s hand in marriage. You’ll notice that, while he’s doing the whole act–like–I’m–shocked routine, J. B. says to Austin: “I think it was about a year ago that you came and asked me ... permission to get to know Joy on a closer, friendship level.”

I don’t think J. B. is talking about Austin’s request to court Joy, since he said “a closer, friendship level.” So, Austin probably asked if he could informally “get to know” Joy, like Jeremy did with Jinger...

...and apparently, Austin did this about a year before asking to marry Joy. While we don’t know exactly when Austin asked for Joy’s hand in marriage, I think it’s fair to assume that it wasn’t long before he proposed in March 2017. So, maybe they started pre–courting in March 2016.

Also, on Counting on (and in this clip), Austin said he first developed feelings for Joy “when [he] was in Mississippi at flight school.” We know, from an Instagram post, that Austin was at flight school on September 6, 2016... But I sort of don’t think that he sent Joy flowers immediately after realizing he was into her. So, I’ll assume he’s been to flight school multiple times. (Plus, it makes sense... I don’t think you can learn to fly a plane with just a one–time class.) Honestly, I have no idea when Austin might have attended pilot’s training. What I do know, however, is that, in May 2017, Joy recalled that Austin first showed interest in her “about a year [before].” All and all, I’d say they started pre–courting in Spring 2016.

If anyone knows (or has a guess about) where Austin attended flight school, let me know!

Courtship August 1, 2016 (?) to 3–2–17 | 213 Days (?)

Neither TLC, nor the Duggar family, nor JoyStin, has ever specified the date that the courtship began. Common lore puts it in November 2016, just prior to TLC’s official reveal. Screen titles on Counting On seem to back this up...

I don’t buy it, however; as I made clear in this post, I think they started courting a lot earlier, on August 1, 2016. Since the actual date JoyStin began courting is unknown, let’s take a look the data for my speculated date as well as 11–15–16 (the date TLC announced) and see how this courtship stacks up. (I’ve excluded Joy + Austin’s data from all of the rest of the calculations on this post, since we are analyzing their relationship.)

Duration

Excluding Joy + Austin, the average courtship (i.e., Courtship – Proposal) is 154 Days long, with a standard deviation (S.D.) of 110 Days. If you prefer median–based analysis, the median courtship is 127 Days, with a M.A.D. of ~70 (69.68) Days. (As always, I’ve assuming a normal distribution and multiplying the actual MAD by a consistency constant of 1.4826.) With this data, we can calculate our Probable and Near–Certain Ranges...

Probable Range (68% of Data Within)

Based on Mean: 44–264 Days

Based on Median: 57–197 Days

Near–Certain Range (95% of Data Within)

Based on Mean: 0–374 Days*

Based on Median: 0–267 Days*

*Note that the low end of both ranges went below 0. Since it’s not possible to court for a negative number of days, I’ve just put 0.

We know that Joy + Austin got engaged on March 2, 2017. So, if they started courting on August 1, 2016—as I theorize—that’s a 213 Day Courtship. That is within the Mean–Based Probable Range, but outside the Median–Based Range. (The Median–Based Range is not as skewed by Jessa + Ben’s lengthy 336 Day Courtship, since it resists high and low values.) It is, however, within with Near–Certain Range for both metrics. All in all, it wouldn’t be an abnormal courtship, especially since Joy’s young age may have led her to a slightly longer courtship.

So, what about the November 15, 2016 date? That’s the day TLC revealed Joy + Austin’s courtship. If they began courting that very day, their courtship would have been 107 Days long. This is extremely close to the mean courtship length of 110 Days, and it’s within the Probable Range for both metrics.

Overall, it’s a pretty run–of–the–mill courtship, in terms of duration.

Announcement Timing

Let’s talk about the announcement. If Joy + Austin started courting on August 1, 2016, that means they waited a whopping 106 Days to announcement it. In this post, I speculate that a late announcement makes sense for JoyStin, due to her young age and November sweeps. Also, it’s not that weird to wait so long...

On average, Duggars wait 42 Days, or 6 Weeks, to announce a new courtship. This varies quite a bit, however; the S.D. is 59 Days. Doing the math, a Duggar will probably announce a courtship within 101 Days, and is almost certain to do so within 160 Days. JoyStin are just a hair (5 Days) outside the Probable Range, and well within the 95% Range.

If they began courting in August, the delay in announcing was a bit unusual, but by no means an outlier.

Engagement 3–2–17 to 5–26–17 | 85 Days

Joy + Austin got engaged on March 2, 2017. One day later, US Weekly reported the news in an exclusive article. Later, Counting On featured JoyStin’s proposal on the episode “Joy Gets Engaged,” which originally aired on July 10, 2017.

Austin’s proposal was simple but sweet: He took Joy (and Johannah and Jenni, as chaperones) horseback riding. Joy–Anna didn’t see the proposal coming, but accepted when Austin popped the question in a beautiful, woodsy spot.

Duration

The Forsyths tied the knot on May 26, 2017, so we know that their engagement lasted exactly 85 Days, which is quite close to the Duggar average of 93 Days. (So no, this wasn’t a shotgun wedding. It was a long or average courtship, and a typical–length engagement.)

Announcement Timing

JoyStin waited only one day to announce their engagement. Up until this point, the Duggar average was 4 Days—but honestly, that was due entirely to Derick + Jill, who waited 11 Days to announce. (Josh + Anna didn’t really announce at all, and Jessa + Ben and Jinger + Jeremy both waited only 1 Day.) So, while the Forsyths technically tied for quickest announcement, it was really not at all odd for them to announce so quickly.

Marriage 5–26–17 | Friday

Finally, the Joy + Austin said “I do” on Friday, May 26, 2017, at Cross Church in Rogers, Arkansas. (As y’all may recall that Jill also married at Cross Church, but it wasn’t the exact same one. Cross Church has multiple “campuses,” and Jill + Derick used Springdale, while JoyStin used Pinnacle Hills.) PEOPLE exclusively reported on the wedding the evening–of.

For the nuptials, Joy wore a Renée Miller–designed lace gown, which combined elements of several different gowns, while Austin wore a navy blue suit and gray tie. Like the Dillards and Joseph + Kendra, Joy + Austin did a ‘first look,’ seeing each other before Joy’s walk down the aisle.

Joy’s twelve bridesmaids included, among others—Jana, Jessa, Jinger, Hannie, Jenni, Anna, Kendra, and long–time–friend Carlin Bates. Jill was Joy’s matron–of–honor. The bridesmaids wore simple, navy blue dresses. Meanwhile, Austin’s thirteen groomsmen—including John David Duggar—wore gray suits and navy blue ties.

After the wedding, the newlyweds honeymooned in Switzerland.

Overall, Joy was the fifth Duggar to court, get engaged, and marry. ...Next up in At–A–Glance: Jinger + Jeremy!

#joy duggar #joy forsyth #austin forsyth #duggar #duggar family #fundie #wedding #engagement #courtship #at a glance

6 notes · View notes

athyrabunlord · 7 years

Text

LLSHP 13 - Fallen

Arc1: [Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] [Chapter 4] [Chapter 5] [Chapter 6] [Chapter 7]

Arc2: [Chapter 8] [Chapter 9] [Chapter 10] [Chapter 11] [Chapter 12] [Chapter 13] [Chapter 14]

Arc3: [Chapter 15 - Under The Black Lake (TBD)]

Interlude: [Carbonado (1)] [Carbonado (2)] [Of Feathers and Wind] [Delphinus (teaser blip)]

[Brief note about School Term] [other LLSHP AU stuff] [YohaMaRuby concept arts] [ChikaYouRiko concept arts] [KanaDiaMari concept arts] [Hogwarts Staff]

[FFN link] (finished the interludes!) [Pixiv Link]

A/N: Here we are, number 13, also this story’s title (sort of). I’m pleased to be able to finish this chapter barely before Season2 starts. I’m proud to have made it here, thanks to you all awesome supporters! Anyway, won’t say much except this chapter definitely focuses on our beloved narrator. Any feedback is appreciated! Words: 6,279

Yoshiko throws her backpack at the corner of the room, and winces at the loud noise. She has every intention to throw a tantrum, to vent out her stress and frustration, or even scream into the pillow.

Yet her anger at the world drains away the longer she stands in the middle of the room. A flood of helplessness hits her then, her throat aching and her eyes stinging. Wearily, she slides down against the wall, hugging her knees against her chest. She takes a deep breath and stares blankly at the wall.

Is this what her life is going to be like?

She’s only starting middle school, a bit too young to be worrying about life, but the despair tends to rear its ugly head from the corner of her mind whenever she is alone.

Which is often enough.

She grew up at the orphanage along with a dozen other kids. People came and went, some adopted by childless couples or were picked up by their distant relatives. Yoshiko Tsushima have no such luck. All she had of her family was a surname that she wasn’t even sure belonged to her.

She was told that her parents perished in a car crash, as were many of the other kids. Accidents, unfortunate events and whatnot, something that kids were too young to understand and no longer questioned as they grew into teenagers. When she was younger, Yoshiko had spent a great deal of her time fantasizing her possible background. Perhaps she was of royal lineage, or had really cool parents who were just too busy helping the world like the superheroes in movies.

Maybe, just maybe, her parents were angels and she had inadvertently fallen from the celestial realms, thus stuck as a mortal and unable to return to where she belongs.

What else could explain the things she could do? There’s no scientific explanation behind how she could sometimes cause small flares to blaze on candles with a simple wave of her hand, or how she could end up on the roof when she was on the ground just a moment ago.

Alas, that’s also why she is ostracized by her peers and even the adults in her life.

She trusts no one but herself. People can pretend to be nice because they always, always have an ulterior motive. That’s the harsh truth she’s learned growing up.

She tries to blend in, be normal so she doesn’t stand out. Maybe in time, her abilities would fade away and she would finally become a normal kid.

But that’s not what she truly wants. Deep down, she’s always yearned to be acknowledged for herself, that her special powers are something to be admired instead of to be frowned upon.

Instead of being forced to go to see those horrible psychiatrists or counselors.

Sighing shakily, she buries her face in her palms. Earlier today at school, she’s slipped up and preached to her new classmates about little demons, fallen angels and whatnot. There goes the dream of having an ideal school life, just when she’s finally graduated elementary school and was able to move to a new school district too!

Upon hearing a knock on her door, she cringes and resigns herself to another dragging reprimand from the orphanage’s matron. She just hopes the matron wouldn’t force her to go see a psychiatrist again.

She’s normal! There’s nothing wrong with her!

Frowning, she looks up and peers at the small mirror on her desk. Her own reflection stares back at her, a lost and unhappy girl.

Yoshiko smiles wryly.

Well, who’s she to say that there’s nothing wrong with her?

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

“Tsushima, there is someone who’s here to see you.”

Though scowling, Yoshiko reins in her displeasure at having her ritual interrupted. There’s going to be a full moon tonight, so she plans to have all the materials prepared and ready to go as soon as night falls. This is the newest black magic ritual that she manages to discover on a forum she frequents, one of the few things she looks forward to during this dreadful summer break.

The younger kids go to the playgrounds, while the only girl closest to her age has an outing with her friends. What’s a fallen angel got to do in this dormitory-like orphanage?

Oddly, the matron’s placid expression has a hint of apprehension, which in turn makes Yoshiko nervous as well as she descends the stairs. Just who could this guest be? No one ever visits her at the orphanage, except for the few times school officials had to drop by due to her ‘disruptions in class’.

Maybe, a long lost relative has finally found her and she could leave this hellhole?

The moment she steps into the living room, she knows there’s something different about the visitor. The woman is tall and dressed sharply in an expensive suit, adding to her already austere aura. Her crimson wavy hair is tied in a gentleman’s ponytail with a royal blue ribbon, and her piercing violet eyes seem to glimmer behind her monocle. Everything about this stranger is formidable, that any hint of disrespect would not be forgiven.

Even the matron, the scariest person Yoshiko knows, appears to be in awe of this lady.

“This is her, Yoshiko Tsushima.”

Yoshiko stands a bit straighter, averting her eyes even as she feels the redhead’s oppressive gaze sweeps over her.

“I trust you have read the letter and understand its contents?” The woman says coolly to the matron.

“Yes, I have, but I still don’t understand how she could’ve gotten in such a prestigious school-”

“That is none of your concern,” the redhead stands up gracefully. “I will be briefing her as we go acquire her school supplies. Expect us to be back prior to dinnertime.”

Yoshiko glances between them and, after a forceful nod from the matron, she hurries after the stranger. She hasn’t missed the slight relief from the matron’s expression.

That old hag… she’s probably happy to finally be getting rid of me! But wait, where am I going anyway? What is this about a school-?

“Hogwarts provides dormitory and meals for its students, so you do not have to return here during the holidays if you wish.”

Blinking, Yoshiko dares to peer up at the tall woman. “Hogwarts huh… I don’t think I’ve heard of it, and I don’t remember applying there? H-How did I get selected?”

“Have you not wondered why you can do certain things when others can’t?”

“You’re not-! I knew it! T-This Hogwarts, it’s just a fancy name for the crazy people isn’t it!” Yoshiko glares fearfully at the stranger, hating how pitiful her voice sounds. “An institution for freaks! Well, I ain’t going there, I’m normal like everyone else!”

For the first time since her arrival, the crimson-haired lady’s severe expression softens. “Of course, it is up to you to decide whether you wish to attend Hogwarts or not, though I would think that you’d jump at any opportunity to leave this place?”

“I do! B-But, I’m not… I don’t want to be-”

“You’re not a freak, but you are indeed special.” They are still within the residential area, and there aren’t any passing cars or people then. With a flick of her wrist, a small wooden stick slides out of holster under the woman’s cuff. Smiling faintly, she does some sort of motion with the stick and a flower on the nearby lawn changes into a raven!

Yoshiko gapes at the woman, who gestures with the stick again and transforms the bird back to a flower.

“That, is a magic spell cast by a wand. I am a witch, Tsushima-san,” she says evenly at the flabbergasted teenager. “And so are you.”

“I am a witch-?”

“Yes. At the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, you will learn all about magic and study with the rest of our kind, fellow witches and wizards. Well then, Tsushima-san, what is your decision?”

Yoshiko stares at the wand, an ordinary-looking stick that oozes with unknown power. As outlandish as it sounds, she’s just seen magic being performed with her own eyes! To think, there’s actually an explanation for her powers, and that there are many, many other people who are just like her!

This is her chance to be normal, to be acknowledged for being herself, for being Yoshiko Tsushima!

“Yes! Hell yes, I’m so going to Hogwarts!!”

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

“13 inch, Yew and Unicorn Hair. Interesting.”

“Is that a good thing or bad thing?” Yoshiko is still in awe of her newly acquired wand, carefully cradling it against her chest. She couldn’t wait to cast awesome spells of course, but for the time being she just wants to hug it and make sure it’s safe within her grasp. It wouldn’t do if she drops it and damage it so soon after getting it!

“I cannot say. The wand chooses its master after all. It is up to you to bring out its potential.” Professor Nishikino, a teacher at Hogwarts as Yoshiko finds out, is rather cryptic yet frank in a way. She’s apparently quite well-known as well, since many folks at the Diagon Alley would greet her and stop for a chit-chat.

“Heh, just watch it, I will be the most awesome student Hogwarts has ever known!” Already, this magical place is making her mind whir but in a good way. If it weren’t for her constantly pinching her own cheeks and feeling the pain, she would’ve thought she’s dreaming! The Professor is nice enough to stop by each shop and allow her a certain time frame to inspect the items. She also answers any questions, even though Yoshiko realizes moments later how dumb some of them sounds.

Still, this is looking good! Her life is finally getting better!

“Well, unfortunately, I teach Astronomy, a course that’s offered to older students and I’m usually tied up with other matters,” the crimson-haired Professor pauses when she notices Yoshiko’s disappointed look. “Many of the staff members are my friends, I can vouch for them. They would be more than happy to help you out if you have any questions.”

“Oh… um, I’ll think about it,” Yoshiko tries to rein in her reluctance. In a way, the Professor is the one who frees her from the orphanage, hence she is more relaxed around the woman. However, she couldn’t see herself being as open with other adults, even if they are just as nice as the Professor.

“Don’t force yourself. I’m just saying that’s an option available to you if you wish,” the Professor’s sharp gaze is observant. “Or, perhaps, you’d find irreplaceable friends, ones you’d entrust your secrets to. There are endless possibilities at Hogwarts, Tsushima-san, so don’t worry too much and just be who you are. That’s one of the most valuable lessons I had learned during my time there as a student.”

“Y-Yeah? You think so?” Yoshiko drops her eyes to the ground and mumbles. “You think people would accept me?”

“That’s up to you, isn’t it?” The Professor’s lips curve in amusement. “For whatever accomplishments you wish to achieve there, you’ll have to obtain with your own hands. Trust in yourself, trust in your wand, the wand that has chosen you.”

“Right. It picked me for a reason! I won’t let it down!” Grinning, Yoshiko couldn’t contain her excitement anymore. She carefully peels away the wrapping around the wand and points it at the sky.

“Get ready, Hogwarts! Here comes the great fallen angel Yohane!”

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Raw anger, confusion and frustration render her immobile, making it difficult to breathe or even think. All she could do is stare at the two girls in front of her.

At Hanamaru’s calm expression.

At the look-alike’s smirk.

At the cherry wand in her hand. Riko’s wand.

Yoshiko grits her teeth and clenches her fists so hard that she could feel nails digging into her palms. How dare the imposter hold Lily’s wand. A wand chooses its master, yet this doppelganger, this self-proclaimed fallen angel has stolen it after hurting her precious sister-like figure so much…

How dare she just stand there?

How dare she call herself Yohane?

“What? Cat got your tongue?” The raven-haired girl giggles elegantly, those feathered wings shaking slightly along her mirth.

Lucifer growls beside Yoshiko’s head, the little creature’s warmth and sounds bolstering her courage. She licks her dry lips and speaks fiercely.

“Get away from Hanamaru.”

Yohane tilts her head and tugs the brunette even closer. “Hmm? But she wants to be here, don’t you?”

Hanamaru doesn’t reply, and she barely reacts when Yohane leans down to kiss her cheek.

“Get away from her!” Yelling, Yoshiko fires a Stunner at them only to have it deflected by Hanamaru’s immediate Shield Charm. “What are you doing, Zuramaru? Get away from that imposter!”

Hanamaru stares at her a moment before shaking her head.

“... what? Stop this sick joke already!”

No response.

“Hanamaru!”

Finally, the brunette’s placid expression wavers as she drops her gaze rather sorrowfully. “I’m so sorry, Yoshiko-chan.”

“H-Huh? Why are you… what do you… No, it’s you! It must be you!” Yoshiko aims her wand menacingly at this so-called Yohane. “You’ve cast a spell on her, haven’t you! Brainwashed her!”

“I may and may not have,” Yohane furls her wings behind her, her fingers whimsically tapping Riko’s wand. “The real question you should be asking is, when was a spell cast on her, hmm?”

Yoshiko recoils, her eyes wide.

Yohane smiles prettily, an innocent gesture that belies the malicious bite in her words. “Why do you think she naps so often? Sure, you can get tired from reading but, come on, haven’t you ever wondered why she’s always so tired?”

Yoshiko glances at Hanamaru helplessly, trying to recall all the times the Hufflepuff talked about feeling tired. She had always yawned and spoken in such a sleepy voice, and there were times when she had fallen asleep in the middle reading. Riko and sometimes even Dia drifted off from too much studying too, so none of them ever suspected otherwise.

“I wish I didn’t have to do it, prolonged exposure to Imperio causes a great deal of stress to the mind after all,” Yohane murmurs, her voice actually sounding apologetic as she caresses the brunette’s hair. “But I had to convince her, had to show her the truth.”

The Imperius Curse. One of the three Unforgivable Curses along with the Cruciatus Curse. As outraged as Yoshiko feels about this revelation, she is just as relieved to know that her girlfriend isn’t doing this willingly.

She’s being controlled. I must save her!

Yohane scoffs. “Heh, you’re probably thinking I’m controlling her? There’s no need for that anymore. She knows what’s at stake, she knows what needs to be done… don’t you?” Smirking, she nestles her chin against Hanamaru’s head.

Sparks of magic cackles at the tip of Yoshiko’s wand. “I said, get away from her!” She fires consecutive spells at her enemy again, scowling when none was able to get past Hanamaru’s Protego.

“She is mine.” Yohane’s expression darkens abruptly and familiar tendrils of magic seem to seep out from her wings. “Don’t you get it, you silly mortal? She belongs to me - she always has, ever since the day we met at the playground.”

Cold fear slithers down Yoshiko’s back at those words. In spite of Lucifer’s comforting croons, she finds herself taking a step back. “What did you just say-? No, I was the one who-”

“You are nothing,” Yohane lets out a deep sigh as she takes a step forward, the dark magic dissipating now that her demeanor has changed to that of pity. “Very well. You… you are still a part of me. It’ll be too horribly tragic if you were to be ignorant before your inevitable demise.”

“Just w-what are you saying?”

“Hmm, where do I even begin? Ah,” Yohane spreads her majestic wings and gestures at the dim chamber and damp walls. “Do you know where we are, O Lost One?”

“What’s that got to do-”

“We are at the Chamber of Secrets, built by the great Salazar Slytherin himself back when Hogwarts was first founded. You should care,” Yohane grins giddily, her vermillion eyes shimmering in pride and reverence. “I… well, we hail from the House of Slytherin after all.”

“Wha-? I thought we… I’m a Muggleborn-?” Her mind’s starting to get muddled from how Yohane talks about them. Are they related? Why does the word ‘we’ sound so singular?

“We practically are, yes. The blood has long diluted for who knows how many centuries… presumably, an exiled Squib from that bloodline had married a Muggleborn, and the magic had remained dormant until I came into existence. I was able to confirm my lineage because I am a Parseltongue. You, however, do not share the same ability, O Pitiful Clone.”

“What did you just call me?” Yoshiko’s voice trembles, her breaths becoming hitched when Hanamaru lowers her wand and closes her eyes sadly.

Yohane shrugs. “Anyway, it’s most unfortunate that I am unable to locate the famed Basilisk of the legends. It would’ve been cool to control the King of Snakes to my bidding, no? A beast of hell, a faithful demon for the great fallen angel!”

“Why are you telling me all this? I don’t care about any of this stuff!” Yoshiko tries to keep her hand steady, her wand never leaving its target. “Just who the hell are you!”

“I’ve already told you, I’m Yohane.”

“W-What’s that supposed to mean? Are you like, my long lost twin or something?”

She sweeps her frantic gaze up and down the winged-teenager, hoping for some sort of clue or any minor detail that could expose this fraud. However, Yohane truly looks just like what the Boggart had transformed into. Other than those feathered wings, they look identical. She’s posed in front of her mirror countless times after all. Deep down, she feels that she innately knows who this Yohane is.

And that revelation frightens her.

Shaking her head, Yohane takes out a black quill from her robe’s pocket, the exact same one they’ve seen in Riko’s memories. Yoshiko shudders, eyes widening and her heart galloping as a familiar sensation tugs at her mind.

It wasn’t like this in the Pensieve. Here, seeing the quill in reality, she feels this violent urge to hold it, to reclaim it, to mold her own magic with it. Before her mind blanks out, the scarf around her neck tightens and snaps her out of her daze.

She gasps harshly like she was underwater for a long time. Fearfully, she peers up at the grinning girl, who holds up the quill rather tauntingly.

“Miss it? You should be the most familiar with this quill.”

“...what-?”

“But first, let me show you.” As Yohane speaks, the quill begins to jot down words that blaze in the air. “Do you know what a Horcrux is? Of course you do. Lily had explained it to you.”

“How dare you call her that, when you’re the one who-!”

This time, her Bombarda is powerful enough that the excess magic shatters the tiles in front of Yohane, but she remains unscathed due to Hanamaru’s fast Shield Charm once again.

“Why are you protecting this… this evil person? She’s the one who hurt Lily, Dia-san, Chika-san, You-san, Mari-san… all of us!”

Hanamaru’s expression remains sad but her hand twitches a little then, as if revealing her true thoughts on the matter. She must be still under the Imperius Curse. Yoshiko is about to inch closer when the fallen angel’s next words stops her cold.

“You know, I could have killed her,” Yohane murmurs, holding up the sakura wand in a dismissive manner. “We didn’t need her anymore, after retrieving the information we sought. Yet I allowed Lily to live… and carelessly allowed her to escape and put us in this predicament. Be thankful that your petty mortal feeling was able to affect me to an extent.”

“Huh-? My-?”

“Nothing important.” Yohane wiggles her finger condescendingly, and the quill mockingly scribbles a sakura flower before slashing the petals and force the pieces to dissipate. “Back to topic again, my sad other half. Think about what you know of Horcruxes.”

Yoshiko stares at the spot where the magically-drawn flower was and finds herself repeating the very same words Riko had told her. “It’s a Dark object that contains a piece of the creator’s soul, for the purpose of gaining immortality. But what does it have to do- and besides, a Horcrux can only be created through murder-”

“That’s correct.” Yohane gives her a chilling smile.

Yoshiko blinks slowly at her mirror image, then at the image of a dark-haired man that the quill conjures. He could be considered handsome, in a mysterious and cool sort of way but his grin gives him a warm disposition. The ache in her heart is quick as it came, as well as the sense of familiarity.

She knows this man.

Yet she doesn’t know him either.

Yohane’s smile is still cold as her whispered words seem to echo in the chamber. “Ten years ago, a burst of accidental magic killed my… our father.”

Yoshiko stares.

The man’s image vanishes as if a violent ripple has completely obliterated it.

“Magic is a fickle thing. Even now, after millennia of wizards and witches studying bloodlines, the Origin and any relevant spells or rituals, there are still so many things we do not understand,” Yohane confidently approaches the frozen girl until they are only a few paces apart. “Either way, on that day, somehow, a Horcrux was created in the form of a quill pen, this quill pen, an antique that our father treasured as a family heirloom. Now, do you know how a Horcrux actually works?”

Still, Yoshiko could only stare.

She doesn’t want to know. Suddenly, she very much wants to flee away from this place, away from Hogwarts and this world of magic. She still despises how her life used to be like back at the orphanage, back among Muggles, but at least she’s still a human there, as much of a freak she was labelled as.

With the way Yohane talks, it’s almost as if she isn’t quite human.

Terror doesn’t even begin to describe her feelings then.

“A Horcrux is able to drain one’s life energy, enough to eventually allow the fragment of soul to manifest itself, a corporeal form, kind of like a parasite,” Yohane reaches out towards her, her voice soft and even gentle.

The coldness of her hand almost burns Yoshiko, forcing her to flinch away from the contact. She’s too scared to run, and Yohane firmly grasps her chin to hold her gaze.

“Once the host’s life force is completely gone, the Horcrux would become its own living person, no longer forced to be attached to a simple container. That’s how the concept of immortality works through a Horcrux.”

Yoshiko shakes her head feebly, unable to pull away from the grip. The quill then sketches another image, a woman who resembles her and even wears her hair with that trademark bun. Her expression is kind, though a flick from the quill morphs it to a horrified grimace before the image abruptly vanishes.

Yohane’s husky voice is no less condemning as she stares coldly into her eyes.

“You killed my mother, Yoshiko.”

“NO! YOU’RE LYING!!”

Upon her outburst, Lucifer sinks its teeth in Yohane’s hand, drawing blood and forcing her to tear back with a yelp. Yoshiko immediately blasts a Reducto at the imposter, though those thick feathered wings block her powerful Curse like it’s a mere puff of air.

“The truth is too much for you,” Yohane shakes her wings, nonchalant with the aftermath of the spell singing some of her feathers. “Don’t you see? Everything makes sense now, does it not?”

“No, you don’t make sense!” Yoshiko screams hoarsely, firing spell after spell at her adversary. “W-Why are you here? Why are you ruining my life, just when it’s finally getting better?!”

The wings shield Yohane effortlessly, the magic sizzling upon collision. It’s only when Yohane unfurls her wing to block a badly aimed spell from hitting Hanamaru that Yoshiko freezes in mid-motion.

Gasping for breaths, she could only watch as Yohane steps sideways to stand protectively in front of the brunette, like she was the enemy instead.

“No, no no no no…”

“Deny all you want. Think about it, why are there so many blank spots in your childhood memories? Simple - those were my memories,” Yohane wraps an arm around Hanamaru’s waist again and hugs her close. “Why don’t you remember meeting her? Heh, because you never did - I did. You didn’t even exist then.”

“N-No… no…”

Tears well up in Yoshiko’s eyes as she cradles her head, gazing imploringly at Hanamaru for her input, but the latter isn’t facing her.

“Admittedly though, I did not know of your existence for the longest time.” Yohane whimsically caresses Hanamaru’s cheek while the quill jots even more nonsensical words and images in the air. “I’ve always felt something was off about me, after the incident that left me parent-less, but I never knew why. But then, surprise surprise! When I saw someone who looks exactly like me show up at the station… even they were not expecting you either.”

Yoshiko tries to suppress her shudders and rein in her chaotic emotions. Lucifer is still hissing warily and circling above her head. “...they?”

“Hnn. I was still just a child after all. I needed guardianship, someone to teach me how to control my magic.”

Yohane spreads her wings wide and calls upon the black tendrils of magic to cover them like a veil. Then, similar to dry ice evaporating, the wings disappear like they were never there.

“We call ourselves the Fallen.” Yohane chuckles sardonically, summoning the black tendrils again and the wings reform behind her. “We have determined the magical core is the cause of all anomalies, such as accidental magic and the reason why some Pureblood descendants are Squibs. To complete our research though, we need more and more samples.”

The quill sketches several more images, of creatures Yoshiko has only seen in textbooks, and some archaic symbols and letters that resemble Latin and hieroglyphics.

“Magic has existed for millennia. Since the very first witches and wizards, their magic has passed down from generations to generations, its essence untainted within Pureblood families. Then, what’s the cause for Squibhood, forcing them to become the bane of a proud Pureblood lineage? Was there a mutation?”

Yohane begins to walk towards Yoshiko, ignoring the latter’s trembling and Lucifer’s warning rasps.

“And speaking of mutation, how did lycanthropy come to be? What made merpeople and centaurs differ from humans? What of the sphinx and those capable of human speech? Fascinating isn’t it? We’re able to work with what we have about werewolves, and the results were spectacular, wouldn’t you agree?”

Yoshiko flinches, recalling the havoc wreaked by the Moonstruck incident.

“Its level of instability and burst of magic during transformation are almost similar to that of accidental magic, this mutation of the body. Then, it wouldn’t be too far-fetched to view the… accidental creation of a Horcrux as a mutation of the soul through magic, yes?”

Before Yohane’s hand could touch her again, Lucifer dives down and tries to bite the winged girl. A powerful flap sends the little bat careening away and struggling to maintain flight.

“Silly creature. It’s a failed Horcrux, y’know?” Yohane giggles at Yoshiko’s sharp intake. “Oh yes, we’ve experimented with many things. Your existence permanently damaged my soul, so much that whatever I came in contact with would have just a little bit of my soul imbued within it. Luckily, I’ve learned to contain my powers in the form of these lovely feathers.”

Tendrils magic enshrouds those angelic wings, power and sentience evident with the way that the air seems to grow heavy upon movement.

“Of course, those feathers are not the same. They’re not Horcruxes, far from it, and eventually the fraction of soul would find its way back to me. Well, some disappears into ether, but too meager to be of any consequence,” Yohane shrugs and takes a step towards Yoshiko.

This time, Lucifer fearfully keeps a distance behind, squealing in confusion.

“That portion of my soul that bat had, well, it’s long returned to me, yet I can see it’s forever changed. It’s gained intelligence beyond the scope of its brethren.”

Lucifer hisses but doesn’t dare to approach. Yohane shrugs again and turns her gaze towards Yoshiko.

“Oh, poor you. All of this is a lot to take in, isn’t it? Just what are you, indeed?” The cold hand lightly yet firmly grasps at Yoshiko’s cheek, forcing their eyes to meet. “You’re not the same as and of the past known Horcruxes of history, so maybe you’re not even technically one! But now, do you understand? We must obtain the purest and strongest of a Pureblood’s blood, a sample that’s at its prime yet still malleable enough to be experimented upon. We need the Kurosawa heiress.”

Yoshiko could barely hear herself speaking, her voice having grown so incredibly feeble along with her light-headedness. “...why D-Dia-san… there are, other, Purebloods…”

A fanged grin is her response. “Frankly, none of them are good enough. Either they’re too weak, or their lineage is not as pure. We Fallen are unfortunately few in numbers, and only have so much resources. We’d like to remain hidden in the shadows, at least until we’ve reached a desired milestone. The Unbreakable Vow is such a handy thing, no?”

Yoshiko couldn’t look away from those mesmerizing vermillion eyes, her consciousness dimming. “...why… Lily… why… her…”

“Unfortunate collateral damage, but she’s served her purpose.”

“Ngh…” Yoshiko bites her lips, struggling to remain in control of her mind even though her body is becoming numb. “And...me-?”

“Indeed, what should I do with you? My little demons have already left Hogwarts and long relocated. I am the only one here, because I wish to know.” Yohane leans in until their foreheads are touching, their breaths mingling and their eyes only seeing each other and nothing else.

“You should return to me. You’re a part of me after all. We’re suppose to be one and the same.”

Something breaks inside of Yoshiko then. The terror of ceasing to be - it’s worse than dying, for nothing will remain behind. Nothing.

“You should have never existed.”

Tears trickle down her cheeks as she summons the last ounce of her strength to push Yohane away. “No! No, no, NO! I’m Yoshiko Tsushima-!”

I’m the fallen angel Yohane.

That line, the very line she’s countlessly repeated to people, overlaps with this winged girl’s introduction, and the voice reverberates painfully inside her mind. She covers her face with shaking hands and collapses onto her knees.

“-I-I have friends… friends who care about me! T-They-”

Chika and You were tortured, Kanan almost lost her arm, Mari almost lost her magic, Riko may never wake up, Dia and Ruby are suffering and Hanamaru has long been controlled-

She curls up into a ball, shivering and shaking her head as she sobs beseechingly into her sleeves. “Ngh-! I’m real! I’m my own person! I-I have my own d-dreams... nggh…”

“I should hate you, I really should, but you’re still me. And, looking at you, so pathetic!” Yohane’s quiet voice is practically hypnotizing. “Makes my heart ache, y’know? Come on. I can end your torment. I can take it all away-”

Suddenly, Yoshiko finds herself enveloped by warmth, a familiar presence that brings peace upon her cracking psyche. Even though her hearing is muffled by the hug, she could sense the surprise and displeasure in Yohane’s tone. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Yoshiko-chan… is hurting…”

Swallowing another sob, she timidly looks up to see Hanamaru’s worried gaze, though her lips are still set in a placid frown.

“She’s not even real. I sent you to meet her at King’s Cross Station, blocked the wall so you’d have the chance to get to know her more for me. Whatever play-game you had with her, it meant nothing.” Yohane sounds exasperated.

Yoshiko trembles as another wave of nausea and pain crashes into her mind. Before she could pull away though, Hanamaru tightens her arms even as her eyes glaze over.

“...it wasn’t… nothing…”

Hope flickers inside Yoshiko’s heart. A dying flame it may be, she clings onto it and takes several deep breaths to try to calm herself down. She can think again, without all those negative emotions crushing her. “Just how long-? How long has she been-?”

“Longer than you can ever imagine, silly mortal.”

“How can you… how is that even possible-”

“Heh, think of it as, hmm, something similar to Muggle hypnotism. The Curse is to work at certain circumstances, certain suggestions.”

“But, Mari-san and Dia-san checked… she’s better at Occlumency than any of us.” The hopeful flare grows stronger as she tentatively shifts within Hanamaru’s arms to try to get to her wand. “No way the Imperius Curse would’ve gotten to her!”

“Well, you can’t really trespass the mind of someone who’s already under another’s influence, can you? It’d create the illusion of an impenetrable wall, although I can see it’s been waning… Imperio.”

A violent shove causes Yoshiko to topple on her side. Coughing, she peers through teary eyes at Hanamaru, whose posture is stiff and expression oddly relaxed.

Yohane smirks cruelly as she points Riko’s wand at the brunette. “Go on.”

Hanamaru jerks and blasts a Stinging Hex at Yoshiko when she is fumbling for her wand. Yoshiko yelps in pain as a red welt strikes across her forearm. Out of reflex, she returns fire only to gasp when her spell slices past Hanamaru’s glass frames and leaves a thin red line on her cheek. Yoshiko’s heart drops in guilt as the glasses slowly fall apart and shatters on the floor.

“I’m s-sorry, I didn’t mean-”

During her hesitation, Hanamaru fires another Hex which barely misses Yoshiko’s head by a small margin. Lucifer suddenly flies towards them and swerves for Hanamaru’s wand, but Yohane is faster. A vicious Stunner renders the bat an unconscious heap on the ground.

“No!” Yoshiko snaps out of her stupor, her anger successfully keeping that horrible, hollow sense of worthlessness at bay. “This is between you and me! Leave Hanamaru and Lucifer out of this!”

“Didn’t I say already? She belongs to me!” Yohane beckons at the brunette, who obediently approaches her like a puppet.

I must save her.

For the first time since her descent to the Chamber of Secrets, Yoshiko has regained the clarity of her mind. Fake human, clone, pseudo-Horcrux or whatever, she has more important things to focus her mind on now. She has responsibility to save the girl who means so much to her.

Her feelings are real.

What they have between them, that is real.

Yoshiko shields herself from another Hex with a fast Protego and lunges to the side to fire an Expelliarmus. Memories of all those dueling sessions against Dia and Kanan flash in her mind, putting her body on autopilot as she instinctively counters and exchanges spells. Yohane’s malevolent Curses disrupts her tactics a few times, but it seems like the winged girl is more intrigued in seeing them duel.

Amused at the predicament she forced them in.

Growling, Yoshiko Transfigures some of the rubble from the cracked tiles into bigger, sharp chunks, hurling them at the cause of her misery. Expectedly, however, Yohane destroys the projectiles with those black tendrils of magic, and remains unmoved and unscathed from her spot.

A vicious Reducto forces Yoshiko to dodge, for she knows that her flimsy Shield Charm would not have held. Hanamaru, even under the Imperius Curse, appears to retain everything she’s learned from those practice duels and thus makes her a formidable opponent.

Yoshiko doesn’t want to hurt her, which puts her at a great disadvantage already without Yohane interfering every now and then.

“Incarcerous!”

The Conjuration spell doesn’t work like she wants it to, the conjured ropes falling limply from her wand before disappearing. She has yet to master advanced spells like this one, or any other incapacitating spells for that matter. Sweating now, she dodges a Bombarda behind an erected tile and cringes when a large fragment past her neck.

“Expelliarmus!” “Diffindo!”

The two spells collide with a thunderous crack, the small explosion propelling both parties several paces apart. Unfortunately for Yoshiko, she misses her footing and slips at the edge of the wet walkway.

“Impedimenta!”

The Jinx bludgeons her hard in the chest, striking her onto her back in the shallow pool. Wheezing, she could hear Hanamaru approaching but her vision is spinning too much for her to get up. The cool sensation of Immobulus slithers over her body and she collapses back into the even colder water.

However, no spell comes for her for the next while and allows her to regain her bearings despite being immobile. Confused, she looks up to see Hanamaru’s wand trained on her.

And tears are leaking out of her ochre eyes even though her expression remains blank.

“What’s the matter?” Yohane’s voice is dangerously soft.

Hanamaru’s hand shakes as she continues to cry, but nothing happens.

“Use the Cruciatus Curse on her.”

The trembling worsens and her breathing becomes labored.

“Use it… now,” Yohane growls with great impatience, Riko’s wand half-raised and her wings unfolded.

“... I won’t. No more.”

Before Yoshiko’s wide eyes, Hanamaru snaps her own wand in half.

#athyra writes #LLSHP AU #yoshimaru #datenshi yohane #I can't believe I made it #to this point ;A;#one scene in this chapter was the first thing I wrote when planning/outlining this story #another one would be in the next chapter #\0/ can't believe I've made it this far #thanks to y'all!#I know this chapter prolly creates more questions than answers XD;#lotsa revelations #some shouldnt' be a surprise tho I think #again it's a hard chapter to write #hopefully the characterizations given the circumstances are realistic #feedback please :'D #mk gonna go pass out now x.x

73 notes · View notes

gilbertandanne · 7 years

Text

“Perfect”

A/N: Post-Infinite one shot, but I don’t think you have to read it to understand what’s going on in this one. Definitely giving a shoutout to @gmwmeetsniall for asking about a post-Infinite one shot. I never planned on doing it, but Ed decided to write the P E R F E C T song (haha, get it?). Fluff is not my strong suit, and I’m afraid it shows. I hope you all like it anyway. <33

Song by: Ed Sheeran

Word count: 7,660

Pairing: Rucas

Rating: T

Lucas stood in front of the mirror in a desperate attempt to tie his tie. Logically he knew that his reflection wouldn’t help the slight tremor of his hands, but at that moment, he was unable to think logically. His hand shook a little more violently as he picked up the ends of the tie. He wasn’t sure why he was reacting like this. He wasn’t nervous at all and he wasn’t the least bit scared. If anything, he felt more relaxed than he thought he would be—given the circumstances.

“About ten minutes,” Farkle said as he walked back into the dressing room. He stood next to Zay as the two men watched Lucas fumble with the tie. “How long as he been trying to tie it?”

“My guess is ten minutes,” Zay shrugged. “It’s kind of entertaining. You think he’s just about figured it out, but then one end falls and he has to start all over again.”

Lucas flipped the tie around for another moment before he growled in frustration. Why was this happening?!

Farkle chuckled as he walked over to the Texan. “You a little nervous,” he asked as he grabbed the tie. He had never seen Lucas so flustered before. It was quite a switch from the normally reserved veterinarian.

“No,” he huffed as Farkle slid the tie around his neck. “How…how does she look,” he asked as a new wave of tranquility overcame him. Just the mere thought of her seemed to put him at ease. He looked down. His hands still shook slightly, but not nearly as aggressively as they did a minute ago. That was exactly the effect she had always had on him. She calmed him, even if he were thousands of miles away.

Farkle smiled. “You already know the answer to that.” He finished the last loop. “There. Perfect.”

Lucas looked at himself in the mirror. “I can’t believe it’s finally here,” he said as he examined his appearance.

“I don’t think any of us can,” Maya smiled from the doorway.

Lucas’s eyes snapped toward the blonde. “Maya? What are you doing in here? Shouldn’t you be with—“

“The bride?” She raised her eyebrows as she raised her right hand up. In it, she held a folded piece of paper. “As matron of honor, it’s my duty to make sure that the bride gets everything her heart desires today.” She walked toward Lucas. “She wanted me to give this to you.”

Lucas’s heart began to race as he stared at the paper. “W-What is that?”

“How should I know?” She handed the letter to Lucas. “She tells me a lot of things, but I have no idea what’s in there.”

Lucas’s panicked eyes lifted back up to Maya’s. “She’s not backing out, right?”

Maya glanced at the letter. “Only one way to find out.”

Lucas turned away from his friends as he opened the note. His heart leapt into his throat as his eyes slowly began to scan its contents.

‘Dear Lucas,

I wanted to do this in person. I wanted to do it last night, but everything got so hectic at the rehearsal dinner, and then you spent the night at Maya and Josh’s. I knew I wouldn’t be able to see you until the ceremony, but I have to tell you this before I see you:

I love you.

I know that seems ridiculous, because we’re about to get married, but over the last several days, I’ve been thinking about everything we’ve been through—the good, the bad, and the really bad. Through it all, even when everyone else thought that there was no way we’d survive, even when I thought we wouldn’t, you believed. You never gave up on us—even when I told you to, even when I begged you to.

When we, technically, weren’t dating in college…when we only talked when we met up…I knew how you felt. Maybe not at the time, because I refused to see it, but looking back on it now, I knew that you loved me, and that you were trying to step back to give me what I thought I wanted. I also know that you were there when I needed you. I knew that if I needed someone to talk to, that you would be there.

Most guys would have been happy with the deal we had, but you never were. I know you’ve said that before, but when I think back to those days, I see it so clearly. I’m not sure how I missed it. Maybe I was so far in denial of my own feelings that I failed to see yours most of the time.

I was so selfish back then. I was so scared. I thought that I was doing the right thing, when in reality, it almost cost me the best thing in my life.

I don’t deserve you. I don’t deserve the happiness you bring to my world everyday. Waking up next to you is the best way to start my day and falling asleep in your arms is the gateway to nothing but happy dreams of our future.

That future is here now.

Today, we’re going to stand in front of everyone we love and commit ourselves to one another for the rest of our lives.

Before we do that, I want to tell you that I think it’s unfair that you got to propose twice. I know we said the first one doesn’t count, but it does. I don’t want to erase our history. I know that there is no way I could ever top the second one, so let me just tell you this:

With every fiber of my being, with every beat of my heart, I will love you. I’ve loved you for as long as I can remember, and I will love you even after my last breath. You are my past. You are my present. You are my future. You’re my best friend. You’re everything to me, Lucas. You’re the one I want to walk through life with. So, today, on the most perfect of days, will you do me the honor of becoming my husband?

If so, I’ll see you at the end of the aisle.

Love Always, Riley’

Lucas slowly folded up the note as he slid it into his pocket. He took another moment to compose himself before he turned back to his friends. He knew that if Maya saw the tears that had pooled in his eyes, she would never let him forget it. He cleared his throat as he finally turned around.

“Feeling better,” Zay asked.

He nodded. “I’ve waited a really long time for today.”

“We all have,” Maya smiled. “Ready boys? I think Huckleberry has waited long enough.”

The note burned in his pocket as he stood at the end of the aisle. He watched as his parents and Riley’s mom were escorted to their seats. As the music faded, he glanced at the men who stood beside him. He wasn’t sure if this day would have even happened were it not for them. Josh, Zay, and Farkle were truly some of the best friends he could ever hope to have. He was so thankful that they were there.

His palms began to sweat as the bridesmaids began to walk down the aisle. The first was Meredith, a girl who went to school with Riley. Next was the wife of one of his best friends—Isadora Smackle-Minkus. She winked at Lucas as soon as she reached the end of the aisle. He shook his head as he smiled. Some things would never change. He looked back at Farkle who only chuckled. Lucas turned his head back toward the aisle as Maya reached the small group. He noticed that tears brimmed in the blonde’s eyes.

As the bridal march began, his eyes slowly wandered toward the double doors at the back of the library. He held his breath as two of the ushers slowly opened the only barrier that separated him from being able to see her. As the doors creaked open, the smile on his face steadily grew. When her eyes met his, everything around him seemed to stop.

//I found a love for me Darling, just dive right in and follow my lead//

If he lived to be a thousand, he knew he would never forget a single detail of the exact moment he saw her in that gown. He sucked in a breath as she, escorted by her father, began to slowly walk towards him.

She was a vision in a white strapless gown. Her normally long brown hair was pinned up with a few small flowers peppered in. He was fairly certain his heart stopped beating when she smiled at him. He knew that he didn’t deserve the goddess who slowly floated toward him. Her dress billowed behind her, which created an even more ethereal effect.

All of this must be a dream. This couldn’t possibly be real. What had he done in a past life to deserve the amount of happiness he currently felt? He prayed that this wasn’t a dream. He prayed that this was his reality—that the woman who had tears glistening in her soulful brown eyes was about to become his wife.

He swallowed as she finally reached him. When her father let go of her arm in order for her to take his, Lucas bit his bottom lip to hold back the tears he knew he would shed. When she touched his arm, he knew that this was no dream. This was real. After years of dreaming about it, after years of torturing himself with a future he knew he would never have, here they were.

//Well, I found a girl, beautiful and sweet Oh, I never knew you were the someone waiting for me//

The ceremony flew by in a flash. Before he knew it, it was time for them to recite their vows to one another.

“Lucas,” Riley began as two tears slipped from her eyes, “When I sat down to write out my vows for you, I realized that this was going to be one of the most important things I would ever write.” She paused as another tear slid down her cheek. “We’ve been through so much. From the day we met, I knew that you would be someone important to me. We became friends first, and then, when I was ready…we became more.” She cleared her throat. “When I wrote that down, I realized that you’ve done that for me throughout our whole relationship. You waited for me. You were patient with me. No matter what I did, how I reacted, you still loved me. You still wanted to be with me. I…I know I can’t take back the time we lost, but I can guarantee you that there will never be another day where you have to wonder how I feel, because I’ll tell you every chance I get that I love you. I love you, Lucas…no matter what life has in store for us. Good or bad, it doesn’t matter. I know we can make it through anything. I promise that no matter what, I’ll love you til my dying day…and even beyond that.”

When Lucas noticed the tears steadily streaming down her cheeks, he lost every intention of trying to make it through the ceremony without crying. As the first tear fell from his right eye, he looked down at their joined hands. “Riley, I’m not sure where to begin. We met the day after I moved to New York. You…literally…landed in my lap.” He smiled as he looked back up at her. “You helped this angry kid from Texas adjust to life in the big city. You became my home. You became the peace that I had been trying to find. We’ve had ups and downs, and there have been times where it felt like everyone else had moved on, but I knew it wasn’t the end for us. I knew it because I knew that we’d be here one day. You are the only one for me, Riley. No matter what happens next, no matter where we end up, it’ll be home because you’re there beside me. I know that every day will be the best day because you’ll be there to share it with me. My heart is yours. It’s been yours since day one. It’ll be yours long after we’re both gone. You’re a part of me…the best part. I love you—yesterday, today, tomorrow, and,” he swallowed as a few more tears cascaded down his cheeks, “forever.”

After he slid the ring on her finger, he looked up into her tear filled eyes. As soon as the preacher announced that they were husband and wife, they grinned at one another. Lucas cupped her face in his hands before his lips found hers in a tender kiss that held the promise of a beautiful future filled with nothing but love.

//'Cause we were just kids when we fell in love Not knowing what it was I will not give you up this time//

“Is it better,” Riley asked Maya as the blonde tried to fix her best friend’s makeup after the ceremony.

“Yeah, almost there,” Maya answered as she wiped away the last of the runny mascara. She reached for the tube as she reapplied it. “I knew we should have gone for the waterproof. I knew you both were going to lose it.”

“Ok, I seem to remember you practically wailing when you married Josh,” Lucas defended as Smackle straightened his tie.

“I did not wail,” she protested.

Lucas turned to Josh. “Tell the truth.”

Josh cringed. “Lucas, first rule of marriage—never take the opposite side of your wife.”

“Thanks honey,” Maya smiled. “Ok, Riles. Now, we can take pictures and get to the party.”

“How do you want to do this,” Farkle asked the couple.

“I was thinking that the photographer can do all the group stuff, and then go to the reception while…while Maya helps us take some couple pictures.”

Maya frowned. “Me?”

“Yeah,” she smiled as she reached for her hand. “No one can capture us better.” She glanced around the room. “Besides…it’s the library. It only feels right to have you do it.”

“I married such a brilliant woman,” Lucas smiled as he closed the space between him and Riley. He wrapped his arms around her waist. “Hey, Mrs. Friar.”

She grinned. “Hey Dr. Friar.”

“You ok?”

She pressed her lips to his. “Never been better.”

//But darling, just kiss me slow, your heart is all I own And in your eyes, you're holding mine//

“Ok, Riles. We have about twenty minutes. What did you have in mind?”

Riley smiled as she walked over to a book bag Farkle brought in for her. She pulled out a farily large book and wandered back to her husband and best friend. “Candids. I don’t want to pose. I want this to feel real.” She showed the book to Lucas.

“Tales of Human Interaction,” he read before he looked up at her.

“Too cheesy?”

He shook his head. “Just the perfect amount.”

“As long as you too don’t consummate anything on the table, then I’m ok with whatever you want to do.” Maya smiled as she reached for her camera. She wasn’t as good with photography as she was with art, but she was comfortable behind the camera. Riley and she had taken a few photography classes when they attended NYU, so she at least knew the mechanics of the art form.

Riley sat the book down on the table as Lucas took a seat in front of it. Maya snapped a few pictures of them re-reading the pages of the book that brought them together nearly a decade and a half ago. After Lucas read one particular line, he looked up at Riley. Maya took a picture at that exact moment. She didn’t need to look at it again to know that would easily be one of the best pictures of the day. It encompassed everything about them that she loved. Their connection had always been strong. She had never seen either of them as happy as they did in that moment, and that meant everything to her.

//Baby, I'm dancing in the dark with you between my arms Barefoot on the grass, listening to our favourite song//

Lucas thought for sure that his smile couldn’t get any bigger, but when the DJ announced the newly crowned husband and wife as they entered the reception, he was fairly certain the whole room could see every single tooth in his mouth. He couldn’t wipe the grin from his face, even if he tried.

He was grateful that most of the guests had already eaten by the time they arrived. He couldn’t sit still if he tried to, and he didn’t have an appetite. All he wanted was to be by her side. All he wanted to do was to engrain every second of this day into his memory.

“Would it be weird if we stepped out for a moment while everyone finished eating,” she whispered to him. “I’m not hungry at all, but I’d really love a moment alone with you.”

He leaned in to whisper in her ear. “I was thinking the exact same thing.” He offered his hand to her. She smiled as she took it.

//When you said you looked a mess, I whispered underneath my breath But you heard it, darling, you look perfect tonight//

He thought about going back to the part of the library where they took the pictures, but he knew that would be the first place they would look for them. He knew they couldn’t be long, but he desperately wanted a few minutes with her.

“The girls’ dressing room,” she told him as they walked down the end of the hallway.

Neither said a word until Riley closed the door behind him. She quickly spun the lock. “They may know we’re in here, but at least they can’t just barge in.” She turned around. “Hey.”

He smiled as he reached for her. “Hey.”

“This is all I want,” she murmured as he wrapped his arms around her. She closed her eyes as she simply breathed in this moment with him.

“Well,” he smirked, “Maybe not all.”

She smiled. “Enough for now,” she amended. They stood like that for a long moment before she pulled back from him. “This actually happened, right? We’re married?”

He nodded. “Too late to back out now,” he teased.

“I would never,” she said as she started to play with his tie. “Riley Friar,” she mused.

“Sounds perfect to me,” he responded. “Riley Friar. I could say that a thousand times and never get tired of it.”

“That’s good, because that’s my name now.” She wrapped her arms around his neck. “I love you, Lucas.”

“Say it again,” he smiled.

“I love you.” She looked into his eyes. “Thank you for not giving up on me…even when I told you to.”

“I couldn’t,” he answered simply. “I meant what I said earlier. You’re a part of me…the best part. You taught me how to have hope…to believe in something…to fight.”

“You’ll never have to fight alone.” She pressed her lips to his in a gentle kiss. “We’ve been planning this thing for about a year now. Now that it’s finally here and almost over, what happens next?”

He smiled. “I was thinking that maybe we can stay at Farkle’s for awhile longer…until you finish school. That’ll give me some time to set up my practice, get established.”

“Then?”

“Whatever you want,” he smiled. “Wherever you want to go, whatever you want to do. I only want to be where you are.”

“You stole my answer,” she smiled. “Maybe in a few years we can find a place outside of the city. I wouldn’t mind having a yard, a little space.” She paused. “Maybe…maybe a few kids.”

He grinned as he reached for her left hand. He brought it up to his lips as they began to gently sway back and forth. They couldn’t hear any music, but that didn’t matter to him. He looked down at her wedding band. “Kids, huh?”

She smiled. “Think about it. A little boy running around. Wild, free, with a heart as big as his father’s.”

“A heart like this mother’s you mean. You taught me how to love, Riley. If I have a big heart, it’s because of you.” He paused as his eyes lifted back to hers. “Everything good in me is because of you.”

//Well I found a woman, stronger than anyone I know She shares my dreams, I hope that someday I'll share her home//

“You need to give yourself more credit,” she told him. “You carried us…for four years…you are the reason why we are standing here right now. You are the reason why we have a future to begin with. I wish I had your strength. I wish I had the hope you have.” She paused. “You once told me that I had lost my ability to believe in us, but I think it was bigger than that. I lost myself. The only time I felt…even remotely like myself was when I was around you.” She took a deep breath. “And that scared me, Lucas. It scared me to know that even after trying to push you away…after trying to convince myself that it was the best thing for both of us…that I still wanted to be with you…that I still loved you. I needed some connection to you. I think that’s why I suggested the friends with benefit thing. I thought it would be easier to control my emotions if I could have that connection with you without…without telling you how I felt.”

“And I was so desperate to keep that connection that I agreed to it.” He rested his forehead against hers as they swayed to the music. “It doesn’t matter how we got here, Riley. It only matters that we’re here. We’re together. We’re married.”

//I found a love, to carry more than just my secrets To carry love, to carry children of our own//

He knew when they got back to the reception that they would be pulled in opposite directions for most of the evening. It was ok. He knew that everyone there wanted to offer their support and congratulations and he wanted to thank every single person for coming and being a part of their day.

He just hated that he couldn’t stay near her. It all felt so raw, so fresh. He was afraid that if his eyes left her for a second, that she would disappear or he would wake up in his old dorm room in Texas.

As he spoke with the guests, he couldn’t help but to watch her as she spoke with members of her family. When she smiled, he smiled. When she laughed, he lightly chuckled. It was as if her emotions were his emotions. She had completely hypnotized him.

When her eyes met his across the room, he fell in love with her all over again.

//We are still kids, but we're so in love Fighting against all odds I know we'll be alright this time//

When the DJ announced that it was time for their first dance as husband and wife, Lucas felt his heart skip a beat. Husband and wife. They made it. Riley had accepted his proposal nearly two years ago, so he had plenty of time to get used to the idea of it, but for the last two years, he often wondered if it was all a dream. Even after he moved in with her a year ago, he often wondered if he would wake up one morning and realize that he had actually tumbled into the worst version of hell he could ever imagine.

But that didn’t happen. Every morning, he woke up next to the only woman he had ever loved. Every night, he held her close as they were both whisked away to a dream world that could never be as beautiful as the life they shared together.

Admittedly, he wasn’t looking forward to everyone watching him dance with her. Dancing had never been his strongest area, but if it gave him a few minutes with her, if it made her smile, then he was more than willing to do it.

As soon as he held her hand in his, he relaxed. As he wrapped his arm around her waist, it felt like he was home.

“I feel like I haven’t seen you all night,” she said as he looked into his eyes.

“I feel the exact same way,” he answered as they began to move across the dance floor.

“Promise me something,” she nearly whispered.

“Anything.”

“Promise me that, at the end of the day, we’ll always be as happy as we are right now. No matter what comes next. Even if we get into a horrible argument over something ridiculous like whose turn it is to do the dishes…promise me that you’ll love me as much as you do right now.”

He paused as he stared into her eyes. “I can’t,” he finally told her. When her eyebrows pulled together in confusion, he smiled. “From the day we met, my feelings for you have only grown. I don’t think getting married is going to suddenly place a ceiling on that.” He smiled. “What I can promise you is this: I will love you more and more everyday. I know that the joy I feel right now is only going to grow over time. I’m going to be happier tomorrow than I am today, and happier still the day after that.” He gently squeezed her hip. “And in fifty years, when we’re celebrating our golden anniversary, I can guarantee you—with our family around us—that there was never a day when I loved you less, where I was any less happy than the day before.”

//Darling, just hold my hand Be my girl, I'll be your man I see my future in your eyes//

“You are the most important thing in the world to me,” he continued. “I know that the happiness I feel right now is only the beginning.” He placed a gentle kiss to her lips before he rested his forehead against hers. “I love you, Riley Matthews.”

“Friar,” she gently corrected as she smiled. “I’m Riley Friar now.”

He chuckled. “Say it again. Tell me this isn’t a dream.”

She smiled. “My name, sweet husband of mine, is Riley Friar…and this is no dream.” She rested her head on his shoulder as they continued their dance. “No dream could ever be this perfect.”

Lucas noticed a flash at that moment. He looked up and noticed Maya on the upper level, camera in hand. He didn’t have to see the picture to know that it would be the best one taken from the day.

//Baby, I'm dancing in the dark, with you between my arms Barefoot on the grass, listening to our favorite song//

All too quickly, their dance was over. They spent the next several songs dancing with various family members and friends. Once again, they were pulled to opposite sides of the room. It wasn’t until Farkle and Zay gathered everyone around for the toasts that they were able to stand beside one another.

Lucas placed his arm around Riley’s waist as the DJ handed Maya the microphone. “This going to be bad, isn’t it?”

Riley grinned. “She’s been writing this for two years…that I know of. This is her one chance to publicly air out everything.” She looked up at him. “Yeah. It’s going to be bad.”

“Hey everyone,” the blonde began as she looked across the crowd. “I’ve been working on this speech for…awhile now…but honestly…I don’t think I’m going to use it.” She stuffed the piece of paper back into the pocket of her dress. “Most of you know how the bride and groom met, but for those of you who don’t…when we were younger, Riley and I used to ride the subway to school. Well, on one particular day, we magically reached the age where Riley’s parents finally agreed to let us ride the it by ourselves.” She smiled as she looked at Cory and Topanga. “So, I guess we have you to thank for this story,” she chuckled. “Anyway, Riley and I get on the subway, and she goes off on one of her tangents about becoming more like me…because…who wouldn’t want to be like me,” she laughed. “Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed this guy who had been periodically looking at us. So, I decided to approach him.” She paused. “I honestly don’t even remember what was actually said, but what I do remember is walking back to Riley, and telling her that if she wanted to be like me, then she needed to not think about what she was doing. I pulled her hand away from the pole just as the subway stopped. Now, if you know Riley, you know that she isn’t the most graceful person in the world, so she went flying backward. If you don’t know the story, you probably think I’m the worst friend on the planet right about now, but something…something inside of me told me that this perfect stranger would catch her.” She paused as she looked at Lucas. “He did. And that’s how Riley and Lucas began.”

She turned back to the crowd. “I know everyone here has their own stories about Riley, Lucas, and them as a couple. We’ve all been fortunate enough to know these two, and to be a witness to their incredible journey. At one point, no one thought they would ever be in the same room again, let alone get married, but…here we are.” She turned to the couple. “You’re perfect for one another. I’ve known it for a very long time…even after the break up. You make each other better by just being around one another. I think that’s what love really is. I-I don’t feel the need to wish you both happiness and love in your life ahead, because every single person here knows that’s a given.” She smiled. “What I am going to wish for you is a life that you both have earned. You took the long road to get here, and now that you are here, I want nothing but the best for you.” She smiled. “Huckleberry, I know you’re going to take good care of her. I wouldn’t have let her go if I had an ounce of doubt.” She swallowed. “And Riles? I can’t wait for our future children to become best friends and experience the world the way we did. I love you both. Congratulations.”

The crowd lifted their glasses as they toasted the couple. Riley wiped her eyes as Maya walked down the stage and over to them. “I love you,” the brunette told the blonde as she hugged her.

“Love you too, Riles,” Maya responded as she pulled back. She turned to Lucas. “You’re the only person in the world I trust to take care of her…because I think you love her almost as much as I do.”

He wanted to correct her, to insist that he loved her more, but it was an argument that no one would ever win. Instead, he hugged Maya and assured her that he would.

It was the easiest promise he ever would make.

//When I saw you in that dress, looking so beautiful I don't deserve this, darling, you look perfect tonight//

“How are we ever going to top that one,” Zay asked Farkle, who stood next to him on the stage. He looked down at the microphone in front of him. “Damn Maya,” he said as he brought the device to his mouth, “Thanks for hitting that home run.”

Riley crossed her arms over her chest as she reached for Lucas’s hands who were wrapped around her waist. “I think this is the one we need to worry about,” she whispered.

Lucas kissed the top of her head. “We probably have it coming.” He paused. “We did fool around on Zay’s bed that one time.”

“Oh God,” she groaned as she turned back to the stage.

“I think it’s safe to say that between Maya and us, we’ve spent a good chunk of our lives wrapped up in the story that is Riley and Lucas,” Farkle smiled. “We’ve waited for this day for just as long as they have…maybe even longer.”

“They’re both very stubborn people,” Zay added. “The two most stubborn people I’ve ever met. They’re also incredibly self-sacrificial…which makes for a lethal combination.”

Farkle chuckled. “Yeah, we’ve had to save them from themselves how many times now?”

“So many times that they should name their children after us.”

“Farkle Isaiah Friar?” Farkle cringed. “That poor child.”

“What about Isaiah Farkle Friar?” Zay winced. “Ok. Ok, you two are off the hook on that one.” He paused as the crowd laughed. “Anyway…these two people, who we all love…nearly destroyed every shred of happiness they ever had all in the name of trying to protect one another.” He paused. “That’s…incredibly stupid…but, it’s also incredibly beautiful if you really think about it. They were willing to give up what made them the happiest in order to make the other person happy.”

“They just failed to recognize the fact that what made the other person the happiest was simply being together.”

Zay nodded. “You know, I’ve got to hand it to Maya for trying to push them back together at that party a few years ago…you know…after they led us all to believe they hadn’t seen or even talked to one another in four years.”

“Here we go,” Lucas groaned loud enough so only Riley heard it.

“But little did we know that Lucas and Riley had seen one another since then…on multiple occasions.”

“I knew we should have made my cousin the best man,” Lucas told his wife.

Riley turned her head to look at Lucas. “And I thought we had to worry about Maya.”

“They hid it…from everyone,” Farkle told the group. “We all thought that they couldn’t stand the sight of one another anymore, when the truth was…that they loved each other so much that it physically hurt them to be in the same room with a bunch of prying eyes around. I once asked Lucas why they felt the need to sneak around…and his answer made all the sense in the world. He told me that he only really felt like himself when he was with her. He was afraid that if everyone knew, that it would be like middle school all over again…that they would have to figure out all of the answers immediately, and he knew that she wasn’t ready for that.” He glanced at Lucas. “You have always put her first…even when it meant breaking your own heart over and over again. You were willing to be whatever she needed you to be.”

Farkle looked around the room as he took a moment to compose his thoughts. “Sometimes at weddings, I’ll hear people whispering and wondering how long the marriage will last or if the couple actually loves one another. It’s pretty disgusting, actually, because you’re supposed to be there to celebrate the love between two people, not to bet on the duration of the relationship. I can honestly say, that in all my conversations tonight, no one has even hinted of this marriage not lasting…and it’s because we know this couple. We’ve celebrated their highs and cried with them during their lows. The love they share for one another is so deep that you can feel it whenever you’re around them. When Isadora and I were in high school, we often pondered the concept of love. She and I were, and still are, people of science and love seemed to be this abstract concept that couldn’t possibly be measured or defined. One day, we all sat around Riley’s mom’s bakery, and…that’s when we saw it.” He paused. “We were kids then—fifteen years old—and love was such a foreign concept to all of us, but we saw the hope they had for one another, for their relationship, and it blew us away. Even with the knowledge that it could end one day, they still gave their hearts to one another.” He turned to the couple. “You showed us what love was. You opened that door for us, and there is nothing I could ever do to properly thank you guys. I know your life together is going to be amazing. Thank you for making me part of the story.”

“When I first moved here, I thought Lucas and I could just pick back up where we left off in Texas.” Zay smiled. “You see, he and I used to get into trouble sometimes. Well, I would get into trouble and he would always bail me out. When I got here, I noticed that he had changed. He seemed to have a more level head on his shoulders. He seemed happier. He wasn’t the angry kid who used to run back to Texas every weekend he could. This guy now called New York his home. It didn’t take me long to figure out who had changed my best friend.” He smiled at Riley. “Maya is right. Love should make you better, and these two are the best versions on themselves when they’re together. I could get into the details of their reconciliation and how we all found out about their little side relationship,” he smirked at the couple, “and I do owe them a little payback for something, but if there is one thing these two have taught me…it’s that there is a proper time and place for everything.”

Riley and Lucas laughed.

“Before I moved here, I thought no one in the world could be like Lucas. The guy would do anything for his friends…even getting kicked out of school for a year just to protect his loud mouth best friend.” He looked at the crowd. “But then I met Riley. She’s…unreal. She would take a bullet for anyone in this room without hesitation. She would, and has, given up everything she wanted in order to make someone else happy. She tried to hide from her feelings for Lucas—not only once, but twice—because she thought it was the best decision for everyone. That’s who Riley is. She’d sacrifice her happiness in order to see everyone else find joy.” He looked at the bride. “I’m here to tell you, today, that you can’t do that anymore. Your happiness is linked to his…and that happiness is tied to every single person in this room. You’ve spent your whole life making sure that those around you are happy. Now, let me speak for everyone when I say that you being happy is what makes us happy. So be happy, Riley. Be a little selfish.” He turned to Lucas. “And I don’t even have to ask you to make sure she’s happy, because I know you do nothing without thinking about her first.” He raised his glass. “I love you both. You’ve set an impossible standard, but I hope to find that kind of love one day.”

//Baby, I'm dancing in the dark, with you between my arms Barefoot on the grass, listening to our favorite song//

Before they knew it, the night was over. The magical day they had waited nearly a lifetime for was done, but they knew the real fairytale was about to begin—the ‘happily ever after’ part.

They hugged all of their loved ones as they made their way to the limousine that would take them to their hotel for the evening. In the morning, they would be well on their way to their honeymoon destination, Paris of all places. When he initially questioned her about the choice, she assured him that it was time to make new memories. She wanted to go back to the city that had once destroyed them and replace every bittersweet second with nothing but sweet, loving memories.

As soon as the driver shut the door, Lucas leaned close to her. He cupped her cheeks in his hands as he placed his lips against hers. “I love you.” He knew he had already said it about a hundred times that day, but he couldn’t help it. The only emotion he was capable of at that moment was love—love for her.

“I love you,” she smiled against his lips. “Now, the real fun begins.”

He smirked as he pulled away from her. He glanced around the space. “You have a thing for limos, don’t you?”

She playfully swatted at his arm. “Not at all what I meant,” she smiled despite the blush that crept up on her cheeks. She was well aware of the fact that he was referring to the last limo ride they shared. “Besides, it’s not going to take 45 minutes to get to the hotel. More like 15.”

“Well, Mrs. Friar, my only plans for the evening consist of showing you over and over again just how happy you make me.” His lips slowly descended to her neck.

Riley took a shaky breath. “We have an early flight tomorrow.”

“We can sleep on the plane,” he answered as he planted kisses along the column of her neck.

“This is so not fair,” she breathed as his hands slid across her bare back.

“You know last time we were in a limo, we played by your rules.”

“And you didn’t complain,” she smiled.

“This time, let’s play by mine.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Dr. Friar. We have about twelve minutes until we reach the hotel. What do you propose?”

He lifted his head as his gaze caught hers. “That I get to spend the next 11 minutes and 30 seconds kissing every inch of you that isn’t covered up by that gown, and when we get to the room, you let me spend the next several hours getting properly acquainted with the new Mrs. Friar.”

“Sounds perfect,” she practically purred as her lips brushed against his.

//I have faith in what I see Now I know I have met an angel in person And she looks perfect//

As soon as Lucas got out of the limo, he offered his hand to his bride to help her get out. He looped her arm through his as they walked through the lobby. After checking into their room, they were escorted to the top floor. Lucas tipped the bellboy as soon as they reached the door. The bellboy assured him that all of their luggage was already in the room and that everything had been set up to his specifications.

Riley furrowed her eyebrows at the comment, but said nothing as the bellboy left. Lucas inserted the key into the door. Riley tried to take a step forward, but he stopped her. “I know it’s not our apartment, but tradition is tradition,” he smiled before he scooped her up in his arms. “I’ve been waiting a very long time to do this, Mrs. Friar,” he smiled as he carried her over the threshold.

Riley smiled at him before the soft glow of the room diverted her attention. “Lucas,” she breathed when she saw the lit candles and flowers throughout the entire suite.

“I thought rose petals would be too cheesy,” he said as he slowly lowered her to the ground, “but I wanted the room filled with all of your favorite flowers.”

“They’re beautiful,” she smiled. “And the candles?”

“I needed to have a little bit of cheese,” he chuckled. “I wanted to set a relaxing mood.”

She raised an eyebrow at him. “Relaxing? I thought that we were—“

“We have all the time in the world,” he smiled. “Right now, I want to make sure that after all the planning and after the craziness of the day, that you could relax for awhile. There is a bubble bath waiting for you in the bathroom.”

She smiled. “Really?”

He nodded.

She began to play with his tie. “Are you going to be joining me?”

He took a deep breath. “There is nothing I want more, but right now, I want you to relax, and I can guarantee that not much relaxing would happen if we both got in.” He smiled. “Besides, room service should be up soon, and at least one of us should be clothed to answer the door.”

“Room service?”

“Neither of us ate at the wedding, and I’m sure once you’ve had a few minutes to unwind, you’ll find your appetite.”

She wrapped her arms around his neck. He always found a new way to surprise her with his thoughtfulness. She definitely felt like the luckiest woman in the world. “I don’t deserve you.”

“You deserve so much more,” he said as he kissed her. After a moment, he forced himself to pull away from her. “We’ve rushed through so much of our time together…but not anymore. Now, we have all the time in the world.” He took a deep breath as he memorized the image of her in that wedding dress. He knew that between Maya and the photographer, that they had a million pictures to remember the day, but the soft glow of the candlelight made Riley appear positively heavenly. She was his saving grace. She was the reason he was the man he was today. She was everything.

And he was going to spend every day for the rest of his life making sure she knew just how loved she was.

//I don't deserve this You look perfect tonight//

#rucas #rucas fic #riley x lucas #lucas x riley #ouat2011 fic #liley fic #rucas fan fic #rucas fanfiction #rucas fanfic #liley fanfic #liley fan fiction #liley fanfiction

108 notes · View notes

hpnextgenfacts11 · 7 years

Text

What is love?

‘What is love?’ Lily Evans asks.

‘Love is the way you laugh at the smallest things. Love is the way your eyes light up when you smile. Love is the ribbons you wear in your hair. Love is the way you smile. Love is the brilliant green of your eyes. Love is the brilliant red of your hair. It’s the way you find the good in everyone. It’s the way you comfort kids in the halls. It’s the way you walk down the halls, and greet every person by name. It’s the way you hold out hope for your sister. It’s the way you tell off the Slytherins. It’s the way you fight back. It’s the way you get up and fight when in pain. It’s the way you never give up. It’s the way you give people a second chance. It’s the way you kissed me for the first time. It’s the way you said yes when I asked you out. It’s the way you got up on that table with me when I continued our tradition. It’s the way you smiled at me when I proposed. It’s the way you care for Remus even though he told you he’s a werewolf. It’s the way you joke with Sirius. It’s the way you talk with Pete. But most of all, love is the way you never give up on me.’ James Potter responds, smiling at his beautiful fiancé.

‘What is love?’ Hermione Granger asks.

‘Love is the way you smile. Love is the way you hate your hair, but I don’t. Love is the way you stand up for those who are oppressed. Love is the way you are always up for a challenge. Love is the way you throw yourself into a challenge with all you have. Love is the way you never give up. Love is the way you care for others. It is the way you forgave me after I left. It is the way you helped Harry and I survive the war. It is the way you pull your hair into a bun when you’re thinking. It is the way you never let me forget the little things. It is the way you have always been part of my family. It is the way you keep going. It is the way you went back to Hogwarts, to get your education, but never let go of us. It is the way you wiped your parents’ memories to keep them safe. It’s the way you look and Harry and Ginny, like they’re more than just your best friends. It’s the way you would help calm Harry down in one of his desperate moments. It’s the way you comforted Ginny after her nightmares. It’s the way you helped figure out what to do about Percy. It’s the way you helped George after Fred. It’s the way you help Mum. But most of all, love is the way I look at you, and it’s like you’re the only person in the world.’ Ron Weasley answers, taking his girlfriend's hand.

‘What is love?’ Ginny Weasley asks.

‘Love is the way you laugh. Love is the way you cast a bat bogey hex. Love is the way you would throw yourself in front of younger students, or friends in the war. Love is the way you found the courage to be Head Girl after the war. Love is the way you went to school without your best friends. Love is the way you protected the house elves from the Carrows. Love is how you kept your pain from your family. It is the way you tell me to think. It is the way you yell. It is the way you play with your hair with thinking. It is the way you cry while reading Jane Eyre. It is the way you play the piano, the violin, the ukulele, the guitar, the cello and the flute. It is the way you lose your self in your music. It is the way you sing quietly all the time. It’s the look on your face when you get mad. It is the way you kept all of Colin’s photos. It is the way you were not mad when I left you. It is the way you kept up Dumbledore’s Army. It is how I did not want to leave when I saw you on the way to the forest. It is the way you were my last thought. It is the way you screamed when Voldemort announced I was dead. It is the way you fought in the battle. It is the way you approached me when I was being stupid and wouldn’t talk to you. It is the way you set me back on track after the war. It is the way you care for Teddy as your own. It is the way you help with my nightmares. It is the way you helped Hermione, and Ron with theirs. It is the way you comfort George. It is the way you were ready to accept Percy back with open arms. It is the way you play Quidditch. It is the way you said yes when I proposed. It is the way you looked walking down the aisle. But most importantly, love is the way you have never given up on me.’ Harry Potter tells his inspirational wife.

‘What is love?’ Teddy Lupin asks.

‘Love is the way you laugh uncontrollably. Love is the way you devote yourself to Lily, James, and Albus. Love is the way, that despite the major age difference, your best friend is Lily. Love is the way you care for Harry and Ginny. Love is the way you let go of all facial features, and show your true features when you are genuinely happy. Love is the way you make music. Love is the way you never gave up on teaching. Love is the way you found me. Love is the way you saved me from something I wouldn’t have been able to regret. Love is the way you sing to me. Love is the way you came to all of my quidditch games. Love is the way you take me on picnics on the beach. Love is the way you place flowers on Dobby’s grave for Harry. It is the way you look at Lily. It is the way you would do anything for her. It is the way you were not mad about her getting engaged so young. It is the way you asked me to marry you. It is the way you helped me realise I needed to be a healer, and become the matron for Hogwarts. It is the way we rented our first flat together. It is the way you came to all of the Hogwarts balls. It is the way we never notice the students looking at us as we dance at the balls. It is the way we bought our first flat in Hogsmeade. It is the way you looked at the end of aisle. It is the way you smiled when Nymphadora was born. It is the way we are fighting in this war. But most of all, love is the way I feel completely at home with you.’ Dominique Weasley tells her husband, smiling at him.

‘What is love?’ Lily Luna Potter asks.

‘Love is your lilting laugh. Love is the way you never stop singing. Love is the way you are always playing music. Love is the way you stand tall. Love is the way you don’t worry what others think of you. Love is the way you are the smartest girl I know. Love is the way we grew up hating each other. Love is the way you drink your tea extra sweet, but your coffee black. Love is the way you would always ask for banana pancakes. Love is the way your mum and dad look at you. Love is the way Teddy would do anything for you. It is the way you overcame what happened in fourth year. It is the way everyone looks up to you. It is the way you are strong and independent. It is the way you would never hurt anyone. It is the way you are not afraid to hex someone who harms your loved ones. It is the way you stand up for what you believe in. It is the way you get all Os, yet still don’t think that is enough. It is the way you are president of many clubs. It is the way you play Quidditch, becoming both Gryffindor and school captain. It is the way you were a prefect, and are Head Girl. It is the way you put your name in for the Triwizard Tournament. It is the way you were chosen to be the Hogwarts Champion. It is the way you win the tasks. It is the way you are McGongagall’s, Uncle Neville’s, Hagrid’s, and Slughorn’s favorites. It is the way you stood up for Teddy. It is the way you are kind to everyone. It is the way you fight in a dress. It is the way you care for your pets. It is the way you cry leaving behind Nessa every year. It’s the way you didn’t let James tell you what to do. It’s the way you are always there for your family. It is the way you reacted to Roxanne. It is the way you forgave her. It is the way you let her back in. It is the way you fight this war. It is the way you have recovered from the final task. It is the way you won the tournament. It is the way you said yes, even though we are so young, and on the brink of a war. It is the way you looked walking down the aisle towards me. It is the way we are married and still in school. It is the way we rented our first flat together for after graduation. But most of all, love is the way I look at you and the whole world lights up.’ Lysander Scamander tells his wife of two hours at their wedding.

authors note:

so I just wrote this at 9 pm on valentines day. It’s not the best, but love is all around so i figured why not. It is unedited so sorry if it’s a bit rough! I know that lily and james aren’t part of the next generation, but I just love them and couldn’t help but include them. if you have any other couples you want me to do, just let me know and i will.

and when you’re done, i challenge you to answer the question.

You don’t have to tell me the answer, (but I’d love it if you did!) but I want you to really think about it, and realize what it is you love, and what it is that makes you happy.

What is love? What does love mean to you? What makes you happy?

To me love is everything. I may not like Valentine’s day, (ask me about it!) but I do believe that love is always here. Love is the way my brother smiles. Love is the way my parents look at each other. Love is the way I talk to my best friend for three hours over face time, even though she lives five minutes away, but I never get to see her. Love is the way we put my dog down. Love is the way we welcomed a different dog into our family. Love is the way we made my grandparents move in with us. Love is the way I go to a school full of people who make me laugh. To me love is the way that I have been best friends with one girl for over ten years, and she lives thousands of miles away, across an ocean. Love is so many things, and they all mean something different to everyone.

Here’s another challenge for you: make every day Valentine’s day. Not like Valentine’s day, as in here have chocolate, and candy, and let’s go out on a date, but like Valentine’s day as in telling those you care for that you love them, as in saying hello to a stranger in the street, as in holding the door for someone, as in making someone smile, or even just smiling at someone, as in giving someone a hug, as in laughing. The challenge is to find a way to make a least one person, even if that person is yourself, happy each and every day. So go, and help yourself and others feel better.

#happy valentines day!#hpnextgenfacts11 #hpnextgenfacts11ronweasley #hpnextgenfacts11hermionegranger #hpnextgenfacts11harrypotter #hpnextgenfacts11ginnyweasley #hpnextgenfacts11lilypotter #hpnextgenfacts11teddylupin #hpnextgenfacts11lysanderscamander #hpnextgenfacts11dominiqueweasley

21 notes · View notes

minerva--mcgee · 7 years

Note

Hey! So for the ships thingy: I'm 5,3, I have very curly blonde hair, glasses and blue eyes (I like to think I'm quite trendy haha). I'm very argumentative and stubborn, I'm always the one telling funny stories, I like parties ALOT (I'm always out), I'm very socialist (bring on the revolution). My house is Slytherin and in my school I'm head girl, head of the debate club and head of the pupil council. Any gen and any gender would be fine with me!

Hello, beautiful. Thank you for the submission!

I ship you with Rose Granger-Weasley!

How’d you meet? In the beginning of your fourth year in school, a cute Ravenclaw girl came rushing into your compartment on the Hogwarts express, her red hair everywhere - which you would come to learn was always that wild - and said that her a few of her cousins needed a place to sit and asked if they could sit with you. You hesitantly agreed, and she sat down next to you, shortly followed by four other ginger kids of varying ages.

Who initiated your first conversation? You initiated the conversation! After she had settled in, she gave you a small smile before you asked her about herself. You spent the entire train ride talking - her cousins occasionally joined in, their names you find out are Lucy, Molly, Louis, and James, but overall realized that the conversation was too extravagant to keep up with.

Who asked out the other first? You asked her out first! In your fifth year, after you’d been friends for over a year, you were sitting in the library, each reading a book, you put down your book and looked up at her. “Do you want to go out on a date with me sometime?” you said. “Yeah, alright,” was her only response, and although you both simply went back to your books, both of you were smiling wildly behind the pages.

Who initiated the first kiss? She initiated the first kiss! She snagged something called “The Marauder’s Map” from her cousins, which showed everyone in Hogwarts and their exact location, so that the two of you could sneak out in the middle of the night without getting caught. So she came down to the Slytherin Common Room in the middle of the night to surprise you, where she knew you would be studying, and then brought you up to the top of the Astronomy tower. Upon arrival, you saw the blankets and pillows and picnic that she had prepared for you. She leaned in and kissed you on the lips, the cold biting at your breath, and whispered “For you!”

When did you know that you were in love? She realized she was in love first! It was rather simple for Rose. That same night on the Astronomy tower, which would later become a regular date night activity for you two, you were “arguing” over the logistics of broom-flying - you said that it simply did not make sense how a broom could hold up a person, and she repeatedly said “it’s magic!” and after she finally conceded, you both started laughing, and the light in your bright eyes made her feel love for you. Of course, she wouldn’t say this until after you finally did in your sixth year, when you went home with her for Christmas.

Who picks the activities for dates more? You both pick the activities! As both of you are slight control freaks, you take turns planning dates. Some activities include simple things, like a night under the stars, or down on the lake shore, and sometimes they’re more extravagant. You learned how to speak French together - with some help from her Aunt Fleur - or you spend time thinking of elaborate pranks for her cousins together. Your favourite memory was the time that you two decided to pull a prank on Headmistress McGonagall by covering her entire desk in parchment using a muggle item called “super glue,” which an anti-sticking charm would not remove. She gave you both detentions for three weeks and Rose’s uncle, George, warned you that you probably shouldn’t pull pranks on her. You both agreed.

Who proposed? She proposed! You had been dating for nearly a decade, and everyone was wondering when you would get married, and she finally proposed by surprising you at your job in the Ministry with flowers and a funny, emotional speech, and your parents walked in, and everyone was watching because she just had to make a big scene out of it in the middle of the crowded Ministry. You called her a big dork before accepting the diamond ring. Everyone cheered for you two, and a photographer came and captured the entire moment. Your wedding was simple - it was on the Hogwarts grounds, courtesy of Headmistress McGonagall, and the entire Weasley clan was in attendance, as well as your large family. Your wedding bands were two pieces of intertwined tinted silver - one strand was green for Slytherin, the other was blue for Ravenclaw, symbolizing the joining of houses.

What do you like to do together? You don’t get to see each other very much, because of your demanding job as Deputy Minister (yes, your mother-in-law is the Minister. It’s a fun day at work) and Rose’s job as Head Matron of Hogwarts, but you often visit her there. You spend the winter and spring holidays at Hogwarts, and often spend the summer relaxing at home, until you both decided to have a child. You use a sperm donor (one of the Weasley men) and you carry the baby before you give birth to a healthy baby boy, who stays with Molly Weasley during the day while you’re working and comes home to Hogwarts with you both during the school year, and Rose takes care of him during the summer months until you get home. Your favourite activities together include watching a muggle television, which her mother introduced you both to, writing separate stories in silence together, and swimming in the river nearby. You both learn to become Animagi together - hers an orange tabby cat, yours a black panther. You studied under Headmistress McGonagall for a year before finishing it on your own during the summer.

Hope you liked this, darling! I kind of got a little off topic in some of this, and it was just a bit of a mind dump, but I had fun writing it, anyway :)

#ships #harry potter ships #rose granger-weasley

2 notes · View notes

anotherlifefic · 5 years

Text

Chapter 38: Happy Days

We returned to our home in the city after the party. For the first time in what seemed like years. And after that, everything seemed to go back to the way it was. Link made a full recovery, I continued to attend my fighting lessons at Ashanti‘s school once a week, during which I would leave Gareth in either Link‘s or Sanna‘s care, and worked on Malon‘s wedding dress. Navi soon left us to return to the forest, promising to come back if we ever needed her. The chill of winter slowly faded into the gentle warmth of spring, which was then replaced by the heat of summer approaching. And when the first day of summer arrived, I spotted a familiar wagon while out shopping.

Link and I were walking side by side, talking about whatever trivial things came to our minds. Link was holding Gareth and I carried the basket. While I let my eyes wander over the stalls on the marketplace, I stopped and called out:„Jenna!“ Link must have heard the excitement in my voice, because he gave me a puzzled look. „Why are you so excited about her being here?“ Oh right. I hadn‘t told him. And he would have to wait for an explanation. I just grabbed his sleeve and tugged him towards Jenna‘s wagon. „Come, let‘s go say hello to her!“ Gareth, sensing my excitement, cooed and stretched his tiny hands out towards where we were headed. He was four months old now and much more aware of his sorroundings. Jenna poked her head out of the wagon when she heard my voice, and gave me an annoyed look, until she saw Link. She gave him her usual bright smile and waved him over. „Link!“ Link looked at me doubtfully. „What...“ „I‘ll explain it later“, I assured him and stepped in front of Jenna. „Hello, Jenna. Good to see you again. How have your travels been?“ Both Link and Jenna seemed equally baffled by my cheerful attitude. They looked at each other, then at me. „It‘s been… nice. Always good to see a lot of the world“, she sputtered, caught completely off guard. „That‘s good to hear. Hey, Link and I were planning to make baked salmon for supper. Why don‘t you join us, so you can tell us all about what you were up to?“ She looked at Link again. „Sure. I‘d love to.“ „Great! See you at six!“

„What was that?“, Link questioned as we moved on, occasionally stopping in front of stalls to browse their wares. „I met Jenna in the erased future“, I replied, and then explained what had happened. Link was quiet for a long time after I finished, just silently rocking Gareth in his arms. Then he finally asked:„So you think you can become friends with her now, based on what you experienced during your time-travel.“ „I know I can. Jenna has a good heart.“

That evening, just when I got the salmon out of the oven, there was a knock at our door. Link went to open, and a few seconds later Jenna stepped into our dining area. She wore an exquisite blue dress made of silk, with a low neckline and fine embroidery on the seams. Her hair was done up in a crownbraid. „Ah, just in time!“ I placed the food down on the dinnertable. „Make yourself comfortable!“ She sat down at the table, still looking at me suspiciously, before she turned to Link. „Oh, your house is beautiful, Link! It must be so nice to live here!“ „It is.“ „Though I kind of expected you to have a bigger home“, she continued. Before Link could answer, Gareth, who was sitting in a crib we had placed in the dining area so he could sit with us while we ate, started fussing. I took him into my arms and rocked him until he calmed down. Jenna slowly turned her head to look at him. „...Is this your child?“ „Yes“, Link replied, his chest positively swelling with pride. „That‘s my son.“ I could almost see Jenna‘s heart break. She looked at the toddler in my arms with her mouth slightly open as if to say something. I wanted to comfort her. To say, or do anything to make her feel better. So impulsively, I stretched out my arms. „Do you want to hold him?“ She swallowed, but took Gareth, holding him close to her chest. „So cute“, she mumbled. „I wonder what you would look like if I was your mother.“ I reached over, but only to stroke Gareth‘s cheek as he dozed in Jenna‘s arms. „I‘m sure you‘d have the prettiest babies, Jenna.“ She looked at me, bit her lip and looked away. „Well I guess we‘ll never know.“ With that, she carefully placed Gareth back in the crib and started eating. After a while of quietly enjoying our meal, I tried to get the conversation going again:„So where have you been, Jenna? You were gone for almost a year, so it must have been far away.“ „I went to a lot of different places“, she replied, pulling the fish apart with her fork. „I went back home for a while, and then travelled through the Faron region just east of Hyrule‘s border. Have you ever been there?“ I sighed wistfully. „Unfortunately not. The only time I ever left Hyrule was not too long ago, while I was… looking for someone.“ Link and I exchanged a quick look. „But even then, I was still fairly close to the border.“ „Oh, Faron is a beautiful region. Most of the trees there are palm trees, and you can find all kinds of exotic fruit and animals if you know where to look. But it‘s also fairly dangerous. There are thunderstorms every other day… the locals say it‘s because there‘s a dragon living in the region. I never saw it, though.“ Jenna‘s demeanor had brightened considerably. „And what about your homeland? What was it called? The Great Lebian Coast? Where is that?“, I asked further. „It‘s very far to the west. You see, north of the Haunted Wasteland lies a region covered in snow, called Hebra. Now if you go further west, you eventually cross the border to Labrynna, and right behind Labrynna is where the Great Lebian Coast is.“ In between two bites of potatoes, she continued:„I technically still own my parent‘s farm, but I was so lonely living there alone and I couldn‘t run it all by myself. That‘s why I became a merchant. I hoped that travelling around would help me… find a good husband. Someone to continue my family‘s legacy with.“ „I‘m sure you will find someone eventually“, Link said with a smile. „You are a sweet girl, Jenna. Someday, someone will see that.“

As the night went on, Jenna told us more about the many places she had visited. Countries I had never even heard about, with odd people and even odder costums. And the more I heard, the more I wished to travel myself. When it was finally time to say goodbye, Jenna was smiling at us. „Thank you for the invitation.“ „You‘re welcome. And feel free to visit us whenever you like while you‘re in the city.“

I didn‘t have much time to think about travelling after that. The days leading up to Malon‘s wedding were busy, to say the least. As the matron of honor, I was in charge of most of the preparations. I helped the bridesmaids decorate, I oversaw the preparation of the food, and I finished Malon‘s dress and veil just in time. She looked beautiful in it, like a princess. „Matthias will love this“, I told her as I finished some adjustments due to her advanced pregnancy. „I know I do“, she replied, a bit misty-eyed. „Thank you, Rebecca.“ I lightly booped her nose. „Anything for you.“

And then, finally, the day had come. I held back tears as I saw Malon walk down the aisle, holding onto the arm of her father, while Matthias beamed at her. I had made sure that LonLon Ranch was properly decorated. Flowers of all colours were wound around the arch, and the aisle was covered in petals. For this day, the ranch had been turned into a fairlytale bathed in flowers. Once Talon handed her over to Matthias, I took Malon‘s bouquet and listened to the words of the priest. It was the same kind of sermon he had giving during my wedding; the standard for most couples. Malon and Matthias were looking at each other the whole time, as if only they existed in their own little world. „I, Malon, take you, Matthias to be my lawfully wedded husband...“ „To love, to cherish… „...in sickness and in health...“ „...until death do us part.“ They exchanged the rings, and then kissed. The whole wedding party cheered, some were crying. Talon was probably the loudest, blowing his nose into his hankerchief.

The reception afterward quickly became a big party, with all of the guests drinking and dancing. I mostly stood by the side with Link, watching everyone have a good time. At this point, I was quite happy just watching. I was exhausted from the preparations, but it felt good to see everything come together in the end. Link took my hand. „Reminds me of our wedding. Our reception wasn‘t quite as lively, though.“ „Well… we kinda got married in a rush because of the approaching war.“ He nodded thoughtfully. „Do you think we should have another wedding? A proper one this time?“ „I mean, we could technically renew our vows at some point… but I think it‘s a bit early for that.“ „That‘s true. Maybe a few years down the road, then.“ Now that I was finally a bit calmer, I looked over to him. „Actually… there‘s something I wanted to talk about.“ He raised his eyebrow. „Oh?“ I was quiet for a moment, not quite able to find the right words. But then I just blurted out:„I want to go travelling!“ „Travelling? But what about our home? What about Gareth?“ „We can take him along. He can grow up seeing all kinds of different places.“ I held onto Link‘s hand, begging for him to understand. „I‘m not saying we should leave Hyrule forever. Just… see a bit more of the world. Without the threat of certain doom constantly on our minds.“ He took a deep breath. „I… I‘d be lying if I said that I haven‘t thought about this before. But are you sure?“ „Absolutely!“ I insisted. „All of the places Jenna mentioned… and much more! I want to see them all with my own two eyes!“ This was ridiculous. I felt like a child begging for candy. Link thought for a few more seconds. „...We‘ll have to wait until after the coronation and then ask Zelda what she thinks about it. It may be an unofficial title, but I‘m still the protector of Hyrule.“ That sure as hell didn‘t bother you when you left ten years ago, I though but didn‘t say it out loud. I didn‘t want to start a lover‘s spat at my best friend‘s wedding. Speaking of best friend, Malon walked up to us, a wide grin on her face. „Hey there! I hope you enjoy the party!“ „Sure we do, Malon“, I assured her. „What about you?“ „Oh it is everything I ever dreamed of.“ She hugged me and kissed my cheek. „Thank you, Rebecca.“

The coronation was not long after the wedding. Link and I were standing in the throne room, somewhat off to the side, while we watched Zelda walk down the red carpet up to the throne her father used to occupy. She now wore an elaborate gown of white and purple, with the emblem of the royal family stitched down the front of her skirt. It was noon, and the sun‘s rays that were falling through the window above the throne hit her hair and almost made it look like she had a halo around her head. The sages were gathered around the throne, as they would be her vassals during her reign. She bowed before them, and they reciprocated; a sign of mutual respect. Rauru stepped forth. „Zelda, once Princess of Hyrule, do you vow to protect Hyrule and its people?“ „I do“, she replied. „Do you vow to keep the peace, to rule justly and with mercy?“ „I do“, she replied again. Now Rauru turned around. „Will the representatives of the races lend our new Queen their power?“ „By lake and stream, sea and river, us, the Zora, will grant Her Majesty our loyalty“, Princess Ruto replied. „By mountain and hill, rock and stone, us, the Gorons, will grant Her Majesty our strength“, Darunia added, pounding his fist against his chest for emphasis. „By darkness and shadow, by secrets to be kept, us, the Sheikah, will grant Her Majesty our protection.“ Impa gave a small smile as she said that. „By forest and meadow, and all things green, us, the Kokiri, will grant Her Majesty our friendship.“ Saria beamed up at Zelda. It was good to see how much the once so reclusive Kokiri had become part of the kingdom. „By sand and spirit, blood and steel, us, the Gerudo, will grant Her Majesty our support.“ Rauru nodded, then turned to Zelda again. „And I, Rauru, grant Her Majesty the blessing of both her ancestors and the Goddesses they served. May Her reign be long and prosperous.“ He took the crown that had been resting on a small table next to him, and gently put it on Zelda‘s head. The gemstone on the middle of the piece flared up in the sunlight, and Zelda turned to the people. The hall erupted into cheering, its echo so deafening that I had to cover my ears. But I smiled. Zelda would be a wonderful Queen.

The coronation party lasted for hours, which Link and I spent dancing and talking to the sages. But once it all died down and people started to go home, we could finally catch Zelda alone. „There you are!“, she said. Then she looked around. „I hope you enjoyed the celebration.“ „It was grand, Your Majesty“, I replied, not sure if I could still call her Zelda now that she was Queen. „Rebecca“, she said gently, taking my hands. „It‘s still me. I‘m still your friend. Me being Queen doesn‘t change anything.“ Then she leaned over and planted a gentle kiss on my cheek. She smelled sweet. Of lilac and roses. „There‘s actually something we wanted to talk to you about“, Link said, nervously shifting his weight from one foot to the other. „Rebecca and I have been thinking about going travelling for a while.“ It wasn‘t hard to see that this revelation hit her. „You want to leave? Now?“ „Not… now. There‘s still a lot to be prepared. But sometime within the next year.“ „What about your son? And your home? What about m-… “ She stopped, stuttered a bit. „What about Hyrule? Link, you are our most powerful warrior. What if something happens while you‘re gone?“ „We won‘t be gone for long“, Link promised. „We‘ll be back before you know it. With a lot of new stories to tell.“ Zelda faltered. „I can‘t stop you, can I? No. You were always a restless spirit, Link. Alright then. But do stay in touch.“ „We will“, I promised and kissed her hand. „We will always return to you. No matter how far away the wind takes us.“

#The Legend of Zelda #Another Life #fanfiction #OC

0 notes